*Sigh* Will have to find or create a mod to correct that. It was certainly a core aspect that all companion NPCs in Fallout (and Fallout 2) could be killed if the PC was careless or unlucky with them.

I don't see the value in companion NPCs that are immune to death (except to use them as shields to exploit their invulnerability); and I don't see the PC ever caring about them if they are never at risk, and cannot be taken away. The most intense times in the Fallout series, that I recall were those fights where my NPCs barely survived, and did so because of luck and careful tactics by the PC. It looks like that won't happen anymore under Bethesda's stewardship of the IP.

I've seen plenty of cats follow their owners without leashes.

That dried up old prune who's been stuck in a casino hasn't been outside. Maybe in NV he can say that, but he hasn't been around the whole country. Dogs and rats survived so can cats. Not seeing cats in game is like how we see tricycles and motorcycles, but no bicycles.

Poochie dies anyways at a point during the story. Best to get acquainted and loved and attached before that happens. *sheds PC tear*

I will say yes it is fun when your companions die. I like to suffer from the consequences and just move on and continue exploring the video game world map, doing the main quests, and doing the side quests.

My mod for the PC versions of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim lets all NPC's be killable including the ones that were essential, which are not essential NPC's anymore.

I don't like to suffer the consequences of crappy AI. If companions actually have a sense of self-preservation, that's one thing, but if they'll continue acting as they have in past games, I'd rather have the failsafe in place.

Tough luck then. Hopefully Bethesda Games Studios developed a way more improved Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) system for NPC's now since the PC's, PlayStation 4 (PS4), and Xbox One have more RAM than the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Xbox 360.

Eh, not really. The devs have already confirmed that the companions are essential when they are your companions, so the people who need to be told "tough luck" are those who wanted something else.

Also, why did you feel the need to put abbreviations in parenthesis for AI, PS4, and PS3? Did you think that it wouldn't be clear what you were talking about? Furthermore, why would you do it with those, but not NPC and PC (you didn't need those apostrophes by the way)? If anything, the one that needed clarification was PC, considering it can be shorthand for both Player Character and Personal Computer, and considering its place between sister terms of both stripes in your sentence, it was the only one with any sort of initial ambiguity.

Yes I know Todd Howard said that the companion NPC's will be essential when you get the companion NPC's to be your Player Characters (PC's) companion.

You should know me that I am against Bethesda Games Studios making NPC's essential in the video games that they develop, adding regenerative health The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was the first video game developed by Bethesda Games Studios to have regenerative health, not having failable quests, not having timed failable quests, and not bringing back or removing armor and weapons degradation.

Not going to argue why I put abbreviations and why the way I talk I talk.

If there is no hardcoe mode or your companions cant die - then I wont use them. The risk of losing them is not "auto-load" like Todd Howard says. Some of us actually enjoy the immersion and risk of them dying. Some of us are actually willing to live with the consequenses. "Your companions are immortal because we dont want you to auto-load your game when they die" is a load of bull imo.

Am I really in such a minority on this?

"Big minority"?

You could always straight up murder your companions by dismissing them and then killing them after they got knocked out if you wanted.

Actually you are not in the minority.

I'm also against NPC's not being killable and I can tell you that through out the years reading comments on the Bethesda Softworks forums I have counted at least over 400 people who want all NPC's killable in almost all video games if not all video games.

Reading comments on a bunch of video game forums I have counted thousands of these comments.

We are either even with the people who don't want NPC's to be killable or maybe just a bit below the people who don't want NPC's to be killable.

We don't have 100% reliable statistics to see how much % each side is.

Oops logical sentence structure fail, non-native english speaker xD

I dont WANT them to die, but the possibility of it and the grief of them dying makes the game more immersive and realistic for me. Game of thrones style "Catharsis REJECTED!". I dunno, I just find the game more emotionally engaging if they can die.


@Ballowers: We need a poll then!

I'm not against permadeath as a concept, but in many instances I do reload. The ability to reload and resurrect them doesn't make me not care about them. I reload the game because I care about them. The game making it so they can't die doesn't necessarily mean I won't care about them anymore. They just need to be well written.

The fact that I can potentially lose my favorite characters in Fire Emblem isn't what makes me invested in them.

Hmm I think I know what you mean. I realize that them dying or not (or being able to die or not) does not affect how you feel about them if they are well written. What I mean is, if I have a companion I absolutely LOVE, as in "cant wait to see my companion's story quest". Then the possibility of them dying, and choosing NOT to load if they die - makes the tragedy better from personal roleplaying reason.

If I dont want a companion to die. Then they die - and I manage to choose not to reload (even though it svckS!) - then the story is better because the grief hits me personally as well as for my character. In other words, the reward for keeping them alive without cheating (save scumming) is only satisfactory if I am willing to let them die if it happens. If Bethesda takes away the possibility of them dying - then plot-armor is forced upon them. No risk = no fun (for me).

Edit: Point is that for me personally - taking away the possibility of them dying - makes it less rewarding for the companion to finish their story in the game.

I'm in the 'would reload' camp, if only because of the current limitations of AI. On top of that, it's far too easy to lose a companion to simple bad luck. It may be good for realism, but it would get annoying fast. If there's an optional hardcoe mode (and with modding, there certainly will be eventually, if not initially), I'm all for more consequence.

This is why hardcoe mode is so damn good I completely understand your reasoning using bad AI as an example. hardcoe mode would make both camps happy.

I only use companions to do their companion quests.. So really, their mortality or immortality isn't such a big deal to me. As long as I can just leave them somewhere until I need them for something, it doesn't really matter.

I think it should be an option, separate from hardcoe mode or in addition to it. So people can pick and choose, how they want to play.

Personally? It's not for me, with the state AI is in general. The entire game becomes a "guard/protect" mission, which are allways annoying, when the AI is meh and I'd have to save/reload all the time.

Heck, I'd argue, that if companions/followers we're killable, we shouldn't have any... because their average lifespan in the wastes would be measured in days.

But to each his/her own.

PS: I do agree with, that companion/follower death, can be a powerfull tool, in drawing you into a game and care about people in it... It just doesn't work that way, when they step on a mine I saw 2 mins ago and would have called out about or just plain walk in front of me, while I'm shooting. As scripted storytelling stuff? Great... When it happens all the time, for really stupid reasons, it just waters the impact down.

i hate when my companion dies i just end up making a mod for them to not die if u want them to die just make a mod that lets them who knows mybe ther will be a hard core mode that lets them die like in nv

I seem to be in a minority here but I'd prefer companions that can die. I hope there is a hardcoe mode like NV where they are mortal. I'm not keen on essential NPCs in general.

Indestructible companions seems like a thing these days, all RPGs seem to have them. In the original fallout, and other old RPGs there were extremely vulnerable.

I doubt theres going to be a hardcoe mode for a bethesda game if they let obsidian do another one then sure. I 'd rather beth just make the world tougher from the get go and even at a high level with great gear the environment will still kill the player if they get careless.

No more unrealistic than not having perma death and having to restart the game.

I never mentioned realism. I was thinking more from a story perspective.

I want to be able to have the experience of losing a companion. I want to be able to worry about them.

If "worrying about" is dependent on permadeath... I presume that "worrying about" needs permadeath for the main character too... Just being consistent here.

Some of us with that the games would defensively track that, and prevent undoing their loss via spammed reloading.