Sanity

[Jura]

An idea for complete overhaul.

Introduction of sanity level for the player.

The player will need to keep his sanity level high enough in order to survive longer.

Positive actions (lighting a fire, eating a high calorie value food, drinking a warm tea) would increase player's sanity value.

Negaitve actions (starving, injuries, failing to start a fire, sleeping in poorly comfortable bed) would decrease player's sanity values.

 

As sanity level decreases, player would be less efficient in performing all tasks (lower RNG chance).

High sanity levels would give a bonus to player's aim with a bow and critical hit chance, increase the range of footsteps sounds, give bonus to condition restoration through sleep, etc.

 

This would make long term survival on interloper much difficult and challenging.

We all use hibernation strategy to survive, and on interloper only the first 10-15 days are somewhat challenging until we make our own tools.

After we make tools and clothing, we usually have abundace of food and since we can keep hibernating, we can survive almost indefinetly (until we die of boredom)

With sanity, we need to avoid starving (hibernating) in order to survive.

As the time goes on, it would be harder to satisfy sanity demands in order to make long term survival more difficult but keep early days the same.

 

It would require some massive coding, i know

And i'm not sure if that's the way you guys are going for anyway.

Having a sanity level to manage would be interesting, but it might also lead to de-personalization between  game character and the player.

 

[Ice Hole]

The idea of sanity is an interesting topic.  

The one thing I have taken away from The Long Dark is nature does not care about you.  Nature does not care if you are warm or frozen; well fed or starved; dehydrated or slaked; rested or fatigued.  The sanity or lunacy is another factor The Long Dark Nature does not care about and any type of sanity condition will need to reflect this concept.

My thoughts are the developers are examining this Mental health idea within story mode.  The "choice" for Hobbs is clearly testing grounds.

There was an interesting discussion over here on this very topic.

 

This wish list has so many topics with similar ideas and is in desperate need of categorization. 

[Jura]

i couldn't agree more with "the nature does not care about you"  - it really fits the description of the game

i would be very difficult to implement this in the game and keep the same (beautiful) concept.

 

the main goal of this idea is to make the game even harder on the long runs.

i had dozens of iterations with surviving 100+ days solely on interloper

(never played any other mode since it was introduced to the game)

the main reason i quit playing such a long playthrough is simply put - boredom (for the lack of a better word)

and having a sanity/lunacy/mental health that affect your performance and being harder to maintain the longer you play seems like a good or at least, a decent idea.

 

i agree this wishlist could use this categorizaton of some sort, there is so many things here

i had a feeling someone already proposed similar idea anyway.

 

 

[n4rut0f4n]

Hmm.. it's a great idea, but the problem with that is in order to survive in The Long Dark, you are already doing those things.

You are already doing those "positive actions" and avoiding the "negative actions" because they are necessary to survive in the game. Staying in one place for too long isn't good either. The road is your lifeline in the game, (at least more so in the beginning) and finding better quality clothing, sewing kits, matches, etc is always important. And the player gets reprimanded by staying indoors too long with the Cabin Fever affliction.

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, a sanity meter seems like a very redundant thing to add and would require a huge overhaul of the game. I do think it's a very interesting topic and I appreciate your suggestion. In a game where you seem like the lone survivor in a long, dark and quiet winter apocalypse, the concept of mental well-being is something to consider.

I think the devs talked about this somewhere, about the search for more clues of other living people in The Long Dark, and that was something they were going to build more on later in the game. (I don't know if they were talking about story mode or survival mode). I think THAT is a super cool awesome thing that could have a huge role in this game. MAYBE, just maybe, the concept of mental well-being could rely on you finding more clues big question mark?? If there are any repercussions, an easier fix would be integrating an affliction like idk "Loneliness" or something.

[ManicManiac]

I'm not a fan of this idea, and I mentioned why in previous (very similar) threads:

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 12:06 AM, ManicManiac said:

Well, I know I mentioned this before but it I think it bears repeating:

I'm not sure how well something like this would really fit into this game... (and I honestly wouldn't like it)

I mean for a Lovecraftian / horror type game, a sanity/mental health meter works fine as a core gameplay mechanic...  I know for a while there was an idea about having something like a photograph or some kind of personal belonging that was meant to give kind of a "will to live" buff or something to that effect.  That the more you used it the quicker it would get worn out... but I think that idea went to the wayside a few years ago.

We do have the cabin fever affliction, but that is an arbitrary condition dependent solely on time spent inside vs. outside (the specifics are not important so I'm skipping them here).  Even with that, there are no mitigating factors at all... it's a firm metric. 

***My bottom line here is: Something like a "mental health" or "morale" mechanic would take a lot of nuance to keep it from feeling like a negative consequence instead of just part of the human condition that it truly is... (I'm not wild about the idea of having to deal with a depression simulator)***

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by ManicManiac