Lack of manual save is making the game frustrating

[JaeCynthia]

So, on two occasions I've played for about an hour, exploring things, talking to people, taking pictures, and making what seem like important decisions, only to take a break and reload to discover that I basically have to redo it all.

The autosave icon doesn't seem to give a proper indication of where the actual checkpoints are, and I seem to be very bad at guessing where they are as well.

Can anyone give me any spoiler-free tips on how not to lose progress every time I quit the game?

I love this game so far, but the lack of a manual save option is mindboggling and infuriating.

[bird]

Wait till you can play an episode all in one go. Only takes like 3 hours tops

[JaeCynthia]

Originally posted by Make:

I think the real checkpoints are at the start of each area. You can't walk/wander into the next area accidentally as you need to press a button which reads something like "Press [A] to go to dormitories" or something. So when you see a text like that, you know you're proceeding to the next area, which means a checkpoint.

I think only optional photos taken are saved when the "save icon" is displayed if you decide to stop playing the game in the current area, but even then I'm not 100% sure about that.

Thank you! That makes sense.

(I don't often have multiple hours to spare to play games, alas. Also, I enjoy taking my time, so it took me about five hours to get through the first episode.)

[Jeckenn]

I can understand why it seems frustrating to have the autosaves, I generally hate that aspect of games like this. However Life is Strange is WELL worth the time it will take you to finish it, I can guarantee that without a doubt in my mind.

[JaeCynthia]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

I can understand why it seems frustrating to have the autosaves, I generally hate that aspect of games like this. However Life is Strange is WELL worth the time it will take you to finish it, I can guarantee that without a doubt in my mind. :LIS_star:

I'm on episode 4 now, and I would agree it's absolutely worth it. The lack of a manual save is a nuisance, but Make's advice above has steered me right. No more lost progress.

[Sassony]

Hug your teddy bear, while playing it ,THE BEST AUTO SAVE for this game

[Brewski]

Basically, wait to quit until you scene transition. Everytime you move from one area to another, there's an auto-save. Odds are in those times when you played an hour and quit, you could have walked to the next area in about 5 second and it would have saved at the beginning.

It is a bit odd in some ways, but you get used to it. It's worth playing, even with that minor frustration.

[CZBGR Icepick]

Originally posted by laylia27:

So, on two occasions I've played for about an hour, exploring things, talking to people, taking pictures, and making what seem like important decisions, only to take a break and reload to discover that I basically have to redo it all.

The autosave icon doesn't seem to give a proper indication of where the actual checkpoints are, and I seem to be very bad at guessing where they are as well.

Can anyone give me any spoiler-free tips on how not to lose progress every time I quit the game?

I love this game so far, but the lack of a manual save option is mindboggling and infuriating.

First of all, the automatic save option saves automatically. It should be working. That being said, the save points depend on the scene you're on. You have to complete that scene. When you load the saved scene, you're at the beginning of said scene. Because these save points are saved per scene, the auto save does it's work by accounting for each decision you made. You don't need to manually save, because it's after each decision you make, this is consolidated by the end of the scene. While you're still on a new scene, if you can rewind in scene and see new choices should they emerge, you may overwrite those decisions with your new decision so that the scene updates. All these decisions affect the outcome of the next scene(s) and episodes.

And yes, you can replay scenes, as well as redo your decisions.

[JaeCynthia]

Yes, you don't NEED to save, but it would've certainly been nice. I would have preferred not to have had to go looking for bottles from scratch three times just because I ran out of time to play the game and had to go work, for instance. In lieu of a manual save it would've been good to use an icon that let the player know in an unambiguous way that they had just passed a checkpoint (and not just that the auto-save was remembering you took a picture or something like that).

Also, it would've been nice to have been able to load a game to see what effect making certain critical decisions had on the ending section of the story without having to replay the whole episode.

Save system aside, I have no major complaints about this game. It's one of my favorites now.

[CZBGR Icepick]

Originally posted by laylia27:

I would have preferred not to have had to go looking for bottles from scratch three times just because I ran out of time to play the game and had to go work, for instance.

Protip: make it an afterschool activity. Or, if you're having problems with school nights, try the weekend.

[JaeCynthia]

Originally posted by CZBGR Icepick:

Protip: make it an afterschool activity. Or, if you're having problems with school nights, try the weekend.

Ha! I wish I was still in school. I'm an almost middle-aged person who works 50~60 hours a week, so managing time to fit in my game-playing addiction is an ongoing struggle. I probably wouldn't be so vocal about games being flexible about saving otherwise.

One little-remarked thing I do appreciate about Life Is Strange is the ability to pause at any point, even mid-cutscene. It's nice not to have to miss anything just because you got a phone call or someone at the door.

[CZBGR Icepick]

Originally posted by laylia27:

Originally posted by CZBGR Icepick:

Protip: make it an afterschool activity. Or, if you're having problems with school nights, try the weekend.

Ha! I wish I was still in school. I'm an almost middle-aged person who works 50~60 hours a week, so managing time to fit in my game-playing addiction is an ongoing struggle. I probably wouldn't be so vocal about games being flexible about saving otherwise.

One little-remarked thing I do appreciate about Life Is Strange is the ability to pause at any point, even mid-cutscene. It's nice not to have to miss anything just because you got a phone call or someone at the door.

Actually, you can. Ignore people at the door and the phone.

[JaeCynthia]

Originally posted by CZBGR Icepick:

Actually, you can. Ignore people at the door and the phone.

I'll give you this: you're a lot more hardcore than me.

[Jeckenn]

Most games in this genre, and maybe all of them, have autosaves and no manual saves. All my Telltale games which includes Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead season 1 and 2, Batman: The Telltale Series, and many more all have this "feature" I honestly think it is part of the genre though I might be wrong.

[Brewski]

Originally posted by laylia27:

I'll give you this: you're a lot more hardcore than me.

Then why are you smiling?

Because I know something you don't know.

And what is that?

I am not left-handed!

[JaeCynthia]

Originally posted by Jeckenn:

Most games in this genre, and maybe all of them, have autosaves and no manual saves. All my Telltale games which includes Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead season 1 and 2, Batman: The Telltale Series, and many more all have this "feature" I honestly think it is part of the genre though I might be wrong.

It is a more recent development as far as adventure games go. Even most of Telltale's earlier series had a manual save. I can see where if it's done well it can make for a more immersive experience in that you don't have to break from the game to save, but my complaints mostly concern when you're not able to quit and resume at any time without losing progress, or when it makes it hard to go back and experiment without starting an episode over.

I do know from a programming standpoint that it's almost always easier to have a checkpoint system than to have a full save, so that might have something to do with the trend.