Lonewolf Survivalists

[Ducky335]

 Lemme preface this by saying: This post may be a bit long winded. If potentially long posts bother you, please read the TL;DR beneath this.

TL;DR - Are there any other players out there who enjoy surviving on their own, and have trouble playing Wintermute because of it?

 

So, I love The Long Dark. It has to be one of the best truly survival experiences I've encountered in nearly my entire 'career' as a gamer (I started at a young 11, I'm over 30 now). However, I find myself highly disappointed by the Wintermute campaign, simply because it involves primarily helping others. Before you start tearing me down, allow me to state that I'm not a bad or horrible person. In my daily life I'm very polite, very generous, and usually do my best to make sure the people around me have more than I do.

However, I've come to accept that, when it comes to survival situations, I'm a Lonewolf. Due to certain issues I've experienced throughout my life, as well as the way I was raised, I've had to either handle myself as best as I could, or rely on someone (my mother) to help me do it. Which, essentially means that in a horrible situation that requires survival, I can only help someone if I'm well squared away myself.

 

And I've noticed, unfortunately, that that all translates into my experiences in TLD. I love the story as far as the characters, the lore, and the overall Astrid thing goes. I think it adds a whole new dimension to a game that I've been playing since I believe just before the release of Forlorn Muskeg. But my enjoyment stops whenever I have to fork over something I feel is precious to someone for another lore dump, or maybe a reward of some sort that I don't have. (Let it be known, I don't remember if Grey Mother ever gave me a reward for her line, nor did I make it far enough to even complete the next NPC's line to find a reward there.)

When I play TLD, I derive great enjoyment from trekking out against all odds, and coming back with a nifty little present that may just have been well worth the time and effort required to have undertaken the task in the first place. In fact, as I write this all I have in my head right now is a winter clothed Gollum cradling a rifle and whispering something about his precious.

When I leave my little hovels, or my campfire late at night with a torch/flare, it's so that I might find more wood to throw on the fire I've built so I don't freeze to death before the sun rises. When I set a can of beans on a countertop in the Camp Office, it's because I want to know where it is when I return from a trek to the Hunter's Cabin because I might need it when I burst through the door. To have all of that effort cut in half, or completely stripped from me by an NPC even if it's an offering I can spare, sours the taste of further endeavors.

 

So I wonder; is there anyone else out there who feels the same way about The Long Dark? Or is it just me?

[Doc Feral]

I'm a rather insane hoarder/looter so I understand your feelings, but in Wintermute it's not an issue, since the game is designed so that you're supposed to climb a single-use rope when you move to the following chapter, so compulsive grubbing isn't that useful. In the end you'll always have more stuff than you can carry. As much as I loathe to admit it I didn't even tear apart all the curtains in Milton for cloth; but I still had to pile everything near the end of the tunnel so I could pick everything up, click on the exit and teleport to Jeremiah's house without needing (nor being able) to take a single step.

By the way, what you describe is more like the old version, when you had to build "trust" and that involved giving useful and limited things such as can openers to Grey Mother and natural medicines (which are limited but plentiful anyway) to Jeremiah. Now it's not like that anymore.

[Pillock]

7 hours ago, Ducky335 said:

I love the story as far as the characters, the lore, and the overall Astrid thing goes. I think it adds a whole new dimension to a game that I've been playing since I believe just before the release of Forlorn Muskeg. But my enjoyment stops whenever I have to fork over something I feel is precious to someone for another lore dump, or maybe a reward of some sort that I don't have. (Let it be known, I don't remember if Grey Mother ever gave me a reward for her line, nor did I make it far enough to even complete the next NPC's line to find a reward there.)

When I play TLD, I derive great enjoyment from trekking out against all odds, and coming back with a nifty little present that may just have been well worth the time and effort required to have undertaken the task in the first place. In fact, as I write this all I have in my head right now is a winter clothed Gollum cradling a rifle and whispering something about his precious.

When I leave my little hovels, or my campfire late at night with a torch/flare, it's so that I might find more wood to throw on the fire I've built so I don't freeze to death before the sun rises. When I set a can of beans on a countertop in the Camp Office, it's because I want to know where it is when I return from a trek to the Hunter's Cabin because I might need it when I burst through the door. To have all of that effort cut in half, or completely stripped from me by an NPC even if it's an offering I can spare, sours the taste of further endeavors.

 

So I wonder; is there anyone else out there who feels the same way about The Long Dark? Or is it just me?

I don't share that way of thinking, no.

To me, it's good that Wintermute offers a significantly different experience from Survivor Mode, and a most of that comes from the presence of NPCs. Without them, it'd just be the same thing, but with a prescribed set of tasks instead of the open-ended sandbox - it'd be like an extended Challenge Mode. I do prefer being alone in the world when I'm playing Survivor Mode (that is, I don't think I'd want to see NPCs there), but I also think it's important that the game overall offers variation from that, and Wintermute uses NPCs pretty well in my opinion - especially since the Redux.

[Ducky335]

7 hours ago, Doc Feral said:

By the way, what you describe is more like the old version, when you had to build "trust" and that involved giving useful and limited things such as can openers to Grey Mother and natural medicines (which are limited but plentiful anyway) to Jeremiah. Now it's not like that anymore.

Ah, that's good to know. I've only recently gotten to Grey Mother again after not playing for a good long while. In fact this is the first time I've attempted the story since the original story was released. So it's good to hear that my reservations are rather old.

[Ducky335]

1 hour ago, Pillock said:

I don't share that way of thinking, no.

To me, it's good that Wintermute offers a significantly different experience from Survivor Mode, and a most of that comes from the presence of NPCs. Without them, it'd just be the same thing, but with a prescribed set of tasks instead of the open-ended sandbox - it'd be like an extended Challenge Mode. I do prefer being alone in the world when I'm playing Survivor Mode (that is, I don't think I'd want to see NPCs there), but I also think it's important that the game overall offers variation from that, and Wintermute uses NPCs pretty well in my opinion - especially since the Redux.

Oh I agree whole heartedly with the variety standpoint. I don't want Wintermute to change at all. As I stated previously I like Wintermute primarily for the NPCs and what they offer on a larger scale. I'm just not fond of having to work for them, especially in an environment as hostile as 'The Great North'. But if Hinterland has overhauled the NPC Chores part of things, I'll definitely be giving a Wintermute run a try, right alongside my Survival run.

[Pillock]

2 minutes ago, Ducky335 said:

Oh I agree whole heartedly with the variety standpoint. I don't want Wintermute to change at all. As I stated previously I like Wintermute primarily for the NPCs and what they offer on a larger scale. I'm just not fond of having to work for them, especially in an environment as hostile as 'The Great North'. But if Hinterland has overhauled the NPC Chores part of things, I'll definitely be giving a Wintermute run a try, right alongside my Survival run.

Yeah, a lot of the 'Chores' are now relegated to "Side Missions", so you don't actually have to complete them in order to progress with the main narrative. The NPC interactions are also a lot more interesting since the Redux, and it's not as common that you have to deposit loads of your gear on them in order to get rewards or information. The main story quests are a now lot more interesting now than they were in the original release-version, and seem to be more purposeful and relevant to your own character's objectives. It's generally much better!

[Fuarian]

Keep in mind that Will Mackenzie helps everyone he finds because he is unaware of the impending apocalypse until the end of Episode 2. Probably not even at that point yet.