Yeah, the Minutemen are the one faction who don't ask you to wipe out any other ones, so you're free to just continue through their questline without having to worry about committing to anything.
That's one of the strange things about Bethesda. They always insist on making you not just a high-ranking member of every faction, but the actual leader of them. However, they never give you the opportunity to actually use that position of authority for anything meaningful.
In Skyrim, you could become the Harbinger of the Companions, the Archmage of the Mages' College, Guildmaster of the Thieves' Guild, and the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. As leader of the four most elite factions in the region, you're basically the master of a small army. But the game never gives you the option to use these factions to conquer Skyrim for yourself, or support your preferred side in the civil war, or even just make the factions aware of each other in any capacity.
Likewise in Fallout 4, even after becoming the leader of multiple factions, you never have any option to try and find compromise between them. The in-universe justification for this is that the factions would simply revolt if you tried to bring them together, but it seems like the game should still give you the option to try anyway, even if doing so inevitably ends in failure.
That could make for some interesting epilogues. "After stressing the need for peace and unity with the other factions, you were murdered in your sleep several weeks later by a synthetic gorilla raccoon."
edit: I do remember in Oblivion that before the "big battle" at Bruma, there was an optional objective to "enlist the help of the x guild" that you were the master of. "Finally, it will pay off!" I thought. Nope. All it let you do was have a single trainee follow you around.
That could make for some interesting epilogues. "After stressing the need for peace and unity with the other factions, you were murdered in your sleep several weeks later by a synthetic gorilla raccoon."
edit: I do remember in Oblivion that before the "big battle" at Bruma, there was an optional objective to "enlist the help of the x guild" that you were the master of. "Finally, it will pay off!" I thought. Nope. All it let you do was have a single trainee follow you around.
I wish I could say that I fully experienced Oblivion before denouncing it, but the truth is the game repelled any attempt to enjoy it and I barely got out of the intro.
maybe if they had re-written into something about potato people in the magical potato kingdom dealing with a crisis of potato bugs that would have helped.
I wish I could say that I fully experienced Oblivion before denouncing it, but the truth is the game repelled any attempt to enjoy it and I barely got out of the intro.
I beat the main quest and was master of every guild, Progressed part way through shivering isles, and never did Knight of the Nine.
You aren't missing much.
ugh but this talk of oblivion is making me want to redownload it and run it again with the worst mods I can find.
I liked that there were a ton of hand made quests in oblivion rather than randomly generated radiant quests, and Shivering isles main quest story was pretty good for a bethesdsa game (also it was pretty long for a dlc, probably as long as the regular game main quest if you go straight through).
Its of variable quality of course, and the worst is the main quest. They really needed to put a lot more work into the oblivion gates, as is you are a lot better off just pretending the priory doesn't exist and playing guild quests and SI.
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WhiteZinfandelYour insidesLet me show you themRegistered Userregular
I liked that there were a ton of hand made quests in oblivion rather than randomly generated radiant quests, and Shivering isles main quest story was pretty good for a bethesdsa game (also it was pretty long for a dlc, probably as long as the regular game main quest if you go straight through).
Its of variable quality of course, and the worst is the main quest. They really needed to put a lot more work into the oblivion gates, as is you are a lot better off just pretending the priory doesn't exist and playing guild quests and SI.
I basically downloaded a bitchin' vampire mod and did exactly that. I didn't quite finish SI, but I did finish 95% of everything else outside of the main story. I never even triggered the Oblivion gates.
Shivering Isles was fantastic, and the thieves guild questline was also quite good. Unfortunately exploration wasn't great in Oblivion, but the questlines were, in my opinion, pretty enjoyable.
I liked that there were a ton of hand made quests in oblivion rather than randomly generated radiant quests, and Shivering isles main quest story was pretty good for a bethesdsa game (also it was pretty long for a dlc, probably as long as the regular game main quest if you go straight through).
Its of variable quality of course, and the worst is the main quest. They really needed to put a lot more work into the oblivion gates, as is you are a lot better off just pretending the priory doesn't exist and playing guild quests and SI.
I basically downloaded a bitchin' vampire mod and did exactly that. I didn't quite finish SI, but I did finish 95% of everything else outside of the main story. I never even triggered the Oblivion gates.
I found that I enjoyed Oblivion... well, at all, if I never progressed the main quest to the point where the gates started spawning. I never did any of the DLC, but I had a great time with the guilds and such before I felt like the game had run its course for me.
I think it's such a shame how little effort was put into Fallout 4's story (to bring this around to being relevant), and the factions are a huge example of that though of course not nearly the only example. Hell, I thought the Railroad was specifically trying to get me to be leader of the Institute because that would be an awesome way to shut down their enemy and do some good (at least, good in their minds) with all that technology. But nope.
Main plot to oblivion: The emperor, fleeing an assassination plot, gives the Amulet of kings to a random prisoner with instructions to give it to his heir. The prisoner, who tries the Amulet on only to find that he is unable to wear it and it doesn't seem to do anything, throws it into a random chest at an inn and forgets about it. Meanwhile, it turns out the Amulet was key to the whole evil plot in the first place, and after failing to find it on the emperor's heir, the Mythic Dawn utterly fails to summon Mehrunes Dagon, who gets bored and wanders off. Meanwhile, in the absence of an emperor, governance of Cyrodil falls to the guilds, the dark brotherhood, and the newly reformed knights of the nine, all secretly run by one really industrious guy, who also happens to be the god of madness. The end.
Main plot to oblivion: The emperor, fleeing an assassination plot, gives the Amulet of kings to a random prisoner with instructions to give it to his heir. The prisoner, who tries the Amulet on only to find that he is unable to wear it and it doesn't seem to do anything, throws it into a random chest at an inn and forgets about it. Meanwhile, it turns out the Amulet was key to the whole evil plot in the first place, and after failing to find it on the emperor's heir, the Mythic Dawn utterly fails to summon Mehrunes Dagon, who gets bored and wanders off. Meanwhile, in the absence of an emperor, governance of Cyrodil falls to the guilds, the dark brotherhood, and the newly reformed knights of the nine, all secretly run by one really industrious guy, who also happens to be the god of madness. The end.
I think that is a huge failing on Bethesda's part, where they make you king shit wizard of every faction, but don't let you actually influence them.
Either play ball and let us dictate how things are done, or don't make us the leaders.
Also its hilarious that if the institute is destroyed the railroad just handwaves away the lack of new synths "oh but we have many current synths to save!"
Let's be generous and say they have like 10 more years of helping runaways. Then what?
Yeah, that was my thing. Most of the really bad shit the institute does is either promoted directly by father or could be solved by a half decent experimental ethics board. Not to mention that there are a ton of guys there just working on making better plants or trying to figure out how to make laser beams white or whatever.
Freeing the synths is great and all, but there are problems that occur with mental stability, not to mention long term health problems or whatever else might crop up, and you are murdering most of the people that would be able to fix anything.
Wheras on the other hand I could take over the institute, ban the kidnap and replace jobs, institute an ethics board to prevent stuff like super mutant experimentation, and make a rule that you don't get gen 3 synths to make your coffee or clean up around the place anymore (robots and gen 1s do exist after all), and you are set.
Yeah, that was my thing. Most of the really bad shit the institute does is either promoted directly by father or could be solved by a half decent experimental ethics board. Not to mention that there are a ton of guys there just working on making better plants or trying to figure out how to make laser beams white or whatever.
Freeing the synths is great and all, but there are problems that occur with mental stability, not to mention long term health problems or whatever else might crop up, and you are murdering most of the people that would be able to fix anything.
Wheras on the other hand I could take over the institute, ban the kidnap and replace jobs, institute an ethics board to prevent stuff like super mutant experimentation, and make a rule that you don't get gen 3 synths to make your coffee or clean up around the place anymore (robots and gen 1s do exist after all), and you are set.
That's how I think of it (my first character chose the Institute ending).
It's important to me to remember that Shaun grew up in the Institute and was socialized completely in their culture. That's going to massively affect a person's moral make up.
Steam and CFN: Enexemander
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
I think the Institute does have an experimental ethics board, except their focus is maintaining a minimal level of evil in everything they do.
Scientist: I've developed a new and improved tato plant, and I'd like to send samples to a settlement for cultivation tests. We'll use a trader contact to bring back samples and yield information.
Review Board: That looks promising, but we'd like you to kidnap and replace the leader of the settlement with a Gen 3, and murder everyone at the end of the experiment.
Scientist: Um... OK?
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
I reach Liberty Prime and the synth virus starts uploading but the battle just drags on with nothing happening to Liberty Prime. Called it a night after getting bored of popping fusion cores on Brotherhood power armors.
I think the Institute does have an experimental ethics board, except their focus is maintaining a minimal level of evil in everything they do.
Scientist: I've developed a new and improved tato plant, and I'd like to send samples to a settlement for cultivation tests. We'll use a trader contact to bring back samples and yield information.
Review Board: That looks promising, but we'd like you to kidnap and replace the leader of the settlement with a Gen 3, and murder everyone at the end of the experiment.
Scientist: Um... OK?
Scientist: We need a pure dna sample. We found a baby frozen in a vault, we were thinking we could just snatch it. None of the tests we plan to do or samples we will take should hurt it, though. Its mom is in there, but we could just knock her out with drugs or something and bring the baby back and refreeze it, or even bring her and the father to the institute to help raise the baby after we get done with it.
Review board: That sounds good, but it would be better to just shoot the mother, also you should wake the father up and let him watch for no apparent reason, just to really push the evil level up.
Scientist: Sounds good, we will get that cyborg mercenary guy right on it.
Also its hilarious that if the institute is destroyed the railroad just handwaves away the lack of new synths "oh but we have many current synths to save!"
Let's be generous and say they have like 10 more years of helping runaways. Then what?
Isn't this like asking what Batman will do after he's eliminated all crime in Gotham City?
The Railroad is working toward a Commonwealth that doesn't need them.
Also its hilarious that if the institute is destroyed the railroad just handwaves away the lack of new synths "oh but we have many current synths to save!"
Let's be generous and say they have like 10 more years of helping runaways. Then what?
Isn't this like asking what Batman will do after he's eliminated all crime in Gotham City?
The Railroad is working toward a Commonwealth that doesn't need them.
I get what you're saying, but when I have the ability to choose a faction, I am going to choose one with broader scope and permanence.
Like the Minutemen, I suppose. Annoying as fuck Garvey aside, he mentions that most people in the wealth hate synths because they only know the ones doing evil things for the institue. They don't know you can have synths that aren't evil. After the institute is destroyed, and therefore there aren't any synth terror missions, it stands to reason that eventually the hate against them will ebb away in time. I think a character in the minutemen or railroad mentions this as well. Something something synths are a tool the institute wields for evil.
Also its hilarious that if the institute is destroyed the railroad just handwaves away the lack of new synths "oh but we have many current synths to save!"
Let's be generous and say they have like 10 more years of helping runaways. Then what?
Isn't this like asking what Batman will do after he's eliminated all crime in Gotham City?
The Railroad is working toward a Commonwealth that doesn't need them.
I get what you're saying, but when I have the ability to choose a faction, I am going to choose one with broader scope and permanence.
Like the Minutemen, I suppose. Annoying as fuck Garvey aside, he mentions that most people in the wealth hate synths because they only know the ones doing evil things for the institue. They don't know you can have synths that aren't evil. After the institute is destroyed, and therefore there aren't any synth terror missions, it stands to reason that eventually the hate against them will ebb away in time. I think a character in the minutemen or railroad mentions this as well. Something something synths are a tool the institute wields for evil.
This is the main point of contention between the Minutemen and the Railroad, who otherwise get along fairly well.
In Deacon's second approval conversation, he'll admit to being a supporter of the Minutemen, but he also isn't blind to the fact that they've so far been unsuccessful in creating any lasting improvements to the Commonwealth.
If you have Deacon as your companion and then switch to Preston, Deacon will mock the Minutemen, and Preston will shoot back with a comment about how the Minutemen at least help everyone and not just a small handful of individuals.
So I figured out that the synth uploading the virus in Airship Down can be killed in combat, delaying the quest. You have to go back up to have another one teleport in to resume the process. I used this to my advantage by killing the virus synth when Elder Maxon showed up so I have time to fight him for his unique weapon and clothes.
The weird thing is that once I finally killed Maxon, synth gorillas were now somehow fighting Brotherhood soldiers as well. I guess in my delays they have exhausted their synth troops and teleported in the gorillas...
Do you have that "Wasteland of the Apes" mod installed? It changes the relay grenades to summon gorillas instead of gen 1s. If so, you probably had some coursers tossing those around.
Do you have that "Wasteland of the Apes" mod installed? It changes the relay grenades to summon gorillas instead of gen 1s. If so, you probably had some coursers tossing those around.
Suddenly wanting to see Skyrims mammoths imported as synths, summonable with telenades.
Welp, I made another mod because why not. It lets you move settlement objects around rather than only being able to scrap them. Scrap Everything patch included.
Welp, I made another mod because why not. It lets you move settlement objects around rather than only being able to scrap them. Scrap Everything patch included.
Hmm.... I have to confess I have wanted to move those campfires on occasion. I can't think of ever having the urge to move anything else though.
In all honesty, it was about 80% "I wonder if this will work" in both getting the stuff to move and making them not show up on the build menu. So far I have only shuffled around a few trees that were clipping through my buildings and campfires. Had I not already scrapped so many things, there would probably be more. Basically I just added the ability to easily move anything to be determined later.
35 synths all crammed into a tiny area - what could go wrong?
"Hello, fellow human."
"Hello. Would you like to come over to dinner sometime? My wife is an excellent cook, and also human, like myself."
"That would be wonderful. I enjoy eating food."
I had the pleasure of coming across the defective assaultron random event.
Assaultrons on their own are terrifying but when about five of them are running at you screaming "I'm a pretty boy I'm a pretty boy." You just throw your weapon on the ground and run and you don't look back.
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In Skyrim, you could become the Harbinger of the Companions, the Archmage of the Mages' College, Guildmaster of the Thieves' Guild, and the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. As leader of the four most elite factions in the region, you're basically the master of a small army. But the game never gives you the option to use these factions to conquer Skyrim for yourself, or support your preferred side in the civil war, or even just make the factions aware of each other in any capacity.
Likewise in Fallout 4, even after becoming the leader of multiple factions, you never have any option to try and find compromise between them. The in-universe justification for this is that the factions would simply revolt if you tried to bring them together, but it seems like the game should still give you the option to try anyway, even if doing so inevitably ends in failure.
edit: I do remember in Oblivion that before the "big battle" at Bruma, there was an optional objective to "enlist the help of the x guild" that you were the master of. "Finally, it will pay off!" I thought. Nope. All it let you do was have a single trainee follow you around.
man Bruma could have been so awesome..
Why you gotta remind me about how bad it was.
maybe if they had re-written into something about potato people in the magical potato kingdom dealing with a crisis of potato bugs that would have helped.
I beat the main quest and was master of every guild, Progressed part way through shivering isles, and never did Knight of the Nine.
You aren't missing much.
ugh but this talk of oblivion is making me want to redownload it and run it again with the worst mods I can find.
Its of variable quality of course, and the worst is the main quest. They really needed to put a lot more work into the oblivion gates, as is you are a lot better off just pretending the priory doesn't exist and playing guild quests and SI.
I basically downloaded a bitchin' vampire mod and did exactly that. I didn't quite finish SI, but I did finish 95% of everything else outside of the main story. I never even triggered the Oblivion gates.
Mods can, of course, fix the potato problem.
I found that I enjoyed Oblivion... well, at all, if I never progressed the main quest to the point where the gates started spawning. I never did any of the DLC, but I had a great time with the guilds and such before I felt like the game had run its course for me.
I think it's such a shame how little effort was put into Fallout 4's story (to bring this around to being relevant), and the factions are a huge example of that though of course not nearly the only example. Hell, I thought the Railroad was specifically trying to get me to be leader of the Institute because that would be an awesome way to shut down their enemy and do some good (at least, good in their minds) with all that technology. But nope.
Main plot to oblivion: The emperor, fleeing an assassination plot, gives the Amulet of kings to a random prisoner with instructions to give it to his heir. The prisoner, who tries the Amulet on only to find that he is unable to wear it and it doesn't seem to do anything, throws it into a random chest at an inn and forgets about it. Meanwhile, it turns out the Amulet was key to the whole evil plot in the first place, and after failing to find it on the emperor's heir, the Mythic Dawn utterly fails to summon Mehrunes Dagon, who gets bored and wanders off. Meanwhile, in the absence of an emperor, governance of Cyrodil falls to the guilds, the dark brotherhood, and the newly reformed knights of the nine, all secretly run by one really industrious guy, who also happens to be the god of madness. The end.
A better plot than Bethesda could ever write.
9/10, would buy.
Either play ball and let us dictate how things are done, or don't make us the leaders.
Also its hilarious that if the institute is destroyed the railroad just handwaves away the lack of new synths "oh but we have many current synths to save!"
Let's be generous and say they have like 10 more years of helping runaways. Then what?
Freeing the synths is great and all, but there are problems that occur with mental stability, not to mention long term health problems or whatever else might crop up, and you are murdering most of the people that would be able to fix anything.
Wheras on the other hand I could take over the institute, ban the kidnap and replace jobs, institute an ethics board to prevent stuff like super mutant experimentation, and make a rule that you don't get gen 3 synths to make your coffee or clean up around the place anymore (robots and gen 1s do exist after all), and you are set.
That's how I think of it (my first character chose the Institute ending).
Scientist: I've developed a new and improved tato plant, and I'd like to send samples to a settlement for cultivation tests. We'll use a trader contact to bring back samples and yield information.
Review Board: That looks promising, but we'd like you to kidnap and replace the leader of the settlement with a Gen 3, and murder everyone at the end of the experiment.
Scientist: Um... OK?
oh this goddamn game.
Scientist: We need a pure dna sample. We found a baby frozen in a vault, we were thinking we could just snatch it. None of the tests we plan to do or samples we will take should hurt it, though. Its mom is in there, but we could just knock her out with drugs or something and bring the baby back and refreeze it, or even bring her and the father to the institute to help raise the baby after we get done with it.
Review board: That sounds good, but it would be better to just shoot the mother, also you should wake the father up and let him watch for no apparent reason, just to really push the evil level up.
Scientist: Sounds good, we will get that cyborg mercenary guy right on it.
Isn't this like asking what Batman will do after he's eliminated all crime in Gotham City?
The Railroad is working toward a Commonwealth that doesn't need them.
I get what you're saying, but when I have the ability to choose a faction, I am going to choose one with broader scope and permanence.
Like the Minutemen, I suppose. Annoying as fuck Garvey aside, he mentions that most people in the wealth hate synths because they only know the ones doing evil things for the institue. They don't know you can have synths that aren't evil. After the institute is destroyed, and therefore there aren't any synth terror missions, it stands to reason that eventually the hate against them will ebb away in time. I think a character in the minutemen or railroad mentions this as well. Something something synths are a tool the institute wields for evil.
This is the main point of contention between the Minutemen and the Railroad, who otherwise get along fairly well.
In Deacon's second approval conversation, he'll admit to being a supporter of the Minutemen, but he also isn't blind to the fact that they've so far been unsuccessful in creating any lasting improvements to the Commonwealth.
If you have Deacon as your companion and then switch to Preston, Deacon will mock the Minutemen, and Preston will shoot back with a comment about how the Minutemen at least help everyone and not just a small handful of individuals.
The weird thing is that once I finally killed Maxon, synth gorillas were now somehow fighting Brotherhood soldiers as well. I guess in my delays they have exhausted their synth troops and teleported in the gorillas...
Suddenly wanting to see Skyrims mammoths imported as synths, summonable with telenades.
Hmm.... I have to confess I have wanted to move those campfires on occasion. I can't think of ever having the urge to move anything else though.
What kind of stuff are you re-locating yourself?
although just making it removable would probably work just as well
The person who does this first will be anointed the savior and he or she shall be the one to deliver us from perdition.
"Hello, fellow human."
"Hello. Would you like to come over to dinner sometime? My wife is an excellent cook, and also human, like myself."
"That would be wonderful. I enjoy eating food."
Assaultrons on their own are terrifying but when about five of them are running at you screaming "I'm a pretty boy I'm a pretty boy." You just throw your weapon on the ground and run and you don't look back.