Well, you can save/exit anytime you want. You just can't go back to that save if something happens in-game. So you don't need to wait for a checkpoint to quit the game. (maybe I'm wrong about Dark Souls, but Demon's Souls was like that). So it's not some kind of checkpoint-only system. You quit - you get back to the same spot.
Checkpoints are console bullshit, but I think that's not the case here when the game was designed around that. It's Mega Man formula in disguise. That's probably the point of the game to get insta-killed. That's not a surprise obviously, but saving in Dark Souls was not on the table either way.You can quit anytime you want, yes, but you can't save/load anytime you want. When you get insta-killed by surprise new enemies you have to redo a bunch of content just to get there and try again. It's tedious console bullshit I can't stand.
Checkpoints are console bullshit, but I think that's not the case here when the game was designed around that. It's Mega Man formula in disguise. That's probably the point of the game to get insta-killed. That's not a surprise obviously, but saving in Dark Souls was not on the table either way.
It is also bad design then. But there is difference between "by design" and technical handicap. And I think the reason for not having saves(only checkpoints) matters.
It is also bad design then. But there is difference between "by design" and technical handicap. And I think the reason for not having saves(only checkpoints) matters.
I think it was a technical/design limitation back in the NES days and whatnot, which got people used to it and nostalgic for it, so a lot of modern games in typically console genres follow suit.
bad visual intelligibility in shooters. I.E the ability to accurately discern/display what is going on in the screenspace. Over the past 5 years or so theres been a spate of shooters that have a bunch of pretty (obnoxious) PP and fancy lighting but are eyesores to look at for long periods of time and even worse to play. I stopped playing games like Tarkov because it didnt matter what settings i put it on, everything past 20-30m turns into a blurry pixel mess (for contrast, rising storm 2 vietnam has fantastic visual intelligibility) and the color palette is a literal pain to me.
Besides, even original Thief, to my surprise, had highlight on usable items. Although, it probably was because you couldn't judge at what distance you could "use" an item, which would make stealing harder than it already was.
Some modern games allow you to remove usability highlights, but then the game is not designed around that mode. Same goes for minimap markers: I suspect that using this as a crutch causes games to have less intuitive level design, so having an option to remove them isn't a complete solution.
Plotlines, or character arcs, that involve some measure of "respect for life" or whatnot, often asking that you feel remorse for the loss of an individual or plot-pivotal group... all whilst casually ignoring the veritable slew of corpses in your wake. I've seen this particularly simpering type of drek cropping up repeatedly of late and it's quite jarring. The latest iterations of Tomb Raider, for instance, or the Far Cry games in which it's even more absurd given that they track your kills... oh, the humanity, Character X has perished! Don't you feel like a monster? What do you mean the in-game stat-tracker says you've already slain 428 other people? No, no, they're irrelevant, but this one, THIS one has changed you forever!
Some modern games allow you to remove usability highlights, but then the game is not designed around that mode. Same goes for minimap markers: I suspect that using this as a crutch causes games to have less intuitive level design, so having an option to remove them isn't a complete solution.
I remember one mission in Dishonored, I believe it was a DLC mission, where if you had objective markers and highlights turned off you literally had no idea what to do because the safe code was hidden behind a breakable item. That's probably the only example in Dishonored, Bioshock or Deus Ex where turning that stuff off effected me negatively though, I think they 99% work fine. Bethesda quest markers on the other hand...
TRII - TRV had more or less free saving on the Playstation.So here's a game where you can directly see that the hardware necessitated the use of checkpoints, as the PC version doesn't use them.
I also hate it when super-obvious choices are not available during quests because the creators wanted you to proceed only in a certain way. X dude wants you to steal Y item from Z company, it's glaringly obvious that X person is up to no good and will probably double-cross you in the end but you have no option whatsoever to pursue that thought and the only way to proceed is to steal the item. Then when you return the item to X, you get a mini-speech of "HAR HAR, YOU GULLIBLE FOOL, I AM ACTUALLY THE BAD GUY HERE" and you fight him. Bitch I called that outcome from the beginning, ffs.