One would think right? I mean, if the OP had a sound argument, you would think in all this time there would be even a shred of evidence to support their position that this system would lead to major game design imbalances. /shrug
It doesn't have to be a "major game design imbalance" to warrant a change, just an undesirable element for a developer. The developers at Firaxis Games, for example, did not attempt to limit the effectiveness of save-scumming in XCOM EU because it was a "major game design imbalance", they did it because the behavior was counter to the vision they had for their game.
Because most developers consider someone reloading saves to be conscience decision to avoid the outcome that was given. That is, a sane developer would see save scumming as nothing different than hex editing.
I am curious how you know what most developers consider? And are you implying that the developers at Firaxis Games are "insane" because they attempted to limit the effectiveness of save-scumming in XCOM EU?
Of course, what is undesirable behavior or what creates an imbalance worth addressing will differ from one developer to the next. All one can do is bring it to the attention of the developers (and then spend umpteen pages dealing with criticism and personal attacks from people who fail to understand that very simple concept).
All a sane developer can do is develop the game to be played as they intended within the scope of internal play. Worrying about what happens outside of that is not a rational argument, especially when it concerns games.
See above.
Something to consider: I just pointed out in a recent bug thread that candles sell for quite a bit of gold, and asked if that was working as intended (as a lot of candles are available for looting in the tutorial).
Should I have brought that to the developers attention in the first place? Going by the flawed logic many have argued here, the answer would appear to be "no", since it is up to each individual to gather those candles from the environment or not, and one person making ~1000 gold in the tutorial does not in any way impact anyone else since this is a single player game.
Someone else might argue that those candles make a visit to the tutorial feel required rather than optional, or cite concern that all that extra gold impacts the difficulty of early gameplay. None of that is all that dissimilar to the option of save-scumming in front of key containers to trivialize the RNG design and obtain better rewards, in the sense that they are both optional, their impact on the game is debatable, this is not an MMO where your method of play has an impact on mind, any fix can be worked around with the editor, blah blah blah excuse excuse excuse.
Which is an INTERNAL game issue. That is, a person can play the game within its intended goals (ie collecting things to sell) and the balance can be upset by the fact that candles are selling for too much. That means, an unsuspecting person can imbalance their game simply by playing it as intended.
Save scumming is not an intentional approach. Only a flipping idiot would think that saving and reloading in excess is a "normal and intended part of game play". So... those who do it KNOW they are cooking the books, giving themselves an advantage, etc...
I disagree. For the sake of this example, let's assume the candle prices are unintended. When you go to sell a stack of them and see the oddly large amount of gold you're being offered.. that whole
"if it seems too good to be true" adage should be coming to mind. And, following that, if you continue to remove candles from the environment with the intention to sell them, you are taking what you call "an intentional approach". There are no unsuspecting victims here at that point.
It is not all that different from save scumming. You can be genuinely surprised that the loot in a chest has changed the first time you come across this phenomenon. The act of causing this may be completely unintended, and the result even undesired. Your philosophy about being a victim can apply here as well. And, like with the candles, once you realize what the deal is, you can make a choice to abuse it.
But that doesn't mean the game should allow it. I don't care if people are hex-editing.. there's a lot more involved in that then reloading a saved game, and I don't expect the developers to try and thwart every method of cheating - but I do hope they go after the easier ones if they consider them a cheat to begin with. By your logic, the developers should ignore all cheats and exploits since anyone can fire up a hex editor and cheat away. What's the point in plugging any loophole, right? Sorry, but I strongly disagree with your thinking here.
If you are going to demand they be barred from such, then why not those who die attempting battles? Seriously, if you are going to complain about people reloading over and over for better loot, what about those who do such in order to beat an encounter? Shouldn't we restrict them from such? You are so concerned about balance, shouldn't you be concerned about this? If not, then aren't you being "selective" in what you consider abuse through save/reloads?
If the developers want to implement a hardcore mode and give players the option of using it, more power to them. And some games do limit the amount of saving you can do surrounding battles because that is the developer's idea of good gameplay. Obviously the vision differs from one developer to the next.
In the end it doesn't matter. If it looks like it might not belong in the game - raise the issue during the beta and let the developers sort it out. They're the most qualified to determine what belongs in their game or not. Opinions and debates on the impact on gameplay are fine, but arguments from the peanut gallery criticizing that the issue was raised in the first place are just stupid and unhelpful.
It does matter. What matters though is that you can't seem to segregate INTERNAL game influences from EXTERNAL ones. I refuse to believe you are that ignorant and obtuse. I think your arrogance in the promotion of your own position is what causes you to ignore the issues in these discussions and it is why you consistently clash with many on this forum.
Does it matter? Does it really matter if you believe any of that? I don't care what you believe about me, so why do you? I see you the same way as you see me in this respect and you can be certain I'm not losing any sleep over it. I don't create threads like this to attract approval from other players. I create threads like this because I want the game to be better and I genuinely believe the suggestion being offered may help with that.
Better to just agree to disagree and save yourself the stress, I think.
