Fallout 4.... Completed

I'll be talking about my playthrough of Fallout 4 so it WILL be full of spoilers.
You have been warned ;)

I've really really enjoyed my playthrough. The game has concluded well with the way I play.
I played the game mainly in this order: minutemen quests to the castle finish, brotherhood of steel missions until  Show No Mercy, I then did the railroad missions which in short combined with the Institute missions, which also gave me an item (holotape) that allowed me to also finished off the brotherhood missions until I was able to free Paladin Danse and get the Brotherhood off his back. Then playing along with the Institute killing off the Brotherhood and then going on with them until the Synth rebellion was ready to move and with that finish it off with the Synth rebellion/railroad ending.
I could stitch 20 or so screenshots of all the missions in the order I did them but that is too long a task for right now but oddly enough there is about 220 mission both main and side quests completed.
With 10D 1H (241 Hours of gameplay!!!) over the last month I'd say I have gotten my money and gameplay value out of the game.

While playing this through the main reason with going along with the Brotherhood was to try and get Paladin Danse safe, either out of the Brotherhood as it were or to have so I didnt' have to kill him. And I was really happy with the way the game allows you to do that before taking down the brotherhood.
I only wish there was a way to avoid killing Scribe Haylen as she was part of the free Danse option.

I got to experience the full list of characters and story lines and one simple save at the end let me experience all the endings. I really enjoyed being able to "play" the factions knowing I was going to "betray" one over another or flip back again just by doing a load from that key saved game spot.
I did take my time to build up the needed likes to get the companions to give me their end perk. All but Strong. Everything I did with that Super Mutant was disliked and from the internet info there are only killing innocents and cannibalism that he does like and those are not part of my gameplay.

I mainly played the minutemen and brotherhood routes as I was busy with all other missions in game where the railroad "freedom trail" seemed like too much hard work when there was sooooo much else in the world to get done. In retrospect I really am glad it worked out that way. It also gave me a lot of time to explore, gain companions and their perks, gear and level my character up.

Overall the factions were very unique. Both in main story lines and with the characters that made them up. Side quests were very faction specific. Yes they did repeat the same side quests in mostly the same locations, but that was all par for the course as once you knew what was needed and where you got to do it in the fastest way possible.

I found the minutemen as a very unobjectionable faction that aims to protect the people and the common good and have a peaceful intent.

The railroad are also unobjectionable as they try to save synth's and integrate themselves into the commonwealth without drawing attention or harming those that already live there.

The Brotherhood is mainly the post war tech enhanced, World war 2 AXIS power of the game. Especially the way they have the young squires.

looks like it should be a WW2 shooter there....

By the time you meet the Brothehood you have already spent a lot of time with Nick a very very human Synth and so the Brotherhood's anti-Synth mentality doesn't hold ground, at least with me.

The institute is a very isolationist, locked in faction and despite there progressing humanity philosophy they do not consider the commonwealth as "worth saving". Indeed the only thing they want from people on the "surface" is to use them as project guinea pigs.
Early in the game and before I knew what the Institute was I came across 2 men both calling for help saying that the opposite was going to kill the other. When I got close I saw that they were both the same named person. I had heard of synth replacements and obviously here was one "being done". I quicksaved and tried to save the "human". This was tricky as the only difference was that one had a pipe pistol and the other had a shotgun. Thankfully quicksave and luck is a perfect combination. Both the = human and Synth once "saved" went on to do the same thing so there was not telling that way who was who. The only way to know was to loot a synth component. So after I reloaded the save looted the component I knew the other was the "real" human. But it was this experience that with a lot of suspicion as the story line progressed that made me consider the Institute as the real hidden enemy for the commonwealth.
What really sealed the deal in my book was reading this Institute terminal entry.

It wasn't that long before going to the Institute when I had setup that homestead in the world for settlers! Synth replacement in my own back yard. Freaking abduction, interrogation and Synth replacement. That makes the Brotherhood shaking down settlers for food look tame!

My character and the weapons I've collected are really enjoyable. It's a good system where your skill and the items you have combine to do upgrades.
I have to say that if I had gotten to the railroad sooner I would have received the very special "Deliverer" 10mm Pistol, it really is a game changer. Not only for the James Bond look to it. But that weapon is an all range massively multishot VATS killing machine.

I can see how a melee "Skyrim" style combat can be done but that is just not for me in this game.
I went with mainly silenced weapons and upgraded as I went but concluded with these weapons:

The top row is my main go-to weapons and the second row is my random encounter / travelling weapons, as I could afford to spend a lot of their ammo on "non-priority" random targets etc.

I don't remember where I picked up the Explosive Pipe pistol but I have to say that it is a lot of fun. The splash damage from it is great for large groups or doorway choke points.

Messy

My main armour for most of the game was a Brotherhood jumpsuit (green) and Polymer Combat armour leadlined/deep pocketed with a Commando Chest piece and helmet. Earlier on in the game I went with the metal parts rather than leather and an Army Helmet and Fatigues.
 

My Special points were based around lone wandered / pistol weapons then "skills" needed for survivability and upgrading armour/ power suits / weapons.

For trying to pass the chat checks I went first for the Tux, Fashionable glasses and Formal hat. Which looks good but really looked cool with the fully upgraded and silenced 10mm pistol.

But later game I'll I went for the less cool looking but better stats Destroyers helmet and Agatha's dress but keeping the fashionable glasses.

I never really used power frames/armour much at all and they just became a collectibles thing for me. Using the frame on its own was handy for extra carrying capacity. As was the Brotherhood Vertibird taxi service.

Making the settlements and "home" base was also interesting and there is a lot you can do with the building system even if the user interface takes some getting used to.

I left my home base as Sanctuary hills but I did end up kitting out "Homebase" in Diamond City but never really used it.

I can foresee a revisit and a stay at lower levels or perhaps a replay at a harder level from a mid game save in the future.
I'm glad to have seen most of it in this first playthrough and it will be interesting to see what changes in patches and updates to come.