Yes!! I felt the same way!
Particularly the ham fisted way it's written, you're really led to choose the railroad path, but I felt I never got a proper explanation on how the institute was bad (the why is clear).
I ended up going with the institute and I got a really underwhelming ending
My dad lives in a house that the oldest rooms date from around 500 years ago lol. It would be very had to tell by just looking at the house, since it's been updated and expanded over the centuries.
We don't even know if it really is that old, but from figuring it out from some renovations and the position in the town, it's a good guess.