JackBurton85: Just some "out of pure curiosity" questions. First, does anybody actually play as any of the 3 characters the games give you the option to play as, instead of designing your own character? If so, why? Even from my first playthrough, having little to no idea which skills would be most important to put points into, I had a strong desire to customize my own character. Does playing as one of the preset characters change anything gameplay/story wise at all if you do? I wouldn't think it would, figured they likely just included these characters for people who for whatever reason didn't want to design their own. I have heard picking the big ox of a dude in Fallout 1 leads to some funny interactions as his intelligence/charisma is so incredibly low, but I figure that'd be the case if you design your own character with similar stats.
Second, I've 100% completely ignored melee. I put zero points into it, never use it in combat, don't see its appeal or worth. If I can kill enemies from afar, why would I ever want to fight up close where I'm guaranteed to take some damages? Am I missing out on any amazing death animations by not using melee? That'd be my main reason for ever utilizing it in future playthroughs, if it leads to some very cool sights and effects. How powerful can your melee weapons/skills get? I always assumed merely wacking someone with a sledgehammer could never be as effective as blasting them with my plasma rifle for example. Can you get regular one hit kills with em, can they be just as devastating as your powerful guns?
I don't think for the fallouts people ever used the preset characters, mainly because their flaws are so obvious in F1, and the systme is very easy to learn, so since F1 did a poor job giving you quick-to-start-with sheets, people just don't even look at them.
For F2 though (where the series got wide fame) people did try the pre-mades, soon recognised their flaws, restarted soon with an optimalised character. My first char was a Narg
On melee: this type of combat needs a certain level of attention, then it becomes devastating, especialy as in fallouts enemies just jump at you and don't run away. With a ton of movement you can get through half the screen and start punching, with 95% on the eye causing continuous loss of AP for the enemy, or even instant death. Fallout 2 was entirely viable for unarmed combat.
What the real shame is, Fallout Tactics would also be an adventure to play an unarmed deathclaw, but that'd require advancing with the game (aka. you need the extra exp from though guy mode), which'd need a stable game.
EDIT: Fallout 1's premade are not that bad actualy, just have obvious flaws. Like Natalia starts with 4 STR, and unarmed instead of small guns. You need heavy alteration during the play to make her viable, especialy as her skills are not good for the two main locations.
Albert is fine.His main flaw is the 4 AG and 9 CHA. He's not bad though, has decent stats, and very good tagged skills. Give him a sniper rifle and a team so he can blast through everything he can not smoothtalk through. Sure, he looses some perks, and skilled is pretty lame compared to F2, but whatever.
Now Max is a horrible character. He has no AP, and is practicaly blind. Changing some EN to Pe would be mandatory, so he doesn't blow himself up with rocket launchers. His lowered crit-chance doesn't help either, that Bruiser-trait should definitely go.