Mr. House and The Institute

[RedRockRun]

Fallout 4 spoilers ahead:

To begin, there definitely seems to be a theme throughout the Fallout franchise of people and organizations who feel the need to not only rebuild the world but rebuild Humanity. In the case of The Master, it's a very literal, genetic rebuilding, whereas the Enclave takes more of a "Clean the slate" approach. Therefore I find it interesting how people like Mr. House and Father see themselves as messianic-like figures who shoulder the burden of humanity or what they believe humanity to be.

I wonder then how both would regard each other. No one, at least in my opinion, has goals as lofty as Mr. House, yet he is nothing if not pragmatic. I think that's what endears me to him; so many fictional villains are so obviously delusional, the dramatic irony being that they are the only ones unaware of that fact. House though is nearly as precise as the computers he invented.

This comes in contrast to Father, who despite creating objectively more advanced robots, is more blinded by his own holy vision of himself, his organization, and his goals. Yet for all Father's cult-like visage, it's hard to argue with results. There's something to be said about how advanced the Institute is.

On the other hand, aesthetics aren't everything. House managed to create order from chaos and literally tame the savages of the Mojave. After his speech about his plans for the future, I didn't doubt that he could achieve his goals and get men into space.

Anyway, your all's thoughts?

 

[Someguy37]

It would be interesting for them to meet, given that House went to CiT before the war. With how they both are post-war however, I doubt they would get along.

House would likely see The Institute's goals as not being lofty enough for him.

Whereas The Institute would likely see House as being crazy for caring about Vegas so much, and trying to bring order to the people of the surface when those people just fuck up any attempt to help them.

 

[Languorous_Maiar]

Beth doing in Fo4 what they did in Fo3, so just copy->paste ideas from original Fallout devs.
Institute - Big MT House - Father Sole Survivor - Prisoner
And so on. Meh.

And there is problem with Institute, who are shown as fools. Doing Super Mutant project for decades, without eliminating them, weird things in Synth project (escaped ones etc), having a lot of small problems (all missions for them), basically doin nothing in compare to House/Big MT to humanity. Uhm.

 

[Ninja]

Beth doing in Fo4 what they did in Fo3, so just copy->paste ideas from original Fallout devs.
Institute - Big MT House - Father Sole Survivor - Prisoner
And so on. Meh.

And there is problem with Institute, who are shown as fools. Doing Super Mutant project for decades, without eliminating them, weird things in Synth project (escaped ones etc), having a lot of small problems (all missions for them), basically doin nothing in compare to House/Big MT to humanity. Uhm.

To be fair, I don't think that Bethesda really copied those ideas. The Institute is different from the Big MT, at least in how Bethesda intended them to be. They wanted them to be this ominous presence, this great well of information that the player could see in awe, not some goofs in a dome like Obsidian wanted from the Big MT. In execution, though, they did really end up like the Big MT. Smart enough to make advances in technology, but ridiculously stupid in any other capacity. The Roboscorpions share the same feeling of, "what the fuck was the point", as the synthetic Gorillas. Same with House, he is much different than Father. Father never showed much of an interest in economic or any sort of power on the surface, he just wanted to do pointless experiments. House had goals, intelligence, and most of all, he had power to carry out his will. Father doesn't have this, since the Institute uses an oligarchical system of rule, with the heads of each division acting as leaders.

I totally agree with your next statement though. Even the Big MT wasn't stupid enough to give a machine full sentience, if they were created to serve (Muggy vs. Gen III synths). I still have no idea how Bethesda failed so hard that the scientists intended to be super smart ended up being even dumber than the ones that were FUCKING DESIGNED TO BE IDIOTS. Despite how often the Institute says they are trying to "redefine mankind", I doubt we will ever get a clear answer for what the hell their plan actually is.