Likewise with the above replies, I really want to go over this but I think it's going to make me look even more like a dick than I already am. Sorry in advance.
Diamond City felt believable. Goodneighbor felt believable. Hell the justification for Super Mutants in the Commonwealth felt refreshingly believable compared to 3's excuse. The fact that Water Purifiers merchants, brahmins, etc., were in such a plentiful number made sense for a region existing in 2287.
The settlements were still too small and in too much disarray, considering how much time they had to rebuild. For those settlements to be of that fame, they should be much larger, and have much more of an impact on the region they were in. Not to mention that the brahmin caravans and rare purified water should've been the norm in the 2100s, but not 2287. The super mutants' justification was pretty much the same - another strain of FEV. Sure, at least it had some backstory this time, but I wouldn't call it refreshing.
The fact that the Institute has been systemically kidnapping any individuals with the potential for scientific potential in a certain field explains why the Commonwealth and it's infrastructure has slowed down compared to, say, Vault City.
Well, they don't directly say that. It's a great assumption they set up that I appreciate, as someone who dislikes Fallout 4 less than everyone here, but there was not enough concrete details you could explore in terminals and dialogue that we could even infer from. Besides, if they could initiate surgical kidnappings on such a fantastic scale, they would not be as unheard of as a "rumour" or "boogeyman".
Hell, even the over abundance of Fusion Cores makes sense within the Fallout timeline.
CELLS. Fusion CELLS. Not Fusion Cores. Fusion Cells were abundant even before the War, yes. If Fusion Cores were abundant, well they wouldn't be having a Resources War in the first place. Fusion Cores didn't even exist in the Fallout timeline before unless they're just fancy names for large Fusion Cell.
The Railroad, Minutemen, and Institute felt like real factions native to the Commonwealth.
The Institute was inconsistent - they had too many armies and Courser agents to be merely rumour and hearsay, yet they didn't appear in enough places to be a large factor. There's a huge discrepancy between how the Institute is described by the people of the Commonwealth, and how we actually experience the Commonwealth.
Everything north of Diamond City implies they're a secretive organisation that manipulates the wasteland from the shadows. Everything south implies they're like the post-apocalyptic Skynet from Terminator - that they have armies, power, control everything, and people have to hide from them. It's poor writing to be that inconsistent with a main faction.
Okay, I'll give you the Railroad. They had an infrastructure that laid throughout the Commonwealth, with NPCs you trade with or walk by being Railroad agents and you not knowing about it before you became one of them. They functioned on their own and were not created around the player, and for that I applaud the dynamic. I'll (just barely) even give you the Minutemen, despite them only being a "real" faction after you've singlehandedly rebuilt them.
But yes, they're good factions that felt like they were alive. They just didn't have enough depth and description to be as prevalent as a Fallout faction should be. Not nearly enough characters, not nearly enough related locations, but yes, they did have potential. But if I judged Fallout 4 based on the potential it had compared to the premise of other games, I would give Fallout 4 an 11/10. Judging it on what it actually is, I give it a 6/10. That's still pretty lenient, given its flaws.
Maybe it would just be better if the Fallout series died with 4. I love the world, but....unless Obsidian can get the rights back, or any other company that can do the series justice, it might be better if it all just dies.
I believe it should go one of two ways.
1) Bethesda cleans their act up and improves the Fallout games, outsources it to Obsidian, or we hope that Bethesda Montreal gets hold of it and that they're significantly better at making a Fallout game than BGS. The series improve and everyone gets off satisfied, hopefully.
2) Bethesda screws it up and milks the series, Call of Duty style. It gets so bad that the series is eventually laid to sleep. Then Bethesda shoves the IP off to a competent developer, and they bring it back to life the right way once everyone has already forgotten Fallout.
Let's be honest, this is the only two ways it's going to go.
