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So I shot a tranq dart into someone's head and I got the Merciful Soul bonus, but then when I go up to loot the corpse, his icon shows a skull, does that mean he's dead and I just screwed up my pacifist attempt?

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☠ = Dead. No doubt about it. I suppose the question to consider is "Does the game consider this my fault?" –  CyberSkull Sep 5 '11 at 4:02
Is...is it just me or is that tranquilizer dart sticking out of his ear? :( –  Mana Sep 5 '11 at 4:26
Dead. This happened to me on the last section of the game (tranq'd a dude who fell down and died), and I didn't notice until I backtracked through the area again. By that point, I'd saved over any chance of undoing it, so my pacifist attempt was ruined. –  Jordaan Mylonas Sep 5 '11 at 5:25
@Mana — I'm no expert, but I'm going to guess that's why he's dead. o.O –  Ben Blank Sep 5 '11 at 8:28
Argh.. I had the same thing happening to me and I'm sure of that this is why I DIDN'T get the pacifist achievement. I refuse to play through the game again :/ –  user12222 Sep 5 '11 at 14:35
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2 Answers

up vote 19 down vote accepted

He looks dead. Normally if someone is knocked out they have a "Zzz" icon instead of the skull... you're not a pacifist. Load save.

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losing pacifist doesn't really bother me, it just means I can now use more 'interesting' weapons >:) –  spartacus Sep 5 '11 at 12:07
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It actually is a little grey here.

Sometimes the game bugs out in two different ways.

The first way is that the guy dies from the fall (of like 2 feet), which isn't supposed to ever happen.

The second way is that some people show the skull while they're actually knocked out.

It's safer to load the save again, but some people have continued on after seeing someone they knocked out with a skull and have still received the achievement.

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Also, apparently some members of the DRB bug out a lot more commonly than anyone else, like you probably won't see the bug the rest of the game, but you might see it on 3 DRB members. –  Mr Smooth Sep 5 '11 at 8:09
I've also had at least 2 places with DRB members who "warp" through floor to detect me (1 spot and it was only alarmed). And another guy standing above a sewer exit why I looked up, but he was gone, when I climbed out of it. –  Holger Sep 5 '11 at 9:18
I managed to knock a Harvester through the wall with a concussion grenade. It literally went off, and the poor sod staggered through a wall. –  Raven Dreamer Sep 5 '11 at 14:39
I had a guy die on me when another guy I made a takedown on fell into him. –  Thrillho Sep 5 '11 at 14:44
your best way judging whether you just killed someone or you knocked them out is to watch out for the 'Merciful' xp bonus which pops up on your screen. If you don't get it then you killed the guy. this works with the tranq rifle and the stun gun too i believe. –  OrioN Sep 7 '11 at 18:48
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