Ok ok ok I neeed to rant about something in Fallout lore because this genuinely makes me upset. (Also this does contain spoilers so please do not read ahead unless you’re ok with that)
So the Institute right? Love it, hate, or you don’t care about it. The Institute has played as the main villain in Fallout 4 and even a small part in Fallout 3. They have made several technological advancements. Such as making synths of Brahmin, birds, and humans. But they have also solved a their major power problem and even counterfeit caps (of course it’s never 100% from my knowledge, and I count this as an advancement because they figured out how to make more of what is essentially a limited resource). They have done many many great things. Granted are they doing those things for the betterment of themselves and not the entire Commonwealth/Wasteland? Yes, but it’s still good in the long run.
So why the heck would the BoS, the Railroad, and the Minutemen want to blow that up? Look I get it guys the institute is a big, bad evil that’s practically been sewing threads of discourse across the wasteland. The Minutemen (and I think the Railroad too) at least tell the sole survivor to initiate an evacuation order to save some lives. But that just seems so wrong to me. I can understand why the Brotherhood would straight up and blow up the institute with no thought. I mainly blame Maxson for being impulsive. But why, why would the Minutemen or even the Railroad want to blow up the institute without thinking about the good it could do.
Think about it, most if not all the scientists work in the institute because it is a safe and clean place to stay. You get three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, steady albeit difficult work, and best of all, your safe from any danger.
Wouldn’t the Minutemen want to use their communication systems? The radio signal is significantly stronger than the one at the castle. And the would have an incredibly easy time moving Minutemen troops to settlements in need of help. Not to mention the institute could become their new base of operations with the castle becoming a training camp or something.
The railroad would probably be able to keep their synths safe in the institute. Tinker Tom would have an absolute blast with the technology. And like the Minutemen, that could become their new base of operations as it’s almost impossible to get into the institute without the use of teleportation or taking the long way through a sewer pipe.
And some of you might say “well the scientists will try to kill (insert faction) if they try to take it for themselves.” Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, look the scientists run away from the sole survivor. But even then if the Minutemen (or maybe even the railroad) told the scientists that they wouldn’t hurt them and allow them to stay if they helped them the scientists would most likely agree. You either get to agree to live under a new power or disagree and get kicked out/killed. The choice is pretty easy.
Now would the scientists there be allowed to continue their research? Depends on the branch. Bioscience and engineering would be allowed to continue their research. Robotics would likely be allowed as long as they aren’t unnecessarily harming innocent people. SRB would be shut down 100%. Neither the Minutemen nor the railroad would allow that division to continue operation.
I’m not saying the endings were awful. I can understand why each faction would want to blow up the Institute. But I’m just saying there should’ve been a choice to blow up the Institute or allow it continue operation with restirictions. The main reason I didn’t like this is because you’re killing Shaun and it just feels so heartless? Like you barely get an emotional moment with him and I feel like the sole survivor should be allowed to share their final moments with Shaun before he passes away or you blow up the Institute.
