I was pretty close to returning the game out of frustration regarding the save system (by pretty close I mean being asked in which way I want my refund). But via save scumming it was at least manageable and I'm glad I didn't return it.

Essence of the story: I highly advise to overthink a "Save/Load" funktion.

It won't have to work against the game design, but a simple qickload function allows players to "try" stuff which might be fun and rewarding.

Just saying, if one doesn't want to use it he can leave it be, but if someone wants it why not?

Great game by the way, looking forward to more content (and hopefully a way to save my game without exiting it ;) )

there is "checkpoint" in game no save/load needed.

yeah, like one in every level... Therefore I'd appreciate a save/load function

I really wonder if it can be so hard to implement the save function. Could be the quicksafe/quickload - any means to freeze (sort of) the current progress within the game.

Just think of the family members the normal player is troubled with: you are just about to nuke this one villain that had been hard to deal with before - and just seconds before you strike him/it/her down: duty in form of your otherwise fantastic wife calls!
You absolutely need the save/quicksave function! :)

The system is good to me, not frustration, the system invite the player to train and make plan. And not take risk without tactic, or plan B (or C xD) . Is challenge tin terms of strategy, of make actions. Of course player must train with movements in fight, avoid obstacles, etc, this is other thing that is good to implicate and satisfaction with every step without know defeat. Just my opinion, heheh.

Bye!

Well, although I can see your point, after playing the game for a few hours there is more that I want to say.
First off: I really like the game - as far as possible regarding the unfinished state.
Not knowing how much content (like plot, interactivity, etc.) still will find a way into the game, some thoughts that might be far off the mark:

- I do not think that reducing the game to a bare minimum is making it special in any regard. There had been games without automap, plot, etc. before, and: the absence of things like these does not make any game "special" automatically.
Taking away choices is not going to make the game "old school" but only boring in the long run.

I played "The Bard's Tale" (whole series) for months, drew my maps, spent days over puzzles, had my fun with dialogs (mostly delivered in a booklet that came with the game), and much more.
Exanima (in the current state of being unfinished) feels and looks like the work well done by technicians: the light is right, the physix are done well (even if I can not produce shards by dropping clay work) - but after some hours of running around, I can find no motivation to open another door, wondering why I am at this place at all.

So, let me stay with "The Bard's Tale" for this (could be "Dungeon Master", "Eye of the Beholder", any of the SSI titles instead):
- what I am missing the most is a plot that will stand on it's own. A story that - slowly - enfolds and will make me do things, make decisions that can change the way the game reacts to my doings. Again, there has to be a story that wants to be told!

- no automap? Quite allright with me - but instead of (just one example) dropping nondescriptive keys around the area, make them part of the plan/plot. Like * *key with a red stone embedded? Had there not been a door with a similar stone at the eastern end?**
Let the finding of a certain key trigger an event where floor tiles near "this" door teleport me some tiles away, spin me around until I disarm this trap by pressing that well hidden knob - anything like this will make me enjoy the game in a way that I will not want to put it aside!

- To this day I remember "Scrysite", a spell from BT that made a piece of the wall give me the coordinates of my actual point in any dungeon. The spell came with a relative high cost to your amount of mana, so you always had to think twice about scrysite-ing or not (to fill up your mana resources you had to rest - only possible in some rare spots).

There had been pressure plates that did horrible things, spinning tiles that confused the hell out of you (me), sticky tiles that made you a snail in movement - if I think of it: you could well take the manual of BTCS (Bard's Construction Set), and design some of Exanima from there (BTCS is still to be found today!) with much success!

- Dialog? Absolutely a must! There can be grunts from the majority of the inhabitants, but there has to be a certain amount of NPC's that have something to say - either to help me, or to fool me in a believeable, logical way.

- Physix: well done - to a degree.
I mean: dropping an earthen pot on the head of a ??? is funny enough, but: how much more fun would it be, if this pot really shattered in the end?
Why can't I smash this barrel - just because there is nothing inside? Let me see it myself! Let me hack down this door, but let me break my weapon on the next, more sturdy door. Let me decide if I smash this trunk or open it by using a key or some thieving tools...

Well, there is a lot more that comes to mind - but as I mentioned before: with Exanima still under developement all of this might be for naught.
Anyway, I mean well, I like the game so far and really would like to see Exanima as something that can be discussed alongside the "old games".
Best ...

You can save manually by backing up the game's save files located in %appdata%/Exanima:
gamename.rsg is a save game file.
gamename.rcp is a checkpoint file.

They are both store the exact same kind of information, the filetype is basically a tag so that the game knows which is which, so if you rename the .rsg to .rcp it will become your checkpoint. You can either manually navigate to the folder to backup your save/set save to checkpoint or you could write a quick shell script to do it more quickly if you want to save often. Just don't savescum too much.

[i]>>> Hello everyone!

We are a small team and all we care about is making the most awesome game we can. We interact very closely with our community and we're eager to engage with you here on GOG!

Best,

Bare Mettle <<<[/i]

Ok (expanding on my former post), I think I can understand what implications being "a small team" might have. I also think I can see the difficulties by developing two games at the same time with very limited man power.

What I do not understand is how you can keep on calling Exanima a RPG.
Why?
Been to your forum (Bare mettle) and the one thing I did not find had been anything bothering with "the spoken word".
Meaning that there is not (at the least at this moment) any trace of a story behind the game. At all!

Sure, I can run around, hit everything that moves until ... what exactly?
A RPG without an underlying story that gives me - as a player - choices that can change the game is, well: nothing but a dungeon crawler.

While Exanima currently might be a nice tech demo, it is missing the one vital ingredience: a plot.

And then: "...interacting very closely with our community" is hinting at slightly more then what happens at the moment by "... engaging with us here on GOG".

So, do I really wish for an answer to any of my questions?
Yes, I do - considering the pressure you might be under, you could limit any possible answer to your plans of adding dialogs and a story that goes with the game.

Thank you ....

There most certainly is a plot in Exanima. The "story" is told by many different aspects: the hand crafted level design and layout (where and why things are where they are gives many clues to the player such as barricaded doors, corpse locations and positions, etc.), written word (books, scrolls, letters, parchments, maps) and eventually dialogue although you won't see very many human NPC's in Exanima due to the setting (not many people willingly venture into the Underworld). The story isn't force fed to players and it's up to you to piece together the dozens of pieces of lore to form your own conclusions and figure out what's going on.

Events in Exanima will unfold in a non-linear, dynamic and organic way based upon where you go and what you do; it will be possible to interact with NPCs and other creatures in various ways which will influence what occurs and how they treat you. An example: you may be knocked unconscious and dragged somewhere you'd likely otherwise not find if you weren't knocked unconscious. Another example would be giving an NPC some useful items which earns their trust and so they decide to accompany you and help you out. NPCs are always observing what is going on around them and they are constantly making decisions on-the-fly so each time you encounter said NPC events may play out differently depending on the situation.

Not convinced, yet.
The only thing that seems to be certain so far: Exanima will not have dialog lines that follow one or more "red lines", a plot.

It would help a lot to know now if "the other game" (the one where I tend to forget the name) likewise will be like Exanima in this regard?

Last one: there is a big difference in what you call "not force feeding a story to the players" and getting to work on a multifacetted story that draws the player into the game. Like I already said - simply taking away basic elements from something that you like to call a RPG does not make a game "old school" or noteworthy in any way.

Well, if you're not convinced then wait and see how the game develops since Exanima is currently lacking many important features which will dramatically change gameplay (and how many people currently perceive the game to be). The dialogue system in Exanima will function similar to how it functions in Morrowind and yes, the dialogue system will influence the plot and how events unfold; the dialogue options will change depending on what transpires during your playthrough.

I agree: simply taking away basic elements doesn't make a game old school or noteworthy in any way; however, this is not what Bare Mettle are doing. They are doing just the opposite: instead of creating linear, heavily scripted events/quests they are taking it one step further by adding dynamic events that change based upon what is happening and NPCs that can make their own decisions and react appropriately as opposed to just performing a scripted action based upon what dialogue option you choose whilst making no actual decisions of their own (which is how it functions in most so-called "RPGs").

I'm not sure where you're getting your information but it's simply untrue that Exanima will lack dialogue and a plot since it will have both. Bare Mettle have spent literally decades creating the lore, plot, events, etc. that will unfold in both Exanima and SG and they go to great lengths to ensure things in the world are consistent, believable and adhere to the carefully crafted lore.

Well, some of the "iinformation" (as much as could be gathered) came from the Bare Mettle site. True, not much concerning "my" issues with the game so far.
The rest - simply by trying to imagine what the addition of dialogue and plot means for a game that is technically ready (ready to a certain degree of being able to play the title), and only at a later point in time and state of being finished add some kind of a background story and spoken word "similar to how it functions in Morrowind".
Because, bringing in plot and dialogue to a game that already had been played to a certain degree means nothing but to go and start the game again - would not make any sense otherwise.

Anyway - there is no hurry, and so your confirmation about the coming of dialogue basically is all that I needed to keep looking out for the further "evolution" of Exanima - thank you for clearing this up!

Here's some relevant information taken directly from the Bare Mettle site in the announcements section about Exanima:

"We are as you know including all the trappings of an RPG, it is a genre that we love, we are crystal clear on what we want here and it's something we take very seriously. But we've often described ours as "world first design", what we want above all else is a world that feels real and is incredibly dynamic with an unprecedented potential for emergent behaviour. This includes complete interactivity, realistic and functional behaviours, meaning attributed to every single thing, AI making real decisions rather than following rigid scripts, physics, lighting and basically just everything being part of a real functional world rather than being symbolic of it.

So, while we hope that Exanima succeeds in conveying at least the spirit of SG please bear in mind that it is far from feature complete, there are many details and big gameplay features still missing that are hugely important to your enjoyment of the game. Despite this the game does already provide a very enjoyable and rewarding experience."

Most of the people you'll be engaging in dialogue with in Exanima will be found in the later areas and not so much the early levels. If you follow the plot in the early levels (which already exists) you'll notice that some very strange experiments and events are taking place which accounts for the undead being as they are. The further you delve into the Underworld the stranger things become and you'll discover more 'pieces of the puzzle' so to speak which are a very important part of the plot in Exanima.

There are quite a few posts on the Bare Mettle forums discussing the current plot/story in Exanima which are rather interesting reads:

http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/exanima-story.2848/

http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/exanima-lore-thread.3220/

http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/journal-of-an-adventurer.6323/

Convinced :) !

In my own attempts in creating a world of my own I had a different approach, more "bookish" if you can call it like that.
And, I guess my scepticism grew out of that.

So, no problem - and again: thank you for the additional information. Helps a lot in being more patient - but I think that this discussion might be helpful for some other folks that have an eye out for Exanima, at least I hope so.