Have you ever stopped playing, or skipped playing a game because of how it saves?

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I know this is a pretty old and moot issue now but I still just wanted to bring it up.

Has a game's save system ever made you stop playing the game or have you ever entirely skipped playing a game because of how it saves?

Checkpoint auto-saves have become the norm and that surprises me because I find them to be so damn inconvenient and usually gamers give devs hell if they don't like something. Just look at the backlash due to paid mods. But we transitioned into check-point autosaves without so much as a peep. And that surprises me because I know we don't all have unlimited time and thus there must be others like me that have lost progress due their implementation.

My issue with them is needless repetition. The idea that have to replay a section of a game not because I was stupid or careless and died, but because I had to quit my gaming session due to it being dinner time or due to having to go to bed at a somewhat decent time as I need to be up early for school/uni/work, is utterly infuriating to me.

Now some games are pretty good at doing checkpoint autosaves. For instance Dark Souls or the Batman Arkham games usually leave me very little to redo when I get a chance to play them again. Or a game like Ryse is chopped into numerous little byte-size segments so I know my next definite save is always at the completion of the next objective 10 or 20 minutes away. But others can be pretty terrible like Shadow Chronicles which has a miserable save system that has often resulted in me having to replay quite a bit when I start playing it again.

Shadowrun Chronicles' save system is so bad that I've stopped playing (all my gameplay was offline btw so Steam won't show anything) and looking back at other games that I've yet to complete there have been a number of other casualties in the past like L.A. Noire, Splinter-cell Convition and Darksiders (in fact most Action games) to name a few. There are also titles I'm hesitant to start playing because of how they save like Thief and some other consoles ports because I suspect they won't do a very good job of saving my exact position. In fact Thief as a stealth game is really bad in this regard because I tend to play very slow and careful which often means I won't reach the next significant story point (which will likely let me save) within an hour so I need 2 at least.

In fact I find myself playing games less and less these days, not because I no longer like gaming, but because I can't find time chunks big enough to be certain I'll make progress meaningful enough to be saved. Instead I'll watch TV series or anime because I know that with those I can get enjoyment out of every available minute of my free time and I won't have to repeat anything I've already done.

I was just wondering whether I'm completely alone in this regard.
As an analogy just imagine playing a turn-based RTS which only saved at random turn intervals like turns 3, 9, 14, 25, 27 etc and gave you no option of saving manually. Or a real-time RTS which only saves if you destroy an enemy's building or when you lose a building. Could you accept playing those games? I couldn't.

Am I completely alone? Or have any of you also stopped playing a game or even skipped a game because of how it saved VS the time you had to play the game?

9 years ago

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So have save systems bugged you to the degree that you have stopped or even entirely skipped playing a game?

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Yes, often

Yes, but only once or twice

No, this entire "issue" is absurd

Well it has bugged me now and then but I've always soldierd on through to the end

I'm actually really glad I often no longer need to go into a menu and manually save. It was so damn tedious.

Other?

183 Comments

RedFrix0075

It happened lots of times with Hotline Miami :V
Specially Hotline Miami 2, I can't get past Dead Ahead ;_;
So many open spots yo

9 years ago