Alright, here's what I have to say, and then I'm out of this thread.
First off, graphics are eh, though major props to Beth for not putting out a CG trailer or beating around the bush with their shortcomings. I think the lighting looks pretty good and I dig that color palette. People complaining have a right to complain, people defending likewise. They're clearly not "last gen" (maybe last gen on PC) but they're also not mindblowing. They're dead fucking average, which is completely unsurprising given the scale of the game being shown and Bethesda's track record. The animations (regardless of how shitty the dog's texture/shading work was, the tongue and tracking animation came off as waaaaay better than anything I've seen them do before) look much better than in previous Gamebryo Beth titles, but they're still a far cry from world class. Whatever, I'll play the shit out of it, for the simple reason that I can't (and might never be able to) get this exact sort of experience anywhere else.
When another company can do EXACTLY what Bethesda does and better, I'll abandon them in a hot second. But no other company has done exactly what Bethesda does and better. Some do certain aspects better, mindblowingly better at times, but never the whole shebang. What Bethesda does, and what is my crack, is make huge-ass, enormously detailed open world first person RPG games that let you be whoever the fuck you want to be, that let you steal and throw around every single object that isn't nailed down, that have decent main quests and a fuckton of damn great, non repetitive (until you run out and the Radiant system kicks in, but that's only a problem after 200 hours or so, so whatever) side quests, that don't litter your map with question marks and side activities every ten feet and incentivize exploration with world design alone, that have great lore, that have huge expansive interior dungeons that (while they are admittedly pretty goddamn repetitive) usually have interesting details and implied backstories that always make the journeys worth it, that has endless modding potential and that take place in the postapocalypse half the time. Yes, their combat is invariably shit. Yes, their animations are creaky and bugs are lurking in every nook and cranny. But NO ONE ELSE does what they do, and that's why I can't quit them.
Witcher 3 is a fucking amazing game; it's got the most beautiful and realized open world this side of GTA, with awesome writing and great characters. However, it's third person, the interior areas are typically small, the "use detective, er, witcher vision to do the thing" mechanic got old real fast, the main character is a set person with not much wiggle room for serious roleplaying, and I can't throw a cabbage off a roof and watch it roll down a hill. It does so many things astronomically better than Bethesda could ever hope to achieve, but it doesn't tick all the boxes. I need all of the boxes ticked, dammit.
Dying Light looks damn fine, is set in the postapocalypse, is first person, has that cool environmental storytelling stuff, and has great melee combat (from what I've seen...haven't had the cash to pick it up yet). But it's a goddamn zombie game with a set main character with poor lore and a not particularly interesting looking open world. I'm so FUCKING BORED with zombie games. Also, I can't throw an empty bottle into a canyon and watch it clatter down the rocks and plop into a lake at the bottom. For fucking shame.
Dragon Age Inquisition has a completely mutable main character, with tons of options and dialogue choices. Everything else however...woof. You definitely can't put a bucket over someone's head and steal their entire shop inventory, that's for damn sure.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance might do it. I'm hopeful. Bethesda NEEDS direct competition so they can actually be pushed to do better. But even if it surpasses everything the Elder Scrolls games do (which it won't anyway, since once again you're playing a set character and you bet your ass there aren't going to be cabbage physics), there isn't going to be a Kingdom Come: Postapocalypse any time soon, so I'll inevitably have to come crawling back to Bethesda and suck long and hard at the old Fallout honeydick. Gotta have that postapoc, son.
It's a travesty that Bethesda still can't get their combat act together (fingers foolishly crossed for this one) and that they keep hobbling along with whatever version of Gamebryo their tech team has spawned this time, but everything else fits together to make such compelling, beautifully messy worlds, with so much potential for exploration and roleplaying and having a fucking awesome time existing. I really, REALLY wish someone else could do exactly what they do and dial it up several big notches, but no one's really stepped up to the plate yet. But as far as I know, no one else does (and if someone else does, PLEASE TELL ME). Until that changes, I'll first in line at every midnight launch (figuratively speaking, since I'll DEFINITELY be getting this digitally).
I can't tell, but are they using the engine that The Evil Within and Wolfenstein used, or a different one?
