ignatios on 8/7/2008 at 20:55
Quote Posted by Todd Howard
You will not be able to be a child killer. There are several reasons for this, some of them are very basic, like we wouldn't be able to sell the game, anywhere to anyone, if the children could be killed. I'm not using that as a scapegoat. We never wanted the game to offer any incentive or desire to be blowing kids away, so from our initial designs, we didn't know how we were going to handle if you shot them, we just knew it was going to be a big no-no, especially with a system like VATS and the graphic fidelity the gore has. Anyway, when attacked, all children flee and any regular NPCs friendly to the children will instantly attack you, so it feels good in the game, in that there is an appropriate response.
(
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=856489) source
june gloom on 8/7/2008 at 20:58
I suppose that's only fair, in this day and age. It's not like child-killing or negative karma was exactly beneficial in the original games, anyway. Sure, some folks would like you better but the cons outweighed the pros.
Zygoptera on 8/7/2008 at 22:12
Also from the fan interview, there will be immortal, Oblivion style plot critical NPCs.
Erk.
Spitter on 8/7/2008 at 22:50
Quote Posted by Zygoptera
Also from the fan interview, there will be immortal, Oblivion style plot critical NPCs.
Erk.
So do you prefer the Fallout (2) approach where you can get completely stuck if you kill a plot-critical NPC.
Malf on 8/7/2008 at 23:41
I personally prefer the Arcanum system, where absolutely everybody is mortal, and if you kill someone important to the plot, they generally have something alluding to the next plot-point in their inventory.
In fact, this makes stealth and thieving quite appealing, as you don't even need to talk to someone to get the next plot-point. Just pick-pocket them and wander off on your merry, antisocial way.
Of course, Arcanum is pretty much the natural evolution of Fallout. Yes, they got a lot of things wrong (combat and the descent into action rather than RPing towards the end), but even these don't take away from the accomplishment of Troika in making this game.
Sidenote for those who don't know: Troika was made up of the guys who made Fallout. I feel a bit silly saying this here, but you never know.
Gambit on 9/7/2008 at 03:17
Maybe these immortals are important characters that they want the player to have a strong relationship with.
Could you imagine Half-Life 2 if you could just kill Barney, Kleiner and Alyx the second you meet them ?
In HL1 you simply don´t get attached to nobody, while in HL2 they manage to create a feeling of friendship. So much that you actually care about those people.
So maybe the immortal Fallout can be plot induced characters. I just hope they make them interesting.
Zygoptera on 9/7/2008 at 04:15
The immortal NPCs are plot critical, sounds like all the others except children are killable. I don't have any issue with how Halflife2 handled things as (1) I haven't played it and (2) it is, per hearsay, a 'standard' linear fps where killing the NPCs would break the game.
The thing is that, as with Arcanum as mentioned previously, 99% of the time in both prior Fallouts you have to be playing a psychopath or be playing stupidly in order to break the game by killing NPCs- admittedly it can also happen by bad luck such as injuring a non combatant and setting an entire town hostile, unfortunately, but that is rare and it's fairly obvious that killing entire towns is not a good idea and a reload might be. In F2 there are only a couple of genuinely plot critical characters, and in most cases there is redundancy- don't kill your own village and don't go on a rampage at San Fran and the game will always be completable as the only three essential quests IIRC are getting the geck, finding navarro and getting to the enclave. I'm fairly sure you can kill everything and everyone in every other area, otherwise, if the fancy for some wanton slaughter strikes, though why anyone would want to...
Yakoob on 9/7/2008 at 05:00
spoiler tags please?
(yes, I haven't played FO2 yet, shush >.>)
Koki on 9/7/2008 at 05:59
Quote Posted by Spitter
So do you prefer the Fallout (2) approach where you can get completely stuck if you kill a plot-critical NPC.
You don't get stuck. The game ends if you do that.
And as far as I know it only applies to Arroyo/Vault 13. Everyone else is a fair game.
Rogue Keeper on 9/7/2008 at 07:49
Quote Posted by Malf
Sidenote for those who don't know: Troika was made up of the guys who made Fallout. I feel a bit silly saying this here, but you never know.
There was a two-headed cow on display in Tarant museum. :cheeky:
Quote Posted by Zygoptera
I'm fairly sure you can kill everything and everyone in every other area, otherwise, if the fancy for some wanton slaughter strikes, though why anyone would want to...
In one F1 campaign I wiped out all locations and made BOS bunker my personal hideout. I was the only living human in the wasteland (except for the Master sitting in the Vault)! But I completed all quests before that, of course.
