i've started an all-melee/unarmed run, wish me luck!
You're going to be surprised. The melee in this game is absolutely ridiculous. I played an all-melee run my first time playing NV, and the melee is actually crazy strong. Once you get the perk where every melee or unarmed attack has a chance of stumbling opponents, you win the game for the rest of the run. Especially once you've gotten a Rebar Club, because melee just gets so strong from that point on. Deathclaws? Just backtrack and swing until he falls, then just beat his fallen self to a pulp before he even stands back up. Also, the little perks you gain from doing certain things helps melee a ton as well. Like, killing so many enemies with melee gets you a perk that makes continuous swings with melee faster, and then when you kill more things, that perk ranks up until you're like a lawnmower with your Bumper Sword or Sword of the East/West depending on if you go through Lonesome Road.
Now, I don't know about Fallout 3, because I don't think I've ever actually tried an all-melee run there, but I'd assume it's similar.
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