Game over + Expert mode?

[Blackthane]

I've restarted PoE about 4~5 times. What has happened before is that if the Watcher dies, my party continues combat until everyone is dead. In my most recent run, even while the 2 party members are still very much alive, as long as the Watcher is dead I get the load screen. 

 

Also, isn't expert mode supposed to be a permanent choice during a NG? Yet I can click and mess around with the various options in the tutorial dungeon. 

 

Can anyone clue me in on what's happening? 

[Asmodan]

As far as i know it works this way: When you have expert mode on or the maimed option disabled the characters die when they reach 0 health. If the Main Char reaches 0 health the Game is over. When the maim option is enabled the Game continues if the Main Char reaches 0 health for the first time.

 

You can activate Expert Mode at the start of a new Game only. You can deactivate it at any time, but then you can not reactivate it.