Zentropy
First time out of the vault
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I've never played Fallout 4 or even seen a video of it. How did it make a "massive leap forward in terms of combat"? I genuinely know nothing of the game, but am curious.
So firstly you have to totally seperate Fallout 1 & 2, as they are CRPGS.
Morrowind had three directional melee combat, weak archery, weak stealth elements, and a developed support magic system with a basic magical combat system
Oblivion evolved the combat by adding Havok to their physics engine, making environments and objects totally interactive, adding ragdoll physics, retrievable arrows, explosions, and realistic stealth mechanics but broke enemy level scaling
Fallout 3 added improved Havok Physics and stealth, and improved enemy scaling/difficulty
Skyrim increased enemy AI intelligence, stealth mechanics, Havok physics, and melee combat. The combat in Skyrim was a watershed moment for Bethesda, as for the first time, it was passable as an action game, not just acceptable "for an RPG"
Fallout 4 further improved physics, Havok physics, stealth mechanics, had a huge boost to AI intelligence, and the gunplay in Fallout 4 is actually passable as a first person shooter, which is much harder to pull off than action melee/archery combat. The gun animations, recoil, weapon feedback, the thud of bullets hitting, the explosions, and the ability of enemies to take cover and flank were all vastly improved.
This evolution will continue in Starfield, then Elder Scrolls 6, and by the time we get Fallout 5 in 2028/2029, it will be a fucking masterpiece lol. I imagine it looking like Doom Eternal... but that's probably a bit of a reach x)
As a huge fan of Fallout 1 and Morrowind, I highly recommend trying Fallout 4. Just keep an open mind, don't even think of it in relation to the old Fallout games, and get past the dialogue trees not existing, and you'll find it's the best combat experience Bethesda has ever created.