When your level 46 character dies, you don't reload. You're dead for good. You only save to mark your place between sessions. And usually, you don't create that same character ever again, except maybe the next ES game.

By replaying Oblivion and Morrowind recently, I have discovered the joy in permanent deaths. It makes the game much more strategic and heart-pumping. Every situation you're in is a choice with real consequences. Every enemy is a threat that must be given respect and heed. Every journey through a dungeon is a triumph against all odds. Every chest of treasure is a well deserved reward. And when you finally do die, you've got a story to tell, like your character was more real. Best of all, you get to create a ton of characters because so many of them will parish!

Who is brave enough? Who will journey into rugged Skyrim and fight to the death, honorably? If you've never played TES like this, I say try it, and you may very well love it.

This could be a hardcoe mode for the next Elder Scrolls game...

I worked to hard on my character to let him die. :cryvaultboy:
I will one day though.

Maybe on my second game, probably in about 2 years from now.

No it's not my sort of thing.

what do you mean second game? You mean that your first playthrough will last for 2 years?

This method sounds impossible for Skyrim given the enemies and terrain. I can guarantee that these Dragons are tough enough that you will at least die once to them, an dthat's just one variety of enemy. It would svck to make character after character to keep dying at the same spot, and having to start all over. Checkpoints give you an opportunity to practice death after death after death until you get it right. Starting over again polarizes you from the experience until you hit it again. and on Mountainous Terrain, what happens if you die from a stupid mistake or controller nudge by falling of a mountain. Could be something not entirely in your control. In TES, I find, there's too many stupid ways to die for this to be a viable playing option....

And spend so much time to let my character die, and we will fight dragons so i am pretty sure we will die more often then Oblivion not to mention sometimes you can fight 2 dragons at the same time so no thanks.

All past ES games have been in harmony with this gametype if one so chooses to play it. I don't think Skyrim will be a revolution in that regard; however, you are right about the increased difficulty, un-scaled powerful enemies in some areas, and dragons. I've given the dragon situation some thought. I just have to really prepare my characters before going into a willing battle. Otherwise I'll just flee. And yes, it may turn out that it is very easy to die doing this, but the game is so open ended and fun that if I had to start over with a new character, it wouldnt feel like a setback, just a new gameplay. As for accidental deaths, traps, precipices, you just have to be careful. You can do it in the other ES games, you can probably do it in Skyrim. This isnt going to be like Demon Soul's

I doubt it. It doesn't seem like fun to me. The reason for playing games is fun. I'll consider it once I've had my fun with Skyrim, possibly on a third or fourth playthrough, but I doubt it.

It's possible, I have no idea how long it will take and how long I'll want to play after the MQ and the majority of side quests are finished.

I'll do it eventually, after my first three archtype playthroughs (and then maybe after my Argonian and ?Necromancer playthroughs)...so it'll happen in the future...eventually...

I have no interest at all in this death is dead stuff. Doesn't sound all that appealing. I don't even like games with checkpoint only saves let alone having to start over just because you got mauled by a giant cave spider or whatever. Anyhow, to each their own.

Second playthrough maybe. But i know that if I lasted a few days and leveled a few times I wouldnt be able to abandon my character.

Besides, when you do survive, that's when you know your character is badass.

This style of gameplay seems like it might be more feasible in an MMORPG since each race usually starts in a different area and has different quests to help them level up.

You seem to forget that Bethesda games are almost notorious at this point for their extremely annoying, rail roaded, and boring beginnings. I got so sick of Fallout 3's vault life, and Oblivion's was even more hate inducing. Ironically Fallout: New Vegas, the one Bethesda didn't primarily design, is the only one with a perfect beginning. Short cinematic, then boom, fill out everything you need on a slot machine and go do whatever the hell you want. I hope for your sake that the beginning of Skyrim is very bearable, cause like Oblivion, it could get old fast.

No deal.

I spend hours meticulously crafting my character. There is no way I would sacrifice all that so easily. The times I have accidentally deleted a character were heart depleting! Especially after I reach the 20-30 hour mark... That is just too much time to erase all my progress.

That being said, I have done this before in Morrowind just to see how long I would make it. It was pretty fun. Reminded me of the days of oldschool gaming when there were no saves, or when you had them, you still had to restart the level. Hell, you couldn't even pause most games! I was so happy when gaming moved towards checkpoints and saving more often. Now, a lot of games let you save anytime such as Elder Scrolls, and I love it.

As for Oblivion, never did it because I saw no challenge in it since the only times I have ever died was me fooling around.

I may create a character real quick specifically for this after I have seen most, if not all of what Skyrim has to offer.

Never played beginning of Fallout 3. Oblivion's into was long and pretty boring after a few run-throughs. Skyrim may not be much better, but I dont think characters will drop like flies if you play like this. Naturally you will run into situations every so-many enemies where you're faced with near death. But in that case you really have to go into adrenaline mode; kill that enemy by managing health, magic, and fatigue; or run the hell away. I'm confident that after I get used to the game I wont just die all the time. I imagine I could get to level 10 consistently by playing really smart. But hey, this is just what floats my boat.

Just so you know, from what people that played the demo have been saying, you will indeed drop like a fly.

I never really thought to do that, due to the very long walkthroughs that Bethesda has commonly at the begining of their games but I will try anything once

We'll it was their first time ever, and I've also heard that a lot of the people that did die deserved it in terms of their playing. Furthermore, many people just did whatever they could to get the most intensity out of their 15 minutes. They see an enemy and they go out guns blazing. I think if you had a player who was used to the mechanics and played intelligently and patiently, well, it wouldn't be impossible.

Yea, I'm dead is dead. I've had a couple long-lasting characters die in Oblivion. Actually, I've been a DiD player since the '80s, back when we all were into D&D, although we never called it dead is dead back then. It was just a rule automatically incorporated into the game, and the PC could only come back to life if a high level Cleric were present who successfully revived the character. There was a chance the Cleric's spell could fail, though.

The best way to do it in TES is WALK thru those dungeons, instead of running everywhere. Stop. Look around for traps. If the character has Detect Life, use that as much as possible. I agree with the OP, it creates a more intense game. :turned:

A lot of people assume dead is dead is "not fun", but i'm here to tell ya, the game is still fun, it's also more serious though

I actually like enjoying my game, thank you very much.

I've never had a more fun time in TES than playing with permanent deaths. It makes me feel like I'm a kid again, making up adventures in my head and taking them totally seriously while in character. And oh yes, I definitely walk through dungeons, unless otherwise necessary, and I do in cities as well. I essentially role-play my character as much as possible. Eating, sleeping appropriate amounts of time, etc. It just locks in my imagination better.

@Bukee, that doesnt mean much. Sure you may find it less enjoyable but for others the intensity serves the fun.