...do you really want to be able to kill children

S

slit

First time out of the vault
Children? They're there. Will we be able to punish them with a minigun for not doing their homework? I'm afraid not. The developers gracefully evaded the questions about child-killing asked by a more insistent journalist. They answered with a question "...do you really want to be able to kill children?". In an official setting (where each and everyone is an undercover psychiatrist), you can only scream from the top of your lungs "Yes, I do!", so the discussion became a little uncomfortable and moved to safer waters. Like with what little cannons you can't kill the poor children with.
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I say this is the biggest hit against Fallout so far. Everything else I could somehow stomach without much hassle, you could even say I was rather optimistic. What pisses me off the most is the retardet manner in which he responds the journalist.

Yes, douchebag, I really want to be able to kill children!
 
Yeah, another crappy talk... "But why would you want to kill children, you sick fuck!?"
Yes, I want to have an option to kill kids and I want to kill them! They're frikkin kids in a computer game, bethesda isn't creating another reality! FFS!
 
You sad, twisted man. Everyone knows immortal NPC's are nextgen, not to mention, immersive. :whatever:
 
Heh. How does having killable children in a game affect its sell..ability and stuff? I know the children were removed from Fallout 2 in Germany, but otherwise, what? Does it's ESRB rating go up?
 
I wonder what's next...
"Do you really want to have an option to be bad guy?"

"Do you really want to have an option to change guns? Are you stupid or what?"

Heh. How does having killable children in a game affect its sell..ability and stuff? I know the children were removed from Fallout 2 in Germany
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Bah, AFAIK it was like this- Interplay decided to remove killable kids from the European versions of Fallout, so they weren't even removed by ESRB but by Interplay...

It's just another talk 'times have changed, dude, isometric and turn-based are in the past, so are killable kids, move with the times'.
Well, FU!
 
Neamos said:
Heh. How does having killable children in a game affect its sell..ability and stuff? I know the children were removed from Fallout 2 in Germany, but otherwise, what? Does it's ESRB rating go up?
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Yes. Killeable children in a high-profile game like Fallout 3 = Jack Thompson on your ass = ESRB rating of AO = not being on the shelves in many major outlets. Bethesda's reasoning is actually very logical, and I can understand it. I'd rather they just not put children in at all, like Tim Cain did with Fallout 1 in England/Germany (both of which were directly relate to high controversy or local law), but maybe they'll come up with a semi-creative solution, like not being able to kill children because they run away really fast.
 
Brother None said:
maybe they'll come up with a semi-creative solution, like not being able to kill children because they run away really fast.
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Yeah, nice idea, so... Do you really want to see kids on Jet?
 
Yes. Killeable children in a high-profile game like Fallout 3 = Jack Thompson on your ass = ESRB rating of AO = not being on the shelves in many major outlets. Bethesda's reasoning is actually very logical, and I can understand it. I'd rather they just not put children in at all, like Tim Cain did with Fallout 1 in England/Germany (both of which were directly relate to high controversy or local law), but maybe they'll come up with a semi-creative solution, like not being able to kill children because they run away really fast.
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Thanks for the detailed answer!
If it's this way, Bethesda's thinking and reasoning is understandable, however, "...do you really want to be able to kill children?!" is not.
 
Neamos said:
Thanks for the detailed answer!
If it's this way, Bethesda's thinking and reasoning is understandable, however, "...do you really want to be able to kill children?!" is not.
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I think they were just talked into a corner by a journalist an panicked.

But yeah, it's a bad answer. I think they dislike the thought of being overly honest on the topic, because game makers don't like giving the ESBR the impression that they're rolling over and surrendering, even though they are.
 
I can just imagine if a journalist had the guts to take it a bit further..

"Do you really want to kill children?"

"Yes."

"Killing children is immoral and wrong!"

"So is nuking an entire town full of innocent people. Presumably with children among them unless this is some sort of child free village of the damned or something."

"Um.. er.. uh.."
 
A good point. It's sick that the game features a deliberate act of genocidal terror as a prominent quest and decides to give immortality to an arbitrary chosen group of characters.

Actually, the main "attraction" of the demo is a possibility of committing an act of genocidal terror that makes 9/11 go pale.
 
Yeah, when it involves atom bombs and pretty graphics, they all say "Wow, what amazing particle effects... GotY, '08, right here!", however, killing a single child conjures up "What the fuck are you doing, you sick bastard?". They (journalists) don't think of all the possible casualties in said atomic weapon detonation, compared to the single, quick (although quite gruesome) death of a child. Perhaps they can't visualize an entire city get vaporized, so they can't help but be mesmerized by the pretty mushroom cloud of virtual death.
 
God I can't wait to nuke the fuck out of Megaton as a symbolic vengeance against the logic of it all.

Honestly I will see if I can hear some children from a nearby area towards Megaton just to nuke it and make a video capture of it and post it on youtube and then be like OMG look what Beth let me do!


On another note, I don't blame Bethsoft, I blame censorship committees.

Oh, and for the record, not only do I want to kill children, I want to be able to beat them do death with a sledgehammer, with all the in-game gory death animations, including a shattering skull and breakable limbs. This is the first mod I hope to see.
 
Although the inability to kill children is kind of lame, I can see why they'd do it. For that matter, even if Black Isle were making the game today they'd have to think twice about including killable children. This isn't 1997.

What worries me far more is the idea that all non-hostile NPCs will be unkillable. It's extremely un-fallout-like to only be able to shoot someone who actively wants to kill you, and it's extremely limiting. I really, really hope they change their minds about that before going gold. On the other hand, Knights of the Old Republic didn't let you kill non-hostiles either, and that game kicked ass regardless. On the other other hand, Bethesda is no Bioware.
 
PhoenixUltima said:
Although the inability to kill children is kind of lame, I can see why they'd do it. For that matter, even if Black Isle were making the game today they'd have to think twice about including killable children. This isn't 1997.
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Jesus...
Which part of "Deus Ex 2: Invisible Wars was released in 2003 and had killable kids" is so hard to grasp?
 
PhoenixUltima said:
Although the inability to kill children is kind of lame, I can see why they'd do it. For that matter, even if Black Isle were making the game today they'd have to think twice about including killable children. This isn't 1997.

What worries me far more is the idea that all non-hostile NPCs will be unkillable. It's extremely un-fallout-like to only be able to shoot someone who actively wants to kill you, and it's extremely limiting. I really, really hope they change their minds about that before going gold. On the other hand, Knights of the Old Republic didn't let you kill non-hostiles either, and that game kicked ass regardless. On the other other hand, Bethesda is no Bioware.
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Erm, they never said they'd go that route, and I'm pretty damned sure they aren't. They've said, on multiple occassions, that they want as few unkillable NPCs as possible. They aren't going to make non-hostile NPCs unkillable, except in exceptional, plot-critical events.
 
Black said:
PhoenixUltima said:
Although the inability to kill children is kind of lame, I can see why they'd do it. For that matter, even if Black Isle were making the game today they'd have to think twice about including killable children. This isn't 1997.
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Jesus...
Which part of "Deus Ex 2: Invisible Wars was released in 2003 and had killable kids" is so hard to grasp?
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You think that if someone brought it to Hillary's attention she wouldn't try to get it removed from shelves, even 4 years later?

I think it just went under the radar for the people that hate this stuff.

Or maybe it was the lack of gratuitous gore to accompany it?

I honestly hope that Bethsoft will at least TRY it before they give into the ESRB fear.
 
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