Saving - Turning the simplest things into something complex

Saving is something that I noticed recently that we've taken for granted. Sure it sucks when you can't find a save point or you have to go to an inn or something but it could be so much worse. Depending on the game saving could be like a JRPG where its only available in set locations or inside inns. Or it could be like a PC game where saves are available at anytime. Then theres the retarded fucking bullshit of console ports where saves are fucking autosave only and won't let you save. Everything is saved automatically to the account you logged in as. So the only way to save is to keep going until you reach a checkpoint and look for the spinny autosave shit at the bottom corner before quitting the game. Of course it warns you that quitting might lose all unsaved progress like an asshole. Like it'll make a difference? You never gave us a save button or option we have to guess if it really works or not.

Lets look at some games with bad saving system. Alice: Madness Returns have you create a profile and then log into that profile. After logging into the profile you can edit options, check unlocks and other shit. Even quitting the game requires you to select a profile too. Say you clicked your game and then realize oh shit I gotta go time to quit. NOPE THERES NO QUIT. You have to select a profile log in select quit then it asks if you wanna quit then you can quit. Sure its minor but its a simple fucking thing like quit to desktop. They shouldn't have you log in first to quit the game. How does this have to do with saving? Well you don't get to save ever. You have to keep an eye out for the autosave clock at the bottom right corner. I suppose its because it didn't want you to save after completing something minor like a jump or puzzle so if you die you have to start over. But what about safe areas? Why do we have to wait 10-20 minutes of content to get to an autosave?

The sad part is there are more console ports that do the same shit. Alan Wake does the same shit but at least the save points are more common. Now L.A Noire is the biggest pile of shit ever. Not only are the saves far from common it never tells you when it saves or not. So all you can do is hope that it saved and quit or wait until you finish your case and start a new one. Which could take anywhere from a hour to two. Fucking bullshit. Who decided to not include saving? What about the worst console port ever in the history of games, Fable 3? Not only is there no menu you have to go into your private room when you click the option button and then navigate the room to the wall where you enter another room to find a save mannequin. After talking to the mannequin you are able to save then you navigate out of the room. To another to quit the game. Fuck you.

Some games make it hard to save while others don't give you the option. What about games that save too much? Look at games like Kings Bounty or the Witcher. The games are good but they autosave way too much. By the time you actually save they already made ten separate copies of autosaves. By the time you're halfway through the game you already have 5 gigs of saves in your save folder. Eventually a patch was released to fix those problems but its still dumb as shit. You wouldn't need 100 copies of autosaves, why can't they be limited? At least they fixed it.

I never noticed how bad saving has become until now. It may be a simple and insignificant part of the game, but it shouldn't be overlooked. Its simple, its hard to mess up, yet a bunch of games do this. Even games that are good do this.