being limited to seeing only the room you're in really dampens the enjoyment level.
I'd posted this in another thread, but as far as the map goes, from the map screen:
1. Hold the right mouse key down to drag the map around a view areas you've been to, and
2. using the wheel on the mouse allows you to zoom in and out to see more or less of the map.
I discovered this accidently when I was shooting at something on the lower right corner of my screen and accidently activated the map. Next thing you know it was moving the map around! Yay me!
The map save points seem to appear either when you have explored for a long time and need to save about an hour's worth of gameplay (in which case they appear in a random spot) ---OR--- they appear right before a large boss (which allows you to "fuel up" on health points and when you fail to beat the boss on the first try, it's not such a long way back.)
Personally, I would like the ability to save the game without the use of a save point. Here's why: I have a laptop and I play the computer in bed wrapped in a down comforter--it gets cold in the winter here. It gets late and I fall asleep staring at the screen. When I'm getting that tired, I can't pay attention to the kelp monsters and the silly little "hamburger" monsters that lunge at me...Those are the times I just want to exit the game and be back where I was the next time I pick it up.