Accidental Frostbite is the end of my journey

[galahan]

Hey Folks and devs,

After spending 130 days in wilderness in survival mode, my journey ended by surprising accident again (my previous attempt was stepping on fire). Not by a bear, or wolf or even a cold weather. i was running around in warm weather comfortably in +32 degree C attire, and slept on outside w/o paying attention to my effing glove getting wet. I was planning on climbing a rope, so i figured let me sleep a bit more before the climb. i did barely notice the frostbite warning just before clicking the sleep, but in truth it never occurred to me one of my clothes could be wet. There was no snow storm or anything, temp was rising,  why would it be wet anyways. I have thought hmm, it might be bugged. Anyway after waking up from sleep; frostbite, bam, end of my journey. classic Long Dark style another effing grand finale, x5 frostbite half of my health is gone.

You might as well  kill me long dark devs, what is the point of playing the game from there again. Game should be screaming at you to get your attention before you un intentionally suicide yourself. Why would i sleep if i can remove the darn glove or make a fire, if i was aware of the darn thing. 

You cannot cure the it so its game over. what a horrible game design.

really entirely lost the will the play this game again. if any devs care at all. make your games punishing, but not idiotically punishing. 

cheers

Edited January 24, 2021 by galahan
minor edit

[piddy3825]

Yeah, I feel your pain...  you'd think the player would wake up due to the initial pain of freezing cold fingers.  

Seems to me too that the frostbite mechanic could use a little balancing.  Considering the effects of frostbite being tissue damage to your hands in this case, shouldn't necessarily cause such a dramatic 50% decline in health.  Considering that only your hands are affected, I could get behind some condition degradation maybe 5-10% but probably no more than that.  I'd think that subsequently the player should see some impediment to being able to climb a rope or handle a firearm as part of the lingering effect of having frostbitten hands.  Considering that frostbite to the hands usually means loss of fingers due to the freezing damage it would seem appropriate that some mobility be compromised.  

[UpUpAway95]

Hinterland - Allowing for manual saves in survival mode would fix this without overtly hand-holding the player to prevent them from making a lethal mistake.   Some people want to play permadeath and don't mind starting their games over every single time they die... and others simply don't or they ultimately become frustrated by it happening.  The OP here is a good example.

OP - Sorry for your loss.  Hopefully, someday, you'll find your way back into the great Canadian northern wilderness to try again.

[Stinky socks]

Deer @galahan,

May your fingers grow back and you once again give hinterland a try:) best wishes and speedy recovery!

[mfuegemann]

I got frostbite once wotking on an outside workbench for too long. Maybe if it is too cold during Your sleep, You may not wake up again. But noticing wet freezing clothes before going to sleep or interrupting work, once You are too cold should be possible. The solution could be like the pop-up before burning an unread book.

My first reaction was too to end the current run after x3 frostbite. But condition is not so much an issue on easier difficulties, just be more cautious with wolfs, bear and elk.

[hozz1235]

@galahan, I know it can be very frustrating to lose all your progress and hard-work!  This is the very reason why I choose to back up my save files periodically.  Some will argue that it defeats the purpose of the game and shouldn't be done, but if perma-death is the only thing keeping you from playing the game, back up your saves!

I won't describe how to do it here, but a quick internet search should give you instruction.

[Schrodingers Box]

All beginners get frostbite. once it happens you never get it again because you learn from it. nothing needs to be fixed- it’s something every beginner goes through. As well as other things... it’s a learning experience. 

[Megaloceros]

On 1/23/2021 at 7:39 PM, galahan said:

Hey Folks and devs,

After spending 130 days in wilderness in survival mode, my journey ended by surprising accident again (my previous attempt was stepping on fire). Not by a bear, or wolf or even a cold weather. i was running around in warm weather comfortably in +32 degree C attire, and slept on outside w/o paying attention to my effing glove getting wet. I was planning on climbing a rope, so i figured let me sleep a bit more before the climb. i did barely notice the frostbite warning just before clicking the sleep, but in truth it never occurred to me one of my clothes could be wet. There was no snow storm or anything, temp was rising,  why would it be wet anyways. I have thought hmm, it might be bugged. Anyway after waking up from sleep; frostbite, bam, end of my journey. classic Long Dark style another effing grand finale, x5 frostbite half of my health is gone.

You might as well  kill me long dark devs, what is the point of playing the game from there again. Game should be screaming at you to get your attention before you un intentionally suicide yourself. Why would i sleep if i can remove the darn glove or make a fire, if i was aware of the darn thing. 

You cannot cure the it so its game over. what a horrible game design.

really entirely lost the will the play this game again. if any devs care at all. make your games punishing, but not idiotically punishing. 

cheers

Hey man, 
I know your frustration, I know your pain, and I'll be damned if I haven't been angry after a sprained ankle on a flat surface prevented me from escaping into the safety of a cabin before the wolves got me. But this is another tier altogether! Holy shit! Wet gloves triggering the frost bite effect FIVE TIMES?! That is ridiculously excessive. I mean seriously, wow, did not even think that could happen.
I would like to offer this, for your consideration- you have inadvertently been given an incredible challenge: continue, on day 130, to play, with half health. I'm not even sure how possible it is, but your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to survive.
And if you do live another 130 days, PLEASE post about it! Good lord, what a story that would be.

ALTERNATIVELY- it really can be fun to just climb to the top of a big hill, and jump off. I call it "Doom Sledding"; no more enjoyment left to be had by suriviving another day, so how about enjoy the ride to the jagged bottom of this cliff?

[acada]

I feel your pain. 5 times frostbite, it means all linbs plus head if I get it correctly. It is little too much. I do not have personal experience with frostbite. But from what I know it is possible even for trained people. One can go sleep and suddenly he realise his fingers are black. Is it possible, there was blizzard during your sleep? It can freeze your clothes fast.

[Looper]

On 1/24/2021 at 1:39 AM, galahan said:

really entirely lost the will the play this game again. if any devs care at all. make your games punishing, but not idiotically punishing

you have my sympathy but ... try to enjoy a game where your (and my) mistakes are punished. 

Not a game on rails or where your actions doesn't really matter. 

Hit the restart and enjoy the kick of the first 20 days! 

[Stinky socks]

I think some of us are setting the difficulty higher than we can enjoy. That can be a problem. Let's remember that this is a game. Games are meant to be enjoyed. If you are frustrated, try setting lower difficulty. We won't make fun of you:)

[mfuegemann]

I think it has to do with getting used to start over and do it better on the next run. I really had to laugh, as I just after reading some post about stupid errors, I killed my Stalker after a successful start with top gear by sleeping too long in a cold cave...

[ManicManiac]

On 1/24/2021 at 5:09 AM, galahan said:

You cannot cure the it so its game over.

Not necessarily, we can still choose if want to try and take on the challenge of surviving as long as we can in spite of the permanent condition loss.
 

And on the other side of the topic, if a player is paying attention to their situation... I'd say frost bite is fairly easy to avoid.
I recently completed the objectives for my last run despite having some frost bite afflictions (because I made a couple of foolish mistakes early in the run).

I don't think it's poor game design for there to be consequences for mistakes a player makes.  I think this is a game where paying attention to our actions and our surroundings is just very very important.  Sure, it sucks when we make a fatal mistake... but I think the better answer is to learn from it; so we don't suffer the same fate on the next run. 

[Stinky socks]

Well said!

I wonder what would happen if McKenzie or Astrid were self aware and wondered..

why "stinky socks" set sleep timer to 10 hours?! I'll freeze in here on third hour!! Ah fk it, he can start over, let's go sleep!! -Astrid.

[galahan]

Update on my character with x5 frostbite. She is still going strong at 230 days. I have entirely cleared the ash canyon, multiple moose and bear encounters. at voyager difficulty, it is still pretty much playable. bear attacks only take away percentage of your condition. my character is now wearing fully upgraded gear.

Now my trials on interloper are whole lot of different story though. I hate the wolf behavior and lack of guns in that utterly disgusting.

[galahan]

On 2/6/2021 at 1:01 AM, Megaloceros said:

Hey man, 
I know your frustration, I know your pain, and I'll be damned if I haven't been angry after a sprained ankle on a flat surface prevented me from escaping into the safety of a cabin before the wolves got me. But this is another tier altogether! Holy shit! Wet gloves triggering the frost bite effect FIVE TIMES?! That is ridiculously excessive. I mean seriously, wow, did not even think that could happen.
I would like to offer this, for your consideration- you have inadvertently been given an incredible challenge: continue, on day 130, to play, with half health. I'm not even sure how possible it is, but your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to survive.
And if you do live another 130 days, PLEASE post about it! Good lord, what a story that would be.

ALTERNATIVELY- it really can be fun to just climb to the top of a big hill, and jump off. I call it "Doom Sledding"; no more enjoyment left to be had by suriviving another day, so how about enjoy the ride to the jagged bottom of this cliff?

I have lived through another 130 days. so it appears you can play this game with x5 frostbite. 7 bears, 2 moose and 86 wolf kills later my character seems to be going still strong. 

[Stinky socks]

3 hours ago, galahan said:

She is still going strong

Because: women.👩‍⚕️💅💝👠🛍💄

[odizzido]

It's always good to know the limitations of a game. In real life I think it would be pretty much impossible to not notice your gloves are wet and your hands are cold, if you're in generally good health. Conveying very important information to the player can be harder, I feel. I don't have many good ideas since we are so detached from our video game character and we already have popups and the risk listed on our character sheet. I mean maybe under the pass time or sleep menus you could have a list of your current conditions so when you hit that button you know for sure.

That being said, I've never personally had the issue since I pretty much always sleep in small increments outside(which is annoying but kinda off topic) and check my character sheet fairly often.

[metlman72]

I have faded into the long dark due to this mechanic. It was a 150+ day stalker run. I went to sleep in a hunters blind with something wet. I believe it was my satchel. 

That said with 32 deg above clothing (as the OP did) I would try not to sleep outdoors at all. I was at 51 deg above with a bearskin bedroll and still died. 

Respect to you OP for not giving up and keeping the run going. 

[Sherri]

On 1/24/2021 at 12:13 PM, UpUpAway95 said:

Hinterland - Allowing for manual saves in survival mode would fix this without overtly hand-holding the player to prevent them from making a lethal mistake.   Some people want to play permadeath and don't mind starting their games over every single time they die... and others simply don't or they ultimately become frustrated by it happening.  The OP here is a good example.

OP - Sorry for your loss.  Hopefully, someday, you'll find your way back into the great Canadian northern wilderness to try again.

I don't think a game should have to scream at you for every possible danger, keeping an eye on these risks is THE challenge of the game.

However, @UpUpAway95has a great idea here. Allowing survival play with saves... _or_ a permadeath option would be cool. I'd definitely choose to have saves because with 3 kids and life being crazy I have zero desire to lose hours of play due to a silly mistake.

[acada]

On 4/12/2021 at 2:17 AM, galahan said:

my character seems to be going still strong. 

Good for you. Keep at it.

[mfuegemann]

On 4/12/2021 at 2:17 AM, galahan said:

I have lived through another 130 days. so it appears you can play this game with x5 frostbite. 7 bears, 2 moose and 86 wolf kills later my character seems to be going still strong. 

Yes, You just have to be a bit more careful around the predators. Great that You continued despite Your first frustration.