pokoko on 13 August 2014
I think people are really missing something here.
Difficulty is not the same thing as punishing the player.
Some games, you can die a lot but it doesn't really hurt you except you have to start that particular encounter over. Other games, dying can bring with it all kinds of negatives, such as losing resources or having to redo entire sections.
Personally, I don't mind challenging or dying but I really get annoyed with additional punishments for failing.
