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Is there a quest that marks the endgame, and if so, is it communicated to the player that the endgame is about to take place?

Furthermore, will it lock out certain secondary quests or make factions hostile to the player?

Can one continue playing after the main story line?

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  • I've heard that the ending to the main story leaves it open which allows you to continue playing after completing it. It's also been like that for both Fallout 3 and New vegas so I wouldn't think 4 is any different. As for factions, you probably will become hostile with some as you befriend their enemies. I haven't gone too deep into any particular faction to have an answer on that one.
    – VanBuzzKill
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 7:45
  • @VanBuzzKill For Fallout3 one needs the Broken Steel DLC in order to continue playing after the end of the story line, and in New Vegas, you'll lose access to factions quests after a certain point.
    – k0pernikus
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 14:34
  • @VanBuzzKill You can't keep playing after the main quest in New Vegas.
    – DCShannon
    Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 14:52
  • 2
    Related: What quests do you need to stop at before you make an enemy of a faction for each faction?
    – Joachim
    Commented Apr 27, 2021 at 9:58

2 Answers 2

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The point of no return is definitely a significant amount further than what kalina stated. The point where you're forced to start making factions hostile towards you is a quest called "Mass Fusion", where your actions during that quest will affect you. There are obviously points in the storyline where you can prematurely make a faction an enemy, but "Mass Fusion" is the point in the storyline where you're forced to make a faction an enemy in order to progress in the storyline. It is a very definitive point in the storyline where you can see the endgame approaching.

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  • 1
    While The Molecular Level may not be a PNR in terms of hostility, it is still very important to know that it can lock you out of faction-specific side-quests if you don't play it a certain way. This was specifically requested in the second sentence of the OP.
    – Iszi
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 21:23
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    It does not lock you out of any faction specific quests, unless you consider the Molecular Level a faction-specific quest because you must complete it with a faction, and you get to hear different dialogue depending on who you chose during the quest only.. The result is always the same, no matter your faction choice for this quest. All faction storyline quests are definitely still available. The only consequence of your choice is you may receive a line of disappointment from some of the factions you didn't choose, but all quests and all endings are still 100% available. You lock out nothing.
    – Phantah
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 15:50
  • I got to The Molecular Level a bit ago, and finally started poking at it the other night. Looks like talking to any of the faction leaders at all more or less locks you into dialog options specific to that quest, which eventually lead to completion of the step with no opt-out option except walking away in the middle of the conversation. Once the step is done, it doesn't appear that you can raise the topic to any other faction either. The most frustrating part is that, while the step is incomplete, you can't talk to the leaders about anything else - not even other quests you need to turn in.
    – Iszi
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 17:14
  • According to fallout.wikia.com, you cannot join the Railroad anymore after The Molecular Level, it has to be done before that quest.
    – dube
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 22:23
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The Molecular Level quest both is and isn't a point of no return, fundamentally it requires you to make a choice - what you do need to consider is that speaking to a faction will provide you the infiltration quest for the Institute but also make the equivalent quest for the other factions unavailable. It is possible to reconnect with the factions you didn't choose after completing Institutionalized though. The actual point of no return varies by faction alignment.

The game is seemingly inconsistent in warning you when you're about to make permanent changes to your faction reputations.

In the case of the Institute quest line, speaking to Allie to start the Mass Fusion quest will pop up a nice warning stating you're about to become permanently hostile to the Brotherhood of Steel. There isn't a subsequent warning when you do the same to the Railroad, you'll just get lots of failed quest spam if you've got quests outstanding but in fairness, the mission is specifically to kill the Railroad so...

For the Railroad, I believe the switch occurs silently at the start of the quest Precipice of War. I definitely didn't receive a message and the conversation to start Precipice of War seemed to flow continually from the conversation that ended Operation Ticonderoga - the Brotherhood of Steel just stormed in and then I got lots of quest failure spam.

For the Brotherhood of Steel, the mission that makes you hostile with the Railroad is Tactical Thinking.

Yes, once you've finished the "story" you can continue playing, but there will be less faction missions available because of who you destroyed in order to finish the story.

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