Which will you use, and which do you think will hold up later in the game?

I prefer melee, but unarmed might be better because of the later ranks.

Neither. I could never make close combat work in Fallout since most enemies have guns and that puts you at a constant disadvantage.

Neither.

Not planning on getting my hands dirty...

Unarmed, those shotty fists in NV were murder.

I'd say both will be perfectly viable. There's lots of unarmed weapons. Power fist, brass knuckles, boxing gloves. .. Have no idea what types of unarmed weapons we'll have this time around but they've always made the skill viable.

Really?
I'm the only person who kills people with his bare hands?
Really!?

Edit: Yay more votes while replying!

Edited the poll.

Every time some raider comes charging me with a pool cue, im just gone http://i.imgur.com/gvDdF.gif and shoot them in the face with a shotgun.

I'm a huge fan of the Shishkebob, so I'd say melee. If I can make a Nuka Cola Quantum powered Shishkebob like in Nuka Break, I will definitely play a melee build.

Unarmed-love the ballistic fist and the deathclaw/Freddy Krueger gauntlet.

Rocket powered sledgehammers. That's all I have to say about that.

If I have a gun why would I do either? I don't plan on being without a gun.

After meeting Ranger Stella in FONV, I changed my opinion on CQC. I now always take unarmed in case I ever get caught without weapons or I run out of ammo!

I have never really enjoyed specialising in either of those as my main means of offence, but I do use melee for stealth, and as a last line of defense when out of ammo.

As for their Viability, I would assume that they are both equally viable.

My character will primarily be ranged, but I'd like her to be competent in close-quarters combat as well if needed, as befits a military type. Yet despite it being quite viable in other games, I just haven't been able to really get into unarmed in this setting. Therefore she'll go with melee, preferably a combat knife (a la Chance's in NV, loved that thing) or we'll see how well this gun-as-melee thing works.

It's hard to say how any of the styles will hold up come late game. You'd think Unarmed would come up short, but yeah, shotgun fists.

A good point. My reasoning is RP: an enemy pops around a corner or is able to sneak up, you're in a tight space, no time or room to aim, so the knife or the rifle butt is the only way. Of course in the games that hasn't been an actual problem, I just pretend it is.

Guns. By the time I get close enough to most of the enemies to hit them, I'd be close to being dead. Especially in the open areas of the wasteland. But I do prefer swords and things like that. I hope there are swords in the game.

Actually, I wish you had the option to carry both a melee and ranged weapon at once. Where you use your ranged weapon to pick off far off enemies, and if you find yourself close enough, just pull out a melee with the press of a button and hack their limbs off.

None of those filthy buggers are getting within 20 feet of me. My hide is intact - and I intend on keeping it that way.

I thought I remembered a melee key for use with a rifle. Like a bayonet or something for close quarters combat.

If there is a longsword or katana in the game, I would like to play melee as a second character.

Melee for both I think. It just scales better in my experience in most cases, at least in previous games. I love the concept behind the Ballistic Fist/Power Fist and weapons like that...but the other weapons, frankly, svck pretty badly, and those two are a little too high end to make them worth it to be the sole reason to (in previous games) dump points into Unarmed. That said, with the new system, I can imagine that there will be a lot of synergy in terms of perks between Unarmed and Melee (I know the list is out, I just haven't memorized it like SOME people have. Thus, the question is less a matter of worth, and much more a matter of preference.

Neither. I prefer to reach out and touch someone, from a long distance.

I mean separate weapons. I've always been fond of the idea of having both melee and ranged weapons handy. That way, I can run through a horde of enemies, shooting some kind of energy machine gun from the hip, while I'm slicing through the enemies close enough to me with a sword.

I think both are viable and effective. Sneak, unarmed, explosives. Punching the ones that make it through the mortar attack and minefield.

I've always felt that unarmed and melee should be merged in fallout, first of all because weapons like power fists, and deathclaw gauntlets are about as unarmed combat as a fireaxe. And secondly real close combat training will have both armed and unarmed combat training. Using either exclusively is a sport not a combat style.