The ending really soured me on the whole game. I was willing to overlook all of the faults with the game because I was still having so much fun with it after many hours, but the whole thing just completely fell apart after you reach the Institute. It feels rushed and they couldn't decide what direction they wanted to go in. The entire game is about how evil the Institute is, and then you get there and you realize these people aren't so bad and they are legitimately trying to make the world a better place, whether right or wrong. It added another interesting layer to the story. But then you come back to Boston and it's like none of what just happened mattered and your only option, with whichever side you pick, is to kill everyone and everything. I liked the idea of no one side being completely good or bad - like in New Vegas where you could see both the NCR's and House's points of view and work out a reasonable solution. I felt torn in that game, and I had regrets, but I felt like it put me in a position where I made the best of a bad situation. This just made me feel like I'm a piece of shit no matter which side I picked. There was no reason to wipe the Institute off the face of the planet. The fact that, as far as I know, no option is given for some happy middle ground is unacceptable. It was just so lazy, poorly written, rushed and stripped down just from one game ago. I never even played Fallout 1 or 2, so I can't imagine what those people thought about this mess.

Now that the ending annoyed me so much, it makes all of the other faults glaring, whereas I could overlook them before. I maxed out my Lady Killer perk and I never got the chance to use it even once. My perception was maxed and it did nothing outside of battle. I never had any dialogue options that integrated my stats or perks in any way, as far as I could tell. It's just ridiculous. Why even have them as options if they are worthless?

I hate to be in the group that yells about how these games are being dumbed down for mass appeal, but after Skyrim and FO4, yeah, I see where they are coming from. I can still enjoy these games, but it just feels more and more like there are so many missed opportunities for the sake of rushing out a game and stripping it down because people like swinging swords and shooting guns more than they like crafting magic spells or finding interesting ways to solve a problem.