Hate the Institute? Blame Shaun

foreign welcome brothers and sisters to this week's sermon and we are going to take a small trip to a little place known as The Institute The Institute is rather controversial among the fans largely because as a faction their purpose is not entirely clear whereas the other factions have easily definable goals whether it's the railroad freeing synths or the Brotherhood seeking to destroy since and send technology as it's regarded as a technological Abomination The Institute lacks a clearly defined goal not only that the Institute regularly acts in contradicting manners declaring at times a concern for the surface while simultaneously actively harming the inhabitants of the surface much of this is chalked up to the faction being just a bunch of scientists just doing science things and therefore it doesn't have to make sense but that is not the case no Sean or father as I will refer to him for the rest of this video leads the Institute and for a multitude of reasons is to blame for The Institute being the way it is father is a rather awful leader and he is largely responsible for the Institute that we get in game so crank up the RADS and let me show you why it's almost all father's fault first it's important to establish that not everything that is wrong with The Institute or that the Institute has done wrong in the past is because of Father some of the first events that made the Commonwealth inhabitants fearful and distrustful of The Institute were the broken mask incident in 2229 where a third generation synth who was unauthorized to be allowed to act independently on the surface lost control and murdered several people in Diamond City the second was the massacre of the Commonwealth provisional government an attempt by several groups of people in the Commonwealth to create a Cooperative government this was perpetrated by another Generation 3 synth in the 2230s after the Institute stopped sending Representatives because of a lack of progress lastly The Institute routinely abducted wastelanders to subject them to fev experimentation and then release the resulting super mutants topside these events caused the surface to be extremely distrustful of The Institute and father took that already poor General opinion of The Institute and said hold my Nuka dark father's main problems lie in roughly four distinct but interconnected areas father is a bad scientist a rather awful trait for someone that is to guide and direct a body of scientists laser focused on scientific progress father is unable to be honest whether this is with himself or others isn't always clear but regardless they have the same detrimental effect on the Institute father has major personal issues that he has not worked through well or in a constructive manner this has an impact on his decisions and it jeopardizes The Institute and its goals and finally father's proclivity to nepotism and familial preference also puts the institute at undue risk something that is inexcusable as a leader many of these points are mostly but not entirely reflected in three significant events the first is the continuation of fev research and the resulting disaster the second is father's persistence in creating a synth child modeled after him who I'll be calling synth Sean and third the decision to release the sole survivor from Vault 111 kicking off the story of Fallout 4. first let's examine the evidence that shows that father is not a great scientist [Music] let's give father the benefit of the doubt here and say that at one time he was a good scientist when speaking with the sole survivor father mentions that he had a specific gift when it came to the Sciences therefore it is unsurprising that he rose through the ranks after decades to become the director of The Institute although we are not aware of any of his specific scientific contributions or even what division he worked in many of his actions as director that we know of cast doubt on his claim to being a competent man of science although the institute's fev program began well before father was even a member of The Institute it would continue on to run for decades from 2178 when clearance was first given for fev research to 2286 when the last lead scientist to run the program one Dr Brian Virgil destroyed the lab and escaped The Institute forcing the program to close while the actions of Virgil do seem drastic they become more understandable when you learn that the fev program had been on autopilot ever since synthetic Organics were successfully developed and spun off of fev research the research scientists were given no clear goals and year after year their experimentation showed no deviation from the previous year's results if you do not have clear research goals properly planned and executed experiments and clear negatable hypotheses then you are not doing science forcing researchers to blindly run tests on groups of unwitting individuals with no clear purpose does not adhere to the scientific method and it is no surprise that there is no progress in this program nor is it a surprise that the research scientists themselves are rather discontented father has a personal project that we will talk about more in depth a little bit later but also shows father's poor scientific approach father commissioned a project to create a child synth something that has not been attempted before this child's synth was an exact copy of himself as a child a frankly quite baffling move that was never given a reason to the researchers he ordered to work on the project it is only Justified once in a conversation with the sole survivor where father calls the decision a natural one since the Institute had records of his genetics and Physiology once the project was largely complete since Sean was put into an observation cell so that he was the first person the sole survivor would see when they finally come into the Institute no matter how the conversation between synth Sean and the sole survivor goes since sean gets distressed and has to be shut down by father at which point father will declare that the interaction was fascinating but disappointing father mentions that they gained in insights into their hardware and software based on the synth child project and that it was a vessel for exploring the effects of extreme stimuli this all seems like dressing however since father asked the sole survivor several questions that hint his true curiosity with the project he asks but I'll admit I'm curious as a parent looking for a child looking for the younger version of me what do you think do you think you could love him like you would a real boy that is the closest we ever get to a mention of any sort of expectation from the project which itself is the closest thing we get to any sort of hypothesis to state things more clearly father wants to know can the sole survivor love father seeing as synth Sean is identical in appearance behavior and demeanor to the real Sean albeit quite younger after the initial meeting with the sole survivor father doesn't speak about the interaction between the Soul Survivor and synth Sean again until the end of the game regardless of whether the player chooses to side with the Institute or not father will request that since Sean be put in the sole survivor's care asking that synth Sean either be given a chance to be a part of the future of the Commonwealth or that father hopes that synth Sean and the sole survivor can have a chance at being a family since father never elaborates to the scientists who created synth Sean and never explains to the sole survivor what scientific purpose the child serves since Sean was only created under the guise of a scientific project to justify diverting resources for personal reasons few things are as anti-science as personal projects executed under the guise of an experiment that has no scientific basis speaking of bad experiments let's look at the worst of all so claimed experiments that father has performed the sole survivor was refrozen after Kellogg abducted infant Sean left as Kellogg said as a backup decades later the sole survivor would be unfrozen and start his journey to find his son avenge his wife or dick around building settlements father States specifically that he decided to thaw out the sole survivor to and I quote see what would happen an experiment of sorts his only saving grace is describing the action as an experiment of sorts but it is still important to point out that releasing the sole survivor to just see what would happen is itself not an experiment with how much care it takes to plan and execute valid scientific experiments it is a rather sloppy choice of words from someone who knows better and so now we have the last major point that shows why father is not a good scientist a bad attribute to have for a community built solely on the advancement of science The Institute at one time had a cybernetics program and it appeared to be quite successful the only known experimental specimen was Kellogg the game's initial antagonist whose body was augmented in several ways that allowed him to far outlay of his natural lifespan the very compelling success of these cybernetic enhancements even caused some jealousy amongst Institute scientists who wished to also benefit from cybernetics just as Kellogg had father would single-handedly Nix the entire program however discontinuing any and all development and leaving Kellogg as the only known example of just how impressive and beneficial the institute's cybernetics research really was so what could possibly justify the discontinuation of a wildly successful program this belief that father holds quote The Institute is about preserving Humanity not some bizarre amalgamation of biology and Technology while father does express some regret about eliminating the project it wasn't enough to save the project or restart it at all because he believes that the Institute should not be involved with meshing Biology and Technology except that is exactly what the entire generation three synth program is about if inserting mechanical components into an organic body is an Unholy marriage of technology and biology then how is a synthetic organic body based on human DNA given organs and a neural system that match a human exactly given biological behavioral patterns that perfectly represent humans and lastly given either real or synthetic human memories that cause the sins to react behave and emote in a way that perfectly emulates humans not the same how is that not a mixture of technology and biology that is using existing biology like human DNA biological elements like human behavior and biological experiences like Memories in a synthetic body created only through the advancement of Technology considering cybernetics as an unacceptable mix of biology and technology is a remarkable point of hypocrisy considering the gen 3 synth project is arguably even more of a mix of biology and Technology father just prefers one over the other and uses a hypocritical stance to justify it maybe there is a personal bias since his DNA is what makes the synths and he feels a connection to that project but he is not objectively looking at the pros and cons of the cybernetics program and thereby coming to a conclusion to proceed or to kill it he makes a purely opinion-based decision it is even more condemning when we remember what was previously covered with the fev program research that had not produced any tangible results for years upon Years yet was not revamped halted or stopped until the lead researcher destroyed the lab father is an awful scientist because he is not looking at the research on the merits of the progress being made and the advancements that are achieved he pushes dead research and halts promising research because he feels so inclined is it really necessary that the leader of the Institute be a good scientist or even a scientist at all not necessarily but just as the head of a science department in a university for example should have a good grasp of fundamentals of Science and the scientific method the leader of a technocracy who puts all of their resources into the advancement of science should at the very least understand good scientific methodology experimentation and productive research father seems to fall short of this standard [Music] so while father may not be a great scientist anymore if he ever really was one that is really the least of all the reasons why father is an awful leader of the Institute and largely responsible for the opaque goals and confusing actions of the group father has an inability to be honest holds contradicting views and uses either deliberate dishonesty or an apathetic pursuit of knowledge to justify his beliefs and actions first is the most understandable of all deceptions father's health is failing as he has contracted an incurable form of cancer he hides this from everyone the sole survivor included in order to focus attention on completing phase 3 and addressing the groups that oppose the Institute namely the Brotherhood of Steel and Railroad still since father knew his end was close at hand it would seem prudent to inform leadership so as to ease the transition which he knew was imminent when father comments on past events that involved The Institute or confronts accusations by the sole survivor of atrocities committed by The Institute he is fully unable to speak openly and honestly about the institute's actions father will comment on the Commonwealth provisional government or cpg with the cpg being an attempt by groups in the Commonwealth to form a Unified Government The Institute at the time was a part of these talks frustratingly little progress was made because of a lack of unity amongst the participants and all talks and attempts to create a large governing body were halted when the Institute sent a synth to assassinate all members of the cpg although this event happened far before father was director of The Institute this is how he explains what happened The Institute once tried to help create a stabilized Commonwealth government it ended in bickering infighting it was a disaster no we look after our own now wait that's it that is all he says about the cpg now was there disagreement in infighting yes but then what happened father sending a synth to murder everyone that was part of the cpg is a huge Omission when recounting the history of the cpg and how The Institute was involved it's like referring to the Vietnam War as a colonial issue between France and Vietnam without mentioning anything of the United States involvement The Institute killing everyone is a pretty important detail and it is obvious that father is purposefully misrepresenting the events to try and cause the sole survivor to question the things that they had heard on the surface father will defend the random acts of violence of sins like the broken Mass incident by saying things like unfortunately no advancement comes without occasional setbacks or none have any true claim to nobility in this world those days are gone but we are not the monsters we have been cast as father completely avoids accurately representing the missteps of The Institute rather than being honest and acknowledging the things that they have done in a matter-of-fact way he never recounts the events as they actually happened when father is forced to admit that the Institute has done some terrible things he instantly pivots to a what about ism when the sole survivor tells father that the Institute has done horrible things this is how sean responds yes well the world is not what it used to be what about the people you've hated in order to get here what atrocities have they committed father's intellectual dishonesty blinds him to be able to even admit in a matter-of-fact way what has taken place and where the Institute has gone over the line This is interesting though because he had no problem speaking of the death of his own parent in such a detached manner one of the first goals that father has when meeting the sole survivor for the first time is to convince them that everything they had been told about the Institute by service dwellers was a lie like this quote during the very first discussion I Can Only Imagine only imagine what you've heard what do you think of us I'd like to show you that you may have the wrong impression there has never been easy and our actions are often misinterpreted by those father is well aware of the reputation of The Institute above ground no doubt at least partly due to their impressive intelligence network of Watchers synth infiltrators and informants father routinely insists that the Institute is misunderstood and their actions are misinterpreted by those on the surface if asked by the sole survivor why father even cares since the Institute is sequestered away from the rest of the Commonwealth father answers with it does matter though if everyone sees the Institute as a villain dangerous forces could align against us if we can put the lie to such assumptions we diminish that threat we might diminish that danger by correcting the false perception that we intend some great harm to mankind so according to Father The Institute is misunderstood by many on the surface and it is important that this misunderstanding be corrected for the good of The Institute by correcting the record as he sees it he keeps groups on the surface from uniting Against The Institute and become a legitimate threat however he directly contradicts his own statements in another conversation with the sole survivor father says The Institute it's important it really is Humanity's best hope for the Future No Matter What those above ground might think of us if the Soul Survivor responds by saying it doesn't matter what they think it only matters what you do the father admits that he agrees by saying I am glad we see it the same way that completely invalidates his earlier statements where he was insisting that the surface had a misinformed view of the Institute and that this poor view of the Institute was important to rectify likewise it is not just this one statement that shows how father feigns concern for the institute's image among the surface dwellers The Institute is still replacing people in the Commonwealth as evidenced by the art random encounter where it is very obvious The Institute is still actively replacing service dwellers or convincing and I put that in heavy air quotes smart people to join The Institute like in the case of Mr Wallace who hold himself up in his home and paid mercenaries or called on Minutemen to help protect him the Institute refuses to take no for an answer and Mr Wallace either is forced to join The Institute or he dies another instance of The Institute acting deceitfully toward the surface dwellers is when a Roger Warwick the patriarch of the Warwick family was replaced with a synth so that the bioscience division can run experiments on crops and the effects of ambient radiation on them Roger was abducted tortured and the last step of the project as outlined by the bioscience division is to purge all evidence of their tests which seems to imply the destruction of the settlement and the death of the Warwick family all of these actions contradict father statements regarding how The Institute is maligned by the surface in fact father's own explicit agreement with the sole survivor statement that it doesn't matter what the surface thinks only what you meaning father does is the one statement that actually matches the actions of The Institute under father's guidance he doesn't actually care that the surface fears The Institute and considers it the boogeyman of the Commonwealth what father does do and approves of is violent harmful and deceitful to the Commonwealth reinforcing their image as monsters father's dishonest words about how the surface misunderstands The Institute and that they aren't the awful people that they're made out to be is intentional deceit on the part of father to attempt to ingratiate the Soul Survivor with himself and The Institute father's dishonesty and hypocrisy shines through yet again with the topic of Kellogg the institute's long-standing above ground operative although Kellogg is first seen as a cold killer in the game's introduction we come to find that he's a bit more nuanced a jaded and broken man whose talents as a mercenary and lack of empathy and humanity is being abused by The Institute father agrees that the Institute took advantage of his vicious nature and tells the player that he only learned of the depth of Kellogg's violent nature after he had become director father even considers the death of Kellogg at the hands of the Soul Survivor as a form of personal revenge for the death of his deceased parent yet even though father readily admits that the Institute took advantage of an emotionally detached killer to do their dirty work and he himself didn't like Kellogg and thought his death was a form of Justice father Unleashed Kellogg and a group of synths to Massacre an entire settlement because they thought it had information that they wanted University point is a location that by the time the player explores it in 2287 is nothing but a bunch of empty Market stalls destroyed buildings and some remaining hostile synths the story unravels as the player goes deeper into the settlement but this empty and destroyed Place once housed an entire bustling community and when one extremely intelligent young woman found pre-war research on the creation of efficient nuclear reactor technology she tried to sell the information to passing Caravans news of the discovery made it to the Institute through their network of informants and Kellogg and a team were dispatched to go recover the research it all ended in Bloodshed and destruction as things usually did with Kellogg and all this happened under the direction of father while he does not ever discuss what happened at University Point himself we know for a fact that father was director of The Institute when these things unfolded the young woman Jacqueline Spencer found the research in August of 2285 which was recorded in a terminal entry the oldest known date for father being director is July of 22.85 just a month prior again due to a personal terminal entry in the director's quarters the actions at University point lay bear father's hypocrisy in several ways and is probably the best single example of his dishonesty father used Kellogg someone who he held a personal grudge against who he acknowledges was a vicious person who directly caused an extraordinary amount of suffering and with full knowledge of what Kellogg has done and was willing to do when the Soul Survivor has a chance to directly confront father about using a so-called psychopath father responds with would you have preferred that I turned him loose on the Commonwealth at least keeping him on a short leash kept the collateral damage to a minimum this is awful justification since a father really did object to what Kellogg did in order to complete his missions for The Institute he had the authority to stop using Kellogg with how much confidence The Institute puts in their coursers a wildly unpredictable surface operator seems entirely unnecessary and yet father not only whitewash's previous incidents he justifies the use of Kellogg by claiming to be doing the Commonwealth a favor by keeping him on a metaphorical short leash all the while having been a victim of Kellogg's ruthless methods and harboring resentment for it the events of University Point prove that the previous points of father not actually caring about the image of the Commonwealth are true while he goes to great effort to let the sole survivor know that the surface has the wrong impression of The Institute he approves the mission to University point which predictably ends with brutality and death and best of all all it is widely known that settlement was destroyed by synths one of the diamond City Guards can be overheard talking to another saying I'm telling you it ain't just a story University Point that's settlement on the coast wiped out by since father doesn't really care about what the surface thinks of The Institute to a certain point as long as the negative image of The Institute doesn't coalesce into a unified threat per his own words then he doesn't care how people perceive The Institute he also doesn't care what has to be done and how much suffering has to be inflicted on others to advance the institute's goals as long as whatever happens serves the immediate and future needs of the Institute he will rationalize hand wave away and give performative Hollow speech to keep others from becoming too outraged this is most clearly seen in how father interacts with the sole survivor and reacts to being directly confronted with inconvenient questions since it seems clear that all this bold dishonesty is solely in the pursuit of bettering The Institute and pushing towards fulfilling the organization's goals what are those goals exactly The Institute is rather Infamous at this point for having nebulous goals and this is yet another example of Father purposefully obfuscating the truth in order to serve the Institute I am not necessarily referring to goals like the completion of phase 3 which has the objective of getting the institute's new reactor online so that they have ample power for years to come I'm referring to the entire point of The Institute itself and why it creates gen 3 synths why they have such an expansive intelligence apparatus and why they interfere with the surface so often and drastically father is eager to tell the sole survivor the institute's motto mankind redefined that is clever and has a nice ring to it the institute's marketing department should be proud of that one but what does it actually mean has the Institute fundamentally changed man no has the Institute changed mankind itself it doesn't appear so unless we consider the creation of gen 3 synths as expanding mankind to include these new synthetic Brethren but no The Institute rejects any notion of since being people is it merely an empty platitude I would argue no because the change that is intended for mankind is not related to synths or cybernetic implants or transformative technology that could allow Humanity to better adapt and survive the new post-war world it is simply referring to the Institute being in charge that's it how do we know this it's rather simple just listen to what father says and watch what the Institute does father will tell the sole survivor that the Institute has been dedicated to the survival of humanity for over 100 years how have they been helping Humanity have they been helping neutralize threats on the surface have they come up with some technology that cleans up radiation have they been aiding the surface with food insecurity by giving away surplus food no none of that they have been dedicated to developing the molecular relay so that they could hide better from the surface dead end fev experimentation that releases super mutants on the surface and making robots that can do the manual work that they don't want to do in their view the surface is not part of humanity it is a dead and desolate place with a doomed populace this just confirms the truth I've always known the Commonwealth is dead there's no future here The Institute apparently is humanity and that ultimate goal that father spoke of before was four Humanity AKA The Institute to retake and reshape the Commonwealth and Beyond nowhere is this made more clear than when the player has helped the Institute by completing several missions and finishing phase three father tells the sole survivor there has been too much posturing by too many groups the world needs to know that we are in power and the Commonwealth is ours shortly afterwards the sole survivor is given a script which reads as our Superior technology represents the best hope for the Commonwealth today we activate our nuclear reactor ensuring that we will persevere long after the world above ground has ceased to exist ensuring that mankind has a future we have no desire to interfere in the unimportant details of your daily lives we simply insist that you do not interfere with the institute's operations to do so would result in dire consequences you may rest easy know that the future is in safe hands that mankind will Thrive under our guidance in no uncertain terms it is declared that the Institute through their technology will carry mankind forward and again let me remind you that when they say Humanity they mean themselves The Institute is now in charge and if you try and stop that they will hurt you this is and has been the goal of the institute for some time now at least since 2230 when they stopped cooperating with the surface and destroyed the best chance the Commonwealth had for coming together and unifying under our government what is curious is that this and all other lies that we have covered so far are always espoused no one drops the charade and speaks plainly about the real goals of the Institute even after the sole survivor becomes the director at no point does father or anyone else for that matter actually acknowledge their obfuscation never does Father tell the sole survivor I know I said this but this is how it really is now some might argue that all this dishonesty being in the service of The Institute is actually a good thing for the director of the organization to do after all shouldn't His Highest priority be for the good and advancement of The Institute I would argue that this is a pattern of behavior that is overall destructive as every lie incurs a debt to the truth that at one point will come due and as I will show later on completely contradicts more of what father does however there is one more lie that father espouses that contradicts a rigidly enforced belief that undergirds the entirety of the Gen 3 synth program father does not actually believe that synths are machines the belief that since our machines is hugely important as it is the belief that causes the railroad to be diametrically opposed to The Institute and it is how the Institute can justify the creation and use of synths and all the hard labor that makes sure that the cogs of The Institute continue to turn the synth Sean project that I mentioned earlier is the point where father seems to finally break away from the dominant Institute belief after father's passing the sole survivor can come into possession of a hollow tape where father leaves his last message one where he asks the sole survivor to take care of synth Sean and where father refers to synth Sean as a boy I have no reason to believe that you'll honor the request I'm about to make that I feel compelled to try anyway they synth this boy he deserves more the same Hollow tape will have a different message if the player chooses to side with the institute in the end and part of the hollow tape message will say both he and you deserve a chance to to be a family calling since Sean a boy and considering the sole survivor and synth Sean together a family his father flat out admitting that at least in his dying moments that he does not believe that sins are just machines it is highly doubtful that he believes sins were just machines his entire life up until the last moments before his passing it is likely that he was harboring doubts and beliefs deep down for a while to have the director of The Institute concede one of the greatest points of contention in the entire game to essentially be agreeing with their adversary the railroad is not to be understated saying such things out loud in The Institute is dangerous multiple times we hear of people telling each other that saying such things can land them in trouble insisting that gen 3 synths are only machines gave the Institute justification for creating them using them as manual labor and having complete control over them even changing their appearance and memories as soon as the Institute acknowledges that synths are indeed sentient suddenly those practices become indefensibly unethical although all other lies were to justify the dirty work that needed to be done for the Institute this one could actually be fatal to the organization as a whole especially coming from the director all of these examples are not even all the contradictions between what father says and what he does but rather than the most poignant examples to illustrate the depth to which father is willing to lie in order to manipulate and save face for the sake of the Institute but also risk the image of the institute on the surface and undermine their entire Generation 3 synth program making him unfit to lead the Institute his lies are largely responsible for the general confusion amongst players and the fan base about the goal and objectives of The Institute since he both determines the actions of The Institute and is the primary source of information into the inner workings of the faction [Music] no one is exempt from personal problems be they small and largely inconsequential or large with significant impacts on others father is no exception however some of his personal faults or flaws or however you want to describe them do have a substantial effect on the Institute this once again shows that father as acting director is overall a detriment to The Institute and largely to blame for their conflicting words and actions father struggles with feeling or understanding a range of emotions he admits as much when talking to the sole survivor about feelings of anger Vengeance and loss associated with the death of his deceased parent I'm afraid I have very little experience with those emotions having lived my life within the Institute this is rather understandable given the institute's focus on scientific advancement above all else but has a serious impact on Father's ability to work through a lot of negative emotions which expresses itself in ways that are overall harmful to the Institute the biggest challenge that father grapples with revolves around a desire on his part to be a part of a family with the sole survivor his familial circumstances in The Institute are unknown but it is obvious that whatever he had growing up in the Institute was insufficient father expresses his feelings pertaining to learning about the circumstances of his background by saying for many years I never questioned who my parents were I accepted my situation and that was that with old age comes regret and asking what if more often but what matters now is that you and I have a chance to begin again it is obvious that his father got older and likely more aware of his precarious Health situation with his incurable cancer he felt compelled to do the only thing he could to answer his what if questions and growing regrets sent the order to release the sole survivor upon Awakening from the cryogenic Slumber the sole survivor has really only a few simple goals avenge their murdered spouse and find their missing child even for players that choose to spend the next 100 hours grinding for legendaries and settlement building the Soul Survivor will eventually follow the decades-old trail with the real big break coming when Conrad Kellogg is confronted in Fort strong Kellogg must die there is unfortunately no other choice in the matter but this event is the first of several that show that this decision by farther to release the sole survivor seriously jeopardizes The Institute and its capabilities it was established that father released the sole survivor as part of some kind of experiment but when asked why father chose now of all times to release the Soul Survivor he says until I became director I had no idea you were there and after there was initially no logical reason to do so certainly it was no longer necessary to keep you suspended I well I suppose I wanted to see what would happen an experiment of sorts I had no idea what kind of man you were you see with the Commonwealth corrupt you as it has everything else would you even survive perhaps most curious to me would you after all this time attempt to find me and now I know the answer it is important to ask exactly how father expected the Soul Survivor to find him when they had hidden themselves away so well that no one on the surface except for Brian Virgil knows how to get in a key clue comes when father insinuates that the confrontation between the sole survivor and Kellogg was purposeful and planned I won't lie it's no coincidency or path crossed his it seemed a fitting way to allow you to have some amount of Revenge besides the obvious problematic logic of guiding his only parent who he was deep down wanting to finally meet to the most dangerous man in the entire Commonwealth when looking at things from the institute's point of view losing their most important surface asset is a setback even if we consider that father's long-standing issues with Kellogg due to what he did to his parent and other known atrocities provided a convenient excuse for father to eventually let him go so to speak this appears to be a unilateral decision since it is unlikely anyone else in the Institute cared about orchestrating a complicated and hidden operation to lead the sole survivor of all people to Kellogg the death of Kellogg may have been father's way of ridding himself of a resource that he apparently had a level of disdain for even while fully exploiting Kellogg's particular set of skills or maybe it was something else entirely regardless it said a chain of events in motion the cybernetic implant recovered from Kellogg led to exploring some of Kellogg's memories and discovering that the Institute uses teleportation a tightly held secret that no one else outside of the Institute knew the memories also revealed the existence of Virgil that he now escaped former Institute scientist that grew sick of the dead end fev experimentation and destroyed the lab to escape the sole survivor eventually tracks down Virgil where a deal is struck Virgil will help the Soul Survivor use the molecular relay AKA teleportation to get into the Institute if the sole survivor will get an experimental serum that will return Virgil to his human form to Infiltrate The Institute a coarser chip which interfaces with the molecular relay signal must be obtained and this is only done by killing a courser coursers are the institute's Elite Generation 3 synths and their enhanced capabilities are used to great effect and tracking down runaway synths and bringing them back to the Institute one courser in particular is in the process of doing just that and killing an entire group of Gunners on his way to recover a runaway synth only to be stopped short by the sole survivor who kills him to take his courser chip so after killing yet another important Institute asset Virgil uses the chip to reverse engineer the relay technology and the sole survivor has to use the help of one of three factions the Brotherhood of Steel the railroad or the Minutemen all of which oppose the Institute with the Brotherhood and railroad diametrically opposed to The Institute and seeking their destruction the sole survivor is then able to use their homemade signal Interceptor to hijack the relay signal and teleport into the Institute all of this results in a very closed off first encounter with synth Sean and father seriously to have the Soul Survivor meet synth Sean under the impression that synth Sean was the real Sean the sole survivor was thought out somehow guided to fight and kill the institute's main mercenary track down and kill a valuable courser have the relay technology reverse engineered by a former Institute member and then have an enemy faction participate in the construction of the signal Interceptor I repeat an enemy faction is given the reverse engineered technology to assist the Soul Survivor in penetrating The Institute once inside the Institute through a series of tunnels and doors that seem to be constructed for the sole purpose of isolating the Soul Survivor from the rest of the Institute the player is led directly to his encounter with the Sean's through all of this valuable and capable Institute assets are lost their technology and security is jeopardized and needlessly compromised so that father can meet the sole survivor and see how his pet project since Sean reacts the synth Sean project is also an example of Father's own personal issues negatively impacting The Institute we covered how the researchers on the project questioned the purpose of the project in the first place especially as it was meant to produce a synth that looked and acted exactly as father did when he was around 10 years old father pulled some of the top mines in The Institute including Dr Lee and Dr Bennett and dedicated resources to a vanity project under the guise of pushing the institute's limits all of this was taking place before phase 3 had been achieved so resources particularly energy were being watched closely and strictly rationed as evidenced by dialogue where gen 1 synths are told to operate at lowered energy levels to conserve the facility's power both creating synth Sean and releasing the Soul Survivor were all part of an elaborate attempt to create the family that never was the family that was ripped apart by The Institute itself Sean admits to as much should Soul Survivor choose to leave The Institute and be branded an enemy by stating I had hoped we could be something like a family again I hoped you shared our vision for the future that is the point because of the growing regret father has harbored which was likely exacerbated by his cancer in addition since Sean causes several researchers to really question whether what they are doing is right and whether synths are really people Dr Lee speaks of moments where she and other researchers will forget for moments at a time that synth Sean is not a real boy he is such a distraction in that regard that she feels compelled to isolate him to the advanced systems division so as not to disturb other scientists likewise another researcher on the project Janet Thompson has a crisis of conscience where she questions if it's right for them to have made a child synth since he will forever be a child unable to grow up or have a family of his own Janet is told by her husband to not speak of such things or risk disciplinary action for considering synth Sean to be a person synth Sean is causing more than just father to doubt that synths are just machines this personal project is doing more to undermine the claim and belief Among The Institute that since our machines damaging the core justification for continued synth creation and use and all of this comes at a hefty cost by releasing the Soul Survivor and creating synth Sean he goes against his prime directive which is to act in the best interest of the Institute by wasting resources wasting the time of Institute scientists sacrificing capable assets revealing one of the great secrets of how to find the Institute and allowing opposing factions to obtain that sensitive information and Technology however this is really only the tip of the iceberg and shows how on the one hand father is willing to commit atrocious acts for the good of The Institute and yet will undermine all of that progress because of his driving desire to have the family that he always wanted a father wastes no time in trying to convince the sole survivor to join The Institute and as long as the player doesn't immediately reject father's offers or kill him at the first meeting the sole survivor will be given free reign to explore almost every corner of The Institute and even be given the ability to use the molecular relay at will as father says The Institute is as much of a home to the sole survivor now as it is to himself that is a dangerous amount of Freedom given to someone that has not demonstrated any allegiance to the Institute to make matters worse father and others in The Institute are well aware that the sole survivor associated with and used factions like the railroad or the Brotherhood of Steel to make their way to The Institute this entire time the sole survivor has nearly unlimited access to the Institute its terminals facilities and Personnel after completing several missions and becoming more familiar with the Institute father will eventually confront the sole survivor about his relations with the railroad you're no father it's no secret that you worked with a railroad in order to First reach the Institute the depth of your involvement with them is being called into question repeatedly I'm sure you can guess by whom the question is where do you stand with them now do you count them amongst your allies wouldn't this have been a pertinent question before giving the Soul Survivor full access to the Institute and able to teleport in and out at will father's complete unwillingness to do due diligence in this regard is the exact reason that the sole survivor can assist the railroad or the Brotherhood of Steel in destroying the Institute this appears to be a completely unhealthy and frankly unwarranted level of trust the father has for the sole survivor something that becomes apparent should the player choose to betray The Institute and side with one of the other factions where father says you had me fooled I really believed you were on our side father is a danger to The Institute since he has an emotional attachment to the sole survivor that he struggles to understand and that ends up blinding him to the potential threats posed by the player and those threats do not stop at just letting the Soul Survivor into the Institute father falls into full blown nepotism by unilaterally appointing the sole survivor as the new director of The Institute in the lead-up to this frankly baffling announcement father will send the sole survivor on a series of missions which culminates in an important operation at the Bunker Hill settlement this operation involves recovering a number of synths that are being protected by the railroad and the player has the choice to follow the mission parameters or tip off the other factions failing the mission for The Institute offers Illuminating dialogue from father when he berates the sole survivor for having botched the operation and telling them this was such a simple task I just don't understand I know you're capable of handling yourself how can I expect you to represent the Institute if this sort of thing continues Bunker Hill was to cement your place as a valuable asset to The Institute it will now only raise suspicions I will refrain from sharing the outcome with the directorate for the mom things are already in motion that this would only derail single crochet could have done that job by himself you must see how disappointing this is the chances of failing this Mission were so astronomically low that yes it does matter father is upset because it will make his soon-to-be announcement of the appointment of the Soul Survivor to director look pathetic since failing the mission would raise suspicions and call the sole survivor and by extension father's competence into question it is interesting to note that father was trying to use this Mission as an easy win since the odds had been calculated to be so heavily weighted in favor for The Institute that failure was not even seen as remotely possible and that a single courser could have completed the mission himself and somehow this was meant to be a feather in the soul survivor's cap a mission extremely likely to succeed that could be completed by a courser was meant to illustrate the sole survivor's abilities and loyalty to The Institute it is obvious that this was an ill-conceived attempt to somewhat bolster and validate father's surprise announcement that he would be calling the sole survivor to replace him as director even the other department leads are gobsmacked by his decision decrying it because the sole survivor is not a member of The Institute nor is he a scientist and these are definitely valid concerns the sole survivor has knowingly cooperated with groups hostile to The Institute was given a few easy missions to prove his capabilities and loyalty which by the way can be filled with seemingly no consequence after which he is proclaimed to become the next director by his own son someone that has proven to make poor decisions due to his desire to have a relationship and some sort of family with the sole survivor as if the nepotism wasn't already clear some of the division leads will stage a small Mutiny in which the sole survivor is tasked with defusing the situation rather shockingly as father describes the situation he asked the sole survivor to deal with the mutineers by saying don't assume this is a bluff these men are proud they might well be prepared to die for their cause hopefully violence won't be necessary but in the end you must do what's best for the Institute you are telling me that after father unilaterally appointed his own dad to become the next director someone who has known connection to outside groups and has only just learned of The Institute and barely done anything to prove their allegiance that the sole survivor gets the green light to kill the department heads that are upset with his decisions and that's totally fine is this really what's best for the Institute as father directly said or is this what is best for Father's wishes and familial desires the blatant favoritism for the Soul Survivor is the Capstone of the monument that is father's incompetent leadership [Music] now after all of this I want to be fair to Father not every single awful action or bad thing about the Institute was his fault the initial fev experiments that were kidnapping surface dwellers turning them into super mutants and then releasing them top side to cause chaos did not start with father but he didn't end it either he also wasn't in charge during the broken Mass incident which was the result of doing gen 3 field testing too early lastly the massacre of the cpg was also before Father's time so the Institute was already seen as a malevolent group we're building human-like machines all the while people were disappearing for no discernible reason the institute's image as the boogeyman of the Commonwealth was established before the first confirmed date of father as the Director which was in 2285 but he did nothing to put an end to these practices that gave the Institute that image in fact he reinforced it by continuing fev still engaging in Replacements and abduction options and going so far as wiping out entire settlements for some pre-war research information a good Institute director maybe not objectively good but good for the faction would accept the reality of the past and justify the current questionable actions by claiming that it is necessary for the good of The Institute they would justify it by selling the true goal of the Institute to change the world with their technology but that could only happen with them in control they could talk of a future where humans were freed from these shackles of menial labor and the synths would allow mankind to engage in their true passions to devote all time to Advanced science art and Technology the leader would sell that idea this philosophy to the player and use the means justify the ends logic to explain why they have to do awful things like wipe out settlements or abduct people and then it would be on the player to decide if first they agree with this ideology and second whether they think the ends really do justify the means and a good leader would not let his personal problems stand in the way of The Institute achieving these goals all of these points we discussed is not what makes the Institute bad however or let me rephrase that the Institute engages in many things that can be considered bad and morally wrong but they are more than that the institute's goals are vague and never plainly described their methods are reprehensible and contradictory the organization is on the one hand and incredible example of scientific progress and on the other completely aimless all of these things are simultaneously true which causes confusion amongst fans when talking about the motives and actions of The Institute while the Institute staked its claim as an organization hostile towards those that live in the Commonwealth in the 2230s it is father that is to blame for what makes the Institute so frustrating to unravel and assign motives father is willing to engage in the morally bankrupt practices of murder kidnapping and enslavement of a sentient group of synths while simultaneously whitewashing the past downplaying the present and justifying enslavement while father seems all in on getting his hands dirty for the betterment of The Institute he is undermining all of that because of his strong desire to have some sort of family with his remaining parent he wastes time and resources to create a synth child with no regard for the consequences of his actions to fulfill some sort of fantasy he places so much trust in the Soul Survivor that the Institute is handed to any faction of their choosing on a silver platter and submits to Pure nepotism by appointing the sole survivor to become the new director even though it causes a literal Mutiny that can result in Bloodshed whatever terrible acts that father justifies as being in the best interest of the Institute are completely unjustifiable by anyone as soon as he invalidates that progress with personal Ambitions The Institute is confusing because father is confused The Institute lacks clear Direction and meaning because father struggles to choose One Direction The Institute well sucks because as a character father kind of sucks too so next time you become frustrated by the institute's writing just remember that most of that rests on the shoulders of your son the director of The Institute and the father of synths but hey if it makes you feel better just tell everyone that he takes after his mother thank you brothers and sisters for making it this far and an enormous thank you to my patrons who are doing Adam's work by supporting me allowing me to take the time to provide content like this if you want to chat with me I have a Discord so come swing by if you appreciate my content and want to show support you can join my patreon and give tithe to Adam and reap his Rewards I won't do a comment highlight this video due to a lack of time but expect it in the next long video take care of yourselves let Adam guide you and I'll see you next week

Channel: RadKing

Views: 730,945

Keywords: fallout 4, institute, shaun, synth

Id: CZLKVkS11Yg

Length: 62min 21sec (3741 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 23 2023