Update to my previous post, finally found a taste for life in the Zone.
awhile ago I posted that while I loved the setting I could never really get into the games. it seems like with the recent update though mods have been somewhat fixed on console, and I've managed to find a setup that's opened the game up for me.
it seems like rebalancing to make both me and enemies less spongy was the biggest thing, I've set it to the highest difficulty but I've also got a mod that increases weapon damage, and it's really working for me. Anytime I'm in town I sell all but the bare minimum of my gear, and all of its made combat feel way more meaningful.
I also switched off the Ukrainian. the English voice acting definitely isn't as good but between how animated cutscenes are plus the fact that like 70% of characters are insane, it's made the story a lot more legible.
this isn't really a groundbreaking post or anything, but I'm just glad to finally be getting into the game. plus if anyone else has had the same problems maybe it'll get them into it too.