The Save Spot

First Thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII [ February 25th, 2010 ] Posted in » Xbox 360, game theory, gaming, lifestyle

Final Fantasy XIII is the first game I have ever preordered. And we can thank my wonderful fiancée for that. So I, like most of the gaming world, is looking forward to the March 9th release date. But what kind of gamer would I be if I wasn’t willing to share my uninformed well thought out views?

After playing Final Fantasy 12 and not liking it very much, I have been very interested to see the latest version of Final Fantasy, specifically around save spots and random encounters. Now unlike most people, I love random encounters. Sure it’s sometimes annoying and frustrating. But most of the time it reminds me of the old NES days of playing Dragon Warrior. Oh how I used to take my little character and walk him back and forth over the same 4 blocks to unleash Goldmen. But I digress.

But I recognize that a lot of people hated the random encounters. So over time those disappeared to make it more “realistic” and “believable.”

So here is my question – why do we get rid of random battles, but keep the same out-dated save point system? For the love of gaming, can we get rid of save spots?!

All of us here on The Save Spot love gaming, but we’ve grown to detest hunting for the next save spot. And while the Final Fantasy XIII guide tells me save spots will be “no more” than 10 minutes apart, in my world 10 minutes is a long time. Anyone who has kids know that within a 10 minute window any number of disasters can strike. Anyone in a relationship knows that within the next 10 minutes it may be time for “talking” (whatever that means!)

Save Spots used to not bother me, because I had hours and hours to game. Now when my gaming is measured by minutes, not hours, risking a 10 or 20 minute search for a save spot is likely to drive me do something else.

Maybe even read a book.

So please future versions of Final Fantasy if you’re going to take away my random encounters, please take away the save spot system! You did it with The Last Remnant. I have confidence you can do it for Final Fantasy.