"It was the first time I played anything like it and I couldn't get into it. I had no sense of where I was going and where to go to. The map was pretty much a blank piece of paper. The inventory was a pain as I couldn't figure out what to keep and what to throw away and it constantly kept getting my player maxed on the weight restrictions. "

This right there, made me want to play Fallout 4

If you want to just run through the main questline, you can, though you'd be missing a LOT.  Honestly, though, you can play for a few hundred hours and still miss a good chunk of content and most people who aren't big fans of exploring won't come close to seeing everything, so it's not a big deal either way.  If you just want to do quests in general, I have like 15 side-quests in my log right now, so there are plenty.  The main questline is pretty constant so you can always stick to that if you like.  Joining factions like the Railroad, Brotherhood of Steel, and the Minutemen are optional, though you do need to be friends with at least one of them to get past a certain point.

Gun-play has been improved greatly, as well.

You can't really get lost in FO4 if that's what you're worried about, it is massively dumb-downed (some would call it streamlined) in that (and many other) regards compared to FO3. Arguably, it can't be even called RPG anymore, since skills (which actually don't exist anymore) have little to no impact on your gameplay.

If you're fine with open-world FPS-RPG hybrid with solid world and exploration, but weak story, settlements and NPCs, along with mostly "go there/kill (pick one) Raiders/Mutants/Ghouls/Synths" type of quests, there's actually OK game inside...but that's about it.

You should get it.

My buddy didn't enjoy FO3 either, but is super into building up settlements in FO4. If you're interested in that aspect at all it is pretty enjoyable.

If you need to be told what to do in a game though, follow the main story.