I've had a lot of fun with the latest three Elder Scrolls games, and been curious about Fallout for some time. While the world seems interesting, there are a couple of other things I'd like to know before deciding whether or not I would buy any of the games.

Mainly: How much freedom is there for the player?
To what extent do I have control of my character's personality? How much can I customize their looks?
To what extent can I choose in which order to do things, and if I want to do them at all?

From what I've heard, Fallout is more story-centered but the story can have more different outcomes.

The main reason I like TES so much is because of the freedom and creativity it allows, and my main complaints about the games is when they force things upon the player.

Fallout is generally more of a roleplaying game whereas TES is - nowadays, at least - more like a roleplaying simulation platform.

You have freedom to do what you wish, but your choices often have tangible consequences (and you actually have choices to make, rather than illusions of choice) with which you have to live. This applies more on Fallouts 1, 2 and New Vegas - Fallout 3 is a more TES friendly iteration of the series (some illusions of choice and consequence, simple, and exploration heavy rather than story heavy like the others).