Freelancer: Save & Exit? @Devs

[CHV]

Hi! I'm loving the freelancer mode so far. However: As most people with a job and responsibilities, I have to juggle my free time and can't always finish a map in a single go. Normally roguelikes nowaways offer a save&exit functionality, so you can continue a run later on. Usually the created save file is deleted when loading the mission in order to prevent cheating. Is there a way to do a "save & exit" here too? Whenever I try to leave a mission the game will punish me as if I failed it. There doesn't seem to be a way to continue later other than leaving the computer and game running (which is NOT an option).

[space]

freelancer is roguelite, no saves and no backsies

[CHV]

@space: I'm afraid you are wrong about that. most roguelites have a "save & exit" as I said before (almost all of them actually) . It is not about loading a previous save if things go wrong, but about leaving the game and coming back later.

[space]

this isn't "most" roguelites, it's a separate mode that works the same way as contracts, escalations, master difficulty, etc

[CHV]

Sure, I just corrected your false statement, that implied, that roguelites don't have save & exit, because they normally do. I didn't say, that this game is most roguelikes, you said that:

Originally posted by space:

freelancer is roguelite, no saves and no backsies

[Bohdan36]

I got stuck in Freelancer in Mumbai in a container yesterday!:D
https://imgur.com/wWBn8lW
Forgot that progress would no save if went to the menu and the campaign was failing! If you exit a match, you have to cut the internet/exit abruptly so you can continue again from that mission. (It used to work - not exit through the menu, but completely close the game at the point where you stopped.)

The biggest problems arise when you have to accurately determine the final goal of each Syndicate, taking all factors into account.
https://imgur.com/undefined
For example, yesterday I failed a Syndicate just because of one factor (on the left side of the screen). She was not the target, and the real target ran away on the cargo transfer. Well as it was given time and I even caught up with her with a couple shots at the end, but she (ran away) disappeared :D

[Zigzag9000]

Originally posted by CHV:

Hi! I'm loving the freelancer mode so far. However: As most people with a job and responsibilities, I have to juggle my free time and can't always finish a map in a single go. Normally roguelikes nowaways offer a save&exit functionality, so you can continue a run later on. Usually the created save file is deleted when loading the mission in order to prevent cheating. Is there a way to do a "save & exit" here too? Whenever I try to leave a mission the game will punish me as if I failed it. There doesn't seem to be a way to continue later other than leaving the computer and game running (which is NOT an option).

You are absolutely correct here.

The Freelancer Mode is unnecessarily punishing and does not have basic features Nintendo had over Atari, such as a pause button --- or as it is known in the 21st century "Save & Come Back Later"

Freelancer in general does not balance Risk versus Reward for the normal person who chooses to pick up the game and play it. And, when I mean normal person, I do not mean the handful of nerds who can memorize an entire map. If you glance at the Steam Achievements for Hitman3 you will notice that many have only been accomplished by 0.1% of players.

The Freelancer Mode should have a save during the mission feature. I am sure it would be abused by some people but I don't care.

[n00bdragon]

Freelancer is intended as end game content specifically for people who have memorized every map. That is it's purpose. It is not intended as a general entry to the series.

[Zigzag9000]

Originally posted by n00bdragon:

Freelancer is intended as end game content specifically for people who have memorized every map. That is it's purpose. It is not intended as a general entry to the series.

I can intuit that but it shouldn't be. And, that is bad marketing and design.

Freelancer Mode should unlock campaign options progressively as Main Campaign Completion progresses. There is no reason for the two not to be linked in this way. Otherwise it is a tacked on game mode and does not successfully convey that it is End Game Content. As far as a target audience is concerned, an effectively zero percent of the players have achieved end game according to steam achievements. Some developers wisely monitor the Steam Achievements to balance their products. A good balance is a bell curve and I do not see that here.

It's too late to change anything but moving forward it is lessons learned. In the meantime, I will waste my day playing Hitman.

EDIT:
At the time of this writing there are 92 players in the world using Hitman3.

[space]

Originally posted by Zigzag9000:

EDIT:
At the time of this writing there are 92 players in the world using Hitman3.

it has 7600~ just on steam right now, that's not counting epic and consoles

https://steamdb.info/app/1659040/charts/

[n00bdragon]

Originally posted by Zigzag9000:

Otherwise it is a tacked on game mode and does not successfully convey that it is End Game Content.

It is a tacked on game mode. It is the parting gift to the community. Before Freelancer was added, the game was complete. The campaign was the game. There were Contracts, but that was it, really. Freelancer was a hack job slapped together with limited developer time, very few new assets, and basically no playtesting or tuning. It is the "here's something to keep you busy" update.

Originally posted by Zigzag9000:

It's too late to change anything but moving forward it is lessons learned. In the meantime, I will waste my day playing Hitman.

There's no moving forward. They've made it quite clear that they are done with major development for WOA. The celebrity ETs we've been getting are honestly a welcome surprise but there's no guarantee that each one won't be the last. They're mainly working on a 007 game now.

[Riggleby]

Originally posted by n00bdragon:

Freelancer was a hack job slapped together with limited developer time

Not at all true. It was delayed 9-10 months to give them more time to work on it after the secret March 2022 playtest with a closed group of players that gave them a bunch of feedback to the mode.

They worked on it for well over a year.

Originally posted by n00bdragon:

and basically no playtesting or tuning

Wrong again. They ran a second playtest in late-2022 that most players got to participate in that resulted in a bunch of adjustments before it officially launched in 2023.

[Plundy]

Freelancer was the only reason I got hitman WoA. I haven't really played any of the campaign missions until recently. Even attempting to get silent assassin takes ~15 minutes on a map. If you don't think you have time to put 15 minutes into a game then don't start the mission? It saves between missions so there isn't really a problem unless you are a person who has 5 minutes for a game and choose to play one of the only modes this very content complete game has that takes ~15 minutes to play.

Honestly if you are not playing hardcore (which is insane and difficult) on freelancer and you are running out of time just go and blast the target in the face and sprint to an exit. Will you get all your side objectives complete? probably not, but most maps can be completed in a couple of minutes if you aren't trying to complete all side objectives. I can't understand the complaint, or people complaining that freelancer is a hack job.