Fallout 4: Difference between revisions
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Adorkable]]: Travis, the owner and DJ of Diamond City Radio, is very shy and constantly bumbles his delivery yet still tries to do his job. {{spoiler|His questline eventually leads him to become much more confident and having a matching smooth radio voice to boot}}.
* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: If the Sole Survivor hasn't killed him before the final quest, then this happens with {{spoiler|Father/Shaun in any ending where the player doesn't side with the Institute. Father dies knowing that his own mother/father is about to destroy his life's work, still convinced that the Institute was the only hope left in the world. His last interaction with the Sole Survivor isn't to scream in rage or pointlessly shoot at them
* [[Alternate History]]: Further expounded upon, in addition to the existing lore. Scollay Square, where Goodneighbor is located, was a major Boston attraction before it was demolished and remodeled in real life. Likewise, in the ''Fallout'' continuity, the Boston Red Sox ''still'' hadn't won a World Series since 1918 by 2077, when in reality, the team finally broke the "Curse of the Bambino" in 2004.
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: The titular town in the ''Far Harbor'' DLC exists in real life Maine as Bar Harbor.
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** Additionally, how sapient [[Artificial Human|Synths]] ''really'' are.
* [[Apocalypse Not]]: Despite Dr. Zimmer having implied otherwise in ''[[Fallout 3]]'', the Commonwealth is arguably the nicest section of the Wasteland since visited in the entire ''Fallout'' series. Hell, it's (environmentally, at least) even better off than the [[Fallout: New Vegas|Mojave]]!
** To further elaborate, unlike the nuclear carpet-bombing Washington D.C. was subjected to or the 11 nukes that hit the Mojave Desert, Boston was only hit by ''one'' nuclear missile
** Despite these advantages, however, the Commonwealth is still largely feral wilderness and a hodgepodge of scattered communities without any form of united regional government. While part of this is due to [[The Conspiracy|the Institute]] [[Manipulative Bastard|deliberately sabotaging the formation/progress of any surface society that it disagrees with]], there's also some other reasons given over the game's course:
*** First, the nearby presence of the [[Mordor|Glowing Sea]]. Because Boston's nuclear missile [[From Bad to Worse|hit an advanced nuclear reactor]], the surrounding region is still dangerously irradiated in the game's present. Not only does this mean that anyone in the Glowing Sea ''not'' in Power Armor/a Hazmat Suit or have sufficient amounts of Rad-X and Rad-Away will die in '''minutes''', but the Glowing Sea provides a "safe place" for [[Demonic Spiders]] like [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Deathclaws]], [[Elite Mooks|Charred]] [[Technically Living Zombie|Feral Ghouls]], and [[Big Creepy-Crawlies|Bloodbugs]] to flee back to and "breed" so that they can keep menacing the Commonwealth. Additionally, the [[Hostile Weather|radiation storms]] can also sterilize farmland in some areas and make it easier for crops to fail, further impairing societal progress.
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** To a much lesser extent, there's also "Welcome home."
** From solely the ''Nuka-World'' DLC, there's the phrase "The real deal."
* [[Art Evolution]]:
** The art design of the game got completely overhauled from the previous games where now environments are vibrant and have more color, almost every monsters, mechanical designs, and weapons, even staples of the series like what Vault doors look like got revamped (they are now somehow even ''bigger'' and the one you starts in has an entrance elevator).
** Character creation is much more in-depth this time. In addition to preset shapes for features such as your eyes and nose, you can now fine tune the size, position, and shape of your facial features much better than in ''Fallout 3'' and ''Fallout: New Vegas''. You can even morph their body within a "Thin-Muscular-Large" parameter, meaning that every human, Synth and Ghoul NPC no longer share the same physical build.
** The Ghouls are slightly different than in previous games. A fair number of them are able to keep their head of hair and many now have completely black eyes. They also have varying levels of decomposition and don't all speak in raspy voices. Feral Ghouls also look more like lumpy, hunchbacked mutants rather than straight zombies, with bulging heads and twisted limbs. Overall, Feral Ghouls in ''Fallout 4'' look more like actual real-life burn victims or patients suffering from severe degenerative disease, rather than the high-fantasy undead zombies they looked like in ''Fallout 3''.
** The Pip-Boy interface and icons now looks more high res, having a more solid font than in ''Fallout 3'' and ''Fallout: New Vegas''. The Pip-Boy icons are now even animated humorously. It was also redesigned to have the switches and dials on the right side, where someone could actually use it when wearing it on their left hand.
** Mutated pack animals - such as Wild Mongrels - will attempt to circle the player while in combat, and Deathclaws will weave to the sides to dodge gunfire. Feral Ghouls, instead of serving as shambling bullet catchers, are now flailing, erratic, and ''extremely'' aggressive adversaries. Furthermore, Mirelurks now cover their faces with their pincers when they are charging at you, while Mirelurk Hunters stay behind and spit acid at you while quickly moving back and forth. In cases where the enemy is incapable of finding its way to you (such as Deathclaws being unable to climb a truck), they will retreat to cover and stay there until you either manage to shoot them from another angle (which makes them retreat even further) or come down to ground level, which renders you vulnerable to attack once more. ▼
** Mirelurks are no longer bipedal crustaceans, instead looking more like oversized mutated crabs or lobsters depending on the species.
* [[Artificial Brilliance]]: Everyone is a whole lot smarter now.
** Humanoid enemies are much more competent, and hostile NPCs won't just stand in place shooting at you. Enemies will move around to avoid your fire, will duck behind cover to heal and reload, peaking their heads out to look for you and fire back, and will fire around corners without stepping out to expose themselves. When facing multiple enemies they'll fan out to attack from multiple directions, particularly melee enemies who ''will'' sneak around and rush you from behind if they can. Enemies will use suppression fire to pin you down, and anyone who has grenades will use them to flush you out of cover and prevent you from camping. When attacking a group of enemies from range, even if you're in sneak and have a suppressor on your rifle, they'll start firing at your location and come to look for you random because even though they can't actually see you they can tell which direction the gunfire is coming from.
▲**
* [[Artificial Human]]: One of the main plot points of the game is that of synthetic humanoids - or, as everyone properly calls them, "Synths". Gen 3 Synths are [[They Walk Among Us|virtually identical to that of ordinary humans]], but have the following differences: they're [[Made of Iron]] in comparison to ordinary Wastelanders, [[The Needless|require no food or water to survive]] (and, by consequence, can neither gain nor loose weight), are either [[The Ageless]] or [[Immortality Begins At Twenty|just age incredibly slowly]] in comparison to ordinary humans, cannot interbreed with each other or have children with humanity, [[The Immune|are immune]] to radiation poisoning, [[Healing Factor|heal from injuries at a slightly accelerated rate]] than ordinary humanity does (along with generally having enhanced senses and strength), and can have their minds completely overwritten/reprogrammed. The division between how organic and mechanical they are is pretty blurry.
* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: Unfortunately, there's still quite a few examples of this.
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* [[Black Comedy]]/[[Denser and Wackier]]: While not '''quite''' at the level of ''New Vegas'', ''Fallout 4'' has a much sillier and darker sense of humor than ''3'' ever did.
* [[Boring but Practical]]
* [[Call Back]]/[[Continuity Nod]]:
*
**
** ''Nuka-World'' brings back both Nuka Cola Quartz and Nuka Cola Victory, both of which last appeared in ''New Vegas''.
** Like the Glow from way back in ''Fallout 1'', the Glowing Sea is a highly-irradiated impact site left by a nuclear blast.
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*** The ''Prydwen'', the Brotherhood's [[Cool Airship]] and HQ in the Commonwealth, is mentioned as being built using parts from Rivet City and assembled in the former Enclave stronghold at Adams Air Force Base. Their airship is also mentioned as being based on the designs of airships used by [[Fallout Tactics Brotherhood of Steel|the Midwestern Brotherhood]].
** The Institute can be described as what [[Fallout New Vegas|the Think Tank and Big MT]] would be like if fully sober and sane.
** The Minutemen are akin to a prototypical NCR crossed with the Desert Rangers seen in the first ''Fallout'' games. The formal founding of the NCR itself is captured in a flashback sequence via someone else's memories
** The Railroad were previously introduced in ''Fallout 3'', but play a much larger role here in opposing the Institute and its enslavement of Synths.
** Dunwich Borers, the same company that owned the infamous Dunwich Building in DC (as seen in ''Fallout 3''), had operations around Boston that are just as Lovecraftian.
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* [[Defector From Decadence]]: Of sorts. Grand Zealot Brian Richter {{spoiler|was the sole survivor of his Enclave squad before joining}} the Children of the Atom.
* [[Dirty Communists]]: Downplayed with Captain Zao, a ghoulified Chinese naval officer who's been stranded with his ''Yangtze'' submarine off Boston since the Great War.<ref>Zao is arguably the first conversed character in the ''Fallout'' series to actually be from China, in contrast to the simulated Chinese soldiers in ''[[Fallout 3]]'''s Operation Anchorage or the Ghoulified Chinese soldiers and agents still holding out in the Capital Wasteland long after the Great War ended.</ref> Although he's far more concerned with getting back to his homeland than continuing a conflict that ended centuries earlier, he still refers to the Sole Survivor as "capitalist" and an "American".
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: A [[Downplayed Trope]]: during your physical from the Brotherhood of Steel, you're asked about your physical health, psychological stability and morals. They ask if you've been exposed to large amounts of radiation, have ever had sex with anything nonhuman (inferring carnal contact with animals), have ever been seriously sick, or would hesitate to kill any enemy of the Brotherhood.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: A rather ''subtle'' example; The game takes place in Massachusetts, where most people are just ordinary settlers and farmers trying to scrape by while struggling against nature in a hellish [[Death World]]. Organized society is only recently starting to form, and everyone is terrified of their loved ones being replaced with "evil" copies/infiltrators - to the point where people are turning on their families and friends, getting countless innocent people killed in the crossfire. Taking out the surprising ''lack'' of religious symbolism (relatively speaking), and the Commonwealth's clear struggles over the identities of Institute Synths can be seen as an analogue to the Salem Witch Trials.▼
** This trope becomes downplayed due to the medical examiner stating that only killing the Brotherhood's enemies if it was in self defense is an acceptable and most frequently stated answer.
▲**
** The excuses used by some of the Institute's members on why they shouldn't help Wastelanders are reminiscent of how residents of Western countries waive off supplying foreign aid to developing nations, right down to a few Institute scientists outright stating [[Somebody Else's Problem|"We shouldn't try to think about it, as it's much too depressing to discuss right now."]]
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: The dark secret of the once-exclusive Boylston Club. Where it's revealed that just after the Great War ended, the Club's patrons (made up of some of the most distinguished figures in the Pre-War Commonwealth) committed suicide rather than face the post-apocalyptic world.
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: The Institute is so well hidden {{spoiler|that the only ways to access it are either through special teleportation technology, finding a '''very''' obscure and well-hidden abandoned maintenance tunnel, or sending in Liberty Prime to the C.I.T. Ruins to simply blow a big hole in it}}.
* [[Empire with a Dark Secret]]: It's a relatively open secret among the Commonwealth's denizens that there are some shady goings-on within the Institute, enough to prompt the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel to intervene. But the full extent of its plans are so insidious that even those within the Institute either try to downplay it or may not even be aware of it themselves, instead focusing more on their pretensions of progressing humanity.
* [[Every Car Is a Pinto]]: Similar to ''[[Fallout 3]]'', cars will still explode if shot more than a few times. Also counts as an example of [[Artistic License Nuclear Physics]], as said cars are fusion powered, and produce a miniature mushroom cloud.
* [[Fantastic Slurs]]:
*
** Like in previous ''Fallout'' games, Ghouls are often derogatorily referred to as "zombies" by racist humans. Ghouls in turn will call humans "smoothskins" when sufficiently pissed off. Also, [[The Order|BoS]] members will also call Super Mutants "Frankensteins", and the residents of the Commonwealth will also derisively refer to the Super Mutants as "greenskins".
* [[Fictional Counterpart]]:
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* [[Great Offscreen War]]: Averted, as for the first time, you get to witness the Great War ''as it happened''.
** Played straight with the espionage war waged between the Institute and Railroad over the freedom of Synths, as the Sole Survivor's intervention will '''permanently''' decide the conflict's result - one way or another.
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The fact that the player can choose ''any'' of the game's main factions - [[Absolute Xenophobe|the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel]], [[The Conspiracy|the Institute]], [[Underground Railroad|the Railroad]]
** Even [[Always Chaotic Evil|''Raiders'']] are significantly humanized via conversations the player can overhear between them when they haven't been detected, and terminals in various Raider-controlled setting show countless shades of villainy among them.▼
** There's also the conflict between Honest Dan and the [[Town with a Dark Secret|town of Covenant]]. {{spoiler|Dan is just trying to rescue Amelia Stockton as per his contract with Bunker Hill. However, the citizens of Covenant are made up of the survivors of Synth assassins, who infiltrated their families and friends before brutally killing them. As a result, they're trying to develop a psychological test to root out Synths. However, not only are they torturing dozens of innocent people in the process, but their test doesn't discriminate between the innocents rescued by the Railroad and Institute infiltrators}}.
▲** Even [[Always Chaotic Evil|''Raiders'']] are significantly humanized via conversations the player can overhear between them when they haven't been detected, and terminals in various Raider-controlled setting show countless shades of villainy among them.
** The ''Far Harbor'' DLC has the conflict between the Church of the Children of Atom, the inhabitants of the titular Far Harbor, and even {{spoiler|[[Town with a Dark Secret|DiMA's Acadia]]}}. Far Harbor's inhabitants are distrustful of outsiders (particularly the Children of Atom), but the main reason for their hatred and ignorance is that they've lost numerous loved ones as the radioactive Fog drove them to the docks. The Children of Atom, despite their [[Church Militant]] nature and wish to blanket the entire Island with the Fog at the expense of Far Harbor, are {{spoiler|'''not''' [[Not Me This Time|responsible for the Fog]]}} and only became more hostile due to being led by an extremist leader like Tektus. While DiMA and the Synths of Acadia live in peace and even provided Fog Condensers to Far Harbor to help them hold back the Fog, {{spoiler|DiMA himself killed Captain Avery and replaced her with a mind-wiped Synth in the manner of the very Institute he had fled from. Despite his reason for that being peace between Acadia and Far Harbor, he can get called out on being [[Not So Different|Not So Different]] from the Institute}}. The story ''does'' have a [[Golden Ending]], but it involves {{spoiler|either killing Tektus or [[Talking the Monster to Death|convincing him to leave]] so he can be replaced with a Synth to prevent a war between Far Harbor and the Children of Atom}}.
* [[Ham-to-Ham Combat]]: It's possible for the Sole Survivor to do this against the Mechanist in the ''Automatron'' DLC while dressed as the Silver Shroud. The ensuing dialogue is practically a contest on who can overact who.
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* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Due to a case of [[Future Imperfect]], the residents of Mount Desert Island in Maine (the setting of the ''Far Harbor'' DLC) only refer to it as "the Island".
* [[Internal Homage]]: The Minutemen's resurgence under the Sole Survivor's leadership, in conjunction to them all but uniting the Commonwealth under one flag, bears more than a passing semblance to how the New California Republic ultimately came to be, paralleling how the Vault Dweller and Shady Sands under Aradesh helped lay down the foundations for a stable regional identity to arise.
** Arthur Maxson was selected to be his chapter's Elder at the age of ''16''
** While [[Player Character|the Sole Survivor]] is called such in all of the game's promotional and meta material, they're actually described as "the Vault Dweller" by Diamond City Radio's Travis Miles in yet '''another''' reference to ''Fallout 1''.
** The
**
* [[It Will Never Catch On]]: {{spoiler|Conrad Kellogg's memories}} revealed that his parents didn't really believe that the then-newly founded NCR would really amount to anything, especially given how it progressively becomes more powerful and stable by ''Fallout 2'' and ''New Vegas''. The Institute, however, averts this, doing whatever it can to keep a NCR-like Commonwealth from becoming a reality {{spoiler|in part due to the failure surrounding their "Commonwealth Provisional Government" plan decades earlier}}.
* [[Jerkass Victim]]: The Mayor of Boston is revealed to have commissioned an underground shelter for himself, his family and a handful of guards using taxpayers' money. When the Great War finally happened, the survivors topside weren't too happy knowing about that, resulting in said Mayor, family and supporters dying a brutal death. Which would be tragic, if they weren't so sleazy.
* [[Just Before the End]]: The prologue sequence is set in 2077, on the very day of the Great War.
* [[Large Ham]]:
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Downplayed, but Father's constant statements about how the Synths only ''resemble'' human sapience can be seen as a commentary on programming video game NPCs and making them resemble actual characters in a story people should invest in.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Than both ''Fallout 3'' and ''New Vegas''.
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* [[Medium Blending]]: The game's intro is done in live-action. While gameplay-wise, it not only builds on the RPG/FPS fusion introduced in previous entries, but also incorporates certain elements like settlement construction.
** The ''Automatron'' DLC meanwhile adds robot construction and customization into the mix. While the ''Vault-Tec Workshop'' DLC allows the Sole Survivor to become the ''de facto'' Overseer of his/her own Vault.
* [[Melee a Trois]]:
** The Institute is a cabal of scientists living in secret within the Commonwealth. The goal of the Institute is their own continued existence and to protect themselves from the outside world, which they view as a dangerous hellhole. They also want to advance their technology for the betterment of humanity (or so they state). To further their goals, they create Synths, artificial humans that they implant in Commonwealth society for reasons known only to them (it's implied, but never directly stated, that the Institute wants to culturally alter the Commonwealth into forming a society they can share their tech with). They seek to destroy the Railroad, who work to subvert them and steal away their slave labor; and the Brotherhood of Steel, who seek the utter destruction of them and their Synths.
** The Railroad is an underground espionage-based resistance movement dedicated to the liberation of Synths and the eventual downfall of the Institute. They rescue Synths that seek asylum and help them assimilate into Commonwealth society, giving them reconstructive surgery and rewriting their memories to prevent them from being singled out, either by the Institute or the paranoid people of the Commonwealth.
** The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel is a feudalistic military organization that rules the Washington D.C. area with an iron fist and seek to expand into the Commonwealth. They view the Institute as the greatest threat to mankind since the creation of the atomic bomb, and the Synths as mechanical abominations that would be deserving of genocide ''if'' they could be considered a race at all (their opinions of Ghouls and Super Mutants are not very positive, either). This also puts them in opposition with the Railroad, since they harbor Synths.
** The Commonwealth Minutemen is an armed citizen's militia with a single goal: protecting the people of the Commonwealth. Since they lack manpower and resources, they stay out of the conflict between the Institute, Railroad, and BoS and focus on protecting the citizenry. Under the Sole Survivor's guidance, however, they can grow large enough to take on both the Institute and Brotherhood.
** The Brotherhood, Institute and Railroad all battle against each other if you do the "Battle of Bunker Hill" quest, with the Institute trying to capture escaped synths, there. You can optionally warn the Railroad and/or the Brotherhood about it and more Brotherhood and Railroad soldiers appear.
* [[A Million Is a Statistic]]: It's revealed in the Vault 111 logs that it was never meant to sustain the staff, guards and scientists overseeing the experiment for more than six months. {{spoiler|As the Enclave intended to remotely observe the Vault, all the while lying to said personnel about an "All-Clear signal" coming from Vault-Tec. They were all expendable}}.
** The Institute doesn't particularly care how many Synths are destroyed so long as they get the job done, given how any losses incurred could be replaced. The Institute also doesn't seem to care about how many people they abduct and replace with Synths, either.
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** Fenway Park has seen better days, though has long since found new life as the site of Diamond City.
** While having sustained some damage and decay over the centuries, the Bunker Hill Memorial still stands tall. {{spoiler|Even Liberty Prime is able to recognize it}}.
* [[Multiple Endings]]: Similar to ''Fallout: New Vegas'', the ending of the game is determined by which faction you side with at the end of the game, leading to a final mission in which you act to assure your faction's dominance over the Commonwealth. Regardless of which faction you choose, the game's ending cinematic and narration is the same (as it is simply the main character reminiscing about how far they've come), but the consequences for the in-game world vary quite a bit.
** Well, ''almost'' the same. The first sequence is different if you choose to side with the Institute.
** The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel: {{spoiler|fearing the continued proliferation of synths in the wasteland, the Brotherhood of Steel wipes out the Railroad in a surgical strike. Afterwards, the newly repaired Liberty Prime leads an assault against the Institute, blowing a hole in its roof with a nuclear device. The Brotherhood then storms the Institute and detonates its nuclear reactor, securing the order's control over the Commonwealth}}.
** The Institute: {{spoiler|having finally gained an inside man in the Railroad, Father sends the Sole Survivor to assassinate the organization's leaders, finally eliminating the possibility of synths escaping from the Institute. The Survivor then leads an assault the Brotherhood of Steel's base of operations, killing Elder Maxson in a final battle, and re-programs Liberty Prime to target and destroy the ''Prydwen'', allowing the Institute to continue its shadowy dominion over the Commonwealth}}.
** The Railroad: {{spoiler|fearing that the Brotherhood will commit genocide against synths in the Commonwealth, the Railroad infiltrates the ''Prydwen'' and crashes it into Boston Airport, decimating the Brotherhood of Steel. They then use their contacts within the Institute to launch an invasion, evacuate the synths inside, and detonate the facility's reactor, leaving the Commonwealth free from the control of any major faction}}.
** The Commonwealth Minutemen: {{spoiler|Essentially the game's "Wild Card" ending, for players who don't want to side with any of the above. After forsaking and declaring war on the Institute, the Sole Survivor helps the Minutemen infiltrate the Institute through a hidden maintenance tunnel, storming the reactor and destroying the sinister scientific cabal once and for all. Depending on the player's actions, they may also have to contend with the other factions: if the player does not activate the evacuation signal before destroying the Institute, the Railroad will blame them for the deaths of all the synths inside and declare war on the Minutemen. Should the player become enemies with the Brotherhood at any point prior to or after the ending, war is declared and the Minutemen shoot down the ''Prydwen'' with their artillery}}. Some decisions made during this event can decide the fate of the other factions.
*** [[Golden Ending|Minutemen-Railroad-Brotherhood]]: the "normal" ending. {{spoiler|This ending requires the Sole Survivor to not only ''not'' become enemies with the Brotherhood during the game, but to also issue the evacuation order when destroying the Institute. This allows the Minutemen to join the Railroad in helping Synths and getting the Brotherhood's help in domesticating the region}}.
*** Minutemen-Brotherhood: {{spoiler|the Sole Survivor is still friendly with the Brotherhood, but fails to throw the evacuation order while destroying the Institute. Furious for the Minutemen letting countless innocent Synths die, the Railroad declares war on them. This requires the Survivor to kill off their leadership before teaming up with the Brotherhood and taking over the region}}.
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** The {{spoiler|[[Offing the Offspring|Fillicide]]}} Ending: quite possibly the '''darkest''' ending possible ([[Video Game Cruelty Punishment|and one of the most difficult to accomplish]]). {{spoiler|The Sole Survivor [[Go Mad From the Revelation|Goes Mad From The Revelation]] upon first meeting Father/Shaun in the Institute and kills him. This renders the Institute ''permanently'' hostile, meaning the Sole Survivor must also [[Kill Em All]] before they can leave, and the surface Commonwealth collapses into violent infighting and war between the Institute's remains, the Railroad and the East Coast Brotherhood}}.
** For the ''Nuka-World'' DLC, the Sole Survivor could opt to side with any of the dominant Raider gangs to wipe their rivals out and ultimately plunge the Commonwealth into darkness.<ref>However, you should try and wait to do this until ''after'' accomplishing the main storyline for the base game. This is one of the only ways to make the Minutemen hostile to the Sole Survivor, and will render you S.O.L. if you've already suitably antagonized the Railroad, Institute and Brotherhood.</ref> The Sole Survivor can, of course, [[Take a Third Option]] and kill every single one of them.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]:
* [[Myth Arc]]: The majority of side quests, dungeons and other locations throughout the Commonwealth are (in some way) tied into the Institute and their Synths, even if some cases are more distanced than others to the central focus of Synths.
* [[Mythology Gag]]: Quite a few appear.
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** The Institute have some surprising similarities with [[Fallout: New Vegas|Caesar's Legion]]. For all its scientific, enlightened and technocratic pretensions, it also seeks to purge what remains of the "corrupted" Pre-War world and create a new order. And they does this all while treating Synths as slaves and maintaining a rather effective network of infiltrators, much like the Legion.
** Both the Minutemen and Railroad are rather similar in their outlooks, to the point that it's possible for the two factions to join forces.
** To a degree, the Railroad and the Institute. As both, due to lacking resources in one way or another, have to resort to subterfuge, covert operations and generally keeping a low profile. Also, the fate of Synths under their "protection" is largely the same - having their personalities destroyed through memory wipes, but they happen for different reasons - the Institute do so because they view the Synths' self-awareness as software bugs, and the Railroad do so because giving Synths new personalities
** Despite the fact that both factions despise each other, both the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel and Institute are a ''lot'' more alike than either would ever admit. Both factions rely on superior technology and limiting interaction with the locals (the Institute is the Commonwealth's boogeymen, and it's mentioned that unauthorized fraternizing with Wastelanders is a ''punishable offense'' within the Brotherhood), both are descended from highly advanced Pre-War societies (C.I.T. for the Institute and the Pre-War U.S. military for the Brotherhood of Steel), both believe they're the best hope for the Commonwealth (and, by extension, the rest of the post-apocalyptic world), use that aforementioned belief as a justification to lord over weaker factions, and [[Fantastic Racism|both see Synths as less than human]]
* [[One Nation Under Copyright]]: It's implied that corporations under the Enclave's influence like Vault-Tec behaved like this in Pre-War America, to the point of feigning authority over the actual government in the event of nuclear war.
* [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier]]: Ghouls also appear in the Commonwealth.
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* [[Take That, Audience!]]: [[Crystal Spires and Togas|The Institute]] can be seen as a subtle middle finger by Bethesda towards the residents of Western nations (who make up the majority of their audience), in how they implicitly accept the abuse of developing nations by their own countries in return for pampered lives and (relative) comfort.
* [[Tech Demo Game]]: Has become one for Bethesda, who have recursively used the improvements made in the engine for a backport to Skyrim, as well as serving as a test bed for their own built-in mod support and delivery platform. Nvidia even used the game with Bethesda's approval as a platform to show off their graphical capabilities with the ''Vault 1080'' mod.
* [[Town with a Dark Secret]]:With
** [[Stepford Smiler|Covenant]], however, plays this straight.
* [[Troubled Production]]: An In-Universe case. You discover that [[Meaningful Name|Hubris Comics]] was trying to make the Silver Shroud radio serials into a successful TV show. Unfortunately, it was rife with infighting, drama and backroom passions - which proved to be all for naught as the nuclear apocalypse put said show and its creators off the air permanently.
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