Single File games

[smogfog]

Ok, now tell me why I need more than one save file?

I always played with one save file, being it Quake 2, Max Payne 2, Vice City, Morrowind, HL, Deus Ex... I'm never playing with, you know, tree style - save, make this decision, make new save, load old save, decide otherwise... - no, I always keep only one chain of events, saving in relatively peaceful locations only, or before quit. Multiple save files confuses me because I can't remember which one is last one. I never cared about ranks and achievements. Closer to end of the first playthrough any game annoys me so much, that I'm not going to play it again, no matter how great it was.

[Salamander]

Even though I don't have siblings who want to share my games, I do agree that multiple save files are a courtesy. Quite often I've wanted to go back to older games to replay them from the start, and it's annoying in a kind of pack-rat way if that means that I have to delete everything I once achieved in the past. Even if I'll never use it again, wiping that data is kind of offensive to me. With Pokemon I do agree that it has to be kind of a marketing ploy; having only one save file is another form of encouragement to buy both versions, although I can't imagine that many individual people actually own both versions themselves (unless you count the inevitable third version (and the fifth gen sequels) as another version, which I don't really, they're usually different enough, but that's a different and probably quite subjective matter). I'd be very interested to see some facts and figures about the file size of save files in different games and the extent to which it's possible for them to interfere with space for the rest of the game - but certainly I've never seen any. Perhaps because, if it was better-known, there'd be no excuses for not having multiple save files in more games? Although various companies could probably still argue that the approach was partly cultural, as I gather is argued with the question of how and where you can save in different games.

[Thrippa]

Strictly speaking, pokemon does have 2 save files; if the 'visible' one is corrupted it will notify you and reload the backup (as long as it isn't also corrupted). I've run into this exactly once. So that's helpful, but it doesn't fix the main problem,which as other people said is that you cannot replay the actual story without deleting all your accomplishments. Sometimes I'd just like to play the story again or run a new-hatched team up through the gyms the way I did the original team - WITHOUT losing all the end-game goodies I worked so hard to earn. But yes, I think that is at least partly a marketing decision, as it is exactly the reason I have all the games in pairs. (Including a US and UK version of Platinum, although I no longer have Pearl.)

As far as sharing with siblings, my brother only just gave me back my copy of Mario 3D land, and I see that my niece also finished the game while he had it - I think 3 is a reasonable number of files for a handheld chip.

[Salamander]

Three seems to be about the average I've noticed on Nintendo handhelds. That or one. (Based on the very scientific method of "games I remember off the top of my head.") But different games should have different requirements. I remember that Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin had about five files, but there were four different sets of playable characters so you needed at least that many.

[JezMM]

I've never understood why 3 is the standard for Nintendo. The biggest offender was the way they reduced the save slots from 6 to 3 Mario Galaxy 2. The Wii is a family console, three isn't enough for a family!

Edited November 28, 2012 by JezMM

[Semi-colon e]

Pokemon continues to annoy me with it. In stuff like Platinum or White it's like "hmm, I'll never replay the story again unless I want to lose my fucking insane hours of hard work".

On the other hand, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has like 20 save files. And I used them all up and deleted them all - and am like 1/3 of the way through to filling them up again. I love it too much.

Oh and in SOTN you can also not overwrite the previous save file as well, which means you can duplicate save files essentially.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Ruby CUL Terumi]

WHY do I have to go into my Steam directory, COPY my Sonic Generations save file and PASTE it somewhere else, JUST so I can play a new game WITHOUT removing my old one?

[Dobkeratops]

Y'know, it's been a while since I played a game with a single save feature. Even for those with an automatically created/updated save I can simply manually tell the console to create a new file and it'll move onto that.

The only recent exception that comes to mind right now is the Souls games, where it's a necessity to prevent savescumming.

[Sarah Jane Smith]

Limited save files are unacceptable in this day and age where nearly every gaming platform has expandable memory (memory cards for consoles, hard drive/usb for PCs).

I should be able to make as many saves as I want in any game I buy. If you're saving to a memory card, then let me use all the slots if I so choose.

[BakingBluePotatoe]

for me and my brother, it doesn't matter how many damn files the game has- he still deletes them all anyway! In the past, anyways... I don't share them anymore because of that.

WHY do I have to go into my Steam directory, COPY my Sonic Generations save file and PASTE it somewhere else, JUST so I can play a new game WITHOUT removing my old one?

Really? Makes me glad I have the 360 version and a flashdrive- I have the internal memory, harddrive, AND flashdrive! though my flashdrive has copied files...

Why the FUCK haven't Pokemon games been given more than one save by now? It's been one of the biggest complaints since the very fucking start.

And you know what's worse? Event pokemon get erased along with your save file. That is horseshit to the highest degree, and why I never bother with event Pokemon anymore. R.I.P. Deoxys.

It's fucking bullshit and I hate it.

If anything, they should AT LEAST find a way to keep the event stuff saved seperatly so that you can have them even if you delete your old file.

Edited November 28, 2012 by BakingBluePotatoe