Plot Holes of Fallout 4 - Spoilers

[Tom Bishop]

Yeah if they needed untainted DNA then why didn't they keep everyone alive? Why did they choose Shaun of all people and what would've happened if you died and Shaun was unsuitable as a subject? Why didn't they head to a different vault in order to find viable subjects and why Vault 111 of all vaults was "so special"?
So many questions and from what some of you are saying, plotholes as well.

Ah, now this one does have a valid answer. It's the anthropic principle. There's nothing particularly special about Shaun or Vault 111. They could have gone to another vault. They could have taken another child. But they had to settle on someone, and to fuel the plot of the game, the protagonist is the parent of the abducted child. So, if Shaun didn't work out for whatever reason, and they ended up abducting an infant named, say, Joe, the protagonist would then be Joe's parent. And I actually kind of liked that there was such a plain and unremarkable reason to target Shaun and his parents. There were a lot of annoying messiah/chosen one undertones to the story in F3 that Bethesda really ought to have kept to TES, and so it was a pleasant surprise to hear that what started you out on your adventure this time around was nothing more than really shitty luck.

 

[omegaspruz]

Um, um.. guys you do realize that Death Star had a convenient hole leading straight to its reactor for anyone to blow up, Ethan in Heavy Rain woke up with incriminating evidence every single time even though he was innocent, in zombie games when you get bit you are fine but everybody else turns into a zombie and the list goes on and on. And honestly teleportation argument is such a nitpick, it always is whatever medium of entertainment it is. Id say get a life, but I spent my last day off playing Fallout 4 non stop...

Seriously Cabot House, Kid in a Fridge, Pre War Jet and even T-60 bother me more. And those are not even connected to the main plot.

 

[MercenarySnake]

Eh I'll just go with the
[x] Your son was taken for the sole purpose of the plot and to tug at heartstrings(which failed).
BONUS: Watch loved one die while you can't do anything about it cliche.
You don't have shit luck entirely... You become General of the Minutemen without doing a single quest.

 

[omegaspruz]

You become a general with one pretty incompetent soldier in your army, who makes you responsible for something you shouldnt be. Whether its general of Minuteman or Princess of Snowflakes, it doesnt really matter, still shit luck.

 

[MercenarySnake]

Why would that matter when you can kill everything with ease while doing drugs like crazy and running around with 300 stimpacks(atleast I have around that many). You're a one man/woman army that can bring along an immortal meatshield sex buddy! The savior of the wastes, defender of evolz!

 

[Spacemunkey]

Why would that matter when you can kill everything with ease while doing drugs like crazy and running around with 300 stimpacks(atleast I have around that many). You're a one man/woman army that can bring along an immortal meatshield sex buddy! The savior of the wastes, defender of evolz!

I see what you did there, you chose the sarcastic option.

 

[Dr Fallout]

Why would that matter when you can kill everything with ease while doing drugs like crazy and running around with 300 stimpacks(atleast I have around that many). You're a one man/woman army that can bring along an immortal meatshield sex buddy! The savior of the wastes, defender of evolz!

I see what you did there, you chose the sarcastic option.

Sarcastic [X] Yeah, real sarcastic there.

 

[Ilosar]

The one that gets me is when you meet Shaun and he explains that the Institute needed DNA that was untainted and that's why he was kidnapped, yet the "scientists" that thought that was necessary let the rest of the vault die eliminating a pretty diverse gene pool in the process. Had they posted synths there to maintain the cryo-pods and there was just a malfunction allowing you to escape, imo, would have felt more organic.

Also how Shaun has clean DNA when he was meters away from the shockwave of a nuke, as a baby. How in the blazes were the future Vault Dwellers not blasted with at least some residual radiation I don't know.

 

[omegaspruz]

The one that gets me is when you meet Shaun and he explains that the Institute needed DNA that was untainted and that's why he was kidnapped, yet the "scientists" that thought that was necessary let the rest of the vault die eliminating a pretty diverse gene pool in the process. Had they posted synths there to maintain the cryo-pods and there was just a malfunction allowing you to escape, imo, would have felt more organic.

Also how Shaun has clean DNA when he was meters away from the shockwave of a nuke, as a baby. How in the blazes were the future Vault Dwellers not blasted with at least some residual radiation I don't know.

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

Also some people mention, why would they not go to another Vault. Because I think they realise that most of other Vaults are horrific places where not only they will most probably not find an untainted DNA, but find it corrupted or worse find nothing. Also before somebody says Vault 85, the Institute at the time wouldnt know that the experiment wasnt carried out and after Vault opening to the commonwealth everybody was effectively contaminated.

 

[Crni Vuk]

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

If you're desperate for clean DNA, I would assume with all the technology available this would be the easiest thing to check and probably one of the first things to do. I guess even the scientists in the vault would have done that already. Taking blood samples, checking health and so on.

 

[omegaspruz]

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

If you're desperate for clean DNA, I would assume with all the technology available this would be the easiest thing to check and probably one of the first things to do. I guess even the scientists in the vault would have done that already. Taking blood samples, checking health and so on.

Everybody went through radiation screening and came off empty, I guess, as per beginning of the game. For all we know what we saw in the beginning was just a shockwave, with radiation to come up. As stupid as I found it personally.

But what I actually meant is, you are an institute scientist. You check vault tec records. You find a vault which states that there is a cryogenically frozen infant. You would not know the circumstances which led to the infant getting there, but you would have an infant. You take the infant, you go back to institute and you check whether he is radiation free or not. Whether he is, is another thing entirely. You have the infant, and i would go on a limp and say that the institute are not monsters to get rid of the kid, if he doesnt suit them.

 

[Hassknecht]

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

If you're desperate for clean DNA, I would assume with all the technology available this would be the easiest thing to check and probably one of the first things to do. I guess even the scientists in the vault would have done that already. Taking blood samples, checking health and so on.

Everybody went through radiation screening and came off empty, I guess, as per beginning of the game. For all we know what we saw in the beginning was just a shockwave, with radiation to come up. As stupid as I found it personally.

Actually, most of the radiation comes before the shockwave. A nuclear explosion begins with a massive, blinding flash of visible light, heat and radiation (mostly gamma rays and neutrons). The closer to ground zero you get the more deadly the dose of radiation is you absorb from the flash.
But the explosion in-game is far enough away that there's not much radiation damage to the player family.

 

[Vergil]

Why are all of the quests for the "most technologically superior" group of scientists on the east coast just you trying to fix all of their retarded mistakes? With Big MT the think tank have insanity to explain the crazy and stupid stuff they do. With the institute im supposed to believe these guys are geniuses as they trip on banana peels.

 

[Crni Vuk]

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

If you're desperate for clean DNA, I would assume with all the technology available this would be the easiest thing to check and probably one of the first things to do. I guess even the scientists in the vault would have done that already. Taking blood samples, checking health and so on.

Everybody went through radiation screening and came off empty, I guess, as per beginning of the game. For all we know what we saw in the beginning was just a shockwave, with radiation to come up. As stupid as I found it personally.

Actually, most of the radiation comes before the shockwave. A nuclear explosion begins with a massive, blinding flash of visible light, heat and radiation (mostly gamma rays and neutrons). The closer to ground zero you get the more deadly the dose of radiation is you absorb from the flash.
But the explosion in-game is far enough away that there's not much radiation damage to the player family.

I might be wrong, so please, feel free to correct me, but I think schockwaves like explosions travel with something between 4000 m/s to 10300 m/s, depending on the type of explosives, gases are considerably slower.

Radiation move at least with the speed of particles, alpha and beta radiation maybe with 100,000m/s? Beta radiation is made of electrons so it should be pretty fast. Electromagnetic waves like gama radiation, photons with high frequenzy, would have the speed of light. I guess alpha and beta would be much less effective with air around, and depending on humidty. But gamma, x-ray and in some cases neutron raditation can be quite dangerous.

 

[Hassknecht]

The institute wouldnt know that at the time now, would they?

If you're desperate for clean DNA, I would assume with all the technology available this would be the easiest thing to check and probably one of the first things to do. I guess even the scientists in the vault would have done that already. Taking blood samples, checking health and so on.

Everybody went through radiation screening and came off empty, I guess, as per beginning of the game. For all we know what we saw in the beginning was just a shockwave, with radiation to come up. As stupid as I found it personally.

Actually, most of the radiation comes before the shockwave. A nuclear explosion begins with a massive, blinding flash of visible light, heat and radiation (mostly gamma rays and neutrons). The closer to ground zero you get the more deadly the dose of radiation is you absorb from the flash.
But the explosion in-game is far enough away that there's not much radiation damage to the player family.

I might be wrong, so please, feel free to correct me, but I think schockwaves like explosions travel with something between 4000 m/s to 10300 m/s, depending on the type of explosives, gases are considerably slower.

Radiation move at least with the speed of particles, alpha and beta radiation maybe with 100,000m/s? Beta radiation is made of electrons so it should be pretty fast. Electromagnetic waves like gama radiation, photons with high frequenzy, would have the speed of light. I guess alpha and beta would be much less effective with air around, and depending on humidty. But gamma, x-ray and in some cases neutron raditation can be quite dangerous.

Shockwaves usually travel at the speed of sound, so around 300 m/s. Alpha and Beta radiation are neglible, the air and dust will stop them very quickly. Gamma radiation travels at the speed of light, so 300000 km/s.
Neutron radiation is dangerous because it can activate non-radioactive material by turning them into unstable isotopes.

 

[Irwin John Finster]

I'd just like to point out it might be more efficient to have a thread about things that are NOT plot holes considering the state of this game.

That said, here's some more:
1) Kid in the Fridge (self-explanatory why that's a hole)
2) Cabot House (the whole thing)
3) The fact that downtown Boston still has skyscrapers relatively intact (it looks nice though so whatever)
4) The Railroad (the entire organization - if the institute wanted them dead I'm pretty sure they could destroy a group who uses its own name as a secret password, has "secret signs" that consist of arrows pointing in the exact direction of their secret meeting places, and uses Tinker Tom as their chief engineer).

 

[Crni Vuk]

Shockwaves usually travel at the speed of sound, so around 300 m/s. Alpha and Beta radiation are neglible, the air and dust will stop them very quickly. Gamma radiation travels at the speed of light, so 300000 km/s.
Neutron radiation is dangerous because it can activate non-radioactive material by turning them into unstable isotopes.

Detonation velocity counts only for the chemical reaction inside the explosives? Guess I mixed that up. I always thought the schockwave of explosions would be faster than the speed of sound. Well I guess since it is a disturbance in the air just like sound, I guess it makes sense.

 

[Someguy37]

2) Cabot House (the whole thing)
3) The fact that downtown Boston still has skyscrapers relatively intact (it looks nice though so whatever)
4) The Railroad (the entire organization - if the institute wanted them dead I'm pretty sure they could destroy a group who uses its own name as a secret password, has "secret signs" that consist of arrows pointing in the exact direction of their secret meeting places, and uses Tinker Tom as their chief engineer).

2. How is Cabot House a plot hole?

3. See Bakersfield, Chicago, and literally every other major city in a Fallout game.

4. Actually, according to Railroad records, The Institute has destroyed them, or nearly destroyed them, like 6 times since 2266.
http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Railroad_HQ_terminals
-The first time was in November of 2266, when The Institute raided the then HQ, and killed Agamemnon, the earliest known leader of the Railroad.
-Then, sometime between March and December of 2273, they found the new Railroad HQ, and killed the then leader Wyatt.
-Then, in 2281, they almost destroyed the Railroad again when they raided the then Railroad HQ "The Farm".
-Then, in THAT SAME YEAR, a synth infiltrator at one of their safe houses learned the location of their new HQ "The Beast", so they abandoned that.
-Then, in 2285 they had to abandon the then HQ "Bolthole", and moved to The Switchboard, because Coursers found out the location of Bolthole and were going to attack it.
-THEN, in 2287 The Institute found The Switchboard and raided that, almost killing everyone. Which forced them to move to the church.

And this isn't even counting things that happened BEFORE 2266, as they have no records of any part of the Railroad's history from before that.

 

[Irwin John Finster]

2) Cabot House (the whole thing)
3) The fact that downtown Boston still has skyscrapers relatively intact (it looks nice though so whatever)
4) The Railroad (the entire organization - if the institute wanted them dead I'm pretty sure they could destroy a group who uses its own name as a secret password, has "secret signs" that consist of arrows pointing in the exact direction of their secret meeting places, and uses Tinker Tom as their chief engineer).

2. How is Cabot House a plot hole?

3. See Bakersfield, Chicago, and literally every other major city in a Fallout game.

4. Actually, according to Railroad records, The Institute has destroyed them, or nearly destroyed them, like 6 times since 2266.
http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Railroad_HQ_terminals
-The first time was in November of 2266, when The Institute raided the then HQ, and killed Agamemnon, the earliest known leader of the Railroad.
-Then, sometime between March and December of 2273, they found the new Railroad HQ, and killed the then leader Wyatt.
-Then, in 2281, they almost destroyed the Railroad again when they raided the then Railroad HQ "The Farm".
-Then, in THAT SAME YEAR, a synth infiltrator at one of their safe houses learned the location of their new HQ "The Beast", so they abandoned that.
-Then, in 2285 they had to abandon the then HQ "Bolthole", and moved to The Switchboard, because Coursers found out the location of Bolthole and were going to attack it.
-THEN, in 2287 The Institute found The Switchboard and raided that, almost killing everyone. Which forced them to move to the church.

And this isn't even counting things that happened BEFORE 2266, as they have no records of any part of the Railroad's history from before that.

The skyscraper thing doesn't bother me so much because it looks nice as it is, and I am probably wrong about it not being possible. So I concede that.

Cabot house is a plot hole in the sense that the whole quest is 1 giant plot hole.

As for the Railroad...if the Institute is full of the best and brightest minds of CIT and has TELEPORTATION TECHNOLOGY AND TALKING ROBOTS I'm pretty sure it makes no sense that they are unable to destroy a group that uses "RAILROAD" as the secret password for their base which also has a big red line drawn straight to its location

In any case I've given up on Fallout 4 having interesting characters and good writing.

 

[whirlingdervish]

3) The fact that downtown Boston still has skyscrapers relatively intact (it looks nice though so whatever)

3. See Bakersfield, Chicago, and literally every other major city in a Fallout game.

What like Los Angeles? Oh yeah.. it's wrecked down to ground level.
San Fran? Wrecked.
Vegas? Wrecked even though most of the missiles were stopped.

Bakersfield has no skyscrapers. It's a shithole of a city in the middle of a valley, most of which is single story buildings.
Gaze upon it's many skyscrapers! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Bakersfield#/media/File:DowntownBakersfield.jpg


It's like you didn't play Fallout & Fallout 2.