The Pathfinder core rulebook has created the perfect balance between the broken rules of 3.5 to the bland generic 4.0.
The customization for characters is still there. You can create the character YOU WANT, vs what you are pigeonholed into playing. You can have the druid tank, the rogue crime lord, anything you want to make, you can.
Never has doing a full 20 levels of a core class been so tempting until Pathfinder. The core classes are so well fleshed out you will almost not even want to think of a prestige class.
The layout of the book and the amount of content is jam packed in this hefty tome. It is far more impressive than anything ever produced by the larger brands. Thank you very much Paizo, I will be playing this for the remainder of my D&D Career :)