One of your first side quests is to kill some plants that have more than triple the HP of a character built to have high HP, are difficult to hit for a level 1 character to hit even standing right next to them (why? they can't move, as they are rooted to the ground), and have a very good chance of hitting you. As points out, Fallout 2's entire starting section, the temple and the village, is an atrocious affront to any notion of fairness or intelligent design. There are others, including the one you mentioned, the bad game balance overall. My hatred of the classic Fallout's movement animations is just one reason why I find them completely overrated.
