So, my son leaves me frozen 60 years just for the hell of it. He just doesn't seem to care. So why should I care for him? I feel like he's a complete stranger to me, I mean, how could I be involved, by the time I recover from the shock he's treating me like he's my boss and he's ready to send me on a dangerous mission because of my survival skills, wtf, not even a hug? A cup of coffee and a little chit chat? Nothing? Well, screw you Shaun, if you can't see me as your father I can't see you as my son either. On my first playthrough I sided with the Institute out of curiosity, now I'm with the Railroad and well determined to put the Institute down to its knees, who cares if this means killing Shaun and everyone else inside. Is there anyone here feeling attached to Shaun in any way?

The tape your wife send you telling you to protect Shaun no matter what. You also don't know when Shaun becomes the director and whether he has the right and support to free you. As you said, Shaun was taken from you as a baby, you may remember him, but he wouldn't even have any faint memory of you. While for you it's only an instance, for him, he was isolated and experimented on with no one to talk to, a very lonely existence for 60 years. It's his own way of coping with it. Lastly, he intentionally reprogram the synth Shaun to be just like him could be because he wants to experience the family connection he never had. He's dying, which could be because he wanted to see his only family one last time. He also never forgave Kellogg for what he did, which could show that while he's thankful for being rescued, he's also resented Kellogg for taking him away. Shaun cares about you in his own way, he trusted and welcome you by himself without any guard around him at all time you are with him while other leaders have people guarding them at all time. Shaun also makes you into a director, it shows he cares and trusts you very much that you would carry out his legacy.

MY biggest issues, besides the fact my son is responsible for various murders around the Commonwealth, is why make me go though all the [censored]? I mean, if he wanted to meet me, why not meet outside the vault?

He didn't want to meet you until he realized you were a super badass with a pipboy that solved everyone's problems. He admits that he expected you to die after releasing you, and he just wanted you to kill Cereal

It's mostly because of plot. If you bring logic into a movie or video games, a lot of the games and movies would have ended within the first 5 minutes. One of the big reasons why you explore the world is to find your son afterall.

Great. My loving son used me. And then he expects me to accept him and embrace his ideals. I mean, why not kill Kellog himself? He has the robots to do it. Please...

I was hoping this game would let me shoot him the face.

Why I think this game has a piss-poor plot. I mean, I'm suppose to care about a kid I've know for what - 15 seconds? I didn't even name him.

It does. You can shoot him whenever you want, he isn't essential. I walked into the Institute, shot him, and walked out. Then blew it up.

Its a 1 sided relationship because he is dead.

And yet lots and lots of players did.

Weird.

Almost like it's a choice or something.

Or ... Father isn't really your son. Father knew he was dying and didn't want to trust his dynasty to a human. He wanted a Synth to continue as director of the institute. He initially kidnapped shaun so that he could harvest pure un-radiated dna to evolve his research. His plan was to swap the parent holding shaun with the most advanced synth yet but Kellogg messed it up by killing them, making the SS the "backup". When you re-awake from cryo you are not human but a Synth created by the institute to infiltrate the commonwealth, railroad, BOS on way to finding your son. This eventually leads you to the institute where Father feeds you a lie of being your son in hopes to complete his evil genius plan. Muahahaha

he looks like you and your wife you made, he is your son.

That theory gets thrown out the window when you see Father and he looks like the 2 characters you created

I don't know, I created a tanned skin character but Father turns out to have black skin that look strangely like the mailman. My wife has some 'plainin to do.

Maybe Father had facial surgery to resemble your looks ... seems easy to get facial reconstruction.

I think the game loses like 90% of its pathos (which is not huge but there) if we're assuming Shaun is lying.

About the only pathos the Institute has is it's Nazi Doctor leader is your misguided son.

and yet they look different than him, some of them with a different six and skin color as well as eye and hair color I smell genetic engineering at work, it is hard to tell how far away from the original sample each synth is and I wonder if they even use any of the same original strands.

Which is why I killed him as soon as I could. He is no son of mine. He played me for a fool, and used me like a tool. Screw Shaun.

if you had a shred of evidence to support this idea I would be inclined to believed you but as it is all signs point to him being your biological son.

No they don't. There is no way I would ever believe or take that seriously. It's poor writing plain and simple.

My character cared up until Shaun said it was an experiment where he figured I would die, and that Nora was collateral damage.

After that I told him to [censored] off.

I actually think they could have tightened things by the fact Shaun only frees you because he's certain he's going to die.

Also, a dead looted Courser inexplicably outside of Vault 111.

Maybe next to a bunch of Raiders.

That would have been funny and great foreshadowing.

The computer says that Nora's pod was opened by manual override, but yours was opened by remote.

he was a baby, its hard to get emotional about people you have never met before, I knew it would be a problem when I went in, even if he was a child he was raised by people you have never met before and would have been attached to them.

You do realize he was raised and brainwashed by the institute? He was experimented and lonely throughout his entire life. He doesn't have any emotional connection with his parents because he was taken away as a baby. You're judging him as if he was being raised in a normal environment.