I hate Preston. I really really hate Preston.

I hate walking past him and him giving me quests that I can not say no to.

I hate him so much that I sent him to another settlement so I don't have to deal with him and his forced quests..

I'm reading now that If I do play again and use the "no" option that I am FORCED to join his inane minutemen..

Is this correct?

I'm looking at Todd Howard right now and quoting what He said about "freedom to do what we want in game"

My lips are forming one word..."Liar"

Please tell me what I have read is not correct..

Thanks

You are forced to join the minutemen by doing the questline even if you say no to being the general the very act of completing the minutemen quests makes you part of the radiant settlement quests. You are free to NOT do the minutemen quests and never talk to Preston again after concord. You can even still acquire and build up settlements with the exception of the castle and sanctuary hills(possibly a couple others).

Thank you .

Joining the Minutemen is 100% optional, as is going to Concord to meet Preston at all.

The player can totally bypass Preston and simply go to Goodneighbor, use the memory den lounger, and having Irma tell you to find Valentine, as he might be able to help you find your son.

Preston and the Minutemen are 100% optional.

You're point is valid, but 'forced' on here generally means a clearly defined or intended route or option.

Much in the same way that New Vegas forced the player to go south from Goodsprings and follow the I15 to New Vegas.

They're wrong, but people to this day still claim New Vegas is 'linear' and the same fallacy about Preston and concord will pervade for years to come as well.

You can build Sanctuary Hills before you ever meet Preston and his gang. I did Concord and let Preston and his gang go to my already existing Settlement in Sanctuary Hills, but I haven't spoken to Preston again since then (I'm on my second, BOS playthrough).

double post

You can say no to him when he asks you to become the General. That's the real point where you're officially a part of the Minutemen. Completing When Freedom Calls, Sanctuary, and the First Step are fine.

Or you can just not do his quests. If you go through a quest up to the point where you turn it into Preston, it will auto-complete after some in-game time. If you don't see the quest through, it will auto-fail after some in-game time. You're not forced to do anything, just walk away.

I let it linger at First Step, so I can focus on all the other stuff. Should I find out that I need the Minutemen at one point or that it would be beneficial to join them, I can pick up there.

Preston is not a problem.... I did as he sugested sort out this other settlement... then did my own thing... some time later he SUGGESTED I help some other settlement if I could.... ok no problem, it's still my TO-DO-LIST when I get a bit stronger.

That's fine with me.... I'm still playing it my own way.

Well, i've never been in Sanctuary this playtrough, so even if you can't avoid it, you can leave the first part incomplete.


Or go to Diamond City, learn about Valentine, and continue the main quest from there. It's easier to get to DC than Goodneighbour soon.

He, and his psyker, and his little dog too can be totally ignored
Yes, i know Dogmeat is not his.

Things that yank my chain...

1. Quests that we cannot say "no" to.
Even if you put preston in some far away settlement he will still send you apparently "telepathic" "this settlement needs our help" quests...that you cannot say "no" to.
Other factions allow you to actually LOOK for, or ASK for, new missions...not have them shoved down your throat.

2. Quests that glitch out and stay on your mission list and are impossible to remove.
Like when one says "talk to preston" but, instead on removing the one you have done and are trying to turn in, he ADDS three more!

3. No "abandon" option.
Would be nice to remove a quest from your list that has glitched, or to remove those that do not fit the character you are trying to play.
The player could always just return to the NPC that gave the quest to resume it later if they so choosed.

I'm still on my first playthough and haven't found Preston as annoying as everyone else... That being said I haven't done many of his quests... Did the settlement missions up to the point where you have to build a recon beacon (or whatever it's called) but never built it... But I do feel the Minutemen quests have been forced and provide an unnecessary distraction and interfere with the MQ... I'm in a kind of flow juggling different quests and companions and it feel organic and immersive... I would consider doing the Minutemen after the MQ... providing you can carry on afterwards I don't know... or want to...

I recommend if you aren't going to side with the Minutemen, to just avoid Concord altogether when you create a new character. Every settlement can still be built up and claimed on your own, without joining the Minutemen or getting the quests to do so. The only true loss you'll suffer is I don't believe you'll ever be able to recruit Codsworth if you don't go to Concord.

Or, you CAN go to Concord, walk into the Museum and go upstairs, tell Preston and gang to shove-off, you aren't helping, grab the Perception Bobblehead, and walk out. The rest of the quest won't trigger or finish unless you enter the Power Armor on the roof.

If you are brought into a conversation by any NPC you don't have to say anything. You can simply hold a movement direction and back out of the conversation.

I can confirm you *can* build sanctuary hills without Preston. Hell I have 11 settlers there now, and Preston still waiting in concord. Heck, you can even get the radiant quests via settlers. Like the clear x place for a settlement. And I have to say, I like that mechanic a heck of a lot more, because its not always pestering me.

You can take control of most settlement I believe by killing whatever has control of the settlement, whether its Settlers, Ferals, Raiders etc.......not sure about the Castle since its linked to a faction quest.

Oh and yeah, I had a settlement at Sanctuary before ever meeting Preston.

It feels much more organic. I like it when a settler comes up to me to initiate a conversation on their own. "We know you've already done a lot, but we could use your help..." It doesn't get annoying, because it is always a different person in a different settlement asking for your help. Not the same person pestering the ever loving crap out of you.

EDIT: And yeah, you can take control of the Castle simply by going there and killing all the mirelurks yourself and accessing the workbench. No Minutemen required.

My first time playing the game i actually took the Castle alone in Power Armor. Had to call in a vertibird to kill the Queen though, amazing moment.

You can do the power armor, deathclaw fight, and still get codsworth.
Just do not go back into the museum after the "clear concord" is over...and they will not follow you back to sanctuary.
When you go back, even without the MMs, Cods talks to you...at least he did for me, but we all know Beth & glitches.

Thank you

ppl consistently overlook this bit subtlety. And yes it's true you'll need to clear investigating Concord in order to advance in the MQ. But once you escort Preston to Sanctuary, you have the definite option to ignore his invitation to join the minutemen. Just tell him you want to think things over, take a rain check, and go about your business.

The only time you HAVE to join them is if you opt NOT to join 1 of the other 3 factions if playing the MQ. And even then, there is a

Same here. I've got my old house repaired and in shape with one of my other characters. Codsworth and Dogmeat are the only other settlers that live there with me. Haven't even entered the Concord Museum. With this character, that's all I plan on with Sanctuary. His house, his dog and robot, and his workstation just across the street from his house.


I guess the reason it feels so forced is that the sequence goes from

Escape Vault 111 > Talk to Codsworth > Go to Concord > Assist Preston > Take him and Goons to Sanctuary Hills > Go to Diamond City


It takes a bit of thinking-out-of-the-box to bypass all that and go straight to Diamond City after Vault 111. That's what I did with another character.

Good to know, next playthrough I'm going to simply say NO preston I don't want to join your gang and stick to building up a network of bases and clear out the non-settlers sites for parts. That way I'll get the settlement building without the annoyance of the Settlers until the false reporting bug and problems with the settlement attacks are sorted out.

I did feel railroaded into the Minutemen quests, since everytime I finished one I got multiple unlock, rescue and protect quests......I actually had to force myself to avoid the Minutemen since the were it seemed forcing me to play the game their way rather than by my own plans. Of course I could have simply walked away at any time but I got caught up in adding settlement after settlement, building them up, protecting them etc, that I kind of forgot that wasn't the actual point of the game.

What realy annoys me is that every time i have to talk to Preston he gives a new quest. Even if i want just to finish a quest (which can only finished via talking and not just via waiting). Preston, shut the [censored] up. And i like the Minutemen radio songs but can't listen to it anymore because of not wanted repetetive quests inc.

The whole design svcks. You're the only one doing stuff in this crap world.

Here is something you can try. If you have a quest you are supposed to deliver to him, then walk up to him and press E to talk. When he starts talking, sprint away so you get out of earshot, that way you should not get any new quests. I did this earlier, it requires some finesse, but its doable. Save before talking to him. [censored] you Preston!