Some thoughts about game check-points save

First of all I don’t like them. I especially HATE them in games where I cannot save WHEN I WANT.

I found so boring repeating the same part of the game/level from the last check-point to the hard part where you die or lose. It so numbing walk the same path, get the same loot, kill the same monster/guy, and perform the same jump just to die the next meter because of a very hard trap, puzzle, enemy or other.

Yes but doing the same things over and over and over again, you will get better. True but I want to get better at the hard part not at the easy.

I don’t like to collect the same loot times again just because I died trying to collect some hard-to-reach loot.

I know that there are some game that you cannot save when you want like Borderlands, Minecraft, Diablo 2, Sacred and more but in these games you can save when you quit and or the game keep saving all the time like in Borderlands so you don’t lose your progress and you can focus on passing the hard part.

And this cancer of check-points save is particularly annoying for me because I’m a pc gamer: I have a whole keyboard and I don’t understand why pc version of games CANNOT have a quick save/load.

This brings me to a point: now with the eighth generation of console and their “fantastic hardware and features” WHY WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL they didn’t designed the fucking control with 2 tiny buttons to quick save/load?????? So game developers could implement this function in their games so I can have on my pc version.

I agree to a point. On one hand it's true that being unable to save when you want is a bummer, and having to replay sections of a game is annoying. On the other, quicksaves make games far too easy: I remember beating Serious Sam on serious difficulty on PC and quicksaving some 1700 times (pretty much after every kill in the hardest stretches) so I would be sent back literally 10 seconds tops when I died. Quicksaves also kill any sort of tension and need for caution, again: "who cares if I die, I quicksaved 5 seconds ago" whereas checkpoints force you to plan your moves more carefully under threat of going back.

One perfect example of this is FarCry 2: on PC it has quicksaves, which means you can pretty much go in guns blazing every time and just reload until you do it, while on consoles you get one save at a safehouse before a mission and one in the middle of it, that's it. This means you had to use stealth and be careful in order to succeed, creating an atmosphere of tension and survival.

In the end, either goes for me. What I really hate and what instantly ruins a game for me are limited saves (classic Resident Evil), unless it's in a game like Hitman or older Rainbow Six games where missions are usually very short.

Quicksaving breaks tension and usually makes the game a lot easier. Elder scrolls for example, really easy to quicksave before fights or during fights when things are going your way or quickload when they aren't.

Yeah I don't mind check points so long as I can save where and when I want as well. If it's check point only and I have to replay 10 or 15 minutes (or worse, watch a load of cutscenes) over again a few times, it's far more likely I'll just stop and play something else.

I don't care about "breaking tension" or making games seem easier, I want to play games my way and find out what works effectively or not, I don't need the game to decide "Oh you thought you had enough ammo for this section? Nope, here go back 15 minutes and do it all again"

I like the freedom to choose how I tackle a given situation, whether it works or not is irrelevant but I don't want the game to punish me for experimenting. If you go down that road you just wind up at CoD

if for you quicksave makes the game easier and breaks the tension the solution is very very very very easy: DO NOT USE QUICKSAVE!!!!! it is a choice: the game has quick save do I want to use it or not? but I feel disrespect when I don't have the choice. It is the same like for euthanasia, same sex marriage: some group of people are 100% against (in my opinion they are wrong) because of these people I feel our freedom is less...If euthanasia is recognizes by law people can choose to use it or not and I like this freedom to choose.

I WANT OPTIONS I WANT TO CHOOSE IF I WANT TO USE QUICK SAVE OR NOT

quicksave can be dangerous too: in many occasion I quicksave in Skyrin only to get I an insane fight with a dragon that I was barely able to kill it. it was ether fight the dragon or go back to some old save. and quicksave 10000000 times per level is more dangerous that save 20 time per level. I quick save when I was falling, when I was shot to death and in others bad situations. You must know when to use a quick save.

I like quick save and I never felt that they made a game easier or break the tension. About the tension: the tension is strong only on the first play trough on the second you know what to expect; same when you repeat the same part over and over you know what to expect. and repeating the same part over and over again does it make easy?

one of the most important aspect of be able to save when the hell I want is because I have to quit the game for what ever reason without losing my progress.

Maybe what you could do is "challenge" yourself by not using quicksave if there is one.

@touchscreenpad: I will keep using the quick save

I like checkpoints if they're done right and done often enough. Quick saves are handy but I can drive myself crazy when I start doing them very often (like in Halflife or Elder Scrolls games), and can be a downside when saving becomes a key part of the strategy of the game (ie: saving in the middle of a big battle when I've inflicted a lot of damage early). Quicksaves and re-loading can definitely take you out of the experience.

@BARRICADE_28: still I don't understand why they don't give us a choice: to activate the quick save or to disable it.

it would a option in the game setting...if you want to use it you will turn it on if not you will turn it off

I love options.

You know a game that Implemented a good save system is Mass Effect: it has check point and quick save; and you are able to quick save only when you are NOT in a combat situation.

I like to quick save when I'm exploring because I don't know how long it will take me.

I don't mind them. I do agree that if the checkpoints are too far apart it can be annoying having to replay the same sections over again, and you can get stuck in a few poorly timed checkpoints, such as low health or being killed right when the checkpoint hits. On the other hand, they do make certain games slightly easier, which I don't have too much of an issue with them. I guess it's more of a double-edged sword.

Also games that only have one save slot, that's just irritating. Developers really need to just completely stop doing that.

one save slot is irritating....or at least creating different profile with one save slot.

I like the idea of a profile with it own save file

@operationode: Would you also like a quicksave feature but you load on checkpoints but your progress is saved anyways like when you get to a difficult-to get-to secret and get the stuff there then quicksave but when you get back you die, then you load your quicksave but you load back to a checkpoint BUT the secret you discovered is also saved?

It's not that simple. It's a mental thing: the fact that you *know* you have no choice but going back if you fail is what generates the tension. Knowing that you can bypass the problem if things get too hard greatly detracts from the immersion.

It's the same as the difference between saying "I am not going to eat chocolate for a month" and having the doctor tell you "You can't eat chocolate for a month." It's all in the perception.

I've never liked the checkpoint system, but I agree that a lot of games would be too easy (and short) if you could just manually save them at any point. Some games, like GTA, let you save anytime you want except when you're in the middle of a mission. That's probably a more sensible approach. Then there is The Last of Us, where manual saves have no meaning. There is an option to do manual saves in The Last of Us but autosave always overwrites the most recent save, so manual saves have no real purpose as you always end up back at the last checkpoint anyway. At least the checkpoints are close together.

Yeah but isnt it incentive to produce more challenging games? Besides when you have to deal with PC loading times, checkpoints can in this situation feel like extra waiting.

In some instances lets plays of quick saves can prove funny and counter-intuitive when some people are locked to that F5 key.

Observe from " 2:30 "

@platinumking320: How a check point game is more challenging than one without? if something is hard is hard independently from the save system. the differences are with the quick save I can try the hard part without repeating the easy sections, with the check point you must re do everything between the check point and the hard part.

I don't know if you understand what a pc can do, you think that the loading of a 2013 pc are the same of a commodore 64. I'm pretty sure that my pc is better that old and new consoles and has faster loading time.

both system have advantages and disadvantages

...let's play Mass Effect and The Witcher with checkpoints, let's play these game without exploring that would make a "wonderful" experience. Let's play CoD or Battlefield with qiucksave...still they are shitty games. each games should have a matching save system.

Mass Effect and the Witcher have a good save system and you cannot save during a fight (I agree that quick save during a fight can make it easier)

Borderlands has a good save system: you cannot save when you want but you don't lose your progress. you quit the game and it saves your progress, when you restart the game you start and the last checkpoint. I'm ok with that and when you do repeat the same area is ok because is an other chance to find loot. repeating the same area is not a complete waste of time.

Games that have ONLY checkpoint as the only mean of saving are pretty bad and it gets worst when some allow some form of explorations. in these games what they can do is at least create a save point, when you are not a fight and you are quitting the game ( because you have to go to work, school, busy, sleep, and other reasons). one more thing that is really fucking annoying: cut-scenes that you CANNOT SKIP...I must be able to skip any cut-scene and dialogue.