From what I have seen it's as boring as the others,but I am not a biased fan like those who praise it.I have enjoyed Elder Scrolls and think FO fails in comparison and this game does not look any better.I agree with waiting until GotY edition just to be safe.

4 hours played and I'm enjoying it. Is soon to judge, but is looking good.

Is nothing new, but it feels better than ever.

I'm loving the hell out of it. Currently at level 11.

I'll get it after I finish DriveClub Bikes. It's pretty tough getting the last few stars, but 1 or 2 more nights should do it. Then I'll be stepping out onto the wastelands of Boston. The reviews I've read are hitting all the right points between the technical issues, and even the technical issues don't seem half as bad as NV and Skyrim.

That's exactly what happened to me, I was creeping along saw the dog carcass, and then saw movement in the distance.  I didn't get close enough to it to trigger the event, I just sat at range and popped him a bunch of times.  After awhile I was like wtf..., ok whatever, a single dog isn't going to mess me up that badly lol.  Then the event started, and the dog was riddled with bullet holes (I felt bad lol).

People have been saying they used a lot of assets from Skyrim. One gif even shows the guy in the beginning that shows up at your house equip his clipboard like a shield right as the door closes. lol

As a longtime fan of Bethesda games and with RPGs being my favourite genre, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed with Fallout 4 - and my expectations were pretty measured for the game going in (though it is a great game to be sure).

Myself and 3 of my friends played the game and we discussed it as we played on a Whatsapp group and basically we came to the consensus that it was a great game and worthy of our time and money, but that it'd failed to innovate as much as a sequel of 7 years should, and that it'd also dumbed down several of it's systems in favour of making the game more user friendly.

Those systems referring to the removal of the repair, the removal of the karma system, the changes to the game's leveling system and the changes to the game's quest system. In a quick summary, removing the repair system was disappointing as we'd enjoyed repairing items in past Fallout games as it made the world feel more apocalyptic. The removal of the karma system obviously just removes a layer of complexity to the game and I can see no positive at all in Bethesda doing that. The changes to the leveling system have the negative impact of making it feel like you never really get stronger, as you can go several levels without learning combat perks as the game puts so much emphasis on learning non-combat perks. It also diminished the importance of SPECIAL as they now do less under the current system, whereas they previously added to your skill attributes. And the quest system took on the style of Skyrim, where instead of having 30 deep and complex quests like in past Fallout games, they gave you 300 fairly superficial quests with uninteresting stories and almost zero choices to make. There is a place for both styles, and we'd come to expect that Fallout was the one with 30 and Elder Scrolls was the one with 300 - but now they're both the same.

The game also has a litany of small changes/systems that we didn't like, such as the fact that Power armour is now a vehicle. By making it a vehicle all 4 of us hardly ever used it because we'd have to fast travel back to it if we needed to use it. And you also can't do many things in the game while wearing power armour.

There also weren't many types of regular armour to wear and hardly any new enemy types, and while it's nice to give your character a voice, the things you are able to say are always really generic and throw away - unlike in Bioware games or in the Witcher (which are also voiced dialogue trees). Also almost zero of the new features that appeared in New Vegas and were popular (Faction system, hardcore mode, dynamic events etc.) were in Fallout 4 - I guess because Bethesda didn't work on New Vegas but that's a pretty unsatisfying reason for us to accept.

However.... it was still a great game, albeit disappointing. Most of the strengths of the series are still there.

EDIT: Just reading the OP again. While that user metacritic score is obviously absurdly low, I suspect its a lot of people who feel like Bethesda sold out a little bit with Fallout 4. Skyrim was their most successful game to date and they may have had dollar signs in their eyes when they began production on Fallout 4 because I can't understand why they dumbed down so many of the game's beloved system. Fallout 4 doesn't feel like a game that was made for me. It feels like it was made for people who don't post on Vgchartz and play 1 or 2 games a year and are "curious about this Fallout game everyones talking about". Meanwhile I have not met a person yet who isn't annoyed that the Karma and repair system are gone for eg.

In that case, meet one right here. I'm glad the repair system is gone. It only adds extra busy work, no immersion for me. The mod system is much better.
Karma system never works for me as I go on a case by case basis. It always hovers around the middle unless I force myself to go against what I want to do to see what the extras are on either end of the spectrum.

I also like all the non combat perks, yet I'm heavily invested in the settlement building. Turning the whole world into a giant recycling yard is kinda genious. All that junk loot finally has a purpose other than extra money that you can't spend on anything.

There are still long quests next to the short ones. I'm currently on the Cabbot family quest line. Cool story, if you bother to read the terminals with their personal logs dating back to 1968. Most of the good writing is hidden in terminals which is not a bad place for it. Better than the conversations that never seem to flow very well. The dialogue trees need some work.

The power armor is also not for me though. I haven't touched it since the first time it makes you use it. It's too slow, ignores the deep pocketed bonusses
on your armor (I'm still wearing clothes inside the thing...) and does not fit my character either. It's also a step back to NV without the factions. It's kinda weird I can help the synths and destroy them for the Brotherhood of steel at the same time. At least I think you can, my character declined the Brotherhood of Steels invitation. Freedom trail fits him better. (Btw awesome the game anticipated you finding it by accident and guessing the password)

Btw I disagree it was dumbed down to make it more user friendly. Settlement building and mechanics are anything but user friendly :p

The bugs are HEAVILY exagerated.  The metacritic user reviews are riddled with trolls looking to discredit the next  big hypetrain. Yes they are there, but no worse than any other critically acclaimed title released recently. If you like Fallout, you will love this game. There are some changes, some good some not so much, but it is probably the most improved game Bethesda has ever done.

None of the new changes will suprise you, it WILL feel familiar. But the fine tuning in the mechanics moves the entire experience forward as a whole (most notably the combat and crafting).  I was unsure of a few things at first, but give it a little time and things will grow on you to where certain things you are not fond of no longer bother you.  The game is that good and there is sooooo much to do.  I am coming up on 50 hours and have not even scratched the surface of this massive world.

If you are looking for the next revolutionary title to blow you away, this probably is not it. However if you are looking to play what is easily the most emersive game this gen so far (yes more so than Witcher 3) and are a fan of Bethesda style gameplay, do yourself a favor and pick it up first chance you get. You will not regret it.

I was initially underwhelmed but a few hours in it clicked. I'm ok with more of the same considering how long it's been since we last tasted it. However Ive stopped playing after 20 hours because you can already see some obvious features and things that will be patched in making the game better.
Really should have waited for the gotye like I initially planned

Oh and I really hate the voiced main character. That's not my character, really takes me out of the immersion I got from the first two games