In the past Elder Scrolls games - and most of the new games too - the saving mechanic has been simple. From the pause menu you can select to save or load game, and in game you can quick save and load. This mechanic is simple to make and use, so has really catch on in mainstream games.

Only problem in this is that the system encourages to obsessive saving. You can just run through the game without really thinking about choices you make. After all, if you make a mistake, you can quickly reload last save.

I thought that this is the most efficient way to handle saving the game until I played Amnesia: Dark Descent recently. The game saves automatically so you don't have to worry about saving all the time. In fact, you can't even save the game from pause menu. This really immersed me in to this game and I think it would be the best choice to have this kind of saving method in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In role playing game, we should be building the character with our choices. No one can make perfect choices the first time they play a game. This saving mechanic would also highly increase replaying value.

What do you think is the best way to handle saving game progress? Discuss.

I save really frequently just in case the game crashes, so I like being able to save whenever I want. I think this would be in the "don't like it, then don't use it" category for me, sorry.

I think the same. I would even add an alarm if you hadn't save recently .

have the classic save as standard and have the auto save as a toggle-able option for people to pick.

I like to save. I have no problem with it. I don't find it unimmersive.
I think I'd be a little annoyed if I couldn't control my saves.

What if you're in a hurry and just found this awesome item after beating a difficult creature with pure luck? Wouldn't you want to be able to save then?

Not saving would cause more troubles than solving troubles IMO.
It's not that unimmersive. And concerning replay value, it would be pretty annoying if you did something special or tried to, then died or had to quit, just to have to re-do it. That's not a "good" kind of replay value IMO.

The ability to save the game whenever i damn well please, is perhaps one of the most important game mechanics, ever. One of the reasons i sold my first and only assassins creed game was because i cant save whenever i want. If i have to leave, catch a tv show, eat etc it is so incredebly annoying not having the option to save the game right away. I really hated assassin's creed for its save-system. FarCry2 was also a real pain in the ass.

And by the way there is no one forcing you to save every 10min.

Pass on not having control over my saves.

I truely detest being forced to play from a point however far back just to get where I got toasted.

"what? I have to replay the past 2+ minutes again?" LItterally for 10 times until I figure ot a srategy that works? No thanks

Don't want that. A better way, IMO, is to not have choices set up as success or mistake but more choices where there isn't a perfect outcome and a bad one. No matter how many times you reload, you'll have make up your mind and go with one or the other.

Have any of you played Amnesia? The saving system works really, really well. It is not the same "autosave" - save every once in an hour or save when entering new space as in Elder Scrolls. Every time I died I could pick up straight from the moment where I left before encaging in the dangerous situation. Once while playing my computer crashed and the save file picked up right before the moment the crash happened.

If the autosaving system is not done well, or if it saves too rarely like in the past Elder Scrolls games it's not good.

And I agree about decisions, nobody should be forced to use any saving method they don't like. I just feel that the Elder Scrolls auto saving method is just made as backup saves and the new auto saving system could have a bigger role in saving.



That wouldn't be the case if the auto saving system would have some new innovations from Oblivion and Morrowind.



That would be great, but saves would be still used to flee from situations with too hard enemies.

I just hope that I can attache a note to my save game file. I don't mind the game automatically naming my save game file, but please let me attach a note to it if I want to in order to help myself remember where I'm at in the game as it relates to a particular save game file.

Amnesia's system works well, in Amnesia. I'm fine with the simple save system for TES as we've had it in the past.

That is true. The game is more linear and the same system would not fit to open world game such as TES.
That is why they should not use the same system, but a system very similiar to it. System with more of it's strenghts and fewer of it's weaknesses.

I was just playing F:NV the other day and I was going along wandering towards my quest goal when I entered a building and like 10 dogs completely ravaged me... wait, I didn't enter a building, it was outside, because it would have autosaved upon entering building.

So, I die and I'm waaaaay back where I started. 45 min of play vanished. I used to play a lot of FPS and I used to be an F5 addict but I guess I'm not anymore. I would like the quicksave and autosave systems to remain as is but would it be possible for timed autosaves too? I know Sins of a Solar Empire does this, it's an RTS. Maybe I could just make my own little mod or script or something to press F5 for me every 5 min, but that might not be best... what if it autosaved right before I died. Not good. So it would need to be an autosave. And I forget if the game keeps previous autosaves (like three and then overwrites the last one), so we could go back in time if the game save was unplayable for some reason.

As has been pointed out in multiple previous threads about game saves, I think the people who like the idea of a system like the one described above would change their minds very rapidly after a few CTDs and other problematic bugs that they were stuck with because the game automatically saved. :shrug:

Games that dont allow me to control my saves annoy me to no end.
Its false difficulty. It makes the game more difficult, without actually making the game more difficult.

Also, in a game as complex as an elder scrolls game controlled saving is a must for a myriad of reasons, not the least of wich is bugs.

Just too often, that thing called real life sometimes manifests itself, unexpectedly, at inopportune times in gameplay. The ability to save on demand, for me, is crucial.

With the ability to choose, I can save as I want, whether it be with hardcoe, or very liberal save rules.

@OP, you do realize that you can turn off all of the auto saves in game right.

I think that we all have different ideas of how things should be done. I certainly don't like having to reach certain places in a game before I can save it. I also don't think that I should have to play my game to your standards. I like saving a lot I don't like having to replay hours of stuff because I couldn't save my progress. This is not fun for me. I like being able to play for twenty minutes then leave off where I was.

Anything else is uncivilized!

There's a big difference in saving mechanics in the linear games as Amnesia and open-world like OB. How do you think the game has to figure out when to save if there's no strict line you follow?

Bugs is probably a larger reason for reload than death in Oblivion and Morrowind.

Now add the fun fact that for many Oblivion crashes if you alt-tab to desktop.

Save point is mostly laziness from the developers who don't want to store all the settings in the game. This is why you see it in games where you do tasks and return to base. this way they don't have to store everything, just progress, character stats and equipment in addition to the status of the visited areas who allow return. Not enemy position, orientation and AI stat, bullets in the air and other complicated stuff.
Understandable on the old Nintendo games where the 64kb save store module cost a fortune. Not then terabyte hard drives sells for 100$.
Almost feel ashamed that my savegame counter in Oblivion is just 1080.

Twice in an hour playing New Vegas I had corrupted auto saves. No manual saves would have meant a very unhappy bunny. I don't abuse saves, I have one in a town, one in the wilderness, but if I wanted more, or to re do failed quests, that's up to me, this is a game, not an aptitude test.
I understand the reason for one auto save in some games, but having to restart a character in Fable 2 because of a main quest breaking bug ( the infamous Abbot glitch ) was not my idea of fun.

In the Duke 3D XBLA version, they have a neat save system. I could be remembering wrong, but here's how I believe it works: when you want to load a game, you see a bar across the bottom of the screen, like if you're watching a video. You can select any time in the last X minutes by moving the bar to that time and then entering the game. Or, you can use the bar to watch a replay of yourself.