More Pain!

[Pillock]

I really like the new "pain" aspect of sprains and the "headache" affliction that results from the energy drink. It's a big step forward in the health and afflictions management part of the game, and the blurring/tunnel-vision effect you get from pain is a good addition, too. But I can't help thinking they could go a whole lot further with it.

I've suggested this a few times in the past, long before Steadfast Ranger, but it suddenly feels more relevant now that it's been implemented in part. What I'd really like to see is a separate "health bar" measurement to go alongside the other 4 health meters that currently indicate Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue and Warmth - a bar that indicates your pain level. It could range from "comfortable" at one end, through "irritation", "soreness", "in pain" and "agony" at the other end. All other health statuses and afflictions could affect it, increasing the severity accordingly. Every point of condition loss would reduce your comfort level; if you're starving, dehydrated, exhausted, or freezing, it'd all cause the comfort>pain bar to reduce; if you have an affliction, it'd cause discomfort, the amount varying according to the severity of that affliction; being over-encumbered could gradually add to your pain level over time, to simulate the strain on your shoulders from your heavy pack. And they'd all stack on top of each other to increase your overall pain level. The visual effects would scale according to your level of pain/comfort as well (a bit like it does now in the final 10% of condition loss, except over a wider range). There could even be some colour-coding of the blurring effects in order to indicate the cause of the pain without checking your inventory/status screen (whether it be from injury, sickness, hunger, thirst, exhaustion or cold).

Taking pain-relief meds could increase your comfort level (temporarily) by a big chunk, the amount of meds you take affecting the amount of the bar that is replenished; meanwhile, eating a hot meal or drinking a hot beverage, sitting by a fire, or lying in bed could make smaller (again, temporary) buffs to the comfort meter. Curing the source of the pain would have to be done separately and independently, and would remove that part of your pain 'count' permanently once the treatment was completed.

There could also be a link between your level of comfort and your efficiency at performing other tasks - sewing, repairing and crafting would all take longer and have a higher fail-chance the more pain you're suffering from. The same could go for lighting fires or harvesting materials, using weapons, and even searching containers.

The UI assets for including this are all in the game already, I think - the visual effects, the limping, the voice cues, etc. - but this would bring them to the forefront of your attention and give you an intuitive system for dealing with it. Everyone knows from real-life experience that pain is debilitating and can consume your entire conscious attention if it's bad enough - I just feel at the moment that it's still a bit too easy to ignore things like injuries, sickness and condition-loss in the game, because they're not terribly prominent in the interface and they don't affect your regular activities very much. It might feel annoying to begin with, but pain is annoying! The interface should make you want to fix your health problems as soon as possible, and I'm not sure it really does currently. I think this would solve that.

[ManicManiac]

@Pillock
Neat idea.  

As it stands right now, I find that I don't have any real use for pain meds anymore.  I collect them and store them, but I find I never really have to use them.  The pain effect doesn't seem to really hinder us in any meaningful way, so nowadays I just carry an extra bandage in case I need to treat an ankle sprain so I can sprint again.

Edited June 4, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Ice Hole]

[ThePancakeLady]

I like this. As a person who has dealt with chronic sever pain through most of my life, where it can vary in "severity" from day to day, even hour to hour... I know some days my pain is "bearable" and I can do things that need to get s done, with some possibly extended effects on me the next hour or day. While other days the same point of pain origin will be much more severly affected, preventing me from walking without my cane, or being able to carry certain objects. The Pain Affliction timer does touch on this, but seeing a meter, that when it hits a certain point causes you to not be able to sprint, or climb, or carry more than xxx lbs./kg. would be an interesting addition, and add some "semi-reality" to the MH & W system. If they flesh MH & W out, Pain could be one of those things that reduces your overall MH, since it is hard to be "chipper" when you HURT, and would be a universal thing that all players would experience, and *most* could relate to IRL. (We'll just step back from the kinkier side of this, since it really does not need to be part of this game, IMHO.)

 

Really interesting idea @Pillock, and it seems you thought this through really well. Thanks for posting this. 

[ajb1978]

12 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

As it stands right now, I find that I don't have any real use for pain meds anymore. 

Interestingly enough I'm the exact opposite.  When painkillers were an instant sprain cure, I'd keep some handy on me, then just deal with the sprains as they occur.  I'd only take the meds if I found myself needing to be able to use my hands or feet, such as immediately before sprinting over weak ice, or immediately after hearing a wolf bark at me.  Now that pain doesn't really DO anything and the only thing that heals a sprain is rest or a bandage, I've been using painkillers pretty liberally.

I also think it's funny that you can't treat a headache with painkillers.

[Guest kristaok]

This could work, I just hope no bar for sanity / insanity is added- EEK. 

[Pillock]

14 hours ago, kristaok said:

This could work, I just hope no bar for sanity / insanity is added- EEK. 

Why, because it would break your immersion and sense of connection with the player character if s/he wasn't constantly as mad as you are?

Seriously though, given that pain a measure of how you're "feeling", it might make a happiness/well-being system a little unnecessary.

[ThePancakeLady]

On 6/4/2019 at 9:30 AM, ajb1978 said:

 

I also think it's funny that you can't treat a headache with painkillers.

Yeah, that is a bit "off" to me as well. Though, if it is a "typical" caffeine withdrawal headache with side effects from the overload of Niacin and B vitamins often found in "Energy shots" like 5 Hour Energy (Go Drink), OTC painkillers may be not so terribly effective. Especially if the shot triggers an honest to goodness migraine type headache. Hair-of-the-dog might be better? A cup of coffee usually helps knock my IRL migraines back a bit, and my all too frequent caffeine withdrawal headaches as well. Sleep for 8 hours w/o caffeine, and... yeah. Coffee, First thing before my head explodes. (Caffeine Addicts Anonymous...) But, I am not sure coffee would make sense for gameplay. You just took rocket-fuel for the brain that made you go like the Energizer Bunny on steroids, coffee's energy boost might be a bit of overkill right after. 

Good point though about not being able to treat headaches. Not sure, really, how they could solve that, or if they should. OP energy drink needs to have some counter-balance, I guess.

[Guest kristaok]

2 hours ago, Pillock said:

Why, because it would break your immersion and sense of connection with the player character if s/he wasn't constantly as mad as you are?

Seriously though, given that pain a measure of how you're "feeling", it might make a happiness/well-being system a little unnecessary.

Because the Sanity Meter has no place in The Long Dark, TLD is not a Horror / Survival Game, it's a Survival Game... I have my reasons for not wanting this in the Game, and my opinion on this will never change. 

[ajb1978]

On 6/5/2019 at 5:52 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

OP energy drink needs to have some counter-balance, I guess.

Ehh I don't know that it's OP, because it's not like you're getting free energy.  You're just getting a loan.  Once the effects wear off, your original fatigue level returns, minus whatever you had spent while under the effects.  Since I use it to squeeze in an extra rope climb or two, when it wears off, I typically drop directly to Exhausted.  IMO that's balanced.

[Pillock]

6 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Ehh I don't know that it's OP, because it's not like you're getting free energy.  You're just getting a loan.  Once the effects wear off, your original fatigue level returns, minus whatever you had spent while under the effects.  Since I use it to squeeze in an extra rope climb or two, when it wears off, I typically drop directly to Exhausted.  IMO that's balanced.

I do wonder what they put in that drink. Imagine if you were dying of exhaustion, but drinking one can of Red Bull would make you able to Batman-walk up a hundred-foot cliff in 30 seconds, and the only side effect was a temporary mild headache!

The elevator manufacturing industry would go bankrupt overnight.

[ajb1978]

Red Bull may give you wings, but powerthirst gives you BIRDS!

Birds all over your body!  BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS

YOU'RE THE BIRDMAN!

[Tbone555]

+1

[UpUpAway95]

Why can't it just slowly deplete the health bar like other afflictions, rather than adding yet another circle cluttering up the bottom of the screen?

[Pillock]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Why can't it just slowly deplete the health bar like other afflictions, rather than adding yet another circle cluttering up the bottom of the screen?

Then there would be no point in adding it at all. 

Part of the idea is that the pain/comfort meter would be completely invisible, as long as you were completely healthy. And if you did start to suffer from afflitions or condition loss, it'd utilise the audio/visual effects over the whole screen (like it currently does for spains, headaches or very low condition) to give an indication that you are feeling discomfort or pain related to that affliction or condition loss. The 'circle' or 'bar' part of the indicator wouldn't really need to appear at all, except on the Status Screen, maybe.

The idea is not to add a new affliction, but rather to give a better and more immediate indication when you are suffering from one of the existing afflictions.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Pillock