Story mode = confusion and bugs mode

[robi]

I've played and kept eye on Long Dark periodically since it's first alpha release, and looked forward to story mode very much, only to end somewhat disappointed, particularly with Episode 2. Although the story itself is pretty good, it's the implementation that disappointed me. I played the first episode rather smoothly, but when I started episode 2, I noticed quite a few things that either confused me or got on my nerves, so I'll try to briefly count them here, all in hope developers fix/change these, and make this beautiful game even better for all players.
 

1. These might seem like a minor problem, but WHY can't you load a checkpoint whenever you want? My understanding is that checkpoint can be loaded only when you're dead, or am missing something here? I ended up doing suicide several times just to be able to load the checkpoint . Also, why do we need to quit the game so we could load a saved game?

2. Jeremiah sends you to bring deer meat, and then he sends you again to bring fish, and again to repair his coat, AND THEN ONCE AGAIN to bring plants. And there is no possible way to take more than one of this tasks simultaneously. Why?? Can't all this be the part of the same task?? It doesn't make any sense. It's annoying as hell.

3. Killing the bear : Before i say anything, I played a ton of shooters in my life, both good and bad ones. But shooting a rifle in this game is very poorly made. It's impossible to hit anything more than 50 meters away. On top of that the whole kill the old bear quest was totally confusing. I spent a whole hour trying to beat the bear by firing all my bullets in it, wondering what will take to finally kill him. I mean in second encounter i managed to shoot him 5 times in the head. Finally after i started to feel really stupid, I came here to the forums, just to be enlightened about what really had to be done. You need to shoot the bear once, on each location, and it doesn't matter where you shoot him, even tho Jeremiah explicitly said you need to shoot him between eyes.. This was totally illogical to me. Does this make sense to anyone? In my opinion it's stupid and unrewarding to player, because the players skill gets totally neglected and the game forces you to go by it's rules and get mauled by the bear numerous times.. Stupid.

4. Waiting for aurora to enter Carter hydro dam: I came to the hydro dam, it was perfectly logical to come there and wait for the night, i slept inside, used some of the food i left there before, and waited. First night came, no aurora. OK I think, let's wait for the next one. The night came, no aurora again. I waited for 5 nights. After that I was pretty sure the game is bugged and came here to the forums again to see if anyone has the same problem. Enlightened again: you cant wait in the hydro dam, you must wait outside of the fence, only then will the aurora come. WHAT??  How does this make any sense?? This really got me angry, because I think many players did the same mistake as I did and wasted food and resources on waiting in vain.

5. There is no switch to turn of sparking wires before the final staircase out of the dam? Because I searched and searched, and ended running over them all in fear of dying if i stay down there and the day comes. I burned myself, but survived..

In addition. Did anyone see what happens when daylight comes and aurora ends before you exit the dam?

That would be all for now. I really hope developers do something about this issues, because i think a great deal of players had same issues or found same things annoying. I love this game, It's a beautiful, atmospheric, soothing experience to play. If i didn't like it this much I wouldn't bother to write all this, and primary reason I'm writing this post is because I'd like to see these things improved for all present and future players, and would like to see next episodes better than first two. Hinterland please hear my suggestions and that of all other players, fix this annoyances, and don't let them spoil this beautiful jewel of a game.

[Fuarian]

Agree with 2 and 3. But the Aurora only comes after 5 days to let you finish up any side missions you haven't done. IMO it should happen every night like Interloper Mode. And for the Dam, there's a switch before you cross the big turbines. You need to cross the first one and then go to the side, there's a little metal platform you need to cross to go back. Then flick the switch. Turns off everything.

[robi]

7 minutes ago, Fuarian said:

Agree with 2 and 3. But the Aurora only comes after 5 days to let you finish up any side missions you haven't done. IMO it should happen every night like Interloper Mode. And for the Dam, there's a switch before you cross the big turbines. You need to cross the first one and then go to the side, there's a little metal platform you need to cross to go back. Then flick the switch. Turns off everything.

Oh, thank you! Must have missed it

So, about number 4, you're saying that aurora would appear even if i continued to wait inside the dam?

[RossBondReturns]

Jeremiah's hunting advice is idiotic. (He doesn't say shoot him between the eyes- he says shoot him when he's close) This of course pretty much guarantees a mauling so-  Don't follow it.

Take on the bear with medium range shots from unexpected positions and you'll keep good clothing intact.

Also you don't have the shoot the bear once at each location...because I shot the bear twice at the next to last location and he dropped dead (just in the nick of time)!

The aurora re-appeared for me wile I was waiting in the lobby of the dam on night 5 I believe...but it was overcast as well so I missed out on the green lighting everywhere.

[Fuarian]

On 8/18/2017 at 11:05 AM, robi said:

Oh, thank you! Must have missed it

So, about number 4, you're saying that aurora would appear even if i continued to wait inside the dam?

Yes it would most likely appear again. You'd have to wait until night time again. And if there's bad weather it won't show up at all. So it's best to go through as soon as it shows up just in case. And there are wires at the final staircase at the back of the lower dam that flicker. So you have SOME time to cross.

[Dougie]

I once shot a bear walking past the back porch at the farmstead in Pleasant Valley in the Survival Sandbox. One shot to the head downed it.  Lots of meat.

[Sashamorning]

Technically, Jeremiah says "wait until you see its eyes" but that's still cryptic.

[RossBondReturns]

15 hours ago, Sashamorning said:

Technically, Jeremiah says "wait until you see its eyes" but that's still cryptic.

It's still horrible advice.

[Patrick Carlson]

On 8/18/2017 at 8:51 AM, robi said:

4. Waiting for aurora to enter Carter hydro dam: I came to the hydro dam, it was perfectly logical to come there and wait for the night, i slept inside, used some of the food i left there before, and waited. First night came, no aurora. OK I think, let's wait for the next one. The night came, no aurora again. I waited for 5 nights. After that I was pretty sure the game is bugged and came here to the forums again to see if anyone has the same problem. Enlightened again: you cant wait in the hydro dam, you must wait outside of the fence, only then will the aurora come. WHAT??  How does this make any sense?? This really got me angry, because I think many players did the same mistake as I did and wasted food and resources on waiting in vain.

5. There is no switch to turn of sparking wires before the final staircase out of the dam? Because I searched and searched, and ended running over them all in fear of dying if i stay down there and the day comes. I burned myself, but survived..

 

(possible spoilers in this response, so ignore if need-be) Sorry to hear about some of these points of confusion for you. A couple points of clarity here based on your questions: you can indeed wait inside the dam - if you would like to - the Aurora will still trigger. It's just that you might miss a story beat outside if you do, that's all. 

As for the final staircase you don't have to burn yourself to pass over the wires there, just take note of your surroundings as you would in other parts of the game, as well as in Survival Mode. The electricity might give you just enough time to run over the wires...

 

[Joopsie]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm currently at the Carter Dam waiting for the Aurora. After 3 days, I'm starting to doubt if the Aurora is ever going to show up and that my game is glitched. So I guess I'll wait it out another 2 days and it should show up so I can be on my merry way.