Finally Platin'ed the game. I really took my time with this game, playing mostly stealth+doing most quests, clearing out most locations and gather all the resources I can find.
"Perfect". Had to load another save and look up the locations of 7 more Bobbleheads for the last few trophies.
My actual save is with the Institute ending, though I'm also still aligned with the Minutemen. I consider this the best ending. The Institute is the best known chance in the Fallout world for humanity to make a comeback. Now that I'm the director I can get rid of the fucked up shit they've been doing (kidnappings for experiments, Synth replacing people as well as more rights for the Synths that developed a consciousness). The game didn't acknowledge this, but my character has 9 INT and lots of science perks so taking over the position wasn't so jarring.
It helps that the Institute is now an open presence and my customized speech reflects the focus on good intentions. Piper also wrote a newspaper with an optimistic look that also explains why the other factions had to go:
Fear the Future?
By
Piper Wright
We've all succumbed to it, at one point or another. No matter how brave, or how strong we actually are, the people of the Commonwealth have known Fear.
Ever since the "Broken Mask" incident of 2229, right here in Diamond City, when the first human-looking synth infiltrated and attacked a group of innocent settlers, we have lain awake in bed at night, terrified of the Institute and everything it represents.
Long have we dreaded the possibilities: Will someone I know be taken in the night for who knows what reason? Will one of my loved ones suddenly turn on me, because they are, in fact, a synth replacement? Or will the boogeyman finally step out of the closet and devour all who stand in it way?
We, the people of the Commonwealth, remember the past. We live in terror in the present. But must we also fear the future?
In an almost unthinkable series of recent events, the Institute has destroyed anyone in the Commonwealth who could conceivably stop them, including longterm player the Railroad, as well as the newly arrived Brotherhood of Steel. What's more, the shadowy, sinister organization has completed work on an advanced nuclear reactor that will provide them with nearly unlimited power for the foreseeable future. This surely means greater underground expansion, as well as increased range of their teleporter technology (which, until recently, had been a closely-guarded Institute secret).
So what exactly does this mean for the Commonwealth, going forward?
"Nothing good" seems to be the consensus. In fact, most people assume the worst.
But isn't it possible these fears are unfounded? The Railroad may have opposed the Institute, but they also defended all synths - even those who would potentially infiltrate human society. And the Brotherhood's mighty airship may now lie a smoldering wreck - but was the neo-knightly order really interested in the Commonwealth's best interests anyway?
But perhaps the most compelling reason not to give up hope just yet is the fact that, if my sources are correct - and I know they are - the Institute is now under direct influence of someone many of us have already met - the Vault Dweller. That lonely figure who came into our settlement searching for a missing child, and clearly found something else entirely. And maybe, just maybe, the Institute is all the better for it.
So be wary as we go into a new tomorrow, my friends. But stay strong. And always, always remember that humanity lives and dies on the surface. Humanity IS the Commonwealth. And maybe, just maybe, the Institute can be a part of that now.
The Brotherhood were fascists and would just implement a paramilitary regime, one that my player character can't even influence that much as I'm stuck being a Sentinel.
The Railroad were laughable, so few in numbers and they want to destroy so much just to rescue a bunch of Synths (of which some even turn into a menace). They also offer no way to improve the situation for humans in the world at all.
However - having to kill some very likable characters by myself felt weird. Especially killing the railroad. It would have been enough to sabotage their operations, giving info about their base to the BoS etc.
The Minutemen are back in strength and will offer a short-term benefit for all the problems of the local people, supported by Institute resources of course but people trust the Minutemen more so it's better to have them as the acting arm in settlements.
I appreciate that I could roleplay a bit my character how my character changed over time via ingame customization (although an automatic system would be neat for this):
Well... technically not even a year has past ingame, but if my character actually got to sleep more than one hour from time to time it would probably be several years
Favorite locations/quests that come to mind:
- Dunwich Borers (the second quarry): Like in the Dunwich building in F3, some occult shit was going on in there. Apparently the secret reason for he quarry is digging up some sleeping titan/statue (was also in the cellar in F3?), you can see its partial face here: http://abload.de/img/fallout4_201601160153udsnb.png You also get to see some prewar flashbacks. They really should give this Dunwich company a proper quest line in the next game/DLC.
- Cabot quest line (more ancient alien tech/occult stuff!)
- Wreck of the FMS Northern Star (beached freighter with ghoul raiders from Norway. I like to imagine they were alone out in the see after the war and only somewhat recently landed on the US coast).
- The whole Glowing Sea region, being allowed to wander through a nuked area complete with crater is a good compromise for having a largely intact city/world in F4.
- USS Constitution questline (flying ships weeee)
- Overall I liked the Commonwealth as a location a lot. F3 was a bit more bleak (didn't like the Vegas setting at all) but F4 has a much more diverse setting.
- Yangtze Submarine (although they should have gone more into the fact that it was this guy's nuke we see in the beginning of the game...)
- Other obvious story related locations like Diamond City, Libertalia etc.
- Vault 81 (the hidden&forgotten area that shows that they wanted to infect Vault people with diseases with monitoring stations behind walls. Only prevented by the original overseer who betrayed the other scientists and left them to die.)
- Cambridge Polymer Labs (trying to get out)
- Skylanes Flight 1981 Wreck (Giant airplane wreak with flight recorder)
- Forest Grove Marsh (not much to do here but the flooded village reminded me a bit of some of the TLOU sections. Also the dam area, in general I enjoyed being able to dive etc. and explore what's hidden down there.
Looking up map locations in the internet makes me realize I still have to explore more. They could have done a better job sending you to some of the locations via quest/hinting at stuff. Some of the interesting locations above I only visited because there was a bobblehead...
Though I'm kinda annoyed that many sites are not even locations that are marked in your pipboy, sometimes it's whole buildings you might miss. There should be a map for those as well.
The next patch seems to improve dealing with your settlements, when it hits for PS4 I probably will go back and tidy things up. Spend quite some time with crafting&building but I wanted to unlock everything first and then go in big. Makes now also more sense story-wise
