That's great, but it's nowhere a "objective comparison of quality of the game". That must be a joke.

Not of the whole game, I never said that. I also said 'as close' to an objective comparison as you can get, there's always room for debate on these things. I just think that if you have two segments doing literally the exact same thing, but one iteration has obviously had that bit more time and effort put into it (and I mean kick you in the face obvious) you'd be very hard-pressed not to admit that iteration of that segment is better.

But if you're looking for a simple, easily appreciated example of the difference in design philosophies this is as perfect an example as you can get.

Yes it downgraded Dialogs, Quests, Character Building, but on the other hand it improved Gunplay, Character Designs and Animations, Looting, Crafting and they made the world feel less empty.

I can look at Fallout 4 fairly dispassionately too, and I would absolutely agree with what you said here. But to me, the loss of the former is nowhere near worth the gain in the latter. Everything that actually made NV compelling is gone, with the only gains being in areas I would describe as quality of life improvements. Things that the lack of makes for an annoyance, but having is only ever enough to be a solid base and not to make the game good.

An opinion, I know. And I don't hate FO4, I still play it. But I find it incredibly frustrating that nothing I do has an impact. I got utterly bored of the story once I got to a point where all the stakes completely vanished, and there is nothing anywhere else in the game that feels like it matters.

Also

improved...Character Designs

I'd say that's debatable. The models, textures and shaders that make up the characters are prettier, no doubt. But the actual designs of the characters? I'm not so sure. I can't think of anyone that stands out as well as the Legion, or the casino families on the Strip, or Benny. The only characters that kinda get there are Preston, Piper and Nick. And I'm hesitant to include Preston because his actual character is so utterly boring that it basically nullifies his wacky outfit.

I'm getting a little off track there, sorry. Final point:

Maybe they want to appeal to a broader audience, ever thought about that? The game is clearly targeted at a broader audience, at the average gamer.

I mean, this could easily be a whole mammoth topic all by itself. I guess the big question here is: does appealing to a wider audience make a game better? Does bringing in more players speak to a better quality of creative design, which is the discussion this thread is actually about?

Opinion again, but I would say it categorically does not. Appeal to popularity and golden mean are both well known logical fallacies, and I would say the more people you try to appeal to, the more homogenised and boring the design gets.

As I said, this is a whole debate by itself though.