Save Game archives?

[Ivo]

Hello everyone,

More than once I wished there was some sort of good and reliable repository of save games on the net, just like there is (in fact more than one) good and reliable repository of walkthroughs (GameFAQs is usually the one I refer to).

Recently due to threads (like the complaints about game saves being sold on ebay) and some consecutive mishaps with some games (fortunately the most recent I was able to find my savegames) I wondered why it isn't more common for people to upload their saves. I guess it is in great part due to the difficulty in getting the saves out to a PC for most consoles. But that still leaves savegames for PC games somewhat absent?

Any thoughts on the issue?
Ivo.

[Anapan]

The best one I know of is Gamefaqs. It hosts save files for some systems. The few times I've lost a save and wanted to get back to where I was in a game without all the grinding or replay it took to get there I've been able to either grab a very similar save off of Gamefaqs or use a cheat device/program to get really close to the point where I was at. I've read a few message boards where people have requested a save file to replace a lost one and every time someone was able to find a save file at nearly the same spot due to most gamers keeping multiple save files.

[Ivo]

The best one I know of is Gamefaqs. It hosts save files for some systems. The few times I've lost a save and wanted to get back to where I was in a game without all the grinding or replay it took to get there I've been able to either grab a very similar save off of Gamefaqs or use a cheat device/program to get really close to the point where I was at. I've read a few message boards where people have requested a save file to replace a lost one and every time someone was able to find a save file at nearly the same spot due to most gamers keeping multiple save files.

Maybe your experience is representative and I've just been unlucky, but the about 10 instances I had problems and "lost progress" I couldn't get the solution from GameFAQs (but some of those happened a while ago so maybe it isn't fair to consider all of them against GameFAQs). I know in a couple of instances I actually got the files from GameFAQs but couldn't get them to work with the emulator I was using and had no clues on how to do it.

Usually I have issues with RPGs (not jRPGs) so even getting someone else's save is only a last resource as it won't be my character / party. Maybe that is also why people don't really upload the saves for these type of games.

These are the ones I remember not-so-fondly:

RoA: Blade of Destiny - had collected map fragments, about to go look for the Blade.
Wizardry 7 - a spot where there was a "point of no return" and my party was apparently underleveled to face a boss.
Baldur's Gate - at the entrance of the city, lost my save somehow.
NWN - at least this time was about at the start, I was inside the prison.
Rifts: Promise of Power - at the spot where you leave NA.

Also lost my high-scores / records for some other games and obviously that can't really be replaced (although the unlocks can).

And yesterday / today with Divine Divinity - fortunately fixed this one by figuring out where the saves actually were, with some help from Hobie-Wan (don't understand why the game stopped looking for them there, but nevermind).

Ivo.