So What Do You Think So Far?

Raphael van Lierop

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logang Pathfinder

logang

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No problem, like I said I was going to get the info but died before I could get the console up and the screen shot taken, I've only had about an hour to play in the past few days and I was actually running a bit late to work getting in that hour, so I wasn't quite prepared. I will try and play again tonight and see if I can run into the same issue again.

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TarjaS Pathfinder

TarjaS

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I like the randomness of starting points and locations of supplies, so I was a bit annoyed when the exactly same thing happened twice. On both occasions when I was in that place shown in the screenshot above, a wolf came from somewhere and remained hiding outside beside a wall, so that when I left, it attacked me. Otherwise things seem to be fairly random, which is good, because if you know you're going to find something in a certain place, it makes you just go through the motions and makes it a bit boring.

I noticed that you can't light a camp fire indoors, which is sensible in small cabins, but surely in a place as big as the hydro dam, it wouldn't be a problem.

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therealneil Wolfbait

therealneil

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I was heart-broken after my can opener disappeared after only opening around 5 cans of food........

I thought this was a little much myself, that and the crowbar breaking after prying open a few lockers. There are some items that should really be permanent. So far I've died starving a few times with bags full of peaches and pork 'n' beans because I can't find enough can openers. I mean, I've had the same can opener for my whole life.

I can understand the need for an item durability mechanic but it can get tedious quick if it's overused.

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robdoar Pathfinder

robdoar

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I was heart-broken after my can opener disappeared after only opening around 5 cans of food........

I thought this was a little much myself, that and the crowbar breaking after prying open a few lockers. There are some items that should really be permanent. So far I've died starving a few times with bags full of peaches and pork 'n' beans because I can't find enough can openers. I mean, I've had the same can opener for my whole life.

I can understand the need for an item durability mechanic but it can get tedious quick if it's overused.

I agree with some of this. Some elements of reality need to be suspended for the game to be challenging (like starving to death after 3 days)

The game will be geared towards hunting and trapping being the means of long term survival. I've made it to 18 days with the system as is, another has made it to 20.

These mechanics will be tweaked but the Hinterland team in order to find that balance of challenging, realistic, and tedious.

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accurize2 Pathfinder

accurize2

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I noticed that you can't light a camp fire indoors, which is sensible in small cabins, but surely in a place as big as the hydro dam, it wouldn't be a problem.

Still its indoors, no way for smoke to escape, bring fire = burning oxygen = DEATH

It doesn't always = DEATH though...

Shouldn't this be an option for the player to decide though? If they want to have a small fire for an hour to warm up just enough to keep from freezing to death, and maybe cook some food. If that player decides 'I'll risk asphyxiation', shouldn't they be allowed to try?

From my experience as a cop in an urban environment, I've seen many homeless people start fires in abandoned houses right on the living room hardwood floors. (Pretty terrifying considering these houses are tinder boxes and are literally 3 feet from other occupied houses). I've seen many of them set the house on fire accidentally, but in 10 years I have yet to find a homeless person or group that died from asphyxiation...and that dam is massive compared to the square footage of these homes I'm referring to.

Part of a survival game is allowing players to make that risk vs reward decision and suffer the consequences. Especially with the hard core nature the devs and backers have made clear they wanted from this game.

Now if they go to sleep with a fire and 8 hours of fuel burning (even in the hydro dam)...well I would expect them not to wake up.

I guess an example of what I am saying is that if it were me in a survival situation and I was literally freezing to death and needed to cook food, boil water and warm up. I would definitely risk having a fire in a building that large.

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Aside from that; back to the OP. This game at it's current stage in development is AMAZING. It literally made me eat pancakes and watch The Grey again. The experience is so immersive! Devs keep up the great work. The Long Dark will be #1 on Steam for sure, mark my words.

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robdoar Pathfinder

robdoar

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You guys are correct that a small fire would be OK for an hour or 2 in a large, sealed environment.

There may be some technical limitations here. I imagine it would take some heavy coding to try specify what environments can build a fire, smoke accumulation, etc.

The dev team is small, and the return on time investment might not be there for this enhancement.

Keep in mind that the lamp lets off heat. :-}

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TarjaS Pathfinder

TarjaS

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Here are some of my thoughts now that I've played about 10 hours (real time). First, some background. I'm a casual gamer and usually prefer games that tell me quite a lot of what I need to do and how to do things and don't let me wander too far into the wrong direction. I usually stay away from open world games, because they leave me feeling confused. Another source of confusion is a huge number of controls. I usually play console games and prefer ones with "one button, one function" principle with no combinations, and the less buttons, the better (Journey and Brothers were great in this regard). All this is due to some cognitive issues caused by MS. Speed and timing are also problematic. All that makes it really hard to find good games I actually can play (kids' games tend to be best control-wise).

However, I'm finding this one a pleasant surprise. The random spawning means I get to see different places and don't need to repeat the same stuff over and over after failing, trying to get a bit farther each time to find/see something new before I fail again. Now I'm slowly starting to connect the dots and figure out where places are in relation to each other. The map, once it will be available, will be a much needed function.

At first, I was a bit at loss as to what I should do, but the survival panel is clear enough even in its current form, although usability can do with some improving. The panel shows the functions and that is enough. Once you know what can be done, finding out how is just a matter of experimenting, which I'm finding surprisingly fun, although I'm still failing often. The fire menu is also clear as I understood it immediately at the first time, although making a fire fails often.

I'm expecting to enjoy the story mode a lot more than usual, because by the time I get to it, I will already know the basics of this world. Usually, just getting to know the controls and how to use them takes away a lot of attention from the beginning of the story and often I end up restarting after playing about third of the game and getting the hang of the controls. Of course then the beginning of the story is no longer new, so it will be good to be able to concentrate on the story right from the beginning.

So, even with the frustratingly aggressive wolves and usually not getting even into the third day, I'm having more fun than I thought I would.

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alan_bateson Wolfbait

alan_bateson

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Okay after a few play throughs and wolf attacks, it is living up to my expectations so far. Just wish I could build a snow shelter now since the starting spots are random and trying to find your way in a blizzard is not all good for survival. If it was a blizzard, i'd want to get in shelter by quickly digging a hole and get inside and ride it out. But so far so good. Have no idea how to gather snow but i'm sure i'll work it out at some point.

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jason_myles Survivor

jason_myles

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I have to say that I really like the way the game looks. The sky, when it isn't obscured by yet another blizzard, is amazing. In fact, the blizzards themselves would be nice to look at too... if I wasn't so intent on avoiding them!

I'm not the most video game literate person... I didn't realize how accustomed I'd become to all the widgets like minimaps and flashing waypoints and arrows telling me where to go next. This is certainly a challenge, though a welcome one.

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Raphael van Lierop Pathfinder

Raphael van Lierop

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Grolsche1976: Yes, Snow Shelters is on the list. That said, learning where to find shelters and keeping those in mind in case weather starts getting bad is part of the learning curve of the game.

jason_myles: Glad you're enjoying the game. Yes we eschew many of the traditional hand-holding conceits, which is pretty fundamental to our design philosophy for the game.

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tony_hunt Wolfbait

tony_hunt

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I'm enjoying the sandbox but will have to remember to store most of the tools I was carrying unless needed at the time, had my hatchet break when I wasn't using it which caused a bit of concern since I was out of wood and low on water.

Was lucky that a wolf fixed that problem for me :)

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alan_bateson Wolfbait

alan_bateson

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Grolsche1976: Yes, Snow Shelters is on the list. That said, learning where to find shelters and keeping those in mind in case weather starts getting bad is part of the learning curve of the game.

I saw the snow shelter was there but not implemented. Just wish I had it for the alpha. Ever tried finding shelter when you load in and its a blizzard already?

Not sure how you got the immersion in but I feel like I'm actually out in the cold. Brrrrr

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heather Prepper

heather

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I'm really enjoying the game - the graphics are beautiful. I do kind of think you should be able to warm yourself up by running (though you'd chill pretty quickly if you got sweaty). I was mighty sad when I found a hatchet but still couldn't open locked lockers. :)

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john_jason_deroy Wolfbait

john_jason_deroy

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I really like the graphics and sounds - the sky and stars can be especially nice to stop and look at (at least until I remember I am dying from frostbite and dehydration).

The interface is clean and just hard enough to figure out to make it interesting without being too frustrating. Trying to light the lantern for the first time was memorable for me.

I do wish some of the wolves had a larger and more random path (the two at the frozen lake are particularly bothersome to me - I'm not sure even a stupid wolf would pace back and forth in the same space for days

I do wish I could move the camera independent of my direction of travel to more accurately portray my ability to swivel my head from side to side while walking.

I do wish there was a keyboard mapping option for those of use who prefer to use something other than "WASD".

All-in-All I am very happy with how things look to be shaping up and I am anxious to get into the story mode!

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