Holy meh. So basically you turn on a REALLY BIG generator and then kill a few people and that's it? I was at least hoping for some dialog options to avoid killing my homies (from another live) in the Railroad, but nope. Just got yelled at and then slunk off to a back room to change into my fighting gear and got legit emotion when I shot Tinker Tom in the back. (and then also got kinda disgusted with that character and had to start up a new one because he made me feel like a BIG JERK)

Most of the end games leave something to be desired. I've done Minutemen and Railroad and in neither does it really make sense why you'd actually blow up the Institute. Kill all their people sure, they're monsters who use humanity as test subjects and turned my son into a monster, but I could use their toys to make life better for everybody. (also I maybe don't want to kill anybody who dared to live in that area).

I was able to kill everybody (but the cat, I totally saved the cat off screen) on the damn blimp, why did I have to blow it up? Seems like it could be useful.

Bunker Hill doesn't happen in the Minuteman storyline at all (or at least you're not involved in it). That's a kinda lame quest too, just because you can work it such that nobody is really aggro towards you and it's a bit too easy and also leaves you with so much loot (and weird how these carvan dudes are just leaving tons of good **** around for me to pick up).

I don't really want to be friends with everybody, to me you've either gotta side with the Institute or realize they're monsters (they're monsters- but I guess you can be all "OK my ****ed up kid is dead and now I run the show and I can make things better for everybody). I just don't think you need to blow them the **** up. It's just so odd in a game where scrounging for resources is such a key part that there's not even really a conversation about not destroying something that would have so much value)

The Institute - They want to control and rule everyone. Their ending makes some sense.

The Railroad - Why are we blowing up the Institute? That's the only place that Synths could be fixed etc and no more Synths once you blow it up. Plus, aren't they supposed to be more touchy feely and compassionate. Hey lets just commit mass murder. Wouldn't a better ending to be to have you get control of the Institute and then change it into a more compassionate organization and work together with the Railroad to make the world a better place.

The Minutemen - Uhh same question. Mass Murder??

Brotherhood - Kill The Railroad why? Just a bunch of hippies that save the Synths. Like they care. Plus isn't the BoS trying to get as much technical information as possible. Let's destroy the place that has the most technical information that we could use. Their ending should be that they take over the Institute but the Railroad lives on in the shadows.

I thought the Minutemen ending made the most sense. They're about protecting/rebuilding the Commonwealth and The Institute works in direct opposition to that. Plus in their end game you do have the option to not kill the innocents. It still would be nice to be able to say "hey maybe don't blow up all this game changing technology". I just said "Ok well I guess in this new world we need to survive on our own terms and that that means no synthetic gorillas".

The Institute end mostly makes sense- it's just a weird anticlimax, especially compared to the other endings. I fight some guys around a big robot and then the blimp just crashes because reasons? (admittedly I didn't stick around to see what the impact of my team winning meant, because I bailed on that character right after)

BUT once you visit the Institute, the game kinda forgets all that kidnapping, and 1st gen synth murder rampages and what not. It makes sense that the folks there wouldn't come out and talk about it, but you don't really have sufficient dialog options to be all WHAT THE ****? I RPed my character as a cold blooded calculating rational type who could see how the ends justified the means, but they didn't really give me enough for that to work without just feeling basically evil.

While I'm making very minor gripes about what I consider probably my second favorite game of all time- I wish they did more with the 200 years old thing. You just acclimate to your surroundings really quickly, which I guess in a sense is what the protagonist in that story would have to do for it to work, but after you're like "whoa, giant roaches" in the intro nothing else gives you as much pause as maybe it should.

Other minor gripes

Let me wife up Fahrenheit and Glory. Glory especially, it would work well within her story and her voice is appealing as hell.

Let me get Hancock (who stabbings aside is basically a good guy) as a hench without having to take part in a bank heist. (but also maybe don't let me get people like Nick, Piper and Hancock, who are so tied to a specific location and just uproot them without what feels like enough reason)

Make Strong shut up and make him actually stand in a ****ing guard stand. You'll quickly learn to never send him to your main settlement, since he just stands by the chem stand and talks about eating people. (all his dialog is hilarious the first time, but awful the 3rd, and that 3rd game roughly 2 minute after the 1st) Codsworth is equally useless in terms of helping your settlement.

It's ****ing weird having Garrus Vakarian voice like a bunch of NPCs (this may not be an issue if you haven't played Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 almost all the way through like 6 times) To me if you're going to use such recognizable voice talent, it should be in a specific role that doesn't break immersion.

You don't have to uproot companions permanently. When you dismiss them, instead of selecting one of your settlements, cancel out of the menu and they'll go wherever they were when you last had them follow you. Unfortunately this means that once you select a settlement for them to go to, there's no way to dismiss them to their original location.

Assuming you play as a male character and thus have a military background if you're the a woman/lawyer you just have to come up with a reason why you'd default to the BOS.

1- Join BOS at the start- that's the life you know. You need support and security and they seem the best equipped to offer it, even if they're tools.

2- Slowly become a bit disgusted by their narrow focus and zealotry but you need their help to get into the Institute. Realize they're wrong about Synths since Nick Diamond is an awesome dude who helped you out.

3- Tell the BOS to **** off when they attempt to force you to kill Danske (after you get into the 'Tute) and take out the Railroad.

4- Realize the Institute are horrible monsters and that what was once your son is now a complete ******* and that they all need to die.

5- Join the Railroad because YAY Synths and you still need help ending the 'Tute.

6- Finish main storyline with the Railroad, pretend that you saved the cat and the kid from the blimp because what the **** kind of monster lets a cat get blown up? (all of this still doesn't fix the fact that there's no good reason the RR endgame means you have to nuke the 'Tute).

7- Now that the Big Bad is gone and you've cemented yourself as Pretty ****ing Badass, join the Minutemen (because that makes Preston's intuition about your leadership make some sense rather than him just being all "well I need somebody to lead the Minutemen because I suck, Struges is too dumb and lazy to even open a door or make a bed, and you're the only other person I know who has ever done anything useful so sure you're the general")

8- Spend the rest of your time rebuilding the Commonwealth with the Minutemen and doing random quests. Wife up Piper and spend your days on Nordhagen Beach or Spectacle Island.

In part this means that the endless settlement quests that Preston spawns hold off until such time that it makes sense that that's where you'd spend your time (whereas earlier you're either furiously looking for your kid and/or trying to take out a threat to humanity). It's also a way to experience most of the game and all the different factions in a way that makes some roleplaying sense.