Do you think it's possible to fail a mission in Dishonored?

What if I kill that doctor in the mission where you're supposed to kidnapp him? I think it would be cool if killing him was an alternate solution to that mission just like not killing targets are in other missions.

I mean, from previews we know the doctor has a girl caged up in is office. That would be enough for some people to say "f*** the mission" and just shot him on the spot. Would be nice to have the game respond to that and change the story/chaos instead of giving you a game over

Mission failed screens are not very fun, especially in a game that relies on simulation rather than scripting. But if later objectives are too spesific, to serve the story etc, then you have no choice but to include a mission failed feature

What do you prefer, simple objectives with all outcomes acceptable or more story specific objectives that are limited by a mission failed screen?

This is a tough one. It kinda contradicts with the other missions' alternative options. Yes the twins can be send to their own coal mines instead of being killed but doesn't that serve the same purpose? I mean, it's poetic justice and all and technically they don't die but you get rid of them in the long run. So that's a mission success. So, if the people who are helping you or whatever don't want you to kill him, what could happen? Maybe they will script some dialogue while you're walking with him and he starts tempting you into killing him?

There are a lot of interesting ways they can go with that. What if you can threathen the twins in The Golden Cat level? You don't kill them you just display your raw power and they offer you a deal. That can be awesome and it can affect the story later on. There are a lot of game desing ideas that always go into a game like this. For example, if you kill the doctor, he might have been a bastard but he does save lives. A couple of innocent people die because of it and your Chaos increases, thus changing the world around you.

There are literally a ton of options they can go on, but once again I am afraid to go with the development time card. It's really a big issue. I have only worked on one title and I was brought pretty late in the development process and I still found it a giant pain. I have a lot of developer friends and when I ask them about their work they, for the most part, feel like changing the subject. I always ask them about a game that resembles real life events and the randomness/chaotic events that occur and how hard they are to program. It's really hard, even for minor things like the ones I mentioned.

With all that said, I really like the way you think but I am pretty sure that topic has been discussed when starting work on the game. We need an answer from a developer to see what they decided on. If it's like Thief and you break one rule of your mission assignments, it's Game Over. I always want to encourage developers to make gamers learn from their mistakes and not issue the Mission Failed screen and calling it a day. There is also the issue of the story aspect in that, is Corvo really going to do this? We need to know the character in and out to be able to do this option. That is speaking within context.

Like I said at the beggining this is a tough topic and I am sure we can discuss it endlessly. I really like the idea and I have had some thoughts about it but I wouldn't keep my hopes up unfortunately.

Yes, you can fail a mission. It has been specifically stated that if you kill Sokolov, you will fail the mission. Yes, it would be cool to have the game react to whatever you do, but it would be hell from a development and programming standpoint.

I want to ask where have you guys read about this doctor Sokolov fellow? I seem to have missed it.

K, thanks makatak for confirmation. As you both stated too many options would have been a developement hell, at least if the doctor is closesly linked to the story. It could have been the case that you only needed the doctor for some plauge medicine etc, in such a case killing him would only give you more chaos and a "now we have to make it ourselves" line from the mission guys. So, as I said, developement hell in this case all depends on how story heavy the actual objectives are.

He was in earlier previews, and a mission involving him as a abductee has been making the rounds in a bunch of online previews/impressions. No full video of the level yet, but we have a picture of him on the wiki!
Yeah, I assume you kidnap him for information on rat plague cures, probably to make him manufacture his anti-plague elixirs for the cause of good

OK, thanks for the information! I will check out the wiki and play around in google for a while.

I assume the only way to fail an assassination mission would be to die... With the abductions, if the abductee dies you could fail, but who knows, maybe the story changes instead? This is unlikely however as it isn't a traditional RPG.

No, it has been stated in previews that if you kill an abductee, you will fail the mission

What If I die?

Mission failed. I don't understand what else they would do, revive you and bring you back to life even though you're a wanted criminal?

There has also been talk of a level where you will be at a masked ball and you're only to do recon. If you deviate from normal behavior, I would think that would trigger a mission failed scenario also.

Edit: Inaccurate terminology.

I'd love to see a mission failed screen when you blotch a mission while possessing a rat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlM60Nwc6CE