Additionally, the reason most classic Sonic games didn't even have save files is because of costs, not because of deliberate game balancing choices.
Well, as much as I disagree with that considering the way the games were built upon replayability, that's besides the point, so I won't get into the details of all that.
Regardless of the decisionmaking that went into earlier games, though, it definitely seems to have been a deliberate choice in S3K to save after each
zone rather than each act. The same goes with Mania, especially considering that prior ports of the classics made by the Mania team used per-act saving, meaning they must have had a
reason to transition to per-zone saving.
Of course, SRB2 Is Not Mania™, and this isn't a decision to be made by making generalizations. The save system for any particular game should be decided on a case-by-case basis, since what works for one game doesn't necessarily work for another.
And in SRB2's specific case, you come across this issue:
many of our zones are much larger than the classic games. It can take a player anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes just to beat CEZ2 for their first time. Sonic 3&K was never this outrageously drawn out even on its most confusing zones.
I'll admit that, as someone who loses myself in a game, I hadn't even originally considered this aspect as part of the equation.
Of course, that just gives all the more reason for why this new system does, in fact, need to exist in some capacity.
I'm just not yet fully convinced we've reached the best compromise.
The idea of having a redundant, slightly worse save mode to fulfill some perceived gap in gameplay progression options just seems really bizarre to me, and I think it would be better served as an addon modification for those who would be into that sort of thing.
The issue with that is that, once again, this is a matter of new players, and new players wouldn't necessarily
know which style of save system would suit them best until they've already played the game.
For example: for the longest time I didn't understand the appeal of classic Sonic. One day, determined to see what was so great about the games, I sat down and played through the classics with saves, slogging through the slower parts and having an enjoyable, if at times tedious, experience. Afterward, I tried to play through them
without saves just to see how far I could get, and was astounded by the satisfaction of breezing through the previously frustrating stages as if they were nothing. Still, had the stages not been somewhat frustrating in the first place, this sort of catharsis wouldn't have been possible.
I'm far from saying that's the
best way to design a game. All I mean to say is that SRB2 was able to provide much a similar feeling for me, though without
as much frustration due to the small quality of life improvements such as lives increasing upon game over. And I loved it. Does this mean this particular way of playing is the best for everyone's first experience? No, of course not. But I already know I'm not the only one who has benefited from the old save system, and I'm certain that a considerable portion of players who play the game in the future would have benefited from it as well, though they'll never know that.
That's why making a mod isn't really a solution, since the people who could potentially benefit from said mod would have already played the game by the time they even know about it. Unless you're saying that proponents of the old save system should go around recommending the mod to every new player.
To give another example of what I mean in a completely different context, let's take a look at how the emblem system in SRB2 is designed.
By default, there's no way to obtain hidden emblems but to happen across them while exploring the stage. So unless you're a particularly hardcore explorer, it's unlikely that you'll find the 40 emblems needed to obtain the emblem hints through searching alone.
So what gives? What's the point of making someone do all that searching, or to go into Record Attack and do some considerable grinding away at time/ring emblems, just to get the thing they'd need to find emblems in a timely manner?
I asked Mystic this question, and his answer was simple: It forces players to give the hardest method of collecting hidden emblems a shot so they can discover whether or not that method is fun for them, and if it's not, then they can choose to unlock the emblem hints through Record Attack. From there, if they still don't find it fun to search for emblems, they can continue to play Record Attack until they unlock the radar.
If either of these two easier methods were the default way to obtain hidden emblems, then people who would prefer to use harder methods might never discover the method they prefer, and it would harm their emblem hunting experience.
I find the difference between these two save systems to be much the same way. Not that I want the easier save system to be an unlockable, or anything; I simply want to emphasize the fact that the best way to play depends on the person, and that person might not always know right away which would be best for their own personal experience.
That's why I never said that 2.2.1's way of doing things is directly
inferior. It's not. It all depends on the person playing and how much that person is willing to put up with for the sake of self-improvement. Though I spoke of "balance" before, I recognize the fact that "the perfect balance" really does depend on the person playing.
This thread, after all, was never titled "Not happy with saves after every act," but rather "
Not sure how to feel about saves after every act." It's not a question with an easy solution. It's a dilemma, you could say. The latest version aimed to solve the problem, but was this the
best possible solution, hands-down? I don't know. Hence why I and several others have attempted to propose the inclusion of options or compromises between the two systems, such as a quick save feature. Would these compromises be better than what we currently have? I couldn't know for sure. Regardless, I urge the development team to consider their options rather than considering this a done deal.