struggling to figure out which faction in Fallout 4 is the best for the commonwealth? not to worry, we've got you covered with a nice deep dive investigation into which offers the greatest hope for a brighter tomorrow.
The Minutemen are the only faction with the Commonwealths best interests in mind. They just need strong consistent leaders. That being said, there IS another settlement that needs our help. Here, I'll mark it on your map!
They’ll run themselves into the dirt trying to do their hippy shit. They have no production means, no real goals, and they couldn’t even hold a literal fortress against some crabs. They’re an eight year old’s idea of good governance
In my personal head cannon the Sole Surviver is able to rally a lot of support and leadership through his companions after their personal quests. Sole Surviver - General Ronnie Shaw - Major, Second in command Preston Garvey - Colonel, Third in command Danse - Colonel, Head of training, Fourth in command Maccready - Captain, Special Forces Curie - Chief Physician/Science Officer Strong - Support/Heavy Weapons Atom Cats - Supplies Power Armor Deacon - Railroad Liason/Intel specialist/spy...?
Just imagine the minutemen/railroad alliance seizing the Institute, and instead of nuking them into oblivion, they occupy them and use the teleporter and genetically engineered super crops to fix the commonwealth's broken provisions and logistics problems. Settlement needs our help? The minutemen are ready in a second's notice.
Yeah the minuteman ending really feels like the best faction. . . Basically its the only faction you can build from the ground up. The only faction you trully own. . . Its a yesman independent win without all of the narcissism.
I would argue that the Institute and Minutemen together ending, where you're both Director and General, is even better, for similar reasons but with even more potential.
I just wish we could revoke elder Maxson and propose a change in leadership and we, the lone survivor, become the new leader of the BOS. I hope Maxson burns.
@@JB-xl2jc But as they mention, besides the moral issues with the institute, you will never be one of them. You will always be Gatsby, the guy who plays institute but they will never accept you into their true esoteric knowledge. Once the lone survivor dies they appoint one of their own and it goes back to where it was. Moral issues though, the institute obv operate outside what we would consider ethically acceptable in modern academia.
@@ChanchoMittens Valid concerns, but there's a good bit of evidence that the Institute cares more about ability and utility than where you're from. Don't forget that Madison Li was just a brilliant scientist from the wasteland, and she worked her way up to a perfectly respectable division head in charge of arguably the most important division (solving the biggest issue the Institute has, power generation). Father himself is also an outsider and is/was practically worshipped. The moral concerns are more valid, but if you look up who's behind literally all of the heinous activities it's all Ayo and Father, and if you play Minutemen+Institute you can get rid of Ayo (and Father is gone regardless). The rest of the Institute is very compartmentalized so its very likely they didn't even know of (nor would they support) the most immoral stuff. As for your place, you have a pretty great board of scientists with every reason to respect and support you.
@@JB-xl2jc it's kind of funny, because i kind of have a theory in the direction of the institute under Shaun's control, so my theory is due to the idea of Shaun's when it came down to ending war so the earth could repair itself, but unfortunately this can't happen because the people who live above ground are always at war with each other. from Shaun's perspective, it's better to eliminate all factions and people to achieve this idea, the funny thing is that quote we hear so often " war never changes " goes along with this same idea, if you can end all war by doing the ultimate hard decision to maintain that peace in order to help the planet heal, you would have to effectively eliminate all these people to get to that end goal. the institute claim that the future is better in their hands because it has to do with returning to the world above ground with as clean as possible DNA as the ultimate result or as Shaun would say uncorrupted DNA. it's a goal that would take many hundreds more years, but the institute would effectively have to eliminate all factions all around the earth, which could also take generations because wars with each faction could span years and years, i suppose if they attacked people through bioscience creating bio weapons, when it came down the the human populations they could easily eradicate them without issue if needs be. the ultimate goal is to preserve uncorrupted human DNA, and the synthetic tech will help in that regard, but it also makes me wonder if the institute would possibly try and reverse engineer other technologies such as the tech Vault tech cryo pods to preserve themselves, we have heard of the institute in the past experimenting with synths and moving an entire personality into a synth body like Nick, which suggests this might have been another possible route the institute were thinking of doing in dealing with the radiation above ground, but Nick was just a prototype and it never really went anywhere, so generations later people started making other synth models then eventually the gen 3 synths, which are allowed to form their own personalities like Dima, but they are meant to follow orders like the gen 1s. i mostly think what's going on with the synths who are seemingly having an identity crisis is due to their programming and since that father Benet is in that synth process of creating them, he's the delusional scientist who's likely responsible for the synths having such stupid morality patterns, the man made for himself a sex bot synth for crying out loud, the man is all kinds of delusional, he thinks that because synths that can dream that somehow they have souls, he's supposed to be a intelligent scientist who knows and understands the difference, not a philosopher lol.
In my headcanon after the Institute was destroyed. The railroad basically integrated itself into the Minutemen because Deacon convinced Desdemona that there was nothing left for them to accomplish. Which helped the Commonwealth gain better opinion on synths, Gave the Minutemen access to Ballistic Weave, people who are great at undertaking stealth operations, and code language would be introduced to the Minutemen. And even the Atom Cats would certainly see the Minutemen as good allies because of the Gunners who try to steal their tech. And since the Sole Survivor is liked by the leader, relations would be fairly simple to mutually benefit each other. They gain better protection from Gunners, the people they help now help them, and they help train members on how to repair things. Honestly that just feels like the only way that goes down.
Yeah, I feel like it would probably would become the Minutemen version of the “CIA” due to how many operatives are trained in things like espionage, disguise, etc. + PAM which is a prewar robot designed to predict actions and prevent harm
Not only did Shawn say he released his dad,but every time he runs into a synth, they actively try to kill him. That always made me wonder if Shawn wasn't lying about releasing him and that his release was just an accident.
@1SLUGGO1 yes, but I've always viewed his release as an accident or maybe done by someone other than the institute. Not sure who. Possibly Kellogg due to remorse or for other motives. Perhaps Deacon, he's got plenty of deep stuff in his background. He did speak up for us at our first meeting with the Railroad,even though he didn't know us from a Mirelurk. That's one reason I love this game so much. Other games have deeper meanings and hidden agendas, but FO4 has some really deep meanings and secrets. Plots within plots.
@@tonydabaloney It's probably Deacon. Overlooking the vault entrance on a cliff is a chair with a railroad symbol. Deacon is following you around from the moment you're out. The only way he knows this is if the railroad is reaponsible for your release.
I'm thinking that those synths have yet to see him as non-hostile. If you side with the Institute, Synths are actually non-hostile. Except in ArcJet, of course.
BoS soldiers: "Sir, we cant keep throwing bodies at problems entire teams couldnt handle." Maxon: "You're right soldier, throw some power armor on one of them first!"
@@johnhenderson7941 "Aren't Vertibirds expensive? That method of training would mean less resources dedicated to other stuff... like making Liberty Prime controllable thru VR, I think that would be worth it!" -Some random knight IDK
I want to circle back on the Gunner rank system for a moment. Having served in the US military for over 20 years, that is actually common in the US military. Where a Captain (especially in a headquarters unit of a Battalion or higher organization) will have Majors and Colonels serving "under them". But that is largely administrative, they are placed "under" them for organizational purposes. But when it comes to actual chain of command, they answer only to the higher ranking commander. My last unit before I retired was a Medical Brigade. Our "Commanding Officer" was a Captain, but under her were several Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, and Majors. They answered to the Captain only for administrative purposes, their actual "boss" was the Colonel who was the Brigade Commander. To give an example, a Gunner Commander who is a Major General sends a force to Boston. Along with the Commander of the actual forces they will also send specialists in Logistics, Administration, Intelligence, Communications, and Operations. And those specialists may well outrank the actual "Ground Forces Commander", but have no actual command role in the organization but serve the Captain as advisors for the higher unit commander. For some of the higher ranking officers seen in game, they might be the equivalent of an "Inspector General" or other specialists sent in. Who are literally outsiders and do not fall into the chain of command of the local assigned unit at all. The equivalent of a Special Forces or Navy SEAL unit. They might be in the area of a Company or Battalion, but they do not answer to that commander but to a chain of command separate and often higher than the local commander. The Navy has somewhat similar traditions, with higher ranking officers on a ship like another Captain commonly addressed at one time as "Commodore". They are still a Captain by rank, but as they are not the captain of that ship that title is traditionally not used. And the common term for them is "Supercargo".
Sounds like the Army needs to get their shtuff together... The Navy these days is actually far more rigid in their rank structure in my experience. You'll almost never see a person of higher rank serving under a person of lower rank unless it's a situation of an LDO (unable to rise above O-6 and only able to command personnel in a specific occupation field), If I recall correctly, Commodore was what today would be called rear admiral lower-half (dumbest rank name change ever) and was typically an officer in charge of a small task force consisting of multiple ships. By modern tradition, any commander of a ship, regardless of rank, is typically referred to as "captain", though it's also acceptable to address by their official rank, while others of equal or greater rank are typically referred to by their actual rank or in situations of familiarity sir/ma'am. it would be extremely irregular for any officer, O-5 and up to receive a posting beneath a commander or to match the example you used, a Lieutenant (O-3).
@@Theegreygaming Because the Navy is almost all based on ships. And there is only one Captain on a ship. They are the top dog, and nobody on the ship outranks them unless it is a flagship with an Admiral and their own staff. And even then, the authority of the Captain outranks the Admiral, but as the task force commander the Admiral can give orders. But only to the Captain, not actually take charge of the ship themselves. Think of it like that, and it is the same in the Marines as the Army. I was a Marine for 10 years, and have seen it there also. Where you may be on a base that houses a Regiment, and the Regimental Commander is a Colonel. But the "Base Commander" is only a Major. So when it comes to matters pertaining to the physical base itself, the Major by position outranks the Colonel who is in reality only a guest on that base. Or in a Battalion, all of the S shops like S-1 though S-4 are part of the Headquarters Company. So once again for administrative purposes the Majors are under the Company Commander, but operationally only answer to the Battalion Commander. The Navy is really the odd one out in that, because of the unique situation of many of them serving on ships where there is ultimately only one boss that nobody outranks (unless it is the Flagship). I am actually rather unique in my career, as my first decade I was a Marine. But for over 6 of those 10 years I actually served on Navy bases. And on the first being part of Base Security, my chain of command was unique as I answered to the Marine Commander (a Major), and he only answered to the Base Commander (an O-6 Captain). I could ignore the Base XO or any other Commander or Lieutenant Commander on the base if it had to do with my duty, because operationally my CO outranked them by position. And as base security, I could give orders to a Flag Officer, in the line of doing my duty. Imagine a strange situation, where an Admiral transfers their flag to a Destroyer. Suddenly that Commander (O-5) is going to have a Flag officer, as well as his O-6 Staff Captains that all outrank him on his ship. But none of those rank Captains have any authority over the Captain of the Ship. Same situation. I am not sure if it is still followed today, that part of my service was over 3 decades ago and things might have changed. But at that time, an additional rank Captain was addressed as "Commodore" if they were on the ship of another. Or by the name of their ship if they were a ship captain. And Marine O-3 Captains were addressed as "Major" if supercargo on a ship. I remember being on the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41), and seeing the confusion of a Lieutenant in the Ward Room when I addressed my Company Commander as "Major". He had never served on a ship before, so did not know that one does not address a Marine Captain by rank when on the ship commanded by another. So by tradition you promote them one rank for addressing purposes.
@@Theegreygaming "By modern tradition, any commander of a ship, regardless of rank, is typically referred to as "captain"" who is to say a Gunner captain doesn't work the same, they may be higher rank and just named captain as they lead the team?
@@ducite9943 that may be true, but by modern tradition, any commander of an army unit is not referred to by any rank other than their own. also that modern naval tradition only extends to crew directly addressing their CO. a crew member would never refer to Captain so-and-so to anyone in another command, and that CO would never introduce themselves as captain, they are still required to use their actual rank, though they can always take on, "captain/commanding officer of ship x".
Ron Pearlman… I’m just now finding this channel but I absolutely love. As someone new to the whole settlement building community but a lifelong fan of Fallout 4, I love to see the dedication you have to exploring such a beautiful piece of art. If anything, know that as a fellow connoisseur I appreciate it!
The fact that Bethesda scrapped the quest to allow Paladin Dance to challenge Maxin is probably one of the biggest missed opportunities for potential story development, under different leadership the BoS could have actually been a good choice for the Commonwealth. However as it stands the Minutemen are the only ones who have the actual future of the whole commonwealth in mind.
Minutemen...yeah, for a goody two shoes they might be the ideal choice, especially since you become leader without doing much really! Otherwise they are useless, the only faction who will IMHO (in time!) truly accomplish anything without the player is: The Institute! Not to mention that I don't like wasting resources, so I almost always join them - especially since they aren't content squatting in rotting/crumbling ruins! No, they build clean, new things (from the Institute itself, which is the only decently clean place Fallout 4, to the synths (note: Jury is still out IMHO if they truly count as alive, you can make good cases for and against this, as they are made to simulate humans - which includes feelings!)...that is something I am missing from the old games (Fallout 1 and 2!), because the NCR, Vault-City etc. were clean, new places - not just squatting in ruins! Sadly Badthesda abandoned this :(
Honestly, scrapping it was probably a good idea. With the cult of personality Maxson has it would be hard to imagine anyone in the brotherhood going along with a synth and local thug's coup.
@@dreamingflurry2729 you do know the institute actively tries to prevent the commonwealth to properly rebuild society and are trying to completely be self sufficient to the point where the commonwealth can just die
To me I feel like the canon ending is the minutemen’s, where you keep the railroad and brotherhood alive. And in the siege of the institute you let harmless scientists escape. And it’s purely so future games can have cameos from characters in this one. It’ll be cool in fallout 5 to run into like a rogue institute scientist in hiding or something
I like to think its an ending of only the brotherhood and minutemen surviving, the brotherhood got what they wanted leaving the commonwealth pretty barren technologically for the most part but the sole survivor ends up being the general of the minuteman and barely keeps the commonwealth stitched together like a blanket allowing them to survive and they eventually grow to be self sufficient confidently but dont end up being a huge power like the NCR
Harmless scientists? Those egg heads made synths once and they WILL band together to do it again in hopes of taking over the Commonwealth. The only right choice is to annihilate them so they don't create any more technology.
Saying the Minutemen ending is canon ia stupid af. Just look at the final mission, Preston just pulls out a fusion charge out of his ass. It would make sense that the Brotherhood could make that fusion charge but the Minutemen are not a faction known for their tech.
@@nswkfbdbanwnsjja3367 keep in mind that sturges is a very solid mechanic, i mean he built the damn teleporter with the SS. im sure he would figure out how to make a bomb with some future mumbo jumbo on it
I love Fallout 3, Vegas, and did enjoy 4, but I never chose a faction to fully side with because none of them were compelling enough to justify betraying the others. Consequently, I played until all the side quests were finished, and then canonized my own ending where I maintained a perpetual unstable peace between all of them.
Another one for the gunners is one most never notice. If you use a gunner cage and capture a gunner, the faction will actually raid you in attempt to rescue its men.
everything you capture has that effect. i think the goal of the cages was "a group of was passing by, and one went for the item inside the cage and got caught. the rest got startled and started attacking."
Feels more like that without the player the Minutemen would have died at the museum and the brotherhood of steel at the police station without showing up later. The institute would eventually succeed in starting the reactor and then do who know what. The Railroad would have continued railroading atleast for some time. The overboss would have continued overbossing. The Island factions continue to be in a stalemate. And the Mechanist, one you missed, would have taken over the Commonwealth without knowing. Also, of the nuka-world raider factions, the one that has useful skills to sustain itself is the pack, animal handling, sure the pack might be using it to run a death arena while wearing clown outfits, but that is still a circus, or a rodeo.
To be fair the Bortherhood comes even if you don't help the police station so they would still come, the only thing we don't know is if they would be able to activate prime before the institute gets the agitator. The nuka world raiders might enter in a conflict with the gunners, when we get the nuka world transmission we intercept a gunner squadron that was about to search for their missing squadron who went to nuka world, had they knew about nuka world and considering they had means of comunicating to one another they could very well overpower the raiders there. The island factions won't be in a stalemate, when we arrive far harbor is already cornered and tensions with the children of atom are escalating, it's just a matter of time before they declare war, and considering their superior numbers and technology it would most likely end with them being the sole faction in that island. The Mechanist might be killed by the raiders that were after her, giving the raiders a robot factory at their disposal, bringing a whole new problem to the wastelands
Agree with the Mechanist idea as well. Jezebel was already getting hacked into by the Raiders so eventually they would have a fully operational factory to mass produce slaughter bots. The island may be a stalemate still cause Avery is a synth and Arcadia was getting fearful it could have just been a matter of time till Dima sent the ex-Corsair to fix the problem.
@@Ricardo_Rick I am saying that Dance and his crew do not survive without the existence of the player character. And thus no signal for the rest of the brotherhood to arrive. But maybe. - That squad of gunners taking on the Nuka-World raiders is absurd. We are talking about 3 large gangs of raiders, each outnumbering the gunners, working together, holding a fortified position, expecting violance and being better equiped. Nuka-Town is the biggest city in the game. - The Mechanist is the largest producer of robots in the commonwealth, she has an understanding of robotics greater than the all the Rust Devils combined, the comparatively small group of raiders can't compete with the industrial scale of an inter war time production facility.
@@ye4thorn Danse would die but the signal would go either way, as shown when the prydwen arrives even if we ddin't met danse. There is already a big gunner squad in Nuka-world but since their radio was broken they can't call for reinforcements, the squad near the entrance was there to investigate their gone missing, if it was not for the player they would have found out the first squad and with radio support AND the surprise factor they could indeed win, especially because the raiders are all in the small town without the players help. If the player managed to find the mechanist then the rust devils could as well, especially because they used the same way, i'm not saying it would be easy, but possible considering how unaware the mechanist is from the outside world
@@Ricardo_Rick The "small town" is called Nuka-Town usa and is the largest settlement in the game. All the gunners together in an all out siege might have a chance. It is not about finding the Mechanist's Lair, the Rust Devils don't have the man power to take on the Mechanist.
Ron Pearlman That was the best video I have seen in a long time! The information you had gave me a new look on each faction! Makes me want to go play again
Ron Perlman. I don't often like or subscribe to any channel, I normally watch youtube in bed or on the TV and to be completely honest, I go through waves of being into certain things and then not being interested for a few years (hence me coming back to FO4 in 2023 after a 4 year break). However, I liked, subcribed, and thought I would drop a comment just to say what an excellent and complete video you have made. Had me listening for the whole time. I'm impressed that you've created a channel just from FO4 and still kept it going in 2023. Thought my FO4 playthrough will be over in a few weeks, I look forward to coming back to your channel in another 4 years.
2:48 I can’t imagine the Atom Cats becoming contract mercenaries for either the Railroad or Minutemen. They’re smooth-talkin’ grease-monkeys who hold poetry nights. If anything, they’re more likely to serve as suppliers for the other factions, be it for new suits, repairs, or modifications.
I agree. They're way less likely to be the SEAL Team 6 of the Commonwealth than they are to be the motorpool. Actually though, as the Minutemen expand and tame and pacify more and more of the wasteland, having a group of established and competent mechanics might be a lot more important than a handfull of power-armored operators.
@@thundercricket4634 yeah cause everntually even the minute men would need to salvage power armour to keep trade routs safe especially considering mirlurk queens and super mutant behemots among other things exists.
Minutemen establish safety and secure roads, and the Atom Cats are given protection in exchange for salvage rights and mechanical expertise to keep the equipment and war machines running. Sounds like an ideal setup to me, and the start of yet another source of larger commerce infrastructure in the Commonwealth.
That's the same thing I thought about as well, with the thought of them getting contracts for repairing or making pieces of power armor for the Minutemen for supplies and/or caps. It's just another aspect of how much missing potential Fallout 4 has, especially for the Minutemen.
I think what the writers were going for as the "good" ending was an alliance between the Minutemen and Railroad, because you can play both in tandem without any conflict of interest. The Minutemen prepare the commonwealth while the Railroad focus on the major threats, and when the Railroad's mission is complete they can dissolve and retire into the new Minutemen government. There will always be a need for people who can move covertly and provide intelligence. That being said, the Railroad's vision, like you pointed out, was incredibly shortsighted. In the Sole Survivor they get a solution to their problems on a silver platter. The Sole Survivor, aligned with the Railroad as Director could work to restructure the Institute into an actually benevolent organization, could work to eradicate the mindset that synths are only machines to be enslaved. But unfortunately Bethesda dropped the ball on that, either out of oversight or intention to make the Institute irredeemable.
It's been awhile, wasn't the ending to the railroad quest the sole survivor set the synths free? They'd be like synth care takers. Which could also I guess be used to infiltrate communities with gen3. The railroad become the boogyman
It should be mentioned that in regards to the future of the commonwealth eventually the NCR, enclave, or Ceasers legion (though this is less likely) would likely reach Boston eventually. Important to recognize which factions would reach diplomacy with each faction, let’s say hypothetically NCR crept eastward and reached Boston. Who would they be allied best with? I would say the minutemen could easily ally with them, or even just become a part of the NCR. But sided against the brotherhood or institute. If the enclave go eastward, they would probably slaughter every single faction other than the institute. If ceaser reached east? The minuteman could in some way be considered a conquerable tribe to be brought into the faction. But the institute and brotherhood we already know would be all out war. Realistically the railroad won’t exist in another year after the end of the game, their goal is finished and they would dissolve into the minutemen or civilian populace. Perhaps there could be more factions that reach eastward but I just mentioned the most likely 3.
Both the minutemen and the railroad should not be the main story, it’s just you shooting your way through everything ALONE. And I don’t see the canon ending being one that solely relies on the player character and once they’re out of the picture it crumbles. Realistically, only the Brotherhood and the Institute should be main factions in this game, which is why the story feels so barren. The minutemen quests are boring repetitive grinds and over half of the railroad quests aren’t railroad quests at all but institute quests so that you "infiltrate them", but really they’re just recycling one storyline for two factions with one deviation at the end. One is a hyper advanced tech society with synthetic humans, the other is a super militaristic order with professional soldiers in power armor, the others are just a couple of normal people with no real military presence and not nearly on the same level as the other factions and it’s completely unbelievable that they could actually wage war against either faction. And what makes it worse is that the minutemen and railroad solely rely on you. The most bonkers and ridiculous mission in the whole game is shooting up the PRYDWEN ALONE. That is completely unbelievable story wise. Narratively speaking you shouldn’t be able to do that on your own, because then one would ask what was stopping you or someone else from doing that all this time? They have knights in power armor and with miniguns, anything but an assault with an actual army is not believable narratively. And it’s the same when assaulting the institute with the railroad, when you assault the institute with the brotherhood it makes total sense how this could be possible, you’re a professionally trained fighting force in power armor with heavy weaponry, the railroad are literally just a bunch of normal people with no military tactics and training, they aren’t even armored. It’s just not believable that they could ever hold a candle to the two factions. And that’s the problem with Fallout 4, they want to make us believe that someone can single-handedly bring down the brotherhood and institute, no other fallout game placed their main character anywhere near that kind of overpoweredness in its story. What is he, a god? That’s just not how you can possibly write the story, and I really hope they don’t ever declare that the canon ending. Honestly none of the endings should be canon, if you put a gun to my head then I’d pick the brotherhood because the institute winning would be too depressing, but it’s not great either.
In the grand scheme of things, the institute's tech design and manufacturing capability leaves them as probably the most valuable collection of people in the commonwealth or even potentially across the entire series in terms of building back civilization. There isnt unfortunately an ending where you or someone else gets to reform the institute to be a force for good even though there is plenty of capacity for that within the story, but if there was it would be a complete non-brainer to allign with them. Their unique ability to produce advanced electronics of all forms along teleportation and gene modification capabilities as well as just an understanding of life in a clean orderly world could very easily catapult the minutemen or some other commonwealth civilian organization's capability to fix the world around them to the stratosphere
Ron Pearlman😁. Great video. The spoilers didn’t bother me at all. For one, the game is older so it’s my first time finally playing it. Second, this video confirmed a lot of my suspicions about certain factions I ran into and now I know what direction I’m gonna go in. Thanks for the info and I just subbed.
I completely agree with you, especially how they did the Minutemen so dirty just to serve the settlement building gimmick. The idea of bringing a banged up group of survivors and leading them into building a force to unite the land in liberty sounds so cool and it was such wasted potencial. Also, Ron Pearlman.
@@bernardmacdonagh9517 you should try out the sims settlement 2 mod. You only really need one settlement to focus on and can have the rest build themselves up. You also wind up sort of making a capitol building after taking over the gunner HQ and has main quest tie ins.
The assertion that Maxson is only Elder because of his name is just about the opposite of true. It's made very clear that Maxson's position as Elder came as a direct consequence of his accomplishments and deeds, namely the re-unification of the East Coast BoS and the Outcasts and the resurgence of the floundering East Coast faction. The fact that the Prydwen exists and is able to project power as far away as Massachusetts stands as pretty stark confirmation that Maxson is a capable leader.
To that I will say that the Outcasts rejoining is a negative thing, as they are without doubt pushing the faction further towards what their West Coast brethren have become: selfish, dogmatic, and increasingly irrelevant. And while Arthur Maxson is probably a decent soldier, his listed heroism and inspirational leadership is certainly fluffed up and exaggerated because the re-united Brotherhood needs a figurehead that both Outcasts and the East Coast Chapter can agree on. A descendant of Roger Maxson fit the bill. Arthur was groomed from chilhood and told how special he was based only on his last name, and then raised up to be infallible, because to suggest it was wrong to make him their leader would break down the flimsy accord between Outcasts and Lyon's supporters. It makes the man immune to criticism and results in the fanatic we see in game. This kind of leadership ultimately brings only disaster and ruin. You can see it play out right now, in Ukraine.
@@cdcdrr Well. They are effective. Able to secure Capital Wasteland, win a war against Supermutant, build an army which able to operate in different region. While Minetman loosers without Player all turn into raiders and Gunners. So much for their "high morality" ideals
Ron Pearlman. That was a great video, and a great analysis of the narrative. I do think there were bits of it that were a touch overly literal for a game (like the Gunners ranking hierarchy), but it's your video and you absolutely do you. Thanks for making such awesome content, and I hope you have a great day!
I love the detail about the gender of the Sole Survivor in the Minutemen ending! The different backgrounds would definitely affect how they run the Minutemen.
Female lawyers are some of the most ruthless cold blooded people ever lmao. Female leaders have waged war at a higher rate than male leaders throughout history. The notion that women are more peaceful and diplomatic is a myth. Anyone that believes it has clearly never spent any actual time around women. They all hate each other, are territorial, and love to instigate violence amongst men.
I would like to point out how underrated P.A.M is during the game. She is a future prediction software, and has access to many files on military arms and armament locations. Although in game it’s just the DIA caches, the potential for it being super overpowered was extremely high. Like power armor and mini nukes galore. But no, just simple and not so very helpful DIA caches.
I mean, I agree with you from a player standpoint, but the DIA caches are *super* useful to an organization whose entire point is being as lowkey as possible. The Railroad don't even field Power Armor because it's the exact opposite of "discrete." The DIA caches are usually Pre-War clothes, suppressed weapons, and Stealth Boys: things that would be very handy for spies or assassins.
@@AJadedLizard I mean, based on customization and modifications in fallout 4, it’s not like power can’t be used stealthily. Just put on some railroad paint and a stealth boy mod, and you’re basically a stealth tank. There’s also the fact that the railroad doesn’t just use assassins, but also those with the moniker of heavy.
@@thomash8408 So, Power Armor still makes noises, it's still heavy, and it's still bulky: you can't really slip into places unnoticed when you're bigger than most doorways. I think the Heavies are a bit of a goofy thing as well; they're very much a segregation of gameplay and story, just like having higher level Gunners who outrank the Gunner CO.
The sad thing about P.A.M. as shown by her files in the switchboard is she can't always calculate for the human element. She knew Alaska would be invaded because it's the easiest location for enemies of America to go through she just didn't know who would be in the invading army. She also knew that atomic annihilation was inevitable due to the amount of stockpiled nukes but she couldn't point out which group would fire first. P.A.M. was also the first of her model if their was a mkII that could calculate for the human element she would be unstoppable.
The minutemen may be the best moral choice but the institute has the best technology plus once the player is in command of them you can make the best moral choice for them. Also they have the best means to help life thrive again and the capability to built the world back up again.
Wow... Such an amazing job of narrating and explaining the factions. +Like, +favorite, and +1 subscriber. Thank you for such a superb video. (Ron Perlman 😉👍)
I would have liked the opportunity to assign leadership positions within the settlements as part of the Minutemen questline. Picking the best people to be captains, lieutenants, etc would have helped create the feeling that you were building an organization and increase player agency in the story.
If the Minuteman return in the next fallout I'm expecting some NCR levels of organization in ranks and such, maybe have them return to a classic US Army/marines aesthetic since the sole survivor is literally a combat veteran
I did enjoy building out colossal evil looking sentry bots to connect every settlement to each other as caravans. The human cropslaves I had indentured looked on in fear as the pitiless sentry bots roamed among them, their red visor-eyes casting an eerie red light over their terrified faces. Was fun!
While FNV NCR ending was unsatisfactory but morally sound, FO4's Minutemen ending was still morally sound but was also unsatisfactory yet in a completely different way. In MY MULTIPLE Minutemen endings (I've clocked at over 3700 hours on it on Steam) one of the possible scenarios that COULD be possible for a canonical ending was: - The Railroad engineers a Minutemen + BoS alliance behind the scenes using their agents (Deacon) to take down The Institute. - Minutemen and BoS worked together to restore Liberty Prime. - During the Mass Fusion quest, The BoS worked to retrieve the Berillium agitator while The Minutemen serve as footsoldiers to get The Institute off the BoS trail that leads up to... - Restoration and activation of Liberty Prime where The BoS now serve as a HUGE distraction while a small task force is assembled by The Minutemen and a few key personnel from the BoS (with a few Railroad agents slipped in disguised as Minutemen) to reach The Institute's Reactor for the BIG KABOOM ending of Fallout 4. - During the final battle, The Minutemen and the BoS had a difference of opinion on whether they should kill EVERYONE in The Institute (including the children, which was NOT COOL with The Minutemen) or activate the emergency Evac protocol to allow non combatants to escape. - In the chaos, The Railroad used this chance to get as many synths as they can out of The Institute including recruiting Liam Binet to join their ranks but not without a few inevitable casualties like Glory. Post game: - Railroad is Railroad. - BoS is salty while Liberty Prime walks around the airport USELESSLY. - Minutemen CONTINUE to be Preston Garvey-ed to oblivion due to BROKEN AI SCRIPTING.
are you kidding me ? ncr ending is the worst ending. overall bad and pointless. it does nothing for the wasteland. the ncr will still collapse because of their currency is based on nothing. and their leaders are greedy and corrupt. overall best ending for nv is the legion ending. you bring peace, justice and order to the wasteland. it is also super satisfying.
@@pavelmorozov6599 basically you just described why our economic crisis in the US is basically all Nixon's fault for removing the Gold Standard, and Corrupt politicians are effectively the only ones that exist.
@@pavelmorozov6599 cringe, the Ncr and the Mr House endings are the best and most realistic, just say you love the Legion because of their style and stop saying bullshit.
@@TheGoldenMan888 nah. the legion is strict and determined and their money is made of precious metals so it doesnt need a gold standard. ncr money isnt backed by a gold standard so it only has value as long as people believe it has value. to wage wars and fight them requires money, lots of it. the ncr is barely surviving even before the battle at hoover dam. what do you think will happen after the courier helps them win at hoover dam ? their whole economy will collapse even if they win. it only takes time.
In my headcanon, Sentinal Lone Survivor organizes an alliance between the Brotherhood and The Minutemen, BOS gives them manpower and equipment, Minutemen gives them any technology they find in the settlements
Ron Perlman. This is literally the best discussion of the “best faction for X” topic always being tossed around. The way you included minor factions and the importance of the SS is also great, hope you do one of these for New Vegas
Ditto, excellent video. I just recently found this channel and I'm having a blast catching up. I'm also really interested to see a video like this on new vegas factions...
You can actually manipulate it for 3 or none. The minutemen have the ability to wipe out all other factions, or make peace with everyone except the institute. But, you have to do things in a fairly specific order to pull it off and you can never talk to Kells after going to Far Harbour.
Minutemen + Institute brings the new technology and the pursue for a better future along with the foundation of unified settlements. Best ending by far.
On the topic of super mutants, a fan theory I have for why there are so many traces back to institute and their synths. It's been shown that synths are more or less the first perfected application of FEV, and that they are at least in part based on experiments with it. So the fan theory goes some synths fail at various points in their creation and begin to develop into super mutants because of it.
I like the minutemen/institute end. Makes the most sense for a pre war soldier that was in the resource wars. The institute has access to the most advanced tech still in existence, the minute men are a good stabilizer for the commonwealth.
Same, especially since at the end you are the Director of the Institute and the General of the Minutemen. That means both factions do what YOU say. (Even though we don't really get to explore that on the Institute side much.) If you want to guide the Institute away from their shady past, kidnappings, replacements, etc. and towards reunification with the surface, you totally can. Probably take decades, maybe it'd be your life's work. But you have that power. You do not have that power with the Railroad or BoS. To them you're just a cog in their machine.
@@adamb89 Even though I've never played Fallout 4 (I only own the first two games), I've always wanted to imagine that the survivor would try their best in the Institute ending to turn the organization around.
Operators + Institute is an interesting idea. You’d be the leader of both, as well as technically the Minutemen. It’s the dictator route in a way. Absolute power.
There is no way. It's illogical. They are opposite. Is like saying BOS + supermutants. Operators are raiders, criminals, destroyers of anything Institute are looking for ways to benefit the people through science and rebuild. And yes, that means every random cretin wastelander spouting wokeness and freedom for all other of his kind to let them ruin the world again, doesn't make them bad. In fact that is what should be done, a lower class citizens of simpletons that just live their lives and enjoy it without interfering in the progress of the world around them if their radiated brains can't handle it, and leave it to the smart ones that understand consequences and try to build a better world for everyone, to do that thinking and building. Plus, with the advanced tech, many of the wastelanders that had a bad luck genetic makeup could be helped to drastically improve their intellect and physical attributes. The dictator route you speak off is the BOS. Those are an extremely abusive fascist faction that oppress all the wastelanders as they see themselves the only ones worthy of advanced tech, and though that self proclaimed righteousness will destroy entire settlements. Is something they did countless times and will do again as the paramilitary dictatorship faction they are.
I see either the brotherhood ending or the minuteman ending where they coexist with the brotherhood to be both the best and most likely endings. The institute is obviously bad and the railroad has absolutely no means to protect or run the commonwealth. Brotherhood/minuteman ending seem to be the most likely and most moral respectively- in basically all endings the brotherhood is able to do everything short of teleport to the institute and need the least player intervention (the opposite of the minutemen who you literally build from nothing). The minutemen are the only ones with the overall good of the commonwealth being their goal with no ulterior motives. My guess is the canon end is the minuteman and brotherhood coexist with the minuteman destroying the institute.
What I love doing is playing the Minutemen and taking full control. I RP by putting together intricate trade routes, building munitions and armour factories and even my own small cities! Late game I even start kitting out individual minutemen with painted combat armour and nicer guns. The end goal is always a neo-USA, settlements as states with a capital city usually at the Starlight Drive-In.
I don’t mind the amount of workshop use in the minutemen. The workshop is fun to mess around in and make complex circuits that light up entire settlements. Then the feeling of completion when you see all the stats for a settlement at max is very nice. TLDR: workshop make dopamine go WEEEEE
I have always felt that my Institute + Minutemen run provided the most satisfying conclusion by far. I actually felt like the Commonwealth was going to be better for what I'd done in game. Assuming you make the right decisions and pass a few speech checks, you can convince the Minutemen to align with the Institute, which I ultimately feel is a winning combination for the Commonwealth as a whole. Assuming you take the right (benevolent) decisions, you can actually make a fairly big difference with the Institute by the end, and position yourself as Director to have pretty firm control. It's important to note that the Institute and Minutemen are the only two factions the game let's you lead outright (you are always a grunt in the Railroad and always subordinate to Maxson in the BOS). People talk crap about how little power you supposedly have as Director, but overlook a lot of things while doing so. Firstly, if you played your cards right, your Gen III Synths and Courses idolize you by the end (you share Father's cult of personality due to your genetic connection). Most of the scientists are chill with you, and the ones who might not be can be delt with (in a testament to your power, the game presents you with a post-conclusion protest by two scientists where you have the option to unilaterally decide their punishment, up to and including exile or execution... so much for hollow job title). In fact, you can even get rid of the most arrogant and ambitious pest in the Directorate, Ayo (the SRB head) by fabricating a claim against him and ordering his exile. Aftermath of this leaves you with a fairly controllable Directorate (Advanced Systems' Madison Li will ideologically align with the benevolent player who wants to rebuild the Commonwealth, as she complains in game that she feels the Institute is being selfish in keeping its advancements and resources to itself, and the Chief Engineer, Fillmore, owes your a*s for keeping her alive in the field and has seen first hand you're no joke... you also now have evidence against the son of the Head of Robotics, which he knows, so if he acts up for some reason your player character can be a d*ck and pull that card on him). Ultimately, as Director of the Institute, I'd say you have more hard power than you get over any other faction. You are, essentially, the equivalent of an IRL PM. You don't rule alone, you have a Directorate (kind of like a Cabinet), but you have the authority to, essentially, fire (ie. Exile) any member at will, and all members rely on you for their resource allocation and to arbitrate in disputes with the rest. If any of them p*ss you off, they risk a rival division head taking advantage and gaining your favour. If they want their projects supported, they pretty much have to bend the knee. Your position, between that, your nascent/residual cult of personality, and your notorious lethality, is secure. I also find the notion that you can't change anything as Director to be kind of ridiculous. In addition to the above decisions, your first action as Director (technically Father ordered it but you got to dictate the actual policy presentation so same difference) is to break with the Institute's longstanding policy of secrecy and announce the organizations existence, presence, and intentions, to the entire Commonwealth. Openly, over the radio. In doing so YOU get to decide what kind of image the Insitute will present, and can promise peace, prosperity, and security to the Commonwealth, with assurances the Institute wants to help. Your forces seem to back this up, as post-conclusion Institute flags fly over Diamond City, Gen 1 Synths (the most visibly non-human, I headcanon this was intentional to downplay bodysnatcher fears) browse in the market, and security Synth checkpoints spring up across the Commonwealth engaging raiders, bugs, and mutants. H*ll, assuming you made all the benevolent decisions, even Piper (the most anti-Institute writer in the commonwealth) puts out a fairly optimistic article about the future under the Institute on the basis that YOU are running it, and therefore present a departure from the past. A reformed Institute is the best hope for a return to pre-war safety and living standards, and potentially beyond. Combined with the friendly face of the Minutemen, devoted to building up settlements across the Commonwealth, the Institutes vast resources, technology, and capacity to secure the wastes offer the Commonwealth a chance at becoming the most safe, stable, society in the known post-war world. I also played female SS and just felt this made the most sense for her character. No way she abandons her dying son, after relentlessly trying to find him, or destroys his life's work, in the interest of "liberating" synths or because she's afraid of tech. This woman bought and happily owned a Mr. Handy... you think she's going to just wake up and have an apiphany about the plight of the enslaved machine? Or be scared sh*tless of the idea of living with machines? Codsworth has a built in flamethrower and a buzzsaw for a hand, but she was plenty content letting him tend to her infant in his crib, lol. Nope, player character would, most likely (at least as female SS), join the Institute, try to use her new position to benefit the Commonwealth (being an ex-lawyer who believes in justice and fairness), and persuade her friends the Minutemen (having worked with Preston and Co to get there) to trust her and go along with it. I see a lower chance she realistically enlists with the BoS and a FAR FAR lower chance she adopts the ideals of the Railroad. This is a cold-war-culture American suburbanite were talking about. At BEST she'd think they're a bunch of deluded hippies, given the way the guys trying to free the robots pre-war were portrayed at the collective you come across in game). This is all a very long way of saying, in every respect, I find the Institute + Minutemen being the surviving factions in the end to be the most satisfying and hopeful conclusion.
Thank you for putting words on something I couldn't explain properly, it was exactly my feeling while playing. At first I chose to side with the BoS by default but it felt incomplete and not as satisfying for the Commonwealth. The idea of a reformed Institute felt far more convincing.
I make it a simple rule, that the right decision, is usually the one that grants me control. Because I know exactly what is right to me -> thus right for each person personally -> and thus overall right in general.
i think this is more referring to which faction is best for the wasteland, not which faction you are in is best for the wasteland. i believe the minutemen are the best choice.
If this prevents and mends the murderous bodysnatches and substitutions with synths pre-player's arrival by the Institute (also the malicious experimentations), this indeed is the best combination. The Railroad is a bunch of not just useless, deluded and ideological hippies, but they're also an evil (mainly their trecherous boss Desdemona, and Deacon is the only decent person) clique actively betraying the good-willing humans that joined them to help 3rd gen synths, and with active murderous intents and disregards of human life. There are alot of examples in the game. And sadly the BoS we're presented with has its inherent bad flaws that never disappear.
tbh i think the only way to get actual full control of the institute would be a stalinist purge of the entire leadership wich would probably cause only new problems on its own.
The only detail you are missing is how 2 factions actually can work together logically. The Railroad and Minutemen have the same person as a member. In the aftermath The Railroad's mission ends yes but what if they became the intelligence agency for the fledgling Commonwealth Government? The Minutemen being organized and controlling thr outside areas means they have huge political power and could create a government. The Railroad already has safehouses, a decentralized structure and understands undercover operations. They would make a fine fit as the new CIA.
The lead writer, who had been with fallout as a writer since the beginning, left close before release for a reason. By the time we get another fallout title hopefully Bethesda has imploded.
"The Minutemen being organized and controlling thr outside areas means they have huge political power and could create a government". This ignores the fact that they already did that and failed. The petty internal squabbles and endemic ignorance of the commonwealth residents resulted in failure of that scenario years earlier as the institute attempted to encourage and stabilize that fledgling government and failed (Holotape in Director's office). Piper's father's murder further reinforces the inevitability of that failure. Power is always about nothing but power. That is why The Prince is still taught as the primer for the gathering and use of power, though it was written in the 16th century. As for the Railroad replacing the CIA, consider what every clandestine agency in every nation, in every culture and time has become. Universal education, especially an education in the use and understanding of power, is the only solution with any possibility of long term success, and Diamond City is the only player in the Commonwealth pursuing that goal.
@Rick B I think you are overlooking 1 thing: The Loan Survivor. If they are female they are a trained lawyer. Someone trained in law, civics, etc. is invaluable in this situation. This is someone capable of building a stable government. The male is a combat veteran. Either officer or enlisted they still understand organization, command structure, training etc. and would be invaluable as an asset of a fledgling government. Next I think you underestimate the people The Loan Survivor has found, befriended and gained favor with. Virgil, the other vaults, the Boston Library and other things/people are super useful assets that were not available when things fell through the first time. The Valut Tech Salesman would be useful as a diplomat. Not perfect but better than some random schmuck. These assets and more all are friends with The Loan Survivor and would give at least a stable beginning to truly rebuilding society.
There's a mod called Subversion where you get to teleport the minutemen inside the Institute after father dies and take over. In that scenario you could use the Institute's science and resources to improve things like farming and agriculture, then begin building things like new roads and infrastructure. Teleport the minutemen and coursers around as rapid response units and eventually rebuild the commonwealth and slowly expand.
This should be the true ending. Because you also have Dr. Li (I think that's her name) from Fallout 3 who can also help out with purifying the rivers and water as she have knowledge on how to do that. But more than that, I'd have the minutemen train farm and settlement people in how to use their weapons and tactics in defending their homes and farm.
Me who's playing on Ps4 with shitty mods only ( Thx to Sony for not allowing proper Mod support): 😭😭😭😭 But to be fair there are also Mods that have been implemented well for the limited options that are there but they are no comparison to the mods that you have on PC
@@jodiepalmer2404 now that's an ending I can get behind. The Minutemen using the tools that harmed the Commonwealth to actually do some good. Hell, with that kind of upgrade they could EASILY get Quincy back, or even better, drive the Gunners out completely! And imagine the kind of help that would give the Railroad.
On my main playthrough, I progressed both the Minutemen and Railroad questlines until I got to Underground Undercover. Then I intentionally failed that quest and destroyed the institute with the Minutemen. That felt like the "best" ending to me. The Minutemen focused on rebuilding and organizing, the Railroad were the ones actively opposing the institute. The Railroad got the resources to actually strike at the Institute by recruiting the Minutemen's general, and in the aftermath, the Minutemen were the ones who actually focused on governing, while the Railroad did a little bit of clean-up and eventually (presumably) dissolved. It felt like both a complete story and a good ending.
I'm glad I stayed for the end because you said what I was thinking when you first discussed the minute men the surviver has the ability to shape the minute men into a long term solution by the common wealth for the common wealth
BoS + minutemen would be the best possible ending, strong settlements left over after the brotherhood leaves and they pretty much take care of the mutants
That’s the ending k actually tried to build in my first playthrough. I began to hate the BOS after I killed danse and handed off Oberland station. Wish we could’ve made our own faction
@@TheUpcomingStudentI would say BoS are probably the best bet Post war USA has of a good future. Institute is too out of touch with reality and idealistic and theire ideologie is just wrong. Railroad is relativly weak and would fracture if Institute was destroyed since they Lack other Purpose. BoS are flawed for sure, they are racist and have a very black and white world view, but theire ultimate goal is the most realistic one, they are also by far the most competent faction in the universe.
In some scrapped lore for Fallout 4, it's revealed that the Gunners were originally going to be a splinter group of the Minutemen. One of the reasons things started falling apart, groups not coming to each other's aid, and eventual disbandment, is probably because the mutual assistance wasn't providing enough resources necessary for survival for some members or even entire settlements. So the Gunners split off from the Minutemen to be soldiers of fortune. Trading their defense against threats for better payment than the Minutemen would receive.
@@walnzell9328 it is true theres even a nexus mod that allows you to help the minutemen to regain quincy in short huge as battle that you partake in aswell.
@@walnzell9328 When you're in quincy, it's possible to get onto the highway next to quincy. Clint sits up there and is usually in power armor, wearing his minutemen hat. So yeah, Clint's the guy that betrayed the minutemen.
It is probably better if the BOS dies. This is because them conflicting with the railroad is inevitable, due to their opposite ideals, and not destroying them leaves space for a large civil war in which the minuteman will have to decide who to side with.
The bos is good because the synths are dangerous imagine your best friend is a robot who is sent to destroy your faction or your town and the railroad only focuses on Saving those robots so yeah the brotherhood is the natural choice
I like the idea of a player Minuteman General and Institute Director steering both of the factions onto the same path. While certainly evil historically, we've seen that the Institute is a very fluid and adaptable organization, and I think it would overall be pretty easy to redirect their efforts for more productive end goals. They've never *wanted* to be evil, they're just isolated out of fear, and that's twisted them morally. A little exposure to the world above would do them a lot of good. The synth slavery thing could also be rectified pretty easily by stopping production of synths and retooling for simpler robots. The Minutemen are great people fighting for great things, but they pretty clearly need a strong leader.
Which also reminds of the Enclave in Fallout 2. The reason they came to view wastelanders as "not really humans" because of their exposure to radiation is because they themselves were at all times protected from radiation and living secluded on their oil rig, without entering contact with local populations for far too long. Which made them believe they were genetically pure and thus superior. Of course, unlike the Institute, there is this whole Vault experiments conspiracy they orchestrated...
@@Paulunatr The Institute is also far more redeemable IMO because they're very compartmentalized. For instance, Dr. Li had been a department head for years at that point, and even she was not aware of the FEV research that had been going on until fairly recently. The only two people who genuinely seem irredeemable in the Institute are Dr. Ayo and Father himself. And if you play your cards right in the various quests, both of those people will be dead by the time you take control. That leaves you as Director with Dr's Li, Holdren, Filmore, Binet, and Secord in your cabinet, all of whom seem to be genuinely good and skilled people. You could easily get them to stop the evil stuff (in fact it's heavily implied that as soon as you exile Dr Ayo in the quest Plugging the Leak, the snatch and replaces stop, as do the hostile synth retention quests, since Secord doesn't give those any more once she becomes director- she only gives the "voluntary" synth retrieval, for synths that have been outright kidnapped and radioed for help), and their advances could be absolutely fundamental in taming the wasteland. Crops that aren't just resistant but thrive on radiation while also purifying it, synthetic wildlife to help rebuild the biomes, limitless energy from the new Tokamak reactor, teleportation for resources and personnel, synthetic life as well as synthetic organs to potentially replace them in biological humans, robotic gen 1 and 2 synths that do not require sleep or sustenance and can help the Minutemen by guarding their settlements (not to mention teleporting into combat as backup if the MM run into trouble), it's practically a limitless blank slate for the future. In fact, if the MM and Institute work together, with all the tech I just mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if within a few years the quality of life of the Commonwealth was literally higher than that of the area prewar.
@@JB-xl2jc I think the key to the Institute's redeemability is that for all the bad shit they've done, their focus is and pretty much always has been using science for the general purpose of creation and progress. In that they are different from other high-tech organizations. The Enclave is all too happy to use whatever means they can to wipe the slate clean and build a new world atop the corpses of everyone else, and the Brotherhood would see all useful technology locked away forever, where only they can get it. The Institute is different. They're out to research, test, and build all for its own sake because they're nerds who like science and technology. It really wouldn't take much more than gentle nudges to get them working in ways that would directly benefit the whole Commonwealth, and they'd quickly figure out that sharing their expertise would net them major benefits both in the short and long term.
Honestly I think being the institute is better for the future Bc the brotherhood are just a bunch of hypocrites bigots and racist who don’t want to benefit anyone but just want to control everyone and technology and the railroad only care about synth and nothing else being the general for the minuteman and the director would allow you to solve the radiation problem and using the second gen synth to rebuild using the knowledge of the past to help restore streets building fine a way to cure frv virus and ghouls if they’d focus more on dealing with the current problems and rebuilding they could change the world
I will always view the lack of a Gunner faction quest line as a huge missed opportunity in Fallout 4. All the pieces are there. It could have been a really fun way to play the game.
Ive seen a few iterations of this topic and i honestly think grays was the most truly neutral viewpoint on it. In summary GG sir, keep up the great work.
Atom Cats would deffo be needed for the minutemen but i think their mechanical knowledge is better served as a A tier maintenance crew rather than spec ops. Their mechanical knowledge is too valuable to risk in the field.
The Minutemen can be a backbone for any other ending if you want to theorycraft about what comes after. The Institute and Brotherhood can definitely benefit from their supply lines and assistance in keeping the people safe. As Sentinel of the Brotherhood and General of the Minutemen, the Sole Survivor can mitigate Maxon's influence and some of the less desirable Brotherhood traits (like coercing farmers for food - the Sentinel-General can negotiate trade deals instead, especially from farms that have thrived by supporting the Minutemen). The Sentinel-General can make sure that the Brotherhood focuses on combat missions against Super Mutants and such, while the Minutemen back them up and focus more on trade route protection. As Director-General, the Sole Survivor can provide resources for the Institute that they wouldn't have been able to dream of. The Institute is meant to be self-sufficient, but how much more productive might they be with Vault 81's approach? With their Director so influential on the surface there would be no NEED to keep kidnapping people. The Director-General could both ensure that the commonwealth thrives and that the Institute has all the resources it needs to focus on their research. The Institute's biggest fear and primary reason for doing what they do is fear of a united Commonwealth they can't control. With the Director-General, they basically do. Unless the Sole Survivor gets the same cancer their son did, the Institute won't have to worry about the surface world for a LONG time if Kellog basically not aging for 60 years is any indication.
I really hate the Kellog living longer than a regular human thing. When I first made it to the institute, I shot father specifically because of Kellog seemingly not have aged since he had shawn, therefore he must have been lying in my mind. How are you meant to know Kellog is actually just enhanced to live longer unless you assume that there is a terminal with info upstairs which you would have no way of knowing without checking?
@@honey-hunterslimefanno.3257 The government actively handles direct threats to the lives of those people and fights daily to protect humanity. It has a much better justification for taxes than any existing government.
@@honey-hunterslimefanno.3257 They send out patrols to clear out super mutant and ghoul infestations and raider outposts. That’s a damn lot in my opinion.
my completionist/main playthrough i did the minutemen ending whilst still being allied with the railroad AND the brotherhood of steel (it is possible and theres a great video on it look it up) and i set up some head lore that the atom cats were the minutemens x01 supplier and use the bos and far harbor children of atom to arm the minutemen with combat helmets and marine assault combat armour making them a force to be reckoned with and used vault 88 as our main base/poltical center point and fort independance more as a military staging ground and supplie depot and in order to purge the raiders of the commonwealth and other threat i used the automatron dlc to make mega laser sentry bots to patrol the wastes and also bring supplies to settlements whilst having an army of robots to use and for infantry weaponry i mostly equipped them with laser gatlings and automatic overcharged plasma guns not to mention got a artillery cannon in every settlement with stable happieness and resources makeing minutemen be able to rain hellfire when we need to anywhere
"Preston-Garvey-ness" of the Minutemen" 🤣🤣🤣 Wow I never realized that Ron Perlman is THE Fallout narrator *facepalm* Very insightful take on the factions though. The Minutemen faction is WONDERFUL historically and thematically but in practice... it's just Preston and the player, which would work out if given agency but we aren't. I'll just take Sturges with me and start from scratch thanks. There's a bunch of buttons to FOLLOW but very few to LEAD. Hey Preston, I heard there's a potential settlement that needs help. YOU wanna take care of that? Cool. I am the General after all. Maybe let's neutralize/pacify the Raiders and the Gunners and the Supermutants? Or... we just gonna defend settlements indefinitely? Brotherhood could have been useful outside of the brainwashing, so back to the Capital Wasteland with y'all. Institute is a bunch of egghead shut-ins and have no reach to the real world without the very defeatable coursers and other synths. Railroad is noble but as you said, built to operate in the shadows, not equipped to deal with everyday defense.
I still believe as the director of the institute you could influence if not by direct order but over time the direction the institute takes. Like when you are asked whether or not you want to focus more on weapon production or synth production. You alone have the ultimate decision. So in turn you could use institute resources like the gen 1 and 2 synths to aid in building settlments or farming or even programming synths to serve in the minutemen. Also equipping the commonwealth with advance weapons and other technology like how they grow their self sustaining food. I mean you are the leader of both the institute AND the minutemen. So you could coordinate both factions to work together. And if any of the other directors want to challenge you? Well good luck on the surface we can just make a synth copy of you who won't be so short sighted about the future of humanity by their own selfish beliefs. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
Yep didn’t choose institute though brotherhood of Steel as they can’t do too much harm and will probably work alongside the minute men sadly not the institute though
Thing is, most of the Institute are on line with this tenmchnocratic isolasionism and I doubt this culture thing can be changed in a few days consider the hostility between the IS and the CW are based on a increased level of tensions and events and I dont know if blowing up an army will decrease the tension. People wont really accept synths running around at best "tolerate" them (I wouldnt call it tolerance if the sole remained army runs around in your city with guns and robots).
I feel like the institute option plays the cliche of "illusion of power", at the end nothing will change, the idealistic heads of each branch will continue to bicker and just create obstacles and conflicts of interest moving forward, I feel like father is a mirror of what the sole survivor is to become if he stays.
@@dengisten-speer6659 the other option, is let that army wipe out anything thats is "non-human" including Valentine, Hancock, Strong, Danse, Curie... And in the end, the minutemen too.. because of we are honest.. minutemen will stand to defend all of these inhabitants of the CW
Ron Pearlman's ideal ending is the Minutemen backed by the institute technology. Using the reforged liberty prime to lead the charge against super mutants and raiders, maybe being used for construction and helping clean up boston after the immediate threat concentrations are taken care of. Even more perfect would be a series of surprise attacks using the institutes teleporter the MM mortars (and possibly the gunners to draw attention) to hit the airfield and teleport onto the prydwn to capture it. There are a few uses the airship could have. The most obvious being the MM head quarters/ rapid response ship. It could be used to transport materials either from just around the F4 map or from further away as an expeditionary outpost builder, and or raw resource transporter bringing needed materials back to the commonwealth. If the proper docking stations were built it could be just a general large public transportation but I feel that's a waste of such a limited resource.
Destroying the Institute and therefore the “source of the synths” is not genocidal, not by Railroad standards either. Since all synths are made independently of other synths there is no “perpetuating”. They’re just like people except potentially infertile. They are manufactured as slaves. Ending the production of them does not mean that you are killing any of them, especially considering that they are functionally immortal on their own.
I always thought it would be really cool if Virgil took over a “Father” role and either try to cure the supermutants he made or if not possibly collect and educate a jocobstown style community of super mutants. Also I feel like if the brotherhood can build the airship and the minutemen could rebuild artillery pieces and laser muskets they could build more boats or ships to reach the island all it would really take was one pre war ghoul with know how or some books and r&d time or even some atom cats mechanics would’ve been cool to see minor factions get involved more
I do really enjoy the factions in Fallout 4. Not as much as New Vegas but they’re definitely interesting and I think a lot of their flaws were intentional to give them some depth. I just wish they were fleshed out a bit more.
idk I kinda like how morally ambiguous alot of them are. the NCR is such a clearly more moral choice than ceasar or Mr. house (don't get me wrong still my favorite fallout game). but in fallout 4 all of the factions have major downsides. like the minutemen might be moral but they are woefully under prepared even at full ingame strength. and the institute and BoS are strong but into like weird speciesism stuff
@@ominousromanpillar238idk, the ncr is a "free" country but is extremely corrupt, spread thin, etc mr house is a despot, but a good one who will help the people at times and will advance our species unto the stars, restoring the world one could argue they side with the legion to actually save the ncr
Great vid. Ron pearlman. Would love any other videos like this if you’ve happened to come across any more info with the new updates that have come out. ( I haven’t checked your channel yet but I will rn I just randomly came across your vid while scrolling )
Ron Pearlmen. Great video! I loved your New Vegas style epilogue for each faction ending. And I agree with your assessment of the choices we get with the factions.
I think the major problem with looking at post-game events is that the main story was never finished with something worth doing. If done properly, the sole survivor would be able to take control of the institute after Shaun's death and end the slavery. This would make the railroad all but unnecessary, as there is no more evil institute to fight. Then, either the sole survivor or Danse would be able to challenge Maxon to lead the brotherhood and end the racism running rampant among their ranks as well as the pretentious attitude of "Oh, we're stealing all your technology *for your own good* because we know how to handle all of this but you're too stupid to not kill each other if you're allowed to see this tech." The minutemen aren't a good government, but their wide reach could help a less narcissistic brotherhood and a not-evil institute to end conflict and poverty in the entire commonwealth. But since the Institute will always be evil, the brotherhood will always be racist and narcissistic, the railroad will always be pathetic, and the minutemen will always be disorganized. You can become the leader of half the major powers in the commonwealth, but you can't do anything.
True that. It's so annoying, this is the way Bethesda Games shifts the power from a group to the player. The game lets you continue doing the same thing you did before you were the head of the organization, namely: Everything. Sometimes another agent is available to continue to assist you as a follower, but people don't come to you to ask about quests. When you go around the Commonwealth with Preston people are always recognizing him and giving him caps. He talks to them like they are "the adoring fan" from Oblivion. Stealing the glory so to speak. It's why on a new play thru I clear the way for several settlements before even meeting Garvey or more. Some games have a mechanic for sending others to do tasks, not here yet anyway. Also, no real change in things despite sovereignty over the commonwealth. Somebody needs to plant trees. Only with mods..
The institute aren't inherently EVIL. They do commit evil acts, but more due to selfishness and fear. I think they easily have the best hope out of everyone for living and rebuilding everything in the future, because of their tech.
Maxon racist because he is so against synths, which aren't a different skin colour, they are literally synthetic humans, aka robots. That isn't what racist is. It may make him bigoted, but not racist. Being that one of the highest ranking members of the BoS is black, that also means Maxon isn't racist.
To be fair, most Bethesda games (to my liking) don't end with the player character becoming "king" or sitting in any position of huge power, just serving as an important historical figure who brought a lot of events into motion. They probably also wanted to avoid sealing anything too hard into canon for the sake of sequels, and aren't ready to begin the the real "rebuilding" process in the Fallout universe yet (as they doubtfully ever will). I agree that the endings are weak, though.
I have wondered sometimes if there wasn't a huge rewrite of the script seriously late in production. It feels like we should have been picked up by a courser, like you said, and taken straight to the Institute for our first quests. There we would get to see the scientific wonders of the institute without knowing the evil they have done. This would have given us a reason to actually work for the Institute instead of just blowing Father's head off and walking away (I was surprised that they let me do that). If you look at the institute quests they slowly introduce you to all of the factions on the board and then give you a wonderful climatic battle where you get to either side with the Institute or declare your opposition in dramatic form. That story makes much more narrative sense than "I was curious so I just let you out to see if you'd die" (this stupid excuse is why I shot Father in the head).
There are several plot threads left hanging and hints of a story where you were meant to side with the Institute until it was revealed that you were a Synth and then had to choose whether to remain loyal or join the Rail Road.
@@mlmii1933 Ok, I was not expecting the Synth part but it's still a better story than the muddled mess we ended up with. I wonder what made them change it?
@brushdogart1986 ... I suspect it was complaints about not being able to join traditional factions, so the story was gutted. As for the SS being a synthetic, although the new story doesn't confirm it Todd once said there was a secret that would 'change everything' hidden on a terminal and he was surprised no one had found it yet. In the next patch Beth fixed an entry that didn't show up due to a bug, said entry talks about how advanced Gen(3) synths have the ability to use VATS, which the SS is able to do before getting a pipboy.
My opinion: the BoS is the best choice. According to Maxson they come to stay, not just kill the Institute and leave. They're going to build the place up like they did the Capital Wasteland. The Minutemen just don't have the vision and foresight to recognize budding threats; they're reactive, not proactive. That's how the Gunners got the drop on them; they didn't recognize the threat until it was too late. The BoS have a proven track record of building areas up, and are willing to work with organizations like the Minutemen.
I liked The Outer Worlds because it didn't have a decades long IP to worry about. As long as you made the right moves, you could have the unequivocal feel good ending in every main and side mission.
@@Theegreygaming chad is like a younger gen term for someone who knows what isnt known or rather is heavily respected, so you will see people say Thanks chad.
My ideal outcome: You challenge Maxson for control of the Brotherhood and take over, absorb the Minutemen into the Brotherhood as a specialized civilian defense group made up of Volunteer militias with a Brotherhood Knight as leader. Form alliance with the Railroad to protect and help synths, with the brain damaged synths being taken to the Brotherhood for testing and monitoring to see what can be learned about synth behavior and physiology. Instead of nuking the Institute, send in heavily armed squads to neutralize any threats and round up the scientists who will be allowed to continue their research and live in the safety of their underground dwelling but will now report to the Brotherhood and must share their research with Brotherhood scribes.
ngl ive always been disapointed that there's no way for you to become the leader of the BoS. Im pretty sure every other faction you can become leader at some point (idk about the railroad bc I refuse to finish a playthrough with them) and its disappointing your always stuck behind maxson.
The main issue with this is that any other elders would immediately turn on you as the majority of the BoS believe in hoarding technology from outsiders for the good of all. At best, you'll have a large exodus of manpower turning into the modern sect of the Outcasts.
@@tonightscake4127 that's why I would take those specific actions, it's still very isolationist and allows for tech hoarding, but instead of destroying they would be absorbing. Taking the institute for themselves, not like the brotherhood is very good at self reflecting that they are the dangerous ones with all the power.
@@protojager The brotherhood and the railroad are at odds ideologically. The brotherhood would not allow synths to exist and with the propaganda that has been handed down by their pseudo-god king Maxon, not many would have an open mind to change their views of AI. An alliance with the railroad is not possible without changing the BoS's entire philosophy of technological control. They also couldn't trust its members if they were subjugated as the faction's primary strengths lie in subterfuge.
Can we just take a moment and appreciate the ending slides that were made in this video, that's was leagues better then what Bethesda gave us in the base game. Honestly we need someone in the modding community to make this into the default ending slides it was that good, keep up the good work man 👍
In my first play through I managed to keep on the good side of the railroad and the minutemen. I destroyed the institute and BOS with the railroad) and kept on playing (for a few hundred more hours). Eventually the railroad turned their missions in to "revenge" assassinations and I grew tired of it. I also grew tired of settlements that needed constant attention even though they were armed and secured to the highest level. That playthrough just petered out.
Regarding synths being able to reproduce, from the conversation u can have w Deacon to get his companion perk, he says quote: "She had a smile, like on those old magazine covers. Her eyes..... We were trying for kids, ekeing out a living. Then one day... It turns out my Barbara... She was a synth. She didn't know that. I certainly didn't. I don't know how the deathclaws found out. But... There was blood." So based on this I'd say they can't. And if synths don't grow/age, reproduction would be impossible. It's why they use machines to create them still.
I totally agree with your assessment. I am but a pawn in the game of life, but it is clear that only those who are willing to work for their family's and farms and be willing to help each other will succeed. So forth I go having been to the gates of hell I stand facing the demons and with knowledge that I can only do my best.
I like the bit where you sum everything up through mock game endings. A great way to convey the conclusions of each possible faction ending. Cool video!
I think that when making the game, the Institute, the Railroad and the Brotherhood of Steel, were the only ones that were really thought of. The Institute was made first, then they needed an enemy, so Bethesda made the Railroad. Shortly after it was pointed out that the BoS had been in all the other games and should be here too. And they would serve as a "legacy" faction that players could choose, if the player didn't like the other options. However, close to the finishing of the game story, it was pointed out that "gee...don't all these options/factions kinda suck long term?" so the Minutemen were shoehorned in at the 11th hour and so never got the story they really deserved.
Yeah that’s nonsense as already pointed out the Railroad were in Fallout 3 and at the end of 2013 when Kotaku leaked the Fallout 4 voice acting audition it had the Minutemen in it
The Minutemen's story sucks because the devs completely overhauled the story. If any faction would've been shoehorned, it would've been the BoS. The BoS is the most popular fallout faction and yet had next to no presence in the game. So the devs scratching their heads looking for a way to get the BoS into the game is not that far-fetched. The Minutemen, however, were to be situated out of Quincy, which was supposed to be a major hub in the game but got scrapped in favor of settlement building. Because the player could make his own towns a lot of settlements got reduced in size and importance.
my game bugged out so I couldn't choose the BOS ending, so instead I did minutemen. I was completely unsatisfied, but... you are ultimately correct. I'll join you in that vodka-nyquil.
Thbe way i see it is Railroad is kind of pointless once they destroy the institute / freed most of the synths, in other words they need the institute to exist to keep rescuing synths otherwise their goals etc are kind of a dead end...and they don't really have the manpower to fight off large threats and such. Institute has the potential to help the people of the commonwealth but are too selfish and arrogant and ignorant of the surface world above and would rather stay down below and wait for the surface to die (which won't likely happen anyways) , but if they had a leader who could change the direction of them to be more caring and helpful to the people above ground and such like using the gen-1 / gen-2 synths to clear rubble and such and use them to rebuild buildings and clear places then the institute would be good for the commonwealth. Brotherhood of Steel has the resources and manpower to clear paths and roads for caravans to travel safely to one settlement to another and they don't out-right attack the civilian population and actually only go to the commonwealth to wage war on the institute , at least they put human life first , even if they're abit big headed and over-zealous , but at least they openly recruit aswell and not like other chapters who would most likely be isolationists. Minutemen could be good if they had strong capable and competent leaders as someone mentioned below in the comments , but i the way i see it is, if the sole survivor dies and doesn't have a protege / successor who was mentored by the Sole Survivor etc then the minutemen will just fall back down into corruption and dissarray , plus they're not a fully fledged army and only milita / civilians/farmers at best , if they could get some form of proper training and such then they would end up becoming a well respected and capable force. Now my conclusion is.....when you finish either the BoS main questline or Minutemen one neither of them destroy one another although the "option" is their for the minutemen to clear the BoS but the way i see it is that they both compliment each others weakesses , i feel like i remember seeing some promotional artwork of a Bos paladin alonside the sole survivor and presto and dogmeat so maybe the BoS / Minutemen leave each other alone and the BoS keeps alot of places safe so the commonwealth can form a government again?.
I can’t wait for you to get bigger in the fallout community, choice of diction goin hard, you put out content regularly, and seem like measured fan of the series. Congrats on the channel and all you’ve built so far man.
I could see a war with the institute and brotherhood leading to maxion's death and a change in attitude within the brotherhood. A three way alliance between the railroad, minutemen and, brotherhood might be possible if the brotherhood loses some power and has a drastic change in ideology in order to gain allies to defeat the institute.
The railroad and minutemen are incompatible the railroad on one hand uses historical references and tries to justify their retarded ideology with historical events and ideas and the minuteman actually respect American history unlike the railroad
Is it just me, or does this guy sound a LOT like Head Editor Dan from the Theory channels? Also. Loved the video! I've never come across your channel until now, but browsing your stuff I think it is a well deserved sub!
The thing about Father is that he thinks of the Sole Survivor as his parent *on an intellectual level* mainly. He becomes nostalgic and looks back on his life and wonders what could have been if he'd stayed with his birth parents when he finally finds out about his origins. As he's preparing to wrap up his affairs due to his terminal cancer diagnosis, he comes to two conclusions: Kellogg has to die, and the most just and satisfying way to do that is to send his (idealized, unremembered) surviving parent after Kellogg like a guided missile. The success of that revenge plan seems to trigger a tidal change in Father's attitude: now he begins to see his parent as a way to continue his legacy, a kind of immortality. He starts to groom his parent to take over his role as Director. But Father is wrapped up in the notion of the perfect, wonderful parental figure that existed in the what if world of his fantasies. He's a bit like Preston Garvey, in that he tends to want to put the Sole Survivor on a pedestal.
I wish there were more options like a yes man route or one where you could unite them feels like a bunch of missed opportunities and disappointment. RON PERLMAN
6:00 the fev lab was shut down because (from what I understand) Virgil messed some stuff up when he escaped, so Shaun didn’t shut it down because he had no use for it, in fact, Virgil told Shaun there was no use anymore but father insisted on having him continue working
This is why I build lag inducing numbers of robots and supply line them back and forth across the commonwealth. Even if the sole survivor dies, they should follow their programming to the end. Essentially a large spread of custom built war machines peacekeeping around the commonwealth. Although that usually means I have to go to Nuka World or Far Harbor for a fight. Basically a boon for the normal citizens and a final fack you to the gunners, raiders, and whatever factions I decide to murk that particular play through.
As my West point graduate Chaplin said. The minutemen still exist today, They are The National Guard! Use of Fort Independence, the logo, volunteership, & protecting the homeland what the National Guard use and do. Plus they made there goal clear "Protect the commonwealth". Choosing them is a no brainer. It's a shame Bethesda didn't have the time to do and add everything they wanted to the minutemen.
