I don't like the game anymore.

[cekivi]

Personally, I am very sympathetic. There are a lot of things that I would have loved to see make the final cut that didn't. I also agree with @Boston123 that there are a lot of simple little things that could have been done to make the game feel more organic. At the same time I also understand that the Dev team only had so much time and likely focused on the mechanics/interactions that were most interesting to them and/or would generate the most positive feedback from the community at large. For instance, when the Steam trading cards were first released within hours there were players who had already collected all of them so at least some segment of the player base (and potential customer base) cares a lot for this particular feature. 

Can the game improve? Of course. And going forward I hope that it does. If nothing else, I am still optimistic that either a "custom difficulty" or modding is added to the game so that players (like you @KD7BCH) can get the experience they want. I personally would also like Interloper weather/loot with Voyager wolf aggression and numbers. 

[WanderingPalm]

On 10/8/2017 at 1:31 PM, KD7BCH said:

<post>

My apologies for my assumptions. Yes, that does sound incredibly frustrating and annoyingly opposed to the idea of surviving nature in this apocalypse. Yes, wolves are a part of nature, but by your experiences, it seems like their threat surpasses literally every other threat in the game at those higher levels. Which is incredibly disappointing to me, since I was just gathering up the courage to try Interloper.

I get that Interloper is harder in all ways, but why is it also necessary for wolves to do so much more damage than in, say, Voyageur? You’re already deterred from eating them, what with the parasites, and fighting them by hand is already a huge risk, given the damage to clothing and limited healing supplies, not to mention your already likely sub-optimal condition from surviving the elements and starvation, so making the wolves also godly powerful seems unnecessary. Perhaps it’s just to keep the player from easily making a wolfskin coat? But I suppose I’m judging unfairly since I haven’t actually played it yet (if only I could stop procrastinating with the forums to do it!).

Regardless, your post provides a lot more information that I feel is a valid criticism, but really shouldn’t be muddied with your criticism of the Steam cards. As has been pointed out to you before: Steam Cards weren’t implemented INSTEAD OF any game mechanic. It’s not an either/or scenario. If you can instead focus the conversation on the perceived unfairness of wolf attacks at higher difficulties, you have a chance of the devs taking notice and making changes. Or perhaps you’ll at least find some people who have suffered through exactly what you have to commiserate with.

Well, here’s hoping the wolves don’t destroy us all. ::toasts::

[JaySovereign]

Seeing all of the dedication of the team and the people behind them, I'm sure The Long Dark will be around for a long time. There will always be things people don't like about it, like I had to adjust to clicking and holding the button along with the new UI, but after a while I got used to it and now I think it suits the style a lot better. That whole water color/chalky style is really interesting, I think.

As with the whole problem with the developers, this is also an issue I often see when it comes to any community and their fanbase/supporters. There can be miscommunication and to be honest, I don't blame them for getting rid of the road map, nor the decisions that they've made in the past. In the end, it only put more pressure on their shoulders. We should let them take their time. It certainly took me a while to get into the game and now I play it all the time. I'd much prefer a well-done product over a rushed game filled with bugs, and The Long Dark wasn't nearly as bad with that, with most of them being able to be worked around. 

Short version: I believe this game is worth sticking around for and you might want to give it another chance.

 

[JAFO]

2 hours ago, JaySovereign said:

I had to adjust to clicking and holding the button

Are you aware you can turn that (thrice be damned) behaviour off in the options? Mind you, the terminology used isn't really indicative of what it does.

Options > Controls > Accessible Interactions

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, JAFO said:

Are you aware you can turn that (thrice be damned) behaviour off in the options? Mind you, the terminology used isn't really indicative of what it does.

Options > Controls > Accessible Interactions

They really need to rename that (or have it on by default). 

[Timber Wolf]

Reading this thread made me curious as to how much difference there is between Interloper and Stalker.  Check out the results here.

[KinoUnko]

On 10/9/2017 at 0:37 AM, cekivi said:

a "custom difficulty" or modding is added to the game so that players (like you @KD7BCH) can get the experience they want. 

Custom difficulty settings is a great way to allow a lot of customization without massive overhead. Current 4 difficulty levels would be presets as it were. It would go a long way addressing many players' issue with wolves, too many, too few, too easy, too hard... As it stands now wolves are more and more becoming like zombies (or whatever their equivalent is) of other survival games. If it were me, custom settings would be my first priority outside of story mode and game breaking bugs, higher than new content or mod support. 

[cekivi]

Custom difficulty @KinoUnko has definitely been a requested feature for many years. 

[KinoUnko]

9 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Custom difficulty @KinoUnko has definitely been a requested feature for many years. 

all the stranger that it isn't in the game by now yea?

[JaySovereign]

14 hours ago, JAFO said:

Are you aware you can turn that (thrice be damned) behaviour off in the options? Mind you, the terminology used isn't really indicative of what it does.

Options > Controls > Accessible Interactions

Yep, I turned it off, but I still do it sometimes by accident. Many a wolf has nabbed me because the circle was still filling while I was clicking on the door.

[cekivi]

7 hours ago, KinoUnko said:

all the stranger that it isn't in the game by now yea?

Well, it is reasonable. You'd want to test a few experience modes that model how you want single player to behave and avoid hunting down bugs and balancing each mode. But it would still be nice if it is announced "soon". 

[KinoUnko]

20 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Well, it is reasonable. You'd want to test a few experience modes that model how you want single player to behave and avoid hunting down bugs and balancing each mode. But it would still be nice if it is announced "soon". 

Maybe. I'd bet money there's something like it internally for a long time... It's just really hard to imagine balancing everything there is in the game without being able to adjust all the parameters that drive creature behaviours, climate, item spawn rate, etc from a centralized point. 4 presets isn't close to fine grain enough control for playtesting purposes. If there is such a dev tool, it'd really be a matter of days, if not hours, to expose some of those controls and build a UI page for it in the settings menu.

[JAFO]

22 hours ago, cekivi said:

They really need to rename that (or have it on by default). 

Or both.

[WanderingPalm]

On 10/14/2017 at 0:59 PM, KinoUnko said:

all the stranger that it isn't in the game by now yea?

Someone please correct me if I’m mistaken, but I recall reading somewhere that the devs were against the idea of custom difficulty because it ruined their vision for the game. Like, they had an idea about how the game should be played, and they didn’t want people altering that to take away from the atmosphere and overall experience.

Regardless, yeah, I would kill for this feature. You can see all the threads requesting it in Wish List. Hopefully we’ll wear them down soon...

[KinoUnko]

I completely understand that. I always played TLD as Raphael's game rather than simply a survival game. If Hinterland isn't unwilling to open TLD up more, a spin-off with all the standard survival game bells and whistles, after Wintermute storyline wraps, would be more than welcomed by great many players I'm sure.

[cekivi]

5 hours ago, WanderingPalm said:

Someone please correct me if I’m mistaken, but I recall reading somewhere that the devs were against the idea of custom difficulty because it ruined their vision for the game. Like, they had an idea about how the game should be played, and they didn’t want people altering that to take away from the atmosphere and overall experience.

That is correct @WanderingPalm. It's hard to craft an experience if you don't know what your players are experiencing. At the same time though a custom difficulty would increase the game's longevity. 

[Blinkin]

I've stated it before and so have many others I see (that's great!); a custom difficulty like in Kerbal Space Program with certain gameplay mechanisms that can be tweaked or even turned off in survival mode would be fantastic!

[WanderingPalm]

‘Ey, Blinkin!

Love the reference.

[Blinkin]

'Did you say....Abe Lincoln?'

Glad you like it.

What I like to add to my previous reaction: I understand the point of view of the devs with the experience of the story. A changeable difficulty would only be necessary for survival mode if you'd ask me, right?

[KD7BCH]

I agree. I think allowing players to customize their sandbox experience makes sense. It is after all their story. 

[Mroz4k]

1 hour ago, KD7BCH said:

I agree. I think allowing players to customize their sandbox experience makes sense. It is after all their story. 

Not to diss your statement, but the "it's their game" is a reference to why they did NOT add customized playlist.

On 10/17/2017 at 8:48 PM, cekivi said:

That is correct @WanderingPalm. It's hard to craft an experience if you don't know what your players are experiencing. At the same time though a custom difficulty would increase the game's longevity. 

Honestly, this never made sense to me. Wouldnt Custom mode actually achieve JUST that? Giving the devs an idea what the players want? assuming their options were recorded in the "game results save", by comparing the "options" that most players play, it should give them a good idea what the people like to do most in the TLD. 

Like, if the game option records were connected through the steam, or the players had an option to "send game record data" to Hinterland for the sake of statistics, it would give them much more valuable data. As opposed to hand-crafted modes which will have certain mechanics in them that people like and others that they dislike, and these mechanics would be recorded regardless whether players like them or not.

Like is the case of this thread - many players express wanting an Explorer gamemode with Interloper difficulty but non-hostile wildlife, or even pilgrim loot and wildlife but interloper weather.

If the idea is to get an idea what players like the most, then this is clearly the wrong way of handling it.

[JAFO]

9 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

assuming their options were recorded in the "game results save", by comparing the "options" that most players play, it should give them a good idea what the people like to do most in the TLD. 

I'm almost certain that Hinterland don't track game usage in such a way.. nor would I want them to.

[Mroz4k]

9 hours ago, JAFO said:

I'm almost certain that Hinterland don't track game usage in such a way.. nor would I want them to.

Not saying it was a necessity, but voluntary. Besides, how do "set modes" help in the first place? Not much you can learn from that either, unless people say something somewhere, like on these forums.

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, Mroz4k said:

Not saying it was a necessity, but voluntary. Besides, how do "set modes" help in the first place? Not much you can learn from that either, unless people say something somewhere, like on these forums.

With set modes you can do internal testing and know for certain your player base will have the same experience. 

[Tomcat2]

I know it doesn't comply with the original idea how to play the game, but you can backup your saves locally in your PC and don't die at all. If you die because of the wolf, just restore the save you backed up before and solve the situation differently. I do that often and it works well.