I'm 9 hours in and loving it (for the most part) you see I was really critical of Fallout 4 (of which posts I've since deleted due to me back stepping on opinions) after the leaks, but I think it payed off because every little thing that I didn't see in a leak or read about surprises me and I think for the most part Fallout 4 is a really good game that has so far sucked me in with the exploration and looting... but there's one major thing that's really holding the game back for me.
It isn't the character writing or the story, its the new leveling system. At first when playing it, it seemed cool and I could understand it, but after playing more I'm starting to miss skills a lot more. It feels like each level isn't really getting me anywhere, and that I'm slowly setting myself up to master a branch but then I realize that my guy is a fragile, "silver tongued" (persuasion seems really broken to me, I have an 8 Char and I can barely charm anyone) devil that has to hang back or take a ton of drugs with a Jet chaser. So instead of getting my Charisma perks, I'm focusing my points into fields that I didn't want to build my character into until I realize that the stuff I want to do is locked behind a perk.
I was trying to find the words as to why the perk system doesn't work for me, but I couldn't until playing it just now. Let me explain it like leveling up is a three course meal... or something food related:
First you have the SPECIAL traits, which is like you figuring out which place you want to eat at, the Strength Burger Joint, or the Lucky Stars Bar and Grill; it helps you expect what kinda meal you're in for (speech based, guns, melee, hacking, etc...), so then you get to choose what you'd like to level up eat with your limited amount of skill points money. You fill up your skill stomach, and by the end of it you're offered a perk dessert that looks delicious and will probably be something unique for this meal.
The meat and potatoes previously was leveling up your skill points to do general tasks, with perks acting as a dessert, you don't really need it but they're fun to have and can help compliment what you just ate- I mean leveled up. Whether it be something silly like Bloody Mess, or something really helpful like Concentrated Fire or Commando.
But in Fallout 4 all you get is dessert when you level up, you get a single point to go spend on what candy- I mean perk you want. And the problem is, is that the perk is acting like a skill. Its like one of those granola bars that are coated in chocolate, it tries to act like its healthy, but its no better then eating an actual chocolate bar.
In the previous Fallouts I could level up my combat skills and then chose a perk that helps my Charisma or Intelligence. In Fallout 4 I can only chose one thing, and while that makes each level precious and very important. I never really feel like I'm progressing as a character.
But then maybe I might grow into how the leveling works, it seems like its more focused on finding items that could act like skills. Like finding Grognak comics or looking for Bobbleheads.