I am not happy about making hard choices on the Main Story. If I would have known I would have waited a lot longer to advance the story. Anyone reading this DO NOT advance the main story until you have done everything that you wanted to do.

You can flip flop quite a bit there at the end. It's not locked in for quite a few missions. I went back and finished what I wanted in all the factions before making any harder decisions. I am glad that for once a game gives me an actual moral dillema instead of the simplistic illusion of choice that leads to an obvious conclusion. In this game there's not a clear good guy or a clear winner. War never changes.

This. I actually LIKE that there's a difficult decision in this game. I gives gravitas to the situation, gives better opportunities for new playthroughs, and gives a few more options for roleplaying. What's not to like?

yeah, when you get to the point of the story where you are ready to go visit the bogeyman, hold off and just explore/build settlements/relax and enjoy it.

the way i see it, you can justify some pretty bad stuff with the one choice. since you can figure that in the end you lead and therefore can make much needed changes.

Thanks for the heads up. Once I complete the story or whatever am I not allowed to go back to the wastes and explore? If this is the case if someone could PM me if you're afraid thats a spoiler that'd be fine. Please dont tell me what happens, I just want to know if the game ends once I complete the story or not or something.

I am for sure going to do another playthrough after this and next time I am not going to finish the main story until I do everything that I want to do.

You are allowed to explore after the end of the game.

The game has 3 factions you can join and either way you are going to piss off 2 of them no matter which you join. But after you complete the main missions, you will still be able to explore the wasteland. I am actually doing that right now. And I am thinking about going back to a previous quicksave that I have so I can do the multiple endings and get the achievements.

My Survivor is Littlefinger.

He's playing everyone against one another.

UNTIL HE STRIKES.

Then do you reach the point of no return for the various factions?

I joined the minutemen and taking the castle but not powered up the radio.

BoS want me to join.

Not meet the railroad or found the institute yet, next in main quest is glowing sea.

There's a HUGE number of quests to do for every faction before the Point of No Return.

As long as you join them all before visiting the Institute.

Heads up on that.

Ultimately, you'll know the Point of No Return because it'll be "Wipe out the Railroad" or "Wipe out the brotherhood of steel"

Well, not for the Institute, but it pops up on your screen about like, "THE BROTHERHOOD WILL HATE UUUUUUU"

Yeah.

I had to reload a save when I accepted the "Destroy Railroad" mission accidentally.

Felt like such a dike for wiping out The Railroad...I should have done quests for them first...

They're a faction I thought would svck but it's such a QUIRKY and FUN bunch of guys.

I wish Desdamona was a love interest option.

Fully agreed! I figured with all the huge problems around, why would people bother trying to save synths? You could save a lot more people just fighting off some raiders or super mutants... or even just purifying some water. It didn't seem like it would make sense to go through so much trouble over a few synths. Once I finally met the Railroad I realized they're pretty awesome people... like the Atom Cats. They're quickly becomming one of my favorite factions now. I have no clue how they get started, but they strike me as doing what they do because they're the only ones who can.

Talking to the Railroad also put it into perspective. They're trying to save Synths because a lot of them have Synth loved ones, friends, family, or are Synths themselves.

Likewise, while they could help PEOPLE in general, they're the ONLY people helping Synths period.

It also helps to note if you consider Synths to be people rather than robots, they make as much sense as any other anti-slaving organization.

I can point to the exact moment I became on the Railroad's side. Before I mentioned the Institute or Synths, I mentioned, "I'm looking for my son. He's been kidnapped."

Their response. "Your boy is missing? How can we help?"

They're not myopic one issue voters but willing to help even without it relating to their position.

Unlock certain faction companion's perks before you've advanced to a certain point in a main faction quest line or you will be "railroaded" in order to get it

As someone already suggested, you can betray whoever you are sided with pretty close to the end.

Ans I hear you though. Don't finish the MQ if you have work to do.