If done well, I guess sure. But does it "overcome the problem" of permadeath, though? Isn't it more just postpoing the inevitable? It sounds to me like playing ADOM starting out with a couple of amulets of life preserving, which is still basically playing ADOM.
I think he means you can save a finite number of times and load those saves an infinite number of times. So yes, it solves the problem of being able to lose the game.
I see. Still, there's the possibility of a (typically inexperienced) player spending all save points to reach the mid-game, and then failing to progress to the late end-game from there. So one would probably still have scenarios of having to give up certain characters and restarting, and being less round-handed with save slots this time, ie. "extended permadeath". That'd still entail a less harsh game than your typical RL, I suppose. But in the most ironic of situations, one could imagine a developer adding this feature to "appease the masses" and then balancing the game to be that much harder, so that you'll definitely need all your save slots to win, even if you play near perfect. The extra saves would only become yet another strategic element in a game that's still near-impossible to win
The devil is in the details, of course, and I'd be very interested to see a game that's explicitly designed to be "RL without permadeath".
As always,
Minotauros
