Trails of Cold Steel was great about this because of the journal the protagonist keeps in the game, in a literal notebook that diegetically exists. When I started playing again, all I had to do was look at the journal to have my memory jogged of what happened up to that point and what’s going on presently.
Morrowind fangirl here for duty. I love that games journal system
diegetic
…
especially : existing or occurring within the world of a narrative rather than as something external to that worldCool thanks :)
yeah i thought it was cool how they literally handed the protagonist the notebook and straight up said “this is how you’re going to document your assignments at the academy, also please make sure you summarize other things you learn, and lastly there are reference guides for the magitech tools you’ll be using and various combat scenarios already in it as well”. it’s neat that it’s both a menu element and a prop in the world that is interacted with in-character.
i’m glad i knew the word ‘diegetic’ to describe it :D
That is such a fun implementation!
Thanks for invoking the little word nerdery :)
I decided to play Fallout New Vegas for the first time in a while. I started it up, realized that my character is in a sewer “looking for the source of the radiation” and I have no idea why, so I closed it again and played a different game instead.
And then I play for a few days and get to the same spot. And then get distracted and stop playing.
Time is a flat circle.
My issue with Mass Effect Andromeda. “Maybe it isn’t as bad as people say and I somewhat remember. Why did I stop anyway?”
Get to the same thing that lost my interest last time “Ah, right.”
The funny thing is they set up their goofy little mystery box “collapsed advanced civilization” plot, complete with a quirky Asari researcher, then fucked the actual gameplay into the ground and wondered why no one really cared about the reveals or further mysteries.
You already did this, and now you’re making it a chore to get to the story. At least make it a nerdy Krogan or something.
I actually liked the direction the plot was going, because I’m always a sucker for an AI story, but just… Don’t do that. You needed another Mordin to get people to care, not a manic pixie dream Asari.
POV: You’ve got 8 buffs that all expire like less than a minute and before they do you get oneshot by a character that looks like a third-rate mob and serves no storyline purpose but happens to stand between you and the area you want to be in.
And you remember why you stopped here.
Minecraft, for me.
“Where’s this? What’s this? I don’t remember you or anything of this”
makes a new world
ff iv, earthbound, any yakuza game, my last stellaris attempt. im not starting over tho.
Renaming desktop shortcuts is a great way to leave yourself game notes if you’re an old like me.
Yeah I’ve got all kinds of tricks like that. Leaving things on the ground to spell out a reminder, if you can add custom map tags or signs I’ll do notes there, sometimes it’s having a system like “if I’m pointing at the ground it means I am not in the middle of anything important and I need to choose my next steps”
I might use that last tip, that’s clever.
One of my favorite features on the steam deck is the ability to take notes that sync to each game. I’ve wanted the ability to do that ever since Zero Escape included a notepad for memorizing clues.
This is why I try to just focus on one game at a time, if I fall out of the zone then I just won’t remember where I am, what I’m doing, or even how to play the damn game
I absolutely suffer from restartitis, especially with Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Borderlands, haha
One great feature of Tales of and Trails games is that they both have a chapter summary of what you did and what you are trying to achieve now.
Morrowind.
I kept handwritten notes for that game.
Why? The journal kept track of basically everything you did
To remember where I left stuff, more useful landmarks than the official directions, etc.
My Morrowind save has long since devolved into designing my own adventures, battles, and objectives. It doesn’t matter where I find myself, because I have decades of headcanon to inform my next actions.
6 months? It’s been 13 years. Lost Planet on PS3.
Was that the snow planet one?
I beat it and I still don’t remember the plot. I didn’t know the plot as I was beating it.
Yep, never finished it cause the mechanic of constantly losing heat got tedious
Yes. I totally forgot. Something about a son finding his lost father to believe.
13 years? It’s been 43 years. Planet Fall on Atari 800.
Sucks when you want to play “that game” but the updates are gonna take another 20 minutes to download and install…by then I’ve lost my “that game” boner.
And "that game"s save, if the update broke it
This, except instead of a 20 minute update, it’s two days of installing mods for the perfect game experience I’ll never have.
I’m probably gonna do this for the third time when I next play HL: Alyx.
Built a new rig and decided to go back to it on max settings now that my rig could achieve it, worth the restart imo. And ill fucken do it again.
It’s bullshit that Elden Ring has a savefile/character limit. 😡
Honestly, the only limit to save files should be available hard drive space. Most of the time I get this sense of “wtf was I doing?” Is when I have to load a file to see if I want to delete it for a new character.
