My experience is kinda the exact opposite, I hate how repetitive the planets are and stopped exploring them besides setting up resource collectors.
What I love about the game is the questing and ship building aspects, there is so much depth to what you can do with your ship that it’s kind of ridiculous that it’s such a small part of the game otherwise.
Kind of, I don’t mind the surface being procedurally generated but the landmarks themselves are empty.
Finding a dungeon in Skyrim means a unique layout, rewards and maybe a quest. In Starfield landmarks can’t be unique because they need to populated too many planets but they are also empty, there is never anything worth grabbing or finding inside.
I’ve been honestly blown away with how newer games look since I upgraded my graphics card.
Remnant 2 is not even a AAA game but does such a good job with light and reflections that it looks better than anything released 5+ years ago.
Then you have games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which have a very nice art style but take advantage of current hardware to add particles everywhere.
Fallout 3 takes place 200 years after the war and, like I said, the main story is terrible but most of the game has nothing to do with it.
New Vegas’ world is mostly empty and static, the writing and RPG mechanics like reputation are what make the game as good as it is.
The thing about New Vegas vs Fallout 3 is that they have different target audiences, Fallout 3 is a game about exploring and immersion while New Vegas is an old school rpg with big decisions central hubs.
The capitol wasteland is in much worse shape than the Mohave. From what we see in Fallout 3, people generally eat squirrels, iguanas and pre-war food.
The capitol wasteland pretty much works on the basis of scavenging and trading with the occasional herd of brahmin or small farm here and there.
Fallout 3 also has a big emphasis on water, Megaton has a water purifier that is about to give out while other settlements just drink irradiated water or trade with merchants.
The main story in Fallout 3 is terrible but the world building is pretty solid overall.
The list just keeps going, it’s been an insane year so far.