In regards to recent Battlefield games, I think 4 is by far my favourite. The story, despite being a little thin at parts, was really fun. I loved the environments it places you in, that difference in land, air, and sea. The multiplayer though, I put stupid amounts of hours into that side of things. I almost never got bored rotating through all the different weapons and play styles.
I would exclusively play hardcore servers as to keep things fast and feeling difficult. You'd have to really push and plan your moves around the map given how easy it was to die. It made those moments in conquest feel so much more impactful when a side does manage to gain a map advantage. And the whole map just felt like chaos. Especially with how much more threatening encountering a vehicle felt. The games after 4 just couldn't cut it for me. Too much handholding and changes that removed the pacing for me.
Yeahp, I have to agree with you on numerous things.... the campaign was a little thin, too thin actually but it had a good story line! Very good actually.
As for the multiplayer aspect it was wild as hell! It's a shame the servers died out ey... I've got like 1.5k hours in multiplay with BF4 🤣🤌
And for the games after 4... well they never really cut it for me either... although I heard Battlefield 2042 is pretty great? I have never tried before though!
But replaying the campaign again now after 10 years! Feels amazing!!