funkisland expatriates

Desperately Seeking Savepoints

Since about Christmas I've been playing a certain video game. It is the most recent game in a large franchise of fantasy adventure games. One where adventurers travel around a made up world, fighting monsters and doing adventurous things. Every once in a while the adventurers come upon a place where their health is restored and they have the option to save their game. Those places are of great solace to adventurers.
In the past, when I have had more time to spend, and more importantly had larger continuous chunks of time to spend adventuring, these save points seemed convenient and plentiful. Of course, that is no longer the case. I tend to spend one or two 30 to 60 minute chunks of time on games, which in some cases are not long enough to find the next save point. The save points have now become base camps that I do small exploratory missions from, and rather than being a fall back point for the worst case scenarios. The adventuring has gone from a single push alpine style to an everest style expedition.
I don't like having to run back through several map sections to get back to the save point just because supper is ready, but I should look at the bright side. This style of exploration allows the characters to become acclimatised to the difficulty of a certain area by going through the easier portions several times. Rather than just level grinding for grinding's sake. And really, I think I end up healthier by eating supper when supper is ready.

posted by bitz @ 9:29 AM