So I have been wondering, who here reloads to a quicksave because of screwing up like failing to sneak attack that bandit, getting caught, etc...

Or you only reload when you screw up BIG things (Ultimate Heist)

Or does not reload at all until death, living with the consequences of screwing up?

I do reload if I try to do something and fail if it′s not part of my RP. For example if I successfully sneak kill someone from the Fighters Guild and absolutely no one is around to see it but I still get kicked out for killing a guild member, then I reload :brokencomputer:

In normal gameplay, I will reload if I'm testing something, like weapon damage or other game mechanics. At first, I would reload for any little screw-up, just to complete a successful quest. Now, I play and live with the consequences. Thus reloading only after game freezes, glitches or death ( unless playing DID ). IMO, it's what defines the character. It's what defines RPG. It is what it is. That helps to make each playthrough, that much more unique. Thus, increasing the replay value, of a game, that is already very high.

I do. When you use mods that ramp up the difficulty ( higher weapon damage, faster magic projectiles, actors can detect you if you miss a shot ) to a point where you will surely die if you make a mistake, then it is justified because you just made your last mistake and they killed you for it. So you are reloading to try again and not die. If reloading bothers you then you can find mods for death penalties.

I treat such situations on a case-by-case basis. I'll reload in a heartbeat if I feel that the 'issue' is due to a glitch or game limitation. For instance, I'm normally very good at not mistakenly hitting allies during combat. Yet just yesterday while assisting several patrolling Legionnaires one got between my avatar and the foe when it was too late to stay his blade. Worse, the Legionnaire was apparently low on health. That combined with our rather powerful weapon meant that the blow proved fatal. At that point the remaining Legionnaire reads my avatar the riot act and proceeds to arrest him. RELOAD.

Here it's not so much that my avatar mistakenly hit a comrade. Excrement happens, after all. But the result was too over-the-top. The Legionnaire died of his own poor judgment, stepping in the path of my avatar's swing as he did. The result was highly regrettable but not, I think, criminal. His partner should and would have known that in a better programmed Cyrodiil. This for me justifies a reload.

ADDENDUM:
Here's another example. This occurred sometime without the past two to three weeks, at the end of a certain mod-added quest line. It was one of those too-few quests that offers alternate solutions. My avatar settled on one of those solutions. Almost immediately afterward I began to have doubts. It just didn't feel right. I couldn't get it out of my mind. The more I thought on it the more I felt that the path I selected was NOT the one my avatar should and would have chosen. In the end it bothered me so much I removed two solid real-life days worth of saves and redid the quest end, this time taking the other path. Much better. We felt no remorse afterward, no nagging doubts. It was the right thing to do simply because it FELT like the right thing to do.

ADDENDUM:
My avatar is VERY conscious of his assault and murder counts. They stood unchanged at 27-28 and 2 respectively for many a month, maybe even a solid year. Within the past month totals increased to 35 and 4. He did not deliberately do anything to justify the increase. The assaults all came about while clearing out a cultist-infected cave complex, following standard attack procedures, procedures that normally result in no assault charges. For whatever reason this time a number of combats did. One of his two new kills was in this same dungeon. He has no idea where the other kill came from. It just miraculously appeared on his stats tab one day.

This is a case where I would not dream of reloading to remove those assault/murder additions. I consider them a legitimate if mysterious part of his history. Regrettable yet possibly deserved. (Neither murder trigger and infamy point, btw.)

-Decrepit-

Do you mean Windfall? Had second doubts about the Knights and wanted to turn to the Saint and the Righteous instead? Don't help those scumbags, they all deserved the poverty and persecution dealt to them.

Nay, not Windfall. That be one of may favorite quest-mods. I liked it so well that I decided to not install it this play-through. I'm sure that doesn't seem to make a lick of sense. But...I found it such an overwhelming experience last play-through I felt I should give it a break. As to Knights vs Righteous:

-Decrepit-

DEAD IS DEAD

Depends on the character. Sometimes I'll save and reload to get a particular sigil stone, or before trying a tough lock with a limited number of picks.

I don't tend to save before combat situations. I don't worry about perfection. I'm much more inclined to save after a tough fight, so I don't have to go through it again if I get a random crash.

Most of my characters are not "dead-is-dead," but I figure that if they're going to get killed, I should probably have to reload from further back than two minutes ago, otherwise "death" is meaningless.

This is pretty much what I do as well. I was going to say I'd reload if I screwed up something really big, but infact I don't even do that anymore. I had a character that screwed up on a dark brotherhood quest really badly and nearly died as a result, and actually the roleplay developed into him giving up wetwork and actually joining the knights of the nine. So I didn't reload. My mistake, got to live with the consequences.
So now I tend to let things run their course and only reload due to glitches or if a character dies. I don't play dead is dead with my main characters, though one of them has never died yet.

I usually let the character live with consequences, even if the incident was an accident. That means more than one has a murder counted against them that wasn’t really a murder.

Here’s a screw-up that made me reload: getting on the wrong horse in the company of Jauffre and Brother Martin. :facepalm: Those two are quick to take offense at such misunderstandings.

If it's a dumb glitch, like a guard barging out of nowhere to arrest me after I killed a hostile Ghost (Just happened) then yes, I will reload.

Otherwise I try to let choices have some consequence. If I get caught thieving, I won't reload.

I use a mod by Skycaptain called http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30586 As the title says you never die when using this mod, you are knocked out. But there are consequences!

You acquire a Soul Beacon item by making a donation at any Altar of Julianos. The cost of the beacon is tied to your level. You place your Soul Beacon in a safe location and when you are knocked out you will be transported back to that spot. It works only once, then you need to buy a new one. And you can only buy one at a time.

If you are knocked out without a Soul Beacon your soul will be forfeit and you will be transported to an Oblivion realm. You now have to fight your way out of the Oblivion realm to get back to Cyrodiil. If you die in an Oblivion realm you go right back and you stay there until you can find a way out. Or else get used to your new home.

Items (excepting quest and scripted) are randomly removed from your inventory when you are knocked out. These items are placed in a special chest near the spot where you were knocked out (not your Soul Beacon location) . A marker is added to your compass to point to the location of the chest (in case you didn't know where you were).

You may also permanently lose a random amount of gold each time you are knocked out.

I save and reload on sigil stones to get the ones I want. Other than that, I pretty much let things go however they go, unless the game screws up. The entire reason I play the game is to create characters and follow them around and see what happens as they travel through the world, so whatever happens happens, and it becomes a part of their stories. If what they're considering has potentially bad consequences that they wouldn't want to risk, then they don't risk it. If they do risk it and the bad consequences happen, that was their choice. The only exception is that I'll reload on death, though I haven't had to do that in a long time.

I reload on death, which rarely ever happens to me in Oblivion. Or if I kill an NPC who jumped in front of my weapon. I also do it when there are glitches, or of something quest-breaking happens. I do not bother for something as simple as failing to sneak up on someone.

I reload if:

1. My character is killed (difficulty enhancement mods make playing Dead is Dead nearly impossible)
2. A game glitch results in something undesirable (unintended quest failure, guard mistaking self-defense as assault, etc.)
3. A companion NPC acts like an absolute loon and basically commits suicide (glares at Farwil)
4. I accidentally commit a crime

If something bad happens to me when I am aware of the consequences for my actions, it stays, and I deal with it in whatever way I can.

I reload as much as most people here.

I don't use quick save or auto save so most of the time I let the chips fall where they may. I do save before I lock pick because I hate breaking lock picks for such mundane loot.