It reminds me somewhat of the Fallout 2 to Fallout 3 transition.
Yes, and this is half of why I still defend Larian. Because I remember that time well and the level of difference between FO2 and 3.
Go back and imagine for a minute that it was Larian making FO3 instead of Bethesda. If the worst we got back then was bear sex, but still got turn-based combat, super mutants that weren't big yellow orcs and no towns being nuked and simply transforming into ghouls, it would have been PARADISE by comparison. Even having it be top-down would have at least been SOMETHING.
When Bethesda remade FO3 and turned it into an FPS, that meant that all future Fallout games would be FPS's. He killed the franchise for the fans by making it an entirely different
genre. Not to mention that the BG sage was already over. There was nothing left to cover unless you made it a divine campaign somehow, and no one but Beamdog was likely to do that.
It's one of those "is it really that bad?" scenarios. I just don't see it as being that bad, since I've seen much, much worse.