I kind of wonder just how tunnel-visioned the main character can be. He/she knows that they just spent 210 years in cryo-freeze sleep. Some time during those 210 years, a stranger came, killed the spouse, and stole the infant. (And just why it is that the stranger thawed out the spouse's chamber AND the main character's chamber at the same is likewise bewildering.) That means that it is quite possible that Shaun grew up, died, and was buried more than a century before the main character was revived and escaped internment in Vault 111. Maybe it's possible to find Shaun's children/grandchildren. HOWEVER, taken as an infant, how would Shaun or offspring even know anything that transpired in Vault 111? Why would the abductor even consider telling Shaun that he had been abducted and his parent murdered by the abductor? So, when all possibilities have been considered, why the rush to go looking for Shaun? Sure, the main character may have an enormous parental concern, but is the character also so stupid to conceive that a LOT of time probably passed between the abduction and their revival?

It isn't until Mother Murphy states that via the Sight, she can see that Shaun is still alive. But note closely that at no time does she state just how old he is now.

I take it you don't have any children.

From the sole survivor's perspective, the "time warp" was nearly instantaneous. They have no idea how long its been since Shaun was taken, and until they learn otherwise, assume its been recent.

I think you also missed you're supposed to think you've been asleep for a few minutes to an hour. Not that you've been asleep for years.

But it's always been a desperate hope to find your child.

Why the game avoids the problem of so many other games where you ignore the other parts of the game than the Main Quest.

Too many games have, "The world is ending! FIX IT!"

Which don't make any sense to take a break to rescue townsfolk from bandits.

There's this thing called 'denial' that happens in cases of grief and trauma - like, for instance, having your spouse murdered and your child kidnapped while you stared on helplessly. The idea that you might be years, maybe even centuries, too late to save your child would be about the most horrible thing to contemplate at that point - so it's no surprise that your character does not contemplate it, and instead clings to the hope that they still have a chance to save their baby.

Also, the game doesn't really do much to ram the main quest down your throat. You're encouraged to get through the initial run down to Concord and back fairly quickly, largely because it's something of a tutorial phase, but after that you can ignore the main quest for in-game months and not once will you be prompted to return to it.

I have two grown sons and 3 grandchildren and I totally agree with your statement.

Also last game was "go find daddy" this game is "go find son"

what's next game? "go find grandkids?" omg..

Gonna argue these 2 points.

They thaw all the pods. Not just yours and Nate/Nora's. They probably had no choice but to do that.

As for Mama Murphy she says your son is alive, but she also says the Sight isn't always clear, if she can't tell you where he is, why would she be able to tell you how old he is?

Personally I think the Sight is a bunch of malarkey but whatever

I kind of wish my lisbian women would shut up about their "husbands".

It helps that I don't pay much attention to the main story except for the major exp boosts it gives.

Soooo... Fair "yes" to the topic question, really.

What I dont understand is why they kidnap the baby to begin with so they need his DNA untouched by radiation or something...arent they safe from radiation underground in the institute and vaults? I just dont get it...

Maybe I missed something but everyone frozen in that vault was untainted by radiation. There are plenty of subjects besides a baby to take.

Shaun says they didn't used to be isolationist but lived on the surface long enough to be mutated.

Yes, so they picked the baby and his parents because why not? A baby is easy to raise and control.

Then they got rid of their loose ends.

No reason NOT to kill them.

You know, if you're a psychopath like the previous director of the Institute seems to have been.

Remember, to Nate/Nora all that happened within an hour. A day at most. Even if he/she knows that it's been 210 years, that doesn't actually say that Shaun's dead. For all he/she knows, the three of them were in the pod for 210 years before the murder-kidnapping happened and then an hour/day later, he/she was released. All they know is that it's been 210 years since the War, not 210 years since Shaun's kidnapping. That's why they still think they're looking for an infant, the fact that the world ended two centuries ago is irrelevant.

I think the thing with Kellogg was that he lacked impulse and foresight. Had he been anyone else, it would've been us, our spouse and our child being escorted to the Institute. Kellogg only focused on getting the baby and when Nate/Nora refused to simply give him their kid, they got killed. You can tell he immediately regretted it when he then hissed, "[censored] it!"

The Sole Survivor had no reconciliation that 60 yrs had passed, at first I assume he/she would have thought only minutes had passed

There is another, better reason to choose the baby. The baby hasn't had 20+ years of exposure to diseases, solar radiation, poor lifestyle choices and any number of other thing. In other words, if everyone in the vault is "pure," then the baby is the most pure of all.

The real question is how did Shaun know his name was Shaun and why did the institute keep that name? Inquiring minds want to know!

I assume it was on the Vault-Tech monitors.

I certainly considered that before my girl was out of the vault. Still the baby was in her arms a day ago by her biological clock, so being a bit irrational on top of everything else is not unreasonable in the first couple weeks after leaving the vault. As the conversations regarding Shaun occur though the game she is more accepting of him being older. She certainly has no reason to suspect that Kellogg was over 100 when she killed him, so Shaun being ten is to her entirely plausible.

This is actually meant to address the several people that commented along similar lines, that "It was just a matter of an hour passing to their perspective". Watch this video to see just what it was that the character was seeing before being put into freeze sleep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdOk6ncIK3E . Then compare those last viewed images to what they see once they get decanted. (Skip to about 6:00 in the video.) Unless they're suffering from frostbite of the brain, it is OBVIOUS that a LOT of time has passed. At least as long as it would take for a dead body to be reduced to just a skeleton in the remnant of that person's clothing. Going in, Vault 111 was in pristine condition. Coming out, it looks seriously worn and deteriorating which is something that simply doesn't happen overnight. (Skip to 25:45 and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXlATiE0cc ) Then upon arriving on the surface, he/she must compare just how much the landscape has changed. Not just been altered by blast damage, but rather by the passage of time where much of that damage has been overgrown by Nature trying to make a comeback. (Allowance will be made if the character never knew a lick about Scoutcraft.) The clincher is running into Wadsworth, who tells the character that 1) it has been somewhat more than 210 years since going into Vault 111, and 2) no, he never saw anyone passing through Sanctuary Hills with a baby. (There apparently were some few occasions when Wadsworth was absent, as when he went to Concord "but they only beat me with sticks.") After the character talks to Wadsworth, it is painfully obvious that it has been 210 years between entry into Vault 111 and the exit from there. And that they have absolutely no idea as to when in that span of time that Shaun was taken.

That is pointedly wrong. Upon exiting your pod, if you take the time to examine any of the other pods you can easily ascertain that they can easily open any one pod by itself. In fact, after thorough examination, I could find NO method to open all of the pods at once. It's purely one by one. Which is why I wondered why the main character revived at all to be able to witness the spouse's demise.

Actually, my characters realizing that an undiscernable amount of time has passed between Shaun being taken and them being put back on ice is why I feel semi-comfortable doing my own damn thing for 87% even with the main plot breathing noisily down my neck. She only believed Shaun might still be alive in some fashion because she kinda sorta bought The Murph's prediction powers since they wound up being entirely accurate.

Actually, if you look in them during Kellogs quest *Everybody* is jiggling around while their getting Shaun out.

Its just every pod except for yours that they cancel life support systems for when they refreeze people.