Using Both Guns and Melee?

[DwayneGAnd]

I recently beat the first two games as a melee only character, starting with melee weapons, then moving on to use unarmed later in the game. Well first of all, a melee character is much harder than using a character who specializes in long range combat with guns because much of your opposition uses guns and you need to get close to attack which can take a couple of turns. And secondly, a melee only build isn't as fun because you never get to see any of those awesome death animations when you kill an enemy. Of course, building up your unarmed attack skill allows you to easily complete certain mini quests such as boxing in New Reno and the martial art battles in San Francisco.

Now from what I have seen, a lot of npcs, both enemy and ally actually use both guns and melee, switching to melee when they don't have enough action points or when an enemy gets too close. In Fallout 3 and New Vegas, all companions, with the exception of Rex have both long range and melee attacks.

So want I want to ask is, is it possible to specialize in both guns and melee. Is it recommended? Does anyone have experience with doing so?

 

[Makta]

When i do big gun builds i tend to lvl unarmed a bit and once you get spiked knuckles you can kill most of the stuff without much trouble. I only put a level or 2 in unarmed as you can raise it from quests etc.

Not a big fan of melee as it doesn't have as much use as unarmed. Unarmed is used in quite a few quests etc.

 

[Einhanderc7]

Personally I opted to stay as far away from unarmed and melee as humanly possible. However a good friend of mine always played small guns and melee characters. He would often acquire 2 low AP weapons and focus on boosting his AP whenever possible. Which resulted in him getting a lot of hits in on his opponents before they could even take their turn. With the right build this is absolutely deadly.

Try thinking tactically when building a character and reviewing the perks. I'm sure you will be surprised how much leeway you can fenagle with once you take the character more seriously.

 

[DarthVenis]

I usually tag unarmed and small guns, so yes, my character build is just the one discussed. I use unarmed only in Arroyo and Klamath, and in Den at the beginning - until I sneak-kill both traders in West side (Flick in lower right corner, and whatewer-his-name-was in upper left), so the kids near the doors stop stealing my stuff and I get loaded with guns and ammo well enough to go fight Metzger. After which, I combine - for example, killing the Tyler's gangers near the church entrance with my fists, but shooting the ones inside the church right from the doorstep Of course, boxing and kung-fu mini quests go pretty well with unarmed tagged and developed, and there's no need to waste ammo on those ants and radscorpions in Broken Hills mines.
But when I meet some good armed enemies, especially with burst weapons, it is in my best interest to snipe them from as far as humanly possible...or, if they get too close, burst them myself
A good combination, I think!

 

[FreedomStalker]

Nah. Why suck at everything when you can be the master of something?

 

[DarthVenis]

Nah. Why suck at everything when you can be the master of something?

Why everything? We're only talking about guns amd unarmed/melee in combination. This makes a good fighter character, but this character might be totally lame in science, repair, speech, or any social skill, he (she) also can be bad at outdorsman, stumbling into any encounter without an option to refuse, thus justifying his (hers) fighting nature

 

[FreedomStalker]

Why everything? We're only talking about guns amd unarmed/melee in combination. This makes a good fighter character, but this character might be totally lame in science, repair, speech, or any social skill, he (she) also can be bad at outdorsman, stumbling into any encounter without an option to refuse, thus justifying his (hers) fighting nature

You are missing the point. You'd be better off investing everything into melee or guns when it comes to combat. There is no logical reason to invest in both considering there are plenty of guns that excel in close combat situations.

 

[Einhanderc7]

You are missing the point. You'd be better off investing everything into melee or guns when it comes to combat. There is no logical reason to invest in both considering there are plenty of guns that excel in close combat situations.

Well if it works for him, who are we to judge?
Besides who doesn't like making jacked up characters in the name of role play?

 

[FreedomStalker]

Well if it works for him, who are we to judge?

People who have been playing Fallout games since 1997 can judge that investing into guns and melee is counter productive if you want the most effective character when it comes to combat situations. There is enough ammo in the games so that you will never run out and have to turn to melee weapons. And if you invested only in melee weapons, you should have made a character that can take punishment while chasing down his or her enemies. I'm talking about effectiveness in combat here and not roleplaying.

 

[Einhanderc7]

Wouldn't not role playing defeat the purpose of the game? Games are an experience and are intended to provide the player with a new world to explore. While I can understand your frustration with actions and choices that are inefficient I must remind you that you have absolutely no control and only a little influence over how other players interact with the game.

I also don't understand how people who have been playing the games since release have any right or reason to dictate the actions of others.

Also when it comes to how effective something is in combat it is always dependent on that specific scenario. While a player could just go into every town guns blazing, that does no't exactly provide a gaming experience that is dynamic. Therefore I so no reason a player can't chose to make their skills a little more "all around" rather specialized. If anything, given how diverse the interactions in Fallout are I think it would be a wise choice to play an "all around" character to experience the most out of the game.

 

[iridium_ionizer]

I did a FO2 playthrough with a dark vigilante theme. Tagged Unarmed, Throwing, and Sneak. Choose the Dodger perk among others. The main problem with this theme is the lack of a good batarang type throwing weapon.

The other problem is that in FO2 dodging is not a perfect solution to enemy attacks. High DR armor is pretty much required to survive out later enemy encounters.