Quick Save - A key feature that devs keep forgetting

CrimsonKnight13

CrimsonKnight13

Lord Stabington of [H]ard|Fortress
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
8,478
As of late, I've been noticing a horrible trend that seems to be punishing gamers who enjoy playing single player first-person & third-person shooter/action games. Since I've played Singularity & Metro 2033 recently, it appears that restarting from the last checkpoint is killing the mood of progression & love for the games

I'm wondering if this is a trend that developers have taken due to how console games are done. Metro 2033 feels like a true PC game but its has features (or lack thereof) like a console game, especially when it defaults to my XBox 360 controlller instead of the mouse & keyboard. Maybe it's just me but I get the feeling that other people have experienced such dissappointments, too.

Is it just a trend that will die off or will we see more PC games with similar "gimping" of user controlled save points (outside of autosaves) and even default to a console controller over KB&M?
 
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Most game developers think Quick Save gimps games, because people walk around mashing on the Quick Save button every 45 seconds and it shits on their attempts at creating suspense.
 
Suspense is suspended when I have to redo a level 5x before I actually realize why each varied attempt has the same outcome. I still appreciate BioShock 1 & 2 for giving me quicksaves, autosaves, & fast respawn points. I can make progression without feeling shame for understanding an area of a game better.
 
No quicksaves is consolitis creep. Its a huge turn off for me since I only play PC anymore. I want to be able to save and play the game how *I* want.
 
im actually not a fan of quick saves, it makes games too cheap
well placed checkpoints are just fine
 
This is my biggest pet peeve in new games. I HATE replaying a tough part over and over. There are games I have quit playing altogether after suffering through the same cutscene time after time.
 
Standpoint said:
This is my biggest pet peeve in new games. I HATE replaying a tough part over and over. There are games I have quit playing altogether after suffering through the same cutscene time after time.
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That's the Dev's fault for not putting the checkpoint in the right place, not necessarily for not including Quicksaves. Checkpoints should NEVER be just prior to cut-scenes(Edit: Un-skippable ones, anyway, if I have the option to skip it's fine), always just following them.
 
It is rather irksome when I need to save a game (for any reason, not just because I'm unsure of the game area I'm about to enter) and I cannot because I'm not at a 'checkpoint'. Sometimes I get a phone call, or someone swings by the house and rather than canceling all accomplishments I've made because I need to end the game, I'd prefer to simply hit quicksave and be done.
 
jslater25 said:
It is rather irksome when I need to save a game (for any reason, not just because I'm unsure of the game area I'm about to enter) and I cannot because I'm not at a 'checkpoint'. Sometimes I get a phone call, or someone swings by the house and rather than canceling all accomplishments I've made because I need to end the game, I'd prefer to simply hit quicksave and be done.
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QFT

This mirrors my own thoughts as well
 
Does anyone else remember what game got them addicted to quicksaves?

For me it was the original Splinter Cell. I don't remember if it was that it was one of the first games I played that supported the feature, or that I HAD to rely on it because I'm not so great at sneaking around in games.
 
Half-Life 1 was great for quicksaves since you never knew what would kill you around the next corner. :)
 
Spewn said:
That's the Dev's fault for not putting the checkpoint in the right place, not necessarily for not including Quicksaves. Checkpoints should NEVER be just prior to cut-scenes(Edit: Un-skippable ones, anyway, if I have the option to skip it's fine), always just following them.
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Why is it their responsibility to say where the 'right' place is to save? This is another example of devs trying to unify the gaming experience for everyone, but taking away the ability for each user to have their own experience with the game. Argument is similar to devs taking away dedicated servers, so everyone will have the same online experience and not allowing for any customizations. Can't stand it.
 
Lack of quicksaves or any time saves sucks, check points blow and forced save points really friggen blow.

I haven't touched FFXIII in over a month because I lost about an hours work from a power outage.

As for game that addicted me to quick saving? Hm.. probably world of xeen? Pretty sure that had it. Its been about 18 years since I played it though.
 
The game that me addicted to quick saves was Oblivion, and I definitely overused them. I do like having the option to save the game whenever I want, and not having to reach some arbitrary checkpoint, at least in nonlinear/open world games. Even if you can save the game whenever you want you still have the choice of playing the game the 'real' way and not reverting to your quicksave whenever something goes wrong. Sure if you want it to be super smooth and easy you can save/load constantly to get everything just right, the same way you can use cheats/mods to make the game easier. I personally prefer not to take either of those routes, but insofar as they give players more options I think quick saves (or just being able to save whenever you want) are a good thing.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Ah, thanks for the clarification. I thought it was since the game was being pushed to the PC gaming community with a whole lot of gusto regarding DX11.
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The consoles pretty much play on settings similar to Dx9 + normal settings. Crysis wasn't a PC exclusive either.

As far as quick saving goes... I don't care if there's an adequate alternative - Halo's checkpoint system was pretty nice.

What really ticks me off is if a game actually allows you to save whenever you want but does NOT have a quick save feature so you have to manually go to the menu - save - type in name, hit button. That just doesn't make sense to me.
 
*quick saves, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, pickpocket success!*

I love Oblivion. :D
 
There is no need for quick saves anymore because games are getting a lot easier. You dont need to even pick up health packs anymore.
 
TheBuzzer said:
There is no need for quick saves anymore because games are getting a lot easier. You dont need to even pick up health packs anymore.
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Sometimes there are alternate routes, and some of us just like to explore the levels more (such as in Metro 2033).
 
I dont like repeating things i've already completed, why would I want to go back a pre-defined amount of time and re-do everything there, especially when devs do asinine things like make auto save points before tedious and unskippable cutscenes or arrogantly hard boss fights.

It was a standard feature for many years with games i have no idea why this has excluded from moddern games, it's a shame it's gone.
 
I feel gamers should have the choice if they want to use it. I often think it's left out as a cheap ploy to make short games seem longer. It's one of the reasons I've avoided Metro 2033. From what I've heard,the enemies in it can be as hard to kill as those in the STALKER series. If so,then playing it without a quick save feature would get tedious real fast!
 
KrypticMind said:
*quick saves, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, fails to pickpocket, quick loads, pickpocket success!*

I love Oblivion. :D
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I hear you dude. You know you've been playing too much Oblivion when you walk outside and see a pretty girl, try to quicksave before talking to her, and then by the time you realize you can't she's gone. :eek:
 
quick saves should be banned from games.

I remember watching my friend playing quake2 when it came out, walk around a corner, quicksave, walk around the next corner quick save.

Everytime an encounter didnt go perfect he would quick load.

Pathetic noob.
 
Simon said:
quick saves should be banned from games.

I remember watching my friend playing quake2 when it came out, walk around a corner, quicksave, walk around the next corner quick save.

Everytime an encounter didnt go perfect he would quick load.

Pathetic noob.
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It SHOULDN'T be banned. There should be a choice of being able to use it in the first place. I don't care about people who abuse it. I want to have a fulfilling experience of a game w/o starting at a developer chosen save point.
 
Simon said:
quick saves should be banned from games.

I remember watching my friend playing quake2 when it came out, walk around a corner, quicksave, walk around the next corner quick save.

Everytime an encounter didnt go perfect he would quick load.

Pathetic noob.
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If that's how he wants to play his single player game, then what's the problem?
 
Fendrix said:
He paid for the game, and if he enjoys playing that way, what do you care?
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He's stating his opinion, it's not like Simon jumped on his friend and forced him to uninstall it. When I see people do stuff like that I think it's really stupid too and takes away from the suspense as intended by the game designers. No one is saying he can't do it. No one is saying you also can't NOCLIP / GODMODE every game either, but don't come whining back that the game is too easy or it sucks because you removed all the challenge/suspense. I don't even want to imagine what these guys would do if the original Resident Evils had quick saves.
 
Not having quicksaves is stupid. If you think it makes the game too easy, don't use it, simple as that.

Removing quicksaving because it makes the game too easy is just as stupid as removing the "easy" or "very easy" mode games often offer because it makes the game too easy.

I don't like doing the same thing over and over again, and I hate getting bosses down to a sliver of health only to lose because I made one mistake. Or even worse, to barely defeat a boss that I've been working on for the past hour, but die a few minutes later because there is no save point. Having quicksave as an option would solve this issue for the people who have it, while not ruining it for people who don't like quicksave because nobody is forcing you to use it.
 
Alpha Protocol is a perfect example of a game that needs quick saves instead of checkpoints. I don't know how many times I've quit only to play the next day and find the checkpoint at the start of the level pops me out of cover/stealth upon load and screws me over entirely. Not to mention the timer for conversation system making me frequently wish I could go back and do something differently without repeating a large chunk of a level.
 
Look,calling for the banning of quick saves is ridiculous,there's a little concept called freedom of choice some people should look up,so enough of the macho BS,o.k.? The lack of the feature these days has nothing to do with developers concern over the "purity" of gaming,but rather their concern with appeasing the console makers.And most of them are in too much of a hurry to rake in the cash to take the time to put the in added features a PC version deserves.
 
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