Mr.Tea said:
I'd understand if it was a forced checkpoint system that sucked, but it isn't. Checkpoints are the older design philosophy, BTW.
What you're saying, though, is "For some reason, I can't be bothered to press one little button to safeguard my progress in this game and the whole thing sucks for not doing it for me. Wait no, the game not only sucks, but I'll abandon playing through it entirely for making me lose my progress even though I'm free to save whenever I want."
The thing is, it could just be your opinion that autosaves are better, like mine is that I prefer complete freedom, but swearing off an entire game for letting you save???
I cannot get over how goddamn preposterously petty a complaint that is to fault an entire game... If that's all it takes to "break your immersion" and make you "think too much about the meta game" then you must not have enjoyed a single game ever... Shame.
More to the effect of "Whilst playing, I don't think about pressing one little button 'cause I'm too busy trying to enjoy the game and pressing other little buttons, so when something unexpected happens there is no safeguard. If I want to start auto-saving frequently, I have to stop enjoying and thinking about the game and actively think of saving the whole time whilst playing to make sure I remember to. Sorry if I don't find that enjoyable.
As for it being autosaves or manual saves, I prefer the modern system. Both. Autosaves occur at set intervals so you don't lose all your progress if something unexpected happens before you remembered to save, yet you're free to save any time you wish. Whilst checkpoint saving may be the older system, having only one system is a thing of the past.
Its not that the game lets you save, no-one in their right mind would complain about that. Its that the game doesn't provide a safety net for you to enjoy yourself with. I could understand if there were a setting, or a difficulty level that turned it off so you could play "Hardcore" having to think about saving or risk losing everything, but if you just want to jump in and enjoy the game without thinking too much about it, the design choice is stupid.
I've enjoyed plenty of games, despite dying countless times, crashing countless more times, or being called away in the middle of something important online where I can't pause. In each of those games, I've always been saved by the game, who decided that saving 15 minutes ago was a good move, or when I exited that building before entering into a crowd of enemies might have been a good time to save. If a game doesn't want me to enjoy it, I won't, and that's the air Dishonoured gives off with that laziness. It doesn't want me to enjoy the game, it wants me to think about how I should be saving instead.
I'm sure the game is probably good and enjoyable - hell, that's why I never think of autosaving; I'm too caught up in the game - but if its going to force me to lose all my progress for enjoying it, fuck playing it. There's no point.