As a big fan of the Elder Scrolls and Bethesda in general, am I the only one who wishes for an alternative to Essential NPCs? I understand why there is a big problem when it comes to keeping NPC's alive, in any game, but is there not a possible solution to keeping said NPCs alive rather than making their flesh and bone immune to sword and spell? How about just a simple "You have failed your Quest" screen appearing and forcing the player to restart from an earlier save, or how about the storyline changing if an essential NPC is killed, although, that would probably cause even more problems, for example, lets say that the player accidently turned Martin Septim into a sheep in TES: IV and killed said sheep - Poof! there goes the entire game. The reason I want more peoples opinion on this matter is because during my playthroughs of Skyrim I find myself extremely annoyed by certain Essential NPCs, particularly Maven Black-Briar [although I'm not sure anybody actually likes that corrupt, smug, complete and utter **** of a woman].
So, Essential NPCs, good or bad? (Sorry for by bad English.)