Crystalbug

Man, Tetran warned about monsters that mimic crystals and he wasn’t kidding. This pisses me off. I don’t even like save points anyway. I don’t want to have to fight for them. I don’t understand why they can’t just not have save points/crystals. I’ve never liked them. It’s not a matter of challenge for me; it’s a matter of being able to save when and where I want.

I may be wrong but I always thought that it was easier for the programmers to place save spots in certain areas.

oh, come on guys..

the crystal bug is an easy fight… and you don’t have to fight for em all. I only fought one so far.

I’m not saying it’s not an easy fight — I just don’t like the concept of it.

And regarding the programming issue — maybe. But I’ve seen a lot of other games that let you save wherever and whenever you want. I don’t claim to really have much experience in programming games, though, so I’ll defer to anybody else here on whether it would really be that much more trouble.

actually.. i don’t think that the save crystals are because of a lack of programming expertise. Alot of games have a save anywhere you want thing goin.. but.. where’s the strategy in that?

Save right before swinging at the boss..oh i died.. ok.. go again. "oh darn"

With FF games and other games where you have to find a save crystal or aura or whatever you have to think.. crap.. boss is coming up probably. .. Am I prepared? Cause if not.. man.. that’ll be a long walk back here again.

Tactics

It’s not about strategy — it’s about not wanting to go somewhere not knowing how long it’s going to be until your next save and you’re running out of time because you have to do something else or some other reason…

If it’s about strategy / difficulty — then why not make save crystals optional?

you mean like have an option in the config menu that asks if you’d rather have save crystals or be able to save whenever? I’d still choose save crystals, they heal you to full HP & MP, which is why they’re so few and far between in the first place.

and about the crystalbug, there’s only one fight that’s extremely tough. in a later location (i won’t reveal), one almost killed my main party and took me over five minutes to beat. i had thought they were all easy…

I HATE it when im wandering around for 20 minutes in a huge area trying to find a save crystal, it REALLY sucks sometimes because the area maps are so big in this game, and not every area has a readily available save point. If i had a choice though, id still keep the crystals because they fully heal/ressurect, which is invaluable. I just wish they had some more of them, because even if there is one on the map, very often i find myself having to run across the entire map to get to it, which is annoying as hell if i have to stop playing for whatever reason..

Yeah, that’s exactly my point. If I have to stop playing, for whatever reason, then I want to be able to save. I don’t want to have hunt around for the nearest crystal.

You know, the save crystals in this game remind me eerily of the ones from the Tomb Raider series. I swear, if my memory is right, they look just like them. Now here’s something interesting — save crystals were used in the Playstation versions of some of the Tomb Raider games, but never in the PC versions. I wonder why that is and if that is related to programming issues with Playstation. But as has been said, there are plenty of other games that let you save anywhere.

P.S. — This bit about "save right before I swing at the boss" — so then disable saving during battles, or during boss battles. But don’t make us save only at Save Crystals (or Save Points, or Save Spheres, or whatever other system.)

I don’t really understand… a lot of people complain this game is too easy, and then the same people say we should be able to save anywhere…??

I hate the save-anywhere mentality and I’ve got 2 reasons.

1) When I play a save-anywhere game (like KOTOR which I loved except for this!) I save COMPULSIVELY. I think I spent about 1/2 the game watching the freaking save bar go up. This is because I’m an anxious gamer. With save points, I’m anxious/excited until I find a save point, then I am happy and relieved when I find one. I actually enjoy this, certainly more than I enjoy watching the bar go up over and over again.

2) I remember certain PC FPS’s were the first games with save anywhere. It was abused to a ridiculous extent. It was like, "ok, save before going into this room… oh, I got hit once, reload. Ok, killed two of ’em, ah but I wasted 2 extra shots of ammo, reload. Ok, good did it perfect that time, save again." It’s ridiculous to do this and takes you out of the game atmosphere.

You guys just don’t seem to be getting that there are times when you may need to save because you need to stop playing the game! And besides, most of the time, there’s a Save Crystal not long before a major boss anyway.

You guys just don’t seem to be getting that there are times when you may need to save because you need to stop playing the game! And besides, most of the time, there’s a Save Crystal not long before a major boss anyway.

I can’t think of a time when you are more than ~20 minutes away from a save point. If you have to go NOW, just turn off your game and when you start again, replay those last 20 minutes. It’s not that big of a deal.

But it should be the player’s choice. The player shouldn’t have to have that choice made for them.

I don’t really understand… a lot of people complain this game is too easy, and then the same people say we should be able to save anywhere…??

I hate the save-anywhere mentality and I’ve got 2 reasons.

1) When I play a save-anywhere game (like KOTOR which I loved except for this!) I save COMPULSIVELY. I think I spent about 1/2 the game watching the freaking save bar go up. This is because I’m an anxious gamer. With save points, I’m anxious/excited until I find a save point, then I am happy and relieved when I find one. I actually enjoy this, certainly more than I enjoy watching the bar go up over and over again.

2) I remember certain PC FPS’s were the first games with save anywhere. It was abused to a ridiculous extent. It was like, "ok, save before going into this room… oh, I got hit once, reload. Ok, killed two of ’em, ah but I wasted 2 extra shots of ammo, reload. Ok, good did it perfect that time, save again." It’s ridiculous to do this and takes you out of the game atmosphere.

Agreed. On both points. I’m a compulsive saver too, and when you can just load if you go somewhere you shouldn’t have (because I’m also compulsively curious) it takes some of the danger and difficulty out of the game.

Ok Ok, heres the ultimate solution to this problem, HAVE BOTH. Therefore if you have to save because of an emergency, then you can, and the save points will be in certain points, like boss fights for example, to restore your party to full.

I totally agree. Have both. Make it an option.

What’s wrong with replaying the last 10 minutes again because your house catches on fire and you have to run out of the house and couldn’t find a save point. Think of it like dying in the game.

Anyway if you don’t like the save point, then why did the buy the game. Why play a game that pisses you off? Go play FFVII, FFVIII and FFIX. At least you can save on the world map. I love chocolate… ooops.

Okay, we’re obviously going to have to agree to disagree on this. Some feel that saving is a privilege that has to be earned, others don’t.

Oh — and that second point is a lovely argument with just one very minor key flaw — disliking a *particular aspect* of the game doesn’t necessarily ruin the enjoyment of the entire game!!!

Just because someone has a disagreement about a part of the game shouldn’t prevent them from playing the game, Alvinz. Agent is merely stating the fact that he prefers one saving method over the next; hes not saying that he hates the game and that it pisses him off.

Yeah. Oh — and this argument about about the "last ten or twenty minutes" is a whole huge load of hogwash too. There are plenty of dungeons / areas where it can take longer than that to find a save point, particularly if you’re lost.