Fallout 4 feels more like a Borderlands game with a Fallout skin. I don't like it. Player choice is gone, dialogue is dumbed down, perks and skills are dumbed down too and don't matter in any skillchecks. The only one that has an effect is charisma and that's stretching it. I just don't feel like I have any impact. And I don't like the story.

It's like Skyrim compared to older games. Sure it's a big world, and maybe prettier, but everything is simplified and I feel the same in the beginning of the game and at the end.

There's nothing wrong with simplifying things, but this is taking it too far in my opinion.

Contrarian opinion here, so if you like Fallout 4, probably skip this comment.

As someone that's played Fallout since the original game was new, Fallout 4 was like a family member dying. I got a few hours in, and quit in absolute disgust.

I'm actually playing it now! If you've played it before and want a bit of a change, but without changing everything (and are on PC), I recommend The Midnight Ride. Read through the mods it adds to see if it's for you, but it all felt good to me mostly. The power armour changes are very nice for me. You can add other mods on top of this too if you wish (Fourville and Sim Settlements 2 are two I've added on top of as well and also recommend).

I understand this review as a kind of "oh wow I forgot this existed!" Kind of review. The article irks me a bit because it feels like like it's sweeping decade old criticism under the rug.

The dialog system is deeply flawed in F4 and no it's not that our expectations needed to be adjusted. It's been a decade and we still groan about it for a reason.

This is either manufactured nostalgia or an insubstantial weekly write-up. Take your pick

Agreed, but I can’t play it again because I will fall into the modding rabbit hole of eternal doom!