Here's the short answer, Fallout 4 was a good game, but not
A good Fallout game.

Here's the long answer, When the game was first announced, the game looked amazing and looked very promising. When the game first launched, I loved every second of it and didn't pay attention to any of it's flaws, but when I replayed it, I noticed alot of flaws. The main flaw about the game was it didn't have any roleplaying aspects like the previous games, you couldn't roleplay at all. That was the biggest turn off to me and many others. The second main flaw was the dialogue options, only having 4 dialogue options is terrible. Especially with the companions, I'm pretty sure alot us can agree hearing the "your thoughts" dialogue option over and over again was annoying. The last thing that I absolutely hated were the endings, all the ending were the same. You got the same cutscene with the same dialogue. Like I said earlier, Fallout 4 is a good game but not a good Fallout game.

I really enjoyed the first playthrough I did, put 90+ hours in the first one. but then I went to do a different play-style and I just didn't enjoy the game as much anymore, maybe it's just me but the game doesn't have much replayability. I tried some mods and finished them but still didn't enjoy it as much, maybe i'll try the DLC later on but for now i'm sticking with Fallout 3/NV

i really enjoy fallout 4 and i loved and nv. i played f3 without any mods on xbox 360 and never played one before. it was awesome and was my new favorite game. i didnt like nv at first. too complicated with allmthat ammo and crafting etc. but once i got used to it it grew on me. than i found out about mods and nv exploded. sooo much unbelievable stuff. i signed up to gunetwork just for the awesome mods for nv. when 4 came out i was disapointed due the lack of content and that as a father i even thought about anything else but my son. minuteman? who cars my son is missing from there i lost the interesst in the story and stopped playing. after a year a new pc and a whole lot of mods a gave if another tryand boy what a great game! i dont care about the story but the mood, the options, the look and the content added by mods is unbelievable. i really love the game and completely forgot how much better nv was to me. now its no longer x is better than y now they are all great games and i really love to spend my time in the commenwealth. the best way to enjoy f4 is the resurrection forest mod combined with grassland and zombies. more guns armors and bullet time. completelymnew game like this and i am happy i didnt let my x is better than y stop me from playing:) nv is a pure rpg, f4 awesome fps with rpg elements and both are awesome!

Just wanted to note that if you play the game as a completionist, completing many sidequests before encountering Kellogg at Fort Hagen or entering Diamond City at all, the game is alot longer and fun. If you play it this way you'll discover that the game HAS a lot of quests even more so than Fallout 3. On my current playthrough, I've gotten to level 30 just doing sidequests and nothing much else on survival mode. I've not even spoken to Nick Valentine yet or met the Minutemen at all.

The problem Bethesda did with the storyline is that they focused on playing the game this way and somebody who wants to breeze through the story and save the sidequests til later will miss out on alot of content (Covenant doesn't give you GOAT test if you completed the game before).

Aside from that, I think people are too harsh on this game. I'm not saying Fallout 4 is better than FNV by any means but Obsidian didn't really have to "modernize" the game like FO3 and FO4 did as they used the gamebryo engine and alot of assets from FO3. Tbh I just think people like to be hipster about things and not accept that things are better now than they were ever. The gameplay is so smooth and buttery, so immersive and fun and the storyline is way better and longer than 3's. Fallout 4 is an absolute masterpiece.

@Corvo thanks for posting your thoughts on the matter! now on to mine hate, opinion being a "hipster" as you so wonderfully put it lol {sorry not to sound so rude talking though text does that it just made me laugh a bit} call it what you like but at the end ov the day many including myself see fallout 4 {base game no mods} as being a great game but not a great "fallout" game to put it nicely. it is just a run ov the mill FPS with a rusty fallout label on it that says go here and shoot all the things and go there and shoot all the things and no real RPG elements to it whats so ever it was a ocean ov potential but sadly only had the depth ov a mud puddle even with mods i couldn't just pick it up from start to finish and it feel totally new like i did with past games now i will agree that the side quests make the game more so then the main and i understand some loved fallout 4 and still do and that's great but my stance is fallout 4 made a lot ov steps forward but to many back and the sooner this can be put to rest with a hopefully "done right" fallout the better both for the modding community and fallout fans alike but just my 2 cents.

@ODESZA_ you and i pretty much had the same with the game my friend waking up from that hype train was the first step for me just a real bummer.

@thelonegoon summed up my thoughts on this.

I though Fallout 4 worked well as a roaming/action adventure game. As an RPG however, it was weak.
The gameplay vastly improved over past games but it's not particularly revolutionary.
It certainly could have been better than it was, and in respect of the fact it took so long to arrive, probably should have been. Still, I enjoyed it. It's just a good game. Nothing spectacular, nothing special. The lack of variety really hurts the game, which sucks, but it's fun regardless.
The next title needs to really step up and do something new rather than this old formulaic pattern. People who played Fallout 4's ending and Fallout 3 will understand what I mean. The same shit, different villain. The story sucked and that hurts everything else.
Rant over. I don't hate the game. I'm just disappointed.