Rebound or Reload?

We're at the end of the stage, and in a wonderful strategic position. My weaker units gained quite a bit of EXP and we're pushing back the enemy, even completely stomping a two-pronged ambush. Things were good, as I'd spent a good while on that mission, and it was about time all that play'd paid off. I ended my turn, and rather than being greeted with my troops on a stronger strategic standing the next turn, I heard music all too familiar. I'd made a mistake. Camilla died, and though I could easily have taken out the rest of the troops with the others, that I was so close to the end and almost lost no one made her death all that more painful. The lack of in-game save points made me really ponder whether it wouldn't be worth it to just keep her dead.

This, folks, is compelling gameplay-imposed choice.

You've probably played a game like this. Say you're playing Valkyria Chronicles and a unit dies, having been lost in an enemy march. Say you're playing XCOM and your best soldier succumbs to a plasma shot to the head- by a Sectoid, of all things. Say you're playing Fire Emblem and you find yourself in the same situation as I did. These are the types of situations that are truly despair inducing but, at the same time, are what put us on edge in these games. They don't force us into a lose state inherently, but they certainly make things harder, and often what's lost is something we, as the players, have some personal stock in. Be they items, weapons, characters- you name it.

Now, my question to you is: in a situation where you are faced with such a choice, do you forge onward and try to adapt without the casualty, or do you just reload your saved game in an attempt to try again and keep them with you?

As a general rule, reload, go and do something else - typically grind - and then retry it from a stronger position. I've reached the point now where I know if I find anything in a video game to be difficult, it's because I'm obviously not meant to do it yet, it needs to be done a certain way, or I haven't done enough grinding to clear it properly. I take these things more as hints than as setbacks...my skill as a gamer is probably the only thing I have absolute confidence in, aha.

Save reload scummer here. Although there are at times when i feel like I should just go on after losing a good unit, knowing that i can have an even better one the further i go, there are those times where i call "BULL" on cases. Like getting hit at 45% Hit chance, which in most games, 45% is fairly low and most of the time, even AIs can't cheat RNGEESUS. FE Fates is something though. People getting it even at less than 50% chances is something that sometimes i just can't tolerate. I think its even worse when random 2 PERCENT CHANCE CRITS happen. I remember way too much X__x

Only two responses, huh? Well then I'll give my piece.

It's situational, as with most things, but outside of Fire Emblem (though that may change, going forward), I'm of the "rebound" camp. I feel that it gives weight to decision, impact to mistakes, and drives you to do better and cherish what you have. This is a lot of the reason I enjoy things with permadeath features and, in the case of Wind Waker and Pokemon, generally apply those features myself. The immersion is more than just a nice touch, generally it does much to make the game more engaging and even more fun, having enough power to reinvigorate a dulled experience.

Elapsam semel occasionem non ipse potest Iuppiter reprehendere. God, I love this phrase. And I use it pretty often, to the misfortune of those of you that know me. A game reloaded is a game lost. It's incredibly rare that how you do in one file will be 1:1 with another file, for better or for worse, and you can't improve or save data that's lost. You're essentially creating a similar but not identical series of events. The reason I say this is because these are small things that can, in the long run, create wider and wider deviations in your experience between files. So, as a rebounder, I generally opt to take things as I'm given them than to try and create an sub/optimal file. It creates a sense of attachment, among other things.

I remember in FE Shadow Dragon, a unit had died on a hard level shortly before I completed it. I decided that it was a noble sacrifice and continued the game XD However, if I had known Elice (Marth's sister) was able to revive one unit at one specific point in the game, I would've done it for a flawless game run... sigh

I've changed as I've gotten older. When I was younger (i'm thinking back to the first American Fire Emblem on GBA), I was always restarting, trying to get the best possible outcome. I always wanted to get 100% out of every game and make sure I was doing things "right." As I got busier and busier, I just wasn't able to 100% every game I played, so I started focusing on what let me finish the game. Now, I play through a game being as natural as possible. I like to react to situations based on what I would do, not what gets me the best stuff. It used to be pretty unrewarding, back when choices were pretty much a binary way to be good or evil (looking at your, Bioware). But as the story telling has matured it's become so much fun I would never try to just do everything perfectly the first time. I loved playing Witcher 3 and seeing how all my actions came together to make a coherent character that was unique. However, I still try to optimize things on my second playthrough, if I choose to do one.