Overall, its my favorite Fallout game by far (granted i started at 3). Ive sunk almost as many hours into FO4 as FO:NV and more than FO3. It is pretty much superior to NV in almost every way.
I dont have companions that run off into the sunset, never to be seen again like NV. The companions are actually enjoyable, whereas i only brought Boone and EDE for their overpowered benefits. Boone himself looks like he was trying to audition for a CoD game and took a wrong turn somewhere. Veronica was the only interesting companion, and one of the few interesting characters in the whole game (the others being the Burned man and Ulysses). Meanwhile FO4 it would be easier to say which characters i didnt like.
Combat is much better in FO4, the enemies are actually threatening and enjoyable to shoot at. Ive probably died more times in FO4 than FO3, NV, and skyrim combined as even at level 30, a single grenade, missile, or fatman can kill me. Ive been randomly killed by a vertibird crashing on top of me. traps are harder to detect now due to lighting and i pretty much trip all of them which leads to very intense moments where i hear a grenade fall next to me and i have to book it or get gibbed. In other bestheda games i very rarely tripped a trap, let alone killed by one.
Oh, and actual FREEDOM in FO4, not unlike NV where you start off and the game goes "okay, you can go any direction, as long as its south". There is no area thats off limits, especially thanks to power armor. Granted, the only time i used power armor was in the glowing sea, and thank god for that. Ive sank dozens of hours in settlement building, which is probably the most fun ive had in a game in a very long time.
The setting itself i would put on par with FO3. NV setting is the very definition of boring, queue endless desert. Even red dead redemption was more interesting, and that too was in the desert.
now with the fellatio out of the way, there are some complaints. One, weapons. I feel like the roster is a bit lackluster. Add armor to that list too. Ive been using the same guns since level 10 (now at 30) and pretty much the same armor too. Doesnt help that i despise all pipe weapons. Im still using the vault suit and the starting pistol. The modding is nice and all, but still i feel a big lack of character progress.
Two, settlement system. It is surprisingly complex, which is a problem because they dont describe any of the important mechanics. My big complaint though is the lack of a universal measurement. For example, the corner metal prefab you can not put anything on top of it because the wall is slightly higher than the standard wall, it also sticks out more. Doorways also can not be used if there is something below or above the unit. Forget about placing doorways inside of buildings too. The only workaround ive found is the doorway prefab, but that has its own issues, namely that it wastes and entire unit and you have to design around it. Shops are slightly taller than a standard prefab unit was well, leading to the sign sticking through the floor the next story up. Ive actually restarted a few times because i learned about some new mechanic. That said, my settlement in Starlight is going to be my pride and joy. A medical center, workshop, apartments with private bathrooms, minibars, and children's room, and the masterpiece a massive rooftop restaurant complete with a wellstocked bar, kitchen, and a nice 5 story view of the surrounding area. It will even connect to the top of the movie screen, which i will turn into a cigar lounge. Course, i need to trick the game into letting me build a bigger settlement.
Three, i feel like i level way too fast, mostly due to crafting. Granted this one should be easily solved via mods.
EDIT: oh, and another thing. Someone needs to give the pipboy an update, because it constantly gets stats from settlements wrong. For example, on my pipboy map it said Tenpines ad 5 people, i get there and there are 14 people. You go to the workshop tab and it will constantly get figures wrong (like all of your food, defense, and beds are gone)
