Save Limitation Mechanics

[Zizka]

Which game out there have limitations when it comes to saving?

Resident Evil: typewriters and ink ribbons
King’s Field: Saving crystals
Hitman: limited saves per mission
Kingdom Come Deliverance: sleeping to save and drinking Savior Schnapps
Jagged Alliance: Iron Man
Alien: Isolation (save delay)
Fallout 4: survival (save when you sleep)
Shadowrun (save when you sleep)

…

I’d like to complete this list as I don’t like games where you can save anywhere (except for a suspended save). This can include mods which only allow saving under certain conditions.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Dragons Dogma has a single save + checkpoint system. Do you also want games that use only checkpoints and no direct "at-your-current-place" saves?

 

[Zizka]

No checkpoints. Just at your current place. If you die, you need to load that save.

 

[Nutmeg]

Every single Roguelike (suspend and erase on continue) and game in the arcade format (no saves at all).

EDIT: I see now in your OP you said suspends don't count

 

[Lemming42]

Soldier of Fortune allowed you to choose to have limited saves per level.

Tomb Raider on PS1 had save crystals, which were a useable item. Pretty cool in concept since you first have to locate a crystal and then choose wisely when to deploy it. (EDIT: Or were crystals as an item only the case in TR3? Either way, the first three games all had save crystals in some form) In practice it's just annoying and less convenient than the PC's save-anywhere system IMO.

I'm playing Horizon: Zero Dawn right now and you can only save at campfires. It's a massive pain in the cock that adds nothing to the game, in this case.

EDIT: Daikatana also had some weird save crystal system, I'm sure of it. It got patched into a selectable option rather than a requirement.

 

[Zizka]

Suspended save is ok (it deletes your temporary save when you load the game).

Those are good examples, Lemming42, I'll add them in.

 

[Norfleet]

You could try playing Stalker Go. Stalker Go is hardcore, there are no saves, and when you die in Ukraine, you die in real life!

 

[Butter]

Wizardry 1-3 + 5 only allow you to save outside the dungeon.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul lets you have one regular save and one backup save. You can only back up your game in a sanctuary. You can manually save anywhere, but this save is automatically overwritten when you enter combat and when one of your characters dies.

 

[Viata]

I like to save anywhere since I don't have as much free time as I used to have. I do prefer suspended saves, though, which I believe you mean "save and when you load, the save is deleted". Not being able to save when I want because I don't have time to play anymore is horrible.

 

[Modron]

Which game out there have limitations when it comes to saving?

Resident Evil: typewriters and ink ribbons
King’s Field: Saving crystals
Hitman: limited saves per mission
Kingdom Come Deliverance: sleeping to save and drinking Savior Schnapps
Jagged Alliance: Iron Man
…

I’d like to complete this list as I don’t like games where you can save anywhere (except for a suspended save). This can include mods which only allow saving under certain conditions.

Silver, you can only use each save point once.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Almost every modern game has checkpoints and limited savepoints. Also every console game.
It's faster to count the games that let you save when you want.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Alien vs Predator (1999) had some system where you could only save a certain amount of times in a level, but I think they removed that in later versions.

Alien: Isolation has save stations with a few limitations, like how you can't save with enemies nearby, and you have to wait out the cooldown timer if you wanted to use that save station again. Those were the default attributes, IIRC higher difficulties imposed further penalties.

But otherwise Nifft Batufft is correct; the number of games with 'free saves' are a minority now.

 

[Zizka]

I’m not looking for games with checkpoints:

No checkpoints. Just at your current place. If you die, you need to load that save.

That’s exactly what I’m looking for:

Alien: Isolation has save stations with a few limitations, like how you can't save with enemies nearby, and you have to wait out the cooldown timer if you wanted to use that save station again. Those were the default attributes, IIRC higher difficulties imposed further penalties.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Fallout 4's survival mode surprisingly enough does this. You can only save when you sleep in a bed and get a long rest iirc.

--
There's a conflation between saving a game(effectively creating a snapshot of the world in that point in time you can return to) and suspending the game(temporarily pausing the world until you continue.) The technical mechanics may be the same, but the game mechanics for it are different. Anytime savegame limitations are brought up, people always rant about the latter when nobody is even discussing it.

The game keeping a constantly updated autosave(e.g., From games do this) in case of crash/power loss/etc., is also related to the latter. These don't serve the same purpose as a true save game system.

 

[Zizka]

Yes, the idea is to lose progress when you die (like in Fallout 4) and find save spots as opposed to save anywhere. I actually thought of Fallout 4 after. Just like in Resident Evil. You save at the typewriter. In Shadowrun (SNES), you save by sleeping in your bed (like in Fallout 4). No quick saving.

*does not apply to suspended saves

 

[Zlaja]

Kingdom Come Deliverance: sleeping to save and drinking Savior Schnapps

I liked the way KCD handled saving in general, but they kind of fucked up by making it so easy to get many Saviour Schnapps by brewing them with alchemy. If I remember correctly the recipe for Saviour Schnapps is available to you from the get go (you don't need to spend a lot if money to buy it or even find it) and the ingredients are not rare. Stupid!

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

A lot of games in the PSX-PS2 era only allowed you to save between missions. Off the top of my head I remember that Armored Core, TimeSplitters and the James Bond games released then did that. This owed more to save file limitations than anything else. Also, flight sims and space sims.
I think a lot of survival horror games did this in the wake of Resident Evil. Martian Gothic: Unification is one I know for certain.

 

[mondblut]

Saving is for weak. Real gamers play a game in one go, and if they die, they never touch that game again.

 

[Catacombs]

Real gamers play a game in one go, and if they die, they never touch that game again.

Roguelikes

 

[Norfleet]

Fallout 4's survival mode surprisingly enough does this. You can only save when you sleep in a bed and get a long rest iirc.

Apparently this results in you having to roleplay as a narcoleptic because the game is far too unstable to allow it to go unsaved for very long without crashing.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Fallout 4's survival mode surprisingly enough does this. You can only save when you sleep in a bed and get a long rest iirc.

Apparently this results in you having to roleplay as a narcoleptic because the game is far too unstable to allow it to go unsaved for very long without crashing.

Going to guess there's probably a rolling autosave mod you could grab if anyone actually wanted to play FO4.

 

[DraQ]

Wizardry 8 has optional ironman mode.
Ori and The Blind Forests has mechanics where you can expend resource to save almost anywhere (and with some character advancement option even reuse created checkpoint).

 

[Zizka]

What does the Ironman mode entail? Only saving a certain places?

 

[Viata]

If you die, the saved data is deleted.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Ironman doesn't fit what OP is asking for afaict.

I'm not sure who even plays ironman modes in games not designed around it. I'd rather they work on a mode that is a continuous state rather than one that blows up if you die.