i'm guessing it's because they have to have you assign your special stats somehow because they don't know weather or not you're planning on just dying for fun. IMO it's not too big of a deal because it's just them making you assign your stats before they put you into the main game.
why not have it so when you get unfrozen in the vault you find vault stuff that allows not only
for you to put your special stats in but also a preview of the perk tree and info, that would be
way more cool than blindly filling in stats.
When you're unfrozen in the vault the "game" starts with fighting radroaches and exploring the enviroment, so its too late to do it then.
They've deliberately structured the opening in a way to introduce new players, though made it into a safety net so someone can't accidentally cruise through without choosing their SPECIAL stats.
1. Make face
2. Give free movement and chance to interact with items
(Learn the back story and get used to the controls)
3. Dialogue with characters
(Get used to the new options)
4. Pick your stats
5. Finish the introduction
I agree though that there needs to be some way of seeing the perks whilst choosing SPECIAL stats. Perhaps the guy hands you a form on which you can see them all, though can't see specific details about them (such as what levels are needed) rather than a pop-up menu.
When I bought my game it came with a pester of all the perks so there's that and it also played little movies while installing admit what the stats affect in general. But people buying digital won't have this then so I guess no.