How save-happy are you when playing Avernum?

[Fermata]

I tend to save after almost anything happens, to the point where it's verging on OCD. The game has a lot of ways to just randomly kill you, and I'd feel naked without a save within the last 5-10 minutes.

 

I also tend to save in a new slot for a new town/dungeon, which means I accumulated 100+ saves for Avernum 1 alone. I have occasionally gone into alternate history timelines, where I have one save seeing what happens if I kill everyone, in say, Silvar.

 

Is anyone else as screwed up as I am? Or I am just a freak?

[Rent-an-Ihrno]

What you describe is a very common phenomenon, especially with SpidWeb games. I also save before I talk to someone (so I'm able to check all the dialogue options and then go with the best one), before I attack someone/something, etc.

 

However, every party I create only gets 1 slot, and that's it. Saving in different slots really seems a little odd to me, and why the heck do you do that whenever you enter a town? What do you do towards the end of A1 or A2, when you have to run from one end of Avernum to the other, constantly passing through Almaria etc.? Poor hard drive! You should join the club of those who collect skulls and trash, maybe you'll feel less alone with them.

[Dikiyoba]

I usually only have one or two save files, but I save for everything. Before stealing something, before picking a door, before selling things, before entering a teleportal, before talking to someone, before reading a book, before looting an altar, before training, after training, after fighting a group of monsters, after doing some inventory management, etc.

 

Dikiyoba does not like redoing things. Or being stuck with a misclick.

[Fermata]

Originally Posted By: Rent-an-Ihrno

What you describe is a very common phenomenon, especially with SpidWeb games. I also save before I talk to someone (so I'm able to check all the dialogue options and then go with the best one), before I attack someone/something, etc.

However, every party I create only gets 1 slot, and that's it. Saving in different slots really seems a little odd to me, and why the heck do you do that whenever you enter a town? What do you do towards the end of A1 or A2, when you have to run from one end of Avernum to the other, constantly passing through Almaria etc.? Poor hard drive! You should join the club of those who collect skulls and trash, maybe you'll feel less alone with them.

Heh, sorry, I should clarify. I save under a different slot when entering a town/dungeon for the first time. So before entering Dungeon X, I'll have Save 43, but Dungeon X will have its own Save 44. I guess I'm paranoid that I won't be able to leave or something (this has actually happened a couple of times, so I feel somewhat justified).

And while I don't collect skulls or trash, I do have a morbid fascination with collecting Cursed items. In Avernum 1, I had probably 30+ cursed items right outside the door of Leith's place in Blosk (which was my main storage area).

[Kelandon]

I do save as much as everybody else here, and I tend to have a few dozen different save files. I create a new file every time I do something I'm not sure about (entering an area that I'm not sure how to get out of, for instance).

[Toby-Linn]

That's what I liked about Avernum 4 and 5, was that you had different save slots. I think I made it to 9 different saves for each of them, especially when entering an area I wasn't sure I'd be able to leave.

 

For all avernums, I usually save every 10 minutes or after/before every fight, and especially before entering those random dungeons that pop up encounters that some sort of horrible monster wants to fight with you.

 

You know, the dungeons that you can't actually enter, you just see the door in the cave wall?

 

For the Avernum 1-3 I just save over the same file over and over again. So only one save file per game.

[Xaiya]

I usually have three, maybe four saves per run.

 

I have my "main" save. I then have a save which I have for entering dungeons/evil dude fort/etc. I have a save after that for certain circumstances.

 

In the later games (where you kill main boss and win) I have an "endgame" save.

 

Edit - I also save basically as frequently, maybe even more, than Dikiyoba. I save a lot.

[John S]

I stopped paying attention while I was clearing out a dungeon, and then a few seconds later I suddenly found that I had been saving every step. I put a stop to that. Now I save when I do something significant or suspect I'll have to reload.

[Callie]

I only use one savefile, unless I've decided to go townkilling or something like that. The frequency at which I save depends on where I am. If I'm bringing about the end to the slime plague I probably save only twice, while I saved it every minute or two in Rentar-Ihrno's fortress.

[Alorael at Large]

Like Iffy, I generally have one main "safe" file and a handful of save files used for my party when it's in hazardous circumstances. I'll periodically switch to new files or slots and just keep the old ones around, just in case.

 

—Alorael, who has noticed that his habit of saving constantly can be problematic. Sometimes by the time he notices his huge error, he's already saved again. Five times.

[Fermata]

Originally Posted By: Kingsbureau

Like Iffy, I generally have one main "safe" file and a handful of save files used for my party when it's in hazardous circumstances. I'll periodically switch to new files or slots and just keep the old ones around, just in case.

—Alorael, who has noticed that his habit of saving constantly can be problematic. Sometimes by the time he notices his huge error, he's already saved again. Five times.

I guess I'm similar, except the hazardous circumstances save is always in a new slot, and then the next "safe" save is also in a new slot. Also, after a massive round of level-ups and skill training --> new slot.

[The Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I don't play Avernum much, but in BoE and A3 (when I do play it) I tend to save in the same way as Fermata. In BoE, when I'm playing scenarios with a lot of plot branching, I'll make more hazard saves than I do in a more linear scenario.

[Tyranicus]

I'm the same way as Iffy and Alorael for the most part.

[nikki.]

I'm like Alorael in that if I make a mistake, it's too late, I've already wiped over it.

 

I only ever have one slot, except for BoA, where I have three save files, I think. During A1-3 and BoA, I play with my left hand practically resting on the "control" and "s" keys, and saving is subconscious. I'd say it's probably after every minute or so. I hate having to do even part of a dungeon again, and in fact, when I have had to, I've just not played the game. It's the reason I've not replayed A2 for so long.

 

In GF and the newer Avernum games, it's less often, but I only really use the Quicksave and Autosave slots. For my last GF3 run, I didn't use a normal save slot. If I do, it's rare.

[Zeviz]

I save before anything that could have a negative impact (even trying to pick a lock), and make a new save most times I make an irreversible decision (allocating skill points, completing a quest, clearing a dungeon, etc.) These saves are named in order (because there is no other logical way to name them), sometimes adding a position in the name when I think the change is too minor for a new number. So I end up with dozens of saves for every game with names like "g1c4b12f".

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba

I save for everything. Before stealing something, before picking a door, before selling things, before entering a teleportal, before talking to someone, before reading a book, before looting an altar, before training, after training, after fighting a group of monsters, after doing some inventory management, etc.

Dikiyoba does not like redoing things. Or being stuck with a misclick.

That about sums it up for me. However, sometimes after I save, I then get so involved that I usually don't bother to save again for about an hour. When this happens, and I find I have to redo at least 90% of what I've done up to that point, I've been known to use language that makes "swearing like a sailor" look tame.

Originally Posted By: Today is Now

Alorael, who has noticed that his habit of saving constantly can be problematic. Sometimes by the time he notices his huge error, he's already saved again. Five times.

Been there. Sucks, doesn't it? Once when I did this, I then discovered I'd made the game unwinnable.

[Maledictis]

About 70% of the time, my left hand is on ctrl+S. 20%, it's moving to loading. And I have been known to save in up to 30 different files, just because I end up saving a different file so I can relive any remotely eventful happening. And I never even bother to do that. Ever.

[Brock The Archmage]

wow. You guys save a lot. I keep one save file, and save in it after each dungeon, and frequently anywhere else. I don't mind redoing dungeons, but that's only happened to me once, in A1 with Grah-Hoth, I didn't train enough. I usually am very high level for the point in the game I am at. Imagine a level 15 group taking out the bandit fort in A1. Uh-Huh.

[Dikiyoba]

What do you do for those 15 levels then?

 

Dikiyoba.

[Gargoyle2500]

I may save before some certain moments in the game (Just before fighting a tough enemy, going into a dungeon I don't know, etc) But I don't save my game much.

[Ghaldring]

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba

I usually only have one or two save files, but I save for everything. Before stealing something, before picking a door, before selling things, before entering a teleportal, before talking to someone, before reading a book, before looting an altar, before training, after training, after fighting a group of monsters, after doing some inventory management, etc.

Dikiyoba does not like redoing things. Or being stuck with a misclick.

Pathetic, just pathetic. Don't you take any risks? Making mistakes, and then dealing with them, makes a game more realistic, engaging, challenging and enjoyable. Excessive use of Power Word: Reload comes close to being cheese.

[Tre'zar]

I usually save a lot as well, just in case I make a big mistake, but I do sometimes try to deal with my mistakes if I make any.