In some ways, Fallout 4 is superior to Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but in many ways, it is an inferior product to both. It is better superficially and on a gamist perspective, but substantially weaker in plot and character.
Visuals and sound are slightly improved from Fallout 3/New Vegas. The game looks to be on the quality level of Skyrim, but that's about par for the course. Skyrim was never the most gorgeous game, but is workable for what it is.
Sound is a bit improved, especially in the area of voice acting. Bethesda went out of its way to hire more voice actors and more lines for these characters to say in the background, but it's not really there for story purposes, it's all for ambiance.
The majority of the soundtrack from Fallout 3 is re-used, added mostly to by royalty free song tracks that were included in fan-made addons for 3/New Vegas. This creates a weird form of Mood Whiplash when you listen to a charming or brooding jazz era song and then you're hit with those over-the-top atomic songs like "Atom Bomb Baby."
Mechanics-wise, Fallout 4 has attempted to improve and simplify it's interface by taking elements from other games and applying it here. The result is a mixed bag that relies on systems that are not conducive to a good roleplaying game. It wants to be New Vegas, Mass Effect, Destiny, and others, but doesn't quite stick the landing or hold to a coherent, meaningful narrative.
The combat is much more polished than previous games, taking a lot of inspiration from Bungie's Destiny game to improve the combat. The result is a much more polished system than previous Fallout games, but is then paired with a crafting system that isn't nearly as fun as it should be.
The biggest change, and the most polarizing mechanic, is the settlement building system. Clearly inspired by building games like Minecraft, it does add a system for building your own bases and settlements by collecting resources and using those to make houses and defenses for people to live in your settlements. Much of the DLC for Fallout 4 is based around this system. However, it adds nothing substantial to the roleplaying element, other than when it's required for the main plot.
The dialogue wheel comes straight from other, more tightly written, structured games such as Mass Effect. It is also combined with a voiced protagonist. This is not an improvement, as the "do anything you want" approach of previous games is tossed out the window for poorly written dialogue where players do not really know what they are going to say.
Furthermore, the story behind the factions is threadbare at best. The majority of interaction are a few faction-related quests and tons of repetitive radiant quests.
One step forward, two steps back
In some ways, Fallout 4 is superior to Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but in many ways, it is an inferior product to both. It is better superficially and on a gamist perspective, but substantially weaker in plot and character.
Visuals and sound are slightly improved from Fallout 3/New Vegas. The game looks to be on the quality level of Skyrim, but that's about par for the course. Skyrim was never the most gorgeous game, but is workable for what it is.
Sound is a bit improved, especially in the area of voice acting. Bethesda went out of its way to hire more voice actors and more lines for these characters to say in the background, but it's not really there for story purposes, it's all for ambiance.
The majority of the soundtrack from Fallout 3 is re-used, added mostly to by royalty free song tracks that were included in fan-made addons for 3/New Vegas. This creates a weird form of Mood Whiplash when you listen to a charming or brooding jazz era song and then you're hit with those over-the-top atomic songs like "Atom Bomb Baby."
Mechanics-wise, Fallout 4 has attempted to improve and simplify it's interface by taking elements from other games and applying it here. The result is a mixed bag that relies on systems that are not conducive to a good roleplaying game. It wants to be New Vegas, Mass Effect, Destiny, and others, but doesn't quite stick the landing or hold to a coherent, meaningful narrative.
The combat is much more polished than previous games, taking a lot of inspiration from Bungie's Destiny game to improve the combat. The result is a much more polished system than previous Fallout games, but is then paired with a crafting system that isn't nearly as fun as it should be.
The biggest change, and the most polarizing mechanic, is the settlement building system. Clearly inspired by building games like Minecraft, it does add a system for building your own bases and settlements by collecting resources and using those to make houses and defenses for people to live in your settlements. Much of the DLC for Fallout 4 is based around this system. However, it adds nothing substantial to the roleplaying element, other than when it's required for the main plot.
The dialogue wheel comes straight from other, more tightly written, structured games such as Mass Effect. It is also combined with a voiced protagonist. This is not an improvement, as the "do anything you want" approach of previous games is tossed out the window for poorly written dialogue where players do not really know what they are going to say.
Furthermore, the story behind the factions is threadbare at best. The majority of interaction are a few faction-related quests and tons of repetitive radiant quests.