Save whenever you fail a check?

[DarthVitrial]

This is really annoying design. I find a box, fail to lockpick it, discover I have unallocated points, allocate enough points to be able to now unlock the box...except for some bizarre reason you only get one try, and now I can't unlock the box. No problem, I'll load my last save and allocate my points before trying- oh wait, the game autosaved when I failed it. Guess I either have to never learn what's in the box or start the game over completely.
Why? What possible reason is there for this? Why can we only try each thing once? It would make sense for dialog, but for trying to open a door? Doors don't magically turn to stone if you don't use the right key on your first try.

[pali]

A second change would be nice indeed. In the Cthulhu roleplaying game you can "force" your dice throws. If you fail a second time something bad might happen.

[voormithadreth]

The skills would be completely meaningless if you just restarted over and over until you passed every roll all the time. The entire point of the skills is to shape what path you take through the story through what you are and are not able to do.

[DarthVitrial]

And for people that like having their entire 40+ hour game decided by one arbitrary roll they can do that. Personally I'd rather not have to restart the entire game just because I failed one roll because I forgot to allocate a skill point.

[Vanguard]

Originally posted by The Truth:

And for people that like having their entire 40+ hour game decided by one arbitrary roll they can do that. Personally I'd rather not have to restart the entire game just because I failed one roll because I forgot to allocate a skill point.

You're dramatically overestimating the length of this game

[DarthVitrial]

Ok, I probably am. I remember reading that was the length. Regardless, my point stands. This is a video game, not a tabletop game, and I'd like to play it like a video game, which includes being able to reload a save instead of having to restart the entire game.

[voormithadreth]

Originally posted by The Truth:

]And for people that like having their entire 40+ hour game decided by one arbitrary roll they can do that. Personally I'd rather not have to restart the entire game just because I failed one roll because I forgot to allocate a skill point.

What 40-hour game? I thought we were talking about Call of Cthulhu. Don't restart the game because you failed a roll, play the game the way it was designed or stop crying. Again the skill points literally DO NOTHING if you can just reload until you pass.

[DarthVitrial]

I already acknowledged that I was incorrect about the length. I still consider this to be bad game design. Maybe it works in tabletop games and maybe it works for people that want their video games to be like tabletop games, but as someone who wants to be able to experience all the available content and absolutely hates luck-based content, this is horribly frustrating, especially on replays when I already know the story and just want to see the other things I missed.

[Olyvya]

It doesn't matter if you fail checks in this game, it has no effect on anything that matters. Also I beat the game last night, its like eight hours long at most, and probably not even that.

[JocularJosh]

Originally posted by The Truth:

I already acknowledged that I was incorrect about the length. I still consider this to be bad game design. Maybe it works in tabletop games and maybe it works for people that want their video games to be like tabletop games, but as someone who wants to be able to experience all the available content and absolutely hates luck-based content, this is horribly frustrating, especially on replays when I already know the story and just want to see the other things I missed.

But that is the whole point of the skills though, to think about your decissions and not just rush through it.
You can experience all the available content, just not on one playthrough.

Maybe you should have informed yourself before buying this game. Being able to reload everytime you fail in a game like this would make the whole mechanic trivial.
And this one:

Originally posted by The Truth:

his is a video game, not a tabletop game, and I'd like to play it like a video game, which includes being able to reload a save

Sure, but this is a specific kind of video game and you are able to reload a save, you just can't abuse the system to redo something you failed.
If you fail at something, that sucks, but it never prevents you from being able to finish the game so just keep playing and remember what you can do for your next run. There are 4 endings so you most likely are going to replay it anyway.

[DarthVitrial]

Clearly I'm not going to be able to change your minds, and you aren't going to be able to change mine. This is a gameplay mechanic some people like. I personally consider it bad design. All it comes down to, imo, is this: what would be lost by NOT saving as soon as a skill check is failed? Everyone that likes the tabletop mechanics would be unaffected. People like me that dislike them would be able to keep playing as we like.

I don't want to make it sound like this is a dealbreaker for me. I enjoyed the game, just not this one feature of it. I made this thread to give feedback on a single aspect of the game I disliked. It's not as if I'd say the game isn't good because of this.

[JocularJosh]

Originally posted by The Truth:

Clearly I'm not going to be able to change your minds, and you aren't going to be able to change mine.

Oh I wasn't trying to change your mind. I get why you dislike this mechanic.
I merely wanted you to see why they implemented it and how it makes sense for a game like this.

[DarthVitrial]

I see why they implemented it, I just disagree with their choice to do so. I dislike randomness in video games. If I fail, I want that to be because I made a mistake, not because a random number generator rolled against me.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Sorry you dont like it. You seem however to be alone on your island of misery since the rest of us are fine with the game mechanics as is.

[DarthVitrial]

"Island of misery" because I posted about a single aspect of the game I that dislike is a bit hyperbolic. The rest of the game is fine. If there's a thing I don't like I comment on it, that is all.

[Wakane]

I haven't bought this game yet. Well, that "luck-based" skill check thing sounds kinda annoying. I was expecting something like "You need lockpick skill 5 or higher to lockpick this door". So it's more like "the higher your lockpick, the more chance you have to successfully lock this door"?