To also kill the Colonel when he could have just hit a button and brought that jerk face to face with my 12 gauges of justice?

And the colonel doesn't even die.

Because James never encountered Enclave tech before, so he assumed were he to sabotage the Purifier he would have it be unworkable for no one. In James' eyes it's better the CW remain status quo than slaves to the Enclave.

It always struck me as a bit of an over reaction on James' part. I honestly wish that they'd revealed or inferred at some later point that he had ties to the Enclave, which would make a lot more sense and be a decent twist to the story.

Indeed. To be honest, killing himself did absolutely nothing and actually later on caused the death of his only son. Colonel Autumn basically offers James a job and doesn't seem to indicate that any harm would come to the scientists. Besides, he could have done more damage sabotaging Enclave efforts as a double agent.

I would have also liked if it turned out James had worked with the Enclave before. To me, it would have been a better story if James and Catherine had been Enclave scientists and James left for moral reasons with the LW (pretending that Catherine had died in child birth, when in reality she stayed with the Enclave). James and the baby LW head to vault 101 and then the story begins from there.

Best parts of this are:

1. A twist to Jame's story

2. It makes sense joining the Enclave because the LW is pure human.

3. The moral decision becomes a choice between siding with the people of your birth, and who your mother supported, or deciding to follow in the footsteps of James and helping the waste in a more substantial way.

It also could have led to a more dramatic meeting between Autumn and James.

Well if James was Enclave and he then turned to the BoS for help..Wouldn't it be more logical and helpful for the wasteland, for James to tell the BoS "Hey you know the Enclave, the guys that kicked your ass back West? Yeah they have a base called Raven Rock that's pretty close by. Seriously I though you guys knew, what with all the Enclave eye-bots flying around."

As for the Topic. OP, didn't you notice the two Enclave guys with plasma rifles in that room as well? If James pulled out a gun, he would be glowing goo. He had to kill himself, after all the main quest is "Following in his footsteps." The whole game leads up to the Lone Wanderer to sacrafice himself at the end. Only given two options, send Sarah in or yourself. Never mind the Ghoul, Super Mutant and Robot followers that wouldn't be harmed by the radiation, we weren't supposed to notice that flaw.

I would say that James (in my version) wouldn't want the BOS to take project purity either. Thus creating ambiguity in the choice. Also he may not want to give away the Enclave's base because he knows individuals who live in there, and he doesn't want to see them killed. He's torn in other words.

That and without Liberty Prime, the BOS would have zero chance of penetrating Raven Rock anyway.

Options would be good, but something like Project Purity attracted the Brotherhood and the Enclave knew about it. How would James and his rage tag group of science nerds fend off the BoS or Enclave?

At least if James told the BoS about Raven Rock. The BoS would have sent Prime there first. The Outcast might not have split off from Lyons. Once they learned the Enclave for sure are in DC, they would have put everything into dealing with them. Think of all the high-tech goodies they have

Seriously how did the BoS not know the Enclave was there? Eyebot flying around talking about Enclave goals?

I think its clear(again) that Fallout 3's story needs to be completely redone.

Hey, I like that idea, also my LW would never join the Enclave (to militarized and I don't trust Eden's speeches, never have, never will, AI or not - all politicians are liars LOL).

But yes, James' "sacrifice" was a bit over the top dramatic and the story could have taken a lot of different turns at that time. Did Beth take the "easy way out"... again? Just let the Dad die off and let the LW pick up the pieces from there? At least they didn't have to write any more content for Dad this way... *rolls eyes*

I also would have liked to see some more twists, concerning James and Project Purity.