First save checkpoint?

[Enik]

I've played this game three times for an total of 72 minutes. Each time I've completed the first room or two after the outside area in the starting base. And each time I figured I'd gone far enough to get at LEAST to the first checkpoint. But whenever I restart the game I find myself right back at the beginning.

Does anyone have any idea where the first checkpoint is? And are they spaced really far apart throughout the game?

[Dead Axis]

Couldn't tell you sorry, there is a save option in your options screen though.

[jason.washdc]

This definitely has driven me nuts too. I gave up after twice thinking I had gotten to a save point and will pick it back up soon. But, I watched a play thru of the first mission on youtube. When it says Checkpoint Reached that just means that if you die you will restart from that point, but that is not a proper save. The first save is after you complete the first full mission (about 30-60 minutes depending on play style). It will display Saving when it actually does the save. It is a bit frustrating but Far Cry 3 is the same way (though not as long an intro). You cannot save during missions. Only in between missions and while free roaming. And, even then, when you load a save it will put you in the nearest liberated garrison. You can't save and start right where you left off (but your inventory/loot is kept when you manually save where possible).

I do wish it was like Skyrim where you could save pretty much anywhere but that is just not how it works. I sometimes literally have just about 30 minutes to play and would love to not have to worry if I can complete a mission in time. I prefer stealth and stealth play typically takes longer.

The game looks great though so I will stick it out. I just need to wait till I have some good solid time to play it.

[Initial C]

Not being able to save in the middle of a mission is just bulls***. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired.

[Enik]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von lukeparker453:

Couldn't tell you sorry, there is a save option in your options screen though.

Yes, there is an option, but it doesn't work when you're in a mission. Hence this thread.

Oh well, another uninstall. And another game I will never play due to stupid design decisions.

[GOobERdOod]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von pureobscure:

Oh well, another uninstall. And another game I will never play due to stupid design decisions.

I have to agree. This is a real stupid (insert foul word here) design decision. I played about 30 minutes into the game maybe three times now, then I go to continue the game a bit later and I find I am starting at the beginning ... I say "what the F!!!".

Then I have to start reading forums to figure out this is a design decision. Just which nincompoop made this decision? Or maybe a bad joke on us? Bad enough to uninstall - that's for sure!

[CreeewDeeeTaaay]

I also must agree with you all. I'm not a "casual gamer" by any means, but requiring you to give 1-2 hrs per session to make any progress at all in the game is just plain silly. I could understand no saves when bad dudes are around (similar to fast travel restrictions in Skyrim) but having to complete a whole mission just to save is definitely excessive.

[goebish]

What are you complaining about ? Most games did not have any save system at all in the 80's :)

[CreeewDeeeTaaay]

Smileys aside, and I do appreciate what you are saying (that games have made progress in the last 20-30 years), it is a little dismissive to suggest that we shouldn't request a better save implementation that allows for people with limited time to play the game (30 min-1 hr sessions) to enjoy it more. Also, the reason games in the 80s (console games, at least) didn't allow for save states was because the games were ROM based, and adding save memory (a'la Zelda) was cost prohibitive. Not really a good excuse nowadays, huh?

Something to consider: what would allowing saves per checkpoint do in terms of detracting from challenge/gameplay? Couldn't per-checkpoint saving be implemented as an extra part of the difficulty setting, assuming the devs think that more liberal saving cuts down on the challenge of the gameplay?

[Brute Force OAP]

Just to add to the BS camp......I have gone far enough into the game in one session to create 3 saves. However, when I restarted the game the 3 saves are grayed out and I can only select "Autosave" which starts me right at the beginning. Funny as the beginner's tutorial is, it starts to grate on you after 5 or 6 times. Also, the bloody thing keeps crashing (locking up) after random intervals of time, so I just can't get anywhere. I'll wait for the update if there is one.

[Mr. Fibble]

I was expecting to have to write down a code number to input as a level/stage select so was pleasantly surprised to find a save option. Would have fitted into the theme of the game pretty well.

Just imagine the barrage of rattles and dummies being flung in fits of infantile rage if they'd done that.

[Enik]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Scott_C_G:

Smileys aside, and I do appreciate what you are saying (that games have made progress in the last 20-30 years), it is a little dismissive to suggest that we shouldn't request a better save implementation that allows for people with limited time to play the game (30 min-1 hr sessions) to enjoy it more. Also, the reason games in the 80s (console games, at least) didn't allow for save states was because the games were ROM based, and adding save memory (a'la Zelda) was cost prohibitive. Not really a good excuse nowadays, huh?

Something to consider: what would allowing saves per checkpoint do in terms of detracting from challenge/gameplay? Couldn't per-checkpoint saving be implemented as an extra part of the difficulty setting, assuming the devs think that more liberal saving cuts down on the challenge of the gameplay?

I totally agree. The demographics of gamers have changed significantly since the 80s. Outside of my dad playing Pong once for the 'wow' factor I don't think that huge numbers of adults sat down with a console to tackle completing a game--it was mostly kids with disposable time.

And considering that this game is aimed almost exclusively at nostalgic ADULTS, it's ridiculous for the developer to assume that our jobs and families won't keep us from spending hours to get to a save checkpoint. It's really poor design.

[omally72]

Wow, that really is disappointing, and also misleading. I played a few times last week and couldn't understand why I kept having to start at the beginning. I had some serious computer problems because of that Malwarebytes clusterfrig a couple weeks back and finally decided to just rebuild over the weekend. Reloaded BD only to find the same issue, so I started the old Internet search. What's really misleading is that it keeps telling you it's saving, but it's really not. Just like some of you above I don't have time to spend an hour or two on this game in one sitting, and forcing autosave on us with such a poor implementation of it is ridiculous. For a game to do so many things right, only to ruin it by horribly breaking the save system is just sad. I won't uninstall yet, because I do want to play the game, but I may have to wait to see if a patch fixes this.

[jason.washdc]

Since the save system is the same as in Far Cry 3, I fear this may not get fixed. The real issue to me is that at least the initial mission is much longer than most missions in Far Cry 3. Perhaps they can split up at least the initial mission into several shorter missions to allow saves.

But, I suspect that the engine for both FC3 and FC3 BD is such that starting from a save must spawn you at a garrison/outpost. I fear that there won't be an easy fix for this unless they just remove some enemies to make the first mission faster.

[omally72]

Well I finally got through the first mission - I just left the game paused when I had to do something else, then picked it up again for a few minutes until I got past the first garrison. Finally got to a save point, but it did take forever. If that's the same system as FC3 then I'm not sad that I've held off on that game - and I'll keep holding off on it until the price comes down to such a point that it makes such a horrible save system bearable.

I'm not a big fan of autosave to begin with, but if there's a game that's done it right, it would probably be Bioshock Infinite. Some of the save points are still a little far apart, but at least they had the good sense to timestamp the save point so when you exit the game you know exactly how far back it was.

Beyond that the game really is a blast. Well, besides that and the aiming system, which seems really imprecise for some reason. Other than those two things the game's a lot of fun.

[Stinkflipper Incarnate]

Argh, just discovered this myself. I was planning to play for half an hour before going to bed, now I realize that's not possible because I'd just get back to where I was last time I played.

Very strange. If they won't allow you to save where you want, they should at least offer some decent autosaves during the mission. The checkpoints are already there, so it's not a difficulty issue. Just really user-unfriendly.