No saving?

[TheGeekMayor89 7]

Is the stuff for no saving only for multiplayer mode? What about single player?

[~Dee~ 215]

Is the stuff for no saving only for multiplayer mode? What about single player?

There is no single player, only solo mode, what isn't the same.

As far as I know all saved games are kept on the cloud (EA server).

[TheGeekMayor89 7]

Is the stuff for no saving only for multiplayer mode? What about single player?

There is no single player, only solo mode, what isn't the same.

As far as I know all saved games are kept on the cloud (EA server).

Thanks for clearing that up. So you can save when not playing MP? Thats cool.

[Vampirovibrio 43]

I believe that you can save regardless of multiplayer or solo mode. But u cannot reload the last save which is what some are concern about as you can imagine if you decide to unleash some disaster on your city and want to go back to the way it was before, you cannot even if you are in solo mode.

[TheGeekMayor89 7]

I believe that you can save regardless of multiplayer or solo mode. But u cannot reload the last save which is what some are concern about as you can imagine if you decide to unleash some disaster on your city and want to go back to the way it was before, you cannot even if you are in solo mode.

That sucks if you can't save and continue later.

[jeje71 6]

I believe that you can save regardless of multiplayer or solo mode. But u cannot reload the last save which is what some are concern about as you can imagine if you decide to unleash some disaster on your city and want to go back to the way it was before, you cannot even if you are in solo mode.

That sucks if you can't save and continue later.

of course you can save your progress (and actually it's more:you cannot NOT save your progress). i think what vampiro wanted to say is that it sucks the game is in "iron man" mode: you have no control over your saves, when you make mistakes or decide to "experiment", you have no way to going to a previous state of your city.

[cirugo 1,889]

I believe that you can save regardless of multiplayer or solo mode. But u cannot reload the last save which is what some are concern about as you can imagine if you decide to unleash some disaster on your city and want to go back to the way it was before, you cannot even if you are in solo mode.

That sucks if you can't save and continue later.

of course you can save your progress (and actually it's more:you cannot NOT save your progress). i think what vampiro wanted to say is that it sucks the game is in "iron man" mode: you have no control over your saves, when you make mistakes or decide to "experiment", you have no way to going to a previous state of your city.

yes, this is the case...and the reason is the multiplayer focus and cloud-based saving. No reverting to previous saves should really concern anyone who likes to lay around with disasters.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

I enjoy unleashing disasters in SC4. It is a fun way to break the monotony of building a city or sculpting the terrain. Disasters in SC5 are disasters, not entertainment. Goodbye fun disasters. Goodbye widescale experimentation.

[TheGeekMayor89 7]

If you can save but not go back to your old saves, whats the point of being able to save? I used to like being able to save my progress and go back to my game later if I wanted to.

[~Dee~ 215]

If you can save but not go back to your old saves, whats the point of being able to save? I used to like being able to save my progress and go back to my game later if I wanted to.

You have to save your game.

Say you are done playing for the day, you save the game so you can load it the next time you want to play.

So you load your saved game and play, now if you do something to it you don't like, you can't load a saved game because there is only one, the one you are playing.

I hope that clears things up for you.

[cirugo 1,889]

If you can save but not go back to your old saves, whats the point of being able to save? I used to like being able to save my progress and go back to my game later if I wanted to.

what this means is that when you start the game again after saving (which you WILL be able to do) you will never be able to start from that point again. You cannot unleash a disaster on your city and then go back to a save point before you did the disaster.

you WILL be able to save your progress and then play later but you will NOT be able to go back to that same point you saved once you've started playing again.

do you understand?

[TheGeekMayor89 7]

Ok I get it. Thanks for clearing that up

[neil5280 31]

This is all speculation.

Maxis is certainly aware of concerns and is undoubtedly working to make these types of things possible.

[cirugo 1,889]

This is all speculation.

Maxis is certainly aware of concerns and is undoubtedly working to make these types of things possible.

this is not speculation. this was stated by Maxis reps in a Q&A. If they announce a change then that's different but for now this is fact from the horse's mouth.

[Jokurr 175]

If you are looking for a source:

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/sim-city-5/1224978p1.html

[pyanodon 218]

That is one of my biggest concerns about this game. pfs.... clouds...

[atlblackops 8]

This is all speculation.

Maxis is certainly aware of concerns and is undoubtedly working to make these types of things possible.

I hope you are right. A game without saves is a dealbreaker.

[Hellken 1,658]

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/sim-city-5/1224978p1.html

SimCity Disappointment: You Won't Be Able to Save, Destroy, and Reload Your City

By Dan Stapleton | Jun 4, 2012

The drawbacks of online connectivity have already started killing my buzz.

The new SimCity looks amazing, and I'm certainly still looking forward to it, but it comes with at least one major downer. As anyone who's played one knows, one of the simplest pleasures of any SimCity game, dating back to the 1989 original, is the consequence-free "What if?" scenario. The kind where you obliterate your city by triggering an apocalyptic wave of fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and monster attacks, then time-warp it back to pristine condition by loading a saved game. When I asked Lead Producer Kip Katsaelis if the 2013 SimCity would allow that same pleasure in its Glass Box-powered cities, the answer was a simple, disappointing "No." The online connectivity Maxis has built in means that reloading saved games will be impossible, even when no one else has a city in your region.

The caveat, Katsaelis says, is that there will be a cheat mode that will disable achievements and let you quickly and easily build large cities for the purpose of wrecking. That's some consolation, I suppose -- after seeing a brief demonstration of a giant bowling ball inflicting physics-based damage to skyscrapers, I am very interested in watching cities get demolished in this new engine. But this is a prime example of how the benefits of online connectivity in new games can deprive gamers of some of the things we love most about their classic predecessors. Disasters will be far less fun if seeing their effects means potentially losing hours of progress.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...I still wonder why there are still people who think we are just "whining" about nothing.

[nhgriffith 179]

It would be nice if you could load one of your cities into sandbox mode

[pyanodon 218]

Cloud saves only make mods more difficult to make.

[BrianZ111 2]

Of everything I’ve read, I think this is the only really bad thing about the new SimCity.  Everyone brings up not being able to destroy your city but I’ve got other major concerns.

Backups:  If a server with your city on it dies, do you just lose everything?  I hate the thought of trusting EA to properly backup everything.

Undo Function:  How are you supposed to undo things when you screw up?  Am I the only one who would save before doing anything big so I could go back just in case?  I always found the bulldozer hard to use in SC4 and I’d blow stuff up I didn’t want to all the time but if it was a building I really liked or I ran up too big a bill I’d just go back to the saved file and do it over right.  It would be really nice if they just had an undo button for this or at least made it very clear what the bulldozer is destroying before it destroys it.  Otherwise for me not being able to go back will lead to analysis paralysis.  I’ll be afraid to do something I want to do and that won’t be much fun.

Template City:  I used to like to build a city out to a certain point where I had it the way I wanted it.  Then I’d use that file like a template as a starting point for future cities and take them in different directions.

Saving is really a basic function of just about every computer program ever made.  There are too many potential complaints from things going wrong long term.  I think at some point they are going to have to build in the ability to save local backups of your cities.

[nervouspete 9]

You can still recover from disasters though, I don't think its the be-all and end-all. Even a meteorite strike or an earthquake - I mean sure, you'd have a lot of rebuilding to do but you'd get it back to how it was before. I can't see a problem.

 

That being said, I will defnitely miss saving a copy of my city in its early days. At least with the easier to use video/screenshot malarky you can preserve those moments.

[nhgriffith 179]

Local saves that can be reload and replace current cities become problematic in multiplayer regional play...

But I do like the idea of entire regions pitching in to help out a city that's been struck by a disaster. Very cool, very realistic.

[Towel 76]

Of everything I’ve read, I think this is the only really bad thing about the new SimCity.  Everyone brings up not being able to destroy your city but I’ve got other major concerns.

Backups:  If a server with your city on it dies, do you just lose everything?  I hate the thought of trusting EA to properly backup everything.

Undo Function:  How are you supposed to undo things when you screw up?  Am I the only one who would save before doing anything big so I could go back just in case?  I always found the bulldozer hard to use in SC4 and I’d blow stuff up I didn’t want to all the time but if it was a building I really liked or I ran up too big a bill I’d just go back to the saved file and do it over right.  It would be really nice if they just had an undo button for this or at least made it very clear what the bulldozer is destroying before it destroys it.  Otherwise for me not being able to go back will lead to analysis paralysis.  I’ll be afraid to do something I want to do and that won’t be much fun.

Template City:  I used to like to build a city out to a certain point where I had it the way I wanted it.  Then I’d use that file like a template as a starting point for future cities and take them in different directions.

Saving is really a basic function of just about every computer program ever made.  There are too many potential complaints from things going wrong long term.  I think at some point they are going to have to build in the ability to save local backups of your cities.

 

It's been a discussion for some time now in the industry about "saving" within RTS or simulation games. 

 

A lot of RTS companies are interested in removing saving from their game to prevent people playing for perfection. For instance, in the Total War series, when balancing the game the designers had to take into account that a player can recover from a mistake by reloading from an earlier save and then compensating based on the knowledge of what will happen in the future. I believe the Total War devs have floated the idea of cloud saving as a way to combat this.

 

From a purests point of view, sure being able to save and reload is nice, but I welcome the search for a new paradigm that suggests you have to live with you decisions. 

[BrianZ111 2]

If something bad happened because of a decision I made I wouldn't go back.  That would defeat the point of the game.  My problem was just when the tools in the game didn't make it clear what you were doing and something unexpected immediately happened.  Like I said it was mainly bulldozing in SC4 for me.  I would always do a save before bulldozing because a lot of times I'd blow something up I didn't want to.  Maybe this will not be a problem at all in the new game.

Also I don't really think of SimCity as a competitive game where you measure yourself against other people so I don't really care if other people want to undo or go back whenever something bad happens so they can make the perfect city.  Maybe with the online play in the new game I'll feel different about that though.

[Hoipus 292]

I feel that since it is a part of the series that helped pioneer the 'god game' genre, any change that reduces the amount of meaningful control that the player can exert upon their city, is a bad one.