Remember the start of a game where you run to a vault? Don't. Just don't run to a vault. Mow a lawn. Play with a dog. Harrass soldiers and neighbours. Break something. Goof off.
See what happens.

major spoiler below: look only after you took my dare.

Challenge accepted, because I already did that.

I went searching for a Bobblehead, just in case it was like FO3.

I saw the bomb go off and was like "Whoa." and then the game reloaded, just like in the video.

Pro-tip kids: no bobbleheads in Sanctuary.

did this dare back when the game came out. instead of running to the vault I ran towards the bridge.

didn't get very far...

I've done it multiple times.

First playthrough I casually walked to the vault instead of running. I did make it in time, but just barely. This time I decided to fart around in Sanctuary; talking to the neighbors, soldiers, and checking the doors on the nearby houses. Even tried seeing over the hedges down by the river, but couldn't get a good look. It wasn't until made my way to the bridge that my day of pre-war exploration came to an abrupt end.

I wonder what happens if I do it all in god mode? Hmmm, something to try next time.

Well, the game will reload as usual. What else should possibly happen, since if you're not in the vault, the story can't unfold. And obviously they haven't got a second option.

I suppose that makes sense. If you never go into the vault, and instead decide to wander off around your neighborhood in search of who knows what, you probably should die.

I was hoping my character to become a ghoul and swim in radioactive goo, but he just died instead

I was hoping the bomb would eventually go off and would turn you into a ghoul. Think about it, if you blow up Megaton in FO3 chances are you'll run into a ghoul version of Moira Brown. And you're telling me you can pick to play as different creatures in TES, another Bethesda game, but not in Fallout? Well this is what happens when they want to do a straightforward story with no breathing room. They just couldn't find a way to make that option without adding an entire seperate alternate storyline.

You honestly think, they'd made two versions of the game? One for the vault dweller, the other one for the ghoul? Not very likely and if you stayed out, the game's story is out of the window.

Yes for the players that do not care about story and just want to explore the game world. Quite a few of us players never do the main quest or just get it to a point where it is easy to park it and just explore and do the things the character will do. I have only finished the main quest in one Bethesda Game with at least 6000 hours played and I do not look to finish another one anytime soon if ever.

I went sightseeing to see what would happen, and the whole world went boom!

And you do expect a game company indulging that? No, it's reloading time. I don't care much for the main story either, but it's quite removed from planet earth to expect a game company to provide for that.

I managed to jump over the hedges but the bomb still went off after I got a little ways away from Sanctuary Hills.

next time I plan to use the command "tfc 1" to freeze the game and allow free roam with the camera. I am curious to see how much of the pre-bomb world is actually rendered.

I tried this a few minutes ago to check it out. There's nothing there beyond Sanctuary. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Honestly that would have made for one heck of a game if you could end up being a ghoul who has slogged it through the centuries. Sadly though this will never happen, as there would probably be no mass appeal in playing as a ghoul, even though it would be a lovely break from the usual step out of the vault and save the world schtick.

Wow, that would be interesting. You fail to make it into the vault and your character becomes a ghoul. Love it!

It'd have been pretty awesome if there was a second option. Don't make it. Die. Cutscene from within an alien spaceship over the ear where they remark about how easily it'll be to take the earth once the fallout has subsided. Something to show that an unknown but not good fate was ahead. Or maybe from the moon? Were we already on the moon in the fallout universe at time of war? That's be a pretty cruddy vantage point for the end of the world.

Ikr?

If the game gave you 30 more seconds, you might be able to run to that cave behind Red Rocket.

There is literally nothing there. No Red Rocket, no cave, no Concord. Not even LOD, Sanctuary, pre-war, is a tiny closed off world. Like an island in the middle of the ocean, and no other land to be seen anywhere.

No, you shouldn't. This is supposed to be a post apocalyptic game. Rendering more than the immediate environmen would have been a terrible waste of resources.

All Events are preceded by prophecy, but without the hero, there is no event.-- Zurin Arctus, the Underking.

It would've been awesome if if in the character creation, it said "Do you wish to play the game as a ghoul? Yes/No". If yes if chosen, your wife and son go ahead of you to the vault then once you realize you're too late to get in, you and the Vault Tec Salesman find shelter and ghoulify together!!

Tbh, I can see people complaining if they just let you turn into a ghoul without warning if you stay in Sanctuary until the bombs go off... "omg Bethesda didn't give me enough time!! They're forcing stuff on me!!!"

heh.