I'm loving this game...a lot. Like "playing it overnight several nights in a row" love. But there's seriously so many things that I believe could have been done better (clarity in dialogue choices or more choices in general, wonky construction system for settlements, and the relative uselessness of V.A.T.S. now without investments in certain perks to make it more worthwhile, the abruptness of the game's intro, to name a few).
I think they nailed it on the art direction and world design this time around, though. Was definitely nice to have a more expanded color palette, and map locations feel pretty perfectly spaced out to me (as in not too far apart and not so close that it feels cramped). Even if Fallout 4's map is "smaller" than 3 or NV's, 4's map didn't feel nearly as sparse. Another thing I generally enjoyed was companion interaction and dialogues, even if the way companions grow to like or dislike you is pretty damn simplistic. At any rate, I was more than a little pleasantly surprised that companions comment on your actions and your conversations, and have quite the number of unique lines for specific regions or locations.
Adding to the positives, combat feels massively improved save for how gutted V.A.T.S. seems without the perk investments to make it better. I rather like knowing that my shot will almost assuredly hit given enough patience to line up the shot...instead of having the potential to fly all over the place like 3 or NV. That and it just feels appropriately weightier.
Overall, I'd say it feels like two or three steps forward, one sometimes confusing step back. But still most definitely worth the time and money invested. Just hope the DLC is pretty solid as well. And a decent bit more dense in content than the DLC offerings in 3 and New Vegas, as memorable as most of them were.
