Firefall adds pets for you to cuddle... and kill

Just in case you thought Firefall was going to be nothing but guns, ammo, and models toting guns and ammo, Red 5 wants us to know that there's a softer side to the game for those who love fluff. Talking with Shacknews, Mark Kern revealed that the shooter MMO will include a pet system for grizzled combat veterans who can't bear to leave the base without the security of Rygel and Princess Pebbles.

Of course, this being a red-blooded shooter, Firefall's pet system can't stop with extended grooming and cuddles. "We had had to do little things to actually make it interesting," Kern explained. "Not only can you get a pet, but we're thinking that there's actually an item you can buy in the store to load your gun with special ammunition so you actually shoot the other guy's pet."

Red 5 will be hosting an upcoming promotion starting on Wednesday called Crystite Challenge that will give fans a chance to get into the beta and unlock a Penny Arcade "The Merch" pet.

"The Merch is awesome because he's all about merchandising and he fits with our item-based theme," Kern said. Firefall is currently in beta and gearing up for a December launch. Curious onlookers would do well to check out Massively's hands-on impressions of the title from PAX.

Reader Comments (25)

so long as the pets burst into confetti when they die. nothing grizzly.

Can we put a lazer helmet on them?

@drunkingamebar

Minipets with frickin laserbeams, minime!?!?

Hey this is all the people just finding out about firefall I suggest you guys head over to the firefall community forums to gain more information about the pets and the games. And well just to chill with fans and the devs :D

Someone can kill my pet?! I've suffered enough pet heartbreak in my life. I can't allow this.

@Apakal

My only hope is that the ammo is super expensive and that once used, you can't use regular people killing bullets for X amount of time, so I can mercilessly claim vengeance. Over and over again...

Jerks... Leave Mr. Wiggles alone!

@Apakal
It is not killing its despawning so you will still have it just not be able to spawn it for x amount of time atleast that is how I understood it

@Apakal You must protect your pets from the cruelty of the digital world. I hope they have emotes and can be annoying if people can shoot my pet or they have mini-games of pet combat.

sounds intresting, but wouldn't like somebody to just kill my pets.
is there any griefer protection from this?

@Psychotic Storm The grief protection is that you'd probably have to pay real money to temporarily disable someone's pet. I'd be okay with someone continually shooting my pet if I knew that they were paying the devs for the privilege.

@Archetyped

Temporary disabled I am ok with kill as in pet is deleted from existence I am not.

of course the first is not really grief proof but less impacting, still I can see a feature be not in use because there is a bunch of griefers specifically targeting player pets, which is sad, although an extreme possibility.

@Psychotic Storm
It is phrased despawn so I would really doubt that it is going to litterally kill the persons pet. But if each bullet costs money I doubt griefer would adopt this practice as they wouldnt want to spend money. If there is a griefer who does I would definetly love the person trying to "grief" me because I would see it as 5 bucks per dead pet in the hands of the dev

Killing someones pets sounds less amusing and more..annoying

@NeoWolfen

Well I know after the first few times I will not bother to have any pet around.

Killing the pets is completely unacceptable. Seriously, what in the world are people thinking... Well pvp-type games, yes I can see where this would fall into that mindset...

i've heard they are going to add special effects to the different types of ammo you can use to kill/despawn the pets. Bullets that make them go Squish, or Burn, or maybe confetti pops out like Chuckasucka suggested.

Also, I'd like to see Red5 make a contest where they allow a player to designe a pet. Maybe do it once a quarter. Maybe even sell the oppertunity in thier cash store for that.

This is an awesome idea, as long as they stay out of PvP. I like the thought of legions of trolls running around with special pet-slaying ammo, slaughtering pets for fun, each shot supporting Red5.

I hope the pets remain Firefall-themed, though. Like a tiny Merch wearing a battleframe!

Obviously not my type of game then.

We must form PETVA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Virtual Animals)! But no seriously, I'd want to see how many times I could get my pet blown up in a day. I would name him Mr. Splodey :D

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Firefall adds pets for you to cuddle... and kill

Reader Comments (25)

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 4:38PM chuckasucka said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 8:50PM drunkingamebar said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 10:50PM chuckasucka said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 5:12PM Deva said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 5:20PM Apakal said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 6:20PM Apakal said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 6:51PM Deva said

Posted: Sep 20th 2011 10:07AM Zerogrifter said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 5:22PM Psychotic Storm said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 7:29PM Archetyped said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 7:52PM Psychotic Storm said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 10:02PM Deva said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 5:28PM NeoWolfen said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 7:54PM Psychotic Storm said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 5:30PM Saker said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 6:54PM TheJayde said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 7:00PM TheJayde said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 7:28PM Archetyped said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 8:13PM Squidsnthings said

Posted: Sep 19th 2011 8:33PM (Unverified) said

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