An end to survival

[glowing ice]

now hear me out first. i know it's setup to never have an end. and i'm good with that. but i have had saves where the player i made was just too good nothing could stop him, so i quit that run and start a new one on a harder setting.  now that guy will forever do nothing. rather than delete the old save it would be nice if there was a quest line using the towers to find a settlement or just a means to an end. so i can feel good about closing out that run rather than just deleting him or dying.

[Schrodingers Box]

no issue with that here. I have a 1000+ day interloper character i generally just keep on ice until new versions are released with new regions for him to explore- which ultimately extends his endless survival because he gets additional matches, cloth and resources. so it would be nice to ultimately either have him rescued or maybe start being able to build his own ideal base home or something. 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Schrodingers Box

[ManicManiac]

I'm not in favor of this idea.

I definitely recommend the search function, as there has been a lot of good discussion about this very subject quite a bit in the past.
(just offering all the other conversation on the subject in addition to this thread)
I'll echo a little bit of I how I weighted in on those previous conversations:

I've been playing this game pretty consistently for about 6 years now.  I've never felt bored, and I like that once I got proficient in my survival tasks... it was up to me to find creative ways to just live on Great Bear, and for how long.  I've never needed the sandbox to prompt/force me to do things or to go exploring...

There is no "happily ever after" or "congratulations you win!" in Survival Mode and I would suggest there shouldn't be.  After all, death is the eventuality no mater what (I really respect that about this game)... be it because we've given up, or due to tragic circumstances (most often brought on by our own bad decisions).

I really like the fact that once we are proficient in our survival tasks; it's really up to us to decided how we live in the world Hinterland has provided us... for how long.

Also, given that the Survival Mode is a sandbox...  I think the only "story" we experience should be our own (created thought our gameplay).  I frankly really don't want to see these kinds of forced narrative elements to bleed over from story mode into my survival sandbox experience.

I think these kind of "happily ever after" or "congratulations you win!" type victory conditions are all fine and good for Story Mode and for the Challenges... but I would not want this mashed into the Survival Mode.

This is why I think we should let Story Mode be the story mode... and we should let the Survival Mode be the survival sandbox.

I know folks sometimes like to complain about "things starting off more difficult, and later seem to get easier..."
But that's how most things work... the more the player and/or a character does a thing, the better they tend to get at it.

Just by exercising a small amount of player choice we can greatly impact the experience we have with game... and with player choice we don't even need Hinterland to change the game for everyone (instead we just choose to change how we play it):

• If we don't like having abundant supplies, then perhaps we should refrain from looting the entire island right off the bat, and only go out to get things when the need is serious.
• If we don't like having a huge pile of meat... then perhaps we should only go hunting when we actually need food.
• If we don't like that our clothes are too warm... then we could tear them up, and use gear that's not as warm.
• If we think that the higher skill levels make things too easy... then we should probably not rush and grind to get those skills maxed out so fast (in most cases, if we only use a skill when we absolutely have to, it takes a very long time to get to higher levels).

There are plenty of ways we can choose to play the game that will curtail most of the "issues" folks seem to like to complain about.

Edited December 27, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Derek0311]

I’m in favor of the idea so long as it’s not a list of tasks with a predetermined outcome.  If it’s a challenge were the outcome is not a guaranteed (let’s say 50% success rate with a character that has max skills) but once started, can’t be undone, then I like it.  @ManicManiac given my above scenario what does this take away from your play style?  I saw that you suggested players not playing they way they want but slowing thing down.  Could an argument be made that you simply opt not to attempt a self rescue?  Then you get to have your endurance run and others can players can also have their “sprint”.

[UTC-10]

I think that once Story mode concludes, the devs, if they continue to develop/expand Survival mode may then come up with something that could be construed as "the end" or maybe not.  At this point, there would be no reason for Survival mode to have anything like that as it would have to be reflected in Story mode.  

Presumably episode 5 may conclude with Will and Astrid being in a place like Perseverance Mills in an ending that may leave open the possibility of migrating to another location (i.e. TLD II) or maybe more of an "On the Beach" type ending where for all intents and purposes there is nothing more to be done (story-wise) and the story ends.  Of course, players can still continue to play in Survival mode and there may even be updates.

[glowing ice]

or have a quest in survival still including the towers. where you need to ping each of them to upload your game stats to a leaderboard.  game keeps going there is no true end. but it is a means to an end. i would not feel bad about deleting my save or just letting that guy sit there forever.  and making the leaderboards this way only true survivors can post on it.

[Sammida]

Kind of like what Call of Duty: Cold War zombies does. Instead of how one would usually end the game by dying, there you can actually escape by helicopter.

I would actually like that in TLD. It would have to be difficult to pull off, but it would be cool to have the ability to close the storybook without erasing your character from existence. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Sammida

[Derek0311]

16 hours ago, Derek0311 said:

If it’s a challenge were the outcome is not a guaranteed (let’s say 50% success rate with a character that has max skills) but once started, can’t be undone, then I like it.

I’ve had more time to think about it.  50% is too harsh; there no reason to try if it’s a coin toss. Say 80%.  Something where a character of low skill and junk gear will most likely die but a prepared character has a good chance of making it.

[RegentRelic]

I think the that the game should be uncapped on how cold it gets over time leading to inevitable death.

[UpUpAway95]

I think there is lots of possible ways Hinterland could put in a "retirement" type OPTIONAL ending to survival mode (that would possibly tie in in some way to whatever ending they are planning for story mode that would give players a more positive alternative to suiciding their long-term characters or using some sort of "deus ex-machina" (like uncapping the colder over time feature) to kill off everyone by making it totally impossible to survive..  IMO, making the game artificially impossible to survive just defeats the purpose of starting it in the first place, and it would probably cause me to stop playing it altogether.  Of course, I'm all about options... so for people who want to play with uncapped cold should be able to do that as well... in the custom settings.

[Kranium]

It's a good idea if it's optional.

 

This is the correct answer.

[BlinkMoFried]

9 hours ago, Kranium said:

It's a good idea if it's optional.

 

This is the correct answer.

Yeah, this the right answer 😅

[Pyroxene]

Here's a suggestion: your goal is to loot enough materials and read and learn the proper books to build a boat and escape Great Bear Island. This can be made in any region connected to the sea. You will also need to construct an ice-breaker. After leaving the island, the survival session is complete.