I'm curious to know when you take your first gasp of that Boston wasteland air what will you do and where will you go? Yes, we can't say specifics and this is just supposition but I'm more interested in the psyche of explorers here. Do you do a 360 turn in place and look for the nearest landmark/building and go for it or do you turn away from that and venture into a blind valley/corner/hill/etc...? Do you immediately go to your pipboy map and get your bearings by latitude/longitude or do you enjoy just going for it?

Head north to Canada. After all, it is more likely to have been hit a lot less than America was hit. Even if it is as devastated as America, I want to see how mutated Wolverines compare to Deathclaws.

First I'll scout sanctuary hills, so what I can loot and what workbenches is and isn't there. If I can mod guns I will.

After that assuming my hunch is right I'll follow the main quest marker the short trip over to Prestons quest, finish that, loot that town then I'll start walking off the beaten path.

I always get my bearings first, grab whatever loot is around and craft some stuff if possible. Then I head to the first main quest location, loot and craft some more, maybe grab a side quest from a local, then just kind of wander around aimlessly until I see something interesting.

I'll head for where the plot directs me,

but I'll check out anything interesting along the route

and any smaller quests will be fully addressed if they crop up.

Unless they are in turn interrupted by anything interesting or more side quests.

Getting to the main plot may take a while...

Usual, check around...Not get dogmeat...Scavange etc...

More my style as well I admit!

Seeing as I tend to RP when I game, I'll probably look around the familiar sites first (my old neighborhood, my old home, talk to Codsworth, etc). After I get my bearings, I just do what comes naturally.

The first thing I'll do is head to the nearest map border and see if we still get those "You can not go here, turn back." messages. Then after I kill my first npc, i'll pick them up and flail them around a bit. I want to see how the physics have changed from Skyrim.

Go back to where I lived and look the community over. Get emo on what has been lost.

From what I've seen in the gameplay videos, it's like Skyrim's 'fall over like a statue/carry them like cardboard' ragdoll.

Explore the local area and get what useful stuff I can and stash that which isn't (at least currently) and then find where the game wants me to go and head in the opposite direction

My current view is to explore the world a bit before going in to the quests, I tend to like to find a few places first and getting a merchant is a good place to start (to get ammo and health/rad fixes)

Yep, that's sort of how I do it to. I explore everything between quest points and slowly just make my way to where I'm supposed to be going anyway. I usually end up scouring the entire area before getting to the story.. but the story is still leading my exploration.

Look around in the close vicinity, do some side quests, notice something sub-optimal with my build, restart, repeat.

Or set up a Psycho business.

I'll probably do what anyone would do in that situation, make my way back to where my house was ... and then pretend to be surprised to see it still standing.

Find my home and reminisce about the days before the bombs fell and then go shoot some stuff in the face.

...

I'll head back to Sanctuary Hills, see Codsworth again, head to the Gas Station, grab the Dog, then come back and give the area a once over.

After that......whatever I happen to run into.

My character will be a former US army engineer, so after stopping home to check for survivors or supplies, I will proceed to the nearest military base at Hanscom field; if I can't get there, Boston.

Take a quick look around, then head back down and wake up in another 200 years.

I'll make a spiral out from where I hit the ground keeping my eyes on the ground for supplies and salvagables. I'll just continue making larger and larger progressive loops until either I hit the location that was my home or someplace I can fix as my 'shelter' or base spot so I have a place to stash all the good crap I've picked up at that point.

Then I'll start looping out in a spiral from 'that' point with an eye out for water and food sources.

The Sugar Bombs are still on the table (after 200 years ! )

I'll be searching around for an energy weapon.

All that is assuming of course that your not locked into a pre-set of missions that you 'have' to go through before you can start deviating from the path.

Doesn't that just show that Fallout food is full of preservatives and other nasty chemicals if it is still edible after 200 years? The worst is Fresh Apples and other fruits and vegetables that are found in a Vault or some other area that hasn't had human contact for over a hundred years.