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[Vincent Alexander]

This doesn't work in a game when you are walking through a meadow and giant monsters randomly burst from the ground. How are you supposed to prepare for the unknown besides saving the game every minute and reloading the game. Which is not fun at all.

Witchers are always prepared.

 

[MattyG]

Nah man, it's great. This is role-playing.

"Now this is role-playing!"

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Is there a "hard" option? Like dark mode but without the perma death?

That's what I want.

This is exactly what I want too.. it better not be Easy / Normal / Dark... that would be mental...

 

[Deified Data]

This doesn't work in a game when you are walking through a meadow and giant monsters randomly burst from the ground. How are you supposed to prepare for the unknown besides saving the game every minute and reloading the game. Which is not fun at all.

A good rule of thumb is to look at the monster manuals being sold by local merchants before heading into the wild. Usually gives you a hint at what to expect.

 

[SugarDave]

I'll be playing the difficulty in between normal and dark then, if available.

 

[Nameless]

Played the first half of The Witcher 2 on normal before bumping it up to hard. Normal was a bit of a cake walk, so if things are similar in Witcher 3 hard will be my sweetspot.

I'm neither an achievement/trophy whore or a masochist so Dark Mode doesn't sound appealing at all.

 

[Canucked]

They should make finishing dark mode a bronze trophy or like one achievement point. Not enough to be worth the challenge but enough to tear at your soul for eternity.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

first RPG that implement Permadeath?

Unless you accepted Sony's FFVII challenge back in the day

 

[Lord of Castamere]

They should make finishing dark mode a bronze trophy or like one achievement point. Not enough to be worth the challenge but enough to tear at your soul for eternity.

Max Payne 3 did it. 10 GS, no dying, no quitting, no turing the system off, no saving, and it's timed.

 

[swazzyswess]

This doesn't work in a game when you are walking through a meadow and giant monsters randomly burst from the ground. How are you supposed to prepare for the unknown besides saving the game every minute and reloading the game. Which is not fun at all.

that's a big reason I never got into W2. it just seems like a dumb design choice. yeah, I know its an established part of the franchise's lore. that doesn't make it a worthwhile or fun game mechanic.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Unless you accepted Sony's FFVII challenge back in the day

Beat it without a memory card? Easy-peasy.

 

[Sanctuary]

Is there a "hard" option? Like dark mode but without the perma death?

That's what I want.

Apparently that's not very popular (see: TW2 before the two huge nerf patches).

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

I must have issues because the permadeath option has me grinning ear to ear. I'm definitely doing that.

 

[sublimit]

Making a "hard" game for the sake of being hard is easy.

Making a hard game with a deep and flexible enough combat system to appeal to those who like to experiment with different playing styles in order to overcome the game's challenges (which must also feel fair ) is what is really hard.

I really hope The Witcher 3 combat will be good and deep enough to make me want to play it on the highest difficulties because otherwise it will be pointless.

 

[ChosenPredator]

good luck to the people into that mode, lol.

 

[erawsd]

that's a big reason I never got into W2. it just seems like a dumb design choice. yeah, I know its an established part of the franchise's lore. that doesn't make it a worthwhile or fun game mechanic.

The devs agree, which is why youll be able to use them in combat this time. They also got rid of the excessive herb farming.

 

[CHC]

Sounds horrible, I don't know why you'd ever want to play that long and invested of a game with permadeath.

Oops I died let me just restart the game and sit through the probably-2-or-3-hour-long semi-playable intro and dialogues.

 

[Djin1979]

USB key is our best friend for this mode

 

[swazzyswess]

The devs agree, which is why youll be able to use them in combat this time. They also got rid of the excessive herb farming.

that's awesome news (to me). I'm still on the fence about W3 because of what I assume the combat will be like, but that's a big positive.

 

[Bear]

I hope there is something like TW2's Dark mode this time around. I enjoyed playing the game at the hardest difficulty without permadeath. This game is way too long for that mechanic to be any fun, imo, especially if it takes a long time to get started.

 

[Ianan]

YESSS, I love that they have put this in!

 

[RandomSeed]

Wait, what? Dark mode in Witcher 2 was harder than insanity, but insanity had permadeath. Dark mode was my favorite difficulty to play for those reasons (too high of a risk of hitting a glitch and losing the save), but what's up with the change in naming? I sure hope they have hard mode still at the least, otherwise that's a huge bummer.

 

[Shengar]

Dark Souls isn't that hard, damn.

Miyazaki and a SCE producer/director said that they considering the addition of permadeath in Demon's Souls. Imagine you fall into the wrong platform on your way into 2nd try of Flamelurker fight lol

 

[LiquidSolid]

Good luck to trophy hunters. In that big leak it was confirmed that they out source their trophies. I'd wager there's a 70/30 shot perma death has a trophy/achievement.

Witcher 2 had an Insane difficulty Steam achievement, so yeah...

I guess it'll be interesting to see how many people actually manage to get it but I'm sure as hell not going to bother.

 

[Sanctuary]

USB key is our best friend for this mode

Which makes it pointless to play unless it's the only option above normal.

 

[ironcreed]

Play for 100 hours and die at the end. Fuck that...but options are good.

LOL, I hear that. But yeah, good deal for those who want it.

 

[RoboPlato]

100 hours in, die on final boss, toss system through window, repeat

 

[Lord of Castamere]

Witcher 2 had an Insane difficulty Steam achievement, so yeah...

I guess it'll be interesting to see how many people actually manage to get it but I'm sure as hell not going to bother.

Well to be fair, Insane difficulty wasn't present on 360. I didn't know it was a thing until this thread.

I've trudged through worse, so whatever... I'm gonna get this plat.

 

[Sou Da]

Why make just Permadeath where you can create a permadeath ending?

 

[Barzul]

So did anyone actually beat Witcher 2 on Insane?

 

[gdt]

Is there a "hard" option? Like dark mode but without the perma death?

That's what I want.

Witcher 2's Dark had no permadeath, and it has badass exclusive armor that you could earn there. It was awesome.

 

[malfcn]

Achievement / Trophies?

 

[LiquidSolid]

Well to be fair, Insane difficulty wasn't present on 360. I didn't know it was a thing until this thread.

I've trudged through worse, so whatever... I'm gonna get this plat.

Yeah, now that I think about it, I suppose you could always back your save up to PS+ or a USB stick. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

 

[PatDH]

In Witcher 2 the "permadeath" mode (Insane) and Dark Mode were different things.

I beat Insane in Witcher 2 by pretty much immediately quitting the game the second I felt a fight wasn't going my way.

The way it's meant to be played!

Spoiler

/s lol

 

[ekka4shiki]

Options are great. But nope, not touching this one, not with permadeath. Even if it unlocks trophy. (Pls no cdpr, want to platz this)

If there's a mode equivalent to Dark mode in Witcher 2 (just harder enemy with special equipments available), now that's sounds more reasonable for my 2nd playthrough after normal one.

 

[RiccochetJ]

Dark Souls isn't that hard, damn.

Dark Souls also doesn't reset your entire game when you die at Ornstein and Smough.

 

[Tigress]

Huh? Permadeath has been present in various ASCII RPGs (Rogue, Nethack, Angband) since forever, though easily cheated around with backups and whatnot.

For those three games you listed, the game is different every time you play it though. I tried playing Skyrim iron man (permadeath) but found that after a while I just didn't want to play again cause I didn't want to go and repeat the intro over again (rather I didn't get far until I realized why it kinda sucked to play iron man).

Some one finally told me what I should do is lose all my items I have gained when I die. It still gives a reason you really don't want to die (cause it is fun to truly fear dieing) but doesn't make me have to get bored repeating the same thing over again.

Maybe I'll try fallout with that method next .

 

[misho8723]

Right now Witcher 3 has 4 difficulties to choice from:
Easy
Normal
Hard
Dark (this time, no special items like in W2)

 

[nelsonroyale]

Fair enough. Permadeath is an easy and cheap way to baloon the difficulty scale.

 

[Auctopus]

Dark souls is not the be all and end all of difficulty, christ.

 

[WITHE1982]

My God - permadeath after 100 or so hours. I'd want a diamond trophy for unlocking that bad boy.

 

[BouncyFrag]

I'm assuming that if you are doing a permadeath run, you won't be able make a backup of your save file?

 

[Phear]

Hopefully there won't be a trophy tied to dark mode. Or else, there are MANY DS4s flying ouzt of my window...

 

[bobawesome]

At the end of my time with The Witcher 3 and CD Projekt RED earlier this month, I decided to nail down precisely how hard the RPG is. Pulling out my notebook and a pen, I drew a simple chart and labelled the Y axis with “Skyrim” at the bottom and “Dark Souls” at the top.

“I don’t know what the X axis is,” I apologised, “But let’s say the Y axis is a difficulty scale. Down at the bottom here is the toughest challenge in Skyrim. Up the top here is the hardest thing in Dark Souls – something really life destroying, you know?”

I rolled my eyes so hard they're in the back of my head. I managed to post this due to muscle memory.

 

[Can Crusher]

Can't wait to see people complain about Dark mode being unfair.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Is there a "hard" option? Like dark mode but without the perma death?

That's what I want.

Yeah, of course!

That is so lame.

Why would anyone want to torment themselves like that? Permadeath?

There is challenging and then there is masochism.

Because some people like a challenge? Permadeath creates a tense environment because you really, really don't want to die.

I'm not buying this. The game should had being easier not harder!! is hard to enough to deal with the awful combat system that rewards blind preparation over reflexes.

So play on easy then? Geez, dude.

Hopefully there won't be a trophy tied to dark mode. Or else, there are MANY DS4s flying ouzt of my window...

I hope there is.

 

[erawsd]

Dark souls is not the be all and end all of difficulty, christ.

Yeah but you gotta shoot for what resonates with an audience. Whats a more popular modern game that is more difficult on the default difficulty?

 

[IKizzLE]

I'll pass.

 

[BouncyFrag]

This could lead to some soul crushing, meltdown inducing live streams. I never bother with trophies, but getting one for a completed permadeath run would be a worthy challenge, but I wouldn't attempt to do it in my first play-through. I'm not that hardcore, lol.

For when you die facing the last boss thinking you were just about to defeat it:

 

[LesPaul]

I think permadeath in games like Fire Emblem is great because the game continues. If you die after 100 hours and have to start again that would just be bad (also in terms of game design)......I would even be anoid if I have to do 10 hours again. If the game is not based on a permadeath-premise it should not be in the game.