Incredible article Austin, not a slight but sometimes i feel a little lost when i hear plenty of players break some games down starting with core mechanics and ending on feedback loops, while lightly touching on anything from (lol forgive the word) topophilia to the narrative motif and atmosphere that these little "worlds" provide. All are important.
Anyway the central "Mêlée à Trois" struggle in F4 left me wanting after how you could navigate in and out of the more practical political realities of the factions in F:NV to mutual - or nobodies - benefit (which in itself gave perhaps too much agency to players individual power, but that's a games problem), but in F4 more than any game in the series previous I sometimes couldn't help get that sensation you speak of. THAT sensation.
The whisper of dread every time i heard mention of the Glowing Sea only to watch another radiation storm begin to fester as i ascended the creaking skeleton of the most futilely tall high-rise.. or (midgame spoilers) made to marvel at the gilded utopian facade of the clinical nightmare that is the interior of the Institute while getting a trepidatious glance into it's caste system that keeps it pristene... and even watching the Minutemen's own (blech at me for this) "city on a hill" come to shape in the distance recognizing you are playing the central role in it's perpetual evolution... all as you much more eloquently suggested in your piece. Also agree with your suggestions on the shortcomings, the home that you desperately miss when you're not quite close enough, even with it's own sometimes harrowing realities.
Very eager to see/hear more pieces like this in the future..
Sunnydunks's comments