Which faction did you side with? *MAJOR END GAME SPOILERS*

I sided with the Brotherhood, but I kind of regret that. I have a save around when you fight Kellogg, so I think I'm going back and I'll play through siding with the other factions.

• Elder Maxson is a dick
• I saved Danse by convincing Maxson to let him live while still being loyal with the Brotherhood. Friends first.
• Dr. Li is a total bitch. I hated her in Fallout 3 and I hate her now. She needs to die just for being such a stuck-up.... I can't say that word on GB.....
• Synths are dangerous in general, but there are good synths out there. Is allowing the good synths to live worth the risk of bad synths killing everyone?
• The Institute was experimenting with FEV. In my mind, that makes them as evil as the Enclave. That was my primary motivation for destroying them
• Despite their amazing tech, The Institute is up to some shady shit, and I see them eventually causing the same problems that started this mess in the first place. Enclave ver. 2.0
• I view the Railroad as being naive when it comes to synths. While there are good synths that should be saved, it seems like synths do more harm than good most of the time.
• The Minutemen are probably the best all-around faction. They help Synths, help the people, and have the power to stand up and protect the Commonwealth from both the Institute and The Brotherhood.

I finished the game... with three of the factions so far. Brotherhood, Institute, and Railroad. I think so far I feel best about the Railroad... because Deacon is one of them and he is cool as hell. Institute and Brotherhood felt really cold, and didn't leave me satisfied when finishing them. I'll probably do a Minutemen ending for my second character.

I did feel shitty in the factions that make you blow up the Brotherhood of Steel's blimp. I mean, there's kids on there... but more importantly a cat :(

Oh and for anyone curious, the ending cinematic is pretty much the same, except with maybe a few lines of dialog changed between.

Went with the Minutemen as it was the only way to keep the Railroad and Brotherhood intact. Kind of disappointed that I went back to Elder Maxson after finishing the Institute and he had zero dialogue for me.

I sided fully with the brotherhood and I have zero regrets. Also, "betray" Danse? He's a synth.

At least he accepted his fate with honor, and right when my character was about to kill him and he said that he's never been so proud of her as in that very moment... that part just made the entire quest line for me.

You have the option to do some pretty messed up things if you go along for the ride and side with the Brotherhood, especially if you do not question your orders.

Also, I'm glad to hear you actually can side with the institute. Makes me more interested in making another character, maybe a tech-freak of some sort who's into robots and hacking and stuff.

I went with Minutemen as well, even though their quests are a bit boring at times.

Minutemen are the only faction that show a sightly empathy towards other factions, including the Institute.

(I really hate the Institute, and by extension, protagonist's son, their actions seem irrational at times, see my other thread)

I had pretty much decided to join the Brotherhood no matter what before even starting the game as I am a big fan of their visual look along with being slightly more militaristic. So in the end I sided with the Brotherhood, regretfully somewhat as they are SUPER unlikable, much more akin to their lore then Fallout 3/New Vegas. They basically have no tact, take whatever they want by force, are basically fanatics, and want to kill anything that isn't 100% human all in the name of the greater good.

I mean after figuring out there are exactly 4 "major" factions and you must ally with one, I was somewhat underhwhelmed. I was honestly expecting something similar to New Vegas where you had those "larger" factions like the Boomers, Khans, and Brotherhood and needed to curry their favor no matter who you chose. So in my mind as the player you would need to at least get the help of the Brotherhood, Railroad, and Minutemen to combat the Institute, no matter which of the three you officially joined. That you basically have the Railroad(theoretically good? closer to neutral), Brotherhood(theoretically neutral? closer to evil), and Institute (pure evil) as competing factions that will kill the other two no matter what while the Minutemen are like a good/neutral option that can somehow fight major powers was a bit baffling. For as dangerous as the Institute is portrayed I found it shocking that any of the three "good" factions could fight the Institute, while killing one of the others. That combined with how easy the Institute was to invade really made the "threat" of the Institute underwhelming, like how is EVERYONE terrified of these guys?

At the same time I understand the Brotherhoods stance on synths as it makes perfect sense in the lore as the Brotherhood is far from a good faction, probably closer to a Lawful Neutral straddling Lawful Evil. From a main story standpoint i was expecting a little more though mission wise. I mean you rescued preston, went to diamond city, rescued nick, killed kellog, kellog dream shit, head into the glowing sea(was expecting a bit more from this as the glowing sea is sorta hyped), build teleporter, meet institute, basically decide faction after that point, and finally kill 2 other rival factions, game over rather abrupt after finding the institute. I was liking the story until the glowing sea, which let me down and was the start of the story becoming worse and worse for me. I basically put 60 hours in before finding Virgil and then deciding to finally go find him and follow the story for a bit as I was slacking all the sudden went from "want to progress the story" to "game over" in around 2 hours after meeting Virgil.

I've helped my morally questionable son to fulfill his dreams before he hit the sack. I felt that it was an appropriate ending to a hamfisted main narrative, since - this is my headcanon anyway - as the new Director I could potentially stop synth production (what a terrible idea to pursue) and bring some of the amazing technology they produced underground to the Commonwealth for the benefit of everyone through my Minutemen.

The Underground and I blew up that blimp and I stole Elder Maxsons gun and coat. My lady looks dope now.

I chose the Institute.Didnt want Brotherhood Of Steel because you work with them in fallout 3.Didnt choose Minutemen because you work with them anyway.Railroad i really liked but i was more interested in the Institute,but ill probably choose them next playthrough.

I'm in a similar camp as SilverSaint. It's important to me for a faction to have a strong aesthetic identity going for them, and that pushed me into the Brotherhood as opposed to the anonymous Railroad or the dorky war reenactor Minutemen. I'm not entirely cool with all the decisions that the faction makes, obviously, but internal conflict and a touch of regret aren't bad things when you're building a character. I'm a really big fan of where the Danse storyline goes as well, and being in the Brotherhood is pretty much necessary to play that out properly.

Plus, for all the Brotherhood's fascist fanaticism, they're also the primary faction that's actually working to make the Commonwealth a safer place. The Railroad's mission is a reasonably noble one, but they're not out there taking out Super Mutants and Ghouls and Raiders and everything else that the Brotherhood routinely sends its strength against. Those patrols are what makes the Brotherhood feel like a non-evil choice for me. It's a wonderful touch by Bethesda that every now and then a Vertibird will roll up on a bunch of baddies and just start shit.

I'm definitely going to do an Institute playthrough at some point, but that character will be a very different beast. Not sure if I'll ever get around to the other two, since again, I really just can't get behind their visual design. I also have a problem with the Minutemen in that I strongly believe that, in a game like this, the player should never be the leader of a faction. Skyrim has this problem in spades: they can call you the Archmage of Winterhold, but aside from the snazzy room and robe they can never make you really feel like you're in charge of anything. Assuming a leadership role just means that you're taking orders from your own subordinates instead of your superiors. It's just a bad structure.

Man, this is the biggest dilemma I've encountered in a game. Can't we all just be friends?

Can anyone answer if we get a Fallout 3/NV narrated ending? Haven't sided fully with anyone yet, because I'm so afraid of this.
"The hero helped the BoS with their goal to kill everything, flying of with their blimp to reproduce on the moon".
"The hero helped the Institute, to totally annihilate all life on the earths surface for energy. And leaded the shit out of the scientists, safe underground".
"The hero saved the synths for the Railroad, and got Terminators".

Unfortunately no. I really loved those kind of endings in New Vegas... but Fallout 4 basically always gives you the same ending cinematic, and they alter a few words depending on which faction you choose. It's not really much of an ending to be honest.

The truth is, if we hadn't had power armor envy beat into us by all of the previous Fallouts, we would almost all universally hate the Brotherhood of Steel. We've been indoctrinated by them by our previous quests to get the coveted armor. Best way to weaken their hold was to give us power armor early, clearly one of the best choices in this game.

I wonder what we would say if the Institute had all cloaking technology, was the faction you had to use to fast travel, or simply all of the energy weapons.

I went with the Railroad, for many reasons other than the obvious slavery is wrong. First reason; I rolled with Nick Valentine for the whole game (nearly 50 hours so far), I grew really attached to him and he was my character's best friend so it seemed natural that I would do my best to free his people. Second reason; I thought the Institute was a big creepy science cult, they seemed to have no regard for human rights and reminded me of Nazi scientists. My final reason was my love of Data from star trek and the episode "Measure of a Man".

However, I would of liked an option that let me show Shaun the error of his ways, or some option that didn't lead to blowing up a nuclear reactor. I mean the Institute did have a lot going for it, unlimited food and energy supply comes to mind, seems like it could be a really positive force in the commonwealth in the right hands. Overall I enjoyed my time with the main story, flaws and all.

Just finished it. I sided with The Institute.

The Brotherhood are back to being assholes. Instead of building on their depiction in Fallout 3 (which I was fine with; it had an explanation that made sense), they junked the whole deal and decided to put a real prick in charge. Disappointing, but after being hammered for so long with "hur dur they fucked up BoS" I imagine Bethesda thought they didn't have much choice.

The Railroad were naive. Just naive. They thought that Synths were human beings (they're not), and they thought Synths were slaves (they're not). Synths are robots. Machines. They need to be closely monitored and controlled. They're not people, even if they look like it.

The Minutemen were... eh, they're there. They're not that interesting. I could have built up resentment over the fact that every time I handed in a quest Preston had another one waiting for me, though. I didn't even get a chance to do any Minutemen end game quests for some reason.

Out of all the available factions to choose from, I had to go with The Institute. They're not bogeymen. They're not evil. They're just scientists and engineers underground, living in a safe environment and conducting their research. Siding with them, you see their Wasteland interactions from the other side. If anything, the Institute being so secretive is what has set the Commonwealth against them. They don't abduct people by force; they ask politely, and most agree to go. They corral escaped synths because without close monitoring and control, synths can go haywire and malfunction. You know, like that guy who got shot at the noodle stand. Pretty much everything the Commonwealth had to fear from the Institute was given a satisfactory and understandable explanation. The Institute were not the bad guys. Nobody in the game are "the bad guys" save Kellogg, and he's just a mercenary with no personal involvement in your plight at all. Hell, the only reason you fight with the Railroad and the BoS is because one won't stop stealing your shit and the other wants to take all your shit. The Institute leaves the Minutemen alone, because the Minutemen are just regular people trying to help other people.

I think the plot suffers a bit for this, having no real villain. At the end of the day the game ended for me at my son's death bed, saying goodbye, and promising to lead the Institute to a brighter future for all mankind.

Oh yeah, your son puts youin charge when he's gone. By the end of the main quest there's nothing in the Commonwealth that'll stop you from making things better.

Have you had the encounter with the two Arts yet? That little encounter makes it pretty clear the Institute does murder and replace people.

I sided with the Brotherhood of Steel, even though they're fanatics. The way I saw it, the institute was creating a race of slaves, slaves with superior abilities to humans. When, not if, the slaves revolted, what would that mean for the rest of mankind? For me, the Brotherhood of Steel were the lesser of two evils. The Railroad? The Railroad was naive.

I considered siding with the Institute until I saw that they were working with FEV. I tried working with the Minutemen but I had done some Railroad quests already and I couldn't figure out who to talk to to carry the Minutemn stuff to its conclusion, so I worked with the Railroad. I'm pretty disappointed about there being no end slide show!

Yes. This was probably the biggest bummer of the game's story for me. Shaun's a piece of shit. Who the hell plays tricks like that on his mother... let her run into a synth boy she thinks is her son only to see how she'll react. As an experiment. Combined with all the outright evil shit the Institute gets up to I really desperately wanted an option to tell him that genetics aside he is definitely not my son, either forcing him to make amends and change his ways or the option to kill him myself... or at least slap him in the face and yell at him for a bit. But all the possible player's responses are sobbing emotional blabber, miles away from how my character would feel. My character would be pissed off, and there is no way to express that. There was such a complete disconnect between what I felt my character would think of the situation and what options you have... I was actually really annoyed by the time I finished the game.

Also, regardless of whether synths are humans (I'd say they are, 2 of my best friends are synths) the railroad really is the only faction that gives a crap about anyone other than themselves. That alone goes a long way for me. Whatever twisted ideology one happens to follow is neither here nor there, what a post-apocalyptic world really needs is simple compassion. The railroad seem to be the only ones capable of that.

Not to be that guy, but this is what made the witcher such an amazing game for me. I pretty much always felt like the dialogue options were appropriate for my character, tone and all. It's not an easy thing to do, but without saying fallout should be as good as the witcher in that department, it was just annoyingly bad for me at points. Surely they could do at least a little better. It made me finish the game with a bad taste in my mouth, and where I was already making plans for my second character, right now I kinda don't want to play the game again.

I thought the end faction choice in this game was super hamfisted and none of the factions really spoke to me. I ended up siding with the Brotherhood of Steel, if only because they're the ones with the Power Armor.

So I'm not done the game yet but I have sided with the Institute and so far so good. The one thing that kind of weird me out now is that before I was always helping out people/BoS and I was always having to fight Synths, but now the Synths are friendly and the BoS are shoot on sight (those vertibirds are a pain) and it still catches me off guard. I did this one thing in the Salem area where I was finding keys to safes in some kind of old folks home where Mr. Handy's were still "caring for" all of the dead residents, and right when I find the last key some Synths come in and blast the Mr. Handy's, I'm pretty sure they were normally meant to waste me but since I'm with the Institute they just stand around.

@gigabomber: I mean they weren't totally like this in 3 right? Or am I being idealistic because I thought they were morally good in 3.

Under Maxson or at least this section of the Brotherhood of Steel, they doubled down on the whole military power bit. The only friendly person in the Brotherhood is Haylen.

@andrew2696: They were just acting like fearful underdogs in 3 for a long while, but once they have the upper hand, they crush anyone with any type of remotely advanced tech by any means necessary.

My feeling is that their ideology is a combination of fear of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) from the nuke era and some twisted fear that a slippery slope of tech that makes you powerful will eventually make you evil. It would make more sense if they destroyed all tech and didn't hoard it, right?

Not at all. They wear Power Armor for a reason. They believe that technology represents mankind's best hope for the future, they just think it has to be used responsibly, and believe that (at least at the moment) they're the only ones who have the sense to do so. It doesn't corrupt people: many people are already corrupt (and/or stupid) without technology's help, and it's their responsibility to keep tech out of those people's hands so as to limit the damage that they can do.

And your earlier point about Power Armor making us want to join them seems a bit weird, given that this game gives you a suit in the first 20 minutes and by the time you'd get your BoS one you've probably already stumbled across two more. They really, really don't have a monopoly on it.

I went with the Railroad initially because I like the Freedom Trail and couldn't turn down walking it in game and from there my love of spy shit was played to by Deacon. Eventually it all kinda clicked together with what I actually thought about the situation. That and I named my character after a Civil War Union spy/former slave and somehow completely forgot the reason it's called the Railroad (rest of my playthroughs I'm changing my naming rule and using members of the Culper Ring).

The ending was actually great as my Vault Dweller didn't want to be the mother to the synth Shaun as she knew it was just the actual Shaun being an ass and making her life difficult one last time but couldn't follow the hypocrisy of leaving him to die while trying to save all the synths. Conflict of ethos! So now this dumb kid is standing in the Railroad Headquarters staring at Maj. John Pitcairn's bones. Hope someone is feeding him or whatever synth's need.

Went with the Brotherhood, because they've got dope weaponry...and because I wanted to say that I've finished the story in one way at least. They were a bit extreme with their views and the leader seemed like a jerk, but I just wanted to get it done...though heading over to the Insitute location with my big companion was pretty great.

In regards to Shaun, to the synth kid in particular, I was kinda disappointed that I couldn't just blast him with a shotgun after telling him that I would leave him behind. Suppose getting vaporized by a nuclear explosion was still an effective way to dispose of him.

I wanted to side with the Minutemen, but their storyline just seemed to stop dead for me and wouldn't continue beyond endless repeatable quests, so I ended up with the Brotherhood.

I sided with the Minutemen in no small part due to the Brotherhood themselves comparing their goals to that of Elder Lyons.

I feel like Fo4's rendition of the Brotherhood was basically a response to all the people that complained about their depictions in 3. Those people can suck a dick. So can Maxson.

The trouble is, you meet multiple synths in the game, like Nick, who very clearly display the exact same level of sentience and emotional understanding as any other person. I feel like something stops being simply a 'tool' the second it organizes a rebellion in a desperate attempt for freedom. In a perfect world, synths never would have evolved to that point, so they could just be more disposable like a Protectron, but they clearly have more going on than that.

I don't know dude, Nick acts like the person whose mind it was based upon, but if you complete his quest he says something along the lines that none of it is real and the only thing that counts is the good you made together (by killing the bad guy). My feeling about the synths in this game was they are not even self-awere, it's all an simulation of behaviour not actual feelings. Therefore I had to side with BoS and kill all the synths including Shaun-Synth who tried to play with my feelings there at the very end. Now that I think about it he was a new prototype so he might actually have been the first self-awere artificial being, but we won't ever find out because he evaporated there with the rest of the Institute in a nuclear blast.

I sided with the one that wanted to murder the other ones.

@quipido: I interpreted that as something that really exposed Nick's inherent humanity, actually. He was pointing out that, even if he's a "synth" and not a "human", and maybe he doesn't experience emotions the same way, we're all still defined more by our actions that what's going on in our heads. It doesn't really matter how you feel about doing something, but whether or not you do it. It's existentialism, something anyone can relate to. Ultimately, I felt like there was a lot more to be gained from examining the actions of the Synths (desperately trying to free themselves from slavery) than speculating on whether their mental processes qualified as human enough for my tastes. I understand the other side, but there just seem to be too many examples suggesting the Synths were more than just tools, and it made the other argument just feel like self-justification.

This analogy of Nick is what made me consider joining the Railroad. However I ended up joining the Institute due to the character's affinity to his son, and thinking the son can be reasoned with and make exceptions. Unfortunately the game's writers hindered such a choice. :p

Minutemen -Dont have sustainability as a group, so i cant justify going with them as much as i like the freedom and cause of it we need to really think there not a good choice.

BOS- Extremist's cant go with them they just end up causing destruction

Basically that leaves two choices:

Railroad- A good cause there the freedom fighter's and all but they have no real plan and don't leave much in terms of a power for the commonwealth. I could see things getting out of control with them once all synths are free and it ended badly.

The institute- My personal opinion the best choice and first time i actually felt a slightly evil faction was actually the best. I feel like they offer the best choice and chance for stability to the region and they can be improved on. Also with the sole survivor in control i think they will become slightly less extreme on a few things because if not for the slavery there the outright best faction/end. Way i view it is my sole survivor will take them in a better direction with out slavery and other bad parts.

Railroad is too naive, synth needs to be controlled at all time to prevent revolting which may cause the extinction of the human race.

BOS is too power-hungry which will one day be the cause of another catastrophe, the sole-survivor will be the head of the BOS and can correct its ways but only for a brief moment before it falls to the wrong leader in future generations. Imagine another nuclear explosions =P

Institute is the cause of many experiments goes wrong, ex: supermutants, synth, etcs. Someday this group of mad scientiests will create something that will be the cause of human extinction. But when becoming its leader, the sole-survivor will be able to correct its mistake and create many technologies that benefits mankind, ex: preservering the memory of the sole-survivor which will act as the ever-lasting leader of the institute and thus prevent the insititute from falling into wrong hands or creating dangerous technologies

Minuteman is the overall best choice for morality, they truly wishes for peace and prosper, no mad scientist and no power-hungry lunatics, but wait.... without technologies the damage done to the human dna will be passed on to the future generations, and who knows after passing centuries of time ghouls might not be the only abomination living on the world =P

I sided with The Institute because although I disagreed with their treatment of synths and some of their other beliefs, I thought I could best help humanity by accepting my role as leader and shaping The Institute's direction in the future to be more in line with my personal wishes. Too bad you don't get to actually do anything at all once you finish their questline (and it also blew my mind how Bethesda learned absolutely nothing from the negative feedback from their slideshow ending of Fallout 3, repeating that again).

I had some weird glitches/bugs towards the end of my file that sort of killed my ability to finish with the Railroad, and possibly the Minutemen as they never stopped giving me anything else besides the procedural quests.
So it came down between the Institute and the Brotherhood and although the Institute are kind of shitty, my thought process was similar to @deathbywaffle in that hey, now that I'm in charge, I would change the way things are to match how I felt.
The Brotherhood mostly felt like I would be towing their line, which I don't care to do.

I'm bummed they didn't learn anything from New Vegas and how they approach their endings, you can choose any side you want including just your own, you don't have to join any of them, you can just take shit over. That was awesome.

I went with the institute, because despite my sympathy for the synths, the railroad didn't offer a path to an ordered society. So between the ordered societies I had to choose among, there's the Brotherhood and the Institute. Honestly, like some other posters, I never really recognized the Minutemen were an option. And between the Brotherhood and the Institute, the Institute had better technology and a better outcome for synths... slavery is better than death. I would have rather taken over the institute myself at gunpoint and wielded it to my own ends, but no game is completely free, I guess.

I finished up with the Minutemen (used them to kill Institute). I went this route because it allowed me to have both Brotherhood and Railroad still alive at end. I watched a Youtube video to get this result -so I definitely fall into the lame category as far as that goes... it involved avoiding some questlines. I liked characters from each faction - so I wanted to limit the carnage. I did end up with the Platinum - going back to older saves to go other routes, but I consider the Minutemen ending my true ending.

The Minutemen are by far the best hope the commonwealth has.

The BoS is useful for getting rid of ferals and supermutants but they seem to lack what it takes to build a civilization from the ground up. They don't know the difference between a feral ghoul and an innocent irradiated human being, nor do they care to admit that there is a huge difference between a gen 3 synth and their gen 1 and 2 alternatives.

I agree, all synths working for the institute should die, gen 3 or otherwise, but the same goes for humans. Surely you wouldn't presume to kill all humans because some of them serve the institute.

I only compare gen 3 synths to humans because lets face it: the only difference between the two is that humans are organic. The institute has reached a level of technology that allows them to create beings that are sentient, self aware, and can feel and perceive emotion. So much so that many don't even know they're synths. At this point we really need to ask ourselves, what makes them so different? When the line between ai an organic life is blurred, our perceptions of the concept must adapt.

Do I think the institute should have created synthetic life (yes, life)? No. But the way things are, and the way things should be are very different. The fact is, gen 3 synths exist, and they might as well be human.

Which brings me to the institute. There was never a doubt in my mind that they were full of bs. All of that talk about creating a better future for the world, and knowing what's best for mankind, and all the while, they spied, kidnapped, indoctrinated, and enslaved. Obviously, creating sentient beings and then forcing them, or brainwashing them into carrying out your will is morally repugnant, but "slavery is bad" isn't my only argument here.

They claim to be rebuilding the world, but do so from underground, tucked away from the surface. Most of them don't even know what it's like up there. If they did, they would know that the real world is not hidden underground in a sterile facility managed by indentured servants of ones own creation.

The real world is up here. Rebuilding civilization doesn't mean abandoning the world as we know it to hide underground like worms and treat the surface like some alien planet. If the institute had humanity's best interests in mind, they wouldn't have hidden their valuable technology away for only them to take advantage of. They would have helped from the beginning.

As for the railroad, they seem too obsessed with synths. Their cause is a noble one, to be sure, but they lack the strength, numbers, and vision to rebuild civilization. They aren't leaders, they just operate in the environment that is handed to them. Basically the opposite of the brotherhood.

The BoS and the railroad are valuable allies, but the commonwealth's only real hope is the minutemen. After taking all of the settlements, they essentially own the commonwealth, and from there will only continue to grow and strengthen themselves. They show compassion to their fellow man synthetic or otherwise, and know how to kick ass if necessary. All they needed was you, the lone wanderer, to help them rise from the ashes and create order and peace not through totalitarianism or secretive experimentation, but through camaraderie, unity, and honor.

Granted, their aesthetic is pretty boring but I recommend the "We are the Minutemen" mod for anyone looking to spice up their morale. It adds a uniform retexture, minutemen paint for all power armor suits, new minutemen themed paintings, posters, and flags to the settlement builder, and stronger more dynamic minutemen patrols. Even if they aren't your preferred faction, it makes them feel like more of a presence in the commonwealth.

In the end of it all, I blow up the institute with the minutemen, keep the g3 synth shawn at sanctuary with me, rescue the enslaved g3 synths, and maintain my good standing with the BoS and the railroad.

After the main quest, I retain my position in the brotherhood. As the general of the minutemen, I provide them the means to keep the prydwen afloat, meaning they only maintain their substantial presence in the commonwealth because I allow it, and I help the railroad continue to smuggle any remaining institute slaves to safety. Pretty good ending if you ask me.