(Image source: Square Enix.)
Coming as I do from a PC gaming background, I’m used to saving wherever and whenever I like. If I feel the fan is not only about to get hit but completely smothered, I’m saving. If I’m about to take on a dastardly boss, I’m saving before the battle. If the bladder is about to burst and the game isn’t turn-based, I’m saving.
The reason I prefer to save and save often is I detest having to replay entire sections of a game. I play games for the challenge, true enough, but I also play games for fun. Going over the same old ground simply because I lacked the fallback of a recent savegame is definitely not fun for me. It’s especially tedious when there are no random elements to keep things fresh and unpredictable. Nothing sucks the fun out of the game quicker than the same combat encounters with the same foes for the same rewards.
I was rather unhappy when I discovered what Final Fantasy XII’s save system was like.
Crystal clear
FF12’s saving system involves Save Crystals, blue crystals scattered around the land of Ivalice. Touching one of these gives you the option of saving the game. There are altogether 50 savegame slots available to the player with each one taking up 94kb on a memory card. The game warns you to use a different savegame slot when you’re in one of the tougher zones — this is to meant to give you an easy way out in case your characters are too weak for the zone — but I’ve thus far found five savegame slots sufficient.
Aside from allowing the player to save the progress made so far, the Save Crystals also replenish health, magic points and revive fallen party members. That’s great since the player would otherwise have to consume expensive items or expend several minutes casting spells to recover.
What’s not so great is Save Crystals aren’t found everywhere. An entire hour of gameplay might pass before you find another one. Or it might be a few minutes away. This inconsistency means it’s better to play safe and immediately zero in on a Save Crystal whenever you spot one in a new zone.
To their credit, the designers were initially considerate about Save Crystal placement. For instance, there were Save Crystals to be found before the first two boss fights in the game. But I later played two multi-zone dungeons that almost had to be completed before players were given the opportunity to save and the third boss fight was preceded by a tough hour-long sequence with foes constantly spawning. It was extremely frustrating to battle for so long only to die when desperately close to the next save opportunity.
The other reason this type of saving system is aggravating is sometimes game sessions get curtailed prematurely. It may stun some designers to learn this but the world does not stop when players play games. Sometimes real world events occur that may require a player’s undivided attention. Without a save-anywhere scheme, players are left with no choice but to give up progress made, experience gained, items earned, etc. This, of course, means retreading the same old ground in the next game session, which, of course, sucks.
I’m sure FF12’s designers believed they were tacitly encouraging players to be thoughtful and careful during battles with this save system but personally, it’s an old school game element that should have died. It’s 2008; let me save whenever and wherever I like.
