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BoTWs save system seems at odds with itself

It's why I thought it was funny so many people were harping about the difficulty, as if it was noteworthy.

Game is savescum city.

Wait, so how does others abusing the save system affect your perception of the game's difficulty? If you find the game too easy because you 'save scum', that's your fault.
 
Good god, if they get rid of save anywhere imagine the backlash.

"WTF, typical Nintendo. One step forward, two steps back. Can't even save anywhere. Elder Scrolls did it decades ago."
 
I die all the time in this game for not being cautious and careful and I love playing that way as it's what the game encourages. Why change that?
 
I agree with op. It's almost like save states. I agree with the experimentation argument, I don't think it needs a punishment for dying. But it's very easy to abuse of this mechanic.
I see a guardian, save the game, try to parry his laser beam, reload if it didn't worked, do it ad infinitum, go to face next guardian. Suddenly all the fear of facing guardians is gone the reward for killing it doesn't matters anymore.
I don't even use Ancient Arros anymore.
A check point on each region would be fine.
 
I thought it was your thread too for some reason, what the hell lol.

Also you think rain sucks now, imagine if you couldn't save when it's raining because you can't light a campfire. Damn.

That is kinda weird.

That my friend, is a good point. That rain is too random and too detrimental to allow any sort of forward planning which essentially kills the purpose of campfire saves. Bring back the ocarina I say.

Why does everything have to be Dark Souls lmao?

It doesn't. Designated save spots have been around for decades.
 
Wait, so how does others abusing the save system affect your perception of the game's difficulty? If you find the game too easy because you 'save scum', that's your fault.

You can't disable the auto-saves and the Game Over screen will always take you to the latest save. Asking people who want more spaced-out retry points to play game designer while hopping though these hoops is unreasonable.
 
The constant saving is intertwined with the core of the game which is experimenting with the sandbox. I'd feel way less encouraged to mess about with the games systems knowing that i would get set back a bunch of time if I forgot to save or respawn super far away from where I died.

A hard mode with limited saving is fine for those who want it, but I feel the way it is now is perfect for how the game is.
 
Honestly I don't know many casual players picking up EITHER game. The core game for both is too difficult for a "casual" gamer.

You guys have the bar for "casual" set way too damn high.

I was wondering how well can a casual gamer pick up BotW, and so far I only have one anecdotal case. My brother's gf who is hardly a gamer, casual or otherwise, seems to be really enjoying the game. I'd bet the very generous save system is part of the many reasons.
 
Turns out you don't have to manually savescum when the game does it for you every 5 steps.

It really doesn't save THAT often. You could also not load the auto-saves, but you would have to return to the main menu, which is a bit of a chore. I do hope that the hard mode dlc does something with the save system.
 
Good god, if they get rid of save anywhere imagine the backlash.

"WTF, typical Nintendo. One step forward, two steps back. Can't even save anywhere. Elder Scrolls did it decades ago."

"Nintendo being Nintendo"

"It's pathetic how Breath of the Wild doesn't respect my time"

"I can't believe an open world game in 2017 doesn't have a save anywhere feature"
 
I feel like you lose the ability to actually die relatively early on so like... there's no actual feeling of loss either way. The game is all about exploration and adventure.

I do agree it was sad when I learned how easily guardians can be defeated, since the sense of fear/panic/emptying out the inventory disappeared. I never reload the game though, so me messing up = using like 3 shields in the process, which is fine.
 
It really doesn't save THAT often. You could also not load the auto-saves, but you would have to return to the main menu, which is a bit of a chore. I do hope that the hard mode dlc does something with the save system.

You know, as this conversation has progressed, I realize even if hard mode provides this, there is no way I can replay this game. One time has enough to satiate me.
 
I agree with op. It's almost like save states. I agree with the experimentation argument, I don't think it needs a punishment for dying. But it's very easy to abuse of this mechanic.
I see a guardian, save the game, try to parry his laser beam, reload if it didn't worked, do it ad infinitum, go to face next guardian. Suddenly all the fear of facing guardians is gone the reward for killing it doesn't matters anymore.
I don't even use Ancient Arros anymore.
A check point on each region would be fine.

It's a single player game, if you find that enjoyable then do it, it only affects your experience. No one gets a trophy for beating the game that way or otherwise.
 
No way. This game encourages you to try different things. Punishing you for failing so severely seems at odds with what it's trying to do. Despite the OHKOs and more deliberate combat, this game is not Dark Souls nor is it trying to convey the same feeling.
 
You know, as this conversation has progressed, I realize even if hard mode provides this, there is no way I can replay this game. One time has enough to satiate me.

Eh, it's understandable. There's also a story DLC so you could only just do that if you want to, or just ignore the DLC altogether..
 
Says the guy who doesn't know what saves cumming means.

...there's not some god damn merriam webster definition of "savescumming". The game effectively saves at intervals of 5 minutes or less across 5 different saves, which leads to a lot of zero-consequence deaths. Which is the underlying point of my original post, but I guess it's easier to argue semantics.

Edit: Whoops, quoted the wrong person.
 
I think the "Save Anywhere" system puts the emphasis back on exploration rather than careful battle engagement which is a good mix. In games with more limited saves the emphasis turns from exploration to making the shortest trip from your save to the boss location, which would make diversions more ignorable.
 
Seriously? Now we're complaining about the save system? It's fine because being able to save anywhere and the plentiful autosaves is on purpose to encourage to one of BOTW's most important goals.

To get you to experiment and try new things!


This. I'm super adventurous and daring cause I know the game isn't going to fuck me over and values my time
 
A more punishing save system would be great as an optional thing, like a survival mode or something, but I'm glad it is the way it is for the standard game.
 
If you don't like the save function, solve the problems the first time/don't die to avoid the frustration you'll feel when you load up a save that leaves you right where you left off.
 
This topic reminds me of when all sorts of people complained about Ni No Kuni's very easy mode as if options are a bad thing
 
Zelda can be punishing but it does so in a smart way. You have so many options at your fingertips that it helps promote exploring of the mechanics instead of playing it safe to avoid losing progress.
 
It doesn't always save your progress right where you save, and there are times when it'll prevent you from saving altogether. That said, with better checkpointing or more frequent auto-saves, I wouldn't mind doing away with the manual saves.
 
It doesn't always save your progress right where you save, and there are times when it'll prevent you from saving altogether. That said, with better checkpointing or more frequent auto-saves, I wouldn't mind doing away with the manual saves.

Yes it's worth pointing out that there are notable parts in the game where you cannot save anywhere.
 
What's the point in complaining about being able to save anywhere? If you really want more of a challenge impose those ridiculous restrictions on yourself.
 
Not everything needs to be Souls

It's fucking Zelda

Even Zelda 1 (the Zelda title this is said to take the most inspiration from) punished you for death, though.

What's the point in complaining about being able to save anywhere? If you really want more of a challenge impose those ridiculous restrictions on yourself.

Have we really reached the point where not being given godmode powers is "ridiculously restrictive"?
 
Even Zelda 1 (the Zelda title this is said to take the most inspiration from) punished you for death, though.



Have we really reached the point where not being given godmode powers is "ridiculously restrictive"?

it's a video game, being able to save anywhere especially on a handheld is more or less essential and hardly able to be considered "godmode powers"
 
Honestly, all these Zelda threads with changes people want to make to the game would take away from the amazing experience it provides. I'm glad some Gaffers are not in charge of such decisions.

Leave it to the actual game developers.

You ain't lying there. I don't mind this suggestion for a hard mode or something like that, but some of these suggestion floating around here would ruin the game.
 
I love the save system in this game. It works beautifully on-the-go and as someone with a wife, kids and a full time job, it allows me to play safer and waste less time. It's hard for me to play a 40+ hour long game anymore and this save system combined with the portability makes that easier on me. Keep it.
 
it's a video game, being able to save anywhere especially on a handheld is more or less essential and hardly able to be considered "godmode powers"

Being able to save anywhere - especially when the game autosaves constantly and reloads from your last autosave if you die - is definitely a god mode power, yes.

It's fine for Zelda to not be a truly difficult game - it is Zelda, of course, and it's meant to be accessible. But a game that basically doesn't make you repeat anything upon death can't ever really be challenging. So it's natural that people who want a more challenging game would hope for BotW to be more punishing that it is. (It is also true that, being an open-world game, you couldn't easily make it even as punishing as something like a Souls game, but I imagine there must be some middle ground.)
 
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