I've avoided Tenpenny, but the unsettling response has me wary to bother with it at all. There are plenty of encounters that make me wonder whether or not I should have done it, the most harmful of which resulted in the death of my Dogmeat character. It pained me, but I refused to restart my save.

I'm with you that Fallout has some problems, but it seems that we're square on our reception to consequences. I think the fact that I can save anywhere encourages me to try out the various endings and reactions to situations, but I'm trucking along and going with it, and the entire game makes me uncomfortable.