Fallout 3's skill removals made more sense; first aid/doctor was kinda redundant, and outdoorsman and gambling were almost completely useless in the originals too. I'd rather they had kept the weapon skills maybe, but oh well.
Fallout 3 had a great character development system. It was simple, easy to understand, had a high degree of variety, had a nice pace of increment, and I found no way to break the system (unlike Oblivion.) It also looked sharp and legible on the Pip Boy so that it kept you in the game. As a lifetime D&D and RPG player I give it high marks.
Obsidian tweaked the character development in New Vegas and I didn't think it was for the better. They gave perks once every two levels instead of every level. I presume it was because they thought characters were getting too powerful but it dulled the thrill of levelling up your character. With Skyrim, Bethesda went back to a perk or new special ability per level and so I assume they tweaked the system for balance yet again.
So in my mind Bethesda has shown that they are improving on the statistical aspect of their RPGs. I don't expect big changes and if I had to wager I would say the character sheets will still be Pip Boy compatible as opposed to a new and flashy character sheet like the Skyrim constellations (which I thought was very beautiful and creative.)
I'm really looking forward to Fallout 4. These kinds of ambitious, open-world/multiple approach games tends to get the biggest boost from new hardware.
