The Guilty Party

It seems like permadeath of companions would be something tied to one of the optional difficulty modes. Because I can see the appeal of the *option* to say 'I've played this game a dozen times, so this time through the game, if someone dies, they're dead. It will spice things up.' If the game auto-rezes your characters, you literally can't do that and that sucks. But personally, in normal gameplay, if a companion bites it permanently, it's reload time.