Dead blues?

[Yimnam]

Hi. Im curious how are you dealing with death of your character? Are you jumping into new game, or maybe need few weeks or months to get over it?

I personally get attached to my character like my own life depend on it and need some time to stop being angry at myself. Pretty fresh because I lost my last character from hypothermia at 99 day standing almost at gold mine in Ash Canyon just because it felt too close to step back. (I'm 100% sure this is why most of people die in mountains xD)

[artmunki]

For me it's been different with different deaths. Sometimes I've just immediately started a new run, sometimes I've left it a day or two, and at least once I've taken maybe a few weeks break, destressing in other games, before starting again. As you suggest, I think it depends on how annoyed I was by whatever mistake I made to carry me into the Long Dark - if it just felt like bad luck I might boot up again immediately, but if I know I was just stupid it might take a little longer. The length of the lost run would probably have some bearing too I think.

[Leeanda]

I've had many runs,mostly not intended as serious ones..  I've thrown both Astrid and Will off many cliffs and found many  other hideous ways to kill them.. I like testing their limits and always try most ways of killing my character in any game I get..   I think it's fun lol... But on my few serious runs ,like the main one I have now then I'm ultra careful to take no massive risks.. I lost my last serious run to a failed to save bug at 750+ days and I was gutted.. this one is now about 660 days in and my goal ,like last time is 1000 days..    I didn't have a break last time,I just jumped right back in ,though mostly just short runs until the game had had its bigger update..   

I do get the urge to throw my controller at the wall occasionally though lol.. but I don't.😁

[Yimnam]

I just have this kind of relationship with this game, that I try to start new game, but it's no fun at all. I start again and again till I have 10+ saves with two days survived or something. Someday I just start new game and then it just clicks and I don't do anything else for month or two. And then I'm dead xD

[conanjaguar]

Sometimes I get a little bit annoyed if it was a good run but other than that I don’t really let it get to me… each and every death has a lesson to teach us.

I suppose my attitude is because most of my runs are supposed to be “short and  sweet”, I don’t really go for long-term survival that often…

[Third Try]

I don't go for long term-survival because I get bored too fast.  If I live over 50 days in a run I up the difficulty for next time.  I now mostly play Stalker.

I only actually get upset if I lose the world to something really dumb like falling off the ravine bridge, or bleeding out in my sleep, or losing the run to a save bug (all of which have happened).  But if I lose it to starvation or dissorientation in a blizzard or an attack by a bear, then so be it.

[Cattleman]

I play Stalker almost exclusively, and spent most of my Christmas Vacation playing a fresh run. After 10 IRL days I lost the run to a faulty controller when it didnt register the trigger pull as I desperately tried to shoot a charging wolf. Ibwas nearly froze to death already so it didnt take much effort from the wolf. I was seriously angry as, at 192 days, it was my longest run to date. The very next IRL day I went and bought a new controller (one the children will never get thier sticky little mits on) and started another fresh run... Just passed 95 days in it.

 

There have been times that after loosing a good run I quit playing for several months... Initially because I need a break, but inevitably real life happens and then I just dont get around to playing for some time.

[hozz1235]

This thread, I believe, helps to highlight some of the disadvantages of perma-death (PD).  IMHO, a game should be something fun, which you enjoy and want to play more of.  For some players, PD inhibits this.  I'll give my father as an example.  He's in his upper 70s and I've been trying really hard to get him into TLD.  He's been playing more recently, and has died a couple times.  He gets pretty upset at losing his progress (in particular getting some good clothes) and I try to encourage him and emphasize this is a game of "learning".  Not sure how many more times I can convince him of this before he stops playing.

[xanna]

It really does depend on the person, though.

My first death was after over 100 days (confession: I genuinely didn't know you could have more than one game simultaneously for the first while). It broke my heart, affected me way more deeply than is reasonable for that kind of thing; I felt a real sense of loss for several days. To me, that shows the depth of immersion and just how much that first game meant to me. Being able to experience such a profound emotion from a videogame is amazing, and a real credit to TLD. I love permadeath and wouldn't change it for the world.

[hozz1235]

2 hours ago, xanna said:

It really does depend on the person, though.

My first death was after over 100 days (confession: I genuinely didn't know you could have more than one game simultaneously for the first while). It broke my heart, affected me way more deeply than is reasonable for that kind of thing; I felt a real sense of loss for several days. To me, that shows the depth of immersion and just how much that first game meant to me. Being able to experience such a profound emotion from a videogame is amazing, and a real credit to TLD. I love permadeath and wouldn't change it for the world.

I agree 100%, which is why I said, "For some players".

[xanna]

2 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

I agree 100%, which is why I said, "For some players".

Sure, I wasn't responding just to you.

I wanted to give an example of someone for whom game death is like 'it's genuinely emotionally hard and I love it' to add to the array of different experiences expressed here.

[ManicManiac]

I love that Survival Mode is a permadeath situation, I always have.  I think it makes each run feel like an important struggle and also means that mistakes can feel like they have real consequences.  I feel it serves to encourage us to get better at managing our resources, survival tasks, and to pay better attention to our surroundings as well as to what we're doing.

I play this game because I enjoy the struggle, and I love that this game is not afraid to punish the player for mistakes (and even sometimes just punishes us via merciless RNG).  I never get upset, discouraged, or otherwise mourn the loss of a run because I always enjoy the struggles that come with trying to find gear and supplies in order to "find my footing" again.

[hozz1235]

I know we've heard this before and it won't happen due to Raph's vision of the TLD, but wouldn't it be great to have a Custom setting for PD?  Suits all players, IMO.  After all, there was a conscious decision made to not have PD in Wintermute.

Edited January 4 by hozz1235

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

I've never had any issue with PD, even after losing long runs (a plus 450 day one when trying to get the 500 day feat springs to mind...)- until the last update.

I managed to die on my first visit to ZOC, and so had to replay the whole of Signal Void.  If I were to die again having completed Buried Echoes, I'm not sure I could go through all of the first 2 tales again to do the 3rd one, so I've had to park that survivor in a cave near forsaken airfield til the last tale drops.  Personally I'd prefer it if the 2nd tale is permanently unlocked once you complete SV, and the same for 2 & 3 (a bit like how you can't start a new run in Far Territory until you've walked there, but then it's unlocked forever).

[Yimnam]

Yeah I agree. As I love feeling of true fight for life at permadeath, when seeking for easier experience I would much more enjoy harder difficulities with possibility to load save when I die, than boring and safe pilgrim mode where I usually don't die but just start a new game because I'm bored or it feels too unreal to see bear running away from me. 

Other thing is that I didn't visit ZoC yet because I just finished Signal Void and wanted to get stuff from Ash Canyon as I was in Pleasant Valley relatively close to it before I start new tale. And I never got here. I have other save with SV finished but it's Pilgirim and I just don't want to destroy my experience with toxic wolves and everything new by it. So now to see new things and story I have to repeat month of playing in hope I don't die some stupid way and I probably will.
I know that I will feel amazing when I achieve this because it's this hard and this is why I love this game, but It's still very frustrating and I don't want to play for a while because of it.

Edited January 6 by Yimnam