I saw someone in another thread that was talking about having an option where you can't reload, and personally I think that is ridiculous. I then started thinking It'd be nice to play with just one save file, with just autosaves (but they'd have to be much more frequent then past games). Then I realized "this "one-save-file" thing doesn't have to be an option, the only option needs to be when you want to autosave, then you can easily play a one file game by simply not pressing start and saving (unless you needed to leave immediately, then you have the option to pause/save. )

As for the poll, I would definitely vote for the first 7 options, but I wouldn't mind seeing the other ones, as long as they are all optional.

Lots of games have done something like this (Baldur's gate 1+2 for example)

Nah,I save when in areas of interest,and most importently,when I want...

I like the normal ones like entering/exiting cells and when sleeping. Other than that, maybe leveling up and completing parts of a quest, but I'm actually not sure if I like the idea of autosaving in the midst of things. You know, the games stop anyway whenever you enter a house or sleep, but not sure if that is a problem anyway. I like playing only through autosaves, so it might be nice with more options to turn on actually.

i found the way oblivion did auto-saves was very well done.

This.

Compared to Baldur's Gate I'd say OB's and MW's autosaves was poorly done. There should be more options, even if only a few.

And on Fasttravel.

Good call. can't believe i forgot that one. It's in the poll.

I generally turn off half (or more) of the current auto-save options - mostly to avoid constant over-writes of the auto-save file and avoid file corruption.

So, to me (yes, just my personal perception), auto-save on Fast Travel, Cell load (house/dungeon/etc), Wait, and Sleep already seems like a plethora of choices.

I agree, except I might like it when i finish a quest too... those other choices I put into a the poll are for the hardcoe autosave-game players, who just want to play a one-file "autosave" game, and not have too tough of a time. I think autosaving after every battle, or everything you steal, or everyone you murder is a bit too much though, but i just tried to get every option I could think of in the poll. (except ridiculous ones, like autosave after every conversation, or everytime you buy something... these are all ideas that came to mind when i was making the poll though)

I'm fine with what we got. I save constantly too, even if I don't need to.

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't feel like you had to save all the time if you didn't want to? I mean, I very rarely have an incident where I forgot to save for as half hour and died or anything.

This would work especially well, if the auto-saves aren't too intrusive (like slowing frame-rate, or stopping altogether), and more like checkpoints from halo or some other game with a similar mechanic.

As an aside, I'm one of those people who would never trust a single save file in a TES game. Too much data, too much chance of corruption, etc. I keep a rotating set of at least a dozen saves for any character I'm running in OB/FO3. Anything else seems like courting trouble. So even if there were incredibly often autosaves/checkpoints, I'd be making manual saves constantly.

how about auto saving at different time intervals?

I'm not sure if this is a good idea I mean Beth's past record's with Auto Save corruption is pretty bad.

Some of those options, like saving at skill up or at level up sound like really bad ideas. It's not uncommon for those to happen in the middle of combat. If it autosaves on you and things quickly get out of hand soon after, you might be SOL with a bad save.

Nehram mod had a good system, auto-save every 10 minutes i think

I would do it anways. I'm paranoid like that.

But one thing I hope they do with saves is seperate them so I don't accidently delete a save.

Good idea, it's in the poll now

I've really never had a problem with that. maybe it's because i play on Xbox, or something (i don't know if you do too) but i've never had a problem with this.


I agree, Maybe the autosaves would ALWAYS have to be when there's no hostiles around.

I would like When I enter (and/or leave) a building ,or none at all i save and autosave like mad i remember Oblivion at lauch being very evil with autosaves the game would get scared and i would end looking at my desktop , full of beautiful icons :spotted owl:

I just keep it off. Though the press [insert key to auto-save] is the probably the best option if auto-save is turned on.

Having that many options for simply an auto save feature is just ridiculous. Once Beth gives players 20+ auto save types, then people will start complaining that there aren't enough sliders for difficulty, level-scaling, customization of character.. the repercussions of doing so would be far worse and widespread than what it offers. Give man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach man to fish, and everyone will svck the oceans clean of anything that moves.

I don't think anyone wants ALL those options... Just because i put the option in the poll doesn't mean i want them (if you read the OP you'd see i only wanted some). having 6-7 (max) though wouldn't be bad... and it's been done in other games.

True, but people need to realize that this is a video game. There are limitations to how many features can be implemented before launch. Once Beth gives people too much freedom in one area of the game options, people start complaining about lack of freedom in others. It's a great idea, in many respects, but I'm not sure it'd be anywhere close to the top of their to-do list. Whether or not I can customize if my game automatically saves every time I kill something doesn't change the fact that I can hit the F5 button and auto-save myself whenever I please. Developers have to look at matters like this with discretion, because once you cater too much into a certain aspect of something, people will start to complain about why another aspect isn't as robust. That's why games are made more or less with a balanced philosophy in mind. If they catered to what everyone wanted, we'd have a game that would be a real life simulation instead of an entertaining, 100-hour RPG. See what I'm getting at?

I think I see what your getting at, (although i can't hit the F5 button (Quicksave)... the xbox controller doesnt have one, but that's not the point.) but i just think adding a couple options for more autosaves really isn't something that takes a lot of time, nor would be that big of a deal to anyone except a couple people who want it. It won't make a difference in the game really, especially if you only do the ones that make sense (like when you enter/leave a dungeon/city, and maybe when you finish a quest ONLY after there's no hostiles around).

It won't (shouldn't) make anyone mad to add the options, and it takes no (very little) time to implement, I don't see why they can't add a couple more options. And even if It makes people ask for other more robust aspects, like you say, I don't see at all how that's a bad thing. :shrug: