REBUTTAL TO: Would you Like to Continue?
You've been playing for an hour before you die. It wasn't a big monster,
but it was lucky enough to put “confuse” and “poison” to your entire party
and all you could do was to watch your characters beat each other to death.
You sigh deeply when you load your previous save game, and then realize that
there weren't any save points since you started and the past hour you spent
on the game was all for nothing. You curse for a while, and then think if you
really want to go through that part again. You don't, and decide to continue
some other day when you are not feeling as frustrated.
I'm sure any console RPG player has had many experiences like this, and I'm
pretty sure that most of the time it's one of the most annoying and
frustrating parts of the game. But most gamers don't even come to think of
exactly why they hate dying so much. It's not the dying, folks. It's save
points.
It's one of those things that people are so used to that they don't even
really think about it. Many console RPG players started with Nintendo or
Super Nintendo, and back then it wasn't even given that you could save your
game at all. Many console RPG players have never played computer games, so
it doesn't even feel very natural to save any time you like. For us who play
with PC as well as consoles, the limited save system is console RPGs feels
as unnatural as it is annoying. We already know what it's like to play an
RPG with unlimited saving, an auto-save and a quick save slot, and playing a
game that doesn't let you save any time you need feels like going back to
stone age.
There are no technical reasons for save points, it is nothing but a design
decision. Even Phantasy Star 1 for Master System had unlimited saving, and
that was an 8-bit machine. So, why do game companies insist in using save
points when they clearly have no need for it? Sadly, Japanese RPGs are not
known for innovation in gameplay design. Using save points is one of those
useless traditions that everybody follows simply because they don't even
come to think of having any alternatives. Using save points is an attempt to add
some kind of challenge to console RPGs, which are not exactly known for
difficulty.
I can imagine many of you are thinking right now that eliminating save
points and letting the player save freely would make RPGs too easy. Not
true, and I can prove it! Just try playing Icewind Dale, Baldur´s Gate or
just about any PC RPG and come to tell me those games are too easy! Computer RPGs are many times more difficult than console RPGs, even when you can save any time exept in the middle of battle. For all the years of playing RPGs, I've never met a PC gamer who complains that unlimited saving is making RPGs too easy. Here is the truth: limited saving and difficulty level have
nothing to do with each other! All that limited saving does is make the
player go through the same parts over and over again. This is not fun, and
games are supposed to be entertainment. Ask this from yourself: how much fun
is it to play the same areas again, when you could be exploring new areas
instead? Hard battles are hard battles, even if you can try them again
in a second after you die. It doesn't make a hard battle more of a challenge
if you need to kill weak monsters for 15 minutes before you can try to beat
the hard part again, it just makes the whole process longer more
frustrating. Limited saving is a completely wrong and useless way to make
games longer and harder. It adds repetition, not difficulty.
I've already discussed frustration, but there are other problems that are
connected to save points. For one, save points are effectively preventing
console RPGs from developing any real difficulty. Japanese RPGs are known for
being so easy it's almost silly, and I can just about imagine how that
happened: game companies found out that the most annoying thing in their
games was dying, so they decided to make the games easier. It didn't take
long for RPGs to become so easy that it was nearly impossible to die.
(Sidenote: Phantasy Star 1 had unlimited saving and Phantasy Star 2 was one
of the hardest 16-bit RPGs there ever was. Was PS2 a difficult game because
gamers didn't complain about dying in PS1?) I guess nobody even had the idea
that the problem wasn't the difficulty itself; the gamers simply didn't like
playing the same parts again and again. I can tell you that dying in Icewind
Dale or other PC RPG isn't as annoying as dying in Final Fantasy X, because
with one hit of a button you can try the hard part again. Is this also part
of the reason why PC RPGs can have battle systems that require thought and
strategy, while console RPGs have traditionally very simplistic battles that
need very little effort? After all, it's so much more annoying to die when
every battle takes real effort to win.
The other major problem with save points is that they make RPGs suitable for
mostly hardcore audience. It takes some dedication when you continue your
game and you know that you can't stop playing for perhaps more than an hour
(the longest time between save points that I have encountered has been 1
hour 40 minutes). Believe it or not, but most people don't want and don't
even have the possibility to spend so much time with a game on one sitting.
For many of you it is not a problem, but wait until you have a couple of
kids and a job, and you are responsible for your own dinners and laundry.
Most adults don't have many hours per day just for themselves, and for them
it's much more annoying when their time gets wasted on re-playing long parts
of a game because they couldn't save. Sometimes you simply can't spend 20
minutes longer on a game than you expected. When your kids need dinner or
your work shift begins in 30 minutes, you can't just say “let me find a save
point first!” you need to stop playing now. Because of save points, RPGs
are less desirable for a lot of people, especially adults. This causes two
things: less RPGs are being made (because not so many people are buying
them) and most of them are made for teen tastes.
Save points are truly the bane of console RPGs. They exist only because
people don't think there is a better alternative, but there is. Don't let
the game creators get away with it so easy, and start demanding game design
that makes sense.
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