Baldur's Gate 3 Lounge has been moved to Baldur's Gate 3 Band!
Start a new discussion now on Baldur's Gate 3 Band!
https://band.us/band/82921036
mmm
daddy chill
What percentage of people who play revert to save when things don’t go their way?
Hi, I’m Vale. Welcome to my ted talk.
Starting off, I love this game. I played D&D before I was aware of this series of games. It wasn’t even on my radar until a friend was mumbling something about dungeon and dragons shit on his steam store page. Having previously searched dnd on steam before and only finding content creation tools, I instantly didn’t believe him. I load the homepage and behold the first time I layed eyes on the game. Instantly bought it and dove right in.
Just from the tutorial I could tell I was finally playing the game I dreamed of all these years. I love the setting, I love the mechanics, I love the graphics, I loved the beginning of the story. Even character creation is satisfying and the amount of options was staggering. Once it leaves Early Access and we get our hands on those juicy other classes/races or even the premade characters. I don’t think I’ll ever let this game out from between my teeth.
With that being said, I have read multiple times on Twitter, Reddit, & YouTube that there is a subset of people who F5 before doing anything and F8 any time they don’t pass the roll. I’ve come to learn the term “Save Scumming” because of it. Now this habit exists outside of Baldurs Gate 3. Fallout 3 comes to mind with their conversation speech checks or even the hacking. You see something that has frustrated you before, so you make sure to drop down a save incase you get fully locked out of the path you would like to take. Honestly we’ve all done it without trying because that is basically the checkpoint system in any game.
I believe these subtle nuances between the types of failure bring light to which ones are more vital to the player. When the game drops a checkpoint before a challenge and you succeed, you never have to load back to that save. Some people don’t even realize that it even happens. Now you face same challenge all over again but this time things are not as fortunate, it’s cool because we get to try over and over again and hear that speech of how the boss is going to kick your ass for the 72nd time. But in this same scenario, save dropped before the challenge, you face the challenge and you don’t succeed. Instead of putting you back at the checkpoint allowing for repeat attempts, this time the challenge spares you and allows you to continue along the level. This is where the save scumming comes in. Some people given the chance will load back to this checkpoint on their own accord even if the game allows them to continue. After all... Why not? Nothing is lost other than time.
I personally don’t do it because it makes my chars feel unique in their failures, but I believe most people that do this are in the mindset of “I paid for this entertainment and I want to get the most out of it”. It’s the not missing out on content that is more important to the player rather than hitting a skill wall where the level becomes to difficult and impassable. The thought of a missed out greater information/power generally would make any one feel some type of way. Now I’ve been playing the game blind. I’ve refused to look up guides and give it a go from a fresh perspective. I’ve made3 different characters all different races and classes just to get a feel for the difference. I’ll have to say the amount of times I would miss one thing on one char and then get it on the next was a lot more than I expected. More often than not I would find myself going back on those other chars to get the stuff I missed. It made me really think how different the characters I’ve created are because I didn’t know about it with fresh eyes.
Before you guys pull out your torches and sharpen your pitchforks, hear me out. I know the second part of the phrase “Save scumming” is a negative, but what if we called it something else. For this example I’m going to use “Save Manipulation”, it’s not exactly a positive but it isn’t entirely a negative. After all manipulation is how you play the game, just through different buttons. So with “Save Manipulation” now placed in the middle ground, to all that believe is a negative, is it really all that bad? It is a game that is based on RNG(Random Number Generation) and in a game where numbers are king of course you would want to do everything in your power to place those numbers on your side. Now to the ones who believe there is nothing wrong with it. You have to a give a little admission that there is a certain amount of gaining the system involved and it’s certainly not how the developers intend for the game to be played. It’s almost on the same playing field as a glitch. “But it’s in the game so why not use it”
A great example is some of the Portal 1 speed run videos. Glitchless vs glitch allowed. The sheer amount of time difference is significant. But also the amount of effort put in could be argued that they are nearly identical. The inverse could be said about this game in the fact that you are putting your most precious commodity of time on the line. For a chance for some pixels that please you more than the vacant ones. The fact that the people that don’t do any save Manipulation save that precious time by just taking the games actions at face value, give completely different experiences with the game. Now I know what you’re thinking, and it’s unfair to lump the people with better gaming rigs in with the lesser. The fact that load times take less than 30 seconds on the better rigs or something along those lines. You are still gaining the system... Again I have nothing against it. You can still have a character that has only had successful rolls because of it and there’s nothing stopping you. I just urge the people who always save manipulate to dedicate a save file to a campaign where you don’t save manipulate once. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised of how different things may go.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on this matter and if it really matters as some people make it out to be. If you could rename save scumming what would you call it? Drop your thoughts in the comment section and let me know what you think of the game!
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk and making it this far!
-Vale
+8 
Hmm..
Why are there only 3 posts in this Lounge? I thought Baldur's Gate 3 is gaining popularity these days. Maybe Moot should try harder and somehow embed Moot button into the game and there will be more people joining (I guess).
Well, I still appreciate that this Lounge came to being. We should do better Mooties!! Let's help make this Lounge survive and thrive!!!
There was a community update today in Baldur's Gate!
here is a link for the detail!
To see directly use the steam website
https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1086940/view/2896336186753128622
To see Larian Studios's reaction go see their Twitter!
https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1316117863221137408?s=20
Baldur's Gate 3 review
https://www.ign.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-review
ign review
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-everything-we-know/
Pcgamer review
so far looks like an interesting game hope the dev can keep it up
I am the first in this Lounge!!!
HaHa!