[PunchyHamster]

In time since Oblivion we got games like Divinity: Original sin 1/2 where you can kill pretty much every character in the game and it will still be finishable.

The essential NPCs could also be flagged essential, or maybe have a variation of that flag where only way given character dies is if say 1/4 of the damage dealt to character is from player (so NPC can't accidentally kill important NPC basically).

Also, radiant AI can also just... not run on the plot significant NPCs.

Finally, Bethesda games aren't known from main story being the main selling point.

[tsimionescu]

I think it's more than essential NPCs though. Already in Oblivion those couldn't die anyway (Morrowind was the last TES game where you could get locked out of finishing the main story if you killed the wrong NPC).

But fully emergent behavior would likely destroy some player's experience in other ways - towns without shopkeeps, most quests ruined, little staged moments going away, etc.

[int_19h]

> you can kill pretty much every character in the game and it will still be finishable.

That was true before Oblivion, as well. Arcanum let you get away with that, for example. If I remember correctly, so did Fallout 2 aside from the starting village.