To what extent do you use saves to "cheat"?

[Stabwound]

To what extent do you guys use save/reloading to "cheat" in RPGs? For example, you might save before a battle and reload if a character dies, or maybe you'll just keep playing and resurrect them somehow. Maybe you're hardcore as fuck and won't reload even if your character is permanently killed.

Maybe you'll save before an obvious choice/consequence section and check out all of the options to see which one is best.

Or maybe you'll save before a lockpicking session and reload until you get it the first time, or reload if you set off a trap, or whatever.

Or maybe you'll come across a particularly difficult enemy that you have a low chance of defeating, and you keep reloading until you get that 1% chance critical hit and kill it.

I've done all of the above, and now that I think about it, it can be pretty cheesy. For some situations, though, it's just avoiding some annoying game mechanic, like "fuck, I have to walk all the way back to town to resurrect my stupid mage... screw it, reload and try again." Doing C&C sections blindly and without reloading is fun, too, but it's hard to avoid checking out all of the options first.

This isn't really a huge deal but I was just curious what other people do.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I don't use quickloading/saving because the temptation to savescum is too great (unless I need to do something like steal an item and the consequences are retarded, like a random chance of failure that'll make the entire town hostile at me)

I load if a character dies ( in games where resurrection is hard, at least ) or a skillcheck fails due to RNG bullshit (oh you could calmly open this door but dice god says NO), but if I deserved it (trying to face tough enemy / trying something with very low % of success), then tough shit.

I don't force that 1% crit chance because getting rewards for dumb luck makes me wanna reload, anyway. Every time I swing that cool sword the monster was guarding, it'll make a "enjoy your easymode, scrub" sound instead of a satisfying "swish".

To sum it up, it depends - if the game relies too much on random % bs, I'll probably cheese at some point. If I wanted to play slot machines and get rewards for being lucky, I'd be at a casino, not playing a videogame.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Only when I'm playtesting my mod. Also, sometimes I just save my starting character at the proper start of the game if it has a forced tutorial part.

 

[Saark]

I usually save in intervals of 1-3 hours depending on the game. Mostly to save time in case I get my whole party wiped out or if I make a wrong decision, basically everything that takes me to the "Game Over" screen. Nothing hurts more than to die and recognize, that you missed saving the last 6 hours of your progress, especially if most of that time was scrolling through dialogues you already know.

Used to save before bosses in BG2-Ascension as well, kinda annoying having to rebuff everything.

 

[laclongquan]

Cant save... say for sure.

Some games I reload like mad.

Some games I reluctantly reload mostly because it always seem the 1st time bring the best loots. Or because it's too heavy reload is a chore.

There are no game that I dont reload. IF there's procedure to prevent that I find ways to circumvent it. Like Unreal World we can save our progress by alt-tab and copypasta the character folder to another location.

I am anti-ironman and I am loud about it.

EDIT: as for saves, I usually use around 10 slots for it. If engine allow easier archive and selection, like arranging newer files up top, i can go up to 20.

EDIT2: The madness I allow myself is in Rance Sengoku. One save right at the start of the day before doing anything else. One save right at the end of the day right after doing everything else. And NEVER delete previous days' saves. Needless to say the number of save time can go up to 4 digit, and number of save files 3 digit. I love Sengoku Rance.

 

[MicoSelva]

Usually, I'm a shameless savescummer. I very rarely replay games, so I tend to check all options in a dialogue where the choice is not obvious.

As for reloading after character death - if it's faster to reload than resurrect, I'll reload. Similarly with lockpicking. I always have my characters check for traps before trying, but if a trap is set-off anyway, I will reload if healing the effects would take more time.

It's a little bit different when it comes to tough out-of-your-league-for-the-moment encounters. Yes, I might save before to try a few different tactics, but when it's obvious that I could only win by dumb luck, I'll leave and come back later.

 

[Ancient]

i like to abuse my games

 

[kris]

Generally new games are so easy that the saving function is mostly used to safeguard against inst-kill bugs like CTD and locks.

Using saves to battle a difficult game and saving before the battles I haven't done in quite some time, since it simply isn't needed.

 

[Norfleet]

I tend to save/reload either in games with REALLY BAD cases of RNG-screw, often to the point where your entire game can be rendered null and void on the outcome of a single random result, and when I just ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, have to see what this BIG RED BUTTON marked DO NOT PUSH does.

 

[CrimHead]

Some games you kinda have to abuse the save function if you want to retain your sanity. Like Fallout. Have to save pretty much before every fight. One random critical could put you under. Or the Gothic games, which I've always found to be a bit of trial and error.

 

[Archibald]

I abuse it.

 

[nuclearglow]

I always reload if something terribly BAD happens, like char death in early levels, and no money or possibility to resurrect. Or when I learn the hard way not to sniff around in NPC houses and everyone wants to slay me.

I save early and often - and reload often, since I always try to play in the hardest difficulty setting available. however, ironman modes are not for me, I got not nearly enough time to restart the whole game again when I screw up one fight in a hundred.

As for dialogue options, I choose my path and never look back. Really good games I replay, but with another role/mindset which demands other choices.

sometimes I tend to get a bad feeling that the mission/quest I chose, is way over my head and should be chosen later for instance. for that i try to keep some restore points handy, such as savegames "in town", "end of last mission" and so on.

 

[AnalogKid]

I am savescum. I save about every 5 minutes, scrolling through all the available slots so there's a reasonably deep record that I can go back to if something goes FUBAR.

Like Kris posted, though, I realized recently that I haven't actually loaded one of my saves for quite a few games now. I would load to avoid losses, but I don't really have them anymore.

Games like Civ are hell for me because I'm so anal about everything. I'll save before I move every unit, just about, because often the stupid pathfinding will fuck up or I'll misclick and be one square farther from my target than I could have been. Or one dumbshit will be blocking my other dumbshit, and I should have moved dumbshit #2 first, that kind of thing.

I really can't just let go and allow myself to outright fuck up without re-loading.

 

[Konjad]

Depends on the game. In most mainstream cRPGs (like Oblivion, Planescape Torment, Fallout etc) I abuse it in case if consequence of my choice/action/retardation was death. If it wasn't death but something that screws me in another way then I don't use reload. I prefer to feel consequences of my actions. If it's a death of a party member but not mine then I don't reload as well. Greater good requires human sacrifices

In roguelikes it's always no reloading since they won't even let you to do that.

In strategy games I don't reload either - ever, even if it means fall of my empire/castle/whatever - and if I screw up something I take it as a lesson for a next session.

I use to do powergaming in FPS games though, with reloading when I used too much ammo etc. I don't know why, FPS games are the easiest genre of these three and I always end up with more ammo than I can carry so it's kinda illogical... But generally I turn off thinking processes when I play FPS game.

 

[ChristofferC]

Hehe I have that problem with FPS games too. I always pick up all the ammo I can find and always use my worst weapon to save the good ammo "for later".

 

[SoupNazi]

Depends on the game. In JA2, for example, I save pretty often and procedurally (use up all the slots before rewriting old ones) because it crashes often for me, and also because it can sometimes be a little dumb like when the enemy spawns 20 soldiers at the edge of the map and rapes me while I'm sieging a house. Occasionally, I also get enraged by invasions of sectors I've just captured with mercs sleeping/training militia inside, which obviously leaves them extremely vulnerable because I usually just leave them where they are after capturing the sector...

On the other hand though, when I get immersed I don't save at all. This happens in both JA2 and in every other good game, where sometimes I just forget and play and play ... only to fuck something up and realize my last save was two hours ago.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

If the game has a well developed combat system then I'll usually only save at obvious safe times. If its a cheap (in a non-counterable way) or boring combat system I'll just quick save all the time because redoing boring combat because a roll didn't go your way sucks.

Hehe I have that problem with FPS games too. I always pick up all the ammo I can find and always use my worst weapon to save the good ammo "for later".

I do this all the time. Multiheaded dick boss of anal raping on the last level? Better use my pistol, he might have a 2nd form that requires all 50 of my rockets, 400 of my plasma charges, 50 of my grenades, and 20 of my -insert game specific superweapon here-. On the other hand, most FPSs are so easy nowadays that you pretty much have to gimp yourself like this to make the game challenging.

To a lesser extent this applies to rare single-use items in RPGs as well, though those still get used up at some point because difficult RPGs aren't games that you can always overcome bad odds by player skill. I'll probably still never use them unless I've already died to the encounter once unless its really obvious I needed it the first time around though.

 

[Technoviking]

This is mostly a big deal to me in Strategy games, seeing as in most RPGs it's nearly impossible to screw up so badly that you can't beat the game any more.

In strategy games you can easily screw up so badly that you lose either a single map or your entire game. Constantly reloading just cheapens the whole thing. If you regularly have to reload in strategy games then it simply means that you're playing at a too hard skill level and you'd likely be enjoying the game a whole lot more on a lower difficulty setting. I'm fairly sure you can apply that to RPGs as well. If you find yourself reloading semi-regularly, then you're likely better off just lowering the difficulty settings.

But of course these days almost no one is ready to accept that he should be playing any game at lower than 'normal' difficulty settings, so a lot of people wind up playing at skill levels above their ability. They make up for it by constantly reloading and sometimes winding up whining and moaning about reload times, seeing as they are always fucking reloading. Even the worst of players tend to consider themselves decent to good at just about anything.

Ah well...



As for strategy games, this is the way I see it. If you can't beat the AI at least 50% of the time without ever reloading, then you're playing at above your skill level. That's only a smart thing to do if you're honestly interested in improving your game.

Just my opinion, of course.

 

[mondblut]

i like to abuse my games

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Games are the enemy; I use whatever dirty tricks I can to win short of full-on cheat codes. If they fold too easily, they're not worth playing for the challenge anyway and I might as well just get the combat out of the way with a minimum of fuss.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I prefer to play Fallout iron-man. It's well designed enough to make re-starting a game with different character enjoyable.

 

[Norfleet]

As for strategy games, this is the way I see it. If you can't beat the AI at least 50% of the time without ever reloading, then you're playing at above your skill level. That's only a smart thing to do if you're honestly interested in improving your game.

There are strategy games that are apparently designed around the idea that you WILL save and reload, as there seems to be no other explanation why some rather curious "features" such as the mission becoming unwinnable or instantly losing through events that are completely outside of your control. See: Those games where it is possible to lose because a mission critical ally is killed before you even get to take your first turn, and not only is this a possible occurrence, it is actually the most probable outcome.

 

[AnalogKid]

I prefer to play Fallout iron-man.

I'll play iron man in Diablo clones (most recently Torchlight), because otherwise the treadmill isn't worth it for me. Stairway death is a real bitch, but it seems to happen less often than unforsee-able assraping in strat, rpg, or arpg games. Plus, epic death stories are a lot of the fun in rogue-likes!

 

[Zed]

I don't consider it cheating. It's just normal powergamer behaviour.

Cheating is using cheatcodes, any mod affecting how the game is played or using a heavy exploit.

 

[toro]

Never. Unless I die and ofc I have to load a previous state. But I like to live with consequences of bad decisions, not that there were such games lately.

 

[Mister Arkham]

I'm a pretty big abuser of the quicksave key, but that's usually because you never really know when something is going to happen that will draw you away from the computer or distract or or cause a system crash. I probably quicksave about once every five to ten minutes if the game allows for that. I very rarely reload though, usually only if I fuck something up very badly on a game-breaking scale or if I experience a total party wipe (I'm not cut out for Iron Man playthroughs, I just don't find that kind of gaming entertaining). I'm playing an RPG: If I screw up, my character has screwed up and we both have to live with the consequences.

So I guess, bottom line, ninety percent of the time I only use saving and loading as they were intended: to save your progress when you're getting up from the game, and to resume where you were when you get back.