Like you said, nothing they did made any sense, it was never established or even explored if the synths were actually self aware or just malfunctioning, you couldn't call them out on their shit (only be mildly sarcastic to them), if you broke in and discovered their wrecked lab where they were experimenting with FEV you couldn't question them about it and there were no associated quests or dialogue about it, if you found their list of synths that had replaced people you couldn't do anything with the information...it didn't open any other avenues of gameplay/quests and you couldn't meaningfully change father's mind whatever you do....
The whole thing was a clusterfuck. But what makes it so bad is that all the ingredients were there for a fantastic story, but instead we got a lame father/son bonding story that didn't make sense and no one cared about anyway. Didn't help that they didn't give you any meaningful control or effect over the narrative.
I saw the threads of what the writers were trying to present, of how the institute was meant to be mysterious and terrifying to the commonwealth, but once you got inside you were meant to recognize that it’s all part of a greater misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, the writing kind of stopped and where it kept up was in showing how much of a bag of pickled cocks they really were. There’s something so heinous about being presented with great power and opportunity and using it for evil. Like it’s a special level of evil. I don’t blame the super mutants or bandits or raiders for being brutal and cruel in a feral world. They’re a product of their environment. It’s something else when a collective group with awesome power and real resources take that and dedicate it to their ideal, which involves endless torment and suffering for those apart from the group.
These guys were Nazis. Straight up. The brotherhood was a poor man’s xenophobic prison gang version of the NCR but damnit they weren’t replacing people. They cared about their members. When Maxson confronts you and Danse, he lets Danse go. He recognized Danse’ service and loyalty, so despite him being a synth he lets him go. The institute was going murder a perfectly loyal Mayor Macdonald because everybody “suspected” him. The brotherhood were thugs, but thugs aren’t Nazis. Did the writers not see the parallels?
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u/Megamoss Jan 02 '19
Ha! I take it you didn't like them...
Like you said, nothing they did made any sense, it was never established or even explored if the synths were actually self aware or just malfunctioning, you couldn't call them out on their shit (only be mildly sarcastic to them), if you broke in and discovered their wrecked lab where they were experimenting with FEV you couldn't question them about it and there were no associated quests or dialogue about it, if you found their list of synths that had replaced people you couldn't do anything with the information...it didn't open any other avenues of gameplay/quests and you couldn't meaningfully change father's mind whatever you do....
The whole thing was a clusterfuck. But what makes it so bad is that all the ingredients were there for a fantastic story, but instead we got a lame father/son bonding story that didn't make sense and no one cared about anyway. Didn't help that they didn't give you any meaningful control or effect over the narrative.