[Spoilers] Main quest doesn't make sense?

[MayLogan]

So I need someone to explain to me how the main quest works. I've got far enough to know Shaun is Father but the time line of the whole game just doesn't make sense to me.

This is what I mean:
So you wake up 200 and something years after being in a cryogenic sleep and you've seen your son be taken. You think your son was a baby but then you find out he's actually 10 years old. That whole bit makes perfect sense but the bit I don't understand is Kellogg was seen with Shaun in Diamond City a short while ago (at the age of 10) but then when you get to The Institute you find out he's really old. It doesn't make sense because the other month people saw him at the age of 10.

I probably have just messed up the time line in my head so please could someone explain. Thanks.

[cassiels]

The 10 year old Shaun is a synth boy that they made to test the model and to lure you towards the Institute. You were frozen for longer than you realised at first.

[jeffy]

after Shaun was taken from you 60 YEARS PASSED --------- then you escaped the cryro vault

so thats why the Father is 60 ish years old

[Gordon Freeman]

The boy seen in Diamond city was not Shaun . He was a synth . Sorry for the duplicate reply . Slow here .

[HoroSaga]

Having played through the main story a couple of times, I think it's fair to assume that Bethesda didn't originally intend for "Father" to be "Shaun". There are a number of clues that seem to point in a completely different direction, and a lot of the "plot twists" and explanations you're given once you reach the Institute seem very haphazardly applied to the story.

But yes, under the current timeline it seems to go as follows:

2077 - Sole Survivor and family evacuate to Vault 111 and are frozen in cryogenic tubes.

2227 - Sole Survivor briefly wakes up and witnesses Kellogg murdering their spouse and kidnapping (infant) Shaun.

2277 - This is the year that the Sole Survivor thinks he witnessed the murder and kidnapping.

2287 - Sole Survivor wakes up again, eventually finds and kills Kellogg, then travels to the Institute and meets Shaun (now an adult).

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by MayLogan:

So I need someone to explain to me how the main quest works. I've got far enough to know Shaun is Father but the time line of the whole game just doesn't make sense to me.

• October, 2077: You, your Spouse, and Shaun are put in cryogenic suspension
  
• ~2222: Kellog and someone from the Institute rouse you and your spouse from suspension, take Shaun, and kill your spouse;
  
• ~2272-2275: Kellog is given synth-Shaun to raise;
  
• 2282: You emerge again from suspension, into the Wasteland .... and the game begins.

[...] the bit I don't understand is Kellogg was seen with Shaun in Diamond City a short while ago (at the age of 10) but then when you get to The Institute you find out he's really old. It doesn't make sense because the other month people saw him at the age of 10.

There is a Synth Copy of Shaun, who is a ten-year-old boy in 2282.

That's who Kellog was seen with.

[HoroSaga]

I think a big part of the problem with the "plot twist" where they reveal that Shaun is an adult is that it relies too heavily on arbitrary plot devices.

It is claimed that Kellogg, for example, didn't age at all because he was given special cybernetic enhancements (that no one else in the Institute ever used, apparently). But that doesn't at all explain why he didn't change his appearance at all over a sixty year period, including his clothes and hair. It also doesn't explain why he wasn't wearing a hazmat suit like the other Enclave scientist was.

The only thing that explains these odd discrepencies during one of the most important story sequences at the beginning of the game is "plot convenience", because it was integral to the story for the player to be able to visually identify the person who killed their spouse and stole their son. This is not a sign of good plot design.

[MayLogan]

Thanks everyone! I didn't know that the Shaun with Kellog was the synth.

[Brandybuck]

Originally posted by MayLogan:

So you wake up 200 and something years after being in a cryogenic sleep and you've seen your son be taken. You think your son was a baby but then you find out he's actually 10 years old. That whole bit makes perfect sense but the bit I don't understand is Kellogg was seen with Shaun in Diamond City a short while ago (at the age of 10) but then when you get to The Institute you find out he's really old. It doesn't make sense because the other month people saw him at the age of 10.

That's because the 10 year old Shaun you see is the fake 10 year old Shaun. So why the hell is Kellogg hanging out with a synth kid in Diamond City? It's actually explain via conversation or computer log somewhere: Father put it there as a clue for you to find Kellogg. Father is the one that thawed you out, and he did it just for that purpose.

p.s. Which adds creedance to the theory that the player character is really a synth, implanted with false memories and set loose to wreak revenge upon Kellogg.

p.p.s. I just watched Captain America: Civil War this weekend. Now there's a plot that doesn't make sense!!! The villain sets in motion a scheme to destroy the Avengers, yet the key piece of information needed for this hugely intricate scheme is not discovered by the villain until about 1/3 of the way into the plot. Either that or yuuge continuity problems. The Fallout 4 plot is a masterpiece in comparison.

[HoroSaga]

Originally posted by Brandybuck:

p.p.s. I just watched Captain America: Civil War this weekend. Now there's a plot that doesn't make sense!!! The villain sets in motion a scheme to destroy the Avengers, yet the key piece of information needed for this hugely intricate scheme is not discovered by the villain until about 1/3 of the way into the plot. Either that or yuuge continuity problems. The Fallout 4 plot is a masterpiece in comparison.

To be fair, it's possible that he knew the evidence existed ahead of time, but simply didn't have a copy of it. The villain may have been seeking out the hidden Hydra base just so he could get access to the only remaining copy of the evidence.

After all, he had access to Hydra's records well before he put the rest of his plan into motion. The first time you see Zemo, it's when he's killing the former commander of that secret Hydra base and stealing all of his records. Those records may have contained the information that he then used to formulate the rest of his elaborate plan.

EDIT - But really, Civil War spoilers have no bearing on Fallout 4. Trying to mitigate poor writing in one story by pointing out that another unrelated story may also have problems doesn't accomplish anything. It just implies that both stories were poorly written.

[captxunderpants]

After tracking Shaun down, and meeting father, I felt like the Institute was so jarringly incompatible with the rest of the feel and flavor of the game that I just left the place and never went back. And in my other two playthroughs, I've completely ignored the plot lines other than strolling through Kellogg's mind, which I think is a cool game device.

[Paxtoranius]

It's enjoyable shooting stuff and building but the game really doesn't have much to offer in storyline or a final conclusion/ending achievement thereafter. Probally worth having as a diversion from the grand game of Skyrim now and then but that's about it really. Even Prey had a better story, Dishonored also. Fallout 4 is just a well made shooter in the end unfortunately mods included (far too risky in the majority of cases).

[Killzone]

Risky? FO4 is an excellent and stable platfrom for modding, both making and using other peoples creations, far more stable than FO3/NV while modded.

[ペローナ]

Originally posted by Paxtoranius:

It's enjoyable shooting stuff and building but the game really doesn't have much to offer in storyline or a final conclusion/ending achievement thereafter. Probally worth having as a diversion from the grand game of Skyrim now and then but that's about it really. Even Prey had a better story, Dishonored also. Fallout 4 is just a well made shooter in the end unfortunately mods included (far too risky in the majority of cases).

Right, you play Fallout 4 unmodded, because no one ever needed to fix vats freezes, script fails. Heck Nick's quest does not even work at all without the Unofficial patch. So what are the "far too risky" things you're talking about ?

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by FruitsPunchSamurai:

Right, you play Fallout 4 unmodded, because no one ever needed to fix vats freezes, script fails. Heck Nick's quest does not even work at all without the Unofficial patch. So what are the "far too risky" things you're talking about ?

Actually I finished the game without any mods or patches the first time through, did not have an issue with Nick's quest, though ive since put loads on for replaying.

[Zekiran]

Originally posted by FruitsPunchSamurai:

Right, you play Fallout 4 unmodded, because no one ever needed to fix vats freezes, script fails. Heck Nick's quest does not even work at all without the Unofficial patch. So what are the "far too risky" things you're talking about ?

Which problem was there with Nick's quest? I played with him as a companion for 400+ hours and never had an issue with his quest?

But still, yeah, um. Mods aren't risky. They're very handy, useful, and a lot of times much better than vanilla for story and inclusion of things that Bethesda just... didn't put in.