Fallout 4 makes me feel like my dog just died, I got a new puppy but can't help but feel like it is an emotional replacement for something I just lost.

Cynicism aside, is the game worth playing?

Yes, yes it is.

Does it live up to the standard I expect from Bethesda, being someone who has played their games since Daggerfall?

No, no it does not.

Does it live up to the Fallout franchise, including Bethesda's Fallout 3, and Obsidian's New Vegas, in all its satirical, wonderful humour and varied choices with the excellent illusion of your character having a unique impact on others you meet in the wasteland?

No, it does not.

Does it continually disappoint you with what feels like not only unfinished polishing and bug testing, which regarding the company's history, can be almost overlooked, but a startling lack of Bethesda's previous care to their intelletual properties and the attention to detail that quests used to contain? In sort of the same way a new puppy may have behavioral problems and keep pissing all over your house?

Yes, sadly it does.

Will I be willing to pre-order a game from Bethesda again given the overwhelming lack of both decent immersion and lack of choices that used to be staple to this franchise?

That is hard to say, and brings me back to my first statement. Gameplay wise the game is great. Structurally however, the choices are limited, quests and locations feel as though dozens of hours of gameplay had been scrapped, choices and dialog removed, and as such the game leaves a bland taste in my mouth, like I just had a meal with no flavour, filling but unsatisfying.


Edit:

Taking a franchise in a new direction is fine, Fallout 4 is a good game. However, it does not feel complete, many locations feel like they were rushed, unfinished, or simply uninspired such as the new vaults outside of 111 and 85, the raider race track, and the combat zone, which could have been tied to more than a "kill everything in sight and notice the cool things we put in but didn't finish afterwards


Edit 2: @Dryspace

This game can be considered an RPG, but don't expect the same attention to the universe that was in previous installments. If you liked Fallout 3 and New Vegas you will likely enjoy Fallout 4. The gun combat is almost identical to Fallout 3 and New Vegas aside from some minor changes, many of them are improvements that were first introduced in mods such as a grenade key as opposed to having to enter the inventory and selecting a grenade as a seperate weapon.

I don't mind the gameplay changes outside of removing the skill stats, SPECIAL has been sadly overly simplfied and reduce the feeling that your character is unique, as does the changes to some of the dialog options, or rather the lack of them. The other changes such as the VATS changes make the game feel more fluid, those that seem to complain about them often seem to like the previous almost turn based feel that VATS had, I did as well but the new system is simply more fluid not less of an RPG feel.

If you are looking for a game that plays similarly to other recent Bethesda games, it is an RPG, if you are looking for a more traditional game with strong story elements, not saying that Fallout 4 doesn't have some, and a more varied character building experience where the abilities you select during your leveling progression affect how you play, this is not the game for you.

As well, the difficulty of gameplay has changed drastically since New Vegas, deathclaws are more like their Fallout 3 equivalents and are now a brease to kill by a certain point, almost everything in the game is easy even on Survival diffculty once you reach level 30 - 35, I 3-shot most enemies and my achievements, such as killing a coursar felt laughable, I blew his head off in 2 shots in VATS from a guass rifle and found myself saying, "That's what everybody in the commonwealth is afraid of?"