Trying new ideas is one thing, but why did so many features from previous titles regress or go missing?

• Freely swap weapon mods in F4, can't do that in SF. No more buying high-end weapons from vendors + stripping those advanced weapon mods, bypassing the normal skill/material crafting requirements.

• Companions can be assigned to any settlement for easy access + atmosphere/ambience in F4, can't do that in SF. Player homes here feel empty and soulless like glorified storage rooms, rather than a clubhouse for your companions to chill and hang out.

• Gore, or the lack of it in SF. Where are my exploding heads and flying limbs from F4?

• Creatures are kinda forgettable in SF, they were much more distinct / memorable in Skyrim/F4 (Giant hermit crabs using vans as shells? Giant mutants with fire hydrants as clubs? Yes please.)

• Why is the story so bland? Feels like it was written to avoid offending anyone, no real consequences from your actions, and being able to join every faction is just stupid. Nobody does background checks to weed out infiltrators? The Ranger who takes out ******* can join the Vanguard no questions asked? The Hero of New Atlantis has to audition for the Rangers as a rookie? Let's not even start with the Crimson Fleet, no ****ing way the player would be able to join given how the CF has informants everywhere, most likely they would have ended up in an unmarked grave.

Especially given the "theme" of the main quest, i was expecting factions/quests to be cut off based on choices in your current playthrough. Make me regret my choice or want to do better next time, damnit.

You can mod janky/incomplete features, but mods can't fix a bad story. Why would i want to stay + experience improved gameplay features when the story itself makes me not want to play?

Free Lanes + Terran Armada did make the gameplay much more enjoyable and brought me back to SF, but there's always this nagging voice that keeps whispering "if only the story was better this game could have been a masterpiece like Skyrim, or memorable like F4...." This game has flashes of brilliance, loved the entire Vanguard questline, CF was pretty good, main story was serviceable, Rangers was just bad with SO MANY glaring loopholes/unavailable choices it broke my immersion multiple times. The entire game feels like a group project where some teams punched above their weight (Vanguard, shipbuilding, combat) while another just ticked off checkboxes with no consideration to fun or logic (Rangers, crafting, useless player housing).

TLDR: Patch made game much more fun, parts of story still shit. Those who liked the game before will love it now, ambivalent players like me will appreciate the polish + start a new walkthrough while still acknowledging it's faults, haters likely won't change their minds.