The problem is that I can′t relate to any of the 4 factions. And I′ve always liked the raiders (going back as far Fallout 1 where I joined forces with the Skullz and the Khans), because they are free from society′s constraints.

Well you're the General so if you want to just screw over Preston and make them your private mercenary army and Kingdom, you could do that.

Sadly, there's no option to explicitly do that.

~Edit~

Nevermind. I literally slaughtered the BoS and failed their quests permanently. Just had to go to the police station where you originally meant them and just killed off the group there to become enemies. Then the rest of them are kill-able after that. Now just need to shoot their ship down.

Raiders are basically like evil wild animals in the newer Fallouts that only deserves death; heck, I don't even consider them as human beings. (I don't consider the Khans as raiders. I consider them as a gang. At least from what I've seen of them in New Vegas).

I think people complain about the legion, less that they are cartoonishly evil, and more because Obsidian attempted to make them grey, but failed SUPER hard.

which makes it funny, because people praise them for "how good they are at writing" even though they failed hard in new vegas.....but then Bethesda successfully makes a super grey faction....and people complain..........

This is actually true, although I didn't mind the Legon being cartoonishly evil. At least joining them made more sense than 'hurr durr I'll poison the purifier and therefore basically doom myself'. But overall, I like the gray and gray morality of FO4 factions, it actually makes me think about who I want to join and what I'll have to sacrifice.

Sure wouldn't mind some 'evil' options in dialog and quest resolution choices though, I feel FO4 is sorely lacking in these.

I feel that FO4 was lacking in evil options simply because of the voiced protagonist. Voicing the protagonist was cool, and I do enjoy it myself, but they have the protagonist set-up in a way where you are either a good person or a selfish person... Being selfish isn't necessary evil, by the way.

At least from what I've seen in the dialogue and generally how the protagonist speaks/act through the many quests I've done already.

I don't want to sound rude but it's because of the general population's wish for simplicity. People may think that they enjoy good things, and that the things they do enjoy are literally good but in reality... People generally just enjoy simple things that are easy to get into and love. Everybody has that general enjoyment even and it's alright to have. The problem lies when someone blinds themselves by their own general enjoyment and are unable to enjoy something that is truly amazing and special, because it is "different" from the things they liked before.

Possibly, but once you think about it, were the evil options in FO3 all that dialog-changing? If you blew up Megaton you got, what... Three Dog and your dad scolding you? And that was fine, that was enough. Would it really have been so hard to put a few evil choices in FO4 and have a couple of npc lines reflect those, even with a voiced protagonist? All in all, I honestly don't understand why Beth got rid of that aspect. It was amusing. It was optional - nobody raged when canon didn't acknowledge it.

The brotherhood are not Evil, their cause is just, it is just their methods that are different.

Ad Victorium

So much all of this. The Legion was cartoonishly evil and that would be fine if Obsidian did not sometimes try to make them look good. But no amount of order or no-chems will make make up for their wrongs.

The worst is, Ceasar himself is an interesting character and is wasted on Legion being forced into being the Bad Karma choice. I am just not buying that someone like him is not noticing what he is doing wrong... especially since every peasant in Mojave notices the instability of the Legion.

But in general, Obsidian seems better at making good guys gray than making bad guys gray.

Caesar knew everything which was going on, brain tumor aside. He just didn't care. History is full of well-educated, erudite people who are also complete psychos and indulge in cults of personality. Amusingly, not Julius Caesar but many of the Emperors thereafter. Also, plenty of RL warlords in unstable regions.

The thing is that "realistic" evil is a questionable choice.

Any Courier who isn't a stupid thug is going to want to rule the Wasteland themselves, especially if they're not big on the [censored]-Murder-Pillage-Enslave thing like the Legion.

Basically, no reason to be an anti-technology Luddite when you can have your robot army like Doctor Doom. It's House's biggest problem as no selfish Courier is going to choose House over ruling the Wasteland themselves.

I honestly think Fallout 4 is the best writing Bethesda has done since Morrowind and much better than Skyrim (and I loved Skyrim). The Minutemen are "good" but they're also good in a realistic believable and flawed fashion. The Railroad is good but it's also morally myopic (fighting for Synth rights versus everyone seems a bit....tunnel visioned). The Brotherhood's fascist undertones are presented in a way as to why fascist undertones ACTUALLY APPEAL TO PEOPLE.

The Institute? The Institute does some truly heinous stuff but they're SMART ABOUT IT.

Basically, the opposite of Caesar in every way.

Yep. I really like how they presented the factions here, and I'm usually a 'for the evulz' kinda Fallout player.

I do admit, there's a few evil "quests" which make no damned sense and lack any good responses.

For example, the entire thing with Cooke in Diamond City has you as an assassin-for-hire who is out to murder some Chem dealers for their drugs.

....

What the?

Well, true, but I think the main problem here is that the Sole Survivor really isn't written as a potentially evil dude 99% of the time, so those random quests - which I guess were shoved in there to appease evil playthrough gamers like me - just feel jarring and ooc. And like I said, I love playing evil, but for the first time in a Fallout game I'm playing a nice guy because it fits better. And don't get me wrong - I miss the evil options, I wish they were still there, but I'd rather deal with it and play good than do this weird bipolar thing where I'm a teddy bear in the main quest and a psycho in random sidequests.

But still, the factions are written well, and I'm honestly torn on who to support because no matter what I choose someone I care about will suffer. That constitutes pretty good writing for me.

I'm torn as well because, really, all of the decisions svck in a way for a good-hearted bloke.

* The Institute isn't pure evil and you're basically NUKING their home city--which is extreme even if you allow an evacuation.

* The Brotherhood of Steel murders the Railroad, your friends but is it right to BLOW UP THEIR SHIP AND KILL THEIR GOD KING?

* The Minutemen are great but they have to liberate the Commonwealth or become servants of another faction.

* The Railroad, well, they want the two greatest technological factions in the Wasteland destroyed--all for a few hundred robot citizens who will be doomed to extinction if the Institute is destroyed anyway.

I admit I tend to make decisions based more on personal relationships than 'the good of the many', so for me it's mostly like this:

• if I back the Institute, which I'd like to do cause they have Science! and
  Spoiler

  my goshdanged son as their leader
  I doom all the synths to a life of slavery, and more importantly Nick Valentine hates me.
• if I back the BoS I get to be friends with Danse who is a sweet guy but
  Spoiler

  the whole relationship is really unhealthy cause I support the guys who want him and all of his kind dead and he's weirdly ok with it which makes me uncomfortable ;P
  But more importantly, Nick Valentine hates me.
• If I back the Railroad, which is what I'd actually prefer to do in accordance with my moral compass, I damn Danse.
• If I back the Minutemen I still kinda damn Danse, and do nothing much for synth freedom.

...eff me.