Is Dying the Most Annoying Way to Lose?

I've been thinking about dying in games -- I've been encountering it fairly regularly and it was mentioned in the Action Elements thread as something of a Pet Peeve for adventure gamers.

Is dying over and over again really worse than having to try over and over again to solve a puzzle? If so, why?

If the game brings you back to the point at which you died without having to reload a saved game, does this eliminate the frustration? Or is the implied violence in itself a particular problem?

Does the "You Have Died" screen give the impression that the game is exulting in the inevitability of the gamer's failure?

I've never had problems with dying in (adventure) games - as long as I don't die excessively, die without warning, and/or die without a good reason. If the game can take me back to the point just before I died (like in Cryo's Atlantis), then that's even better because if I forget to save my progress then there's less of a consequence.

Trying over and over to solve a puzzle is not frustrating for me - as I know what it is I am aiming for. I find it more frustrating if I don't know what to do next and walk around aimlessly. However, I do admit that certain puzzles in Jewels of the Oracle were HIGHLY frustrating (especially the one where you're suppose to somehow identify pairs of objects that are related - I eventually resorted to using online cheats).

I also dislike how some games allow a player to end up at a deadend but doesn't tell you when you get to that point - so you end up walking around endlessly in frustration.

Finally, I don't believe a "You Have Died" message is intended to (in your words) "exult in the inevitability of the gamer's failure" - if done right. However, I do admit I've not played many games where the player dies a lot as I've not been terribly keen of adventure games where you die, like tomb raider.

Hope this response helps

If dieing is a logical consequence of poor decision making on my part, I can live with it just fine. However, if I die because I stepped into a dark hole or something with no warning or for some other completely illogical reason it really gets to me fast!

Hello,
I have heard ALICE scream so much,that I am ready
to either turn the sound off or use a cheat code.
Some games go to black and say your Dead. This little girl screams in agony,most disconcerning!

Yes

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If so, why?

For one thing you have to wait to reload, which isn't usually instantaneous.
Also it kills the immersiveness. It jerks you out of the story and reminds in no uncertain terms that you're just playing a game. This isn't such a big deal in unrealistic cartoony games where humor is more important than story. But it's very important in more realistic games with realistic characters.

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If the game brings you back to the point at which you died without having to reload a saved game, does this eliminate the frustration?

Depends on the game. In a cartoony game like Gold and Glory it wasn't even obvious that you'd died. You were just instantly taken back to before you messed up. So you didn't have to see the character die over and over. But this was not a realistic game.

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Or is the implied violence in itself a particular problem?

Sometimes. It depends on the game.

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Does the "You Have Died" screen give the impression that the game is exulting in the inevitability of the gamer's failure?

I've never considered that at all.

Hi

I don't mind dying in an adventure game if, as others have already said, there is a "retry" button or some other "second chance" facility

A bad place to die is after a disk change, as in Shivers2, where you have to reload the previous disk to return to your safe place, and then proceed to solve the puzzle on the next disk. There was no save option on the 2nd disk.

Rowan, I was just going to mention the ending of Shivers II, as the absolute worst puzzle to fail in, because of having to go back to a previous disk to reload, then change to the next disk to try the puzzle again. And it had an impossibly short length of time to get it right. I tried it 5 or 6 times, and then said "The heck with it!" (I actually said something else, but I can't post it here. LOL)

Interesting thread about "dying in Adventure games." In action sequences, where you have to accomplish something (not necessarily obvious) in a very limited amount of time, and failure to do so causes you to "die" and you have to restore to an earlier save, it can become most annoying. "Dying" is not so bad if you are automatically brought back to the critical step, particularly if you do not have to change a CD or watch an extensive video before you can even try a different approach. Even so, I do recall my frustration in the tavern scene in ATLANTIS I. Even after I knew what to do and arranged to do it very quickly, the positioning of that very last click eluded me, and then things happened so fast that in a repeat I had trouble remembering where exactly was that critical clicking position, since I was desperately clicking all over the place. Was I glad to get out of there!

Another type is the "timed puzzle", when you really have to get your brain in high gear to get through it. I guess I am in the "more contemplative" class and, when, as sometimes happens, I don't even know that something is being timed (no "clock" or "thermometer" or other countdown indicators), I will die while I am in the process of taking notes. That irks me. "Hey, you didn't tell me this was timed!"

If you know the puzzle is timed and if you don't have to go back too far when "timed out," then it is not so bad if you can learn something about the puzzle after each "death," so that after a bit one can work it out. I can live with these as long as the "solution" is rational.

Now I go to the other end of the spectrum. I played a game some years back in which I died so many times I no longer even recorded the event. It was great fun because of the imaginative variety of ways you could die. This game was SECRETS OF THE LUXOR. I found myself looking for "ways to die," and did all sorts of things "wrong" just so that I would see in what innovative way the developers had devised for my demise. It has been quite a while since I have played the game and I intend to replay it with someone who hasn't played it before. Then we can joyously go to our doom together.

Dying without warning and without a good, logical reason may be akin to running into a puzzle that's there without a good reason -- it seems like an arbitrary barrier stuck haphazardly in the middle of the game. I wonder if excessive dying is a way on the designer's part to extend game play. I haven't played a lot of action games, but I have watched my son play them, and dying without warning seems to happen so frequently that it leads me to the conclusion that there must be gamers out there who enjoy it.

I feel the same way, especially in a first person game. I find it easier to deal with death in a third person game because I feel more at a distance in a third person game.

Did I really write this? Maybe I should resist the urge to post questions at 3:55 am.

hehe - I thought those words are fine and quite brilliantly worded actually Almost wish it's something I would've come up with myself...

I have to agree with Advpuzlov with regards to the tavern puzzle in Atlantis 1 - that's one of the few spots in the game that I highly disliked (eventually referred to the walkthrough but still kept dying, then I realised I clicked on the wrong hotspot, *blush*)...

In discussing this issue and re-organising my thoughts, I've come to the following decision about death in adventure games:
- the designer ought to give the player a chance to recover from an error (unless the error in itself was obviously unrecoverable)
- after failing the chance to recover from the error, then it'd be fair to kill off the player in a logical manner that outlines why the player died.

An example can be used from Return to Zork - if you wandered into any dark place without light - then you see a message about the grue... at this point in time, you have a few seconds to get out of that place. However, if you didn't get out in time, then there's a short message hinting why you died. Most importantly, the load game interface can be quickly access to make the whole process shorter.

Ah, yes, the taven scene in Atlantis I - the second worst timed puzzle ever. Or maybe THE worst, because I never got through it. Only Syd's saved game came to my rescue, and let me go on with the rest of the game.

These are all great posts...I've enjoyed reading each & every one of them.

I agree with the point someone brought up--it is less painful in the 3rd person games..or should I say less "personal"?

There is only one game that had a sequence in which the manner of dying was so offensive I almost gave up trying to get past it. I refer to the "pendulum" segment in GK3. I loved the game, but the thought of repeating that segment keeps me from replaying it. <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" />
Cynch

I prefer dying.

I only find dying annoying when I've forgotten to save and have to go back, often having to do a really tricky bit over again. I'm in the middle of playing all the Tomb Raider games and have gotten quite hardened to Lara's screams as she falls off high places, gets shot, etc. etc. etc. Generally just say "dumb broad" and get on with it.

I think the two things I really dislike in an adventure game are dying and timed puzzles.

There are occasions where dying is unavoidable and if it is logical to the game I can live with it but I am not enchanted if this occurs over and over again in a game, since as Jenny said it interrupts the game play and takes you out of the story.

As for timed puzzles, I like to concentrate on the puzzle and not worry about the time it takes to solve it. I want an adventure not a contest.

I've gotten so used to "dying" in Action games that I try to save in places where I think I might die. This has become sort of like outwitting the game, at least cutting down on the time spent starting over from a point a long way from where I meet my demise.
Currently dying in Thief 1, which has a quick save as well as permanent save slots. There are tough enemies to beat and sometimmes it take a few tries to get it just right.Also do the same in the TR games.
Are there any action games that don't allow you to quick save whenever you want? If so, I would not play them-would be TOO frustrating.

Cynch, I kind of enjoyed the pendulum sequence in GK3. By the time I got to that part I was pretty fed up with Gabe's smart a** personality, and remember thinking, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. (Just kidding, just kidding!) LOL

Speaking of the end-game sequence for GK3, I never quite understood the puzzles found in the room after the pendulum (where you're suppose to make a choice between A and B and if you made the wrong choice then you die)... that bit was more of a trial and error thing for me...

as long as i can save as many times as i want, i don't care how many times i die. my first games were the sierra games, and i learned to save early and save often. what irks me, though, is when you can only save at certain points (more likely to happen in RPGs or action games) or when the game has a very limited number of save slots (X-Files, which I'm playing right now, only has THREE!)

i'm more bothered by dead ends than dying, and these don't happen very often anymore. i think the developers know we hate them!

i don't really care if a game brings me back to the point right before i died... in some cases i think it would be more fulfilling if it didn't, so i had to figure out what i'd done wrong and where to restore in order to fix the problem.

oh, and i think a well-integrated "game over" screen can enhance the story. i can think of a few games (Final Fantasy 8, GK2, Shadow of Destiny) where the game over screen gave me chills. a lot of the old sierra games also had humorous death messages, and some even gave hints on how to avoid the death the next time.

-emily

ps GK3 and the pendulum did drive me batty, though.

Yes. Some have "level saves," which makes many gamers avoid the game. The only reason for "level saves" seems to be if the game is too short and the game makers want to extend the playing time by making the player repeat the whole level if they make a mistake. It's really obnoxious.

I'm usually just the opposite. If I can't see the person on the screen it's more like this faceless bodyless thing died and I don't feel any pity for it. Only when I dislike the character do I not mind if they bite it. But mostly I just don't like dying in an adventure game at all.

I agree with Emily - I don't mind dying if there's a humorous death message. Eg in GK1 Gabe would laugh nervously and say "I really don't want to be dead - can we try that again?"

I don't like it when a third person character dies and there's no such message - and, even worse, you have to look at their dead body (in GK1 you just look at a skull). Eg in Indy and the Infernal Machine, if you miss a jump Indy falls to the floor and crumples up, or if you run out of air when swimming he floats face down in the water. Not only that, but the game plays some sad mournful death music while you look at his dead body! Yuk.