I'm gonna sound like a fucking mark for saying this, but even 76 did this correctly.
Finding power armor in Appalachia is pain in the ass, because the war *just* happened. It's only been 25 years, and any working armor that was out in the open is useless. Instead, you either need to craft it, or find pieces that spawn in certain locations, usually hidden or out of the way of normal travel. You have to collect it yourself. It makes for when you have a full suit of power armor, whether a complete model or slapped together all the more gratifying.
Instead, Bethesda put their entire cock and balls into the first hour, making it as cinematic and as flashy as possible. Big raider battle! Get pointed towards a suit of powerful armor! Fight a deathclaw! Kaboom! Minigun! The only thing that entire sequence did correctly was having the armor appear rusted as fuck and broken down in some places.