The Settlement system is a great addition, allows players to add custom building and homes for not just random NPC's named "Settler" but player owned by not setting up a beacon. My first game I found red Rocket and turned it into a player home. moved all workbenches to the garage so I had a central crafting area, put storage containers in the area with the HAM radio, turned the office into a bedroom. Since I didn't add a beacon it was never attacked and storage was safe. That was a good thing compared to having to buy a home and then choose predefined furniture layouts like past games. I have used the same site for the next 4 finished games for the various factions and am now working on my fifth game siding with the minutemen for the game conclusion.

Then the actual settlements adds a whole new game dynamic that can keep someone busy for days on end just perfecting individual settlements. Replace vendor stations with new ones, add a few lights, give settlers better gear... One can lose themselves in fixing settlements to be their best. There's tons of stuff that can be done and each settlement location is unique making the player have to think about how a new building is placed to maximize the space allotted.

Dialogue in general is an improvement over past games, I have yet to hear a guard repeat the same lines another guard says for the umpteenth time... Arrow to knee comes to mind. This is refreshing compared to past games when you know what random NPC #245839 will say, though the raiders seem to repeat lines but really only noticeable in sneak mode so isn't a huge deal breaker.

Use of teddy bears and skeletons as decorations needs some praise, whoever was making interiors and made creepy skeleton baby in the pram with a bottle in its mouth having a small body and an advlt sized head... Or the skeleton kissing a skull in a urinal... or the teddies playing checkers... or the teddy in the rowboat behind a file cabinet... I could go on for days about the oddities I have spotted that are either skeletons or teddies. I love them all even if many creep me out. Little details of that nature is something I expect from Bethesda and FO4 did not fail to deliver!

No forcegreet quest givers in Fallout 4! Yay!!!1!1! sadly the quests just randomly pop up but that's still 1 gazillion times better than a forcegreet. you can ignore the quest given and that's always better than being stopped as you run along to talk to a quest giver you never wanted to talk to, to begin with. Suggestion... don't automatically add the quests either. BOS is easy enough to find without having the radio signal force it upon you... there's gunfire and all that happening drawing the player in. As for the Railroad start... instead make it a topic to discuss with NPC's to get the quest, make one named NPC who is a part of the railroad and have him/her be the main quest giver.

Love the random notes that give side quests. More needed lol! That's a good Bethesda trait right there, random note found adds a quest that's just for fun to do. Makes no major difference to the endgame and doesn't always provide a benefit to the player to do but is a good fun addition.

All in all maybe Bethesda deserved more GOTY awards for FO4.

Agreed, and time will put this game where it truly belongs you just have to wait.

It's my game of the year, but I've already predicted a bunch WITCHER IS THE BEST!!!!. This is is actually a big improvement for me over previous Beth games, so I don't have any complain about this game. The companions are a big improvement over Skyrim, they have their own personality and story, the voiced protagonist is a nice touch, and the game is a lot smoother.

they would've got the GOTY, if they moved the game and released it in 2016

it will be a few years again, once we get something like Witcher 3, Fallout 4 or GTA V again

I mean look at 2014 ^^ games like Destiny and DA: Inquisition got the most awards and that's just sad compared to 2015

^Disagree^

I love FO4. It's not perfect and it has it's flaws but I still love it. With some proper care and attention by Bethesda, and if not by Bethesda then with mods, it can be a great game.

However, I do feel that the game that got almost all the meaningful GotY's this year truly deserved them. That game being The Witcher 3, of course. Also not a perfect game which has it's flaws.

Also if the additions in the upcoming patch were included at launch. I'm sure there would be a lot more favorable reviews. Hope it's a lesson for Beth to fix their poop more before releasing.

I think one thing people need to realize that GOTY also depending on the year the game is being released, 2015 has a lot of good games, so I guess the competition is a lot tougher than when other games Beth has released.

Bethesda releases games around November 11th. They don't do a spring or summer release. Skyrim was out on 11.11.2011, FO4 11.10.2015? all previous games all fall release dates to capitalize on holiday shopping.

November 10th release date also went against it, it seems Bethesda weren't too worried about GOTY awards and just wanted to make a lot of money, which they have.

Exactly, more money means more ES and Fallout, we win

I think Fallout 4 got what it deserved, it was pretty medicore all around, super light on the RPG side and filled to the brim with shooting galleries and samey radient quests. To be fair, the competition this year was fierce.

It's not really fair to compare it to a lot of games that have a bunch of patches and DLC released, so people are really biased against Fallout 4. I personally would have prefer if they place Fallout 4 for 2016 comparison. At least, we would avoid the Witcher [censored], and it would have given the game a fair chance to release DLC and patches just like with other games it competes against. A big appeal of Beth games would be in the mods as well.

You could said Preston Garvey was the iceberg of this titanic.

I used to like FO4, but then I took a Preston to the knee. Poor guy, he becomes the new arrow to the knee meme with the settlement joke. Yeah, I can't even have him in my main settlement anymore, accidentally pass through him give me a quest I've done 50 times.

There is even a article on Kotaku about Preston.

The Internet Loves Making Fun of Fallout 4's Preston Garvey

http://kotaku.com/the-internet-loves-to-make-fun-of-fallout-4s-preston-ga-1751573683

Could be worse though. Poor Preston. "I like Preston Garvey..." was something I said previously in another thread. It holds true, I like him I just wish his role was more than radiant quest giver of the utmost annoyance level. one quest per ingame week would fix that I think. 1 day ingame since he last gave a quest? Nope ole Preston has no new quests rather than give you a new one for each you turn in. Yeah he is the new arrow in the knee joke and Bethesda deserves it because they made the poor guy just that.

People can′t always rate the quality of a bethesda game on later dlc, they are payed additions and not the basegame that has to be rated seperately for itself.

The game improved on 2-3 gameplay related parts but at the same moment looses quality on 2-3 parts compared to it′s predecessors. So defintaly no GotY from me, Bethesda should be happy that they still got such a nice overall rating from the professional critics.

I disagree with a the idea of GOTY, just because I feel the improvements arent as great as people are making it out to be. Now granted the game was developed in isolation (IE, how where BGS to know what CDProjektRed, Techland, Avalanche, etc where all going to do), and it does deserve praise as a great game, but it hasnt done much to truly push the game forwards...

Just my opinions:

-Settlement crafting: I agree with you here, its a great addition. However, its been poorly implemented and has so much more potential, with wonky and difficult to use mechanics; no streamlined management feature (though I hear the new patch will remedy this); set-pieces restricting you to junkyard looking settlements; their source of aggravating radiant quests; their tie in with the minutemen; and the need to defend personally, the system has a lot to do before reaching that potential. To top it off it lacks purpose, with settlements essentially being a larger minigame, however, it doesnt need purpose so I cant really complain there (would have been nice if it impacted your questing by giving you unique ways of approaching them).

I definately wont disagree with the idea of losing hours upon hours on the settlement system, and that is one thing I particularly like about it. In FO3 and NV I wouldnt dare touch the games unless I had at least four or so hours to play, now I can because I can spend that time on the settlement system. Overall, however, the Settlement feature is not a GOTY worthy feature... +/- for GOTY...

-Dialogue in the sense of passive dialogue I agree with you, however, the new dialogue system has been a subject of contention for a reason. It lacks the ability to give sense of choice as a character. I press sarcastic hoping for a quip about the other character and my dike goes on a racist F all of synths rant instead? Sometimes drives me insane. More so, it comes down to that RPG element which is missing here. In the past games you could divert away from conflict by using speech options which took advantage of certain skills and your SPECIAL, this is no longer the case and it is a somewhat missed element. Now I agree with what some people all over the forums have been saying, that the speech options are nothing spectacular, however, again it comes down to Bethesda not pushing the game forward and taking these scenarios to the next level, instead they've just removed it entirely, and this is just lazy and boring as its result in a kill-everything-that-moves approach to everything.

The voice acting this time around is fantastic, I love Nolan North and all the characters he plays (especially Nathan Drake), and the female VA is awesome as well. Its too bad the VA is what some people are arguing is the cause of lackluster dialogue options, not sure if that is the case personally (makes sense though). Again, the new dialogue is NOT a GOTY worthy feature... -1 for GOTY.

-The little details is where Bethesda will always be best, no one can take their world building ability away from them. From small details such as two Skeletons holding hands on a bench somewhere, to picking up notes from Raiders bodies and finding out that one of them had gone on a rampage because they ate too much, to the more noticeable ones such as trapped families in bunkers being starved of oxygen. Even the fact that certain terminals actually update themselves if you take out a gang or two is really, really cool here! Bethesda did a fantastic job. I would argue that this is a GOTY feature, since its these features that will remain in the back of your mind when you open up whatever the next game is. Heck, I've been doing a NV playthrough simultaneously and I have to say the lack of world building in that game really hurts! +5 for GOTY.

-Agree with you on the method of quest introduction to an extent as well. Method of introducing quests is vastly improved, but the fact that simply walking by certain characters forces quests on you is frustrating as hell, and as such overall their new system is a mix of HORRIBLE and pretty good... Its too bad that the horrible moments are more noticeable than the other ones. FO4 will always be remembered, by me anyway, as the game where certain dikes are repeatedly kidnapped by the same people (same Outpost Zimonja dike at a certain mutant hospital, and the Oberland Station dike at the clothes shop!), or where a certain other dike keeps telling me I need to go to said settlement to clear this or that! The Radiant Quests are a detriment to the experience, not a positive, and as such when considering all methods of delivering quests, FO4 suffers, not benefits. -1 for GOTY.

Based on your points I disagree quite a bit on it deserving GOTY.

A few other points to consider -

-In terms of bringing the game into the Next Gen, Bethesda have done well. Several features are IMMEDIATELY noticeable as being lacking in FO3 and NV and that is Sprinting, the new take on VATS and grenades now being equipped as a secondary item. BGS should be commended for doing this very well, and creating game mechanics that are good and comparable to other shooters. +1 for GOTY.

-Boston is also easily the most lived in area they've created to date. Now its disappointing that places like Goodneighbour and Bunker Hill are tiny, but unlike before each area oozes so much more character (maybe not Bunker Hill). Its also disappointing how crammed some areas are, the map needed to be larger. It makes no sense that one group of Raiders live literally one street away from a group of mutants, how have they not ripped each other apart yet? Overall, however, the world created is a positive and should be praised. +1 for GOTY.

-New crafting mechanics are a great take on their past features, and allow you to build up something you earned early in your playthrough and continue to use it till the end. I still use Kellog's Revolver, cause the system allows you to. That being said this is a double edged sword, as certain features such as Ammo Crafting, or the ability to create a genuinely large variety of items such as tincan grenades. Again I personally feel like Bethesda have not pushed the game forward here, rather they have stripped it down in this aspect. Its also worth mentioning that the mods you can apply are never truly unique, all they do is modulate one or two numbers with very few actually giving you tactical and situational variety. +/- for GOTY...

-Reputation/Karma removal was a poor choice. Rep in particular was a great element from NV, and gave you a feeling of involvement with the world. Again I think BGS should have pushed the feature further, and really taken fame forward so it impacts the world around you. To me the logical way forward was to maneuver Rep possibly into a 'Control' system, where you help certain factions take control of the regions around them. Could have been a great alternative to what CDProjektRed did with several of its quests which changed the landscape around those areas, those quests will always be memorable, especially when you see the aftermath of soldiers [censored] people, non-humans being burnt at the stake, or civil wars suddenly erupt. -1 for GOTY.

-Raiders and Super Mutants are still generic Raiders and Super Mutants. Again I could go back to NV where Powder Gangers and Vipers or whatever where somewhat unique, and you had affinities with them allowing you to interact differently. The way forward here was definately to make these factions more distinguished, and maybe not shoot at you the moment you enter their sights. It was not to revert them all back into mindless factions... On the otherhand what BGS did do that was fantastic (and I absolutely love it) are mutant suiciders and PA raiders, but thats not enough to make this a positive. -1 for GOTY.

-New SPECIAL/Perk system is, in my opinion, poorly designed. Now its an area of heated debate, and I appreciate that BGS have tried to streamline the system so that you build-as-you-play, but the fact that the character build has been lost in the process is poor design IMO. A smart choice was removing skills and replacing them with perks only, just because it allows you to avoid the 25,50,75,100 feature from past games, however, it also comes with the loss of perks that allow you to approach scenarios in unique and different ways. The new perks are very boring, you can especially see this in the Charisma tree where three skills are essentially the same but refer to different enemy types, this is just uncreative. Bethesda have also, once again, removed Traits; now I see why as it is a result of streamlining the system to allow that build-as-you-play element, however, it feels like with the new system Traits could have been implemented in a fantastic way, e.g. maybe give each trait their own set of perks. Because it is a topic of contention I wouldnt say its a plus or a negative for the GOTY, but for a personal GOTY its a -10.

Overall in my opinion FO4 did not deserve its GOTY. Its not done enough to push itself forward which is disappointing. You dont need influence from what other games are doing to see where to go forwards from 3/NV, and the lack of ambition shows.

At the same time, comparing a newly released game to a bunch of other games that had a bunch of patches and DLCs support is just not even a good comparison. This is why it should in th 2016 racket, not 2015, if people want to make a good comparison with other games.

The games get all their ratings in the first 24-48 hours from their release and don′t get weightened on later patches. Fallout 4 won′t change a lot after all, some bugfixes but i don′t expect any "finalizing" additions like more quests or anything like this - bethesda never did anything like that before to an already sold basegame. So it′s more then fair to compare it to the other games from 2015.

Else i agree to MistroPain. Some improvements, too many flaws. It′s ok if people like it but the more time passes the more people realize the amount of missing and reduced contend and replayability.

Fallout 4 does not unhide all it′s problems in the first 50-100 hours of gameplay.

I can think of a few games that have the ratings improve, some of the reviews even redo their reviews after additional fixes. Games with big changes like FO4 is likely to gather a lot of hate like voiced protagonist and dialogue wheel, and you can tell if it's a biased review or not when most of the ratings giving it a 0 or a 1. Look, this game is not perfect, and it has a lot of flaws but giving it the absolute 0-1 point is not even an objective look at a game. I could think of many worse games. I would trust the people who review it later than the initial rush. I actually think the story is a big improvement over Skyrim where no one really cares about the story or the characters, there wasn't a lot of discussion on the ending or the characters. I actually see a difference in FO4 in term of how passionate people feel toward the ending or story. The ending is really flawed, but at least people care enough to respond. Beth did try to change the storyline like offer alternative endings to FO3 where you can allow other companions sacrifice themselves instead of you or Lyon. They did say they're looking at the responses, so there may be a fix with the ending or some parts of the storyline. I don't think they pull an artistic integrity like with Bioware and ME3's ending. Storyline could be fixed with the DLCs, and the gameplay is improved a lot with the patches. With mods coming soon, it bounds to be one of the best Bethesda up to date, IMO.

Just Cause 3 wow no one hadly plays it

They might change things for a possible Fallout 5 when reading the reactions, but "basic" Fallout 4 won′t get any changes as it would require again voice acting and a lot of other quest shifiting works that require money for an already paid product. Again: Bethesda won′t do this. You will see some fixing here and adding a small beauty mark there but no real game relevant changes.

And again: DLC are for adding experience, not fixing missing one from an already paid product.

Meh, I enjoy the based game more than I did based Skyrim.