Skyrim: to reload a save or ...

[Demix]

First time actually posting in these forums so hello everyone!

Anyway I love playing Skyrim as I'm sure many of you do but I recently restarted my game.
I only got to level 15 and didn't get all that far but there is one thing I was considering doing just to change things up. In Oblivion I almost always reloaded saves when situations didn't go in my favor, It was a fun challenge but now that I'm playing Skyrim I'm wondering if I should simply let events happen as they should.

I got into a brawl and accidentally punched a woman watching us, I reloaded but I have to wonder what if I went to jail? what if I broke out and lived my Skyrim life as an outlaw? Spend some time in jail and get out with a psychotic hatred for guards?

So what do you do? Do you reload saves for your preferred end to a quest, or do you let it play out and live with the twists the game throws your way?

 

[Demix]

First time actually posting in these forums so hello everyone!

Anyway I love playing Skyrim as I'm sure many of you do but I recently restarted my game.
I only got to level 15 and didn't get all that far but there is one thing I was considering doing just to change things up. In Oblivion I almost always reloaded saves when situations didn't go in my favor, It was a fun challenge but now that I'm playing Skyrim I'm wondering if I should simply let events happen as they should.

I got into a brawl and accidentally punched a woman watching us, I reloaded but I have to wonder what if I went to jail? what if I broke out and lived my Skyrim life as an outlaw? Spend some time in jail and get out with a psychotic hatred for guards?

So what do you do? Do you reload saves for your preferred end to a quest, or do you let it play out and live with the twists the game throws your way?

 

[Abedeus]

If I do something really dumb like, dunno, fire accidental fireball because I pressed Fireball instead of Healing (1 and 2 on my quick select), I would reload.

But other than that, nah. During Dark Brotherhood missions, I pretty much killed people in public by casting Fury on them, then making guards kill them instead. And legged it, because I didn't want to pay 40g fine.

LIKE A MUDCRAB.

 

[rebel7254]

I confess to reloading. It can be kind of lame, I admit. Like when considering to snipe someone from afar walking down the road and I can't tell for sure if it is a bad guy or not, I'll just save beforehand and if it ends up not being a bad guy, I relead.

 

[HassEsser]

My F7 key is worn because of how much I quick load in games. It definitely destroys immersion, and the sense of scale of a games evolving world (such as Skyrim), so maybe if you want a bit more of a challenge, avoid reloading, I plan on doing that on my third, or fourth playthrough, just to see what happens.

 

[DEAD34345]

I'm of pretty much the same opinion as you. I think it would be cool to never reload, and to have to live with my mistakes, but when something goes wrong the option to reload is right there, and in the end it's always impossible for me to resist. I was also going to completely avoid fast-travel, but that didn't last long either. During the (admittedly short) time when I did stick to not reloading saves and not fast travelling the game was even more fun, but now that I have given into the temptation to do it once I feel like it's pointless to go back.

I might have to make another save and try to stick to it on that one...

 

[basm321]

In my hexagon of friends I am know as "Theguywhocanneverstickwithonecharacterandalwaysrerollstotryeveryoneout".

Now that is sort of just a side note, what I would do in that situation is reload because you didn't fail something or kill someone because of your own doing/mistake/skill. I try to think of in real life terms

If the game world was tangible reality, would you (your character, who is you, and you are him but he is you but.....sorry got a bit derailed) have really punched her on

Let us start over....

If the game world was tangible reality, would you (your character) have really punched her by accident or was it simply because you do not have an ABSOLUTE 100% control over the actions in game.


You see, if I get caught by someone chasing me because I am out of breath (stamina) then I would let things continue, if I get caught due to running into a fence BECAUSE YOU CAN'T F**KING JUMP WHILE SPRINTING then I would reload.

I hope I explained well enough......

 

[basm321]

If I do something really dumb like, dunno, fire accidental fireball because I pressed Fireball instead of Healing (1 and 2 on my quick select), I would reload.

But other than that, nah. During Dark Brotherhood missions, I pretty much killed people in public by casting Fury on them, then making guards kill them instead. And legged it, because I didn't want to pay 40g fine.

LIKE A MUDCRAB.

Well...... that is a shorter way of saying what I said..... I'm can never explain things in a nutshell... especially a pistachio shell... things are so damn tiny.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Just be glad you actually can reload. In morrowind you had to stick with your decisions no matter how bad they were cos it took 3 days to reload.

 

[Syphous]

I reload constantly. Every little thing I do wrong (usually by accident or by poor dialogue choice) makes me think "No, I can fix that by pressing start and {A} a couple of times."

Maybe you consider it cheating.. but it's the way I've always played games. Especially RPG's. Probably started with Baldur's Gate (F5 ftw).

 

[Wintermoot]

I ended up restarting because I was a stage 4 vampire.

 

[hazabaza1]

I only reload when I die. Not being able to control everything adds to the flair.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Yep, if things don't go how I'd like, and I know there's a better option, I'll definitely reload.

But not if I'd have to make up too much ground. I decided like five hours after I married someone that I might want to marry someone else, but it just wasn't worth replaying those five hours, which included at least two dragons and a ***** of a dungeon where I got some really awesome dwarven armor way earlier than probably I should have.

 

[Grunt_Man11]

I plan on playing Skyrim like I play Oblivion.

Only reload for two reasons.

1) I die, and hence don't have a choice.
2) Mess up really, really badly to the point where it cripples my ability to complete quests. For example, accidentally kill someone and end up with a large bounty that causes guards to kill me on sight because of it.

 

[DirgeNovak]

I reload a lot, but sometimes I decide to go with my mistakes. And games really come alive when I do.

I still miss my horse, though.

 

[weker]

First time actually posting in these forums so hello everyone!

Anyway I love playing Skyrim as I'm sure many of you do but I recently restarted my game.
I only got to level 15 and didn't get all that far but there is one thing I was considering doing just to change things up. In Oblivion I almost always reloaded saves when situations didn't go in my favor, It was a fun challenge but now that I'm playing Skyrim I'm wondering if I should simply let events happen as they should.

I got into a brawl and accidentally punched a woman watching us, I reloaded but I have to wonder what if I went to jail? what if I broke out and lived my Skyrim life as an outlaw? Spend some time in jail and get out with a psychotic hatred for guards?

So what do you do? Do you reload saves for your preferred end to a quest, or do you let it play out and live with the twists the game throws your way?

It's a more effective experience if you hold back on the quick load button, however it's hard to not want to win in many of these situations.

 

[franconbean]

Personally I only ever reload if I come across a game breaking bug or if i accidentally kill my companion in a battle (this happens quite often and is annoying).
Take too many liberties with the quickload button and it quickly turns into abuse (which can ruin the game a bit).

 

[Adellebella]

I reload a lot, but sometimes I decide to go with my mistakes. And games really come alive when I do.

I still miss my horse, though.

All of what Kakulukia said...Oh, Bill, you were a good chubby pony...None of those Forsworn survived my wrath..

I tend to F5 very often. As a stealth character in both Thieves and D. Brotherhood Guild, I'll F5 before my kill/steal, and if things go awry and I can't fix it, I'll reload. What can I say, I like getting the bonus.

With that said, I've done better with dealing with the fuck-ups. I actually let myself have a bounty, paid it off, then took my stolen items back!

 

[Demix]

I plan on playing Skyrim like I play Oblivion.

Only reload for two reasons.

1) I die, and hence don't have a choice.
2) Mess up really, really badly to the point where it cripples my ability to complete quests. For example, accidentally kill someone and end up with a large bounty that causes guards to kill me on sight because of it.

I think that's where I'd like to be, but as others have said using the reload option is a slippery slope.