


MacCready's Dark and Troubled Past as a Gunner loosely links him to the Minutemen plotline, and his current residency in Goodneighbor ties him into the Commonwealth's greater criminal underworld.Hancock is both heavily involved in the backstory to Diamond City (the game's primary Hub City) and the current mayor of Goodneighbor, and both towns will be encountered and explored in the main questline.Curie's Brain Uploading can affect how the Sole Survivor views Synths as humans or not (heavily affecting their faction decisions).The other base game companions have admittedly middling impacts on the game's plot, but even then they're still tied in to a certain text.Not only are they all encountered as part of the main questline, but they will have to be further interacted with as the Sole Survivor chooses a faction to proceed to endgame with. Shortly following the above are the faction-specific companions (Preston will likely be encountered first since "When Freedom Calls" is part of the game's informal tutorial, Danse can be optionally encountered and help the player gain membership in the Brotherhood prior to the arrival of the Prydwen, Deacon must be encountered since the Sole Survivor must meet the Railroad to decode the Courser chip, and X6-88 can only be encountered after the Institute is made available).

The main story companions (Codsworth, Dogmeat, Piper, and Nick) have easily the biggest impacts since the Sole Survivor must interact with them to further the main quest.Arc Welding: While they all are met at various points of the game, the companions' own arcs tie into the overall story to some greater or lesser degree.The player can encounter various companion characters throughout their journey.
