The Saving System is Complete Madness

[Mr Compassionate]

There are two kinds of save system in this world
Number One: The player can make saves whenever they want, over multiple slots and whenever they feel it is necissary, giving the player absolute control and responsibility for mistakes they make. Works very well in tricky and complicated games full of experimentation like Deus Ex and Mount and Blade. This is the Old School, hardcore treating-your-customers-like-smart-people approach.
Number Two: The player isn't allowed to save of their own accord, instad saves are made for them automatically at certain points. This works really well in very linear games or sandbox games where the checkpoints can be generous.This is the don't-worry-dumdums-we'll-do-all-the thinking-for-you approach.

The madmen (and women) behind Spore have created something horrifying, which is crossbreed of the very worst aspects of both. You do not receive checkpoints EVER, not even if you literally pass an entire evolutionary stage. You are expected to save yourself, but it only saves to the profile anyway, you can't make multiple saves or even View your saves in some kind of menu, it's a glorified checkpoint you make yourself by entering the menu and clicking a button. What happens if you forget to click this arbitrary button and it crashes for the f**king MILLIONTH TIME YOU FU well then none of that stuff you just did mattered!

Because how DARE you press the skip key while watching your creature die! How dare you imagine that a game that has been out for 5 years received enough patches that pressing the f**king ESC key twice while an animation plays would crash the whole game?! Now all your progress has been lost forever! BEST START OVER S**TWAD!

Why would I be playing the creature stage again? I'm glad you asked imaginary reader. It's because a game breaking freeze crash has made my 20 hour campeign unplayable and there is no fix on the whole internet for it. So I abandoned a species to a crash and was headed off making the next one by a crash. I spend more time overcoming crashes and bugs than trying to overcome the intentional challanges!

And you know what really sucks d**ks about this? EA stopped giving a s**t long, long ago. Literally the brief effort and manpower required to patch a game they clearly know doesn't work at all would be needless expenditure to them because they already have people's money. They can leave a broken, s**tty product on the shelves and sell it somehow legally because they know that people won't know until it's too late.

Voted worst company twice in a row? Unrealistic perhaps, but they earned it. I swear they put more effort into letting their customers know they don't give a d*mn than they would have to put into making finished products.

[Cyan]

I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I forgot to save and this game doesn't even save automatically after each era.

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Cyan | Super Power 2:

I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I forgot to save and this game doesn't even save automatically after each era.

Exactly my experience! I was almost at the end of creature stage after about an hour or two and then it cra- I mean the game was made so well it never crashed at all! All Hail EA! All Hail Maxis!

[Wolf]

Originally posted by Cyan | Super Power 2:

I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I forgot to save and this game doesn't even save automatically after each era.

Wait what? You're blaming the game for your pure incompetence?

I've owned this game via disc since Release Date. I've never ever had it crash, and I was playing it on frickin Vista. All i'm getting from the OP is that you hate EA, therefore hate every EA game - in which case, why did you even buy the game?

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Shadow Wolf Alpha:

Originally posted by Cyan | Super Power 2:

I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I forgot to save and this game doesn't even save automatically after each era.

Wait what? You're blaming the game for your pure incompetence?

I've owned this game via disc since Release Date. I've never ever had it crash, and I was playing it on frickin Vista. All i'm getting from the OP is that you hate EA, therefore hate every EA game - in which case, why did you even buy the game?

Actually I hate games that crash so hard I lose a 20 hour progress space stage game because I only get 30 seconds in to my existing save before the "bleep bleep" of a distress signal comes in and the whole game freezes.

Let me make this clear, until a couple of weeks ago I didn't have any hatred for EA at all. I really mean it, I HEARD about how bad they were all the time but I didn't much care because I never really bought their games. Not on principle, just because they don't publish the sort of games I like. In fact when I recently bought Spore I didn't remember it was published by EA at all. I don't really care who made it so long as the product works I am content.

But after the days and hours of wrestling with crashes and bugs and BAD_DATA and everything else I just can't contain my anger. Ultimately I know my complaints won't matter because EA has officially given up on Spore because it's a cow who's udders have run dry but the least I can do in rant and rave into the steam forums like a madman until the many, MANY problems with the game solve themselves. Some of these crashes? I remember from launch day. That's right, I'm a veteran.

Anyway thank you for your response. Please allow me to retort.

OH BOY another unbeleiveably presumptous and rude Steam forum user! Is there any other variety? Sometimes it's hard to tell. I literally can't beleive you are doing the old "but it works for ME!" cliche routine of internet d*ck swinging that I have seen so very many times. Please do tell me more about how it works for you! That'll solve the problem!

What are you insinuateing, that we are f*cking LIEING about our crashes? Like hoo buy I love begging for help on the internet about problems I don't have at all. Is that it? Like I just adore being in a constant state of aggrevation trying to look up forums and FAQ's trying to solve problems with entertainment products I own?

If I could possibly spend a fraction less time speaking to Steam forum users who say things like and I quote "All i'm getting from the OP is that you hate EA, therefore hate every EA game" do you think I wouldn't take that chance? But we live in a world where releaseing unfinished garbage like Spore is OK when really it's not. All I want to do is play my stupid game on my stupid DRM heavy digital distribution platforms and be left in peace but OOOOH NO I have to interact with the ~community~. If there is anything I like less than crashes, it's "socialising" on here. No offence to all the people who responded to me politely on here over the years, but that situation is rarer than it should be.

Yknow I will admit, my posts here about Spore have been a little heated, a little brash and emotionally charged in ways. But that's because I'm pi*sed. Don't see at as me being rude to you, see it was being rude to the company.What I'm trying to say is, don't get your knickers in a twist just because people are critising something you like on the internet.

Also: "Wait what? You're blaming the game for your pure incompetence?"
AHAHAH HA HAHAHA HAH HAH HAH hah hehe he oh ohehaahahaaaaafuuu'uuckyouidiot.

[Skeetor]

Agree....save system sucks ass, mixed with crashes = major time lost.

[Mort]

Originally posted by Shadow Wolf Alpha:

Originally posted by Cyan | Super Power 2:

I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I forgot to save and this game doesn't even save automatically after each era.

Wait what? You're blaming the game for your pure incompetence?

I've owned this game via disc since Release Date. I've never ever had it crash, and I was playing it on frickin Vista. All i'm getting from the OP is that you hate EA, therefore hate every EA game - in which case, why did you even buy the game?

NEVER had it crash until I started playing the steam download. Now I cant even maually save. Have restarted steam, have unloaded and reloaded, have deleted the files from the PC and reloaded after a pc restart. If EA is gonna keep selling it they should support it morally.

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by Mort:

If EA is gonna keep selling it they should support it morally.

Indeed. Contact EA Support directly. They do not monitor these forums.

[ded]

Spore never crashes for me. But just in case, I save every 5 minutes

[LordGiraffee]

ive had the same problems pretty much the same as you, simply to fiz the saving issuses just has a setting where we can set a time limit so it auto saves every 30 mins, and since my pc blue screened because of the game and i had to buy 8.1 for my pc to work again i haven't had any issues for freezing, ive called EA a number of times and they just go over the same this that only temperarily fixes the problem.

[Mr Compassionate]

It's been a long time since I made this post but I love how the responses are mostly
'Yeah my copy didn't work either so I called up tec support and after working with them to re-program half the game. my $700 pc melting and an antharax parcel being sent through my post it worked for 5 mins, then stopped saving forever' (paraphrase)

In any other industry selling a broken product is illegal, apparently it's OK here because hey it's a game, like for kids right?

Uh sorry for ranting so much bile on here, I really don't want to.

[Warkidooo]

Well, you could just download some program that "press" F5 every 10 minutes. I used one on that minigame of the last summer sale so I didn't need to keep mashing the mouse left button.

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

In any other industry selling a broken product is illegal, apparently it's OK here because hey it's a game, like for kids right?

One, you're not legally buying a product. You're paying for an End User License Agreement that stipulates how you are allowed to use a particular piece of software. An EULA is more akin to a rental agreement.

Two, Spore is over seven years old. If you don't want to rent a ♥♥♥♥♥♥, run-down apartment, don't pay the deposit and don't sign the lease. Yes, this means you may have to actually investigate the current state of something.

Three, if you bought Spore years ago, well, yeah, the landlord needs to honor their outstanding leases. EA's EULA for Spore says they can stop service at any time so long as they give 30 days' notice. Since they haven't done that, you should probably demand that they fix the broken windows and set out some roach motels.

Unfortunately, EA does not monitor these forums and they are quite ban-happy on the forums that they control. You're only real recourse is to contact EA Support. Over and over. Until your particular problems are addressed.

(But, yeah, regarding your original post, I agree that the save system in Spore is broke ♥♥♥♥. Always has been. Probably always will be. Just one of the MANY reasons that Spore was the last EA game that I've bought and played.)

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

Just one of the MANY reasons that Spore was the last EA game that I've bought and played.)

You chose the path of wisdom, friend.

[Benny Boo]

i realised that if it crashed i would lose my data during the creature stage so i decided to save at the space age but this game crashed me during saving and now i lost all my stuff from all the way to tribal

[Radon]

played tribal stage on hardmode
@
have mastered the "save > quit without saving after some terribly bad stuff > reload" technique
@
saved at the beginning
@
walked through the whole stage without any "OH CRAP" situations
@
moved on to creating the first building
@
@
@
realised that you can't give it a name
@
that friggin' Pollination.package
@
alt+F4
@
delete Pollination
@
realise that you need to walk through the whole stage again
@
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~

Anyway, EA forgot about Spore a looooooooooooooooooong time ago, so trying to reach Maxis is a bad idea. They won't hear you.