Pokemon Legends Arceus players always knew auto-save had the potential to ruin a Shiny encounter, and one player’s fears were realized when losing a Shiny Alpha.
Autosave is a saving grace in most cases. Forget to save before turning off your game? No problem. The game saved itself for you at a convenient point not far from where you left off.
But auto-save can also be a player’s downfall if it activates at an inopportune moment. A great example is Fallout 4 which can sometimes save right in front of a very strong enemy. This creates a loop where the player dies, reloads in front of the enemy, and dies again.
For Pokemon players, autosaves introduce a unique threat. Players often fear a botched Shiny encounter – especially in Pokemon Legends Arceus – will be forever lost due to an ill-timed auto-save.
Legends Arceus loses Shiny in heartbreaking fashion
The autosave function in Pokemon Legends Arceus is simple enough to disable. However, one player who goes by Ban4Ligma on Reddit learned to turn off the function after it was already too late.
While hunting for Shinies in massive mass outbreaks, Ban4Ligma ran across a swarm of Alpha Froslass. While clearing out the horde, the autosave icon appeared in the top right corner.
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Just as the save appeared, so did a Shiny Alpha Frosslass. Sadly, just as the autosave icon disappeared, so did the Shiny Pokemon. Ban4Ligma promptly turned off the autosave function in their settings.
According to the player, the save state loads the player into the frame where the Shiny disappears. A lesson learned a very hard way.
If you want to avoid similar heartbreaks, you can turn off the autosave feature by going to your settings and switching “Autosave” to “disable”.
And if you want to avoid losing a Shiny from an outbreak, remember to manually save before clearing out the swarm. This will provide an anchor point for you to return to if you’re unlucky enough to fail the encounter.