Redstag Deer - Is this a joke?

[Irwin John Finster]

The best is when Piper is with me and I use her as bait for those Super Mutant Suiciders with their mini-nuke bombs. She just screams "my leg!" and survives while everything around her is dead.

Not complaining, escorts/companions SHOULD be immortal in these cases where the AI is too stupid to live (Deacon cannot kill a deer), just funny.

 

[Ben Soto]

I can't name a single game that does escort missions properly. Why are they so hard to develop?

I don't know for sure, but the only escort missions I've ever seen work properly are ones where the escorted are invincible, with the illusion of being killable. That or they're in a car.

AI just hasn't progressed to that point yet. And yes, yes, "it's 2015". That means nothing. It just hasn't progressed to that point yet. I saw plenty of parts where Elizabeth in Infinite or Ellie in The Last of Us would've been killed had they not been made invincible.

AI is probably the slowest technology in gaming to develop. F4 has remarkable good AI for an open-world FPS. The weird thing is that friendly NPCs always have worse AI than enemies.

 

[Gizmojunk]

The best is when Piper is with me and I use her as bait for those Super Mutant Suiciders with their mini-nuke bombs. She just screams "my leg!" and survives while everything around her is dead.

Not complaining, escorts/companions SHOULD be immortal in these cases where the AI is too stupid to live (Deacon cannot kill a deer), just funny.

I actually disagree here. Depending on the NPC character, they can (and some should) be naive or a hindrance in combat. Consider Myron in Fallout 2. His value was being a science and chemical engineering prodigy ~not a capable adventurer. The PC would rightly have to keep him safe in any fight ~where he's clueless and inept; failure simply means that they lose him as a resource.


**Here is where Charisma and leadership perks should have been used to form a balanced influence over the NPCs during combat; and where the PC should have had the option to loosely [unreliably ~depending on the NPC's level of panic/rebellion level; or lack of military training]... command the NPCs if they saw fit.

 

[Irwin John Finster]

The best is when Piper is with me and I use her as bait for those Super Mutant Suiciders with their mini-nuke bombs. She just screams "my leg!" and survives while everything around her is dead.

Not complaining, escorts/companions SHOULD be immortal in these cases where the AI is too stupid to live (Deacon cannot kill a deer), just funny.

I actually disagree here. Depending on the NPC character, they can (and some should) be naive or a hindrance in combat. Consider Myron in Fallout 2. His value was being a science and chemical engineering prodigy ~not a capable adventurer. The PC would rightly have to keep him safe in any fight ~where he's clueless and inept; failure simply means that they lose him as a resource.


**Here is where Charisma and leadership perks should have been used to form a balanced influence over the NPCs during combat; and where the PC should have had the option to loosely [unreliably ~depending on the NPC's level of panic/rebellion level; or lack of military training]... command the NPCs if they saw fit.

I see what you mean. In Wasteland 2 having mortal companions worked well, and it really felt like that entire game was meant to be experienced as an entirely organic experience where you roll with the punches and take the hits along the way rather than save scumming/reloading if a character dies. The game was designed to let you craft a narrative in a playthrough, then craft a different one in a different playthrough. That is quality role-playing.

In games like Bioshock and Fallout 4 I just don't think it would work because Fallout 4's companion AI is remarkably stupid. As I've said, Piper loves fighting Super Mutant Suiciders and Deacon can't kill a deer with a sniper rifle, and having these people die through awful AI programming is a hindrance to the game rather than a complement.

And I do like that you brought up Leadership perks because that worked really well in Wasteland 2. But again, Wasteland 2 is an actual Role Playing Game and it really lends itself to allowing for mortal NPCs. Fallout 4 was unfortunately not crafted with such care, which is sad because I'd hope 7 years of development they would be able to account for mortal NPCs and have the story react properly.

 

[GlutinousRice]

That reminds me of the companions you can recruit in Dwarf Fortress Adventure mode. They will rush and attack any wild animals on sight, and it's kind of difficult to keep track on them, especially at night when you can't see more than 5 tiles ahead. I've lost god knows how many of them by leaving them to their fate or just behind.