The gameplay in Fallout 4 was better than 3 and NV imo. But Fallout 3 still had the Fallout freedom and charm, which I feel was lost in the others. The gameplay just sucked ass, and even the NPCs from 1998 provided better immersion.
I think 90% of Fallout fans never played the first two.
Instead of hiring 30+ studios to do their work, they should’ve hired one good studio and ditched their ancient poop engine 15 years ago.