No, having to use a stimpack on them to revive them sounds fair. I was watching gopher's lets play of fallout new vegas (he actually opposes companion immortality, so this works as a good example) and whenever he would go into a dungeon he would leave his followers outside. That kind of seems to defeat the purpose of companions imo. If there is content tied to the companion then i think for 90% of people their death is a reload state. As far as a hardcoe mode (i hate that they called it that, survival mode would have been a much more elitism inspiring name) i liked all the changes except for the companion death. It basically ruins any melee follower as they'll be slaughtered by enemies using guns or deathclaws.

Now if people want to dl a mod that removes the essential tag thats their business. Although i don't think that it should be part of the core experience.

That's assuming you want to spend all of that extra time gaming the system (and definitely not role-playing), and it also depends on the companions being able to recover on their own. What if they only get up once combat ends? Or if they only wake up after you use a Stimpak to bring them back?

What if? What if? What if?

The point is the system as we know it now, with little or no details, could be easily abused (yeah I know it's a single player game). Now I'm sure that anything we can think up Todd and company have already brain-stormed over, so I'm not really concerned but just pointing out the obvious flaws I'm seeing in the system.

It needs to be optional. However in the end its pointless. Because it will be modded to be optional no matter what. It will literally be as simple as checking a box.

Reason why it needs to be optional? Mods and npc stupidity. I can already see a demand for more critter spawns, npcs getting access to more dangerous weapons.. mines and other traps being set in locations. Heck, how many of us would like to see a raider with a fatman? Not as a common event certainly, but as a holy god I better hit that guy first? .. That might be neat

i guess that doesnt meter much what we want since we know already that they cant die.

But =D, and this is what make Bethesda game the best, we can mod it out, and make our companions die on mines all the time.

Multiple times I have read similar topics..

NO they should NOT be killable.

AND..

PLEASE just STOP.

There is no what if about them being knocked down. Todd Howard himself said that dog meat, and by extension all other companions, will reach extreme low health and will need a stimpak to be revived. Can it be abused? Maybe, but not really effectively... especially since we can only have one companion with us at one time.

Yes because having them be unkillable isn't realistic at all. I do see both sides but realism over practical.

This also unfortunately means my character will be a lone wanderer because it would be too easy to abuse an immortal character. Could I not go that route sure but it's kinda hard when the game is designed that way.

Um, yes all companions and followers should be killable. Why in the world would people want companions that can never be killed? That is a exploit waiting to be abused like LeBurns said you can send your dog, human or robot companions and followers to clear out mine fields or kill the enemy NPC's like bandits, raiders, deathclaws, etc.

I guess people want god mode as well in Fallout 4?

Strange, some people post like we NEVER had unkillable companions before. They have been around since Oblivion (and probably longer). As long as they are incapacitated (knocked out) once their health is depleted then they could not be used as a cheat to any great extent.

In my Skyrim Combat mod you must help them up once they are down. I assume this is how they will do it in F4. If they do that it will be fine. I mean is has worked in Skyrim now for years without any major issues.

easy so i dont reload 1000 time during some quest bc my companion keep getting kill bc dont know how to avoid dmg.

I'd really like there to be an option for it. I prefer all npcs being able to die. Call me weird, but if I let an important one die which messes up my quests...so be it. I like the tension of it. I usually don't use companions if they are unkillable, or if it's one I really like I just put them in my house to guard my belongings and keep them safe.

Though I know many would just keep going back to a previous save. So making it an option would be the best of both worlds.

If the player can't kill companions it would hamper roleplay. What if. like in New Vegas. you had a companion opposed to the player, either by the player being evil or on the opposite side of a conflict or they just didn't like them as a person? Also if you accidentally damage them severely and they turn on you, you would have an unstoppable killing machine after you (though that would be a prefect time to use non lethal ammo like bean bag shots if they were killable).

Interesting. I've always felt that gameplay trumps realism.

(unless, of course, you're programming an actual simulation. But, then, that's not really a "game".)

It takes both. Some players like Godmode, however it takes the challenge away from other players so they do not enjoy it.

So there has to be a middle ground. None of us will agree exactly where that line should be. Options are nice, however it's not realistic that game designers will make every dang thing in a game optional for the players. But if I had a say in it, I'd like companions to be killable as an option. If not, as I said above, I just don't use them or if I do I put them in a safe place and leave them.

Options can never hurt. So make it optional.

I think most people voted for Optional because we like to have our options. Especially PC gamers, We want more control over our settings and how things work. We want the option of ULTRA MAX graphics and shiz. We always want more.

But lets be realistic for once. As an option there will probably be the 12%-65% of people that will try using killable companions. One of two things will happen.

1.)Either you hate having companions or want them dead for some reason so you could kill them yourselves and nothing will come of it and you'll get the satisfaction of killing him/her or it.

OR

2.) You'll be thinking you're way more hardcoe and want killable companions and they will do what they always do WALK DIRECTLY INTO THE PATH OF YOUR GUNFIRE/MELE SWING and you'll be reloading your game again and again, or just rarely have a companion because you've killed them all.

So if you want killable companions, or even just want the option. Just wait for a MOD, the devs are busy enough just finishing their game. This is not needed, nor is it game breaking or game changing. Nuff said.

Yes.....As I never really use them tbh. Why not, doesn't break the game really.

1. I like having my companions and followers being able to die because it's more realistic and clearing mine fields or whatever will not be abused.

2. I never reload a save game if my companions die or if my followers die or if a important quest NPC('s) die.

3. I keep playing the video game(s) until I finish the main quests and everything else in the video game(s).

4. I make other save games with brand new Player Characters (PC's) to play different styles. Fallout 4 and any of the video games developed and sold by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks are RolePlaying video games (RPG's). So I have my own ways of playing.

5. Making NPC's like companions, followers, and the important quest NPC's unkillable takes away that RolePlaying fun and choices I want to make that RPG video games have.

I understand your reasoning fully, really i do.

But lets be honest, and i'm sorry but what you said is just really petty. Everyone has a "play style" including me, but it changes with every game i play, from RPG's to FPS's to RTS's to MOBA's to puzzle games I change my play style to fit the game.

Developers couldn't possibly create a game to fit everyone's play style and please everyone on every detail. It just cant be done. Ever. Period.

Plus un-killable followers/Main quest NPC's is a standard for a reason. It CAN actually be game breaking.

Food for thought. Consider that companions were not killable in NV.
Of F3 and NV, I think you'll find most agree that the companions were better. So much so that people didn't even really seem to mind immortal companions.

Mods are gonna be a while. So, if you want companions to die without beth giving an option, here's what you do.
After a follower is knocked unconscious, when they're waking up- Take all of their gear and fire them (pretend it's a metaphor for their death if it helps) and then proceed to play the game without them.

No, but it should be optional for those that want it; like a checkbox that toggles it on or off. Bethesda is all about player agency...

Yup!

Ive got reload if they do die when I dont want them too, but as posted by others for harder game experience I will let companions die.

Some companions deserve to die - Lydia in Skyrim is a mewling quim and Boone from FNV is just a miserable git - so I'd like the option of seeing them die either in battle or by my own hand.

Well in Skyrim you could kill your companions. Enemies couldn't, but you could. If it's fixed now that they don't die ever (I assume only while actually being a companion in follow mode) then I will definitely send them into the raiders den ... then follow it up with a mini-nuke, since I know I can kill every raider but not my companion. If, as others are suggesting (and it does make sense), the companion get's knocked out then so be it.

I have to wonder though, in Skyrim if your companion get's lost in some cave or whatever all you ever have to do is walk through a door and poof, your companion is standing behind you again. If you leave your companion down and out in a deathclaw den and exit the cave, will your unconscious companion just poof behind you? Or will they remain unconscious forever until you go back for them? If they are stuck forever unconscious in a deathclaw den can you still release them so you can get another companion?

I really hope Todd and company have thought this all through.

Best solution would be a console command type menu in the options menu where you go into it a warning pops up saying that you could potentially break quests due to unessential NPC's and then checkmark what you want and don't want. Unkillable Companions would be one of those options. That's what I would do as a solution to both sides if I have the power.

I'm personally thinking that any type of hardcoe mode or whatever will probably be after the game is out in a patch.