For me,the settlements were a mixed bag. While yes,it was fun to build them,it ultimately didn't amount to much because of the fact that there were no unique npc's that would settle in,making that settlement actually feel alive and have character. One thing they could've done is that when a settlement reaches a milestone;like a certain amount of settlers or happiness,a unique settler seen nowhere else would show up and become a quest giver specific to that settlement. Another problem is that while the building is fun,there are too many limitations caused by the old engine. I can always either build a bunch of buildings with no decorations,or one or two buildings decorated up the wazoo. While yes,there are mods out there to get rid of the limit the game puts on you(which I gladly used),the game engine itself is trying with all it's might to not utterly shit itself to death when you try to build an actually decent sized settlement with decor for that nice immersive touch.

I liked being able to personalize areas and make them feel like they're really my own. We don't need to buy housing- we can just make our own.

Yes and no. I enjoyed the Minutemen playthrough building it up really made you feel part of it. however bethesda made it too big a part of the game overall. not to mention too many of the DLC were focused on it.

I think the system itself is well done but the way it was implemented into gameplay seems a little underdone, not much happens at your settlement.

I thought it was a fun gimmick but there was too much emphasis on it. I would rather have more dev-made fleshed out settlements and fewer ones where the player could build in. I felt it somewhat took away from the depth of the game world and that it was used as a crutch for the lack of places akin to diamond city.

roflcopter117 wrote:

I thought it was a fun gimmick but there was too much emphasis on it. I would rather have more dev-made fleshed out settlements and fewer ones where the player could build in. I felt it somewhat took away from the depth of the game world and that it was used as a crutch for the lack of places akin to diamond city.  

Yep like one big settlement to rebuild and maybe a playerhome like home plate. the rest of the settlements should be pre-existing and you have to convince them through a series of minor quests to side with the chosen faction. Then over time that settlement upgrades itself with defences and decor specific to the faction. that would of been a better way in my eyes

They could had left it up to the community to implement it and focused on the game making an amazing dynamic ending, having the cut content put into the game. But like gameworks and it money talks, and Bethesda took the money from both Nvidia and now customers for building settlement DLC instead of fully flushing out their game.

just make less settlements but bigger in size. These hundreds of small settlements throughout Commonwealth are annoying for me to the point that I don't care about them. The only settlement where I'm building anything is Sanctuary where all NPCs with a name are. I understand Bethesda's decision that it's easier just to give hundreds of settlement locations to the player to fill the space instead of actually working on well thought side quests, it's actually a trend in whole game industry (good story telling games became rare or just very short), it's like people are losing creativity in that department.
So it's a solid addition but executed poorly. Imagine having only small number of settlements locations but that could really matter in the world instead of constantly defending freaking Oberland station with two unnamed settlers that I couldn't care less for. Yes, there are people that like it, but for me settlement system is something that I hate the most in FO4, it's a nice concept but not in its current form...

Not to mention Preston and his radiant quests, too bad he's essential (watch the LAER release trailer, great stuff lol)

It's alright that the settlement system was added. What's not good though was the over emphasis of its existence. Okay I get it, alright? It's a new thing in the series, but you seriously didn't have to keep slamming me with quests regarding it. It would have been forgivable if the settlements you make actually grow on their own, but of course that didn't happen and you still need a mod to do that. Imagine if mods didn't exist :/

It's the only reason I spent 90 hours in the game. I'm hoping 76 improves on it though.

Like everything in a Bethesda game, it gets its true potential realized with mods.
If someday they do Fallout in space, the system, for a colony, will come in handy.

For me, I didn’t like that they forced you to use the clumsy settlement system in the main quests to build misc. utilities. (Like the teleporter) with mods I enjoy that the settlers build the places themselves, but for me I do t really enjoy using it. It feels slow and I hate gathering the materials for it, and it takes away from me just playing th game it’s self. It’s decent seeing things like sim settlements taking the building out of my hands, because when I’m playing fallout the last thing I want to do is spend hours in sanctuary building just to hear Preston or the other settlers ask me “You want to do some work!?”

Well, Preston being a pest is another problem entirely that just compounds the issue of trying to build Sanctuary. He becomes more of a nuisance than the raiders he wants me to fight. But seriously, the Commonwealth must have been right on the edge of extinction, considering how fast the radiant quests come pouring in from Preston. Gotta go save a "settlement" of two people squatting in the woods.

In my opinion it is complicated system which tries to get from player a possible max time of gameplay.
It has some pluses, and some minuses.

Pluses:

1. New, better idea of developing your settlement with defences, citizens and etc.
2. A wide of options: it may be a small or lagrer settlement, it can be well defended or less defended

Minuses:

1. Over too many grinding materials for settlement
2. Taking a lot of hours for building a decent settlement

I can't say it is bad for F4, but it well presented in game.

i thought it was a hassle at times but with mods made it good, what made me put more hours into the game.

Yes and no

I believe that the settlement system was both good and bad. On the one side it adds new gameplay and features to the game that wan't in NV or 3. At the same time however I feel it was just done poorly and should've been worked and improved on more.

For me I liked it, but there was some issues I had with it. I really loved having the ability to make my own places to live and decorate it based on how I was roleplaying with my character. The base defense was kind of cool having to protect my "home." The issues I had with it though was it took away from having interesting cities to get quests from and explore. And the fact that there wasn't any real interaction with the settlers, like if they died I didn't care too much in the later hours of the game.

I don't know how its going to work in Fallout: 76 though, the UI looks improved though so that's a plus!

No, lone wanderer doesnt build any settlements nor stays too long in one place. Always on the road. Like Mad max

It was but it certainly doesn't feel like it was finished or is at least really unpolished. Doesn't look like they changed much in the Fallout 76 trailers besides the ui for it unfortunately.

Yes. It's been added in through modding for years, and those mods were always super popular, so I can thoroughly understand why Bethesda decided to implement it, and why they decided to make it so integral to the game.

That said, I'm not to big on the idea of Settlements been a necessity, for example the main quest requires you to build, which means you are required to manage a workshop at least once, which then remains active for the rest of the game.

What's really lacking in Fallout 4 is choice.