The Long Dark

[Burning Bridges]

Oh shit, this thing actually released?

Nah, just launched Story mode to Early Access
Release is still a loooooooooooooong way off, first comes chapter 2 and then spring season and so on.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Don't go full-on Celerity dude, walk away.

I know, but this game once was really dear to me, it allowed me to sperg my remaining wood matches and the state of my can opener. I will give up but atm I am still carrying it like a dead pet

 

[luj1]

This any good?

 

[Darkzone]

Ok here my first impressions
On screen text flickers, dont know what this weird shit is.
New UI / Radial menu etc sucks, as expected. Console plebs

Yes the flickering is shit, but the second one not since this is one additional option that i have not used it once yesterday on my playthrough (6h).

DAY 1
First I need to remove the shard from my hand by repeated clicking This is a gameplay mechanic that they have rediscovered from the 80s (decathlon)
The hand holding in the first level is overpowering. Cannot pick Rose hip berries "you dont need those yet". Almost froze to death in front of several plane crash fires.

The clicking is shit, but to add is that the beginning of the story is like a tutorial.

DAY 2
Wanted to apply a bandage to my wounded hand, no effect. Pointless!
DAY 3
Now I must make a fire that last through the night.

The hand wound heals over time, not by a bandage. You need to make a fire for 9h, and at the beginning i didn't get it but i still had enough wood for the 9h.

Making fires in previous versions was more enjoyable. I cannot even place a new fire over an old one, so my cave gets littered up with burnt up campfires.
Thankfully there are now new pieces of wood around the cave or I would have had a fit. I had used up my wood in the second fire, because I didn't know that the game would simply autoquit the second day, and I should have made 3-4 extra litres of water.

You can click now at the previous fire to make it burn again, so there is no need for a another fire.

I will state that it has become better, but the story mode is a bit annoying.

 

[Darkzone]

DAY 3, 4 and 5

I was supposed to make a fire all through the night, and I was initially hopeful but after I had turned everything - I mean literally everything - every crate, cardboard box end even the fucking branches - around the cave into firewood and had boiled over 50 liters of potable water, day 4 passed by, and the night approached and with it day fucking 5, I realized that someone was trying to fuck me in the ass.
"You dont need those yet" Hey asshole, the rose hips would have given me 100 calories each and I starved in front of 50 liters of water and a fire with a final output of over 80C that I was supposed to keep running for 9 hours and made eventually 36 hours or so.

I think that you cannot die through starvation in this stage. Later as you can hunt the rabbits, you can die through starvation.

This also proves that you guys cannot program for shit, such a simple timer, in such an important release, which you had years to prepare.
You know what, I also already know that its probably because I Alt-Tabbed out of the game and thats not how the game is supposed to be played amirite?
Who would've thought of that someone Alt-Tabs because sitting 9 hours next to a fire is boring even to a quasi-autist like me.
Fucking amateurs. Game left EA and entered early early Alpha, for a beta such shit is not acceptable.

You can pass time by the fire in the round menu (Campfire craft or something like that), but this is also not necessary since you fall asleep if you move away from the fire.

 

[Turisas]

This any good?

Ehh, one of those games that seem more fun initially than they really are. Sandbox is pointless once you figure out the basic survival and story mode doesn't seem all that great either (not that I got very far yet). Bargain bin/bundle material, unless you're into the survival genre in general, then it's pretty solid I suppose.

 

[Burning Bridges]

The game is very good if you want to enable some tech hipsters a life of coffee slurping and vanity.

But seriously, the sandbox imo is a lot of autist fun and worth up to 20$. It is not worth the current price because it is still the same it was 3 years ago.
The few improvements they made are negated by the horrid interface that they made for consoles.

 

[Darkzone]

In my opinion this game has become better with the frozen/wet attributes and the visibility of layers of clothes. Also the different values now in the clothes are something that makes it more fun. As an example the military combat boots don't have the weather protection value, but you will get less damage from wolf fights. This way you can make a more resistant to damage hunter or cold weather nomad.

 

[imajia]

The frozen/wet status was indeed a positive addition. The layering and the clothes attributes didn't change anything for me. In the end, I always end with the same clothes and fail to see why I should change them. The only thing which really matters is getting protected against the cold, everything else is of secondary interest.

 

[Darkzone]

The frozen/wet status was indeed a positive addition. The layering and the clothes attributes didn't change anything for me. In the end, I always end with the same clothes and fail to see why I should change them. The only thing which really matters is getting protected against the cold, everything else is of secondary interest.

One of my previous methods for getting food was killing wolves with a knife, before i could make arrows and bows. So for me protective clothing against damage from wolves is a good thing. In life and game there are two type of characters: the hunters and the gatherers.
You will go for the tactic of a nomad gathering food from leftover resources, fishing, rabbits and etc. And i go for the wolves.
I have not played it currently enough (just 6h after more than 6 months) to say what clothing there is and how it behaves, but it seems that there will be military or protecting hunter clothing, that is right for me.

 

[imajia]

"You will go for the tactic of"
no, I won't, of course I'm hunting. Not specifically wolves, though. But with a bow or rifle it doesn't make a difference if your buttnaked or proteced with bear skin coat. Perhaps I played the game to much, but there isn't really much depth in it.

 

[Burning Bridges]

 

[Starwars]

While I can certainly believe that the story is boring as fuck based on the trailer they released, I lasted to about 2:40 before I had to close that video.

Who the fuck enjoys these youtube idiots?

 

[imajia]

Spoiler

That's kind of the long version of your "atm I am still carrying it like a dead pet" analogy. Most of the points the guy makes I agree with, especially with the bloody wolves in story mode.

Who the fuck enjoys these youtube idiots?

Not "these", but there are some with a calm and steady voice which you can just listen to in the background. Not many, though.

 

[Darkzone]

"You will go for the tactic of"
no, I won't, of course I'm hunting. Not specifically wolves, though. But with a bow or rifle it doesn't make a difference if your buttnaked or proteced with bear skin coat. Perhaps I played the game to much, but there isn't really much depth in it.

You are correct on the fact that clothing don't matter if you hunt with a bow or a rifle. I have tested that you get less damage and bleading wounds with a good protected military mantle than with a thin windbreaker, if you are fighting against wolves with a knife.
But my tactics is now shit, because of the worms that you get from eating wolves.
I have also played this game to much and a breake from it was needed. But the thing is if you have discovered all the necessary tricks to survive in different situation, then the game hasn't that much more to offer. The story is slow and creeping (instead of running) and this doesn't translate that good with this survival game. Perhaps this gets better after the gray mother?

 

[Burning Bridges]

I tried to play the sandbox, but somehow they managed to kill the fun from that too.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Holy shit, this AND Grimwah actually released?

And in the same month?

Seems to be that the Kodex Konsensus is that this game is shit though.

I have a terrible feeling about Subnautica too....

 

[Burning Bridges]

The problem with Subnautica is that it's currently running like shit, and I don't dare to play it before they release. I certainly dont want to go through all a third or fourth time.

 

[Metro]

Story mode is bad but Survival mode is solid. Not going to read the last eight pages of allegedly Celerity-like rage but getting it in the Humble Monthly (and selling the Warhammer and Quantum Break shit for $7) for $5 plus other games is a fine deal. I can see where they might have failed to deliver on things but, at the very least, they seem to be putting some effort into fleshing out Survival more as opposed to being married to story mode.

The biggest 'problem' is the lack of an end-game. Even playing on Interloper so long as you can survive the first ten or so days and craft yourself a knife and hatchet at one of the two forges (and then a bow and arrow) you're done. Wolves are a nuisance but once you have a bow they are easy to handle. There's absolutely no reason at all to engage bears and the new moose isn't particularly daunting although his +5 kg bag is a nice reward.

Ignoring story I think most people would still get a good 20-30 hours out of Survival. I'm not sure why they were so keen on story mode as the gameplay doesn't suit itself to a narrative.

Edit: Re: requests for an 'editor' I don't know if this counts but there is a custom mode that allows you to tweak a ton of difficulty settings for a survival game.

 

[Arnust]

Story mode is bad but Survival mode is solid. Not going to read the last eight pages of allegedly Celerity-like rage but getting it in the Humble Monthly (and selling the Warhammer and Quantum Break shit for $7) for $5 plus other games is a fine deal. I can see where they might have failed to deliver on things but, at the very least, they seem to be putting some effort into fleshing out Survival more as opposed to being married to story mode.

The biggest 'problem' is the lack of an end-game. Even playing on Interloper so long as you can survive the first ten or so days and craft yourself a knife and hatchet at one of the two forges (and then a bow and arrow) you're done. Wolves are a nuisance but once you have a bow they are easy to handle. There's absolutely no reason at all to engage bears and the new moose isn't particularly daunting although his +5 kg bag is a nice reward.

Ignoring story I think most people would still get a good 20-30 hours out of Survival. I'm not sure why they were so keen on story mode as the gameplay doesn't suit itself to a narrative.

Edit: Re: requests for an 'editor' I don't know if this counts but there is a custom mode that allows you to tweak a ton of difficulty settings for a survival game.

Metro, the "goal" of Survival really is to get to know the lay of the land and learn what's what to either move on to the hardest dificulty, Stalker, which is almost an overhaul of the game itself, or go try and do the Challenges.

Also I'd say it's not a bad idea to sink some of your likely abundant signal flares and bullets into the bear if you feel like it's getting a bit too close to your base or is often in your way. But yeah, this ain't Terraria, there's just not that much of a zenith to the experience besides doing the Timberwolf Mountain climb.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I have given up on the game. TLD 2014 - early 2015 was fantastic but the game we have now reminds me of TLD II which is a dumbed down, bland cousin.

They sat on their bum the last 2 years. They also totally ruined the UI and turned everything into a pointlessly annoying, continuous minigame about making fires and ultimately being eaten by members of the canidae family. And the fact that there still are no NPCs and new maps makes the game ultimately tedious (the 3,4 new maps they made in 3 years are explored in a few days).

I had waited for over a year until I wanted to get back, played a bit before Christmas. Had an ok start in the Mining Town map but then realized that the game is boring and not motivating. After 2 days the trigger for wolfs had activated. The first wolf saw me, and attacked right on sight. My rifle shot missed because the default Unity hit boxes suck wolf cock and when the wolf was over me, I ceased resistance and let it finish me, symbolically for my realtionship with The Long Dark.

But for a complete newb it could still be a fantastic experience, because the core formula is still there. The company Hinterland just stumbled upon it by accident and then ruined it themselves.

 

[Zarniwoop]

All these open world survival games take this course. Starts off promising, gets huge funding through Kickstarter or selling the early access on steam, nothing happens for a year or more, some pointless cosmetic shit is added at the end, massively disappointing game gets released.

Happened with TLD, happened with Starbound and it will happen with Subnautica.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I mean, it's all badly underbudget and funded by the bunch of gullible idiots. End of the day, you can't fill a sandbox game with good intentions, if it's to have quality content, it needs more resources that most of these games have.

 

[Burning Bridges]

In TLDs case you also have too strong egos, eg this strange bearded man who apparently drives everyone with talent to other companies.

In Subnautica's case, they started later and the game is at least going to be in some released state in 4 weeks. The Hinterland crew however seems to think they can go on with this cushy job for another 3 years, and don't see that their best people are leaving the boat left and right never to return, and all they have left is young gullible Steam audience buying ghe game and shelving it after some time.

 

[Metro]

The systems are fine. Yes, Unity is a shitty engine but... oh well. It's sort of like Gothic 1 and 2 where the early game is basically the whole game and then towards the end you are so strong a lot of the combat is trivial.

But yeah, this ain't Terraria, there's just not that much of a zenith to the experience besides doing the Timberwolf Mountain climb.

And I think that's fine. I don't necessarily want a game with tons of loot and crafting because then you get too close to these shitty minecraft clones that almost none of these games pull off well. Terraria is good because the focus is on combat/loot/exploration. Other games fall into the trap where the focus is mostly on aesthetics and building derpy houses and shit. Long Dark is a game that should be focused more on the survival experience of dealing with the wild as opposed to turtling in your base -- sadly there are a bunch of people on the Steam forums who want more 'building' options.

I think being able to safely sleep/craft/etc. inside a building (behind a loading screen) also takes away a lot of the challenge after the initial week or so. They need far more 'threats' to keep things interesting for extended play.