We Need Progression Saving in Escalation

[Kenny]

I'd like to open a discussion about an issue that's been hindering my enjoyment of The Outlast Trials, despite the recent improvements brought by the Escalation update. While I appreciate the addition of main trials and the enhanced variety through modifiers, there remains a critical flaw that significantly impacts the experience: the inability to save progression. This lack of a save feature poses a substantial problem for many players, including myself, who simply cannot dedicate extended hours to gaming due to work and other responsibilities.

The Outlast Trials, with its intense and immersive gameplay, demands considerable time commitment to progress significantly. Each session can easily span several hours, especially when attempting to reach higher rounds or achieve specific objectives. As someone balancing a career and personal life, I find it frustrating that my progress is entirely lost when I need to attend to real life obligations. This not only disrupts the flow of gameplay but also discourages me from engaging in longer sessions, which are often necessary to fully enjoy and explore the game's challenges.

The addition of saving progress would alleviate these concerns without compromising the game's core mechanics or challenge. It would enable players to approach the game in manageable sessions, allowing for breaks and the flexibility to resume where they left off. This feature is not merely a convenience but a fundamental necessity for a game that requires strategic planning, skill development, and perseverance to overcome its escalating challenges.

Implementing a save system would also cater to a wider audience of gamers who share similar constraints on their gaming time. Whether due to work, family commitments, or other responsibilities, many players cannot afford to invest uninterrupted hours into gaming sessions. By accommodating these diverse needs, The Outlast Trials could enhance its accessibility and appeal to a broader demographic, ensuring more players can fully experience and enjoy its unique blend of horror and survival gameplay.

From a practical standpoint, the addition of a save feature could be implemented in various ways to maintain the game's integrity. Options such as saving at the end of each trial or checkpoint-based saves between rounds could preserve the challenge while offering necessary flexibility. This approach would respect the game's design philosophy while addressing the practical constraints faced by modern gamers.

[Helghast Trooper]

Hello kenny

[Similistorm]

I think maybe a save feature with limtied number of saves and extra saves you can get during certain trials could be good to make it doable but also avoid people save scumming by just quitting the game and restarting.

[Kenny]

Originally posted by Simili FR:

I think maybe a save feature with limtied number of saves and extra saves you can get during certain trials could be good to make it doable but also avoid people save scumming by just quitting the game and restarting.

There would be no save scumming if you only saved the round in the post game phase where you have to choose if to continue or not.

Quitting in game should result in a progress loss as usual.

[76561199641450686]

I think unlimited saves is a bad idea because they can abuse the saves to the point where it can remove all the stakes at losing progress, thus, can take away the whole point of endless run. If they choose to quit during trial, then the run is over and all the progress will be lost since they can't save during trial. I suggest the developer should set the save feature with limited amount of saves to prevent the players from abusing it while trying to set their own record or even beat the world record. Saving feature required to work between single player and multiplayer.

For example, when playing multiplayer, Group of 2-4 players will start with at the beginning of escalation. A player can't join the ones who already in the escalation trial. One player will be a group leader and in charge with limited saves for his/her whole group. After each trial, one group leader will have the option if they want to continue or take a break. If one player who is non-leader decided to quit while others continue, then one player cannot rejoin them. If a group leader decide for all players to take a break, then it's best to communicate with them about what is the best date and time to continue the escalation. Once the group leader ran out of saves, they on their own.

It's harder to execute the save feature on multiplayer than the single player, but I hope it will work for both. Having limited saves can maintain the point of endless run and stakes of losing progress while trying to reach the record.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

[Kenny]

Originally posted by JRPGaming1990s:

I think unlimited saves is a bad idea because they can abuse the saves to the point where it can remove all the stakes at losing progress, thus, can take away the whole point of endless run. If they choose to quit during trial, then the run is over and all the progress will be lost since they can't save during trial. I suggest the developer should set the save feature with limited amount of saves to prevent the players from abusing it while trying to set their own record or even beat the world record. Saving feature required to work between single player and multiplayer.

For example, when playing multiplayer, Group of 2-4 players will start with at the beginning of escalation. A player can't join the ones who already in the escalation trial. One player will be a group leader and in charge with limited saves for his/her whole group. After each trial, one group leader will have the option if they want to continue or take a break. If one player who is non-leader decided to quit while others continue, then one player cannot rejoin them. If a group leader decide for all players to take a break, then it's best to communicate with them about what is the best date and time to continue the escalation. Once the group leader ran out of saves, they on their own.

It's harder to execute the save feature on multiplayer than the single player, but I hope it will work for both. Having limited saves can maintain the point of endless run and stakes of losing progress while trying to reach the record.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

I never thought about unlimited saves. My idea is that there would be only one save. At most, multiplayer and singleplayer could have separated saves, but it should probably be done with one team at a time.

[Kutah]

Originally posted by JRPGaming1990s:

I think unlimited saves is a bad idea because they can abuse the saves to the point where it can remove all the stakes at losing progress, thus, can take away the whole point of endless run. If they choose to quit during trial, then the run is over and all the progress will be lost since they can't save during trial. I suggest the developer should set the save feature with limited amount of saves to prevent the players from abusing it while trying to set their own record or even beat the world record. Saving feature required to work between single player and multiplayer.

For example, when playing multiplayer, Group of 2-4 players will start with at the beginning of escalation. A player can't join the ones who already in the escalation trial. One player will be a group leader and in charge with limited saves for his/her whole group. After each trial, one group leader will have the option if they want to continue or take a break. If one player who is non-leader decided to quit while others continue, then one player cannot rejoin them. If a group leader decide for all players to take a break, then it's best to communicate with them about what is the best date and time to continue the escalation. Once the group leader ran out of saves, they on their own.

It's harder to execute the save feature on multiplayer than the single player, but I hope it will work for both. Having limited saves can maintain the point of endless run and stakes of losing progress while trying to reach the record.

- I disagree here, The record is hard to obtain for a reason, saves will remove the difficulty of achieving records.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

I would say saving does not equal completion of the run so they won't be awarded per save & quit, This could help prevent people from only loading in escalation save points and reap higher rewards.

+1 It's 'endless' So saving would in fact ruin the purpose of escalation

[Kenny]

Originally posted by It's kutah!:

Originally posted by JRPGaming1990s:

I think unlimited saves is a bad idea because they can abuse the saves to the point where it can remove all the stakes at losing progress, thus, can take away the whole point of endless run. If they choose to quit during trial, then the run is over and all the progress will be lost since they can't save during trial. I suggest the developer should set the save feature with limited amount of saves to prevent the players from abusing it while trying to set their own record or even beat the world record. Saving feature required to work between single player and multiplayer.

For example, when playing multiplayer, Group of 2-4 players will start with at the beginning of escalation. A player can't join the ones who already in the escalation trial. One player will be a group leader and in charge with limited saves for his/her whole group. After each trial, one group leader will have the option if they want to continue or take a break. If one player who is non-leader decided to quit while others continue, then one player cannot rejoin them. If a group leader decide for all players to take a break, then it's best to communicate with them about what is the best date and time to continue the escalation. Once the group leader ran out of saves, they on their own.

It's harder to execute the save feature on multiplayer than the single player, but I hope it will work for both. Having limited saves can maintain the point of endless run and stakes of losing progress while trying to reach the record.

- I disagree here, The record is hard to obtain for a reason, saves will remove the difficulty of achieving records.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

I would say saving does not equal completion of the run so they won't be awarded per save & quit, This could help prevent people from only loading in escalation save points and reap higher rewards.

+1 It's 'endless' So saving would in fact ruin the purpose of escalation

The point here is that records shouldn't be based on how long your cpu can stay on or if you can endure to stay awake for 20 hours. You shouldn't have to push your own body to the limit for even basic scores.

The idea is that the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail and why you can't go past a certain number.

I know it's not the case right now, but if they manage to make the game extremely hard and I mean EXTREMELY hard at certain points, then saving won't ruin records at all because records are now skill based rather than endurance based.

RIght now the records are based not on skills, because there is a skill cap. The records are based on how far you can endure and stay focused to keep that level of skill that only goes so far. I want the skill cap to get so high to the point of being almost impossible. The game has to beat you, not time.

I hope I made myself clear.

[Kutah]

Originally posted by Kenny:

Originally posted by It's kutah!:

- I disagree here, The record is hard to obtain for a reason, saves will remove the difficulty of achieving records.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

I would say saving does not equal completion of the run so they won't be awarded per save & quit, This could help prevent people from only loading in escalation save points and reap higher rewards.

+1 It's 'endless' So saving would in fact ruin the purpose of escalation

The point here is that records shouldn't be based on how long your cpu can stay on or if you can endure to stay awake for 20 hours. You shouldn't have to push your own body to the limit for even basic scores.

The idea is that the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail and why you can't go past a certain number.

I know it's not the case right now, but if they manage to make the game extremely hard and I mean EXTREMELY hard at certain points, then saving won't ruin records at all because records are now skill based rather than endurance based.

RIght now the records are based not on skills, because there is a skill cap. The records are based on how far you can endure and stay focused to keep that level of skill that only goes so far. I want the skill cap to get so high to the point of being almost impossible. The game has to beat you, not time.

I hope I made myself clear.

You made yourself clear and I completely respect your opinion on this, I would agree if ' the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail' Was susceptible. Maybe escalation can be split into
endless Escalation (Maxed out at psycho-surgery, No saves, Normal rewards),

escalated Difficulty (No Limit, More rewards, CHECKPOINTS (every 15 with the additional option to return later) )

what are your thoughts on this?

[Kenny]

Originally posted by It's kutah!:

Originally posted by Kenny:

The point here is that records shouldn't be based on how long your cpu can stay on or if you can endure to stay awake for 20 hours. You shouldn't have to push your own body to the limit for even basic scores.

The idea is that the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail and why you can't go past a certain number.

I know it's not the case right now, but if they manage to make the game extremely hard and I mean EXTREMELY hard at certain points, then saving won't ruin records at all because records are now skill based rather than endurance based.

RIght now the records are based not on skills, because there is a skill cap. The records are based on how far you can endure and stay focused to keep that level of skill that only goes so far. I want the skill cap to get so high to the point of being almost impossible. The game has to beat you, not time.

I hope I made myself clear.

You made yourself clear and I completely respect your opinion on this, I would agree if ' the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail' Was susceptible. Maybe escalation can be split into
endless Escalation (Maxed out at psycho-surgery, No saves, Normal rewards),

escalated Difficulty (No Limit, More rewards, CHECKPOINTS (every 15 with the additional option to return later) )

what are your thoughts on this?

I didn't think about splitting it, but it sounds interesting and good to me. I assume that by no limit you mean that the game keeps getting harder and harder instead of maxing out at psychosurgery with random variatiors, to the point where you could have a prime asset 3 times faster than a player. Yes, I think this would be fantastic.

[Kutah]

Originally posted by Kenny:

Originally posted by It's kutah!:

You made yourself clear and I completely respect your opinion on this, I would agree if ' the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail' Was susceptible. Maybe escalation can be split into
endless Escalation (Maxed out at psycho-surgery, No saves, Normal rewards),

escalated Difficulty (No Limit, More rewards, CHECKPOINTS (every 15 with the additional option to return later) )

what are your thoughts on this?

the game keeps getting harder and harder instead of maxing out at psychosurgery with random variatiors, to the point where you could have a prime asset 3 times faster than a player.

Exactly, Limitless escalation !

[Similistorm]

Originally posted by Kenny:

Originally posted by It's kutah!:

- I disagree here, The record is hard to obtain for a reason, saves will remove the difficulty of achieving records.

One important question, if you choose to save and quit, should the game reward you some release tokens, stamps, experience points, and other special event tokens like countdown bomb or toxic shock?

I would say saving does not equal completion of the run so they won't be awarded per save & quit, This could help prevent people from only loading in escalation save points and reap higher rewards.

+1 It's 'endless' So saving would in fact ruin the purpose of escalation

The point here is that records shouldn't be based on how long your cpu can stay on or if you can endure to stay awake for 20 hours. You shouldn't have to push your own body to the limit for even basic scores.

The idea is that the game would get so hard going up that this would be the reason why you fail and why you can't go past a certain number.

I know it's not the case right now, but if they manage to make the game extremely hard and I mean EXTREMELY hard at certain points, then saving won't ruin records at all because records are now skill based rather than endurance based.

RIght now the records are based not on skills, because there is a skill cap. The records are based on how far you can endure and stay focused to keep that level of skill that only goes so far. I want the skill cap to get so high to the point of being almost impossible. The game has to beat you, not time.

I hope I made myself clear.

I fully agree on the point that staying awake for 20h to beat a record needs to stop,it's not healthy at all and aside from proving that you're not responsible enough to manage your hours of gaming,it doesn't do much.
So yeah,the save system would prevent that.