Fallout 1 & 2

Banking on perception was always the best route if you were building a combat monster. The idea was to jack up your small arms skill and have the perception to back it up so that you could hit people in the eyes every time to maximize your critical hit output. I'd always prioritize getting the sniper rifle, and after that it was pretty much Headshot City. Who needs action points when you're killing an enemy every single round?

Sometime I need to replay both games, and try playing through as a pacifist thief-diplomat. It's theoretically possible to beat both games without ever firing a shot, although violence often IS the best solution to a lot of problems. I really did like how there were three sanctioned ways to beat both games.

My only gripe about the first game is how it inevitibly penalizes you for NOT taking any points in energy weapons. You can rely on the sniper rifle for most of the game, but eventually you're going to have to invest in energy weapons so you can take advantage of the turbo plasma rifle. Man, did that thing make a mockery of the mutant base.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

There's a couple things you can do besides just rush head on against the last boss in Fallout 2. I can't say for certain since I'd built my guy more combat oriented, but it's very likely you can talk him out of fighting you if you have a godly diplomat skill. Alternately, you can get backup from the gun turrets by sneaking over to the computer terminal, using the president's key card, and turning the turrets on him. He'll destroy them all, but it keeps him from attacking you for a while. Might be possible to sneak out the door while he's busy, too.

First Aid was indeed useless, as you got more hit points back from Doctor anyway. Science was handy for pulling information from the computer terminals you found, but saw more use in Fallout 2 than 1. Sneak was vital to playing a pacifistic character, since you use it mainly to bypass certain encounters. You needed Steal to go along with it, though.

My favorite use of Steal was the Slappy Squirrel tactic. "Here, have some dynamite down your pants." Somehow they always know it's me.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I wanted to like Arcanum, but it has a far steeper curve than Fallout, and it's way too easy to completely fubar your character early on if you don't know exactly how you want to build yourself up. I have to give them loads of credit for letting you play as Frankenstein's monster, but that ultimately sounded more hard than fun.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.