I personally love the Fallout games, but have never been able to get into the Elder Scrolls games.

If you want to get ready for 4 just pretty much do this, Those who say new vegas is a great game to consider too are fine, those who say that 3 is useless and to be skipped should be placed in the same category as those who say FF7 is the worst final fantasy, it's just done to try to be so against the grain to be noticed, the pole show you were to start really.

Should be pointed out that a villain of New Vegas is Chandler Bing! Could he BE any more evil?!

Yeah, there are a lot of people who like open-worlds, but don't like high-fantasy of TES games.

I wouldn't say F3 is not Fallout game, it's just not very good Fallout game since it's really quite mediocre when it comes to story, characters, dialog and overall atmosphere of the world, all that made F1/2 cult games they are.

But, it has very good free-roam, and that's greatest allure for most people who liked it...as I said several times, unfortunatelly, most of them are not even aware of how much less F3 is Fallout than it should've been.

No. People say this because they've played the classic Fallout titles and know just how good the franchise and genre can be. So when something as mediocre as Fallout 3 comes out and has the gall to call itself a Fallout title (when in reality it's nothing more than an Oblivion mod), well as a fan of 90s CRPGs I cannot let that abide. And I certainly cannot let it's fanbase spread BS that the classic games aren't worth playing. Bioware and Bethesda are taking the genre in the wrong direction. They must be stopped before they ruin WRPGs just like Square Enix ruined JRPGs. 

I find it quite mediocre as Fallout game, but decent overall.

I really think they've at least tried, thing is they're just incompetent when it comes to stories..well, and lot of other things. I honestly can't blame them for that, my first Bethesda game was Daggerfall, and to be honest, after so many years, I see them, more or less, as one trick pony. Saying they are ruining WRPGs is not quite right, since they're doing what they've been doing for 2 decades. Though, it is true that Skyrim is dumb-downed TES made for mainstream.

As for Bioware, now that's another story, they shouldn't be even talked about, being they are but a ghost of what they once were.

Luckily, we have Obsidian and inXile (and some others like Larian) to keep the torch of isometric cRPGs alive, Piranha Bytes and CDPR (I would include Reality Pump as well) to make proper aRPGs, and what I miss the most (aside from Almost Human with Grimrock) is Ubi either getting their lazy asses to make proper Might&Magic or sell IP to someone who will do it - luckily, that inXile's Bard's Tale Kickstarter seems like something that might scratch that itch.

Lol no one thinks Tactics is a good place to start. Thank you all for the suggestions and descriptions! I think I'll try three first since it's closest to what everyone is excited for, but I do like turn based RPGs so I will get to the first two games in due time.

Yeah, Tactics was..well squad-based tactics game, I like them personally (Jagged Alliance 2 and Wages of War being my favorites), but it really doesn't do anything much for Fallout universe.

As for excitmenet - well, I'd say new fans (and some old fans) are excited for F4, I'd say it's a good guess that most of old fans are wondering if Bethesda got their heads out of their asses and actually took few notes from Obsidian.

If you're hyped for 4, than 3 is the best place to start since it'll give you the best indication of what to expect from 4 in terms of gameplay, atmosphere, and story & character development.  Then if you enjoy it work your way back (or forward) from there if you want... 1 and 2 are cult classics and NV is basically Fallout 3.5.

Story wise it doesn't matter if you even start any as it's not a continued story, but gameplay wise if you just want to feel familiar with it when 4 releases then go for 3 without a doubt.

While I would recommend trying all of the games, Fallout 3 and New Vegas would be great starting points if you're interested in playing Fallout 4, simply due to the fact that the design of F4 will likely be similar to those games (i.e., open-world RPG). Both F3 and New Vegas have had several years of patches and mods, so you won't notice nearly as many of the games' shortcomings at their respective launches, especially if you play on PC.

While there are many people who favor either Fallout 3 or New Vegas, I enjoyed them both. I think that Fallout 3 had a great setting, and I liked it's main story, while I loved the factions of New Vegas, the bigger emphasis on companions, and the game was a huge nod to Wasteland (the series's roots) with the desert setting and rangers.

Fallout 1 and 2, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (and it's spinoff Brotherhood of Steel) all feature very different game play from the Bethesda developed/published games that may be difficult for some to get into, but they're great games if you give them a chance.