So I got this game for Xmas last year and I played a little bit of it but I kept dying. I walked a long way to this city to do one of my missions and a bunch of hooligans killed me with a bat. Naturally I forgot to save at all during my 15 minute walk, so I started back at Megaton. Fuck. I didn't really have any desire to go back to it, but my friends kept telling me to do so and to do other quests to level up first. I recently gave it a couple more chances and each time I've been more frustrated than the last. With all the praise this game has gotten, I'm curious if I am completely missing something huge about this because I have no desire to play this fucking thing. The premise is something that is really appealing to me as I really like post-apocalyptic stories in movies/TV. This game is just relentlessly punishing me for even giving it the time of day. I'm not even that far in, even though I've played more than 6 hours. I realize this is a game that takes a long time, especially if you do the side missions, but you're able to continue without doing the side missions, right? I ask this because I've read that you can complete these game quickly if you only do the main missions, but I can't even complete the side missions I'm on. Here's a breakdown:

Moira: I've completed some shit for her book, but now I have to put a spawning data thing in this nest without disturbing the Marklars or whatever. I tried, kept getting caught, and subsequently killed. My friend then tells me I need Stealth Boy. Ok, next quest.

Lucy West: I go to deliver her message, but Spoiler: her family is dead, so I have to find her brother. Turns out he's been taken by the Family who's been terrorizing a bunch of people. That seems like another way to die. Next quest.

Find some dude: I go find him, avoiding a swarm of fire ants because I can't even kill one of them, and he's dead. Now I have to tell his son, which I do, but then I have to find the source of the ants. Great, I can't kill one and now I have to find where they're all coming from?? Next quest.

Look for dad: I have to find some radio thing, and when I get to where the compass tells me to go, there's a bunch of raiders. Ok, if I'm lucky I can take out one at a time and then hopefully not be too near death. Nope, one of them has an RPG and infinite rounds for it. Next qu--wait. Shit.

My friend also told me to just go exploring, as that's a huge part of the game. So I try this, and all that happens is I run into more and more things that not only want to kill me, they do kill me. I've never been punished by a game so much simply for trying to play it. I really don't see what the appeal of this is at all. I could understand if I was doing well, but I cannot figure out how to do that at all.