I think some old fans of Fallout came to the table with the wrong idea..... most had bad experiences with Oblivion, and were expecting to be disappointed with Fallout 3. I'll heartily agree with one particular point - I'm very upset at HOW much they simplified character creation, and the ramifications of SPECIAL. Well, and everything..... armor is vastly simplified, etc.
But on the other hand, it really is an awesome game. Maybe you won't have so much fun if you just grab the main quest with both hands and don't let go until it's done - I was shocked they didn't learn from Oblivion in that regard. However, unlike Oblivion, if you range off into the wilderness in search of interesting surprises - you should be having a LOT of fun, and isn't that why you bought a game?
I think Fallout 3 has some significant (and mostly Bethesda/console inherent) flaws, but that overall it really is quite a good game. Honestly, after 10 years, with none of the original studio working on the project, did you expect it to be identical? It's as if for some people, the game is seeing how critical they can be of the product, rather than just having fun with it as intended.
Still, I think that Fourth Age can eventually be fun, even without SPECIAL, and without first person action, and without most of what made Fallout 1 and 2 great, or Fallout 3 good.