In the stickied 'Fan Interview' (http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1098302-fallout-new-vegas-fan-interview/), the last question says that it's possible to complete the game without killing one person (or, alternatively, by killing every person).

My point is that this game has "Reputation", and the fact that this system is tied to factions makes the concept of not engaging in conflicts with a single person somewhat difficult to grasp. (*I'm not saying that the developers are lying!) Basically you would have to please every faction so as not to kill a single person. So does this mean that you can trick every faction into believing that you support them and only them? What if one of them wants you to kill another? Then will you have to do some sort of speech check to convince the said faction to disappear or disband?

Don't get me wrong, I love this kind of a challenge (especially since I always play through FO3 with maximum Good Karma and DON'T farm purified water to give to homeless). But I'm just finding it difficult to wrap my head around not killing anyone.

PS: I'm making the assumption that kills are only related to faction affairs and also that Mutants and Raiders are exempt.

PPS: Then again, knowing the answer to this could spoil some of the fun of figuring this out on my own...

Non-lethal weapons, sneaking, speech, lots of speech.

As mentioned, something nonlethal like boxing gloves, or a lot of healing items, really high Science, Lockpicking, Sneak, and Speech, and a lot of running like hell.

Sneaking and speech are a given, but I seem to have overlooked non-lethal weapons. (Note: I always maximize Speech on my playthroughs also).

But in FO3 either you were with Burke or not, and if you weren't, you'd get hitmen coming after you. Those are the types of scenarios that I'm curious about.

I hope there are weapons that knock people out indefinitely or for long periods of time. Ha... you could be pretty evil with something like that. :whistling:

Well I'd start by not killing anyone, if that doesn't work, then don't kill anyone.
I think that's how it's going to work.

Running is a good point, especially for hitmen-type encounters, LOL.



Yeah non-lethal seems to be an option, but I'm wondering how far that will take you.



Please read the entire post before responding.

lets just say only those who dont like grusome warfare will not kill ANYONE. its gonna be hard but its possible.

We also got beanbag shotguns.

Bring along a Fawkes- like companion and let him do all the killing.

Non-lethal, right? I'm still curious about how this will work when it comes to quests....



That's a clever one. While technically it's true, I wonder if it will still count since people are dying.

stay in vegas D

Yes, non-lethal. My geuss towards quests is that there will be underlying ways to complete quests in a pacifist way. If you choose the right path and stay close to the wiki I'm sure you'll find a way.


http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/29981 Around 3:35 they elaborate a bit on pacifist playthrough

Thanks a lot for your response and the link. I'm a huge proponent of pacifist playthroughs and the more info the better.

No problem, helping people on these forums always feels good anything else your wonering just ask

Josh Sawyer from BETHESDA? Moron, if I was Josh I would have been deeply insulted.... whatever. (sarcasm)

Good video :goodjob: I never saw that one

If you have a scenario like Regulators or Talon Company/Hitmen after you, the best thing you can do is run like hell and try to hide, or try to juke enemies by ducking inside and out of buildings.

Or use your beanbag gun/boxing gloves and knock them out......

he was like "uhm..... cool..."

Yeah that seems like the only option to avoid the conflict.



But will that progress a quest?

Well I don't think enemy factions would count in my eyes. I would put CL along the line of ghouls and super mutants. But the perspective changes I guess.

Absolute pacifism isn't even a viable philosophy in RL (unless you are talking about instigating social changes within a society) let alone in the fallout universe where you will probably NEED to kill to survive. Having partners kill is a cheap cop out... It's like a mafia boss saying "I never killed anyone" but had his men do it. That kind of logic is twisted and lulzworthy. Non-lethal weapon options is probably the only way to complete a pacifist playthrough, but my guess is you will be cut off from a lot of side quests and the game will be MUCH more difficult due to the fact that you are not actually killing enemies.

Never was a fan of killing every inhabitant of a town and then playing the game further with every one dead.

Besides it just feels stupid, only time I was killing everyone was then I just messed around for short bit of fun, but after all I always reloaded the game to have everyone back.
NPC's are an important part of the game's climate, without them it would just feel empty like an actual desert.

You don't have to kill anyone in any quests, though you may not get the ending you want. Just use speech and when conflict arises, use the beanbag gun

I'm sorry, but I think a lot of quests will be "go here and kill these guys." "This guy is causing problems, kill him for us". Even if quests like these have a speech option to resolve them non-violently, eventually you will fail one and violence will ensue. What then? IRRC Fallout 3 had a "recurring probability seed" (Basically if you fail a speech check, reload your game, and make the same speech check you will always fail because you failed the first time) to prevent cheating. I guess you could console command but that's cheating too.

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means advocating killing everything in sight, and I'm not hating on people who want to play pacifist. Sounds like the dev was exaggerating imo (seriously how could you beat the game by "killing everyone"? There would be nothing left to beat, and I'm sure some NPCs are non-killable). But playing through the game without directly or indirectly causing someone's death is most likely almost certainly impossible. And like I said before, even if you could beat the main quest in a pacifist fashion, you will most likely be cut off from a majority of the side quests.