I think I am lucky.
In the sence that when it comes to certain styles and types of games (like RPG's), and also if they are in a certain kind of genre (Fantasy or Sci-Fi usually), if they are in specific IP's (Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Dragon Age, Fallout, Mass Effect, XCOM, etc) with possibly other factors as well (like the kind of look and artstyle they have gone for)... then the hight of the bar, that I have to jump over to find the game atleast "acceptable", is pretty low.
And even when a game is not as good as previous games, in those certain IP's, I will usually find them atleast acceptable... as long as the game stayed in roughly the same style of game. I can accept certain levels of change after all.
Even though Bethesdas Fallout game is not the same as how they used to be, and not as good as how they used to be, it now sort of being Elder Scrolls with guns, I still find FO3 to be acceptable (and Obsidian's FONV to be more then acceptable). I still sank well over 100, if not close to 200, hours into FO3 (and the same for FONV). I had fun in Fo3 and NV, and actually thought they where pretty good... not as good as FO1/2/T of course (yes, even Tactics... Tactics is actually the Fallout game I have gone back to and played again the most times... I fire that one up again every to every 3rd year... I have also finished it more times then either FO1, 2, 3 or NV), but fun enough for me to spend that much time in them.
So... due to that... I have a feeling that I will at the very least find Fallout 4 to be acceptable, and I will probably sink well over 100+ hours into it as well.
One thing I am a bit uncertain about with FO4 though, is the Dog. In all of Bethesdas games, which have a kind of companion system in them (FO3, Skyrim... and FONV to, even though that is not Bethesda... did Oblivion have companions?)... I have found that system to be a bit... annoying. Mostly because I do not like the fact that my control over those companions in combat is very limited, and the control I do have over them does not feel like it is enough. I don't think that the 1st/3rd person style of game, that these games are, really fits with the use of a companion system in them. Especially not in the manner of which Bethestda have implimented them in their games. I do really like to have companions, to have a team of characters, in a game... but only if I have full control over them in combat, to the level as you do in games like Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Fallout Tactics, Dragon Age, and in new oldschool games like Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity... that is the kind of control I want.
Now I do still use the companions in Bethesdas games, and at times it can be nice to have them with me (mostly as mules, or if I come up against a foe that is really powerful), which is the only reasons as to why I do not leave them at home. But often I am just annoyed with them due to various reasons... getting in the way, getting stuck somewhere so I have to come back and find them and get them loose, charging into combat and drawing more enemies then I want (melee companions are the ones I tend to be the most annoyed with), amongst several other things. But, I don't feel I can leave them at home, so I have to endure... and if you have a dog in FO4 as a companion, then I guess I will have to endure that as well... but I would much rather that they did not have companions in those games, due to the type of games they are.
The only (as far as I remember) 1st/3rd person style of game I have played where companions where implimented in a fairly good way, is Mass Effect. Now, your companions in ME can be as dumb as they are in Bethesdas games (and Obsidians FONV). But the thing that makes all the difference is the fact that I can essentially pause the game and give orders to my companions, "attack that guy", "use that skill on that robot", "go to that location", "do as you wish", etc... then how well they execute those orders can vary... But the sheer fact that it's there, that I can controll them fairly easy to some degree, and that I can do it during a pause, makes... as I said... all the difference.
So... if FO4 had such a system, or even the exact same kind of system, with the same level of controll (I do not think it would be quick enough if they made it more advanced with more levels of controll then ME, it still needs to be a fairly quick and easy system to use after all... especially in the kind of game that the new Fallouts are)... then I would be happy... then I would not be as annoyed with companions in FO4, as I tend to be with them in FO3/FONV/Skyrim.
I don't see a problem with introducing a pause system for companion controll in FO4 either... because that is after all what the VATS system was in FO3 an FONV, a pause system where you set up a string of orders for shooting that your character did once you accepted them. Now I know a lot of people did not use the VATS, and that's fine... I how ever used it a lot. I always built my characters in such a way that I would get the most out of the VATS system for ranged combat (so max Agility was always a must for me... even back in the day with FO1/2/T).
I really hope they still have the VATS system in FO4... I mean I could live without it, it's not like I am bad at FPS games or anything (I think I am pretty good at FPS games, and I do play a fair bit of them, Crysis and Far Cry has been the gameseries I have liked the most over the years)... but I really liked the VATS system in FO3/NV. I found it to be the one of the best ways to impliment the VATS from FO1/2/T into a 1st/3rd person type of a game like FO3/NV. I could accept changes and tweeks to it though, to make it easier to use and all that... and of course in some way add a level of control over your companions in either the VATS system, or in a separate pause system for companions.
Actually... what I think they should have, for FO4, is a pause system where you have access to both your characters VATS system, AND the controls over your companions. In that way you do not have to have two different keyboard keys that you would have to press to access the VATS and companion controlls. Maybe they could also add the usage of stims, etc, to this pause thing as well. More then these things in the pause thingy might become to much though.
