What could be the last stages of Wintermute?

[desertedone]

I think it's either Bleak Inlet or Desolation Point. The challenge to fire a distress pistol at Desolation Point can point out that you're calling for help by a passing ship or air vehicle. Bleak Inlet sounds like the final showdown with the gunsmithing. 

Desolation Point seems very underdeveloped that you would think they're going to touch up on it later.

Edited January 16, 2020 by desertedone

[Guest jeffpeng]

I would be very surprised if we don't see a new region to finish Wintermute. I'm pretty sure HL will want the big finale to also have a new map to explore.

[KinoUnko]

Perseverance Mills. A bigger Milton with more NPCs I expect. Desolation Point will probably become a transitional region like Crumbling Highway and Ravine.

[Hotzn]

8 hours ago, desertedone said:

I think it's either Bleak Inlet or Desolation Point. The challenge to fire a distress pistol at Desolation Point can point out that you're calling for help by a passing ship or air vehicle. Bleak Inlet sounds like the final showdown with the gunsmithing. 

Desolation Point seems very underdeveloped that you would think they're going to touch up on it later.

The challenge to acquire and fire the distress pistol was created after a corresponding sandbox community challenge on these forums, so I would doubt that it contains any hints to the future story.

Concerning the 'showdown', I would personally be disappointed if the story ended in a shootout. In my view, the 'showdown' should be... quiet.

[UpUpAway95]

At Perseverence Mills, revealing the contents of Astrid's mysterious case and curing whatever "sickness" it was that Astrid set out to cure in the first place.  Then Will and Astrid deciding not to return to the mainland but to join the community on Great Bear Island... using whatever skills they've learned along the way to continue to survive and thrive in harmoney with Great Bear's ecosystem.  I think the case contains the solution to ending the geomagnetic issues on the island and preventing them from spreading to the Mainland.

Edited January 17, 2020 by UpUpAway95

[desertedone]

4 hours ago, Hotzn said:

The challenge to acquire and fire the distress pistol was created after a corresponding sandbox community challenge on these forums, so I would doubt that it contains any hints to the future story.

Concerning the 'showdown', I would personally be disappointed if the story ended in a shootout. In my view, the 'showdown' should be... quiet.

The bear fight was pretty cool

[manolitode]

In this and only this game, I'd love a TLD-like unforgiving ending. Like Astrid and Mac find each other and continue on their journey together to reach Perseverance mills. But when they're so close to reach it they get wiped out by a relentless blizzard, screen goes black except for "you faded into the long dark". 

[Guest jeffpeng]

12 hours ago, KinoUnko said:

Perseverance Mills. A bigger Milton with more NPCs I expect. Desolation Point will probably become a transitional region like Crumbling Highway and Ravine.

Pretty much that's what I expect too. It would be hella odd if Mac and Astrid were talking 4 episodes about that magical City in the north, and then it's like "well, nah, let's shoot a flare from the lighthouse and stay inside".

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, manolitode said:

In this and only this game, I'd love a TLD-like unforgiving ending. Like Astrid and Mac find each other and continue on their journey together to reach Perseverance mills. But when they're so close to reach it they get wiped out by a relentless blizzard, screen goes black except for "you faded into the long dark". 

I don't expect that because I expect this is a game where we might be able to continue on with the story-mode save within ongoing survival play.  Even if Astrid's case stabilizes the geomagnetic activity, we are still left with a seriously damaged and decayed infrastructure and what are normally harsh conditions during the Canadian winter.  A thaw towards the more normal spring/summer conditions for the area probably would take some time.

[ThePancakeLady]

I would love to see DP connected to TWM, with a new zone, on the other side of the Broken Bridge. Astrid comes out in CH at the end of Ep 3. (I get feelings on the Whiteout Challenge here... Father Tom says another big storm is coming, what if that storm picks back up again once Astrid is in CH?) Astrid has to corss CrH to get to DP, following some clues left in CH, at the QGS, or Misanthropes? If we play both characters in one Episodes, and switch between them, Will, now on the same timeline as Astrid, escapes the Dam, and heads through WR, ending up in PV, where he gets word of Astrid's survival, possibly having to eldue Molly, meet Father Tom, but he heads to TWM, after finding the mine entrance collapsed in PV. Astrid reaches TWM, finds the climber's not in the m Mountaineers hut, see the Tail section, and climbs to it, firing the Distress Pistol, hoping someone sees it, like the survivors saw it and answered back in Episode 3. Will sees the flare in the sky (at night?), and heads to TWM via the Abandoned Bunker climb-up, and finds his way to Astrid, at the Summit or the Mountaineers hut. [Episode 4 ends]

Episode 5, they are together again, Will has Astrid's case, and together they head to Perseverance Mills, to save the people there. Or find them all dead. (No more ideas about what happens after this). Though it would be interesting to play both characters, as a team, similar to Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. Not sure if I like the idea or not, that game was really tough for me to play with my arthritic hands and that was years ago, before they got as "crunchy" as they are now. But having them work together as a team, as they resolve some of their past relationship and emotional issues... intriguing to think about.

 

Purely conjecture here, and probably 180° off from how it will actually end up. 

[desertedone]

1 hour ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I would love to see DP connected to TWM, with a new zone, on the other side of the Broken Bridge. Astrid comes out in CH at the end of Ep 3. (I get feelings on the Whiteout Challenge here... Father Tom says another big storm is coming, what if that storm picks back up again once Astrid is in CH?) Astrid has to corss CrH to get to DP, following some clues left in CH, at the QGS, or Misanthropes? If we play both characters in one Episodes, and switch between them, Will, now on the same timeline as Astrid, escapes the Dam, and heads through WR, ending up in PV, where he gets word of Astrid's survival, possibly having to eldue Molly, meet Father Tom, but he heads to TWM, after finding the mine entrance collapsed in PV. Astrid reaches TWM, finds the climber's not in the m Mountaineers hut, see the Tail section, and climbs to it, firing the Distress Pistol, hoping someone sees it, like the survivors saw it and answered back in Episode 3. Will sees the flare in the sky (at night?), and heads to TWM via the Abandoned Bunker climb-up, and finds his way to Astrid, at the Summit or the Mountaineers hut. [Episode 4 ends]

Episode 5, they are together again, Will has Astrid's case, and together they head to Perseverance Mills, to save the people there. Or find them all dead. (No more ideas about what happens after this). Though it would be interesting to play both characters, as a team, similar to Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. Not sure if I like the idea or not, that game was really tough for me to play with my arthritic hands and that was years ago, before they got as "crunchy" as they are now. But having them work together as a team, as they resolve some of their past relationship and emotional issues... intriguing to think about.

 

Purely conjecture here, and probably 180° off from how it will actually end up. 

The thing is though, I think Desolation Point is meant to be be connected to just Coastal Highway kind of like the end of the world kind of zone as the name goes as well. Fact that there's a crashed ship there could imply that is a sea route. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by desertedone

[manolitode]

15 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I don't expect that because I expect this is a game where we might be able to continue on with the story-mode save within ongoing survival play.  Even if Astrid's case stabilizes the geomagnetic activity, we are still left with a seriously damaged and decayed infrastructure and what are normally harsh conditions during the Canadian winter.  A thaw towards the more normal spring/summer conditions for the area probably would take some time.

Valid point, but I don't think we'll get to cure great bear for a number of reasons. This is season 1, if we cure it, will there be a completely different game in season 2? One without blizzards, auroras, frenzied wolves and -68 C temps? I Believe we get our dark ending, my experience is that bright endings to dark games ruin the game for quite a few players. But there's a balance of course, consider the ending of Last of us, spoiler, you save something but not the human race. 

[UpUpAway95]

5 hours ago, manolitode said:

Valid point, but I don't think we'll get to cure great bear for a number of reasons. This is season 1, if we cure it, will there be a completely different game in season 2? One without blizzards, auroras, frenzied wolves and -68 C temps? I Believe we get our dark ending, my experience is that bright endings to dark games ruin the game for quite a few players. But there's a balance of course, consider the ending of Last of us, spoiler, you save something but not the human race. 

Curing the geomagnetic problem changes the auroras, but does not eliminate them.  They currently happen all the time, but don't affect the wildlife in the way portrayed in the game.  Blizzards also happen during the Canadian winters.  I've been currently riding out a cold spell in Alberta in the range of -30 to -35C.  Also the temperature chances may take time to progress.  In other words, Astrid's "cure" might even just stop the downslide (i.e. the world no longer get colder over time).

[manolitode]

21 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Curing the geomagnetic problem changes the auroras, but does not eliminate them.  They currently happen all the time, but don't affect the wildlife in the way portrayed in the game.  Blizzards also happen during the Canadian winters.  I've been currently riding out a cold spell in Alberta in the range of -30 to -35C.  Also the temperature chances may take time to progress.  In other words, Astrid's "cure" might even just stop the downslide (i.e. the world no longer get colder over time).

You're missing my point. With somewhat regular seasons you'll get approx 90 days a year without snow. That means no blizzards, no deep cold and no challenge for a seasoned survivor unless Hinterland change the game considerably. The downslide of temperature has already stopped so I don't understand what's to cure there. Apart from that, we all know auroras and blizzards occur outside the game.

[ThePancakeLady]

20 hours ago, desertedone said:

The thing is though, I think Desolation Point is meant to be be connected to just Coastal Highway kind of like the end of the world kind of zone as the name goes as well. Fact that there's a crashed ship there could imply that is a sea route. 

The Broken Bridge clearly has a road on the other side. That we cannot reach. Evidence of there being something there, at one point in time.  Where did that road lead? There is room on the map for another small region, that could connect TWM and DP, just like BI connects FM and the Ravine (and by default, ML) now, and also seems to be part of a sea route. Though not an ideal place for a tourist ferry, or large cargo ship dock/port. I think the Broken Bridge needs to stay broken, but a goat path up the other side, or a connection through Scruffy's Cave Of Horror would be possibilities.

It would be another coastal region, but could suit another industrial area, an area with an observatory, or Blackrock Prison, or a military base, or even a port town, with a destroyed ferry landing/ship dock- mail and/or cargo ships that carried tractor trailers full of Sardines or supplies could have come and gone from there... we have no port where larger ships could have docked for such purposes, or for repairs. How did the tourists of the past get to Great Bear for hunting, fishing, or wilderness adventure vacations? The Riken is obviously a whaling ship... meant to harpoon whales and drag or carry them back to Hibernia for processing. Not a tourist landing, or mail/vehicle ferry/supply/lumber/coal delivery/shipment facility. It still makes sense to my mind that another smaller coastal region could be added there, with a small port town. A Buffer Memory in the game mentions delayed shipments from a refinery, for gas (petrol) and/or heating oil. Refineries tend to sit on large waterways, or sea routes. Tanker ships don't do well trying to travel to landlocked refineries. And, as of yet, we have seen no tanker trucks, only tractor trailers with cargo trailers.

 

And again, my post is pure conjecture. Wishful thinking even. But based on potential feasible uses for unused space seen on the World Map. The road on the other side of the Broken Bridge may end there, no roads into or out of TWM. Just foot paths used by adventurers. Broken Railroad has a Broken Bridge as well, obviously once art of the rail-lines on the Island. It also is one way in-out. A "end of the world" region. At least for now. Hinterland has many places to potentially connect regions, and develop new places on the map. 

[acada]

Astrid ended up in Coastal Highway if I am not mistaken. Will was heading from Mystery Lake to dam and this path leads to Coastal Highway as well. It can lead them to Desolation Point and they may find path over broken bridge. BUT Coastal Highway has Fallen Rocks on the opposite side. The road there clearly was leading somewhere. Maybe one can find goat or mole path to the other side. But it would be another "end" region.

I still hope for big map Perseverance Mill.

[UpUpAway95]

On 1/18/2020 at 6:50 AM, manolitode said:

You're missing my point. With somewhat regular seasons you'll get approx 90 days a year without snow. That means no blizzards, no deep cold and no challenge for a seasoned survivor unless Hinterland change the game considerably. The downslide of temperature has already stopped so I don't understand what's to cure there. Apart from that, we all know auroras and blizzards occur outside the game.

The downslide to temperatures hasn't stopped.  It's dependent on difficulty, but the setting expressly states that the "world gets colder over time." 

Will guesses outright that, unless they get to Great Bear, whoever or whatever Astrid is trying to heal is going to get worse. 

My guess is that the "whoever" is Mother Earth and the sickness are the geomagnetic storms.  It's my guess based on the story as presented to us so far.  We'll see when the rest of the story is released what actually happens.  I really do not care whether or not you agree with my guess because ultimately it's Hinterlands who will write the end to their story and whether or not they write it in such a way that we can continue on with a survival playthrough after Wintermute ends or not.  My preference would be to be able to play on with Will and Astrid as actual characters... as well as the other NPCs, but if they do write a "fade into the long dark" ending, I'll have to just accept it.

Edited January 21, 2020 by UpUpAway95

[manolitode]

9 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

The downslide to temperatures hasn't stopped.  It's dependent on difficulty, but the setting expressly states that the "world gets colder over time." 

No, there's a cap.

[acada]

1 hour ago, manolitode said:

No, there's a cap.

Sure. But I dont know if lungs can work with liquid oxygen.

[ThePancakeLady]

On 1/20/2020 at 9:55 AM, acada said:

Astrid ended up in Coastal Highway if I am not mistaken. Will was heading from Mystery Lake to dam and this path leads to Coastal Highway as well. It can lead them to Desolation Point and they may find path over broken bridge. BUT Coastal Highway has Fallen Rocks on the opposite side. The road there clearly was leading somewhere. Maybe one can find goat or mole path to the other side. But it would be another "end" region.

I still hope for big map Perseverance Mill.

And the cave in FM that now leads to BI was blocked at the back too, before they added BI,and opened the cave up. The tunnel leading into FM was blocked by fallen rock slabs before FM was added, ad they removed them and opened the tunnel up into FM. Landslides and fallen rocks can be removed when they add a new region, and open up a connection/transition to the new region. Any place I see a path or cave blocked by snow, rocks, or fallen trees... may be a future path cleared to connect to a new region.

And I agree, I hope Perseverance Mills is a large map. But I have a feeling that it will not be coastal, that it will sit along a river and maybe a road, above Mystery Lake, between Milton and Pleasant Valley/TWM. 

[acada]

@ThePancakeLady If the map is as you say, the logical connection is from Broken bridge on Desolation point. One coastal transition region and voila we are there. There could be another connections from PV or TWM. But why drive character to Coastal Highway and then back?

[manolitode]

10 hours ago, acada said:

Sure. But I dont know if lungs can work with liquid oxygen.

Big time derail by now, I'll se if I can conclude Indeed, a number of problems appear with an ever decreasing temperature, hence my point that there's a cap, a limit to the temp drop. If you spend 2000 days on interloper like a few players have and the temp would keep dropping with a meagre 0.05 C per day you'd be about 100 C colder on day 2000 compared to day 50, say -150 C on average. Oxygen might not be liquid (apart from PV on it's worst nights) but with the current game rules you'll be dead because of clothing. Temp drop of -0,2 C per day after day 50 and you're at absolute freezing point on day 1640. You'd prefer hunting deer in space by then.

That said, I'd absolutely love it if that was the end of the story, survive with an ever decreasing temperature and see how many storyline checkpoints you can complete.

[Jimmy]

My personal favorites for ending is Perseverance Mills, or Blackrock Federal Penitentiary.

Jeremiah says Perseverance Mills is a "shit nothing town a few hours north" of Pleasant Valley region. He also says it can be reached by a road north out of the region. I assume the most likely connection for this road is the current End of the Road location.

Currently we have no real idea where Blackrock is located. Purely based on the current maps, we can assume it would be east of Mountain Town region on the road past the Crashed Prison Transport Bus, and west of Pleasant Valley on the road past the Long Curve.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Jimmy

[acada]

I see. The question is why are characters driven south to Coastal Highway? It is because the way from  (not so) Pleasant Valley and Timber Wolf Mountain to North are not passable? So we can prepare for somewhat long coastal trip. I hope it will be through nice sunny beach.

I don't remember the surrounding of the broken bridge in the Desolation Point. But the coast should be near and it can have frozen edge. So this can be one solution how to solve not passable broken bridge. As I do not hate enough the thin ice maze in Forlorn Muskeg.

As for the Black Rock prison. The collapsed tunnel is on East end of Mountain town. But I don't recall if the prison should be right next to Mountain Town. Perseverance Mills could be first and prison second from Mountain Town.

Oh my, I am looking forward to next episodes.

Edited January 22, 2020 by acada

[ProsPex]

4 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Currently we have no real idea where Blackrock is located. Purely based on the current maps, we can assume it would be east of Mountain Town region on the road past the Crashed Prison Transport Bus, and west of Pleasant Valley on the road past the Long Curve.

With a Perseverance Mills map directly above the new Blackrock map and  the existing TWM map. There would then need to be a new 3rd map which is directly above DP and connects to the Perseverance Mills map.