I should have known from Sierra...

[Tawmis]

... "Save Early, Save Often."

Infamous words for Classic Sierra games.

So today, playing DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS on the X360, I was running around the Dwarf City (don't worry, no spoilers here) and I was feeling pretty cocky about how tough my dudes were, and how well they were over coming impossible odds... when... I ran into a trap. Or more so, a very serious AMBUSH of immense magnitude.

As a result, my entire party got themselves perished.

Then when it loaded the last save game... I realized, because of my over confidence, when I was running around kicking some serious arse; it had been a VERY long time since I saved...

Anyone else ever make that dumb mistake?



I laughed at myself, because I swear I suddenly heard the words (as if spoken by Al Lowe himself directly into my ear) "Should have Saved Early, Saved Often."

[Collector]

It is also like doing work on a modern PC. Since Win2k and up Windows has been so stable that you can get on a roll and forget to save when that rare application crash happens and you realize that it has been a long time since you last saved.

[Datadog]

No auto-save feature? Yikes. I've gotten so used to games that auto-save that I probably would've fallen into the same trap you did.

[Tawmis]

It does have an Auto Save feature when you're "zone in" into a new "map." Like when you travel, say from "Dust Town" (dirty side of Dwarf City) to "The Commons" (the normal Dwarf City) - it requires the game to do a load time... and it usually autosaves then. But where I was; it was just ONE HUGE map; and thus, no auto save feature since I wasn't zoning and out of areas.

It was fine! Like I said, my guys did pretty good where they were; just going to have to do a lot of it again.

[Maiandra]

I've certainly been there before, Tawm. Lately, I really take advantage of any game with the quick save feature, so it doesn't happen as often.

Actually, now I probably save too often. In DA I quick save (it takes only 3 seconds!) every few minutes, just because I hate redoing combat or sometimes I want to try different options conversation (some of the options aren't ones I'd pick "in character", but I like to see how they respond anyway. ).

[Collector]

sometimes I want to try different options conversation (some of the options aren't ones I'd pick "in character", but I like to see how they respond anyway. ).

Spoken like a true Sierra gamer. Curiosity about potentially undesirable outcomes is something to be avoided by fans of another adventure game producer that shall remain nameless.

[AndreaDraco]

Spoken like a true Sierra gamer. Curiosity about potentially undesirable outcomes is something to be avoided by fans of another adventure game producer that shall remain nameless.

Perfectly said

And, of course, I do the same in Dragon Age. I've barely played for fifteen hours and I've already have at least sixty saves

[Tawmis]

I've certainly been there before, Tawm. Lately, I really take advantage of any game with the quick save feature, so it doesn't happen as often.

Actually, now I probably save too often. In DA I quick save (it takes only 3 seconds!) every few minutes, just because I hate redoing combat or sometimes I want to try different options conversation (some of the options aren't ones I'd pick "in character", but I like to see how they respond anyway. ).

Heh, with most of BIOWARE's game - I usually do the "good hero" first. Then I will do the "prick" (evil) for my second character (usually selecting different race/class if available). So that's usually how I get to see all the different sides of the game. It allows me to play another race/class as well as do things differently in the game.

But going back to said ambush...

OMG. I won't spoil it. I won't say where it is. But just in case - I promise there's no real spoilers, just more of my folly and my combat tactics for this ambush... But I will say I just went through and beat it today - it took me over 30 minutes of combat. 30 friggin' minutes! There was a lot of running down the hall to lure them into an enclosed area then blasting them with a BLIZZARD spell that knocks them down, then a DEATH CLOUD spell while they're knocked down and/or frozen. But 30 minutes long. 30 minutes.

If not for Wynne and Morrgin I would NOT have won this fight. Morrigan did all the real damage (with the Blizzard/Death Cloud combo I love), while Wynne had to keep reviving my main character and Alistair over and over and over. I basically switched back and forth between Moriggan and Wynne during this encounter and let my main character and Alistair go up and fight like crazy (and typically die over and over).

[BBP]

Anyone else ever make that dumb mistake?

You bet! I lost my complete classical music record collection (44 pages of typing) summary because of such a silly mistake. I'd spent days on it, because I wanted every piece on it separately. I'd been digging in my vinyl collection, entered all with special coding, listed carefully by the name of the composer...
Fortunately a friend had saved it, so I could get it back.

...Unfortunately... my PC later crashed. I still had the file on Dino upstairs, though not as up to date... but when I checked it, a lot of the letters had turned into little squares.
It's been three years since I last worked on it... so perhaps I need to do it again from scratch. That is, when my vinyls are in a more "reachable" position than they are now.

[Collector]

but when I checked it, a lot of the letters had turned into little squares.

What format? RTF, DOC? It may be possible to recover it.

[Tawmis]

Ironically I fear such a crash... I was working on that Nanowri thing - where you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days... and I was so worried about losing that... I would email it to myself on gmail every time I finished writing on it for the day...

[Collector]

Belt and suspenders kind of guy?

[DeadPoolX]

I'm like Maia in that I tend to save a lot. I think that's partly due to Adventure games, but also using programs like Photoshop.

What ticks me off is when people complain about "saving too often." Some gamers -- and game developers -- like to say that preventing saves (i.e. using save points) increases tension. Well, yeah, it does, but not a good way.

I believe Cracked.com said it best in their "7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey" article when stating:

"This is a throwback to the arcade/NES days when physical limitations in the system wouldn't allow you to save your progress just anywhere. There is no reason for this now. None. We're busy. We've got work, appointments, phone calls. We shouldn't tolerate an inability to save our progress in any piece of software.

Half Life 2 did this perfectly--it auto-saved every few minutes, behind the scenes. You didn't have to worry about it and you didn't have to re-fight enemies you had already defeated.

There are people who say that preventing saves adds to the "tension" of the game. Sure, in the sense that the fact that your 360 could catch on fire at any moment also adds to the tension. Face it, if the only way you can think of to add suspense to your game is to disable a feature of the hardware, then you suck at making games."

Cracked is mostly referring to console gaming and as such, fails to mention PC games. The original King's Quest was released in 1984 and was admittedly less technologically advanced than most gaming consoles, including the original NES. KQ1 allowed the player to save ANYWHERE. True, it required making a "save game diskette" which was annoying, but it still allowed it.

Even if you let the NES, SNES and Genesis slide due to limitations in their hardware, what's the excuse of later consoles? The PS1 and PS2 used save game cards, but still mostly failed to take advantage of them as save points were still used.

The current crop of consoles (the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) have no excuse at all. All three have hard drives and as such, should allow the player to save whenever he or she wants to, without resorting to old fashioned save points.

If KQ1 could do it, why can't games designed for far more advanced consoles do the same 25 years later?

[Maiandra]

...There was a lot of running down the hall to lure them into an enclosed area...

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that has to do things like that. The other day, I was determined not to redo the fight I was in, despite the fact that everyone in my party was disabled except Allistair. So I backed him into this corner between a wall and a piece of furniture where only one enemy could reach him at a time and had him defeat them sequentially, using healing when needed. Ahhh, it reminded me of QfG and the enemies that lined up nicely to attack.

What ticks me off is when people complain about "saving too often." Some gamers -- and game developers -- like to say that preventing saves (i.e. using save points) increases tension. Well, yeah, it does, but not a good way.

It ticks me off too. If they don't like auto save or quick saves, then they don't have to use them. The rest of us shouldn't have to have our enjoyment ruined just because they have no self-control. It should at most be optional, like difficulty settings or extra gore.

[dotkel50]

I lost my complete classical music record collection (44 pages of typing) summary because of such a silly mistake. I'd spent days on it, because I wanted every piece on it separately. I'd been digging in my vinyl collection, entered all with special coding, listed carefully by the name of the composer...

I highly recommend the programs at http://www.collectorz.com.
They have databases for movies, music, books, and games that are easy to use and highly customizable. I own all 4 along with the Cuecat barcode scanner. They have free demos of all their programs so you can try b4 you buy.