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New Video (2 of 2)! How Save Scumming Makes Baldur's Gate 3 Better ⁽ᶠᵒʳ ᵐᵉ⁾ (ad-free!) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-29 20:32:14
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hello everyone... again!

As promised, here is the second post for the second video of the month, this time on Baldur's Gate 3 (because of course I've been playing BG3 constantly lol). 

There's something hilariously harsh to me about the term save scum—that is, to reload a prior save to undo the mechanical or narrative consequences of a choice you make in a game. Lots of people apparently see utilising the save system as unsportsmanlike, cheating the game, or optimising all the challenge out of it. I, on the other hand, have been save scumming like crazy in Baldur's Gate 3, and I've been having a much better time for it. In this video I talk about Baldur's Gate 3, its Dungeons and Dragons roots, and importantly its place as a storytelling tool rather than a more typically combat focused experience where the goal is to simply "win". Crucially, to that end, I see save scumming as less a tool for cheating, and more as a pacing device—allowing you to more carefully place characters in situations where things like combat become most meaningful to them. Let's talk about it!

This is one I've had the script finished and voiced for well over a week at this point—tried to get the video portion done and released before I had to go to weddings, Cologne for Gamescom, play gigs, etc. (August has been *incredibly* busy) but the longer Armored Core review took priority. Kicking myself as a quick YouTube search yesterday revealed James Stephanie Sterling had recently released a video touching on the same topic! Always disheartening to get beaten to the punch by someone else (although obviously that's not JSS' concern, as if that needed to be stated), but I'm going to post the video anyway (with a comment linking to their video) because a) I worked really hard on it and b) I think there are enough distinctions between the videos to warrant their mutual release.

As stated in the last post, there will almost certainly be a Gamescom video in the coming week, and then it's onward with projects I've previously talked about—Ace Combat, Sleeping Dogs, Mad Max, etc. Hope you're as excited to watch them as I am to make them!

Again, as previously stated, thank you so much for your continued support. Been super busy working on these projects but I wouldn't be able to dedicate the required time were it not for your generous pledges. Will be making a video at some point soon to plug the patron exclusive videos, which I've been getting messages about and many of you seem to be enjoying, which is very cool to see.

Thanks again,

Hamish,

Writing on Games

Files

Previews only

How Save Scumming Makes Baldur's Gate 3 Better ⁽ᶠᵒʳ ᵐᵉ⁾ (Patreon version)

Comments

Kevin Bartelen

I grew up on RPGs like Final Fantasy. If a combat goes poorly 30 hours in and I party wipe I'm loading my last save. Not doing so would be a MASSIVE waste of time. As such that is what the ability to save has always been for me. Even when I started hearing the term save scum, for the longest time I thought it only applied to things like re-fighting a boss over and over so can get the rare drop it has rather than just living with the gear you have. When I started hearing the term in reference to redoing a combat in a game like Baldur's Gate or Fire Emblem because a party member died I was pretty miffed that people were treating that as not just the default thing you do in games because that's how they're meant to be played.

Parachuting Turtle

Great points, and I agree with playing however you want. The only potential issue I see with "save scumming" is when you don't realize you're making yourself miserable with a game in an attempt to achieve something. I've noticed this on myself in part of some of my Dishonored 2 playthroughs, when I'd decided to finish the game in a certain way, and I kept reloading to achieve that. It was much better to just go with the flow sometimes, and avoid reloading. I guess my point is that it's healthy in general to periodically re-examine if you're actually enjoying what you're doing in a game, regardless of how you're playing. (That way you can also avoid getting sucked into a grinding progression system by some nasty game design that is compelling in a numbers-go-up way, but not truly enjoyable.)