Forgetting to save

[Zeldy]

I started playing Zelda Ocarina of Time Master Quest awhile back, and I completed the spirit temple all on my own (okay, pretty much on my own, come onnnn, it's the last one and the hardest!). I've been playing for like, 7 hours. I'm there talking to my brother, and without even thinking what I'm doing I stand up and turn off the gamecube. My exact response was "oh my GOD I didn't save".

It took me a few hours before I would assess the damage. When I finally did, I was at the beginning of the spirit temple, I died a little inside. I ended up doing it again, much quicker this time!

Has this happened to you?! did you die a little inside like I did?!

[Araciel]

Ugggghhh I don't forget but lately Fallout 3 has been stalling my PS3 :( This causes a lot of dismay when in a dungeon with no load screens (for auto-save)

[Jings]

I'm a chronic saver to the point where it interferes with my enjoyment of a game. So no, it is not possible for me to 'forget' to save. The very concept is foreign to me.

[Pheesh]

It happens to me a lot in BioWare games, and yes, it kills me every time. I usually can't even look at the game again for a few days.

[Vermachtnis]

I'm usually OCD about it, it's only happened once. I was grinding in LeafGreen to fill out some of the Dex. I went to the Pokecenter, healed-up and just turned it off.

[NorthernChaosGod]

I'm a chronic saver to the point where it interferes with my enjoyment of a game. So no, it is not possible for me to 'forget' to save. The very concept is foreign to me.

This, except I wouldn't say it detracts from my enjoyment of the game. I just habitually save at time intervals or after doing something particularly difficult.

[Wolf Kanno]

With the exception of MGS the only time I ever forget to save is when the game gives me the ability to save on my own anywhere I want. This was especially frustrating with Lunar cause I desperately depend on save points to remind me to save and I always shut down before I remembered to. :(

[Raistlin]

I am almost OCD about saving. I save at every save point, regardless of how long it's been, sometimes more than once (if there's detours and hidden treasures nearby). I save, if possible, before every important encounter (boss fight, etc.). I save after every town in which I did something remotely significant.

As a result, nothing like this has ever happened to me.

EDIT: @WK, Lunar's style actually resulted in me saving more, because there weren't save points limiting my ability to save. :p

[Shiny]

Auto-Save is my friend.

[Rad Bromance]

That happened to me years ago when I was replaying FFVII. I got all the way to the part where you have to cross the marsh, I ran into the Midgar Zolom, tried to run but he killed me before I could escape. The last time I had saved was in front of Aeris' house, when she takes you there. Needless to say I didn't play FFVII again for a very long time after that.

Aside of that I can't recall it ever happening to me though. I typically save at every save point I come across.

[Wolf Kanno]

EDIT: @WK, Lunar's style actually resulted in me saving more, because there weren't save points limiting my ability to save. :p

I don't have saving OCD like you and usually I'm so enraptured in the game that I won't bother to save until I see a save point. Especially since Xenogears drilled into the idea that Save points mean trouble.

I am much better at saving now thanks to MegaTen games where death can greet you with every battle. :D

[Yeargdribble]

I'm pretty OCD about it like Raist. However, I've tried to back away from that a bit... but each time I do I have a horrible moment where I forget and then kick myself violently back into OCD afterward.

Most recently was with Half-Minute Hero where I beat Hero 3 and then didn't save. I blame the PSP. The ability to just switch it off makes me grow complacent. Then I forget that I have to save and exit the game to listen to music or something on it and then end up sad about my lost progress.


I was probably the worst when I was younger. I played HL1 literally taking no damage. I kid you not, I would reload if I lost even 1 health until I found a way to deal with every scenario without losing any health. It made the game very choppy and was so silly.

[Mo-Nercy]

I save a lot these days. Ever since I started re-playing PSX FFs on my PSP, I've had to get into the habit of saving a lot because the games have a tendancy to wig out randomly (especially FFVIII... I can only draw a few times from each monster or else I'm risking a freeze. Bosses are even worse. Normally, I'll just draw out the GF and then try to end the fight super fight with limit breaks because even some boss specific special moves freeze the game. And Draw Cast is a big big no-no. I can't do it at all on anything) but in the past, it's been a little bit of a problem for me.

I wouldn't say I go long periods of time without saving (not like Rad Bromance in his example) but sometimes I'll just not bother if I know the next little bit of the game is fairly uneventful or if I'm confident I can beat the next boss. In FFVIII, once I have Enc-None, I quite confidently go without saving for a long time because only specific things in battle trigger freezing. In FFX, sometimes I just use the Save Points to heal and move on because I know it's virtually impossible to die in most battles anyway.

But a friend I was close with in high school used to have to keep a post-it note on his PS2 reminding him to save before he pressed it. =]

[VeloZer0]

I first got into gaming as something more that a diversion with FFVII on PC. It wasn't all that compatible with what I was running, and had the tendency to crash semi-regularly. With that upbringing it is no wonder I am one of the OCD people. I save so often now that it is reflex, sometimes when I close the menu at a save point I can't remember if I just saved or not, and save again to be sure.

[Unbreakable Will]

Ugh, Oblivion for 360... I got used to Auto-save and one time it didnt save after I stole the Elder Scroll and became the Gray Fox... I was so angry...

[Tavrobel]

It only happens to me in RTS games. It's just natural for me to save at every opportunity on a console game.

But then again, I don't let people watch me play video games.

[Rantz]

I wish all games would implement some form of auto-save. Having to remember to save or else lose hours of gameplay doesn't count for a challenge, it's just a chore that the developers could've prevented but didn't. Manual saving these days just seems like a remnant from past limitations.

[Wolf Kanno]

You would think that until you come across the day you accidentally get stuck or lose an important item and the game auto-saves and prevents you from completing the game without restarting. ;)

[Rantz]

Oh, you misunderstand me. For one, having the game auto-save doesn't mean it can't still have manual saving for those paranoid about losing items like that. Secondly, if the auto-saving is clever that doesn't have to happen; just as an example, it could provide loading options such as "Retry battle", "Return to chapter start", "Return to chapter x", in addition to restarting. It doesn't have to be oversimplistic just because it's automatic, it just takes some creative development.

[Lightening]

auto-save has really spoiled me. Sometimes I play for hours without even thinking of saving, and then I die and then I quit playing that game forever if it doesn't even have checkpoints. :(

[Psychotic]

I think Oblivion and Fallout 3 have the best save system. It auto-saves if you so much as enter a building or talk to someone important, and then there's as many manual save spots as you want that will save everything. You could be looking into the sky with no pants on with an ugly old woman NPC about to bump into you, and when you reload that's exactly the situation you'll find yourself in.

Nothing like Zeldy's situation has ever happened to me. I'm lucky :shobon:

[NorthernChaosGod]

I wish all games would implement some form of auto-save. Having to remember to save or else lose hours of gameplay doesn't count for a challenge, it's just a chore that the developers could've prevented but didn't. Manual saving these days just seems like a remnant from past limitations.

I don't actually use the auto-save function, I've never loaded up a save from it. But I do think that more games should lift save restrictions and just let you save anywhere, it's about damn time.

[Breine]

I'm sure I've had some very annoying incidents, but I just don't remember anything specific. I'm pretty good at remembering to save my games - I often take up two files in Final Fantasy games just to be sure.

[Iceglow]

I usually save my 360 games really quite often like in Dragon Age every time I enter camp (which is usually every time I leave an area) even if I merely went to the Brecillian Forest Dalish camp to buy more ingredients for potion making when I leave the forest I go to camp and save the file. I'll also generally keep a minimum of 2 files but up to 6 files per character so I have multiple progression points so if I completely fuck up I got a good option somewhere where I can restart from.

The main issue I have is with DS games, I often play DS games at night when I'm trying to get to sleep because it helps for me to do so, weird I know but I can read a book all night long and end up thinking "holy cow, I gotta work on no sleep AGAIN?" but DS games don't have the same effect on me. I end up falling asleep with the DS on and when I wake up in the morning it's batteries have died and I've lost the progress I made the night before. I once ended up re-doing the same FFTA2 mission like 10 times in the end I got so fed up of re-doing the same fight and falling asleep in it I sat there and got past it on my day off just so I didn't need to do it once more. I now have taken to accepting just 1 quest at a time (excluding dispatch quests) and saving prior to entering the battle and again after finishing it. I know that sounds excessive but it's better than repeating the same fight a hundred times. Pokemon is worse however because when I need to grind up pokemon levels I end up saving infrequently (like every 5 - 10 levels gained) and then get annoyed when I fall asleep and lose progress.

[Lightening]

I'm sure I've had some very annoying incidents, but I just don't remember anything specific. I'm pretty good at remembering to save my games - I often take up two files in Final Fantasy games just to be sure.

Hee, I always do that too :D but never for any other game than ff

[Jiro]

I had 7 manual saves in Mass Effect 2. The system there worked perfectly for me. But I am a fan of having manual saves just in case I miss something, or screw up. Or you get to something like the Duke/Duchess of Mania/Dementia quests in Oblivion and end up having to replay the entire Shivering Isles arc because you forget to manual save D:< (in other words, manual saves are good to explore different alternatives)

[Unbreakable Will]

I find that the Auto-Save in Oblivion will sometimes save in a different slot than the last Auto-Save and it gets on my nerves. I'm a very organized person about my save files and such, so I took it off, hence my frustration with the Gray Fox quest.

[Drift]

Thats just horrible Zeldy ;o I've never forgotten to save, I just overwrite important saves ¬_¬

[NorthernChaosGod]

(in other words, manual saves are good to explore different alternatives)

I used to do this alllll the time. I'd make a save before a significant event and try and see if I could get a better outcome than the one I originally picked, it's pretty damn useful sometimes.

[Zeldy]

Thats just horrible Zeldy ;o I've never forgotten to save, I just overwrite important saves ¬_¬

It wasn't too bad, I knew exactly what to do in the dungeon I'd spent that long in it xD The boss is a fun one anyway!

I've done that aswell though, except they weren't even my important saves. My Brother killed me for that.

[Drift]

important as in the final save in ff7 just before sephiroth and then i saved over it a week later ;_;