And in a military school... My haircut is very short 80 % of the year.
Edited: Oh, I couldn't imagine there were such kind people here, thank you all. I guess I don't need long hair to be a femboy right now. (But I still don't know how to buy women's clothes.)
the narrative choices in Fallout 4 felt super lazy when it came to returning characters. Bringing back MacCready and Maxson felt like forced fan service just to show "hey, look, 10 years have passed!". It made the Commonwealth feel like a tiny transit hub where everyone from DC randomly decided to meet up.
If you look at how Fallout 2 and New Vegas handled the lore, they actually moved the world forward. FO4 felt way too scared to pick a definitive ending for FO3, so we got this watered-down plot. Honestly, the game would’ve been a massive hit if they ditched Maxson's Brotherhood completely and leaned into a localized, psychological sci-fi thriller.
For starters, why MacCready? If Bethesda wanted a perfect tie-in to FO3, **Harkness** (A3-21) from Rivet City was right there. His quest "The Replicated Man" was literally our first intro to the Institute and the Railroad. Lore-wise, it's hinted that the BoS stripped the Rivet City carrier for parts to build the Prydwen. Imagine if Harkness tracked the Brotherhood to Boston to get revenge for his home. That would’ve been an insane storyline, plus he’d be the ultimate Railroad companion.
And if we absolutely needed the Brotherhood in Boston, it shouldn’t have been Maxson’s army. A small, elite scout squad from the Midwestern Brotherhood(from Fallout Tactics) would’ve been way cooler. They have that menacing, horned power armor with capes—total techno-knights vibe. Plus, they actually recruit ghouls and mutants to survive. A questline where a rogue Midwestern squad tries to steal Institute tech to send back to Chicago would keep the Commonwealth feeling isolated and desperate, instead of turning it into a warzone for Washington's army.
Without the Prydwen forcing a conventional war, the whole third act could’ve been a true "Frankenstein’s Monster" story. Instead of blowing up the Institute with a giant nuke robot, the climax should’ve been a violent Gen-3 synth uprising from the inside. As Shaun's parent, you’d face a brutal choice: side with your son and slaughter the synths, or help the synths destroy their creators, knowing Shaun dies with them.
The surface paranoia would also be way higher. The Minutemen would actually matter as a paranoid militia building makeshift synth detectors because local leaders are being replaced overnight. Even the super mutants could be a unified threat—someone like Fawkes could've come north to lead them as an army of "failed experiments" wanting payback on the scientists.
By making the endgame all about the Institute and the consequences of their tech, FO4 could have asked the deep sci-fi questions the series is known for. Does AI have a soul? Where’s the line between man and machine?
Idk, I just feel like we missed out on a much tighter, darker story because Bethesda wanted to show off the Prydwen. Would you guys have preferred a focused synth-paranoia thriller over the faction war we got?