The checkpoints (save crystals) in TR1 were fine.They were at all the right spots so if you died it wasn't much of a hassle to begin again.It had a good balance of punishment and forgiveness.:I
TR2,4 and 5 had a save anywhere system which i think is the most appropriate save system for a TR game.
But if you are referring to TR3 yeah i agree.The save system (collecting save crystals) was extremely harsh especially for first playthroughs where you want to explore the levels as much as possible.Combine that with TR3's challenging gameplay (one of the hardest PS1 era games) and you have a game that can be extremely frustrating.
It took me months but i managed to complete TR3 without the Save cheat.Probably because i didn't knew about it back then.Otherwise i would have been very tempted to use it.![]()