Lack of cults

[Atomkilla]

Sex with ghouls would be as if you'd resurrect a (pretty old) corpse, and give it a personality, then have sex with it...sort of. To many people, that is.
Kinda creepy, but I guess people in the wastes do get desperate at the times...

However...

The whole approach in how ghouls were designed in Gamebryo is pathetic, if you ask me. Both feral and "normal".

Hell, in Fallout, when you're in Necropolis, those ghouls barely move without breaking some bone, and are pretty much just for the ammo-wasting. I felt sad while killing them, though...

But in Gamebryo games, not only do ghouls move as fast as professional atheletes, they are also strong. Very strong. Going so far that you can have your personal ghoul Schwarzenegger in Fallout 3.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah I remember those ghouls in one of the DLC in FO3, ripping you apart in 2-3 strikes and vomitting radiation-balls.

As for the rest, I still don't buy it. Ghouls are no zombies or walking corpses or whatever. The necrophilia stuff is utterly inane.

 

[Yamu]

I'd wager they needed a way to keep them intimidating to the player in real-time combat. Ghouls need to possess a strange synthesis of fragility and preternatural toughness that just isn't easy to carry over where circle-strafing is a possibility.

And actually, IIRC, feral ghouls aren't too far off from the aboveground hordes in Necropolis in FO1, when you think about it. A lot of them were shambling cadavers that could only move two or three hexes at a time, but I seem to remember most of those guys having crippled limbs to begin with. The ghouls that were in better condition could shuffle quite far in a turn-- farther than a character with an average Agility, if I recall-- which equates to a pretty good speed. They weren't great conversationalists, and they attacked on sight if you got too close. As much as I loathe how Bethesda handled ghouls, I've come to accept that ferals fit most of the major criteria.

(Still hate 'em. I've just come to accept that Bethsoft hit the mark about as much as they missed it in this case.)

 

[Atomkilla]

Ghouls are no zombies or walking corpses or whatever. The necrophilia stuff is utterly inane.

I agree with you that ghouls are no walking corpses (though they are close to that, to be honest), but necrophilia stuff isn't utterly insane.
It's just the way someone feels about it.

To banalise it, the idea of having sex with a half-rotten but still alive person is uncomfortable and repulsive to someone, which is completely understandable.
However, the other way around is understandable too.

And actually, IIRC, feral ghouls aren't too far off from the aboveground hordes in Necropolis in FO1, when you think about it. A lot of them were shambling cadavers that could only move two or three hexes at a time, but I seem to remember most of those guys having crippled limbs to begin with. The ghouls that were in better condition could shuffle quite far in a turn-- farther than a character with an average Agility, if I recall-- which equates to a pretty good speed.

True, and I agree, but, as Surf said, some of the things they did to ghouls in Gamebryo is way out of place.
Overall, the design of ghouls in Gamebryo is okay, if you ask me.

But still, they don't feel "ghouly" enough for me.
That's just the way I feel, though.

 

[Yamu]

I agree wholeheartedly. "Feel" is a big problem for Gamebryo and for modern gaming in general. Ghouls should evoke an almost Lovecraftian terror... mystery, the ancient past, man's fragility, moldering ruin, mortality... it probably seemed like too much effort to try and get something like that right when they had such a big wide wasteland to fill with crap. (And as typical of the fabled Glittering Gems bitterness as that may sound, it's made all the sadder by the fact that I didn't mean it viciously at all. It's the plain truth. They prioritized, and they did it differently than most of us would have).

Can you imagine ever again, with Fallout now being what it is, feeling the same admixture of quiet terror, wonder, and taboo as you did the first time you descended into The Glow? They can deliver a fine game, especially when "they" is "Obsidian," but things like this aren't a part of the package anymore. They came close with Dead Money, but the game's current mechanics impose a sense of immediacy that makes things tough in that regard. You can't design an experience with the intent of allowing your players to stew in their own psychological juices when they aren't allowed to step back and take their finger off the trigger every now and then.