Save Scumming.

[Chaosolous]

The act of saving right before making a decision/choice/attempt. Then reloading that save until ideal conditions are met to move forward.

What're your thoughts?
Have you/do you Save Scum?

To answer myself; I have when I'm playing long AF games and want to see multiple outcomes of one choice but don't want to replay the game four times. I've also done it on older games, when the software I'm playing on allows, as pre-2005 games can be extremely unforgiving sometimes.

[Rio]

We used to watch the binding of isaac:rebirth win streaks. And a certain person got an incredibly high streak. Yet if they streamed they used a different save file and funny enough, that person died a lot during streams.

Funny huh? And there were videos where users were pointing out them resetting a run because it had a terrible start.

Cough, its not like you can't have a back up save, that you reload if you die. But since its not streamed, no one has to know this.

Thats one of the only positive of always online games. You don't get to save scum, you don't get to lie to your audiences.

[Rio]

Rant aside, yeah we don't like games where you need to make the choices the devs think you need to make to get "The true ending".

The true ending should be whatever your choices lead you too.

If the endgame is locked behind the "true ending", and if you don't get it you need to start a brand new playthrough. Thats the worst. Like agarest: generations of war.

Heres a FF tactics-like waifu marriage game. But no true end game for you if you don't marry the dev picked "best girl" for each generation. And no true ending if you grind too much either.

If you need a guidebook to follow to reach the ending, did you actually have choices at all?


Also saves scumming can tell you if a game "Where choices matter", actually has choices that matter.

Like people told me dragon age origins one has choices that matter. And one save scum later told me, they don't matter.

Like early on you have the option to tell on your friend being a blood mage, or not. And if you don't, the npc just says that you know he is one or whatever. So you really have no choice. Either way you have to tell on them.

[Devsman]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Sashie:

Rant aside, yeah we don't like games where you need to make the choices the devs think you need to make to get "The true ending".

The true ending should be whatever your choices lead you too.

If the endgame is locked behind the "true ending", and if you don't get it you need to start a brand new playthrough. Thats the worst. Like agarest: generations of war.

Heres a FF tactics-like waifu marriage game. But no true end game for you if you don't marry the dev picked "best girl" for each generation. And no true ending if you grind too much either.

If you need a guidebook to follow to reach the ending, did you actually have choices at all?

I think what happens is more like, it was supposed to be a CYOA but then corporate made them make a sequel anyway, so they had to choose one.

[crunchyfrog]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Devsman:

Decent time-saving strategy.

I think sometimes it actually backfires though. All the time I spent reloading ad nauseum in games like Streets of Rage could have been spent practicing how to play for real.

A fair point. It needs to be managed and treated accordingly to the game you're doing it on.

It is entirely possible to do this and miss out on picking up the finer points of learning the game.

Especially on certain older games, where they were often built to get you to learn the skills more.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ArgentAbendAzure:

Press F6 to be saved gamer.
Yes I do save when it makes sense.
Particularly during irritating touchy sequences.
Or maybe after a big battle, or making it to a safe space.
When I'm working on an achievement it can help getting several at the same point in the game.
Like in Black mesa, you kill the Gonarch with a crowbar, Gas it, Let it live.
So that's three achievements done.

I don't think it's scummy to save a lot.
Just cautious.

Also a fair attitude too. It really is what works for you.

Sure, you can view it as a time saver, but as you say you can use it as a point of caution.

Ofttimes when I'm replaying a game (like Final Fantasy XII which I've been replaying on the Switch) I'll get to an area where I know there's an annoying boss battle and make more saves than I normally would, just to err on the side of caution.

[kbiz]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ⛧Black⛧:

Thats one of the only positive of always online games. You don't get to save scum, you don't get to lie to your audiences.

Yeah, lots of liars in the world.

For me, it's like golf. You score yourself. It's based on honor.

Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with save-scumming. Do what makes you happy.

But I've gotten multiple people to start playing games the way I do. It's addicting. You're forced to anticipate and prepare and carefully consider options. And yeah, after you got completely slammed after the first round of battle, and your guys sway around looking like a bunch of lettuce toothed junkies, you don't say f#ck it and just reload. Or you don't do a quick knee-jerk response. You try to beat the odds and win. And then suffer the consequences with a now depleted party without as many of the favorite consumables. It feels so good to edge out the victory that almost stopped your ironman run.

[Maximilian17]

Most of the time I do save scumming.

Except for completing ironman mode on the following games:
-XCOM 1 on hard mode
-Fire emblem radiant dawn on hardest difficulty
Both with perma death on.

But now I'm feeling too old to play that sort of games. It is stressful to play ironman. I prefer playing games to relax or save scumming when playing survival/action horror.

[kbiz]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Maximilian17:

-XCOM 1 on hard mode

Yes, and you remember it too. Nice job by the way.

It can be stressful to play ironman mode in FPS or RTS genres. Oh sh!t I'm almost out of Health and and they're all over the place! Sh!t, sh!t, sh!t. But 4X or turn-based is kinda like chess - it becomes more challenging than stressful.

With ironman you gotta walk into battle with overwhelming superiority - cuz you gotta win 100+ battles in a row. And what are the odds of doing that randomly.

[Good Night Owl]

Yes, unless losing is a core part of the experience like XCOM, or other games that have permadeath

[Good Night Owl]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Maximilian17:

Most of the time I do save scumming.

Except for completing ironman mode on the following games:
-XCOM 1 on hard mode
-Fire emblem radiant dawn on hardest difficulty
Both with perma death on.

But now I'm feeling too old to play that sort of games. It is stressful to play ironman. I prefer playing games to relax or save scumming when playing survival/action horror.

Too many things can go wrong on ironman mode anyway. Experience a bug, and you can't undo it.

[White Knight]

It's simple, if I could save and reload in real life, I would... duh.

In video games I can, therefore I do.

Having said that, such a feature makes for easy gaming, and I'm not really into easy-anything... so I make some efforts to keep things challenging, while always being fun... because fun is the point.

What I like, are hardcore and survival game modes that impose "hardships" like hunger, sleep, etc. while also retaining the right to save as needed. Phones ring, doors get knocked on, etc. Life is more important than any video game.

I save because I can, and because my miserable life is too valuable to me to let any game developer decide when I can or cannot enjoy it as I see fit.

[RRW359]

I don't usually do it but I don't have a problem with others cheating in SP games.

[nullpo]

I save scum all the time but never actually load the save and ends up cleaning them up later. At this point idk why I bother.

[FallenStar]

As long as you purchase a game you're free to do whatever you want in it.
It's just the way it is: freedom for some causes displeasure for others based on what they do with it.
I did it in Elden Ring to get all the endings.

[kbiz]

Początkowo opublikowane przez nullpo:

I save scum all the time but never actually load the save and ends up cleaning them up later. At this point idk why I bother.

If you don't load the save then that's not save-scumming. I save my games too, but just in case I a encounter a game breaking bug, or if the power goes out, or something along those lines.

[Crazy Tiger]

If people want to save-scum, I see no issue. Their game, their playstyle, their enjoyment, all good.