Forums » Fallout

Your opinion on ghouls... And the possibility of becoming one...

    • 7 posts
    November 20, 2015 10:26 AM EST

    I sent an email to Bethesda about ghouls... I shall copy and paste the email in its entirety so you can comment as to what your thoughts are... 

    I really enjoy fallout... And though I don't actually have fallout 4 yet... I had an idea... Maybe in a DLC or something... You could give players the opportunity to become a ghoul... Kinda like skyrim and vampires... I have been thinking about this for a while and I think it could work... Here's my idea, regular settlements and wastelanders would treat you much ruder and even bar entry into certain towns... However to make up for it... Feral ghouls will never attack you and may even help you against normal humans (like the animal friend perk) and radiation would no longer cause death but instead give buffs and healing... However too much rots your brain turning you feral so you would still have to load a new save...

    So thoughts, opinions, problems with the whole idea?

    PS because you (the player "owns"  the settlements you build becoming a ghoul would never be a problem there... A place like diamond city on the other hand... May initially bar entry until you possibly do a quest to enter

    • 649 posts
    November 20, 2015 10:45 AM EST

     Feral ghouls will never attack you and may even help you against normal humans (like the animal friend perk) and radiation would no longer cause death but instead give buffs and healing

    Ghoulish Perk in Endurance tree

    Rank 1: Sure, you're still human - on the outside! Radiation now regenerates your lost Health.

    Rank 2: Radiation now regenerates even more of your lost Health.

    Rank 3: Radiation now regenerates even more of your lost Health, and some Feral Ghouls will randomly become friendly.

    So this is perk that´s already in game. So almost half of the stuff your wrote is already there. Other things...well, there will be mods for it. They always are.

    • 7 posts
    November 20, 2015 10:55 AM EST

    Like I said... I don't have fallout 4 so there was no way for me to know that... I realize that's not an excuse... But still... I actually thought of this when new Vegas came out... But I spent a while refining it into what you see in the email... My idea is considerably different than that perk because you are no longer human your a ghoul...so it would add a little bit more insight into the plight of the non feral ghouls due to the amount of potential racism you would experience... 

    • 1217 posts
    November 20, 2015 11:38 AM EST

    Becoming a ghoul in-game wouldn't be appropriate for many reasons. Now I absolutely wouldn't mind having ghouls as part of character creation, like choosing a race in Elder Scrolls. But becoming one in game doesn't jive with lore. 

    1. Becoming a ghoul is 100% chance based. Being able to choose to do it goes against that
    2. Those who don't win the ghoul lottery just die.
    3. Unless the Commonwealth is unusually forward-thinking, ghouls are ostracized wherever they go
      • Many people won't even associate with ghouls, let alone deal with them
      • Gameplay would have to change significantly to accommodate these interactions. That's way more new lines than Bethesda would be willing to record.
    4. It would have to be permanent, or have a very well done story backing up the cure. Curing ghoulification would drastically change Fallout. If done, it needs to be done with care and attention that would take up way more time and attention than it's worth. Having the answer to ghoulification be a black soul gem fetch quest would make no sense.

    Ghouls don't work the same way people do, meaning the game has to be rebalanced to account for the shift in strengths/weaknesses. It just doesn't fit, and having 1 perk dedicated to it also doesn't make much sense; it's like starting to go down Skyrim's vampire perk tree path, but stopping at one perk. It makes players sink points needlessly (not every ghoul is highly durable) to get the perk, without actually offering any function other than "transforming" you. Even adding in a "ghoul tree" like Skyrim's werewolf/vamp trees still necessitates tons of other changes.

    tl;dr - Definitely don't want to see ghoul transformation. Character selection in a future game, sure, but not transformation.

  • November 20, 2015 12:49 PM EST

    I already eat corpses (ring of namira style) with the cannibal perk so it wouldn't make a difference to me. And you could just make your character really ugly and have them wear a sack on their head.

    • 7 posts
    November 20, 2015 1:08 PM EST

    Aye on my new Vegas runs especially playing hardcore mode... All of the stealth eating perks are in my opinion a necessity... Your companions don't actually care... And why waste a Stimpak when there's a viper gunslinger right in front of you... And you happen to be hungry... 

  • MrB
    • 1 posts
    November 20, 2015 1:23 PM EST

    Why would anybody want to play as a bag if rotting flesh? I'd rather play as a synth

    • 7 posts
    November 20, 2015 1:40 PM EST

    This is the response I just received... Did they even bother reading it?

    Man here I was expecting a serious reply about the potential problems or issues with it... Instead they never even read the damn thing

    Helping you is our passion!

    >
    > We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 96 hours (4 days).
    >
    > If your issue has not been resolved, you can respond directly to this email. We look forward to working with you again should you need us!
    >
    >
    > Thank you for contacting the Bethesda Team. If you are contacting us in regards to The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, please go to https://help.elderscrollsonline.com and login with your game login details to open a help ticket. This will assist our Support Team in addressing your issue more efficiently.
    >
    > If you are contacting us regarding another Bethesda title, please open a help ticket with our Technical Support Team by visiting http://help.bethesda.net and selecting "Ask Support".
    >
    > We also encourage you to review our Support Centers for some commonly asked questions in regards to issues you may be experiencing with your products. Our forums are also great places to check for answers to popular questions. You can check them out in the links below:

    And no I didn't send it to the customer service... I sent it to the bethsoftinfo email... Where they accept suggestions and comments

    • 12 posts
    November 20, 2015 5:10 PM EST

    Lol I would prefer to be a super mutant