Do you think that "save states" in emulators break the immersion of a game?

[Eleccybubb]

Eleccybubb, Dope_danny never said he wanted to get rid of save states or that it affects him personally or the gaming world. Not sure where you got that from. He just doesn't use them.

OT: I agree with others, it depends how they're used. Lots of old games couldn't be saved at all so that if you had to suddenly leave your game, your only option was to pause it - not ideal.

Was even worse if your power went out when you got to the end.

[Dezerte]

I don't see how that has anything to do with immersion, no.

[Netherling]

I think it can ruin immersion for certain games that rely heavily on player choices. You can save your game before making each decision and if it turns out you don't like the choice you made (eg. a character dies), then you can reload your game state. That could definitely ruin the immersion of the game, it would take away the suspense or tension created and nullify the impact of choices.

[Kathandira]

Save States are a well known feature in most (if not all) emulators. They're very useful when you want to finish a game, and they skip the trouble of dying, while also permitting experimentation with certain features of a game.

Do you think that they remove the immersion or difficulty of a game?

It's basically modding the game. If you beat the game on an emulator, and used save states instead of the intended save method, then you have cheated.

[lawow74]

Savestates are awesome, they allow the creation of TAS videos which I personally find very entertaining, to sit and watch games of my youth get utterly destroyed by a perfected run-through. And speaking personally, playing some games emulated and using savestates spares me a lot of frustration over trying to execute a particular sequence of events only to mess up and have to restart again and again and again and again and...

[The Casualty]

I haven't played too many emulated games recently, but when I do, I try to use the in game method of saving and use save states more like how the PS4 has the suspend state - that or in older games like the NES Mega Man/Castlevania series, I would just save state on a password screen. It keeps me honest from using it to get past hard areas and/or save-scumming; and I mean really what's the difference between me starting the game and entering the password or starting up from that point with a pseudo save feature?

I like and understand that games will have penalties for failure - game over, starting back at a checkpoint etc... I feel like circumventing that utilizing save states dilutes the intended experience, but there are certainly ways that add convenience without destroying the intended gameplay.

[Jester Joe]

Immersion no.

But they definitely do make the game easier by allowing you to retry over and over again in a faster way than normal. Arguably, that does decrease the difficulty then.

I dislike using them personally unless it's extreme, since it does make me feel like I didn't really accomplish what was intended anyway, or unless I'm just using it like Casualty said, and just suspending the game temporary.

[Wondercrab]

Given that they're totally optional, I see save states as an overwhelming positive. The only negative created by them relates to the specific subset of players who "don't know what they want" out of a game, and end up feeling bummed when they make something too forgiving or easy for themselves. For those who prefer less forgiving save states, or the people who have no patience for repeating content they've already beaten, save states are a non-issue at worst and a great boon to the experience at best.

[Immitis]

Ill be honest, only reason i was able to beat zelda 2 is because of save states

[xenogear3]

This is same as,

Do you upset LFR if you do normal raid?
Do you upset with minimum wage increase, if you are rich.

Something improves other people's life, but doesn't affect you directly.

[kaintk]

save states in emulator make a lot of game more enjoyable

[Socialhealer]

not immersion but cheating, you're making the game easier = cheating pretty simple.

sure having to run back and do all that shit again that doesn't get saved is annoying and time wasting that's part of the difficulty staying cool going through the grind and not getting tilted, emotions running high can make you a better or worse player, if it makes you worse this is part of the difficulty you're now skipping with save states.

[Kazgrel]

Save states are fine. Can they be used to "exploit" or be abused? Yeah. Does it really matter? No, no really, unless there's some sort of retro game speed clear promotion/group that sponsors events or something for such things. If they're gonna do that, it should be with original hardware, or in some sort of controlled environment (since original hardware can be a PITA to obtain in some cases).

Personally I'm not bothered with "woo I beat Super Mario Bros. in 5 mins!"...that's great; I beat it some 25ish years ago.