| In general, for games with very rigid and obvious save locations - such as [[GoldenEye 007]], which saves automatically every time you complete a level - the "segmented run" is all but meaningless. Instead, each "segment" (level) is considered as a separate, independent single-segment challenge. | | In general, for games with very rigid and obvious save locations - such as [[GoldenEye 007]], which saves automatically every time you complete a level - the "segmented run" is all but meaningless. Instead, each "segment" (level) is considered as a separate, independent single-segment challenge. |
− | However, games such as [[Metroid Prime]], which is open-ended but allow you to save whenever you reach a save point, or [[Half-Life]], which allow you to literally save and load ''anywhere'', raise a different question: how many segments should you have? In Half-Life the number of segments can be practically infinite, meaning Half-Life runs can theoretically be optimised frame-by-frame, like a [[TAS]]. Generally for situations like this, a time penalty is added for each segment to discourage overuse of quick-saving and -loading. This theoretically enables all runs, regardless of segment count, to be ranked alongside each other. | + | However, games such as [[Metroid Prime]], which is open-ended but allow you to save whenever you reach a save point, or [[Half-Life]], which allows you to literally save and load ''anywhere'', raise a different question: how many segments should you have? In Half-Life the number of segments can be practically infinite, meaning Half-Life runs can theoretically be optimised frame-by-frame, like a [[TAS]]. Generally for situations like this, a time penalty is added for each segment to discourage overuse of quick-saving and -loading. This theoretically enables all runs, regardless of segment count, to be ranked alongside each other. |