The Problem With Saving (Part 2)
Following up on my previous post about the problems with saving, I’d like to continue this with a look at the way a few games handle the various issues that can occur.
Trials HD has recently used the save system to great use. A Trials course is made up of several checkpoints that once reached can be used to restart your progress after you inevitably fall off the bike. These checkpoints are located before and after particularly challenging obstacles, pushing the player to continue trying long after they otherwise may have given up.
As I mentioned in my review, VVVVVV has a similar save mechanic to Trials HD, using checkpoints in much the same way. Each one is generally within a few steps of the last place you likely died enabling you to quickly get back into the game. The checkpoints are often visible but just out of reach, tucked around a death trap of spikes, taunting you to reach it if you can.
Both games highly benefit from this quick restart system. Had there even been a second or two loading screen I highly doubt this system would have worked so well. The ability to jump back into the game so quickly helps foster a “just one more try” attitude so important to both titles.
Splinter Cell Double Agent firmly falls into the camp of games that embrace the ’save and restart anywhere’ mentality which, in some parts of the game, works against it. It seems as though areas have been designed around this infinite save system forcing the player to save more often than normal. This ensures that if you do die, you wont have to repeat half a level to get back to your location, but in a game like Splinter Cell, allowing players to save before and after opening every door, turning every corner, and passing/neutralising any guards removes some of the challenge and tension associated with stealth games.
I enjoy the game a lot, but it has other issues directly related to the save system. Double Agent allows you to make various ‘moral decisions’ throughout the game, choosing to let certain characters live or die which can influence future missions in various ways. This system should encourage replaying the game to see both outcomes of your choices. In practice you would play the game taking every ‘good’ choice then replay it taking all the ‘bad’ options. In reality you do it one way then instantly reload the last checkpoint and try it the other. It’s possible to double up on the respective ‘moral choice’ achievements this way, further eliminating replay value.
While not always a direct fault of the developer, this type of emergent gameplay can lead to problems down the line if not handled just right.
Left4Dead does not allow any manual saving. It instead splits levels into 4 sections of roughly 15/20 minute long encounters and gives a checkpoint at the end of each area. A campaign can take roughly an hour to complete and there is no ability to save mid-campaign, or shut down the game and come back to your last location whenever you want. You either complete the campaign in that session or you don’t.
Short sections mean if the player dies, they wont have too far to backtrack preventing an element of frustration, and the inability to save and restart so quickly allows level difficulty to be more in the hands of the developer rather than being influenced directly by the player.
The old Aliens vs Predator PC game released in 1999, initially did not allow mid-level saves, presumably in an attempt to increase the tension and atmosphere needed for such a game, but resulting in increased difficulty in some areas depending on player skill. This met with some backlash and a patch was released that allowed limited saving. Even though players could now save a set amount of times, the tension and atmosphere remained as tactical choices were still required. Players now had to ensure they did not blow all the available saves too early leaving a large portion of the level still to go, whilst also having to pick safe moments/areas to save without an Alien popping out of a corridor with a razor sharp grin and a big appetite for marine skulls.
I’m yet to play it, but I understand Bayonetta has mid-boss fight saves due to bosses having multiple stages and restarting so frequently can often lead to controllers rapidly flung in random, destructive directions. While I can see the advantage to this if the boss has twelve health bars and four different stages, it could just as easily negate the difficulty of a lesser boss battle.
As we can see, saving can play a much larger role than simply granting the ability to backup progress and should not be overlooked.
