When I decide to replay it, I really hope there are alternate options that don't simply involve skill checks. Right now, despite everyone's insistence that you fail upwards with skill checks, that's not been my experience at all. If you fail a skill check, you either fight, get a lower reward, die, get no information, or have to pay more for something. There were very few exceptions to this general rule that I noticed.
Also, it's unfortunate, but avoiding combat is going to hurt you massively in the early game, and you simply don't get as much xp from non combat solutions.
