[jscott]

If the game contains a single player component, it should contain modern conventions on saving. Its that simple. To argue that people shouldn't be able to save and reload because they should have to live with their mistakes doesn't make sense. If you dont' want to save and reload your game, that's your decision. I respect people who have the patience (and, more importantly, the free time) to struggle through trial and error type mistakes and play games to their conclusion whatever the result.

I don't have that kind of time, plus I'm trying to learn the game and I don't want to put 40-50 turns into a game only to find out that a decision I made on turn 10 was disastrous. I have to restart enough because of silly pretender designs. I don't really think its necessary to force me to restart because my pretender dies on turn 15 after having been asleep and I'm hopelessly behind in expansion.

Again, I respect people who play the multiplayer and enjoy the great challenge offered by this game. I like the game as is. But I do think that the game could stand to offer the CHOICE to be a little less harsh and challenging. It would keep new players interested longer and allow them to appreciate the depth of the game. Everyone I've introduced the demo to so far has abandoned the game because of the steep learning curve and the difficulty of the game (random events that kill an early hero, deaths of pretenders in battle, things that a reload feature could minimize, are common complaints from people I know who have tried to play the game). There's just no reason for the game not to feature real saves and to limit its appeal to only the hardest of the hardcore strategy gamer.