I haven't gotten too far but from what I e read in the forums, you can side with the institute?
Nevermind that, is it an awesome idea to stick with BOS or no? I want to know if the storyline is better and if I'm going to get more XP if I stick with them or ditch em. Thanks in advance!馃槉

Depends how you are RPing your character.

This thread can help in your decisions.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1579882-an-ethical-anolysis-of-each-faction-in-fallout-4/

Each faction has a companion specific, siding with a faction meaning you lose the other 2 companions. If you like Danse, you can only keep him if you are not an enemy of the BoS. Brotherhood of Steel has more repeatable quests. I sided with them, and I like it. I find Institute and BoS endings to be the best outcome, but it's up to how you play the game.

I like the minutemen ending myself. However, it is possible to keep 3 factions (MM, RR, and BOS) in state of non-aggression with companion available if you side with MM. I believe there is a guide for that strategy

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1579902-the-three-surviving-faction-ending-was-very-satisfying/

BoS has 5 radiant quests (earlier in a post I wrote 4, cause I forgot the child initiate quests), 3 misc quests and a very solid shop.

It is important ot know that with the MM ending you can have RR and BoS friendly.

Finally if you get a companion's perk you don't lose it if yoy betray him and his faction.

The BoS ending is my personal favorite ending after doing all four of them. I think it's at least worth doing all four of them. The typical endings basically result in chosen faction+ the Minutemen surviving. With a bit of caution, it's possible to save the Brotherhood, the Railroad, and the Minutemen. This is the option that I'm pursuing for my second play through. It's not necessarily a 'better' ending in terms of story line or anything like that, but it leaves you with the most end game options. You've got radiant quests to do for three factions if you do this.

I've done the Institute ending and now a BoS ending. I gotta say while the Commonwealth seems more relieved with the BoS ending, I am not completely satisfied with it. But I won't go into that really as it contains spoilers for the BoS ending.

I would like to try getting the three factions surviving ending. I just wonder what the exact steps are. I've managed to end up with the MM and my faction of choice survive. but never the RR, MM and BoS at the same time.

On my first playthru I pretty much let the game and my gut lead me based on the character I was playing. I ended up with the MM ending and all factions friendly sans CIT. It was very rewarding.

That said you really have to spend alot of time in game building up the MM which can become a pain in the [censored].

On my second playthru I went BOS all the way and never met the MM and enjoyed that ending as well. MM took me about 350 hours before I felt secure enough to take on the institute.

BOS only took 200 hours. I've yet to do the CIT ending and not sure I want to. I never liked Zimmer in FO3 and my feelings have not changed about the institute.

That said if you enjoy post MQ playing and there is a ton of that to do.

Many sidequests, new companion, bobblehead searches...all the stuff you should not have done if you really cared about finding your son can now be done with a clear conscious.

The BOS ending is much more limiting. Some of my favorite companions are synths and mutants and as the highest ranking BOS soldier that is a problem.

Just focus on the Minutemen and main quests. Don't bother with any of the main Railroad, Institute, or Brotherhood of Steel quests after Molecular Relay. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUFEeYdQnVc details how to do it, but I am not sure how necessary some of those quests are to avoid or do.