How to not abuse save/reload

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thelastmccabe

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Jun 23, 2011
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I was just wondering if fellow escapists have any tips or rules they use to keep themselves from abusing save/reload to avoid bad consequences in games. Saving every few steps like I tend to do ends up really killing the sense of immersion--in fact I almost prefer a console style system because of this. I think it's particularly a problem in games like Fallout 3, where, for example, there's a big temptation to save before any time you might be caught stealing and then reload if you're caught. It would be much better (more immersive and fun) to actually have to deal with the consequences of being caught.

On the other hand, I don't want to play completely ironman and never save. I was thinking maybe I'd turn off all the autosave stuff and only allow myself to save every 30 minutes. Anyone have any thoughts on that or techniques you use to force yourself to deal with in game failure?
 

endtherapture

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Nov 14, 2011
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Save only where you can find somewhere to sleep...eg a save point system but just self imposed.
 

Snukastyle

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Mar 9, 2011
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I try only to manually save games if it's been a while (say 20-30 minutes, depending on the game)since I've saved, or if I have a feeling a nasty boss fight I might not survive is coming up.
 

Sixcess

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Feb 27, 2010
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I usually only save immediately before sequences that have killed me before, or immediately after sequences that should have killed me but by luck didn't. Other than that I do very little saving - I think I've spent so much time in MMOs I often forget that there is a save button.

That said, I will readily resort to repeated saves to get through particularly tiresome or annoying parts of a game. I still remember saving four or five times just to get through a single especially hard room of Tomb Raider 2 - a series that was otherwise extremely stingy with its save points. Crysis (after the aliens show up) and Half Life saw a lot of saving also.

Oddly enough the one game I never ever save mid level is Doom/Doom II. I started playing that series on the PS1 version, which had no midlevel save feature, so I got accustomed to running a level in one go. Although I play it now on the PC I still can't bring myself to use the save - feels like cheating.
 

evilneko

Fall in line!
Jun 16, 2011
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For the Bethesda Fallouts, use CASM and set it to save every 30-60 minutes and turn off all other autosaves. Not sure if a similar thing is available for Skyrim. Unbind the quicksave key if it's allowed.

If you find yourself compulsively saving the long way, ie going to the menu and using the save option, I don't really think there's much help for you.