Like most Bethesda games, I just can't judge or play it in its vanilla state. That's a problem, but a fixable one. I judge them in their modded states. So I'll have to digress into a tl;dr mod list to describe what I like about my fallout 4 setup.

Play it with Horizon and, like most Bethesda games, don't worry so much about rushing to finish the main plot, even though it's hard to imagine ignoring it, realistically. Synths and Coursers are terrifying when they attack by surprise, and raiders are sometimes even risky, at least without power armor (which is rare and very precious.) You can run into a super-mutant at level one. RUNNING AWAY is important and viable strategy, except with deathlaws. Starvation is a real possibility. Melee weapons become precious because ammo is rare. I'm usually sick with parasites or something and irradiated.

Horizon doesn't make NPCs more interesting, though, unless somehow fighting them in a hair-raising battle makes them more interesting. If you liked New Vegas Willow even a little, you'll like the somewhat more aggressive and abrasive (to mutants) Heather Casdin, done by the same person.

Better Settlers, Diverse Children, Orphans of the Commonwealth, Sim settlements and interesting npcs adds some interesting life to the settlements as well. Some of the settlers are genuinely funny, commenting very uniquely when you pass by in town. I've got a girl child who is giving me lip like she's some kind of guard. I'm going to send her to school with the school desk mod.
"Rename anything" lets you rename anyone named "Settler" to anything you want, grand and dignified names like "Poop Head" and "Trader Joe." It doesn't seem to cause any glitches like "Don't call me settlers" supposedly does (I never used that one, just heard stories.)

"No Preston Radiant Quests" makes Preston shut the hell up (YES!) after the initial introduction rescue settlement period. Better settlement defenses lets strong settlements take care of themselves when attacked. "Get off my buildzone" makes attackers spawn only outside of the settlements, so walls are viable.

Check out the top-rated quests and new lands. Some interesting stuff there, though they won't necessarily be balanced with Horizon, but still usually playable.

So, judging Fallout 4 in its modded state, like Skyrim, it's playable. If you like settlements, it's a good game. Different, but good. I always wanted a edgier, harder, more violent version of the all-too-friendly Sims, so I'm good. I still want another Obsidian Fallout game but for now I'm occupied.

I also use Resurrection, which is controversial in that a lot of its textures, especially up close, are ... not good? But it adds dense forest with huge trees, and vastly changes the look of the commonwealth. Wood looks rotted and old... cars are almost all rusted hulks. Stuff looks like it's been abandoned for a long time and overtaken by some ancient weird forest. (Glowing harvestable plants mod also used.) Check out the videos and decide for yourself on that one. It's both awesome and, sadly, unfinished and unpolished.

IIHawkerII wrote:

@mindstormer You, my good man are the perfect standard for comparisons between the two games. Congratulations!

@IIHawkerII Thanks for the compliment my friend, it is appriciated

Bethesda has been trying to appeal to a wider audience. Which in turn results in a "dumbing down" of the games content and ideas. Fallout 4 is a good example of this. Sacrificing RPG mechanics, story elements and over game depth for a more hallow action shooter set in the fallout universe. Also was the settlement system. Basically it seemed like the fallout shelter app but in the game. And it was clear that a lot of development resources went into its creation. Personally it gets old very quick making villages for people.

Fallout 4 had its moments, i think obviously as a roleplaying game it lacks. However i sometimes get the feeling they may have inadvertently made a Witcher/Mass Effect/ Dragon age type linear story. Which the game works well when you think about it in that way. I guess those games do have more depth in story then FO4 mostly, however the game is still enjoyable. I mean people still make mods and ports so it can't be that bad. I think it being better is subjective, very subjective. As pointed out they made it a point to streamline the game. Which is okay for the casual player or even softcore fallout fan because the game is fun to play without being hindered by so many choices. Which i get is mostly the point of fallout are the choices. Which is where NV and FO1 & 2 come in. They have great writing and choices. The former being designed for Hardcore base fallout fans and the latter being what hooked those people to the franchise.

I think somwhere i lost my point but i think y'all get it. Got lazy.

The style of games is different, but that's to be expected. Fallout 4 is NOT a 2D turn based game, after all. Thus comparing it to Fallout 1 and 2 is profoundly stupid. One must instead compare it to the 3D real time games of Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

Fallout 4 is definitely in the open world free form camp of Fallout 3. Which is no surprise, as it's from the same developers and writers. It's also very similar to New Vegas, but steers away from the rather gritty Mojave aesthetics, both in feel and mechanics. There are way too many factors in the game to discuss all of them, so I'll pick just a few at random.

Explorability and openness. Nothing else comes close. In any franchise, let alone the Fallout franchise. No invisible walls in the middle of nowhere, just the edge of the map. And exploration is for the most part rewarded. There are hidden gems of story vignettes that can only be found by poking about. One can easily spend a thousand hours in this game and never once approach the main storyline quest.

Quests. There are many very good side quests, and the main storyline quests aren't too bad either. Unfortunately, there is a plethora of "radiant quests". It's a good idea, but there's just too much of it here. They work best for the Minutemen, as gathering new settlements is core to the Minutemen strategy, but that was marred by Preston's over-eagerness to hand them out. And they just feel like busy work when done in the context of the other other factions. But many side quests are just fantastic.

Followers. They greatly improved the follower idea. They blow away anything FO3 and NV have. They all have likes and dislikes that affect how they view the player character, and they will actually take off and abandon the character if enough dislikes accumulate. I'm hoping the next BGS game will extend this idea even further and apply it to faction affinity.

Dialogs. Here's where the warfare starts. Most criticisms are gross mischaracterizations of what it actually is. It's resembles Mass Effect's circular dialogs, but without the paragon stuff. Four possible choices per dialog point, but each choice can lead to new dialog points. New in this game is the presence of three way conversations (!) and the ability to simply walk away from a conversation. The big drawback is that the options don't exactly match what the character will say. There are a couple of mods that fix this though, and to my mind it's not that big of a deal. But it does drive some people to uncontrollable fits of rage.

Leveling. There is no level cap, and the leveling does not slow down much, so that it's fairly easy and quick to get a massively OP character. To my mind it's just a bit much. All Bethesda games suffer from this to some extent, but Fallout 4 takes it to new heights.

Fallout 4 is better than two thirds of the series. People tend to forget that there's more than five games, and that a lot of them have been extremely bad cash grabs. I'm not defending it, but saying that it's worse than ALL of the previous Fallouts is just factually incorrect.

I really like Fallout 4 a lot. I've played them all, at release, but 4 I like. I know the story is kinda poo poo, as is the dialogue. But for me, it is the one I keep picking up again and again.

GoofyGoo6er wrote:

I really like Fallout 4 a lot. I've played them all, at release, but 4 I like. I know the story is kinda poo poo, as is the dialogue. But for me, it is the one I keep picking up again and again.

I will say that Fallout 4 at least has a decently enjoyable gameplay loop with fairly satisfying combat so I could understand why some people manage to get a lot more out of the game than I did.

I enjoy the stability of 4 over it's predecessors BUT...I'm more likely to boot up NV and start a new game, because I know that subtle changes in how I play the game will make a huge impact. All I can really do is pretend to be a certain way in 4, but it still has little effect on the outcome of the game.

@"donta1979" I agree with you almost 100 percent, also I am aware im late to this thread but the one thing I disagree with is fallout 3. Fallout 3 yes is better than 4 however I dont think it is that good of a game, it just lacks something I cant quite figure out what it is yet though.

Indeed they are ,if you are looking form a Lore and ...gameplay experience and immersion .But from the technical perspective...well they are the same .Fallout 4 is ...empty .Its like it does not have a soul .Thing i was expecting too much .For example they did not expand the quest of the Krivbeknih .Marcella said that she was from the Commonwealth .Unfortunatelly they just print out games for the money and expect modders to fix them .

Fallout 4 does a lot of things that are superior to previous games, combat being the main one. But in terms of world building, storytelling, and other RPG aspects it falls short.

To sum up Fallout 4, I would say it's as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle.

I sure everyone already say Fallout 4 is good for some stuff like gunplay etc etc
but the problem it sticks in my mind is the freedom of choice, I really love the fallout2 freedom of choice it makes replayability over and over, but in Fallout 4? no after 3 playthroughs my mind can't go and replay it again, I don't know if other ppl feel the same way I do

I got into a conversation about this with a guy at a restaurant a couple of years ago. My opinion of F04 if it weren't apart of the franchise and was its own game would have actually been received better. By itself it's a fairly good game, but compared to Fallout New Vegas, which was an amazing game, it pails in comparison. That said I'm still playing F04, albeit mostly so I don't have to get the hang it again when some big mods I'm waiting for come out.

I like FO4 more than NV (I haven't played 3 and I don't have any strong drive to). I've tried to give NV a series of shots, and it was okay for a while but I just couldn't dig it for some reason. It's not a terrible game but I think FO4 is better.

in some regards yes , in others no
fallout 3's story and overall waste felt like a dystopian hellhole and didnt feel like the story was forced until you decide to head to megaton
fallout new vegas felt like a less dystopian but where it lacks in post war destruction it has post war politics and you are set in the middle of it and have full control of what happens
fallout four wasn't bad
it has a good story a few choices that make or break the commonwealth
but i feel the story was forced right out the vault and it fees expected o head home and start the main quest

Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas are far better then Fallout 4 for many reasons in my opinion , I think that the main reasons why Fallout 3 and Fallout new Vegas are better is because the story and rpg element is better , Fallout 4 is cool but i just don't find myself wanting to play more. I will say that i do enjoy modding it , but if it wasn't for modding i would not play it .

man, this is really tough question among fallout fans in divided section. reality is, bethesda's fallout is much toward fast into action, no need to spreadsheet like in good ole' days of computer RPGs in 80s. fo4 better only towards it gunplay, so let me ask; gunplay is fun, shooting mutated creatures and such, but does fallout really about shooting stuff like other FPS games like Borderlands, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Quake or DOOM ? because those games are better and fun to play since its designed to be that way, shooting monsters and progress to the next level, that's, or if you playing multiplayer FPS, that's. it simple really, which is why from my perspective, FO4 is basically creatively bankrupt, the same with FO76 right now, reusing the same concept quest and design.

A hard decision to make really. I can't really call myself a Fallout fan since I only started from FO3 followed by FNV and finally FO4. In terms of story plots and exploration details - I would say FO3 wins hands-down with FNV coming in second with the different varieties of factions you can join that changes your ending as it goes.

FO4 wins in one aspect and that is the stunning graphics. FO3 gives me the creeps in some places, especially those subway stations while FO4 metro lines were just like meh.

I enjoyed FNV cos of the wide range of weapons and the myriad animations that came with them, like the right handed bolt actions, generally accurate or realistic reloads and interruptible reloads that counted the rounds, and all the western style weapons available. I also loved how open the Mojave was, but it’s a desert, but that’s more setting-wise I suppose.

However, I did love FO4’s new mechanics, like the wide range of weapon mods that you can craft, compared to FNV’s set few weapon mods, I enjoyed the concept of settlement building, and all the other bells and whistles FNV didn’t have by default, like sprinting and jet packs. Obviously loved the new graphics and the lack of weird tints (yellow in FNV I believe). Disliked how there were very few proper companion quests like in FNV. Hmmm. I felt most of the DLCs were also rather lacking, since most of them were more like workshop expansions (I loved Honest Hearts’ setting, beautiful place). I did enjoy Far Harbour, which was another beautiful setting in its own right, but I felt it was rather small. FO4 modding feels more streamlined to me too, but maybe that’s because of the mechanics and graphics and what not that came with the game as is.

All in all, I feel FO4 is a decent game, but FNV was pretty awesome too. Like if Obsidian came and redid FO4, I’m sure it would have been amazing, and I’m sure the FO4 remake of FNV will be amazing too.