I can buy the idea of the child in Kellog's memory being the synth, it would explain why the radio broadcast is recent and not fifty years old. What I cannot make sense of is Kellog himself. We watch in his memories as he goes through life. If you look at him, both in the beginning of the game and again when you watch his memory of Shaun's kidnapping, there is no way possible that FIFTY years passed between the kidnapping and when the SS confronts him. The only possible explanation is that he would be a synth himself and that possibility is never even hinted at.

It did. The man is 108 years old when you kill him. He was part of a cybernetic experiment that had 'life extension' as a side effect.

Source: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Conrad_Kellogg

The biggest thing that tells you his true age is the broadcast in his childhood memory. The foundation of the New California Republic is announced. The NCR formed in 2189 as a result of the actions in the first Fallout game. Kellogg was 10 at the time of the memory, putting his birth sometime in the year 2179, which is 108 years before Fallout 4 begins.

This was before SS found out the truth. At that time, he just thought Shaun was a ten-year-old boy running around with Kellogg.

so makes you think who actually ordered this

from nick valentine we know this was only a few months before you awoke from the vault

do you still want to help the institute ?

This story makes no sense why a son in a desolated post apo wasteland whose mother has been murdered and his father is still in cryo pod, all he decides to do is liberate his father then vanishes back into the institute and observe if after all those years he always care about his son?

this make 0 sense only explanation is some serious psycho problem.

And btw the 10yo kid is as seen in kellog memory a very recent one so father was still +/- 60. So the boy you see is a synth serving as a bait?

A bait for what exactly? How could father know you ( a pre war relic) kill a veteran mercenay then pick up his brain, kill a courser, get his chip etc, etc...

No doubt father is seriously deranged, but very clever as well ( scientifically speaking)

I just dont understand railroad / brotherhood point of view to destroy the institute. All this tech that could serve to improve the world above ground...

TAking control of the institute yes, detroying it make no sens what so ever.

A lot of question remain at the end of the game wich is really annoying. Like simply why? Why replacing humans by synth? Why acting in the shadow using terror tactics and then acting like if its the only hope of humanity? ITs just incoherent.

Pointing up

(disclaimer I aint no shrink this is just my take)

Ya its well rough I hate slapping Muah haha evil on the institute or father, But there really is a rather nasty version of clinical detachment going on here as they further their goals... Father I feel could actually in his own way be showing a bit of regret or wonder at what could have been as he knowingly approaches his own death, yet being who is heh Science is very detacted about it.

I think this is sort of the timeline ( I will get slapped down if I am off no doubt).

Some 60 years or ago he gets napped.... (why or when the others are killed and you are deemed to be worth keeping I dont know, but at some point since shawn does work so well your actually not needed just well going to waste heh)

Sometime within the last few years he learns he is dying, despite there best efforts. And an experiment begins to form in his mind, A child is made (in his image spooky) and the release of an actual parent who has been on ice is arranged. I believe he wants to know 1 just how good child synth is, and 2 what would have happened say had the family been thawed proper could they have actually made it. (this may be a bit sentimental like some say adoptions who go out of there way to find there blood parents in real life, but oddly cold given he does nothing to help said parent aside from offering bread crumbs )

These plans are actually set in motion, but another experiment Virgil interrupts this sort of, and Kellogg (who was indeed being used as a patsy) is actually needed to tamp down a real problem.... A recall of Synth shawn happens, but everything else goes as planned.

(meaning I think Real shawn intended his parent to confront Kellogg in DC but stuff happened, it was a chance to also field test synth shawn among real people not in a Lab, not just see a parents reaction to finding there child, IF they lived. )

I also think he is really surprised and impressed (if you play your hand right) with you, your drive and ingenuity, so much so that he does want to leave his legacy in your hands. (in certain playthroughs) and in others perhaps a bit blinded (if you hate the institute)

Maybe

Ummm. He was messed up BEFORE Shaun became the Director. In his memories when kidnapping baby Director he blatantly says he's killed children before, but was somewhat pleased he didn't have to this time, not that it would have bothered him much. I pitied his crappy existence until that point

Main problem is that he turn invisible at the end, my solution was to ender VAT at once at the end and set up an serie of headshots.

Hence why SynthShaun worked as bait.

When I saw the cold, cold man my "son" had become, I ran like hell.

I'm not overly fond of the other factions either. Since Bethesda, in all their wisdom, neglected to throw in a peaceful-end option, my playthru might just end in status quo. Not gonna lie, I'm quite disappointed with the endgame in this one.

I approach an Institute play through from the idea that my character is not someone ruled by their emotions. I am usually heavily invested in Science myself (along with the Silver Shroud Armor, love the look), and so though I do not approve of my Son's actions I understand them.

I am able to rationally understand that my Son has been subjected to 60 years of the Institute worldview, and so I dedicate myself to helping him any way I can. By 'Nuclear Family', I feel I have come as close to saving Shaun as I reasonably can.

After that I dedicate myself and the Institute to helping the Commonwealth.

The problem is, unless I've missed something, is you can't help the commonwealth when siding with the institute.

I thought there might be some eventuality where you can share technology or use the current tech to help the people, but there's just no options at the end

The radio broadcast you make, despite having choices of what to say, basically implies the institute is going to wait till the surface is basically devoid of all life and the only hope for humanity, is underground with the instituite

Oh, but you aren't welcome underground and oh...our synths, when above ground, shoot on sight.

Even as supreme ruler (director) you can't change anything, the only change you can make, is to improve synths or improve weaponry.

Unfortunately none of the factions gets to do much, but consider that it would realistically take time to make a real difference anyway. The Institute like all factions does set up checkpoints, which help improve security in the Commonwealth.

I don't want to give anything away, but there are things you can do to begin to move the Institute in a better direction. The radio address is one. My address basically started with 'We are the Institute, and we are here to help'. I promised not to interfere with the people's liberties, and asked that they not interfere with Institute activities as that would be a tragedy for all.

Yea I did the same with the radio.

I'll have to look into it further

Agreed.



Having played all four endings and been left feeling "meh" by all of them, my fifth character is a woman with a serious case of the smarts, she studied psychology as well as law before entering the military for extended national service, she excelled in everything she did.


After being thawed out and blah blah blah we all know the story up to killing Kellog, he may have had a pain inhibitor but he still screamed his way to death when she tore that implant out of his living head.


Since that she's met and had dealings with all the factions and quickly realised that they all want to use her as a catalystic pawn that would set in place a chain of events that would lead to the death and destruction of many.


She told them all to go to hell.


The wasteland isn't the world she wanted, but it is the world she got, she'll make her choices and survive it in her own damned way.

In the Institute post-game the surface synths no longer shoot on sight, in fact they do what all the other factions' checkpoints do in their endings and engage only hostiles, i.e. raiders, mutants, creatures and remnants of the defeated factions. Whether you interpret that as tangible proof of the Institute helping the Commonwealth or just taking control of it to more efficiently syphon its resources depends, I guess, on the tone of your radio broadcast, but the fact remains that Institute forces are no longer indiscriminately hostile.

Even though I role play 'Good' Director, I am still essentially taking control of the Commonwealth. I am using the Minutemen as my 'National Guard', if you will.

I believe that after the Eastern BOS Incursion, the Institute can no longer take its security for granted. Yes, we defeated the E BOS, but the seat of their power in the Capital Wasteland remains under their control.

We can hope that their future leaders will be more inclined to steer clear of our territory, but we may also have just a few years, before they come back again 'with blood in their eyes'.

Who knows, maybe next time we will wake up to find a repaired and upgraded Battleship off our coast raining 16 inch shells down on us.

We must be ready.

I completely missed that. I'm still not a huge fan of the story line and the lack of options the player is given when playing through them but, now that I know that bit of information, it doesn't seem like a glaring oversight by the writers. Thanks for the clarification.

Hey, no problem. Glad to help, actually.

Chatting about the lore is something I enjoy, so I don't mind poking the Wiki for details to help folks figure stuff out.

Or just grabbing the Fat Man that's right outside his door and killing him in one shot before he has a chance to say a single word.

Just saying.

I feel the same way, though my opinion of Kellogg is more of a hindsight thing since you don't learn about his past until after he's already dead. Makes me want to learn more about him, even if the memories gave the major cliff-notes of "The Life of Kellogg". It's a shame that his life had to turn out the way it did, becoming no more than a thug.

And in response to what someone else said in this forum...I was under the impression, from the memory narrations, that Kellogg either didn't kill children before or, if he ever had to, he really disliked doing it (losing his own daughter when she was little, I suppose). But, that's just me trying to remember what was exactly said. I did that quest quite a while back. *shrug*