Designers: please stop messing with the save system

I know you have all these cool ideas for checkpoints, using in-game items to save the game, and whatever other gimmicky save system you think is cool. They're not. None of them, not a single one. I have played pc games for over 30 years and I have yet to see a save system better than just standard save slots.

I love it when I am 30 seconds from the next checkpoint and the game crashes. That's awesome. I wanted to redo those last 25 minutes anyway.

What is impresses me is plain old save slot system with an quicksave button. That's it. That's all. Don't reinvent the wheel. Save your creativity for the other parts of the game.

True, loved the quick save botton (Half Life 2, Max Payne 2)

I like Dark Souls' save system.

No, totally depends on the game.

If done correctly checkpoints and in-game save points works fine. It also adds another layer to the gameplay since you can't save every 5 seconds after beating an enemy.

@KHAndAnime: Agreed, for that kind of game. For long campaign, resource constrained games a single save would cause people to have to start over if they start down a bad path. Happens to people in RPGs all the time when they don't maintain multiple saves.

But in Dark Souls, I loved it. I remember the first time I encountered the Onion Knight guy I thought he was a monster so I swung on him. He yelled after the first hit and I realized he was human so I tried to stop but I was already mid combo and I hit him again, at which point he went agro. Literally the second this happened my hand reached for the PS3 power switch and I flipped that shit off, but it was too late. When I reloaded I was still in the same zone and he was attacking me. So I had to leave and start saving up for absolution. It's nice when games have consequence.

-Byshop

I am completely fine with a respawn system like Darks Souls or Borderlands where regularly dying is part of the game. I guess I don't really consider those save systems as much as see them as the game being always live. I am talking about things where you have to find a typewriter or an object or do something in the game to save. In most cases however, I think it's best to remove the save system from the game aspect entirely. For me at least, if I have to do something in game just to save my game, it breaks immersion.

Most of the games are don't do anything interesting like Dark Souls anyway. They just implement some boring checkpoints or make you use some object.

The save system should be done in accordance with the design philosophy of the game. Also, I find that being able to save anywhere at anytime just makes it too easy. It takes away the challenge.

Save points right before a cutscene and a then a difficult part is also so awesome. Nothing beats repeatedly dying only to have to replay the cutscene and then die again. Bonus points to games that make the cutscene unskippable, followed by a multi-part boss battle.

This exactly, its like that unlimited rewind feature in racing games "oh its not perfect, lets do it again, nope not now either, again, nope again....and so on"

I believe Alien Isolation almost got it right. If a prompt didn't popup asking if you want to overwrite it would've been more immersive. If they had a quicksave feature in, then I would have just been constantly quicksaving thus eliminating the fear and anxiety from the game.

Quicksaves are the worst thing to happen to video games. It removes every single aspect of any challenge. All PC games need to do away with quicksaving. I play video games for fun but I also love to be challenged and have a feeling of accomplishment. Too many video games pander to casuals nowadays. Remember the days of Nintendo and when games were actually difficult to beat? I want those days back.

Save Systems aren't an issue... I'm more concerned with whats going to force me to Start over ?

Is the game gonna crash ? Did I buy the wrong weapon or dump all my skill points in to the wrong skills ? Did I get instakilled ?

Its more important to me then where I restart if I **** up.

I dont like save systems any more either. F5 all the way or save when you want to.

I know what you mean about pc here. Save points are convenient. There was a period where I'd just abuse it and save too much because I didn't want to redo a harder section of a game--once I realized this really too away from the tension games create, though, I stopped doing it. It is a reason consoles really were a different experience in the past.

Now, I'm commenting on this because I finally put some time into Zombie U. Yes, it isn't a pc game but imo it pertains to the topic. I was enjoying the game; put maybe 90 minutes in. I don't do that often in one flat sitting. Now I'm not as young as I used to be so my priorities are different. I'm stuck thinking, "okay what do I do now I can't continue the game how do I save my progress?" There's no way without reaching a save area.

So in some respects I understand the autosave features and numerous checkpoints, but at the same time the kid gamer in me understands that they take a bit away from the overall experience.

***I'll feel dumb if Zombie U picks up where I left off when turning on.