Now that I think about it my first TES game was Morrowind as well, about 11 years ago which would place me at 10 years old. (Boy does time fly by!) I couldn't agree with you more. Forcefully admitting Fallout does lack some of the attributes that any ES game could in fact offer it's just as fun to goof around with as any!
Hard to tell. Which Fallout and which Elder Scrolls. Only someone who's played them all can answer this.
For example, Arena, Morrowind and Skyrim are very different in many aspects. And it's not always in favour of the newer installment.
With Fallout it's even a greater gap between the original Interplay Fallouts (1&2) and the later Bethesda Fallouts (3&4).
For me, personally, I've played all 4 Fallouts and all ES except Daggerfall. The only Fallout that I couldn't play to the end of the story was F3. The only ES that I have played to the end of the story is Skyrim. The only Fallout that I really liked was Fallout 2.