F:NV is an RPG, which means that my courier's build should matter somehow. But the instagib mechanic with the collars makes my build irrelevant. I could almost deal with that, by itself. But several areas have speakers that are hard to find, and by the time I find them, I'm dead. So I reload time and again, and finally use tgm and tcl to scout out areas so I know exactly what to do when I run through without them.

The closest I can get to my build mattering is massive use of turbo to handle these situations. Then, perks and traits that effect chem use have some slight relevance. But why bovver? I acquire enough fixer (which is weightless) to deal with addiction. And G*d forbid I fail to bring a good ranged weapon -- lots of speakers are utterly inaccessible. Fortunately you don't need a high gun/energy weapon skill to take out speakers.

TL;DR it bugs me that the primary threat is (a) utterly build-agnostic, and (b ) not a thing you can realistically succeed at the first time. Which bothers me because I feel game-death should matter somehow.