Bought the game on pc on launch and barely played it being put off my the bugs and settlement building rubbing me the wrong way. Think it might be worth giving it another go?

I see there is three dlc release so far, they worth a go or not? Any mods you guys would recommend?

I think if you thought about it enough to post this, it is worth a go. There is a good chance you will continue to run into bugs, but you can definitely avoid the settlement system if you really don't want to mess with it. Play with it as much as you need to then move on.

If you bought the season pass then you might as well play the DLC. I'm assuming part of the reason you regained interest is due to the Far Harbor DLC coming out? It just came out so all you can get are early opinions on that. You probably know about as much as I do, it is a larger expansion that gives a new area to explore. Far Harbor is very different from the other two DLC in that regard. The other two being automatron and wasteland workshop.

If you didn't like the settlement building I don't know if you would like those. Wasteland workshop adds content to the workshop system. It also involves capturing enemies and using them to fight. Automatron adds customization to robots, you can even design your own. Neither add much the story, if that is what you are interested in.

@bam_boozilled: Thanks for that. Its a mixture of the dlc sparking discussion again and guilt about it being sat in my steam library largely untouched. But your right, I should just boot it up :)

I bought it day one. I played it for hundreds of hours and never had a serious bug (a bug that made the game or a quest non-completable). The game is a ton of fun. I think I enjoyed it more than Fallout 3, myself. The base building stuff is there, sure, but it's not required other than a couple of missions at the beginning of the game that take little time to finish (they're just there to let you know the base building stuff exists and how to do it) and maybe a few things later in the game.

My only problem with the game is how they handled the ending- it's confusing among a few other things. But that's it.

I think you should try playing it again. Maybe you're in a better mood for it now. Sometimes I don't like a game for whatever reason when I first play it but if I go back to it later I enjoy it more for whatever reason. Maybe it's one of those things for you.

It's a weird one. I keep wanting to jump back in too, Far Harbor sounds like it's great. I know you're all saying the base building stuff is optional which is good because I also can't get into it. Yet I always feel like I'm missing out on a big part of the game, and then I just stop playing.

Maybe when the mod scene fully gets going I'll be down.

I put in about 40 hours and ended up finding it kinda too boring to finish. I read there are story based mods now that may make the game more fun but i haven't tried any.

@daveydave: if you enjoy Bethesdas particular take on the genre and this property in particular then it's worth to go back since patches have smoothed it out quite a bit, or as much as a Bethesda made game can be considered "smooth."

If you don't like the way they've handled games in the past or the general mechanics and systems those games are based on then time has not changed one thing about that aspect of the game. I put over 40 hours into it, making surprisingly little headway into the main quest at all, and felt no guilt over simply walking away from the whole thing. Then again I never liked what they did with this series and Fallout 4 was some weirdly masochistic way of proving that to myself once and for all.

Yes. It's still buggy and full of jank, but the FH dlc is huge, and the survival mode is tough, but oh so rewarding. SM is far more fun than vanilla.

If you can get it for cheap. I was pretty disappointed with it, but it's not bad.

Tons. I made a list a while back. A bit cluttered and outdated at this point, but take a look in there. Off the top of my head I would absolutely recommend these:

Darker Nights - Makes it so there is a day night cycle. In vanilla, night is as bright as daytime, except the sky changes color. Atmospheric enhancing mod.
Seasons & More Grass - Enhanced Grass - These work well together. Makes it so it looks less bland and more how an actual post apocalyptic environment would look like (vegetation everywhere).
Better Handmade Weapon Textures - Several mods of this one for each of the weapon materials (wood, steel etc.). Makes weapons look far more realistic and less gamey.
True Storms: Wasteland Edition - Adds several wheather patterns and types to make the game much, much more atmospheric. Such as rain, clouds or even radiation storms.
Interiors Enhanced - Makes interiors look less bland, more atmospheric.
WET - Better water.
Radiant Clouds and Fogs - Better clouds and fog.

I would say the game is terrible without the above mods. It lacks so much in atmosphere, it's not even funny. It's actually less atmospheric than Fallout 3 (which did have a proper day night cycle). If you play on Survival Hardcore, I would also recommend installing some mods to remove item weight from junk and craftables. Being able to carry only one pack of cement at a time without fast travel is just ridiculous; having to go back and forth to collect that stash of cement isn't even fun with fast travel, so you should do without it. You might also want to consider installing a damage multiplier mod which increases the damage you deal. By default on Survival, you deal 0.75 of regular and enemies deal 3.0 of regular. It feels very cheap and bullet spungey. I have one installed that makes it 3.0 for both me and the enemies. So I die quick, but I can also kill them quick. Feels much more tactical instead of just punishing. I still die plenty (one hit from a Deathclaw even in Power Armor at full health means I'm dead).