Do you like to explore before you tackle the main quests or finish the story first then go exploring? For me its a bit of both, On the main game I do a couple of quests then spend a couple of hours just wandering around the wasteland to see what I can discover. On DLC I tend to seek out all the locations well in advance of completing the main story, sometimes it means I inadvertently completed a quest before even started it.......... How does everyone else like to play?

For me, exploring in games like Fallout is exploring the stories and possibilities the game has to offer, the world exploration is a sideproduct of that. I do not like to pretend to be the in-game Livingstone because I usually find it boring -- there are few exceptions where occasional random exploring offers a challenge and a real reward and thus is encouraged, but this does not happen in the recent Fallout entries (nor too much in the earlier titles either, since it wasn't really the point there).

I"m eager to see it all! I mostly enjoy when I'm out in the wilderness and suddenly I stumble over a small shack or a house. Houses in the middle of nowhere, now that's my thing!

When I start a New Vegas game, I usually do follow the path probably up to Novac. Then I start to go into different directions. I never complete the main story and then go explore. I usually just head on into the wilderness and pick up the main quest when I feel like it.

I tend to explore everything before I finish the main story cause that to me wraps the whole game together!!

And you probably have a base in the divide... Don't you?

First I explore then I do a bit of the MQ and after that I ignore it for a good while and focus on the sidequests and exploration. I get so wrapped up in both that the MQ only gets done or even bothered with when I'm 1) bored or 2) run out of sidequests to do and not feeling up to wandering around for some cave or dungeon to spelunk into. So yeah MQ isn't much of a priority when it comes to these games (except NV).

I do a few main quests,then start doing a lot of side quests. I love to explore and find new locations in any Fallout game. I like to scavenge many places I travel to. I like to search the animals that I kill in Fallout like for example(yao guai,mole rats ,and radroaches).Exploring is one way that keeps me playing any Fallout game.

"Communism is the very definition of failure!"-Liberty Prime

I usually explore, find more locations then do the main quest.

same here a few quests to get some levels then its exploring time

I'm very goal oriented, so I generally don't explore just for the sake of exploration. I go where quests take me, perhaps making the occasional detour if something attracts my interest. I rarely go into dungeons unless I am sent there by a quest, and even then, it's usually early in the game, with the express purpose of making caps to buy some specific piece of gear. However, when I do enter a location, I tend to explore every inch of it.

Once I'm comfortably swimming in currency, though, I stick to questing.

Needless to say, much of the appeal of open-world sandbox games is lost on me.

Typically I don't explore as it is incredibly tedious and boring. I walk into a new building and if nothing interesting is withing my gaze I turn around and walk out. The only time I thoroughly look through places is when I have to for quests and stuff, or it is an important place like Camp McCarren.

I find myself playing a lot of games now more focused on storytelling and lore even if I don't realize it at first.