Forum:Have people gone missing?

Okay, so I'm on my second playthrough and something seems off. I could swear there were more people in certain areas and now they've gone missing. There are two less quarry workers at Sloan, the bodyguard at the Freeside north gate is missing, leaving only the King guard there (and Orris until you do G.I. Blues), and the Mick & Ralph's crier kid is gone. Now, maybe you could play off that the other guys got killed or something, but kids can't die so that doesn't explain why the crier is no longer there, as this new PC has only just gotten to Freeside. So is it just me that's noticed this or has anyone else noticed NPCs that were once in the game suddenly vanishing? Did Bethesda decide to remove them during one of the patches, and if so for what purpose? I haven't noticed anyone important gone yet, maybe there won't be, but it just seemed odd to me. Any thoughts?

Well, in Fallout 3 people would just vanish from Megaton. I remember Lucy West died on my first playthrough, before I ever met her. In another playthrough, the old guy who repairs and lives in the water plant (I forget his name) - also in Megaton - died too. Apparently there was some bug that'd make characters disappear and appaear dead in some random locations around the Capital Wasteland. Mind you though, none of the NPCs were children. Maybe the same thing is happening here. I don't actually remember if it was fixable, or how it was fixed, but it was probably in a patch. Sorry I can't be of much help. --Tag! 06:44, September 22, 2011 (UTC)

Well, a patch removed a handful of NPCs from some place to make the game more stable. It's also the one that edited Freeside. Xporc 07:06, September 22, 2011 (UTC)

I blame Dermot and Saint James. o_O (Actually the patch, as Xporc says.) --FourWayDiablo(talk) 20:14, September 23, 2011 (UTC)

You know what else I noticed recently on my second playthrough? There are ALOT less feral ghoul troopers roaming around Camp Searchlight. Kind of made the quest there much easier. 02:43, September 24, 2011 (UTC)

Well I know for me, Old Lady Gibson just rocked up dead at Helios one with a bunch of mole-rats around her, so the random death idea sounds right - but you're right the kid thing is weird.

^(Not me) Well one thing I noticed after an update, forgetting which one, 2nd to the last I think, was that Dr. Ada Straus in Novac lost her 2 Mercenaries, the one's that say, "She hasn't paid me anything yet, should I be worried!?" & "I don't think she studied at an acredited institution." Too bad, they looked pretty cool since I had Reverse Pickpocketed NCR Ranger Combat Armors onto them... They weren't killed since a friend of mine noticed the same thing, & the nearby Glowing One that was on the road heading to REPCONN Test Site was also removed...--T-51bBoSPaladin 03:49, September 26, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah I noticed they were gone too. Also there is one less NCR trooper guarding the 188 trading outpost and one less Gun Runner guard there too. Come on, put these people back in the game! Its not really helping to speed up the lag. I go to Westside and it still lags like s***. 03:20, September 27, 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I forgot to mention. You know who else is missing? The Drill Sergeant at Camp McCarran and the grunts he was training, yet the obstacle course is still there. Without the Drill Sergeant there, that stuff in the middle of the airport just seems out of place. And who is gonna train the new meat if there is no Drill Sergeant? 04:15, September 28, 2011 (UTC)

If they weren’t essential to any quest I don’t see what difference it makes. What they should have done was get rid of all those respawning fiends. Once Nephi, Cook-Cook, Violet and Motor Runner are all dead there’s really no logical reason for them to be constantly respawning in such great numbers. ReapTheChaos 16:33, September 28, 2011 (UTC)