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[SF Kosmo]

It's up to the game designer. Some games are made to be save scummed some games are designed around check points.

In an emulator it's pretty much cheating because those games weren't designed that way, though admittedly kind of a necessary evil with password based games because fuck you Golvellius: Valley of Doom.

 

[bbeach123]

I saved every 15 seconds in bethesda game .

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Fun is completely subjective so I don’t really care how people get their fun from games providing they aren’t cheating on multiplayer.

Save scumming is fine, it’s hurts nobody and if that’s how someone wants to enjoy the game then fine. I do it occasionally on games where I don’t want to repeat an hours worth of progress.

 

[Graciaus]

I am an adult without unlimited time. I'll save scum if I want to.

 

[Nautilus]

Never really understood why people have issues with it. If it really was a concern that the devs had regarding the design of the game, they would remove it, as many games do. Otherwise, is a feauture of the game to be used much like any other in game ability.

Its just saving.There is no "scum" in it.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Save scummer here. I think I beat Skyrim with about 600 saves! lol. I didnt come close to beating Fallout 4 but pretty sure I was at 300-400 when I quit.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

You forgot: I save all the time because I check the doors 5 times before I leave the house.

 

[Laptop1991]

I save constantly in mostly Bethesda games TES, Fallout's, Dishonored etc, and any game that lets me for various reason's, crashes, choosing the wrong choice or a decision i later regret in story lines and i use mods, so it's a good thing for me, i don't want a save corrupted and have to re do hundred's of hours of gameplay like in Skyrim and there was just a patch released for the black screen save problem in the new Anniversary Edition that i did experience as well. and having different types of saves is a good thing too, quick, auto and manual.

 

[AJUMP23]

It is part of the games systems, and I use it without even caring what some one thinks.

 

[borborygmus]

It's a major flaw that the developer has offloaded onto players and disguised as standard functionality or a quality-of-life feature. It's impossible to figure out what a good balance is when you can just save/load at any time as you don't know what's coming next. The true underrated genius feature of the Souls series is the autosave system and I'd argue any game would be better if it had no manual save system and was balanced for soft death systems with respawning.

Games like Dishonored or Divinity: Original Sin are unplayable without save scumming. When I played them, I gave them a free pass because it felt like the save scumming was my fault, but it's a lose-lose situation because you have an incentive to just die and get a game over and reload if things don't go your way, so you might as well save scum. If something bad happened that I wished I could redo, what incentive would I have to win the next fight when losing would allow me to redo it? And indeed, loading screens advise to "save often" and it's implied that it's your fault for not having saved if you lost a lot of progress.

The ability to save scum spares the developers from having to design viable gameplay flows and it permeates every aspect of a game in a bad way. I have reached a point where I'll actively avoid a game that is built around a save-anywhere system unless if there are mitigations in place (e.g. in some RPGs, you can go several hours before finding out if a decision was optimal, at which point it's too late to reload).

 

[Aion002]

I like the Dark Souls type of save: everything you do is automatically saved.

Otherwise, I don't really care... Unless the game has a bad checkpoint system, then saving might be a regular thing to me.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I entered gaming during the era of the save point. I imagine the answer towards your preference is determined a lot by the type of games you play, and when you started playing them. Old school motherfuckers had their lives/continues and passwords, I started during the save point Renaissance, and then there's the new fangled save anywhere/checkpoints/auto saves. They all have their place, but for me I save more for security in what I've just done than for the potential of future ruin. If I've just completed four sidequests, beaten a boss, etc, I'll save.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

If I'm playing something in an emulator and it's a long game like a JRPG, I'll only hard-save when I've made big progress and taken care of any events afterwards tied to it. However, I'll admit to save-state scumming (as in, reloading a save state) only if I get really bad RNG with random encounters that suddenly kill party members out of nowhere. Older JRPGs are particularly nasty about that type of stuff but I often don't need to do it 98% of the time when exploring or in dungeons.

For other types of games? No. Again, if there's a specific section with horrible RNG outside of my control I might throw down a save (or if playing an emulator, save state) but otherwise I only use saves after completing the mission/level/event whatever. Save-scumming and savestate-scumming just generally involves too much micromanagement when I'm just trying to enjoy playing the game (and goodness forbid you screw up and overwrite a save you didn't want to overwrite).

 

[fart town usa]

Who gives a rip?

People going against save scumming just seems like pretentious gatekeeping.

And to be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure what save scumming is? lol. I assume it's just saving all the time or using save states. What people do when they're playing games has no impact on me whatsoever, not sure why people would feel the need to critique those who save scum.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

Depends on the game for me. If it’s an open world game or long RPG, yeah I’ll save scum a lot because I rather not have to redo a lot of stuff/cover a large distance if I forgot to save and then die.

If it’s any other type of game then I don’t bother really

 

[fart town usa]

The amount of time I spend thinking about how other people play games is none. I save when I think I need to. my only goal in saving is to not lose progress.

this.

Well said.

 

[nkarafo]

Save scumming in PC Dark Souls is the Dark Souls of save scumming.

Yes, you can do it on PC. I used to backup the save before a boss so i won't have to travel all the way back to him after i die.

 

[HellforLeather]

For some games its practically a must to get any kind of enjoyment out of them. Dishonored immediately comes to mind. Trying to perform high-precision feats with loose ass controls (on consoles at least) means you must save scum or you will hate the shit out of these games.

 

[Neff]

I like the tension of potential failure. I like it when my choices matter, good and bad. Both of which kind of evaporate when you scum your way through a game.

If others want to do it though, let them I say.

 

[Davey Cakes]

If the game has a save exploit then I'll probably use it to some degree. Depends on the amount of risk. I do enjoy putting something on the line, but I also enjoy the convenience of not losing progress.

I specifically remember using the quicksave/quickload in Half-Life 2 back in the day. I hated wasting ammo.

I will not use save states though. It has to be a save system within the game itself.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

The amount of time I spend thinking about how other people play games is none. I save when I think I need to. my only goal in saving is to not lose progress.

Pretty much. Play the game however you want. Freedom is great.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Games are meant to be fun. I have tons of fun re-playing hard segments and trying different ways to defeat them. I often totally "beat" an area but still reset to my save to give it another shot to try to outdo myself.

You can't "cheat" a single player game. They exist for you and you alone to have whatever you find the most fun.

Devs who purposefully design around having bad/no quality of life features for some concept of it being "cheating" are a bunch of twats. Let me get badass and then do a re-play w/ no saving if I CHOOSE TO do that.

I simply don't buy games that are purposefully un-fun (or only have some singular concept of what should/shouldn't be done in a game as far as progress saving goes). It'd be like buying a car that purposefully just has the breaks stop working since you should know how to use your e-brake.

 

[Soodanim]

QOL purposes hits the nail on the head for me, even if my saving habits vary from game to game. If it's fixed saves, I'll save at every opportunity. If it's a game with quick saves, I'll save whenever I feel like I could be in trouble. If it's between saving and reloading now or not saving and having to do the same section again just to get back to that same spot, I'm going to save myself the time and effort. Especially if wonky mechanics have any chance of getting involved.

Emulators and the rewind function save a lot of hassle. If it's between my limited time on this earth and the sanctity of game/player integrity in an entertainment product, I know which I'll choose every time.

 

[Fbh]

I've always seen it the same as game that have OP abilities or builds.
It's sort of like "if the game openly supports something, there's nothing wrong with using it". Which goes tied to "if using something the game openly supports undermines the challenge to such a point it ruins the game, then it's at least to some extent a badly designed game".

 

[Hinedorf]

Video games are meant to be fun not prove your fucking digital peen to others. The fact there is even a term for "save scumming" immediately notates those who take video games way too seriously and those who just have a hobby.

 

[ANDS]

. . .hell, I've save scummed in games that didn't have it well set up (for example, save scumming at the entrance to a boss room in Dark Souls, save scumming if I didn't geta good drop in Dragon's Dogma, etc). For games with flexible save systems, absolutely - especially as a tool to see as many outcomes as possible in a game. None of these developers is looking over my shoulder while I play, why should they care?

 

[Jigsaah]

Dark Souls has save scumming built into the game...only thing is that it's to prevent you from correcting a mistake you made. Dropped that +10 Zweihander infused with a heavy gem and then your game crashes....haha, suck for you, bitch. This is Dark Souls!

 

[Nobody_Important]

As a big Crusader Kings 3 fan I basically have to save before high risk gambles or else my entire playthrough can go to shit. I also save scum in that game before the births of my children so that I don't end up with a heir that has bad traits because they are inbred.

 

[justiceiro]

If developers don't want me to save scummy, they wouldn't let me have infinite saves.

Besides, save file corruption is a bigger concern for me than doing perfect runs.

 

[Fare thee well]

I'd like to add that I feel like save scumming is a younger generational complaint. Maybe that's from watching twitch gamers? I don't remember anyone complaining about it. I also don't remember so much hate over cheat codes too. Cheat codes were like the fun stuff you messed around with after you'd done everything with the game. Cheat codes for, say, Duke Nukem, Age of Empires, etc.

 

[darth.shrimp]

There's a reason Power Word: Reload was considered the strongest spell in the Baldur's Gate series...

 

[*Nightwing]

Are there actually people in this world with so little to care about themselves they give a fuck how other people play video games!?!

It’s taking too long for the polar caps to melt to have polar bears chasing these fuckers around to keep them busy…. Time to clone the t-rexes and inject survival of the fittest back into humanity for fucktards to let people play games how they want to

 

[joedan]

At my age I don't have time/patience to replay problematic sections of games. This is in respect to old school games that I play via emulators. Can't sit around all day and play Batman NES to completion anymore repeatedly dying.

 

[Tschumi]

.Pennywise here's some data for your quest.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Depends on the game.

Lots of games have dedicated save points or checkpoints which I use as they turn up.

Is it a Bethesda game? I save before every conversation or major event because it's not uncommon for things to have different effects than intended.

 

[On Demand]

You should see what I do with a USB playing TLOU2 on grounded and permadeath.

 

[lachesis]

Yes. When I play Dragon Quest or Yakuza, I save scum at the casino to make money.
Also, I tend to have multiple saves - for those important story branches in multi-ending games.

So.. yeah. I do it to save time, basically.

 

[Edgelord79]

I have grave concerns about how others play games. It keeps me up at night.