REBUTTAL TO: A Good Day to Die
I don't see the necessity of implementing a perma-death system. When you alter a plotline to specifically reflect a character that dies in combat, what exactly does that support? It doesn't really 'penalize' a player as much as it simply alters the experience. And as far as replay goes, all that a system like this would encourage is for players to randomly kill off their own characters to experience different events. If that's the case, then the medium that this system is being proposed for (traditional RPGs) won't change much. For starters, traditional RPGs as opposed to strategic or tactical RPGs typically have a smaller cast of characters, especially if you're only talking about the number of usable characters in combat. Most games will allow you 3-5 as opposed to most tactical RPGs that use anywhere between 1 and 10 (sometimes even more). Given these numbers, what difference would dead characters make in the experience of a traditional RPG if you're only actively using 3-5 at a single time, and are only limited to whatever interactions those particular characters have when you use them? If you want to see a different event, why not simply switch a character out as opposed to killing them.
The way that many traditional RPGs are designed is to give the main characters of the story certain sections of the game that lead to the advancement of the plot as a whole. These story arcs are also usually EXP nodes that involve the player to go from A to B, or to fulfill some sort of quest; in traditional RPGaming terms, this means fighting through a number of random battles that will help level your characters in preparation for the fights ahead. Having main characters die permanently would remove these nodes and make the gaming experience very disjointed, not just from a plotline standpoint, but from a gaming standpoint where you may have to move from one area to another which have drastic differences in power or level requirements. Standardizing enemy or monster levels may help alleviate such problems, but it would create other problems as far as items and abilities that are only available in certain characters' arcs. This could result in more standardizing and take away from the experience; in essence, it would be creating a much more varied and interesting selection of dialogue in exchange for standardizing the capabilities of your characters. For example, if one of my main characters is primarily a healer and dies, and the character's story arc was associated with acquiring items or skills related to healers, I would no longer have access to them upon her death. I would be a lot less inclined to continue playing unless there was a similar substitute available sometime in the future. In short, by encouraging a perma-death system like this, it also subtly encourages heavy 'clone characters' that have little difference in their abilities, such as in Final Fantasy VII and VIII in particular.
Additionally, I would say that the real nail in the coffin with this design being incorporated into a traditional RPG is the presence of random battles. In a tactical RPG with perma-death situations, there are usually set numbers of battles. Insta-death abilities were mentioned in the original article, but I think that the presence of random battles really deters the implementation of perma-death systems. Random battles exist to level characters, obtain money, gain items and of course, to annoy your average player. In a long dungeon riddled with difficult enemies and few save points, I would definitely not want deaths to be permanent.
I, like many players, enjoy an interesting but mostly static plotline core. I do not mind branches, no matter how convoluted they may be, but I don't think such plotlines could exist with the limitations of the perma-death system that is presented. I would prefer a well-written novel as opposed to a well-written choose-your-own-adventure. And I, for one, believe that console RPGs should maintain the aspect of permanence that a novel has. If I was looking for some way for my decisions to greatly affect my environment, I would think that MMO or simulation-type games would be more suited. With all the great fan fiction that comes from most RPGs, plot is one of the most important aspects and drives us to keep going. I think the community would suffer a lot by introducing too complex a plot and dialogue system based on non-scripted events. As an avid fanfic writer, I can't imagine not being able to appeal to a wide audience of fans with a work simply due to the fact that I decided to write about 'the third branch of the second chapter if the main character's best friend died in a random battle while you were trying to complete a story arc quest.' I just don't believe that the idea is a good one for the genre we all love.
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