Accidental death? If by that, you mean glitches, then it's considered perfectly acceptable to reload.

But if you mean "accidentally" walking into a trap, or "accidentally" getting outnumbered and outclassed on the battlefield, that's actually what creates the attraction to DiD; you have to plan ahead to AVOID that. You have to play the game perfectly, or at least be able to improvise quickly when you don't. It has nothing to do with your misconception of "hardcoe," it simply creates more intense feelings of excitement, attachment, immersion, and, perhaps, loss. And if you simply aren't skilled enough to play DiD and you try, frustration. Provided you can commit to it and don't reload "just this once" five-hundred times.

I second the nomination.

I enjoy DiD for the very first playthrough of any RPG-esk game. It's a chore, certainly, but it also forces you to really pay attention to the game and environment, which adds to the immersion for me. That said, after the first death, there's really no point in my opinion. Likewise, actually deleting the character sounds good at first, but it's like punishing success. During the next playthrough, you know in advance exactly what you're facing and where, so the further you made it the first time, the more time you waste getting back to that point with the new character.

I like someone's suggestion of only reloading using Auto-Saves. If you play with the DiD mentality, and only reload using Auto-Saves, you're punished for dying, but you don't lose 20 hours to a mis-click during a boss fight.

This is how I have always played, and I agree with what you say. I have explained it to my disbelieving friends as being better because it adds gravity and relevance to your fights. If you know you will just reload the last save if you die, that fight might be fun but it lacks intensity. Now, if you know that if you die you lose all the work you put into the character, it makes you fight harder, feel more fear when you are being swarmed by an army of Draugr or chased by a dragon, etc.

Come to think of it, this all started back when a friend of mine (who introduced me to TES via Morrowind) and I both started a new character and were going to see who survived the longest while playing an all nighter in his basemant. I won.

I think playing 'dead is dead' for a first play is flat out taking the fun out of it, but I can see people doing it for a second or third play. At first I thought 'no ****ing way' to the idea, but I'm coming around to the idea of doing it once the time comes to put Skyrim to rest for a couple months.

My real question is if you've sunk 100+ hours in to a character on the first play, then you die in the final boss battle....are you really going to start over? Really?

Hell no. If' I've made it to the final boss in 1 playthrough with no reloads, then I've accomplished my goal. :-p The point of DiD is to make you more conscientious of your decision and environment. Quick-Save can take quite a bit of tension, drama, and thought out of playing a game. For me, first playthrough is DiD; after that, anything is game.

On the first play through I couldn't care less about playing in all this hardcoe mode bull crap. I'm just interested in seeing how the quests are and the awesome gear you can obtain. Once I've explored enough and got to grips with it, I might play it in hardcoe. Dunno yet.

I think I may play a variation of this...

When, and if, I die I shall simply begin another one of my numerous RP characters I have lined... If I don't feel like I NEED to keep them after I have had time to contemplate and rationalise I shall simply delete them... In some cases it makes RP sense to die.

For instance, I plan to play a Dunmer assassin in one of my playthroughs (nightblade playsytle for the most part). One of his defining characteristics is that he'll believe he is the most skilful assailant in all Skyrim. He will have a point to prove and will willingly kill for the challenge of it (especially when NPCs are represented as tough or possess martial prowess or even if they're a super tough dragon!), so much so that he will enter the dark brotherhood, learn a bit about it... and then dismantle it in a symbolic manner. It would make sense for him to get in over his head after gaining a certain level of infamy.

It would also make sense for characters that are whole-heartedly, community immersed, good beings. The sense of tragedy is satisfying.

So yeah... Just gives you a valid reason to begin one of your other playthroughs earlier even if you don't actually kill the character off. I think it would be wise also just to restart from 'chapters' as such... After memorable, conclusive events... that way you'll still be punished!

I always play DID when playing the best games ever made (oblivion, fallout 3 and new vegas). My very first runs on ALL of these where DID runs and all of them were succesful. I had a blast. I will play Skyrim in the same way and its not a chore, nor does it make me leet (i play on easy). I just simply love the thrill of battle when you can actually die and pay the price for it. Anything less is not fun nor immersive to me. Having my char being able to come back to life and alter the entire world and its timeline is a huge nono for me (reloading)

win