How much do you save in a game?

[led-naruto]

I know there are a lot of different ways to overwrite a game file, so don't take it too seriously, it's just for entertainment.

[Mirr0rR3flection]

Everytime I'm done doing something important.

[HammerGalladeBro]

Everytime I do something important (i.e. defeat a boss, catch a legendary/shiny Pokémon, beat a very hard stage, etc.)

[Mako]

If the game doesn't save automatically I end up doing it much more often than I need to.

Of course, I am glad some games don't have auto save. Like Pokemon for example. Could you imagine if it saved after you failed catching a legendary Pokemon, or lost at the last trainer in the elite 4? lol

[the_nintendo_screw]

It depends how the saves are set up in the game. In Zelda OoT, everytime I would exit from the menu I would save my game. It was easy to do since it only took a few button clicks and the time to save the game was pretty fast. So in games that have a save system like this, I chose to vote for the "save/second/save" option. However, in games where there are points set up in the game to save, like the bird statues in Skyward Sword, I would save less frequently. In Majora's Mask I save the game even less frequently than in games that have save points because of the obvious reason that time resets.

[MoldyClay]

It depends on the game and how saves work. It also depends on other factors.

For example, today I was playing Eternal Sonata and it kept crashing on me for some reason, so I began saving constantly, even if I didn't do much, just so I lost -no- progress.

Ocarina of Time on N64, I would save every time I left the menu. OoT3D, I saved only when I was done playing.

Pokemon I save at major points (before an important fight, before and after a legendary, during the Elite 4, after catching a few things or getting something important).

RE5/6 are automatic, but RE4 I saved at every typewriter. Earlier RE games depended. When I first played them, I would save as often as possible within reason (thinking ahead, due to ink ribbons). On replays it got less and less, only when necessary. Sometimes I just wouldn't save at all through the whole game unless I had to stop.

Majora's Mask I only saved when I went back in time. I think I've only done the mid-save like 4 times in my life.

Xenoblade I save if I did a bunch of stuff or enter a new area. Not that I need to worry about it, since you just pop back up and keep going, but I still like saving about as much as I would if there were normal save points.

So it varies on a game-to-game basis.

If a game has save points, I will save at all of them. If a game has you save manually from a menu, I will save whenever I think it's a good time to do so. If it saves automatically, I obviously do nothing.

[CM30]

Every time I do something important, at least where I can choose when to save (like in Zelda or Pokemon). So whenever I beat a dungeon or get past a tricky room, mini boss or boss in the former, or before and after catching rare Pokemon in the latter I save the game.

As well as whenever I beat a gym or the elite four of course.

In games with save states though, I have a tendency to spam them to death, probably out of paranoid fear I'll screw up something. Probably need to stop using so many save states and rewinds when playing a game in an emulator.

[ddddd]

I have very few games where the saving is automatic, but on the ones its not... Only in my first walkthrough though:

Metroid Prime, I remember saving right before Omega Pirate... only to go to his room, scan him, and go back to save again (still before fighting him)
This was because earlier I didnt find the first save station in Phazon mines, and I got killed before I could get to the second one. So I got a little paranoid then.

In Eternal Darkness, similar situation. Amazingly, I got killed in the first level and I didnt know I had to do manual saves. Once again, because of that and other careless deaths, I got paranoid and saved frantically (I'd save right after getting a spell power, and again after upgrading all spells mere minutes after)

[bellboy]

Depends on the game, difficulty etc. Like say I'm about to face a difficult portion and I'm preparing I'd likely save constantly till I take the plunge. But generally manually save often as I can.
But I've gotten so used to auto-saves now it's a killer when I go back to games that don't have it as sometimes I'll do something stupid and not realise my folly untill I'm having re-tread half an hour's worth of work.
EDIT:

Majora's Mask I only saved when I went back in time. I think I've only done the mid-save like 4 times in my life.

Hear hear!I love that game so much I often never save as much as I used to. I'd make the most out of the 3 days. (You'd be surprised how much you can get done in that time when you know what you're doing) I just played it again recently. Bought on VC which I'm glad I did. Looks more natural than it did on the Collector's Edition but I digress.
I'm in a routine now where everytime I go to the new area I can knock out most of it within the time frame. I.e, Enter and beat Woodfall Temple within the day, get the Spin Attack upgrade, get the Mask of Scents and the Witch's target minigame and then using the extra time to get started on Snowhead so I can be ready to enter the temple on a new cycle*.
My time away from it showed however. I nearly died at Odolwa and I hadn't picked up a fairy which is super-embarassing to admit and of course I couldn't have saved without losing my stuff. (To be fair I'd never used the Classic Controller on that game before (that button placement, man) and I ran out of arrows, wuss kept blocking...)

*Gotta get that Gilded Sword ASAP, right?

[MoldyClay]

Majora's Mask I only saved when I went back in time. I think I've only done the mid-save like 4 times in my life.

Hear hear!I love that game so much I often never save as much as I used to. I'd make the most out of the 3 days. (You'd be surprised how much you can get done in that time when you know what you're doing) I just played it again recently. Bought on VC which I'm glad I did. Looks more natural than it did on the Collector's Edition but I digress.
I'm in a routine now where everytime I go to the new area I can knock out most of it within the time frame. I.e, Enter and beat Woodfall Temple within the day, get the Spin Attack upgrade, get the Mask of Scents and the Witch's target minigame and then using the extra time to get started on Snowhead so I can be ready to enter the temple on a new cycle*.
My time away from it showed however. I nearly died at Odolwa and I hadn't picked up a fairy which is super-embarassing to admit and of course I couldn't have saved without losing my stuff. (To be fair I'd never used the Classic Controller on that game before (that button placement, man) and I ran out of arrows, wuss kept blocking...)

*Gotta get that Gilded Sword ASAP, right?

This is my life in MM replays.

I literally try to do as much crap as possible in the 3 days. This includes finishing all kinds of crap in Clock Town before even setting out on an adventure, as well as making sure I have all possible items and upgrades as soon as possible. I believe there are also times where I would try to knock out as many things as I could *while* waiting for the Gilded Sword. New 3-days, Song of Inverted Time, grab Rupees, buy a Powder Keg, immediately warp to Snowhead, kill Goht, Goron Race, Razor Sword. Then I'd fly off to a town and do any non-combat related sidequests, such as everything at Romani Ranch, picking up Razor Sword/giving it back so I can get Gilded Sword, getting the Zora Mask/doing Great Bay stuff and then doing the Milk Bar stuff that evening. Then on the final day I have my Gilded Sword, run off to Great Bay and complete the Pirate Fortress.

That game taught me to appreciate time management in games (like Pikmin, Dead Rising, etc) and whatever. Such a great game, and so cool that it can essentially be played in any way you want to with the lack of complete linearity.

[Carbondog]

For me I usually save often just because I have had days where I was playing hours and hours without saving just to have a power outage or run into that one enemy that takes you out with one or two hits just to end up where I started. Nothing worse than having that happen!

[MoldyClay]

For me I usually save often just because I have had days where I was playing hours and hours without saving just to have a power outage or run into that one enemy that takes you out with one or two hits just to end up where I started. Nothing worse than having that happen!

The worst part is when it is something you can't do anything about.

I hadn't played F-ZERO GX in years, popped it in one day a year ago to play. Can't progress in the story because I need to 'buy' the next chapter or whatever the hell that nonsense was. Was doing really well in a race and the power went out for 3 days. Discouraged me and haven't played since again.

[GiriOni]

I have a very bad history with games, I live in a place where 2 feet + of snow might occur at any moment and knock out power, or any other combination of bad weather. So I don't think I need to say that most games have me saving every other second, and games with save points give me super intense anxiety.

[Jirachi]

I save all the time because to me saving has nothing to do with difficulty it just allows games to be longer.

[MegaMan64]

It depends on the game. Like KH:DDD, of course i would save every time i was able to. But for games like Uncharted 3 which autosaves, for some reason i just save after that autosave. IDK why. It must be a bad habit.

[thresholdXCI]

As a few others have said it really depends on the game. I'm saving a lot in Dishonored at the moment just so if I end up making a terrible mistake by going a certain way I can pick and choose where I can go back to to try something else.

Pokemon was one I was really bad for forgetting to save. Just because when you die you don't lose any progress and on portables there was never much risk of a random power cut. So I'd only save on quitting. There were a few times when I'd go to the pokemon centre before finishing and, on my kind of gamer auto-pilot, just turn the game off as soon as that dialogue finished before remembering to save. Many hours lost doing that.

[GentlmanSoup]

I think i need to rethink what I call important in a game... I almost save after every enemy in games like Xenoblade. But thats more because it's so incredibly easy! That said, i would love more dark souls/ZombiU save-styles. Forcing me to accept the errors and learn from them!

[GeneticRepoMan]

I voted every time I remember .

I recently played through Mass Effect 3 on PS3, which is a VERY glitchy game, unfortunately I didn't remember to save all the time, but I think that was mostly due to the auto save back up which usually saved right before it hard froze.

But then in some games like Xenoblade I saved all the time because it was so easy and convenient.

In games like RPGs I do try to save often though, those are the worst types of games to go a long time without saving and then losing your progress.

[HammerGalladeBro]

It's really frustating when you do a lot of progress and then, you turn off the system without saving, I'd like if the game remembered me to save, like Tails in Sonic Chronicles, and I'm wondering, are there more games that remind you to save?

[Zanreo]

For games with save points, I save every time I come across one.

For games where you can save when you want, like Pokémon, I save after I do something inportant... or before (like before fighting a legendary Pokémon, if I fail I just turn off without saving and try again)

For autosaves, well the game does it for me of course.

It really depends on the game, but for games where you have to save yourself I generally save a lot. (Also I tend to abuse save states quite a bit when using emulators... ehehe)

[SebaZava]

I guess I'm a little... obsessive, when it comes to saving. So yeah, every time I do something important. Or sometimes every time I do... something. It depends on the game, I guess. But when it comes to games with save points, I always use them.