What is it with console ports and bloody check points

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

PrincessFrosty

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2008
2,301
68
91
www.frostyhacks.blogspot.com
Then don't do it? If you don't like playing that way then don't. The mere existence of that system does not compel you to use it. If you can't resist the urge then I don't know what to tell you.

A similar situation are the presence of cheat codes/console commands. The existence of them is something some people like to mess with but you don't have to use them.

The best system is to have both. Autosaves/checkpoints and the ability to save whenever. When I know there is an autosave/checkpoint system I rarely manually save except when exiting the game but if I am having issues somewhere I can cut out the retry time by saving closer to the problem.

EACTLY!!

Look you can argue the pros and cons back and forth all day, what it boils down to is user preference and some people like myself simply feel that quicksaves are better and necessary to get the most enjoyment from the game, based on our own playstyle and preferences.

Put both in, let the user pick which they want, if you can't stop yourself from using quicksave when it's present...then I'm with CountZero, I don't know what to tell you, maybe you need your head checked?
 

thejunglegod

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2012
1,358
36
91
Then don't do it? If you don't like playing that way then don't. The mere existence of that system does not compel you to use it. If you can't resist the urge then I don't know what to tell you.

I don't do that anymore though i used to earlier. i.e. keep tapping that F5 key. Read my post again. My statement was intended for people who don't want to replay any sections of the game, even if it's a small section and hence have to tap F5 every 2 mins or so.

Skyrim and Fallout gave us quicksaves because both were open-ended gameworlds. So obviously it would make sense to save after you go around collecting some herbs or some nirnoot. That is not the case with say, Max Payne 3. It takes you from one scripted scene to the next. And they were really small scenes with cut-scenes dominating more than the actual gameplay. If you had problems replaying those tiny bits then i don't know what to say.

Have you played Dark Souls? I know it is a console game but please, do read. How do you feel about the Bonfire checkpoint system? Is that fair? Do you think it shoud be incorporated in the PC version? The main thrill about Dark Souls is easily the fact that it is a bloody hard game. Half of the thrill is the fact that you've managed to stay alive and that is what makes the game beautiful. So if a quick save option is incorporated in Dark Souls (PC version) would that make it that challenging a game?
If you cant go through 2 mins of replaying a game I pray to God that you & thespyder never come across games like these.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
That's one reason why I haven't played Dark Souls -- it's supposed to be a great game if you like that kind of punishment, but after putting in a long day at work I'd rather play something more forgiving like Borderlands.

... which does have checkpoints, and that does keeps me from playing it as often as I'd like. So it's not perfect for me, but still fun.
 

thespyder

Golden Member
Aug 31, 2006
1,979
0
0
You advised me not to hit that red F5 button, and w.r.t to your story, I do not see how that is NOT insulting.

I don't know you from Adam. So how can I know if you actually compulsively do hit the F5. Any insult was not intentional on this end.

So you do keep hitting the F5 button over and over again as per the quoted statement above, so how are you different from me bashing th F5 button repeatedly?

As a matter of fact, I don't (with most games). But I acknowledge the fact that people do. And there are games where I think the static save points are far to far apart. I much prefer the scheme where people can play as they choose, not as other people want them. The two pronged scheme (which we both appear to favor) allows for a wider variety of playing styles. And I am all for everyone being happy where possible.

I did not want you to apologise my friend. It was just that your story about the monkey was something totally out of the blue and the comparison pissed me off to no end. I mentioned in my earlier posts that there are certain games that use a save option very well, something like ME3 or The Witcher2. It allows you to quicksave as well as there are standard checkpoints before the start of a boss battle or in between stages of a boss battle.
I don't want this to be blown out of proportion as it happens in every other thread.
PEACE.

Not sure why the monkey story bothered you so much. And it is actually anecdotal, but does (and was intended to) point out that mammals (particularly males) tend more towards less self control. Hence the relevance to the discussion at hand (i.e. if people don't like the save anywhere because they think it makes things too easy and they have no self control (relevance), that is their own problem and they shouldn't try to enforce their handicaps on everyone).

But agreed. PEACE.
 

CountZero

Golden Member
Jul 10, 2001
1,796
36
86
I don't do that anymore though i used to earlier. i.e. keep tapping that F5 key. Read my post again. My statement was intended for people who don't want to replay any sections of the game, even if it's a small section and hence have to tap F5 every 2 mins or so.

Skyrim and Fallout gave us quicksaves because both were open-ended gameworlds. So obviously it would make sense to save after you go around collecting some herbs or some nirnoot. That is not the case with say, Max Payne 3. It takes you from one scripted scene to the next. And they were really small scenes with cut-scenes dominating more than the actual gameplay. If you had problems replaying those tiny bits then i don't know what to say.

Have you played Dark Souls? I know it is a console game but please, do read. How do you feel about the Bonfire checkpoint system? Is that fair? Do you think it shoud be incorporated in the PC version? The main thrill about Dark Souls is easily the fact that it is a bloody hard game. Half of the thrill is the fact that you've managed to stay alive and that is what makes the game beautiful. So if a quick save option is incorporated in Dark Souls (PC version) would that make it that challenging a game?
If you cant go through 2 mins of replaying a game I pray to God that you & thespyder never come across games like these.

Now if you quicksave, then it's a terrible tragedy if it's a firefight and you're in the middle of a mess. You kill 2 guys, F5, jump to cover, F5, Poke ur head out and shoot, miss, F9, reshoot, kill, F5....that is just utter nonsense and it feels like shit.

You said it feels like shit to hit F5 obsessively in order to not replay even a second of the game. You left out that it feels like shit to you, it may not to someone else. I can almost guarantee there is someone that plays like that and likes it. What impact does that have to you? In what way does the fact that someone likes to play like this make the game any less enjoyable for you?

I haven't played MP3. I'm also not an obsessive saver. For me it is all about being able to quit when I want.

Quicksave would make Dark Souls a less challenging game. I fail to see how offering an easy mode that offered quick saves and a normal mode that didn't would make the game less fun for anyone that wants to do it on normal but it would make the game more fun for those that would want to do it on easy. You could argue that because brutal difficulty is a selling point it makes no sense to offer an easy mode, that's fine. Though I don't recall MP3 advertising itself as a brutally difficult game.

Again you make the assumption I care about replaying 2 minutes of game. I have limited game time. If I have 15 minutes to play and I don't hit a check point then I have made no forward progress and that sucks. Replaying parts of a game because I died is ok, replaying because I didn't play for a long enough is annoying. It was acceptable long ago (I can't be the only person that left a NES paused for hours at a time to pick up a game later) but really isn't now for all but a few cases. Furthermore giving more control to the player on how they want to play the game is almost never a bad thing.
 

thespyder

Golden Member
Aug 31, 2006
1,979
0
0
Have you played Dark Souls? I know it is a console game but please, do read. How do you feel about the Bonfire checkpoint system? Is that fair? Do you think it shoud be incorporated in the PC version? The main thrill about Dark Souls is easily the fact that it is a bloody hard game. Half of the thrill is the fact that you've managed to stay alive and that is what makes the game beautiful. So if a quick save option is incorporated in Dark Souls (PC version) would that make it that challenging a game?
If you cant go through 2 mins of replaying a game I pray to God that you & thespyder never come across games like these.

I have played Dark Souls (and Demon Souls as well), and yes it is brutally tough. But a game like this is by far the exception to the rule. And I can almost guarantee that everyone who has played it would agree.

There is a significant difference in playing a game like Dark Souls for it's brutal difficulty and playing a any RPG or even most platformers. but even then, OK. yeah, I might play Dark Souls and make use of quick save in it if I wanted to play and actually SEE more than the same sections over and over and over again.