The beauty is if you end up not liking the settlement aspect you don't have to do it

I'm looking forward to the settlements. I will start with just a place to stash my stuff, do most of the quests in the game, and then decide how I want to proceed with settlement building. BY the time I get to the point of building settlements my character should be sufficiently stocked with materials and high enough level to make it worthwhile. I do not see this feature interfering with questing as it likely isn't essential to any quest the game may try to make urgent.

If we take the PC's story of losing spouse and child, and perhaps thinking they are still alive, it would make sense to have a place for them when and if you found them. So to me settlements fit this installment. But again, my first one will be small and secure place to put things with the surrounding area picked clean of any supplies.

Lol, screaming "Get off my lawn!" as the turrets rip them apart!

To me it just seems like another batch of disconnected busywork for the sake of having such, and of which there'll be a ton of even without it. Business as usual, a game about side attractions. They could've tied that sort of thing to provide reactive storytelling and mechanical intrigue that carries with it (choices and consequences), but it is said to be totally disconnected from everything (as far as I know) so... yeah, just overglorified busywork. Hats off to the effort put in it, though. God knows that it could've been used otherwise to produce content that's got a more general appeal and actual consideration to it (in gameplay and narrative), but nonetheless... a seemingly grand technical achievement.

It will be interesting to see what modders do with it though.

Wanderers and babies...

F04 takes place.. what..? Roughly 200 years after the bombs fall?

Do you know how much can change and how much progress people can make in 100 years alone? Never mind 200.

Expecting everyone to just sit around accepting things as a destroyed wasteland forever because "survival" is just silly.

Settlement building mods are one of the most popular for Fo3 and Nv, and [censored] like Minecraft is so big even CoD "dude-bros" play it.

Its probably one of THE most general appeal systems one can make right now.

nobody will get this reference

That so? Guess I should've worded it differently.

In any case, what I mean is something more considerate, not something that exists to just lure people sideways.

I think it's terribly hilarious that when Bethesda finally adds a long wanted feature, by a majority of fans, into the game people start acting like it's the end of Fallout as we know it. This has got to be the 100th time I've read the cookie cutter "Fallout is turning into Sims/CoD" line. It's even more hilarious when OP said this despite his fears being directly answered by Todd Howard himself in the E3 footage when he stated very clearly that the settlement feature was completely optional.

You get things out of it like safe places to rest, along with some quests, and some of the best weapons/mods are only available from settlement merchants.

Its not like it exists totally separate from everything else.

I'm used to it. I learned long ago every fanbase resorts to the baseless "It's not what I like? IT'S RUINED!" tantrum.

They aren't likely to stop either, so perhaps we should stop feeding into their constant negativity, with these kinds of comments? Just ignore them if you don't like what they are saying!

Well, OP, as many have already mentioned the settlement building is an entirely optional experience. If you have an issue with it you don't have to bother with it and play a character that is more so a wanderer than a builder. Personally, I'm interested in it, but I don't want to go too overboard with it and build an entire fortified settlement. Just not something I look for when playing Fallout, at least on a first playthrough.

However, just building a measly little hideout? That would be nice. And that option is there for you as the player. You don't HAVE to build entire settlements.

One can just as easily say if you don't like the game that Bethesda is making then just don't buy it, or if you don't like Bethesda's version of fallout and don't agree with the peoplethat do then don't get on the forum. Its silly and unhelpful

As others have said, this is a completely optional feature. I've actually been doing a fair bit of digging to do with settlements, and from what I can see, it looks to be really well thought out. But it's there if people want to use it. If not, I'm sure we can just shack up in one of many existing buildings/locations and call that home without ever touching the crafting side of it.

I love the idea of building my settlement. It will open up an aspect of role play helping people in the wasteland. It also shows a willingness to adapt to the environment and it shows advancement of civilization. That is one aspect of fallout that annoys me a little it's been a while since the bombs fell greenery and civilization would advance again.

Anyways I have advocated more options and less gutting or removing features and this here is a wonderful addition. This is one of the new things I am excited about the most, this and the new crafting system.

When I was screwing around with the construction kit for Morrowind (in my limited way, lap top barely runs it), one of the first things I did was play with the interior of Foryn Gilnith's shack to suit my taste better. So yeah, I'm really excited to use this feature.
This is true, you can say that all day long, but in the end, it's a lot easier to control what you do than to control what others will do. Well I already nearly derailed the thread with my original comment on this subject so I think I better shut up now lol

re: "it's completely optional"

One thing I do wonder (without "worry", just curiosity) is if there are any non-settlement player homes in the game.

I'm sure there will be. Assuming by non-settlement you mean towns not your own making.

Diamond city pad in a Skybox!

The beauty of the system we've seen so far though is, you can use it without having to build a settlement. Want to just build a house for yourself? Don't take the Local Leader perk.

Didn't some of the things you could build though *require* the local leader perk?

My single largest fear about the settlement mechanic is that it will fall flat in some way that I am not imagining. Todd Howard stated for the lead up to Skyrim how we could sabotage economies. Never saw that come into play despite three DLCs. Is this going to be the same thing? See my sig below for the current answer.

But the potential. THAT has me just squirming in anticipation. If done right, the settlement mechanic will be the reason I dump a lot of effort into the game and (hopefully) into making my dream mod for the game.