So far, I'm absolutely loving the game. I've already sunk more hours in Fallout 4 than I have ever played of Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics. The story is on par with Fallout 1, with plenty of interesting stuff to spark my interest for the canon, and the gameplay elements like the settlement managament, faction growth, and armor and weapon customization make the game far more re-playable than Fallout 2, which was my favorite of the series until this game.
Let me add, I used to frequent NMA up until some years ago, and did not have a very favorable opinion of Fallout 3. But wow, Bethesda has done some amazing things with Fallout 4 that to me makes this the best game of the series. I love being able to choose different factions for the end-game, letting you drive the story the way you see fit. I love that every player has the ability to play the game the way they want, with the game affording plenty of opportunity for players who want to just Brotherhood stomp, or players who realize how screwed the wasteland is and give too much thought into the situation. It's great. I'm a huge svcker for the Fallout universe canon and history, and this game is just candy for my brain. Great job Bethesda.
Three things (well, bugs make it four, but that's a separate topic) I really don't like, however.
Random Quests for the Minutemen are so annoying. The Railroad handles random quests (and even main quests) PERFECTLY. Drummer Boy! Every faction needs their own little Drummer Boy. He runs up to you, tells you someone is ready to give you a quest or that someone has updated their inventory stock, and the game doesn't smash a "GO DO THIS" in your face, letting you decide if you want to do the quest right now or not. I absolutely hate Freedom Radio and Preston, right now. I mean, I love them, the Minutemen are my favorite faction in the game. But the in-your-face random quests are so annoying. I am the General of the Minutemen, I should have a chain of command! I should either be able to have a Drummer Boy-like person for this faction, or be able to dispatch some of my Minutemen to handle the quest, including settlement defense. Please Bethesda, update this. I haven't tried the Brotherhood yet, but I hope it's not the same. Also, it would be rad if the Minutemen could have a vertibird for this. Being able to dispatch a squad for the random missions via vertibird, or take the squad in yourself.
Another really annoying thing is the Cell Reset. Now I'm assuming some of it is bugged, like when the radio signals reset after I turn them off. This was annoying when the ham radio for the Red Rocket resets, because there is no way of reseting it, especially after scrapping it. But the Cell Reset for some areas is way too fast. I've seen the Brotherhood and helped them fight the Battle for Quincy Ruins several times, and it's really annoying late game when there's nothing bug Gunner Captains. My character has killed more Gunner Captains than conscripts at this point, especially at Quincy. Maybe in the future we'll get some territory control DLC. But please, tone down the resets.
And finally, the settlement building. Now I know Bethesda has said they will improve on this with time and DLC. I'm very much looking forward to that. But I hope that means two things. One - we get much, much more stuff to build. I was sad to find out that there's only a limited number of assets that can be placed on the settlements. I assume this is because not all the assets are properly coded for settlers to be able to navigate on/through. Two - the building is kind of clunky right now. I am often fighting with the user-interface and interaction of the object. Sometimes it's too snappy, sometimes it won't snap, sometimes the red zones are too far apart (fences with gaps in them, etc...). I would like to see this addressed. Also please let us scrap more things like buildings and perform clean up of rubble and shrubbery. And lastly, I would love if it we could build underground.
PS:
Less jump scares, please. Ghouls are bad enough with their Flash Gordon-like powers, we don't need more GOTCHA moments that make me yell out loud.
Again - amazing game. Easily one of my favorite games. Job well done, and this makes me very optimistic for TES VI.