Okay, so my brother is playing the game right now, and I don't want any spoilers so I'm not watching him. He did tell me that the map was smaller, however.
My question to you is if it still has that expansive feel to it I loved so much about fallout 3? Like you can wonder in the wastelands for hours without walking in circles.
It's actually slightly larger. But there's a lot of connectedness between civilized areas. With a main road going through them. But then surrounded by lots of wilds.
It's still expansive, but this time you will absolutely need the equipment to actually enable you to go wherever you want. Before you know it, you might stumble into a den of wasps, a cave of claws or the psionic grasp of the dreadful lakelurk. ^_^