Enemy bodies disappearing right away or turning into bags of loot.

[Hegemon]

It really breaks the immersion for me since part of the fun is seeing all the carnage after the battle while you pick through the loot. So here's hoping PE doesn't go that route.

[Alexjh]

I do prefer bodies to linger for a while, at least until resting, also perhaps have the bodies stay as lootable "containers" rather than everything being dropped in a heat when they die. ITs satisfying to be standing on a big heat of slain enemies, especially if some are interesting ones.

[Frenetic Pony]

This was due to technical limitations, having to do with not turning the game into a stuttering mess/crashing/etc.

 

Since computers have advanced a full decade (via Moores law being 32x as powerful) I'd love to see an option just to keep all bodies laying around permanently.

[Lephys]

This was due to technical limitations, having to do with not turning the game into a stuttering mess/crashing/etc.

 

Since computers have advanced a full decade (via Moores law being 32x as powerful) I'd love to see an option just to keep all bodies laying around permanently.

 

Well, you could, perhaps, expect SOME kind of not-perfectly-realistically-determined disappearance of the bodies, after some decent minimum amount of time has passed. Depending on where you are, I'd be happy with a 1-day period. Maybe if it was a big battle with 30 dead littering the ground, you'd see remnants of bodies there still. Bones and tattered garments and blood stains? But, I mean, unless you're out in the middle of nowhere, where no one else will probably travel for the next year, some organized town/government/faction is probably going to get the body off the road and burn it or something so it doesn't fester and spread disease to other travelers, and/or bandits will loot all its belongings and toss it in a river, and/or ants and crows and maggots and stray cats will devour it.

 

And I wouldn't expect the developers to go into such detail that, every 5 hours, were you to return to the same location, you find that 7% more of the remains are gone or something. I don't expect the body to just lie there for 3,000 years and weather like a temple ruin or something. Heh.

 

__________________________________________

 

And for today's Joke du Jour, do you know what the bodies of enemy bards turn into?

 

...

...

...

...

Bags of lute.

 

It's not my fault. I have horrendously low Charisma. u_u

Edited November 20, 2012 by Lephys

[DCParry]

I see what you are saying, but on the flip side (besides the technical limitations) there are interface issues. For example, recently replaying Fallout 3 with the DLC, I was unable to collect all the steel ingots because I killed two trogs and a wildman on top of a couple ingots, and their bodies nicely blocked me from getting the ingots (which I tried for an hour to get, using all sorts of explosives and other shenanigans).

 

Also, there is immersion and there is immersion. Should areas with a lot of dead bodies attract scavengers? After a day or two should traveling through an area with a number of dead bodies result in penalties because of the putrid stench? What about looters? What about smart looters, who learn you are two steps away from being a sociopathic war crime and start following you around to pick clean your victims? Wouldn't that make sneaking up on your enemies tough when you have a legion of dirty camp followers who picking over all the lint and yarn you left in your enemies pockets?

 

That last part was just teasing of course. ;-)

[Tamerlane]

Yeah, I'd like to see bodies disappear when you leave and reenter an area, or... something like that. Some sort of complex system would be cool and all, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

Borderlands 2 had a couple minor sidequests where unimportant townspeople died, but their bodies stayed there for the entire game. For more than half the game, some random guy is lying dead on the street in the middle of town. **** was weird, yo.

[Pipyui]

Fully persistent corpses aren't good because they can cause save bloating, but I'm not sure that was expected. I would of course like to see corpses persistent within a game session, or at least until I leave an area, and scavenger birds when I return to a battlefield would be awesome.

Someone already pointed out though that the UI managment of this would be aweful. Perhaps you can tab between corpses / fleshy loot bags?

The borderlands 2 idea would be good for boss encounters and the like. Leave the giant corpses lying around for posterity.

[Lephys]

I see what you are saying, but on the flip side (besides the technical limitations) there are interface issues. For example, recently replaying Fallout 3 with the DLC, I was unable to collect all the steel ingots because I killed two trogs and a wildman on top of a couple ingots, and their bodies nicely blocked me from getting the ingots (which I tried for an hour to get, using all sorts of explosives and other shenanigans).

 

Also, there is immersion and there is immersion. Should areas with a lot of dead bodies attract scavengers? After a day or two should traveling through an area with a number of dead bodies result in penalties because of the putrid stench? What about looters? What about smart looters, who learn you are two steps away from being a sociopathic war crime and start following you around to pick clean your victims? Wouldn't that make sneaking up on your enemies tough when you have a legion of dirty camp followers who picking over all the lint and yarn you left in your enemies pockets?

 

That last part was just teasing of course. ;-)

 

I might be mistaken, but, for what it's worth, I think you could actually grab bodies by their limbs with the "pick up item in a literal sense, not the add-to-inventory sense" button and drag them off of each other to get to loot.

 

Also, I apologize if there was confusion, but I was actually stating that some kind of complex corpse-removal system is entirely unnecessary and not worth the coding time. I was trying to say that, since there are a bajillion factors that contribute to a body not just lying around as-is for weeks on end, the best thing would probably be to just simplify it and have the body vanish after a certain amount of game time (maybe a day at the longest). I don't think it should be just after leaving the area, because if you take 3 steps, then come right back because you forgot to check something, there should be no reason those dead bandits aren't still there. Literally like 10 minutes has passed. I was only suggesting the possibility of some corpse remnants that would amount to scenery (bone bits, like you always see in animal lairs and caves in RPGs, maybe some blood and a couple of tattered garment/backpack remains) if there was a particularly large battle somewhere. Like, if you annihilate an entire bandit outpost, and you come back to it a week later, and it's still uninhabited, there should probably be maybe some evidence that 50 people died in that 70x70 foot area.

 

After that one day period, though (or maybe less? Whatever you want to set it to, really), the corpses are either gone as if they were never there, OR you have some remains dotting the ground now. It would be pretty simple, really.

[DCParry]

I see what you are saying, but on the flip side (besides the technical limitations) there are interface issues. For example, recently replaying Fallout 3 with the DLC, I was unable to collect all the steel ingots because I killed two trogs and a wildman on top of a couple ingots, and their bodies nicely blocked me from getting the ingots (which I tried for an hour to get, using all sorts of explosives and other shenanigans).

 

Also, there is immersion and there is immersion. Should areas with a lot of dead bodies attract scavengers? After a day or two should traveling through an area with a number of dead bodies result in penalties because of the putrid stench? What about looters? What about smart looters, who learn you are two steps away from being a sociopathic war crime and start following you around to pick clean your victims? Wouldn't that make sneaking up on your enemies tough when you have a legion of dirty camp followers who picking over all the lint and yarn you left in your enemies pockets?

 

That last part was just teasing of course. ;-)

 

I might be mistaken, but, for what it's worth, I think you could actually grab bodies by their limbs with the "pick up item in a literal sense, not the add-to-inventory sense" button and drag them off of each other to get to loot.

 

Also, I apologize if there was confusion, but I was actually stating that some kind of complex corpse-removal system is entirely unnecessary and not worth the coding time. I was trying to say that, since there are a bajillion factors that contribute to a body not just lying around as-is for weeks on end, the best thing would probably be to just simplify it and have the body vanish after a certain amount of game time (maybe a day at the longest). I don't think it should be just after leaving the area, because if you take 3 steps, then come right back because you forgot to check something, there should be no reason those dead bandits aren't still there. Literally like 10 minutes has passed. I was only suggesting the possibility of some corpse remnants that would amount to scenery (bone bits, like you always see in animal lairs and caves in RPGs, maybe some blood and a couple of tattered garment/backpack remains) if there was a particularly large battle somewhere. Like, if you annihilate an entire bandit outpost, and you come back to it a week later, and it's still uninhabited, there should probably be maybe some evidence that 50 people died in that 70x70 foot area.

 

After that one day period, though (or maybe less? Whatever you want to set it to, really), the corpses are either gone as if they were never there, OR you have some remains dotting the ground now. It would be pretty simple, really.

 

Unfortunately my gauss rifle had reduced the corpse to gooey bits that were for some reason unmoveable. Oh well.

 

Anyways, I like the idea of a day in game time or something for corpse decomposition.

[TheDogProfessor]

Fallout 1 & 2 had bodies after killing someone so it shouldn't be a tech problem nowadays. I would love to see the same bloody mess after carnage my party makes. Body's can disappear after party leaves the area (for example a city street, but maybe not in dungeon unless there is something that can eat corpses still alive). And the corpses should be more detailed than in fallout after death, blood, insides and all the fun stuff.

 

Second.

[SGray]

It isn't a tech problem it's looting interface problem indeed. Overlapping bodies or loot bags with loot you don't want to pick up could be hard to sort through. Loot bags are just smaller and overlap less. Could be solved if there would be "ground" in inventory interface. But either way there could be dead bodies as graphics and loot bags. And it wouldn't be hard or too resource consuming (nowadays) to tie body disappearance to in-game time, a day-two decay time or so.

[clippedwolf]

No magically disappearing bodies please.

[Atreides]

Maybe there's a quest after someone notices that the dead bodies left behind disappear as soon as they leave an area...

[jivex5k]

I'd like the option of chopping up corpses for meat.

[Tsuga C]

Disappearing bodies and loot bags manifesting themselves have never really bothered me. I appreciate the fact that it saves on computer resources and lets me run the game at a higher level of detail and that it speeds up the chore of looting the remains.

[GhostofAnakin]

Yeah, I'd like to see bodies disappear when you leave and reenter an area, or... something like that. Some sort of complex system would be cool and all, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

I'm in favor of this. Bodies remain there until you leave the area.

[Lephys]

It isn't a tech problem it's looting interface problem indeed. Overlapping bodies or loot bags with loot you don't want to pick up could be hard to sort through.

 

There are ways around this. The interface could keep track of the number of bodies/containers that are lootable, FOR you, rather than relying purely on camera-line-of-sight clicking to determine what you loot and what you don't. Perhaps whenever things are overlapping (or even too close for comfort), you could be provided with loot options (corpse A, corpse B, corpse C) and or simply color-code the various lootables in the list(pouch, pouch, pouch). Although, you'd run into unnecessary issues with colorblind folk, so maybe the lettering is best.

 

Or, you could always simply implement a "drag-a-lootable" feature. Or a "scatter this pile of lootables" option that causes your character to go ahead and separate them enough to all be easily looted (rather than having you manually drag each thing.) Or have some kind of simplistic corpse-collision, so they don't all occupy the same space when they fall, and containers and such that drop to the ground and land upon other things would slide off to the side. I don't even care if it's perfectly realistic or not if it works, doesn't really cause any issues, and alleviates the lootable-overlapping problem.

 

OR, just show a loot list for everything that's overlapping, with indication at the top that the current list is from multiple lootables, and what those lootables are. Etc.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Lephys

[Varithus]

Fallout 1 & 2 had bodies after killing someone so it shouldn't be a tech problem nowadays. I would love to see the same bloody mess after carnage my party makes. Body's can disappear after party leaves the area (for example a city street, but maybe not in dungeon unless there is something that can eat corpses still alive). And the corpses should be more detailed than in fallout after death, blood, insides and all the fun stuff.

 

Actually very good idea. Let bodies disappear realistically. Guards removed them from streets, corpses eating thingies. Great idea!

 

Whatever you do - please don't make magically disappearing bodies! It's really annoying and sooo last century Besides there is nothing better then to realize how many enemies were slain by looking on the battlefield.

 

Or at least make this feature modable / customizable.

[SGray]

so maybe the lettering is best.

Reasonable enough. But such enumeration feels gamey.

 

Or, you could always simply implement a "drag-a-lootable" feature. ... Or have some kind of simplistic corpse-collision

Mua-ha-ha!

Object collision and dragging is never a small thing. In addition if corpses simply fly away unrealistically to avoid collisions why to let them here at all? --> This leads to complex algorithm solely for solving the task of placing bodies artistically and conveniently looting them.

 

if it works, doesn't really cause any issues

 

Or a "scatter this pile of lootables" option that causes your character to go ahead and separate them enough to all be easily looted (rather than having you manually drag each thing.)

Confined spaces? Overlapping with trigger or travel zones?

 

OR, just show a loot list for everything that's overlapping, with indication at the top that the current list is from multiple lootables, and what those lootables are. Etc.

This. Good idea.

Edited November 21, 2012 by SGray

[Jarmo]

Permanent corpses can be real stupid.

 

Skyrim does have this and it's real immersion breaking to assassinate someone in a tavern and loot their stuff,

only to find the body is still the floor a week later and nobody seems to mind it anymore. A while yes, and it's nice

to see passerbys start wondering what's happened or guards to raise alarm when seeing the body, but...

 

Fallout 2 was real good about this actually. All bodies remain as long as you're there, but when you come later

there's only stains on the floor alongside the loot.

 

Actually I'd prefer the loot to disappear as well, in a few days, as well as everything you drop on the ground yourself.

But I'd like the discarded stuff to reappear in the local pawn shop or some other location.

[Laakeririkko]

Jagged Alliance 2 dealt this with perfection i think. All bodies remained on the ground, but if you spent much time there bodies started to rot and crows started gathering there. And that game is from year 2000.

[rjshae]

Fallout 2 was real good about this actually. All bodies remain as long as you're there, but when you come later

there's only stains on the floor alongside the loot.

Yes, I was thinking along those lines. The body is dragged off to be eaten elsewhere (or buried), but the blood stains on the ground would remain for some time afterward. They could enhance the sequence with partly consumed corpses from time to time, followed by scattered bones.

[Atreides]

Shouldn't it be context-sensitive? A city may scrub the stains out fast, and lingering remains make more sense in the isolated outdoors.

[pipboy2000]

Jagged Alliance 2 dealt this with perfection i think. All bodies remained on the ground, but if you spent much time there bodies started to rot and crows started gathering there. And that game is from year 2000.

 

This is the way it should be done, in my opinion! (I wanted to write exactly that example, but i wasn't sure anymore if that happened in Jagged Alliance 2 or Fallout 1/2)

 

In city areas, the corpses should "vanish" after a short period of time (one day maybe) for the simple fact, that corpses in a city don't go unnoticed and would be "cleaned" away.

 

In wild areas, maybe 3 stages should be done: 1. corpse remains on the ground, 2. rotten corpse, maybe with some carrion eaters around, 3. vanish as well

 

P.S.: Talking about immersion: I can still remember when i went back to an area, where a fierce battle had taken place some days ago, for the first time in Jagged Alliance 2 and the rotting corpses lay around... That was so very atmospheric and cool (and a little bit disgusting), that I think PE should have a system like this aswell.

 

P.P.S.: I was searching the web for a JA2 screenshot that illustrates, what Laakeririkko was talking about and that is the best a could come up with (sadly, no crows):

 

A JA2 battlefield revisited, after some time has passed:

 

Edited November 22, 2012 by pipboy2000

[Aldereth]

Jagged Alliance 2 dealt this with perfection i think. All bodies remained on the ground, but if you spent much time there bodies started to rot and crows started gathering there. And that game is from year 2000.

 

Probably the best way to handle it, this way you won't have permanent body to hog resources. The body will become a skeletal remains kind of thing.