I've played three play throughs and outside of the enormous technological boon that the Institute represents, absolutely nothing about it draws me to it besides Shaun. Using him to try to family-guilt the player into joining a villainous organization is pretty cheap, imo. Seems to me they should've given the Institute something interesting beyond "oh hey we can eventually help the world if we decide to take our heads out of our buttholes and actually do it."

My default character is an INT 10 and CHR 10 Science, Firearms, and Speech character so it was a no brainer knowing that he would be tempted by the Institute. I love the Zeerust Science-Fiction Element of Fallout and soundly reject the idea the games are anti-science. They're very pro-science, just not in the hands of ruthless militaristic warlords and conquerors.

There's something heartbreakingly beautiful about visiting both Vault 81 as well as the Institute and seeing human beings living in peace, tranquility, and love. They're not dwelling like savages or monsters anymore and you realize while the Institute has its dark side, there's a lot of good and decent people living there.

It could be an enormous force for good if it wasn't in the hand of someone so cynical and hate-filled as Dr. Shaun Playercharacter Insertname. Even then, I would have sided with the Railroad against them but chose to RPG the Brotherhood wiping them out because I don't like "delightfully happily ever after" endings.

The Institute seemed a much-much better ending than rewarding unchecked militarism and genocide in the BoS ending.

Dark, uncertain, and yet still hopeful in some ways.

I like xenophobic technologically advanced factions with a perchance for scientific depravity.

What can I say?

But I also love the environment of the Institute. Everything is so clean and pristine, and the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mue80wB0UG4 is some of the best in the series. It just oozes science and discovery.

How do you rationalize ever leaving the Institute once you become the director? That also played into my choice. You have near perfection down there - robot servants who do menial labor while brilliant minds create the answer to every problem ever conceived, all while keeping it to themselves.

There's literally no reason to ever leave, as Shaun proved himself by only leaving to witness the world once before he died.

Morality.

My Sole Survivor is basically Rand al'Thor with Piper, Cait, and Curie as his spouses. He also is in control of Diamond City now and all the Minutemen settlements as both General as well as Director. He's going to rebuild the Commonwealth with SCIENCE and he's going to need to smooth a lot of ruffled feathers. It doesn't help the Minutemen and Synths, God bless them, aren't quite up to dealing with the Super Mutants and Gunners.

At least yet.

He has a crib in the Red Rocket Gas Station/Palace and his Diamond City house.

I struggled with this as well to be honest.

But in the end, just figured my PC wasn't the type to stay down in the Institute forever. He likes some fresh air (relatively speaking) and exploration. Traveling back and forth exploring the wasteland by day whilst going home and taking a hot shower and sleeping in a nice clean bed in the Institute at night. Plus he needs to keep active to stop the memory of Shaun and his wife's deaths from eating away at him.

Also at the moment all his romantic companions can't follow him to the Institute soo....powerful motivation right there.

My Sole Survivor is going to keep any future members of his family at Vault 81 or the Institute.

Probably Vault 81.

Less chance of turning them into Nazi Enclave scientist wannabes.

Mods will answer all problems, but canonically the Institute won't allow you to bring your outsiders in - so, do you just ignore that?

I tend to think that's just gameplay limitations versus a reality.

Which is a shame because I'd love to hear companions talk about the Institute.

What would Nick, Piper, and Preston say?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqSB4DFZqoM

It isn't a gameplay limitation at all. Not one single bit.

Dismiss > send to institute.

Really?

Now I have to try that.

Edit: Nevermind, I see what you're saying.

Its not so much a "gameplay limitation" as it is "Bethesda didn't think to put this very logical feature in, and its strange that they didn't." Why shouldn't I be able to take Piper or Cait to the Institute and show them around?

Exactly. If Shaun could bring you in under the auspices of the directorate, you could do the same.

Thing is, you don't have the auspices of the directorate.

What drew me to the institute? A teleporter!

Ahem. It's definitely there to family-guilt you though.

Err, why not?

By the end of the game, I am The Director.

Shaun's already made it clear the Director has the power to overrule any opposition the Directorate throws up. Which becomes apparent when he names me his successor. And aside from Justin Ayo being his usual dikeish self, the rest of the Institute seems quite happy to call me their leader.

Hell X6-88 is ready to follow me unto the gates of hell if I ordered him.

Edit: And there's absolutely nothing in the Institute's rulebook that says they can't take in outsiders. Madison Li, The Nuclear Physicist guy, and others were all wastelanders before the Institute plucked them up.

The teleporter is the only thing there for me in the long run. It's handy if you want to fast travel but not consume a heap of in game time. Also it's a legitimate reason to use fast travel if you don't want to otherwise.

I stand corrected on the director's power but i don't agree that they'd take just anyone in. Dr. Maddison Li is basically the most brilliant topsider of her time. Piper handwrites newspapers.

And yet she commands alot of power with that pen of hers. She basically has the ability to influence how most people in one of the largest cities in the Commonwealth feels about the Institute. Hell, not just Diamond City since even the people in Goodneighbor thinks her paper is good stuff.

And how she writes that article at the end is proof of that. Since she basically writes that maybe the Institute can change and that she knows who the Director is.

Regardless though, as The Director, I should be able to tell the Directorate to stuff it if they have objections and bring whoever I feel like to live with me. Frankly, any potential romantic partner or soul-mate to The Director of The Institute should have the red-carpet rolled out for them. Like I said, aside from a few grumblings from Justin and maybe Dr. Madison (and even then in the end she admits that Father probably made the right choice is successor) everyone else respects and admires my character.

Its gets weird because there's clearly a printing press behind her sister making dozens of copies.

I'm guessing its some kind of weird nuclear-powered Pre-War copier.

The Institute is evil. Father is a huge liar. X6-88 eventually tells you their ultimate goal. He says the Commonwealth is like a rotting corps and its people worms feeding off it. But that's ok because soon the Institute is the only thing left. Also I dont think Father dies. I think at the last moment he places his memories into the child synth. Like I said, he is a huge liar.

Warning: Massive spoilers ahead:

Nothing. You can't even ask Father about the abductions. It's a horrible let-down with a nonsensical storyline.

At first we are told by Hancock that Shaun is ten years old. Everything so far leads us to believe that. Then we find out that 60 years has passed. Then why did Hancock say in the vault flashback that he got his orders from the "old man"? It's a mess. It's deliberately engineered so that there is this big reveal at some point, but in doing so any semblance of a logical plot goes out the window.

Then there are the generation 3 synths. The most advanced piece of technology ever. Indistinguishable from a human being except through autopsy. But they aren't treated like that. The Institute treats them like low-value common tools even though that is totally nonsensical. So you create sentient beings that for all intents and purposes are just like human beings and then you treat them like low-value slaves, why exactly? And why were they developed in the first place?

The whole storyline is a disjointed mess, the institute has no discernible sane motives or behaviour and I can't even tell my son to stop replacing people.

Yuck.

Infiltration and Information. Gen 3 Synths are the above ground eyes and ears of the Institute - sophisticated Eyebots, if you will - and are treated accordingly. If you read the terminals at the SRB and just listen to ambient dialogue, outside the Coursers and the various lab assistants in the Institute, Gen 3 Synths are all specialized, one use operatives who are disposed of after their mission has been completed.

They're treated like low-value slaves because, as you witness in the Robotics facility in the Institute, they take about a minute to "build". It's disposable life of the highest order, made all the worse by the fact they come out of assembly with fully formed self-awareness ("Hello. I am...new...here.").

The Institute is Science unbound by morality and ethics. Victor Frankenstein has nothing on these guys.

I tried siding with the institute on a previous character. In fact, I did side with them. After finding the FEV lab and reading a few terminals I just couldn't stomach siding with that lying, manipulative little weasel any more. I had already made enemies with the Brotherhood, and the Rail Road, and when I was asked to kill Brotherhood I was left with only one choice. I killed everyone in the institute then made a new character lol.