Why I'm dropping TLD for now


Tsayers1068

Recommended Posts

Don't get me wrong, I think TLD has at least the framework to be a truly great game.  But until the wolves/bears/possibly other wildlife becomes a lot more unpredictable as to where you will encounter them I'm afraid the end result just bores me after a while.  Certain locations I know there may be a wolf, other spots I know there won't be one, not if I keep going back there a thousand days in a row.  And in the spots where there is one it will just march back and forth and never go anywhere else--very annoying should I  need to get past it.

Also, not sure whether it might already be this way (pretty sure it isn't) but I think the lower your calories are the faster your fatigue should increase.  Constantly going around ravenous is an exploit.

Anyway I still have hope for this game so I'll be checking back every now & then to see what's been done.  The rest of you have fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

I'm also leaving TLD and will keep and eye until some changes are made. I completed so far the 3 episodes (1&2 twice) and enjoyed +1000 survival playtime hours.

I keep coming back for Survival mode and I just closed the last stalker +100 days run because of the dissappearing carcass bug. I will wait for next try until some of this long time community requests are included:

  • Jump/Leap/Climb: It's so frustrating that you get stuck because of a 5 cm slope. Free roaming is a must so you don't repeat the same path run after run
  • Stone/Bone/Wood tools: spears, knives, hatchets... Essential for early days and long runs. Being dependant on pre-crisis loot is not that interesting
  • Wild life: Make it unpredictable. Decrease spawn rates for wolves/rabbits/bears/etc. Enable respawn for mushrooms/saplings/lichen/etc. That would increase the need for exploration and constant gathering treks.
  • World interaction: Being able to drag dead corpses (human or hunted), rearrange furniture, drag a contanier (plastic or metal boxes) inside/outside buildings, cut-down trees, build a basic wooden shelter, build a basic bridge, repair some stairs, etc so you can leave your mark in the new world and defy the unforgiving nature with all you have at your hand.

I love TLD and share with you the feeling that it has the framework for a great game. It is just it's getting too repetitive. Adding another firearm or ways to increase the lifespan of firearms doesn't appeal to me at all. It still relies on pre-crisis materials (and only those that the game lets you interact/use). I would love to see the game going the "back to paleolithic" way.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jumping doesn't need to necessarily happen, but since climbing already has happened, the player character NEEDS to be able to move over objects that are less than 15cm high. It's just stupid when you get caught on a small rock or twig, or anything that you in real life would be able to effortlessly step over without jumping.

Jumping would be neat, but what the game needs is better pathing.

  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah not being able to get around obviously simple obstacles like sticks can be frustrating. It's like that in Alien: Isolation as well, where they try to block your path with a vacuum cleaner and you're sitting there wondering how on earth your character is so useless. What makes it worse in TLD is that it happens all the time and you never know what open path is essentially a brick wall while trying to escape from wolves.

 

Of course in TLD you also mountain goat down 89 degree slopes so at least it balances out a little. I guess our character is min-maxed for going down stuff.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always think to myself yeah I've pretty much done playing The Long Dark then Hinterland does another update and I'm back playing. Sure some little things to iron out but overall game is still very playable but always adding more things to make you rethink how you play the game. Some things you think are huge hurdles and then the gamer in you thinks of ways to adapt to the change. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Kayosiv said:

Jumping doesn't need to necessarily happen, but since climbing already has happened, the player character NEEDS to be able to move over objects that are less than 15cm high. It's just stupid when you get caught on a small rock or twig, or anything that you in real life would be able to effortlessly step over without jumping.

On that, I couldn't agree more.. As I was reading Raph's words on the subject I was saying "We don't need jumping, we just need the ability to step over 6 inch obstacles."

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/2/2020 at 6:24 AM, JAFO said:

Jumping will never happen.

See this recent interview with Raphael for why not: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/11/inside-the-long-dark/

Thanks for the link. It reinforces my feeling that the game has greater potential, but its favouring storyline over survival.

When he says "“How many times do you jump in your day-to-day life?... If I have a really heavy backpack with 35 kilograms of gear and I’m really tired and I’m in knee-deep snow or deeper, am I going to jump over that thing? Probably not, because it’s dangerous and I might hurt myself.”" it's so obvious that he's trying to provide a logical foundation, a gameplay explanation to a purely technical (cost effective) decission, as he explained just before that "jumping “opens up all kinds of other bugs and challenges and new systems that need to be made"

So, "How many times do you jump in your day-to-day life"? well... way more times than killing bears, facing -40º blizzards and climbing 40m slopes

"If you have a backpack with 35 kilograms..." What if I'm well fed, I'm just wearing 10º protecion clothes and carrying 4kg of basic equipment + Bow for a hunting raid in a clear day? Worst case vs Best case, I know, but don't think that the community is stupidly asking for bunny-jumps, but maybe being able to get over a fallen tree.

I truly love TLD and get 3 close friends and my elder son to try and enjoy it. I'm just temporarily leaving because I don't want to get to a level of frustration that would prevent me to stay tunned for future releases. The Dev Team have demonstrated over the years that they care about TLD and its community and that gives me hope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Wolfbait said:

the game has greater potential, but its favouring storyline over survival.

Hinterland has always favoured the storyline. The story was what Raph wanted to tell... the sandbox (that became Survival Mode) was merely intended as a testbed for getting the underlying mechanics worked out, after which it would be dropped. It was never intended to be part of the final game, and Raph was astonished when it became even more popular than the story.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/3/2020 at 3:43 PM, JAFO said:

Hinterland has always favoured the storyline. [...] Raph was astonished when it (sandbox) became even more popular than the story.

A storyline has to be very, very appealing in order to beat an open world. Even without real purpose, the sandbox is what you want it to be. It has been demonstrated that imagination (your own role-playing) is much more attractive than following the steps of others. Don't get me wrong, I liked the episodes so far, but to me they are just advanced tutorials.

The fact that Hinterland remains loyal to its initial idea is noble. I'm just sad because we want different things. ;)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, odizzido said:

I just play the survival part, but I am really mostly waiting for the story mode to be complete before I go through it. I suspect I will very much enjoy it.

That's pretty much where I'm at with it as well.  I've played a little bit of both Episode 1 and Episode 3, but stopped before I got too far into it.  I've determined that the story does interest me, but I really want to be able to go through the entire story from beginning to end (I also like reading books in one sitting).  I'm generally patient, so I'll wait... But... Hopefully, Hinterlands will pick up the pace on the story and finish it sooner rather than later.

What I enjoy most about the survival mode has been its simplicity... but Hinterlands is under constant pressure to add this or that new game mechanic or weapon, so that is changing.  Open ended games seem to need to be constantly changing and added to in order to keep people interested in it.  The same was true when I was playing Minecraft.  People were always asking for something new to be added.  In addition, the community often becomes more and more divided over the various directions the game could take.  Some people here want the more predictable wolves back and others, like the OP above, are calling for even more unpredictable behavior.

Story games on the other hand... if I liked them to start with, I will play over and over again (just like I'll re-read good books over and over again).  They don't have to be constantly changing to hold my interest.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now