The Long Dark Strategic Game


SteveP

The Long Dark Strategic Game  

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I'm curious about how people are reacting to the far-reaching changes in predator behaviour? In your opinion, do you think the game has moved away from a strategic thinking game with planning and preparation? I'm reserving judgement for the moment but I do think these recent changes have a rather drastic effect upon tactics that the majority of players have relied upon in the past especially the use of flares and torches.

How do you feel about having a new method to make torches that is not reliant upon limited resources such as cloth and kerosene?

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18 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

I feel like I have to employ much more strategy, now that some of the old tactics are gone.

Agreed. I think the game has become a little more strategic because you can't rely on one 100% secure strategy (avoidance or torches or decoys) any more but are often forced to use a combination of them because one option fails.

You also need to think through bear hunting much more now (not any place is feasible to kill them without risk any more due to the campfire change).

The game has become more difficult for sure, but not less strategic imo.

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With this latest patch eliminating so many of the "predictable and unrealistic exploits", the game has become much more strategic than it was.

I've already been killed on a couple of runs because of situations I took for granted before the update!

As I said in another post .................. this update is "adjusting my attitude" a bit and making me re-think my gameplay!!  I like that!

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The way you used to be able to insta-light a torch, drop it in front of a wolf and then just shoot him in the face: that felt really gamey and unrealistic to me. I'm glad if you can't do that any more.

I've not had the chance to try and see off any wolves yet, though - the only ones I've spotted so far haven't spotted me. But from what I've read about them 'stalking' you before an attack now, then you have time to light a small fire for protection? If you have accelerant? Or not?

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If you have a lit torch or flare, you can't drop it however the instant you try to equip a weapon, the torch/flare will auto drop and the wolf is on you instantly. Wolf combat is unavoidable. Tell me how that is strategic??? You won't convince me that it is. Sorry.

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My perspective might be a little different, since I've used these two related terms "strategy" and "tactic" a lot in my professional life.  To use the ol sports analogy, strategy is the overall approach, the gameplan.  A tactic is one of several plays from the playbook that support the gameplan.  So dropping the torch (in the past) was just a tactic, in support of very simple strategy for wolves. 

My gameplan for wolves has become a lot more varied.  I watch out for them much more actively, stealth, brandish, knife and run away more.  I'm not very good at shooting them yet but I'm trying to get the hang of dropping bait to give me more time to shoot them.  I like it!  The game feels much more immersive now.

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I've always thought this should be a horror game, that is, a game where you are never fully in control constantly fighting to survive never knowing exactly where the next threat will come from.  An experience to make the player feel vulnerable.

Until now the mechanics have been more in tune for an action-adventure, where the player decides what encounters to have when while always possessing superior firepower.  An experience to make a player feel superior.

I like that the threats are live, I like that immediate concerns can trump long-term plans, but mostly I like how much less I will have to hear about 2000 day survival runs. 

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7 hours ago, SteveP said:

If you have a lit torch or flare, you can't drop it however the instant you try to equip a weapon, the torch/flare will auto drop and the wolf is on you instantly. Wolf combat is unavoidable. Tell me how that is strategic??? You won't convince me that it is. Sorry.

You can brandish, and you can bait, two tactics that are probably forgotten by players accustomed to exploiting the old AI routines, because they both had very, very limited usage scenarios prior to this change. In terms of effective escape techniques it goes something like:

  1. Flare gun
  2. Flare
  3. Torch
  4. Bait

Throwing flares used to be the top tier escape technique (flare gun aside). Not being able to do that is a little disappointing because I loved how effective flares were - you were wolf-proof for hours when you popped one and I would use them frequently in the early game before I had a decent melee weapon. I felt torch brandishing was always supposed to be the lesser cousin of flare-throwing because torches were infinite, flares weren't.

But the combination of wolves not initiating combat while you held the torch and dropping the torch creating an impassable barrier for the wolf made brandishing pointless. You were free to walk away or pull out a weapon just by abusing those rules, which made wolf encounters trivial at all difficulties. This was a well known issue.

You shouldn't be able to keep a wolf at bay while you aim a bow/gun at its head for an easy kill shot. You can still escape a wolf encounter, because brandishing can still keep wolves at bay, and if all else fails, you can bait a wolf and buy yourself some time to escape.

The developers have clearly signalled that the intention is to make wolf encounters an undesirable state. These changes (along with the new ailment for exclusively consuming carnivore meat) are intended so that players can no longer treat wolves as a walking snack. Engagement no longer happens purely on the player's terms, and the resource value of engagements is reduced slightly.  

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