The penalty of having to repeat a long segment if you fail is an easy way to increase tension (it mechanically raises the stakes). I realized that with the Final Fantasy III DS remake. The final part is a really long segment with 2 dungeons, 5 boss battles before the final boss, and no save points in the way. Fortunately, the remake has quick-save (you can save in the dungeons, but loading erases the quick-save) so you can take a break (the original had no such luxury though). So the boss battles at the final dungeon were really tense because the stakes just kept getting higher after each victory.
FFIII also shows the downside of the system. The penalty of total loss is very punishing (Soulborne games at least lets you keep your items and give you the chance to recover your souls/blood echoes). A game not properly designed for such penalty (or just propense to crash at random times) is just an example of bad design.
FFIII also shows the downside of the system. The penalty of total loss is very punishing (Soulborne games at least lets you keep your items and give you the chance to recover your souls/blood echoes). A game not properly designed for such penalty (or just propense to crash at random times) is just an example of bad design.
Alien: Isolation is one of my favorite survival horror games. Still, I affectionately nickname it "Alien: Frustration"tippy2k2 said:I am enjoying Alien Isolation but man does this save system make the game more frustrating than it has to be for that same reason (you are required to go to certain rooms in order to save where they have these save points, there is no other way to save or if there is, the game has neglected to mention it).
I can get why game devs might think it's a good idea (Make death mean something or some other nonsense) but all it does is make me have to replay 20 minutes of a section because a Xenomorph showed up to turn me into a shish kabob.
I suppose when I was 12 this wasn't such a big deal when I had nothing better to do with my time but I no longer have the time or the patience to deal with this kind of thing now. I got shit to do game devs, stop wasting my time with this BS.