Mode Request - Limited Saving system
Linkamus
Member Posts: 221
So I touched on this in another thread, but I figured I'd make an official thread, as I feel it's worthy of its own.
Constant saving and reloading has always been an issue in infinity engine games. To make the player need to be much more careful, and to help introduce a better risk/reward system I would propose the following optional mode:
If playing in said mode, In order for the player to create a permanent save file, they must be in a designated safe area - a town, or inn for example.
If the player is in the wilderness, or in a dungeon, the player cannot create a permanent save file - instead they can only create a temporary one. If you've ever played Majora's Mask, you will easily understand this concept, as it would work in a similar way as the owl statues in MM. When a player saves his or her game in a non-safe area, it forces the player to quit out to the menu. If the player loads that game, it automatically deletes itself. This prevents the player from being able to reload his or her game over and over in a dangerous area, but still allows the player to quit playing and come back later. Again, permanent save files would only be able to be created in designated safe areas.
The only problem I see with this, is that with the current save file system, the player could easily copy/paste their temporary dungeon save files if they wanted to cheat the mode. Should such a mode be created, I'll leave it to the programmers to figure out how to prevent this!
Constant saving and reloading has always been an issue in infinity engine games. To make the player need to be much more careful, and to help introduce a better risk/reward system I would propose the following optional mode:
If playing in said mode, In order for the player to create a permanent save file, they must be in a designated safe area - a town, or inn for example.
If the player is in the wilderness, or in a dungeon, the player cannot create a permanent save file - instead they can only create a temporary one. If you've ever played Majora's Mask, you will easily understand this concept, as it would work in a similar way as the owl statues in MM. When a player saves his or her game in a non-safe area, it forces the player to quit out to the menu. If the player loads that game, it automatically deletes itself. This prevents the player from being able to reload his or her game over and over in a dangerous area, but still allows the player to quit playing and come back later. Again, permanent save files would only be able to be created in designated safe areas.
The only problem I see with this, is that with the current save file system, the player could easily copy/paste their temporary dungeon save files if they wanted to cheat the mode. Should such a mode be created, I'll leave it to the programmers to figure out how to prevent this!
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Comments
Might be a nice addition for people who like extra challenge (and/or enjoy being bossed around by their sofware ;P ), but it shouldn't at any point be forced on players who don't like it.
Also playing such a mode, if it existed, only to cheat it by going through the hassle of manually copying save files seems so pointless I don't know where to begin.. so not sure it would even need preventing.
What OP has proposed is just a step below hardcore mode. To add to what he said I think there should be two new game modes added as options when a player starts a new game.
1: Exactly what OP has suggested. This is a great idea that would add a significant amount of immersion and the sense of danger in the wilderness.
2: Add a hardcore mode that does what OP suggests, that also locks difficulty to the option originally set by the player and also wipes all saves when death occurs.
I agree with everything Eleos said. And I also think that your second option should really be the only one as far as this mode is concerned. The mode would be pointless if you could just switch it to super easy whenever you wanted.
Like in my games for example, I usually choose not to equip Carsomyr because I feel it makes some things too easy. I guess this choice could be enforced by a mod that removes the item from the game altogether, but I just don't see how the game imposing that limit instead of me would make it any different.
The only way I can understand your point of view is attempting to look at the game as something like a rough diet or unforgiving exercise regime, i.e. something you don't really *want* to do, but feel would be good for you in the long run.. but that seems like a strange way to approach a game.
Think about Diablo's Hardcore mode. How much cooler is it to have a max level Hardcore character rather than a max level normal character? Even if you leveled a normal character to max level without dying, there is no game mechanic to recognize this accomplishment. Having a Hardcore mode in diablo is something hard-coded, and proves you accomplished the impossible!
Think about how many people would be pissed if they took Diablo's Hardcore mode out of the game and said "Just roll a normal character, and impose the rule on yourself - just delete your character if you die."
I can think of games I've loved where I've put myself through simulated hardship to enhance the experience (like nerd S&M? where am I going with this?) It was no problem doing that by choice, in fact it wasn't an issue.
I've tried saving restrictions once in a game I didn't particularly like, Diablo 3 (hardcore mode) I'm still not dead, but I'm still bored! and I still prefer to play it so that I can reload because I would find repeating content to be too much of a chore.
I think it may be an OCD trait that I have, but I just feel like if the game doesn't restrict me from doing something (unless it's an exploit) then I will take advantage of it, even if I feel I'm not being challenged enough. Imposing harder rules on myself just feels fake and artificial, and not official. I hate it.
Edit: I think this is why I avoid mods too - I feel like what I play and experience has to be "official". Hell I just barely installed ascension for the first time because I just found out it was made by one of the lead designers of ToB. Which in my mind makes it somewhat official.
One non-technical difference is that Diablo to a much greater degree is connected to a community of comparison, achievements etc, with people keeping track of who did what first. As there is no statistics counter for number of deaths, that gives hardcore mode a point as it enables you to make sure someone who claimed to beat the game without dying and wants recognition for it actually did so.
If they played it solely for their own sake, I can't see how game-mechanical hardcore or self-imposed hardcore would be different.
To be honest, as a non-power gamer I was always OK with constant saving. What really pained me was the RPG element, where one could save before conversation and then check out different options. Still, if one would like to get rid of it, the game would have to save itself in real time (of course this would not work during battles).
There is also one more thing that would make the game horribly frustrating - if you'll die eg inside Firkraag's dungeon or the game would crash, you'd have to go all the way back through all the battles etc.
BTW, while we are discussing this, I strongly believe that selecting character class should be placed AFTER stats roll.
The mode in this game would have to combat that somehow -- so if the game crashed, you didn't simply lose your progress.