Plane Crash to Sk. Ridge blocked with invisible walls?

[thefistoffury1]

Apparently, going from the Plane Crash to Skeeter's Ridge (and the nearby basement) is very complex in episode 3. I expected unscalable terrain, but being blocked when I can see my destination with invisible walls? Irritating at the least. The only way to reach SR from the plane crash is one way. The other leads south, to a very long elliptical route.

I understand that Story mode needs to control your movement for cutscenes and pacing (returning Gwen to the Community Hall etc) but once the objective is accomplished, why have these invisible walls persist? Survival mode currently has proper paths that don't need me to walk down the path near the Ridge cave, past Draft Dodger's Cabin, across a bridge, turn left, cross the upper bridge and reach my destination after the Point of Disagreement. That back and forth is the length of the PV map, by the way. Since the second rope below the basement is missing by default (I wish I had placed it sooner) , I can't just take the shorcut from DD Cabin.

I don't mean to complain, but this is a huge setback for such a small distance. Anyone else who has noticed this?

[DarkTreader]

There are a number of those invisible walls through that area - I tried climbing up and around right near the cave and couldn't walk up an open path because of those. Frustrating, definitely. But with your described path, that's a really long way to go to get back there.

Why not go down the Burned Ridge path, then turn toward Three Strikes and walk around the crash, path will put you in sight of the hunting blind pretty quickly. Or, if you're good with climbing it, head down the Burned Ridge path until you see the fallen tree on your right - there's a rock climb that you can take that will hook you almost entirely around the crash site (similar path as previously mentioned, but faster because you're not having to fully descend before looping around).

[thefistoffury1]

1 hour ago, DarkTreader said:

There are a number of those invisible walls through that area - I tried climbing up and around right near the cave and couldn't walk up an open path because of those. Frustrating, definitely. But with your described path, that's a really long way to go to get back there.

Why not go down the Burned Ridge path, then turn toward Three Strikes and walk around the crash, path will put you in sight of the hunting blind pretty quickly. Or, if you're good with climbing it, head down the Burned Ridge path until you see the fallen tree on your right - there's a rock climb that you can take that will hook you almost entirely around the crash site (similar path as previously mentioned, but faster because you're not having to fully descend before looping around).

I didn't see your reply when I did it but you had excellent ideas, thank you! In the end I went around 3 Strikes, just like you suggested. But for all your creative solutions, the problem at large remains; a short distance of a couple of minutes at most requiring such a long travel in comparison is just so annoying 

Thanks again for your help!

[devamadhu]

5 hours ago, thefistoffury1 said:

Apparently, going from the Plane Crash to Skeeter's Ridge (and the nearby basement) is very complex in episode 3. I expected unscalable terrain, but being blocked when I can see my destination with invisible walls? Irritating at the least. The only way to reach SR from the plane crash is one way. The other leads south, to a very long elliptical route.

I understand that Story mode needs to control your movement for cutscenes and pacing (returning Gwen to the Community Hall etc) but once the objective is accomplished, why have these invisible walls persist? Survival mode currently has proper paths that don't need me to walk down the path near the Ridge cave, past Draft Dodger's Cabin, across a bridge, turn left, cross the upper bridge and reach my destination after the Point of Disagreement. That back and forth is the length of the PV map, by the way. Since the second rope below the basement is missing by default (I wish I had placed it sooner) , I can't just take the shorcut from DD Cabin.

I don't mean to complain, but this is a huge setback for such a small distance. Anyone else who has noticed this?

I felt the same way. I agree that it has to do with pacing, and also that it's very helpful for new players to have added guidance to safe and warm spots throughout the challenges. I also noticed that the placement of side challenges (and their map icons once the challenges were completed) made for much easier and warmer trekking later on in the episode. 

That said, I'm generally irked by how much "mountain goating" has been discouraged in the game - both by the revamped sprain mechanic and now these additional invisible walls. I'm currently playing this year's 4DON, and I had to avoid that whole area due to time constraints.

Of course I'm not a developer and I have no idea how complicated it would be to remove that wall for Survival Mode, but I would definitely prefer it. Or to have some sort of special entrance activated that allows you to go the other direction. I feel the same way about the emergency exit in the Carter Hydro Dam. Once you open that door from inside the Dam, I think it would improve the game hugely to be able to reenter it from the Environs side. Anyone who wants the extra challenge could always go the long way if they chose.

[thefistoffury1]

12 minutes ago, devamadhu said:

I felt the same way. I agree that it has to do with pacing, and also that it's very helpful for new players to have added guidance to safe and warm spots throughout the challenges. I also noticed that the placement of side challenges (and their map icons once the challenges were completed) made for much easier and warmer trekking later on in the episode. 

That said, I'm generally irked by how much "mountain goating" has been discouraged in the game - both by the revamped sprain mechanic and now these additional invisible walls. I'm currently playing this year's 4DON, and I had to avoid that whole area due to time constraints.

Of course I'm not a developer and I have no idea how complicated it would be to remove that wall for Survival Mode, but I would definitely prefer it. Or to have some sort of special entrance activated that allows you to go the other direction. I feel the same way about the emergency exit in the Carter Hydro Dam. Once you open that door from inside the Dam, I think it would improve the game hugely to be able to reenter it from the Environs side. Anyone who wants the extra challenge could always go the long way if they chose.

Story mode always has to be easier, even on the hardest difficulty level. And I get why they did it, but I was annoyed nonetheless.

The Carter Dam Emergency Exit freaked me out back then, but I don't think it's a matter of in-game hours to get back through the secret entrance. This situation in PV, however? Takes a lot of time. It's more a hassle than actual challenge.

[sierra 117]

Hmm this area sounds really annoying in survival mode now.

They could easily sort this by fixing the ramp down from the front section of plane. 

Haven't been there in SM yet , but I would have thought they would leave the ramp intact. 

That way it would be  a great shortcut (if avoiding rope climb) from DD, to Burned ridge cave then to Skeeters.

[thefistoffury1]

Just now, sierra 117 said:

Hmm this area sounds really annoying in survival mode now.

They could easily sort this by fixing the ramp down from the front section of plane. 

Haven't been there in SM yet , but I would have thought they would leave the ramp intact. 

That way it would be  a great shortcut (if avoiding rope climb) from DD, to Burned ridge cave then to Skeeters.

Oh you know what's so funny? I've watched TLD streamers get to the new PV in survival, and you know what? There are additional paths in and out of the plane crash area. They are walled up only in Story Mode, even AFTER your main quests there are done. That was the point of the original post 

Thankfully Survival is as intuitive as ever lol.

[sierra 117]

Oh, ok. Yeah just reread OP, I thought they were referring to SM.😁

[thefistoffury1]

4 minutes ago, sierra 117 said:

Oh, ok. Yeah just reread OP, I thought they were referring to SM.😁

I posted this in Wintermute section, I guess I should have clarified that survival was ok, unlike SM 

[sierra 117]

Oh yeah, no it's not your fault. I'm just being a half asleep idiot  atm. 😂

[FluffyComeHome]

**Spoilers

Im confused. Ive played PV in Wintermute and Survival and have not run into invisible walls. I come up the rope, go to the houses, the basement, the cave, and the plane crash. I can either go around the crash one side side by the cave path, straight through the crash, to the right and over the hill to the hunters blind, or all the way to the right towards that point of disagreement. What am I missing?

 

(oh...and I hope I did that right by announcing spoilers)

[Lass]

No one seems to have mentioned this.  If you're coming from the farmhouse or anywhere in the central PV valley, and you go to the river separating farmhouse from Skeeter,  you'll find a new ruined house right along the river. Behind it is an easy path directly up to the plane.  You also begin to see suitcases littering the path, and the path passes the excellent cave which I've used in Survival mode. The cave can serve as a base while you're looting all the suitcases to get more clothing and food than you ever dreamed of.     I suppose you could do the episode without looting everything, but that's habit for me, from Survival. 

From Thomson's settlement to Joplin's cache #1 (the TWM rope location), head straight up--let's call it north--either using the path or the river,  and find the new house near the last bridge.  It's useful for hunting and as a step base for hauling back stuff from the cache. Then haul your loot to derelict houses (firepit there) and back to town.

It's really useful to have a printout of the PV map from Wiki, for plotting routes.

[thefistoffury1]

21 hours ago, FluffyComeHome said:

**Spoilers

Im confused. Ive played PV in Wintermute and Survival and have not run into invisible walls. I come up the rope, go to the houses, the basement, the cave, and the plane crash. I can either go around the crash one side side by the cave path, straight through the crash, to the right and over the hill to the hunters blind, or all the way to the right towards that point of disagreement. What am I missing?

 

(oh...and I hope I did that right by announcing spoilers)

You didn't spoil anything major lol. The issue is that (at least in Hard Story Mode, survival is OK) one of the two ropes that leads from the Draft Dodger's Cabin to the basement in Skeeter's Ridge is not placed; you have to place it yourself. If you don't place the rope the only way to get from said cabin (or west of it) to the basement is to all the way around from the east side of the map. Funny thing is, from the Cabin you can walk up a path to the plane crash, which is separated with rocks from SR and the basement. But there are invisible walls on top of the rocks. You are right next to the crashed plane, and you can scale the rocks, but you are frozen in place as you try to walk to the basement nearby and that was infuriating to me, that's all.(in my case I left useful loot from before going into the plane crash through its front door).

 

[thefistoffury1]

22 hours ago, Lass said:

No one seems to have mentioned this.  If you're coming from the farmhouse or anywhere in the central PV valley, and you go to the river separating farmhouse from Skeeter,  you'll find a new ruined house right along the river. Behind it is an easy path directly up to the plane.  You also begin to see suitcases littering the path, and the path passes the excellent cave which I've used in Survival mode. The cave can serve as a base while you're looting all the suitcases to get more clothing and food than you ever dreamed of.     I suppose you could do the episode without looting everything, but that's habit for me, from Survival. 

From Thomson's settlement to Joplin's cache #1 (the TWM rope location), head straight up--let's call it north--either using the path or the river,  and find the new house near the last bridge.  It's useful for hunting and as a step base for hauling back stuff from the cache. Then haul your loot to derelict houses (firepit there) and back to town.

It's really useful to have a printout of the PV map from Wiki, for plotting routes.

That's very useful information, yes. I found that ruined house and thought I forgot about it since I hate PV lol