Dragon’s Dogma 2’s save system is a minefield

polygon.com:

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes an unorthodox approach with many of its gameplay systems, from its reliance on slow travel to its loss gauge system that punishes players for dying repeatedly. Another aspect of Capcom’s game that’s similarly onerous is it save system. Dragon’s Dogma 2 bucks tradition when it comes to player choice concerning saves — there’s no save scumming in this role-playing game.

You only have one save file in Dragon’s Dogma 2, so don’t expect to play with a variety of characters or simply whip up a new save file if you want to quickly start over. There are two types of save files: a save that will record your most recent progress, and a kind of backup save that can get you out of serious trouble but may result in you throwing away some game progress.

Understanding saving in Dragon’s Dogma 2, and which type of save you should load when you need to, can be confusing at first but is crucial to survival.

You can save your game at almost any time by going to the main menu and selecting the System option. From there, you can save manually, and then either continue with your journey or exit to the title screen. Dragon’s Dogma 2 will also frequently autosave your progress.

When restarting the game from the title screen, or upon dying, you have two options:

Your last save is just that: the most recent time the game was saved, either manually or through an autosave (represented by the orange circle in the upper-right corner of the screen). Loading from last save is generally what you want to do when loading the game from the main title menu; it’ll pick up right where you left off.

If you’re killed during a battle in Dragon’s Dogma 2, you’ll probably want to reload from your last save. But be mindful of your health status when you do. When you take damage in the game, your overall maximum health will decrease. (This is called the loss gauge.) You can only restore your health back to maximum by resting at an inn, a campfire, or your private residence.

Repeatedly