Playing Red Dead Redemption has been a blast, the single player campaign had moments that I will remember for a long time and the multiplayer is fun enough if you can find yourself a good posse. There was one thing however that bugged me. That was the ability (or lack thereof) to save the game without setting up camp/sleeping in a bed. More times than I care to remember have I gone out on mega hunting sprees, killing and skinning countless animals, when suddenly I will find myself coming out second best after fighting with a ninja cougar. Most, if not all, of what I had just hunted has been lost. When playing a game as good as RDR you should not be forced to jump through hoops just to save your game for the sake of some perceived realism. I do realize you can use horse deeds and other such devices to autosave but saving the game should be as simple as pausing the game and pressing save. Let me know what you think.

Playing Red Dead Redemption has been a blast, the single player campaign had moments that I will remember for a long time and the multiplayer is fun enough if you can find yourself a good posse. There was one thing however that bugged me. That was the ability (or lack thereof) to save the game without setting up camp/sleeping in a bed. More times than I care to remember have I gone out on mega hunting sprees, killing and skinning countless animals, when suddenly I will find myself coming out second best after fighting with a ninja cougar. Most, if not all, of what I had just hunted has been lost. When playing a game as good as RDR you should not be forced to jump through hoops just to save your game for the sake of some perceived realism. I do realize you can use horse deeds and other such devices to autosave but saving the game should be as simple as pausing the game and pressing save. Let me know what you think.

You can save with the camp basically anywhere, you're never that far from a safe house and if you're actually doing stuff, the game's fairy generous with its use of auto save. I don't see any issues.

yea just set up camp to save. its a good system.

I agree completely. It is really tedious to save in Red Dead, and I don't see reason why we shouldn't be able to save from the start menu. 

CAMP.

I agree with the OP. Saving anytime anywhere would be a huge improvement.
 
Fuck setting up a camp every two minutes.

" @Hitchenson:  If you could save the game without using the camp would you? If the answer was yes then it is not a feature that should simply be excluded in favour of one that is perceived as more 'realistic'. I have no problem with the ability to save from the camp and the camp is also useful for quick travel but having both options would be nice. "

set up camp, press Y. done.

i want to know why the fuck I can't save when cheats are enabled. I understand why they would disable achievements, but why can't I go through a second time with cheats?

" i want to know why the fuck I can't save when cheats are enabled. I understand why they would disable achievements, but why can't I go through a second time with cheats? "

Gotta say I don't think having to put up camp is that annoying, though fast forwarding 6 hours is.  
I like playing the game during daytime, so when I save the game, I usually save several times untill my final save starts in the morning, so, I go and do one mission, and  
if I feel that I want to have a save besides the autosave that I can't control and go back to if I happen to make a mistake (horse dies etc.) then I almost always have to 
fast forward yet another day. It's disturbing to say the least.  
Sure, set up camp, go to bed, whatever. Just let me choose to pass time or not. Let me set a alarm like Far Cry 2 or something.

you should be able to save without pushing time up six hours....that can be really annoying.

I kind of like the save system. Probably just have gotten used to it since Vice City though.
 
But after huge hunting sprees, I always change my aiming then change it back to quick save, just in case.

There are about 3 methods of getting a save point whenever you need one (Camp, break a wild horse, change your horse), plus it autosaves whenever you complete something.  If you're still finding yourself losing a significant amount of progress, it's because you are neglecting to do any of these things. 
 
I agree that a "Wake up at x o'clock" feature would have been handy, as well as the ability to have a few days pass.

" @Buttersthatsme: But then I'd find myself saving every 10 seconds, thus there would be no risk in anything I'm doing which would cause me to enjoy the game less. Yes, I know, I'm not being forced to use the feature, but I would inevitably use it too much.  Besides, I always like having features put into the game world rather than just static menu options. "

Geeze. There are so many ways to save this game I can't believe anyone would actually have an issue with it.

Maybe I'm confused, haven't played the game since my Xbox 360 broke. But I remember gathering a bunch of skins, hearts, feathers, etc. and dying only to be respawned with all my stuff collected still there. I'll have to check that when I get my Xbox 360 back.

" Gotta say I don't think having to put up camp is that annoying, though fast forwarding 6 hours is.  I like playing the game during daytime, so when I save the game, I usually save several times untill my final save starts in the morning, so, I go and do one mission, and  if I feel that I want to have a save besides the autosave that I can't control and go back to if I happen to make a mistake (horse dies etc.) then I almost always have to fast forward yet another day. It's disturbing to say the least.  Sure, set up camp, go to bed, whatever. Just let me choose to pass time or not. Let me set a alarm like Far Cry 2 or something. "

It didn't make sense to me the first time I died in RDR and actually lost progress. GTA just kept you going.
 
I don't need games to hold my hand or whatever the counter argument to this is. It was just an interesting choice from Rockstar.

I'm pretty sure you don't lose any progress if you die other than travel. 
The system is fine, though I wouldn't mind a way to shorten sleep times.

I really like the Red Dead Redemption save system because it causes me to limit the amount of times I save, since I get real deep into the role-play and saving means sleeping and passing six hours. I'm a real compulsive quicksaver otherwise, and not being able to constantly save makes me a little more cautious and increases the immersion.

Here's an idea. 
 
How about rockstar just enables god mode instead?

It really isn't that much bother to set up a camp and save. The only trouble is sometimes finding the right spot. It's better than having to trek back to a town/settlement where you own a bed.
 
Don't forgoet that the autosave system in this game is also VERY generous. PRobably one of the most generous autosaves in recent games I've seen anyway.

i did the save system. it makes sense to me to have to sleep to save your game. at least some slight sort of deterrance from just saving after every single tiny thing which always took the difficulty completely out the games for me. and this game is already easy enough.

" @Damian:  You lose progress when you die, you lose everything you have collected since the last save.  It's just tiresome, collecting 20 bird feathers or red sage over and over again because of cougar attacks or having spent time collecting fox furs (which is far more tenious) only to lose it all in a duel gone bad/suprise attack. Alos the lacking of checkpoint on gang hideouts is also not so good. Other than that the save/checkpointing is pretty good. "

I don't see what the problem is with the save system. When you die you do not lose any progress, you basically just respawn in your safe house. I've done a bunch of shit for ambient quests and then gotten killed by some ninja cougar, but everything I collected was still there. The only time you lose stuff is if you die during a mission, because you are reverted to a checkpoint, but that's a normal system we see in every game. 

Ninja Cougars are the worst.

I find the autosave is pretty generous. Especially once you unlock the challenges (sharpshooter, survivalist, etc). Also, will the campsite, I never had any issues saving. Set up camp, save right there or fast travel to your nearest safehouse. Rockstar's sandbox games simply don't have a save anywhere, anytime system. They never have. The campsite is the closest equivalent to that. 

It does sometimes get annoying, cause I save the game and wake up 6 hours later only to find out that it's night time and you can't do the quest until the morning.