ive already restarted after 30 hours on my first charactor thinking a slower more methodical approach on survival difficulty would solve my problem, but it didnt. On my second run im none the wiser. I cant betray the institue cause of my son. As a real life father, if i was faced with this choice I'd support my child. Mind you this is my first play through so i want to play as if i would if i was really there. However, how things are set up its like my mind was already made up for me. Its also like when i finally do get to the institue no matter what ive done, none of it measures up to my first impression of that place. Even though i have built up all these settlements and joined the other factions all i can think is "what have i been doing with my life?" "Nothing ive done measures up to this place..." I feel like i wouldnt even leave that place or would want to if i was really there. Thus on my first time going through the story i guess i will chose the institue, but i feel cheated cause its on my first run through the whole story, its like its not even a choice. Granted my view on them may change but that will be after the fact. How can i realistically roleplay a charactor who would even want to side with the railroad, i mean why would i risk my life and betray my son over some robots? And why would i join the brotherhood to go to war against my own flesh and blood? Anyway im just wondering if anyone has the same issues roleplaying as you would really in the game? I will play through the other storylines eventually but i wont feel attached to the charactor since its not something i would have or see myself really doing. I'll just do it to see the storyline. Please dont post spoliers past the mission when you betray the Railroad. I just want to hear your thoughs on my situation and if anyone feels the same way up to where im at in the story.

Because your son is a slaver who made those robots from his own flesh.

They're your GRANDCHILDREN.

Synths aren't just robots; they're synthetic people. They're sentient, living beings, and the Institute keeps them in chains (admittedly, pretty, future-y science chains).

thats if you buy into the robots are equal as humans, to me a robot is a robot even if it is fleshed out with my sons DNA.

That tells you what sort of man your son is.

How can a robot be sentient? I wouldnt believe are, id just view them as fancy robots.

Then don't worry about it.

It's the same reasoning the BoS and Institute have.

Choose them instead of the people who think the Institute is Paradise Falls with Ipods.

is that spolier before or after were im at? i just want to know if i should look at it or not.

You can find this out if you check behind the laser grid in the Biotech lab.

It's where Virgil's office is.

You can find out what he was working on there, albeit you can infer it if you stop and think about it.

It's not related to the main plot but it's pretty surprising.

Third-Generation Synths are mostly organic.

I guess it all comes down to how you define sentient. To me: They have emotions. They can think, they can consider; the game establishes that this is a difference between robots and Synths; in-game, there's a side-quest in which an AI from a Mr. Handy-Type body is transferred into a Synth body; she's overwhelmed by the fact that she is suddenly feeling true emotion.

I apologize, because this kind of derails the topic, but man...

If you choose to place Curie in a synth body and pursue the romance option with her, this fact makes the whole situation more than a little messed up...

You can romance Danse too.

And yes, that is why I am not romancing Currie despite French accented Angelina Jolie look.

Besides, I only had two wedding rings to give Cait and Piper.

Cait is kinda scary. When I was just starting the BoS quests, I accidentally shot Paladin Brandis in the face after talking to him and had to reload a save. Cait cheered me on when it happened.

Psycho is a hell of a drug.

To be fair to Shaun, he's that way because he was RAISED to be that way. Had he been raised by the Minutemen, or the people of the Railroad, he might have turned out to be different. In my character's mind, he is as much of a victim to the Institute as everyone else is. The hard part is deciding whether to aid the Institute for his sake, or go against the Institute to put him out of his misery.

Indeed. A bit sleepy to elaborate but after some thinking, it seems the big question is:

Would you be comfortable having a synth-you carry on your legacy for the immortal future? I wouldn't. I mean I would, if I felt assured that he was me

And if it's so easy to copy souls, then I'll build a million of them. And other people could to. And then the wars, the hostage taking, etc - out of control technological singularity