On the topic of Fallout 4's main story [SPOILERS]

[JcGross]

I've just finished Fallout 4. As much as I've been amazed by some of the storytelling techniques used in this game I have to say that I'm quite disappointed in the "ending".

 

First off let me start by what I did like. The main conflict of course is the dynamic between the 4 factions of the game, the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Railroad and The Institute. I quite like that the Synths in this game were made to be like a whole new race. Fallout had the supermutants, F2 had the Enclave, but ever since these the power dynamics weren't really all that interesting. But I have to say that when I played this game I thought the way they wrote the story was nothing short of genius. First off the Synths, and mainly the Institute are made out to be this big mysterious threat that want to destroy the Commonwealth. And then you find Nick Valentine who becomes your companion. You get to know him, you get to like him. You'll start to sympathize with him. Then you meet the railroad that want to help runaway syths. And because of your relationship with Nick you are inclined to be on their side. And then you meet the Brotherhood which want to destroy all synths because they believe that they are a threat. And this is where I start with my gripes. The game tries very hard, almost too hard to paint the Railroad the "good guys" and the Brotherhood "the bad guys". But the thing is, I think the Railroad are a bunch of lunatics. And I commend the game for giving me a choice in the matter. I very much sympathize with the Brotherhood and no matter how hard the game tried to convince me that "look how bad these guys are" I just grew more and more fond of the BoS. Okay, eradicating the Railroad might have been a bit too much, but whatever.

 

But then the big twist comes around. You get into the institute and it turns out it's led by your son! Who is ironically called "Father", which is actually quite clever because people can put him into YT videos without giving away the twist. This was pretty amazing. The whole time you are looking for your son and fighting this big bad institute at the same time, and it turns out your son is now an old man and is the leader of the very group you were fighting. But it turns out he's a total fucking nutjob. I really don't understand what the point of creating "human-like synths" is. Other than having more human looking slaves. And the game totally fails to even try to convince the players that this is a good thing. I mean, the shitty, robot looking ones seem to be able to sweep the floors and stuff. If you're going to use them as a free labor force then what's the point of making them look like humans? This is just the hubris of science, men trying to play god for all the wrong reasons, and it really rubs me the wrong way. And while they are doing their pointless, merry little experiments in their little labs the rest of the world can suck it. So other than the personal connection I didn't really find any reason to side with the Institute.

 

And then my disappointment begins. The mother son connection. Shaun is a right fucking c**t. He does not show any signs of affection, all his moves seem to be cold and calculated. Which is fair enough, at least it makes my decision easier. But after everything I've been through. After mowing down half the institute and ready to do the same with the other one, everything culminates in this one bedchamber, with a sicly old man on his deathbed. His life work crumbling all around him. This should've been an epic, moving conversation. But here the poor dialogue system shows it's teeth. I think I chose the most interesting dialogue choices and still it was utter shit. The most anticlimactic scene I've ever witnessed. And then I convinced him to give me a code, then I proceeded to shoot him in the head, then I went and blew up the whole thing. And at least the game went out with a bang, that was quite nice. And the outro was well written as well. All in all I still found it the best bethesda storyline so far, even though it had a pretty lackluster ending. There wasn't even a summary of player-actions and choices in the end which was doubly disappointing, and seems like this wasn't even an RPG, only an action game with some dialogue choices. But this is not a discussion on the gameplay and game systems, only the story. And these are my thoughts. I'm going to play through the game at least once more where I join the Institute and probably once more where I go more into the settlement building and Minuteman faction.

[Samfisher]

best bethesda storyline so far,

That's not saying much

[Deletive]

I feel Paladin Danse has much more depth then shaun did. 

[theninja35]

If the Institute is to be living with Synths for their entire lives, making them appear to be humans will be a lot more friendly and welcoming.

[JcGross]

I feel Paladin Danse has much more depth then shaun did. 

Yeah, that quest was particularly well-written. It was the writers's best effort to make the player question their own beliefs. And I really liked that Dense didn't even put up a fight and just let you kill him straight up. The second best effort was that last little bit where the Robo-Shaun comes up to you. That was a pretty interesting little moment but I just couldn't be affected by it. But I really liked the idea.

[EChondo]

Well it's all up to the matter of perspective right? Some people will see the Institute as a faction that wants to start anew and there are others like yourself that see them as crazy, which you can apply the same to the other two factions. The BoS can be seen as crazy war sociopaths that want all the technology for themselves or the faction that wants to restore the wasteland. The railroad are just like the original railroad in the U.S. freeing the slaves, you either see them and their actions as a noble cause trying to free the synths(slaves) from their masters and letting them live a real life or they can be depicted as stealing/freeing your slaves that you want for yourself or destroy them since they aren't real humans.

 

It's all up for interpretation in different ways. I sided with the Institute for my first playthrough because that's how I saw the game would play out in real life, I mean traveling to the Institute and finding technology and people so far more advanced than anything out in the wasteland, you wouldn't hop on board that train? I know I would.

 

I do agree that Shaun should've been more emotional, but being 60 years old and never knowing your real mother? You probably wouldn't have any strong feelings at all, especially when you know you're going to die soon.

 

I personally loved the story, sure it isn't perfect, but it's vastly better than previous Bethesda games.

[ManOfDisguise]

I honestly think the story was decent at best. Definitely not amazing imo. The mystery of the Synths and Institute was cool and not knowing if someone was a synth or a human was a cool thing. However when I found Shaun it wasn't even a big moment for me since I really only had him as a baby at the start an didn't do many things together. I then started hating him more and more because he is a fucking cunt. If you choose to side with him to the end you have to kill both the Railroad and BOS even though there is a dialogue option saying you would rather not that old fuck still forces you to. I liked shooting his head off though.

 

The Minutemen are boring. Hate Preston. Keeps giving you the same stupid quest over and over again and when you go to him to get a quest he says "I've got something new for you" BULLSHIT it's the same shit as before.

Not to mention the fact that you become their general like only 30 min after meeting them. This however means NOTHING. It still feels like Preston is the leader here as he keeps sending you on his stupid fetch quests so he sends you, THE GENERAL, to do all the work of the Minutemen. K den.

 

The Institute have boring fetch quests as well. Again I don't feel like their "Father" if I'm just a guy who is sent to get stuff for them to research on.

 

The BOS quests are more interesting but I don't like their military ways.

 

The Railroad are the coolest faction imo, you even get to choose your secret agent name and their missions are pretty cool as well.

 

The ending was probably the weakest thing about the story and to me it's crucial that a story has a good ending. You're still walking around the destroyed wasteland, still saying you have hope that things will change, etc. it's not much different to how the MC feels when he gets out of the vault. 

 

Also the dialogue system is just bad which takes out most of the immersion for me.

[Ellis_D]

I honestly thought the story was pretty terrible.  It's like they made an outline with a bunch of plot points and then completely failed to flesh it out.  The main plot twist

That your son was 60 years old and involved with the big bad boogeyman cult that the game was hyping up constantly

was pretty much predictable the moment you left the vault and the "big" reveal carried absolutely no weight.  This game is completely anti-climactic.

 

I'm also hating how your interactions with followers ultimately have little effect on their own story, specifically Deacon and the Railroad

It doesn't matter at all if his affinity is maxed out and idolizes you, he'll still turn hostile if you don't side with the railroad.  Never mind the fact that in dialogues with him, he'll imply that he's more loyal to you than the Railroad and that he's only involved with the Railroad to atone for past demons so it pisses me off that there's really no way to convince him that a bunch of autonomous drones running amok in the wasteland isn't the best idea.

  There's really no weight to interacting with companions and the only reason to do so is to get their Perk bonus and use them as mobile storage.