Not on my Fallout blog right now, so I'll send this as an anon. Well, I love your posts about Danse being a synth and your thoughts on the Railroad, regarding him. Now I don't know if you ever made a post about A3-21 from Rivet City, and I'd just love to hear what you think about the whole situation regarding Harkness too. I remember the first time playing Fallout 3 that I was so hyped to get to know more about the Railroad in Fallout 4. It was kind of a letdown finally meeting them at their HQ in the Commonwealth. What about you?
hey!!!! no worries at all, i have anon open just for this reason :) it's super sweet of you to reach out!! thank you so much for your kind words! ;v;
i can't remember what i had for breakfast this morning, but i somehow remember every single drop of synth lore that i obsessively memorized way back in 2018!
and of course! unfortunately my memory of fo3 isn't as clear as my memory of fo4 (fo4 was my first fallout game!) but i played it right after i finished fo4 so it is also dear to my heart!
harkness is my BOYYYY!! i love him being one of the first escaped gen 3 synths, and i love the lore of him being a former courser. i have a similar fondness for the courser lady in far harbor. it's just such a compelling character concept to me, and is why i so badly wish x6-88 went down a similar route. but ALAS!
harkness is also interesting because his memory wipe wasn't a permanent one. which. still isn't great! at all! but at the very least it's better than just obliterating the previous person he was. shame the railroad didn't stick to this idea huh :,,)
the railroad in general is curious bc they don't feel like a Main Faction to me. i think they were nerfed bc their style of fighting and subterfuge doesn't play super nice w the general gameplay loop of your typical bethesda game. they also lack a long term goal for the commonwealth as a whole.
i do think their dubious methods of memory wiping were intentional (esp with curie's personal quest and the botched memory wipe...), which is great because i love a good morally complicated faction. but its very strange how i never see it brought up by anyone on either side of the railroad argument!
i've also never been super huge on them blowing up the prydwen. there were children and non combatants on there. the whole thing getting treated as a quirky spy mission was never my cup of tea, so i basically never end the game with them. i like helping them out a bit and then getting my cover blown by lashing out at father! so the railroad just kinda pouts and stands there after that LOL
the railroad is very good in concept (both in world and out of world), but questionable in execution. imo.


















