[Bad Memory] Nailed by auto-save

[DeusExNoctis]

Despite my praising the virtues of the original Wasteland savegame mechanic in another thread, I was severely burned by it once that I recall.

I forget specifically where I was... I'm thinking maybe the underground moat in the Temple of Blood area beneath Needles. Wherever it may have been, I got myself into some water and got swept away by the current. By itself, that sucked. However, what made it worse, is that I got sucked OUT of the area I was in, and then out INTO the Colorado River on the main map.

Two problems here:
1) Either the river had a very high Swimming requirement, or my party had a low Swimming skill. Either way, I ended up getting carried down the river quite a ways, all the while taking massive amounts of damage from drowning.

2) Because I entered a new area, the game auto-saved. Yep. Auto saved right at the point where I was being swept uncontrollably down the river.

I ended up having to quit/restart/watch my party drown over and over for probably close to an hour, before I finally managed to get a break and made it to the main body of water to the south where I could swim easily, WITHOUT having one or more of my party mortally wounded.

Yeesh.

[RangerBen]

quit/restart/watch my party drown over and over for probably close to an hour, before I finally managed to get a break and made it to the main body of water to the south where I could swim easily, WITHOUT having one or more of my party mortally wounded.

Wow, that exact same thing happened to me, too. I think we could probably get a whole page of "me too" replies on that one. Talk about a killer booby trap! Those WL designers had a mean streak!

[Atomkilla]

^

Me too.

The auto-save pretty much burned (burns) me. Getting trapped in the current, or trade gone wrong are few examples...
Besides of that, I have an annoying habit of saving game every time I talk/kill/find/open/loot/go to someone or something - with Wasteland, this grew to become an even greater issue because of auto-save - instead of just saving, now I'm making back-up saves every few minutes, because I'm afraid that I'll go wrong somewhere, and then the auto-save will punish me for it.
Sure, it's an annoying habit and a personal issue mostly, but auto-saving really gives me trouble sometimes.

[Sxerks]

I recall that happening to me too, but I think I later remembered to flip the 5 1/4 floppy door open real quick so that it didn't save.

[Quarex]

Same thing happened to me--more than once, in fact, and every time I did it again, I smacked myself in the head (and generally rebooted, since I was playing on a hard drive even back when I first got the game in 1990 and would not have been able to just open the disk drive door).

The most memorable nailing-by-auto-save moment of my life, which I honestly still think about more often than you would think, was when I first found Darwin Village. As you might imagine, I walked across the desert, during the day, so I had no idea there was a radioactive field (look, I was a young kid and did not know what a Geiger counter sounded like), and I was jumped by a horde of base policemen and noticed of course that not only were all of my characters radiated, but at least one of them was in SERious condition, and I had so little money (and so little clue where everything was) that by the time I found a doctor I realized I could not even afford to save more than one member of my party.

An unavoidable total-party-kill seems pretty unthinkable by today's standards, and honestly I do not want Wasteland 2 to have things like that in it, but it is an amazing memory of gaming past.

[God Emperor Charles]

Friends,

Yes, I also remember getting swept away in the river. I did it a few times for fun just to get a characters swimming up. Like hitting the dunes to get climbing and acrobatics up. But my big NBAS moment came the first time I finished the game. I got everyone re-assembled after setting the reactor at Base Cochise to go critical, and COULDN'T FIND MY WAY OUT!!!! I forgot which way the door was and ran around inside for too long. I was outside but NOT FAR ENOUGH AWAY when the base went bye-bye. My entire team got wiped out. I did NOT make that mistake again. I made another crew and got them out safely. Then I made another set of discs and used the original supplied characters just for fun. I would switch back and forth between them after finishing each game. Ah, the memories of my youth.

[JRC6502]

As you might imagine, I walked across the desert, during the day, so I had no idea there was a radioactive field ... An unavoidable total-party-kill seems pretty unthinkable by today's standards, and honestly I do not want Wasteland 2 to have things like that in it, but it is an amazing memory of gaming past.

You know the game takes place post-nuclear-holocaust, the game gives you a chance to obtain a geiger counter, the game gives you a way to check your party's status at any moment, and yet you call it an unavoidable total-party kill? Just be more cautious next time around.

[Drool]

I forget specifically where I was... I'm thinking maybe the underground moat in the Temple of Blood area beneath Needles. Wherever it may have been, I got myself into some water and got swept away by the current.

Vegas sewers. Yeah, that was a nightmare. I was so happy when I figured out a rope would work.

The worst save event for me was the first time my party got wiped out. Not surprisingly, it was pretty early on in my first play-through. I'd just scraped through the Ag center, and was exploring, so I went north and into the Citadel. At the time, I didn't think anything of it being on disc 3 of 4. I waltzed on past the flags and was blasted to pieces in a heartbeat. The game then told me to insert disc 1. I figured that, since the world map was on disc 1, that it was autoloading to my last position, you know? Right before I went in the Citadel?

Nope. It loaded up the RIP screen. I yelped and turned off the computer, turned it back on, and reloaded my game, only to find myself still on the RIP screen. I knew there was no raising of the dead (the instruction book bluntly pointed that out), but I never imagined that the game would autosave after you died and force you to restart from the beginning.

[paultakeda]

That, I think, happened to everyone, myself included.

[sorophx]

giggity

I completely forgot about the Auto-save feature... and what do you know, it has already shown its ugly mug...

got my ass kicked by Harry the Bunnymaster (I won the fight, but 2 characters were in critical condition). tried using Medic on them - nothing. decided to run for Highpool, entered the wrong area, game saves with them already being in a coma. now, by the time I reach Highpool they both are dead...

at least I got burned pretty early into the game.

[The Tallest]

Oh man, I remember that happening to me as well. It was quite funny the first time but the more it happened and the more I couldn't stop it from happening I got frustrated.

[paultakeda]

I have similar memories, though the worst was Cochise.

Right now I'm just laughing at the thought of looking at a coworker and saying, "I got my ass kicked by Harry the Bunny Master then got nailed by the auto-save."