Lets talk about SAVES

You know, I used to love the save anywhere idea. But later I realized it just made games too easy. I'd feel little to no accomplisment by making a tough jump in a game and then saving immediately afterwards knowing I wouldn't have to do it again. I'm a much bigger fan of the checkpoint idea. I like trying to fight my way through a level and make it to a checkpoint without taking too serious of damage. Obviously if the checkpoints are few and far between, then that's no good. But, there are some games that spread out their checkpoints appropriately that made it challenging but not frustrating.


I can't stand games like Socom where you have to play an entire level before saving. I thought Socom was overall a good game, but that was one thing I just hated. I'd play a level for 30 mins and then get ambushed and would have to start back from the beginning. I really think they should've implemented checkpoints as it seems just crazy to expect a player to have to go back through the beginning and complete all the tasks.

The save issue is a tough one that lots of developers wrestle with. I thought GR was insanely difficult...until I found out you could save anywhere in a level. Truthfully, I didn't think that it made the game any easier, it just let me learn more about maps/levels and not get killed 40 times in a row because I couldn't find the person sniping me.


I'm like some others here...I've stopped playing Splinter Cell only because I'm sick of having to play 10 minutes of a map only to get "caught" at the same place over and over. It's just annoying, and playing the same part over and over is NOT making me any better at the game.


Some games use save points as part of their scoring system, such as Silent Hill. I find this pretty silly as well...who in the world is going to play a 20+ hour game straight through without EVER saving? Makes no sense.


Oh well...


-Juice

Quote:
This certainly a challenging section. Sneaking in is easy, taking out the guard in the booth is easy.. taking out the dog and the next guard requires luck or a FAQ...


VII.2 Infiltrating the Embassy (SC-VII.2)


New Goal

Follow the truck into the embassy grounds from the warehouse


Go across the rooftop and pick up the medical kit and ammo for

the pistol. Walk across the walkway and go to the stovepipe. Rappel

down the side of the building. At the bottom, turn left and shoot out

the light above the dumpster. Load an airfoil and wait for the gaurd

to come around the corner. When he comes, fire it at him and run up

to finish him off. Leave the body in a dark spot. Move into the next

corner and face the street. When the patrolling guard moves away,

shoot out the light across the street with the sniper scope. Fire a

sticky camera at the wooden wall and watch the guard. When he comes

and walks away again, sneak across the street to the darkness. Climb

the ladder to the scaffolding and move forward quietly. Jump onto the

next ladder on the building and jump onto the next level of the

scaffolding. Move into the window on the left.


Move through the room and load a sticky shocker. Wait in the

corner near the open doorway with your gun out. Shoot the guard that

comes into sight. Hide the body in the building in darkness. Jump

onto the boxes outside and grab the zip line above you. Drop off the

awning and move right and into the first alley on the left. Grab the

bottle and move to the left corner. When the guard comes, throw the

bottle near the window to your right. When he comes to investigate,

sneak up and grab him. Knock him out and leave him in the corner. Go

through the alleyway and move to the next area. Hide behind the van

and wait for the guard to walk away and come back. When he is walking

to the left, sneak up and grab him. Pull him behind the van and knock

him out. If the guard came to investigate, avoid him and sneak up

when you have the chance. If not, continue to where he is, staying

in the shadows. When he is looking away, sneak up and grab him. Hide

the body in the shadows somewhere where no one will bump into him.


Go across the street while keeping your right shoulder to the

right wall. Go through the open gate and continue to the first truck.

Crouch down and hide under it. When the truck pulls away from the

gate and the guard in the office moves away, sneak out to left side.

Fire a diversion camera at the far wall. Make noise until the guard

comes to investigate. Gas him and exit the camera view. Load a sticky

shocker and wait for the other guard to come around the corner. Take

him out and hide under the truck again. Load an airfoil round and

wait for the guard to the right walks away. Shoot him with the

airfoil and grab him. Hide the body in the dark. Continue around the

corner, but take out the dog first. Continue down the driveway, and

sneak down into the stream. Come back up on the other side and head

left. Sneak up behind the bushes and take out the laser Mic. Use it

on the upper left window until the conversation ends.


New Goal

Trail Kong Feirong to his car and laser mic it to intercept his

conversation


Wait for the limo to pull up and Feirong to enter it. When it

pulls up to the gatehouse, use the laser mic to get the rest of the

conversation. Record it all and put away the laser mic.



The FAQ is more complicated than is has to be, but it took me many tries to get just lucky enough to take out the dog (airfoil I think) without the second guard seeing me and shooting me. I'd recommend the FAQ method instead of playing the section over and over.

Mostly I prefer checkpoint saves... otherwise I end up saving way too often and have to delete some saved games. Like in Jedi Knight II for XBox, I kept saving way too often and then I hit the 50 saved game limit mark. So I had to go through and tediously (poor interface) delete saved games later so I could keep saving in the future. Checkpoint saves are nice because they're no brainer however...


Sometimes they bite me. For instance on Crimson Skies one of the earlier levels after dogfighting some planes they have you fly into a small cave and destroy a base and a boat. Well after the planes, I was near dead and then when I flew into the cave it checkpointed me almost dead. Needless to say, in that small cave I kept bouncing off the walls ruining the little bit of health I had left. It took me a while to pass that level just because I kept flying into the walls.


So I think checkpoint saves can be good or bad. It'd be nice if a game saved your last 3 checkpoints so you could restore from a previous checkpoint. Kind of a combination of types.