I played this for 3 hours then gave up. Here was my experience:
I have a decent rig, though the video card I have is listed in their "minimum" list for PC (however, this video card is miles ahead of the PS4's). I was able to play the game entirely lag free on medium settings...until I left the starting cul de sac like area. This is really fucking deceptive, lots of people might think their machine can run this game and not refund the game when they realize they just aren't up to par. Upon entering concord, I got constant game breaking stutterring every few minutes (that is, I'd get smooth 20-30 fps or more for long stretches, then like 1-3 minutes of random 1-2 fps wherein the game is not responsive at all). This was extremely frustrating and a let down. I couldn't figure out what exactly was causing it, but even turning off god rays, setting my game to borderless windowed mode and setting everything I could to low...still random bursts of unplayable stutter (sustained for at least a minute before clearing up). I don't know if this is because of my video card's VRAM (the game wants a fucking metric ton of VRAM for some retarded reason; the areas are as small as FO3) or because of some weird CPU bottleneck. Either way, I would have given up on the game no matter how good it was, with this kind of performance.
But the game isn't good. It just isn't. First of all, the entire tutorial area is again - a waste of your fucking time. If I want to make a new character I have to sit through this stupid shit again and again. Why Bethesda? Why do you do this? It's never made any fucking sense.
Second of all, you removed skills. So, I'm a master novice level hacker with 1 INT and I craft the basic shit with 1 INT and I can apparently use all sorts of weapons and... Like, it's dumb? Do I even need to articulate this point? I shouldn't have to. This isn't even an RPG at this point.
Third of all, INT is apparently worthless...Except for the fact it gives more experiences? Isn't there enough experience, like in any FO game, to get to max level without any bonuses? Oh, but a majority of your character's power is tied up in stupid perks, I see. So instead of attributes meaning anything at all...they're just gates to prevent you from getting perks. This system sucks. There's no difference between a brainy player and a retarded one; you get the same dialogue options, you use the same weapons...and the high INT perks are all fucking stupid and worthless, or just affect crafting which I don't give two shits about.
Luck is also worthless, but luck hasn't been good since FO2 so I wasn't really disappointed there. No random critical hits is entirely...stupid? Critical hits are a fun mechanic in RPGs because well, you get bursts of sudden and surprising damage; plus you can build around them. Relegating them to VATS is... Well, who even likes VATS at this point?
"Build your own settlement" sounds interesting, but it's introduced just...arbitrarily. "Oh yes, you can build this radio tower here ma'am. Please do." But why? She's looking for her kidnapped son, why would she even do this? Not only does it make no sense in terms of narrative, but it's just kind of ridiculous; what is the player supposed to get out of doing this? Apparently it's the only way to buy or sell things outside of the main hub city, as in my three hours I was not able to find a single vendor to trade with using all the bottlecaps and junk I'd collected. I'm supposed to build a store and expect to attract a store owner? What does this even have to do with Fallout...? It'd be okay as a late-game time waste feature, but as something you can do right out at the start of the game...it makes no narrative or gameplay sense (I want to explore, not fuck around putting buildings somewhere).
What made me give up entirely on the game was Concord. Like, I made the mitake of following the big green arrow in a Bethesda game, but I saw Concord as the first town and I wanted to see what it'd look like. I was profoundly disappointed when I was forced into combat against stupid fucking raiders (giving a measly 7 xp a pop but also pathetically easy even while I was on the hardest difficulty with maxed out INT giving me limited combat stats). When I got power armor I...I just stopped. What? Power armor, on my first major mission? Why? Why Bethesda, why? You've completely fucked with the pacing; completely fucked with it. You kill a mother fucking deathclaw in the first main mission you can stumble into. This is fucking ridiculous. Like, first of all, what makes deathclaws cool is all the previous Fallout games built up to them. "Oh goodness, watch out for those deathclaws, they're in that horrible valley over there! If you see one, just run away!" And in this game? One just shows up without announcement.
On the hardest difficulty, you don't have enough minigun ammo to kill him and the raiders you're arbitrarily forced to kill to spawn him. I think you're supposed to abuse the cars and lure him into explosive damage there, but after a while I just got onto one of the roofs he coudln't path to and just used up all my miscellaneous gun ammo sniping his stupid ass. I got 42 xp for that. Yeah, that's when I quit. 42 xp for a deathclaw; raiders and radroaches are 7 xp and the entire quest was like 230 xp.
When my co-workers ask me tomorrow, "So hey, how was Fallout 4?" I'll just say, "Huh? What? I was playing the latest call of duty yesterday." Because that's what this game is. Not even any fucking dialogue options.
Fuck you Bethesda. You make so much fucking money. You have the influence of the industry at your back; your design decisions influence other games because of your success. And you take the medium and further shove it down the tubes. Not even an RPG at this point.
I hope this thing flops. Glad I didn't end up paying a cent for it.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I killed a deathclaw in power armor at level 3 with 2 strength. Go figure. Deathclaws are the new Skyrim Dragons.