History Main / ContinuingIsPainful

* Somewhat subverted in ''DeadRising''; trying to beat the game the [[MultipleEndings correct]] way probably won't happen your first time through, as Frank, the main character, is very weak in the beginning. Since the game runs on a [[CharacterLevel level-up]] system, it takes a lot of time, a lot of zombie slaughter and photography, and probably at least one [[NewGamePlus re-do]] to be successful.

** This has continued even in modern ''DragonQuest'' games. On the plus side, you get to keep all the experience you got so far, which is unusual in [=RPGs=]. There's also the fact that if you accumulate a lot of gold, you can store it (in multiples of 1000) in a bank, which is unaffected by your untimely death. ''DragonQuest 4'' also features the Iron Safe in Torneko Taloon's chapter, which prevents him from losing money when he dies (it is unfortunately lost after his chapter is over).
** In ''{{Dragonquest}}'' it also only resurrects one person in the party making you pay to resurrect the others, this can be costly.

** In the ''PokemonMysteryDungeon'' games, if you, your partner or any [[EscortMission special NPCs in your party]] die and you have no Reviver Seeds (the in-game equivalent of the aforementioned Amulet of Lifesaving) on hand to save you, you will be forcibly teleported from the dungeon you were in. This not only forces you to start from the first floor but you will lose all the money you carried and some of your inventory items, usually the best ones.

** You only lose skill if your ship gets blown up and then your escape pod gets blown up. (And this can only happen through PvP, as NPCs will not attack pods.) Even then, if you get to the wreck of your ship within about an hour, and it hasn't been looted, you can get about half your cargo/modules back.

* The [[FromSoftware From Software]] game [[DemonsSouls Demon's Souls]] punishes a player death by turning them into "Soul Form" if they were in Physical form when they died, reducing the players life from that point to ~50% of their life while alive. It also makes the player lose all the souls they had collected to that point if they are unspent, and souls are used as currency, as well as the only means to level up and strengthen the character. As a final kick to the pants, if the character was alive when they died, the world they were in shifts towards "Black World Tendency", which makes the enemies and bosses more aggressive and have more HP, as well as (at near to pure black WT) "Black Phantom" enemies, which are harder versions of their standard counterparts or Evil versions of human NPCS, to appear in various parts of the worlds. The only silver lining is item drops are better and more souls are earned per kill, but good luck.

* For most of the ''{{Touhou}}'' series, at least in the Windows games, if you ran out of lives, you could continue up to three times, starting right where you left off. Not so in the tenth game, Mountain of Faith; you must begin at the beginning of the level. In the fight against [[FinalBoss Kanako]], it's a fairly simple matter to [[NintendoHard run out of all of the eight or nine lives you'd accumulated by that point]]. This editor finds the prospect of beating the entire final stage with only ''three'' lives to be rather unlikely.
** The sixth game in the series also invokes this to a lesser degree, since completing the game after using a continue would result in the [[MultipleEndings bad ending]].
*** The eighth game, ''Imperishable Night'', is even worse for this. Continuing costs you Time, and taking too long automatically earns you the Bad Ending. Continue once before the end of Stage 5 and you can't access Final B, the game's true final stage. Oh, and if you run out of lives in Final B ''you don't even get the chance to continue - you just get the bad ending by default.''
*** Actually, all of the Windows games are like this. One continue, and you will always get a Bad Ending after the sixth stage.

** Depending on the [=MUD=], death can range from this to [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist a slap on the wrist]], and on some [=MUDs=], it can vary even depending on the situation of your death. On Discworld [=MUD=], for example, you get 7 lives (any more you have to buy, with the price for the first rather high and growing quickly), you lose all the unused experience (big problem if you've been numberchasing and lose all those hundreds of thousands of [=XPs=] just as you're about to go advance) and your stats get big penalties (for weaker characters, this might mean that you're not strong enough to get everything from your corpse). On the other hand, you can get your fairy godmother to transport you and your corpse to a safe place before reviving you (although she won't do it for free for more experienced characters), there are ways to restore your stats quickly and even get some of your experience back (although that depends on your fellow players' goodwill and skill). Unlike other [=MUDs=], you also don't usually have to worry about looters (unless you're a playkiller).

* Dying in ''{{Contra}}'' made you lose your current gun. This is bad if you've been running around with the [[GameBreaker Spread Gun]] and have to rely on the [[WithThisHerring pea shooter]] to kill the boss.

* ''BioShock'' does this with the Vita-Chambers. When you die, you respawn at one of these points with very little health and no extra necessities, like first-aid kits or EVE hypos. If you want to buy more, you'll probably find yourself running out of money if you die repeatedly, as it's scarce early on. Respawning's only benefit is that you can slowly chop away at a Big Daddy's health bar, but after you've killed him you're left with very little supplies. This added on top of the fact that you can save at any time in the game means you may as well save before attempting a dangerous fight and reload if you fail.
** Not using Vita-Chambers throughout the whole game, which seems like the smarter choice, nets you an achievement/trophy as well if you're going for them.
** YourMileageMayVary on this. This troper wasn't even aware there ''was'' a penalty until he read this entry.

* In the ''{{Mega Man}}'' games, dying during a boss battle would mean respawning right there (assuming you've got extra lives)... minus the special weapon ammo and Energy (or Sub) Tanks that you had used, reducing your chances of success by a lot. It became really annoying if you had a lot of lives stacked, as you had to lose them all in order to regain your powerups and get a fighting chance.

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** Ditto in the sequel, except it happens in single-player too, and your stuff is "stored" in a corpse that only you can loot (unless you're playing [[PermanentDeath hardcore]]).

* The original ''{{Castlevania}}'' is rather nasty with this trope. Each area is divided into three stages, and dying takes you back to the beginning of the current stage. What's wrong with this? Well, in most areas, the [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]], boss-slaughtering Holy Water only appears in its first stage. This is especially horrible in the fifth area (Stages 13-15), where dying on Stage 14 or 15 means you'll have to fight Death the hard way. Also, your whip gets downgraded back to the weak leather whip, and you need to rack up 8 hearts again just to get the long chain whip.

** ''GTA 4'' lets you keep your guns unless the cops arrest you, in which case they realistically disarm you as part of police procedure. The cops are not very likely to try to arrest you past the first star though, and half the time you can escape the hold-up.

* ''BioShock'' does this with the Vita-Chambers. When you die you respawn at one of these points with very little health and no extra necessities like first-aid kits or EVE hypos and if you want to buy more you'll probably find yourself running out of money if you die repeatedly as it's scarce early on. Respawning's only benefit is that you can slowly chop away at a Big Daddy's health bar, but after you've killed him you're left with very little supplies. This added on top of the fact that you can save at any time in the game means you may as well save before attempting a dangerous fight and reload if you fail.

** Then again, it's not so much the dying thing that's a problem. The bigger issue is finishing the level in a given amount of time, with enough rings, and with enough enemies killed to get an A. And even if you didn't die, getting hit without a shield made you lose all your rings (only able to re-get 20 maximum), which could destroy your ring bonus at the end.

* If you die in ''{{Eve Online}}'', you lose your ship, all modules fitted into it, the cargo and your implants. With expensively fitted big ships and good implants, the total cost is measured in billions and that's only on a personal level. Losing an inter-corporation war is even more costly. You'll also lose skills that you've trained and re-training them can take months. If you had all your eggs in one basket, it's almost as if you had to restart the entire game. However, if you took precautions and flied a cheap, insured ship, didn't use implants and kept your clone contract up-to-date, then {{death is a slap on the wrist}}.
** you only lose skill if you ship gets blown up and then your escape pod gets blown up (can only happen through PvP as npc's will not attack pods) and if you get to the wreck of you ship with in about an hour (assuming it hasn't been looted)you can get about half your cargo/ modules back.