Mass Effect - Save it for me.

Mass Effect is the game I have been waiting for since I finished Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2.  On many levels this game is everything I wanted out of a KOTOR “Sequel” and in some ways the lack of a Star Wars plot helps this game excel beyond the KOTOR series because the player is immersed in a completely new world with the future of the galaxy uncertain.  In a recent poll on 2old2play I actually voted for this game over Oblivion as best RPG (out of the two).  I'm a sucker for a good space odyssey and since a good Star Trek games has not been produces since the 1995 Interplay PC game this game fills the void.

There is one thing that bothers me about Mass Effect.  The save system.  Out of  "next gen" I have a few expectations based around graphics, sound, and game play.  Paramount of all concerns is the requirement to save at anytime anywhere.  Since this is a website for older gamers I'm sure many of you can relate to a million and one different reasons to be able to save.  Wife/Husband and kids can attack at any moment with some real world crisis or obligation that requires an older gamer to shut down the game system at a moments notice.  I remember when I was a kid I would sometimes leave the NES paused for days because a game lacked a save option.  There is no reason to turn of the save feature at anytime in game like Mass Effect.  Other games released in recent months have an even worse save setup (BioShock had 1992 save technology).  In Mass Effect the save usually disappears, when you would actually need it, before a battle.  I had one scenario where I died after a cut scene and couldn't save after the cut scene.  I had the extreme pleasure of watching the cut scene every time I died.  Aside from being able to save anytime I also expect to save as much as I want.  I appreciated BioWare's attempt to conserve space on my hard disk but the fact of the matter is that I bought the Xbox 360 with the hard disk so I would never have to worry about save space.  10 saves and only at non crucial times would not be acceptable in MS Word and I don't think it is acceptable in a game.  The save feature should never be used as a method of controlling game difficulty.

Comments welcome.