This problem applies even in games without auto-saves; one particular part in Final Fantasy 10 comes to mind, in which:
* There's the save point before the boss.
* When you approach the boss, there's a 5 minute cutscene.
* Then, the boss fight starts.
* The boss is designed in such a way that many players, on their first attempt, will lose at the start of the 3rd phase (unless they looked up the fight ahead of time), and will therefore have to re-watch the cutscene.

I could also point out that I had to re-watch a cutscene in Baldur's Gate 2 because, at the start of Chapter 4, immediately after the cutscene the game didn't let me save claiming something to the effect of "there are enemies nearby", even though there weren't any visible. Then there's a mandatory fight, which I ended up losing, and therefore had to reload because the game wouldn't arbitrarily let me save after that cutscene.

(I'm of the opinion that games should always allow for saves immediately after a cutscene, as well as immediately after a boss fight (if there's no more fights between the boss fight and the next rest spot). It can be nervewracking to get through a boss fight and not be able to save because of a lengthy cutscene; what if the power goes out?)

Oh, I have no intention to accuse anyone or place labels on people. "Save-scumming" and "cheating" are common terms, and personally I don't associate them with anything really bad. My statement is even (self)-ironical, and there is a smiley in the end of the line. ;)

On the contrary, I mean that no one should judge someone else's play-style, and most importantly restrict them by technically limiting saving system.

I myself used "save-scumming" to get through the final fight of NWN 2: Storm of Zehir and in numerous other cases. :)

I think that there should still be specific points where you can rest and recover your resources. In particular, I think WRPG-style rest anywhere (except when the game decides there are enemies nearby, which can feel arbitrary, or in places that are supposed to be safe like towns) is a bit much, since players can just rest up for every battle; either fully restore the party automatically after each fight (which means that you don't really have dungeon-scale challenges, only individual fight challenges, which risks making random battles feel pointless), or don't let the player rest at arbitrary locations.

Ikr, literally everyday all day posting random things like it's facebook.
Entire forum is some boomer paradise for those chainmail people back in the day.

If you optimize speeds, I don't see any reason why a hard save would take significantly more time saving than a quicksave. I'd agree that this is the most flexible system. Anachronox (2001)'s easy mode allowed you to save anywhere whereas normal and hard could only save at save points. I question why not let people save anywhere if you're going to have two different saving systems anyway. I'd imagine if you want to push the player towards certain settings a short blurb like "Recommended for [X] players." is a good enough caption for difficulty options (Ara Fell) or design the harder modes to be more funner to give better intrinsic motivation to players.

Very good point on genres. If (S)RPG missions are relatively short, say < 10 minutes, no need for quicksaves if you have the ability to restart or hard save. Anything longer and I'd consider allowing saves during battles. In genres like roguelikes, quicksaves would make sense if you want your characters to die.

This would also be ideal, but I can also see why this should be reserved to no-resource-management RPGs, which I'm heavily leaning towards today.

I understand this for limiting saving, but not for limiting loading. There's no reason not to let the player load if they're in a hopeless situation, or if an early fight cost more resources than the player wants to use early in the dungeon (a player died and revival is expensive or not yet available, or an enemy just drained a large portion of the healer's MP).

The core idea is: Give the player the choice.
As many options as possible. Just don't enforce players with limited save items like some old games. (Yes Tomb Raider Im looking at you.) I understand this kind of save system have it's own appeal.

- You want to save everywhere? Go for it.
- You want to go hardcore and have limited saves? Go for it. (And be rewarded for it.)

Multiple save options in all difficulties because, player control over his own gameplay style, grants replayability.

What about Dead Space (1) save system, divided by difficulty options?
If im not mistaken, hardest difficulty had only three saves for the whole game, right?

I think this is an interesting point. What would be an appropriate reward for using limited saves? I thought playing the harder difficulty was the reward since giving extrinsic rewards like achievements or better equipment would contradict the higher difficulty mode.

I would get rid of the "(And be rewarded for it.)" part.

Possibly things like achievements, if the game has such a mechanic.

With that said, I firmly believe in not giving the player rewards for not saving as much, as such mechanics encourage the bad habit of not saving the game frequently, leading to frustration of losing a lot of progress. (I recently read a post somewhere (I think reddit) of somebody losing 10 hours of gameplay when there's no good reason for that to ever happen.)

( forgot to add this earlier ) Each control key, including quick-save and quick-load, should be configurable in settings.
Actually, you can play Anachronox on hard difficulty and save anywhere at the same time. And I agree, that such flexibility is good.

However, there is a bug with auto-saves in this game. They don't keep contents of your camera. So you have to revisit distant locations to take pictures, which are necessary for a particular side-quest.

I have to admit, "check-points" in Anachronox are cosy. ;D
It's crucial that you save your game at regular intervals while playing. Even though your character cannot die, your computer could.
( The Longest Journey manual )

Ha, good one.

As for a game that didn't in itself restrict saving but rewarded those who chose to restrict it on their own in a way that didn't affect gameplay, I'm thinking of Blade of Darkness. Granted, there was a restriction introduced by bugs, saving in view of a trap could have all sorts of weird effects, but in itself it didn't restrict you, but counted your average saves per level and displayed a rating according to it. Wanted a nicer word there, saved less. Didn't care and just wanted to go through the game, by all means go for it.

I don't like it when games count saves.

Well, maybe it's not so good in SaGa 2 (Final Fantasy Legend 2), where the game tracks the number of saves made, and will reset back to 1 (or was it 0?) after 99. Also, it turns out that, with the sound test code, you could listen to sound effect numbers higher than the normal limit. (Also worth noting that the sound test allows you to play the ending themes, which are not available with the in-game jukebox (even though the final boss theme is).)

Deus Ex also counts, and just displays the number. Recall having a quite insane amount by the end.
I tend to like any statistics I can get, just for my own curiosity.

I agree. You got a point by frustation. I, personally, have no problems stoping to play the game when I know my skill isn't enough for the hardest difficulty. (I still try, anyway.) So this should always be an option. If the player chooses to play this way, he will be rewarded accordingly.

Since a player may be good enough already to be able to beat the game in the hardest difficulty, a reward would be purely cosmetic or some kind of in game trophy or a secret. Just like an external achievement, but in game.
Otherwise, such "trophy" or "secret" could be an "God-like" item, or weapon, deliberately overpowered, just for the sake of fun.

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, for example, had this. If you manage to beat Sephiroth secret boss fight, you get a good mid game sword "Fenrir" (?), if you beat all "Organization XIII" bosses, and "Terra" secret boss fight, you would be awarded with a Golden Crown in the player model and acessories (?), if I remember correctly.