I am approximately halfway through the game, both story and content-wise. That half point, for me, is about 40 hours in so right away I will say that I support this game which is not something I'm used to admitting about Bethesda games on-release.
As an addendum: I have not modified my game at all as of yet. I wanted my first playthrough to be unfiltered.
Let's start with the elephant in the vault: Bugs and Glitches. Yes they exist. I have encountered plenty of them, and more than one has forced me to reload a previous save. This is exceptionally annoying and I really do hate that Bethesda seems to expect its modding community and player base to fix their game for them with those much-loved Unofficial Patches. Every Bethesda game since Oblivion has had a major Unofficial Patch released by a loving fanbase to fix the unspeakable and, at times, hilarious glitches that are ubiquitous throughout the games. I've had floating skeletons, invisible companions, flying brahmin, and terrain glitches. At one point the entirety of Vault 81 failed to load in and I was lost in a grayscale wonderland of confusion filled with invisible talking shadows. It was creepy as hell and required a reload because I couldn't get out. I've gotten stuck inside crafting benches and, currently, have had my entire suit of upgraded power armor vanish from Red Rocket ne'er to be seen again. Good thing I never needed that overhyped piece of crap. So yes, there are many many bugs and they are consistent. 40 hours in and I've become troubling blase about them.
So why did I say that I support this game?
Because for all of its bugs and problems, Bethesda does a startling amount of things right in this edition of Kleptomaniac Wasteland Adventures.
The visuals.
As usual, they are stunning. Better than par actually considering I've had to download huge texture mods for most Bethesda games to even start to use my computer's graphical capability. Yes there are the occasional visual glitches but, compared to the ones I encountered in Skyrim, are nothing to write home about. I've seen a few faces vanish, a couple of, as mentioned before, invisible NPC's, but by and large my experience has been good on the visual level.
Then there's the audio.
Which I think most gamers can argue is the most important part of any modern Fallout game. Would New Vegas have been nearly so entertaining without the dulcet tones of Mr. New Vegas to guide us through the bombed out remains of the Republic? Would Fallout 3 have been quite so passable without Three Dog? I say, however, that Travis, the voice of Diamond City Radio, is by far my absolute favorite. His stuttering, cowardly, and awkward monologues make me laugh far more often than any other game I've played lately. I had to quit playing for a minute after his first announcement of my character helping the Steel Brotherhood when he audibly leaned away from the mic and shrieked 'OR WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'. The music is plentiful and atmospheric, and I genuinely enjoy the Silver Shroud's campy radio dramas. Also, as a pleasant surprise, the voice acting in the Commonwealth is far above the grade I usually expect. Of course like in Skyrim the major NPC's and Companions are all quite decent. But even the side characters and random NPC's are well voiced. Shout out to anyone who spotted the nostalgic voice of Garrus Vakarian issuing from the throat of a random quest NPC.
The AI is another aspect with which I have been suitably impressed. I'll be honest, the AI for Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and New Vegas is, even charitably put, fairly abysmal. This is not news to anyone who has ever had to reload a Skyrim save because Lydia wouldn't move her fat nordic booty out of the doorway of the shack you decided to loot and no amount of commands would cause her to leave you. Fallout 4 is much better. It cheats in favor of your Companions, removing death as a possibility, and permitting them to loot weapons and ammo on their own when they run out of whatever you gave them. But the AI is also more responsive and far more usably. I didn't use any companions in Fallout 3 or New Vegas because their AI was so bad that I couldn't be the sneaky dirtbag I prefer without them ruining it. So the fact that I can do it in the fourth iteration means they are improving remarkably. In previous games your partner was as likely as not to go full Grognak the Barbarian on the nearest foe regardless of your plans at that stage. In Fallout 4 I can actually enjoy the companion dialogue and storyline without fearing for my save file.
On to mechanics.
The crafting system is more usable than in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, more reminiscent of Skyrim in a sense. I much prefer its user friendliness. I like the modding system because, unlike Skyrim, it requires you to continue fighting to loot weapons to mod while still letting you put some TLC into your favorite guns (I am currently still fighting with a pipe rifle I nicked from my first raider kill, after hours of modding I named it Jesse and I plan to keep the old ***** to the end.) This is as opposed to simply cycling around the various mines and nodes to gather that last elusive piece of Orichalcum for your Orc Boots.
I am aware that plenty of people seemed to dislike the removal of the skill percentages in favor of a pure-perk mode of gameplay, but as a veteran of Fallout since numero uno, I can say it feels like a vast improvement. In game design, granular stats are a sign of poor mechanics. Covering up a lack of true complexity with byzantine statistics. Having enjoyed #3 and New Vegas immensely, I can solidly say that I prefer Fallout 4's way of doing thing, even if it took some getting used to. As it is I will say that I miss some of the more random perks that let you do interesting things to your character, like make your first shot after drawing a pistol deal more damage, or the give-and-take perks that let you be better in melee but a poor shot (or vice versa). Still, all in all I feel the overhaul was an improvement.
Unlike many people I actually prefer the removal of the Karma system. Morality in the wasteland is and should be on a case by case basis. There is no morality in the wastes where you might need to find your next meal by cracking open someone's tibia. Your 'morals' should be more like 'standards'. Even in real life there is no such thing as a Moral Code. Ask twelve people what morality is and you'll get twenty-four contradicting answers. So having your Good v. Evil scale based on your companion's opinion feels not only more true-to-life, but also far more immersive. You can do anything you want if you don't care what that mess of ones-and-zeroes following you around thinks. But you do care. It makes you feel bad when Piper admonishes you extorting more payment from an honest settler. It makes you rethink your decisions when Curie voices her disappointment in you when you always resort to violence first. It also makes the decision to take the Lone Wanderer perk, which gives you higher Damage Resistance and Carry Capacity so long as you're alone, much more meaning. No longer will you have a compass of ethical standard beside you, making you question the rightness of your actions. You are your own master and beholden to no one, so it is on you and you alone if the wasteland turns you into a cannabilizing murder-machine who extorts lockets from little girls.
TL;DR
Fallout 4 is, by and large, an improvement of form from all of Bethesda previous games. It does not lack bugs and is far from perfect. However, it is probably the best on-release Bethesda game I've ever played and it takes some very creative pathways with morality, ethics, and karma that I feel are more reasonable and true-to-life than the at-times arbitrary karma system of previous iterations of Fallout. The freedom from granular percent stats and creative perk system is quite good, if a bit narrow. I hope to see more from that in terms of different perk trees and more creative perks like some of the ones found in New Vegas. The Visuals and Audio are excellent as usual. The Companion AI is much improved from Skyrim and Vegas, and I actually care about how I act around them now. So there's that.
You may have noticed I did not mention the story. This is for two reasons. One: I wanted to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Two: enjoying the story is entirely subjective. I will say only that I am thoroughly enjoying the storyline personally.
As an addendum: I have not modified my game at all as of yet. I wanted my first playthrough to be unfiltered.
Let's start with the elephant in the vault: Bugs and Glitches. Yes they exist. I have encountered plenty of them, and more than one has forced me to reload a previous save. This is exceptionally annoying and I really do hate that Bethesda seems to expect its modding community and player base to fix their game for them with those much-loved Unofficial Patches. Every Bethesda game since Oblivion has had a major Unofficial Patch released by a loving fanbase to fix the unspeakable and, at times, hilarious glitches that are ubiquitous throughout the games. I've had floating skeletons, invisible companions, flying brahmin, and terrain glitches. At one point the entirety of Vault 81 failed to load in and I was lost in a grayscale wonderland of confusion filled with invisible talking shadows. It was creepy as hell and required a reload because I couldn't get out. I've gotten stuck inside crafting benches and, currently, have had my entire suit of upgraded power armor vanish from Red Rocket ne'er to be seen again. Good thing I never needed that overhyped piece of crap. So yes, there are many many bugs and they are consistent. 40 hours in and I've become troubling blase about them.
So why did I say that I support this game?
Because for all of its bugs and problems, Bethesda does a startling amount of things right in this edition of Kleptomaniac Wasteland Adventures.
The visuals.
As usual, they are stunning. Better than par actually considering I've had to download huge texture mods for most Bethesda games to even start to use my computer's graphical capability. Yes there are the occasional visual glitches but, compared to the ones I encountered in Skyrim, are nothing to write home about. I've seen a few faces vanish, a couple of, as mentioned before, invisible NPC's, but by and large my experience has been good on the visual level.
Then there's the audio.
Which I think most gamers can argue is the most important part of any modern Fallout game. Would New Vegas have been nearly so entertaining without the dulcet tones of Mr. New Vegas to guide us through the bombed out remains of the Republic? Would Fallout 3 have been quite so passable without Three Dog? I say, however, that Travis, the voice of Diamond City Radio, is by far my absolute favorite. His stuttering, cowardly, and awkward monologues make me laugh far more often than any other game I've played lately. I had to quit playing for a minute after his first announcement of my character helping the Steel Brotherhood when he audibly leaned away from the mic and shrieked 'OR WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'. The music is plentiful and atmospheric, and I genuinely enjoy the Silver Shroud's campy radio dramas. Also, as a pleasant surprise, the voice acting in the Commonwealth is far above the grade I usually expect. Of course like in Skyrim the major NPC's and Companions are all quite decent. But even the side characters and random NPC's are well voiced. Shout out to anyone who spotted the nostalgic voice of Garrus Vakarian issuing from the throat of a random quest NPC.
The AI is another aspect with which I have been suitably impressed. I'll be honest, the AI for Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and New Vegas is, even charitably put, fairly abysmal. This is not news to anyone who has ever had to reload a Skyrim save because Lydia wouldn't move her fat nordic booty out of the doorway of the shack you decided to loot and no amount of commands would cause her to leave you. Fallout 4 is much better. It cheats in favor of your Companions, removing death as a possibility, and permitting them to loot weapons and ammo on their own when they run out of whatever you gave them. But the AI is also more responsive and far more usably. I didn't use any companions in Fallout 3 or New Vegas because their AI was so bad that I couldn't be the sneaky dirtbag I prefer without them ruining it. So the fact that I can do it in the fourth iteration means they are improving remarkably. In previous games your partner was as likely as not to go full Grognak the Barbarian on the nearest foe regardless of your plans at that stage. In Fallout 4 I can actually enjoy the companion dialogue and storyline without fearing for my save file.
On to mechanics.
The crafting system is more usable than in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, more reminiscent of Skyrim in a sense. I much prefer its user friendliness. I like the modding system because, unlike Skyrim, it requires you to continue fighting to loot weapons to mod while still letting you put some TLC into your favorite guns (I am currently still fighting with a pipe rifle I nicked from my first raider kill, after hours of modding I named it Jesse and I plan to keep the old ***** to the end.) This is as opposed to simply cycling around the various mines and nodes to gather that last elusive piece of Orichalcum for your Orc Boots.
I am aware that plenty of people seemed to dislike the removal of the skill percentages in favor of a pure-perk mode of gameplay, but as a veteran of Fallout since numero uno, I can say it feels like a vast improvement. In game design, granular stats are a sign of poor mechanics. Covering up a lack of true complexity with byzantine statistics. Having enjoyed #3 and New Vegas immensely, I can solidly say that I prefer Fallout 4's way of doing thing, even if it took some getting used to. As it is I will say that I miss some of the more random perks that let you do interesting things to your character, like make your first shot after drawing a pistol deal more damage, or the give-and-take perks that let you be better in melee but a poor shot (or vice versa). Still, all in all I feel the overhaul was an improvement.
Unlike many people I actually prefer the removal of the Karma system. Morality in the wasteland is and should be on a case by case basis. There is no morality in the wastes where you might need to find your next meal by cracking open someone's tibia. Your 'morals' should be more like 'standards'. Even in real life there is no such thing as a Moral Code. Ask twelve people what morality is and you'll get twenty-four contradicting answers. So having your Good v. Evil scale based on your companion's opinion feels not only more true-to-life, but also far more immersive. You can do anything you want if you don't care what that mess of ones-and-zeroes following you around thinks. But you do care. It makes you feel bad when Piper admonishes you extorting more payment from an honest settler. It makes you rethink your decisions when Curie voices her disappointment in you when you always resort to violence first. It also makes the decision to take the Lone Wanderer perk, which gives you higher Damage Resistance and Carry Capacity so long as you're alone, much more meaning. No longer will you have a compass of ethical standard beside you, making you question the rightness of your actions. You are your own master and beholden to no one, so it is on you and you alone if the wasteland turns you into a cannabilizing murder-machine who extorts lockets from little girls.
TL;DR
Fallout 4 is, by and large, an improvement of form from all of Bethesda previous games. It does not lack bugs and is far from perfect. However, it is probably the best on-release Bethesda game I've ever played and it takes some very creative pathways with morality, ethics, and karma that I feel are more reasonable and true-to-life than the at-times arbitrary karma system of previous iterations of Fallout. The freedom from granular percent stats and creative perk system is quite good, if a bit narrow. I hope to see more from that in terms of different perk trees and more creative perks like some of the ones found in New Vegas. The Visuals and Audio are excellent as usual. The Companion AI is much improved from Skyrim and Vegas, and I actually care about how I act around them now. So there's that.
You may have noticed I did not mention the story. This is for two reasons. One: I wanted to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Two: enjoying the story is entirely subjective. I will say only that I am thoroughly enjoying the storyline personally.