Do you guys believe Interloper is toxic for mental health?

[Trunks_Budo]

Topic. I personally find it's too limiting; You can't sleep on a floor, clothing deteriorates at a vastly unrealistic rate, you can't find anything to repel wolves except for torches which can be blown out any time and flares which are limited in quantity. You can't find a smithing hammer at forges which is quite frankly ridiculous too, what forge wouldn't have a hammer next to it in real life? Add that to the inherent aggression of wildlife, and the fact that you freeze way too fast for it to be considered anything even remotely realistic. I feel like every difficult aspect of the game is only possible because of how vast Hinterland's elected departure from reality is. Take away the artificial difficulty aspects and you realize, you don't any longer have a game worth playing. They just tell you that you're objectively unable to step over a log, climb over a fence, sled down a hill, they also proceed to tell you that you can't use a magnifying lens to ignite a torch, that you can only fashion boots and pants from deer hide and nothing else, that you can't fill a bedroll with pelts to improve its insulation value. Lanterns run out of fuel so fast, there are no candles to find or anything. There's also no hand-drill method of starting a fire. It all seems so... Fake? To the point where I feel like the actual intention of the difficulty wasn't to challenge players but to troll them, a deliberate attack on the fan base's mental health. This theory is only made increasingly likely, when you acknowledge the fact that you can't even earn feats in a custom sandbox. If it isn't a deliberate attack, then it's rampant long-term neglect and a lack of personal responsibility. 

Stalker is too easy, Interloper is too absurdly unrealistic in an attempt to manufacture some form of difficulty. Hinterland devs said they didn't want an action game, they wanted it to be pure survival, pure vulnerability. Okay, but then how do you justify crafting a legendary spear to battle an immortal bear in story mode? Obviously I've just made very clear, the hypocrisy of their statement. Why not allow the spear, or anything like a forged spear, in survival mode? Well because at that point it becomes too easy. There aren't many ways to remedy this, I'll admit it, but I feel like their survival mode gameplay needs a reboot. If anything, they shouldn't have ever incorporated a narrative episodic story because I feel the quality of the gameplay in survival mode has greatly suffered for it due to the divided development. The story isn't even that good it kind of sucks, it's a romance story for women to increase the sales of the game... That's basically it, when you boil it down to its purest form. Or it's a dev's self-insert of his broken marriage, that he wishes to redeem but can't. Some sort of copy-and-paste of his introspective contemplations. The story is literally you and your wife are divorced, likely because your baby died, then you crash, and you talk to some people while trying to find her. You fight a bear with a spear, something you can't do in survival mode because artificial difficulty is their aim. That's the story, after... Half a decade? Longer? Waste of resources objectively speaking, especially when you consider the current state of the gameplay features. 

Hinterland, with love; You suck. I used to feel a real magic toward your game, I even earned the platinum trophy on ps4, and I've survived 130 days on Interloper without any save scumming of any kind, with a couple other runs past 100 too. But I have PTSD toward your game these days and I can no longer play it, because of the toll it took on my psyche. I should be able to step over a log, climb a rock or tree to escape a wolf, craft a wider variety of clothing, use a hand-drill, etc. You tailored your game's mechanics around easier difficulties, and my opinion is that you have to reboot or rethink your game's mechanics with Interloper in mind, to make it an actual difficulty rather than an attack on the mental health of your player base. And anybody who wants to judge me for being mentally weak or unfit, ask yourself: Did you ever survive 130 days WITHOUT save scumming? Without, say, quitting the game upon a wolf attack, or quitting when you got lost in a blizzard, so you could reload? Didn't think so. And if you did, well, then you definitely agree with me, beyond any reasonable doubt, because you've seen how artificial the game's difficulty design is on Interloper. You've seen the wrongfully imposed character limitations, the lazy implementation of it all, the slap-job that is Interloper, the neglect of all Custom Sandbox players in regards to their ability to earn feats. I wish I was wrong, but resources were wasted on the story mode, and whatever this game could be, it's failing to become, because of that.

Anybody can theoretically survive on Interloper without save scumming, provided they make hot drinks when necessary, bring coal and supplies for a snow shelter at all times, I mean hell, I've literally done a forge run on day 2 quite a few times, by spawning in FM, going to BR, getting the hammer, and back-tracking to FM on days 1-2. It can be fun, and success can be achieved, even without save-scumming, but this entire game's difficulty design feels so artificial to me. Like the way you guys keep switching between lightened and darkened interiors every update. You can't waste matches to leave a house at night time in Interloper. You need the RNG of finding a lantern location. But you just HAD to remove the light trickle coming in from windows, to appease... Who, exactly? Realism when it's convenient to you, and a lack of it, also, when it is convenient to you. I used those window lights at night to orient myself, it was useful, you could easily leave a house at night time. But you removed it for realism's sake. Well okay, but if you're striving for realism, you have WAY more changes to make than just that. You can't have it both ways. I guess you can, but it's pretty terrible right now because you're trying to. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[odizzido]

I agree with a lot of what you said with artificial difficulty and complete lack of reality. Hopefully some of it can change, or, assuming they make modding easier, people can change the game to challenge them in different ways. The custom game feats is particularly baffling to me as all it does it make people unhappy for no benefit other than some sense of elitism.

That being said, I also like quite a lot about the game. It has very good music, a nice feel, and generally things fall together well. I really do feel if they could fix the clunky controls and at least make the game world consistent that it would be pretty solid. Right now it's okay, which for a game that is in the middle of being made is probably a good place to be.

I will just wait and see how it goes. Hopefully the money I gave hinterland for development will help just a little to get a solid final product.

 

edit-------

Just to answer the question in the title, for me personally no it isn't toxic for my mental health, especially since I only play custom games(which totally should be added to story mode unless T1000 health regen is required?)

Edited February 10, 2021 by odizzido

[Trunks_Budo]

6 minutes ago, odizzido said:

I agree with a lot of what you said with artificial difficulty and complete lack of reality. Hopefully some of it can change, or, assuming they make modding easier, people can change the game to challenge them in different ways. The custom game feats is particularly baffling to me as all it does it make people unhappy for no benefit other than some sense of elitism.

That being said, I also like quite a lot about the game. It has very good music, a nice feel, and generally things fall together well. I really do feel if they could fix the clunky controls and at least make the game world consistent that it would be pretty solid. Right now it's okay, which for a game that is in the middle of being made is probably a good place to be.

I will just wait and see how it goes. Hopefully the money I gave hinterland for development will help just a little to get a solid final product.

I agree with your positive points on the game... I love the atmosphere, the music, the desolation and despair, so deep it's almost calming. The isolation, that silent stillness, you know? I hope the devs realize that I'm speaking from a place of true love for what they created, and the deepest hope for its future success. People who don't care don't bother criticizing things. If but a few changes, at least, made my early-game survival rate on Interloper go from 10% to, say, 30%, I would be so happy overall. Alternatively, custom sandbox feat progression =/ I hope they can develop it much further, and take survival where I'd want it, and the story where they'd like it. I played the story, it was fun, honestly, trophy hunting for it was engaging. But later on in my TLD career, I just started seeing these... Quirks, shall we say. And slowly, over time, the limitations began outweighing the positive elements, because I got pidgeonholed into Interloper to earn my feats while having any semblance of fun, as Stalker typically didn't deliver for me. It's tough to reflect on it, because I wish I could go back to the time before I knew what I didn't like about it... When all there was, was everything I loved about it.

[Trunks_Budo]

I made a custom world with Very High animal spawns all across the board, stalker wildlife aggression levels, interloper weather levels, low condition recovery at rest and in general, with guns enabled, voyager loot, very high aurora chance for flashlights, it was SO FUN dude. That's a game mode I can play all day, but I'm trying to earn feats right now a second time over, and it's hard as shit because Stalker's too easy... You know how it is. Interloper is not a good difficulty for earning feats, I only wish it was, or that custom sandboxes allowed feat progression. If Interloper was THESE settings, buddy I'd play Interloper all day lol, regardless of whatever new content they decided to put in. I feel like the best way to approach Interloper is this: Nature is at its peak; Thankfully you are too. Hold out, until this frigid abyss finally claims you. Have guns, hyper dangerous and super common wildlife, good loot, harsh weather, frequent auroras, low condition recovery settings, that would be perfect imo. They don't need to go so overboard in player limitations. Make everything as dangerous and fun as possible etc

Edited February 10, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Serenity]

What an absurd thread title. Yes the difficulty is artificial and there a meta about certain things to do that can be a bit silly. That doesn't make it toxic. Beyond the very early game it's usually very relaxing.

[Trunks_Budo]

2 hours ago, Serenity said:

What an absurd thread title. Yes the difficulty is artificial and there a meta about certain things to do that can be a bit silly. That doesn't make it toxic. Beyond the very early game it's usually very relaxing.

Well I don't know about you but I never save scum, and as a result, it takes me at least 30 attempts to make it past day 20 with forged tools and a bow/arrows. During those 30 attempts is a great deal of pressure, stress, and unrealistic limitations making it all a dreadful slog to get through. The difficulty itself is so poorly designed that you basically have to be a masochist or a monk just to enjoy it. Yeah the late game is non existent, that's why the barriers are all there, to stop players from getting there, but it's not relaxing past the very early game. It's not relaxing until you have a moose cloak and a bear skin bedroll, with a full set of crafted clothing and hides to spare for repairs. I think you're speaking from a "defender against an aggressor" perspective, defending the game because you love it, but realize, I love it too. I can just admit when it's broken and bad for people's minds, at least Interloper. It's hugely flawed and is not conducive to player skill resulting in a higher success rate. I know the maps inside and out, all of them. I know several item spawn locations, I can manage to survive an HRV start. But even for me, there's too much RNG in addition to the forced limitations, and the result is a singularly crappy experience. The learning curve, devoting yourself to mastery, makes little difference in the amount of attempts required to reach the mid-game.

I'm not even proud of making it 130 days without save scumming, the joke is on me, because I simply see how terrible it is now. I can't even play Interloper's early game without feeling this spike in anxiety anymore, because I've succeeded, because I don't save scum. Playing this game as intended, on Interloper, with permadeath and zero save scumming, causes psychological pain and requires at least 30 attempts to find mid-game success, with incredible cortisol accumulation along the way. I don't think anybody would refute that unless they were deluded, or speaking from a place of bias, whereas I'm speaking from a place of irrefutable experience. I've taken this game a lot farther, and played it much stricter, than most players are willing to. I would know what's wrong with Interloper and just how hard it is. Everybody else is save scumming it and feeling professional, but those of us who challenge ourselves to play without it just end up dying over and over again and ceaselessly suffering this purgatory of unfairness. If I want to unlock feats... It's either I numb my brain on Stalker, or I torture myself on Interloper.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Stinky socks]

2 hours ago, Trunks_Budo said:

I made a custom world with Very High animal spawns all across the board, stalker wildlife aggression levels, interloper weather levels, low condition recovery at rest and in general, with guns enabled, voyager loot, very high aurora chance for flashlights, it was SO FUN dude.

Thank you:) I was about to post custom difficulty suggestion! I am custom difficulty advocate! May your survival be enjoyed!

[Trunks_Budo]

And another thing... We can easily, 100% of the time scare a wolf or bear or moose away by throwing a torch/flare at it while it's charging at us. But why can't we scare away those animals by firing a gun shot beside them while they're charging at us? You'd think the loud bang and bullet deflection near them would deter their charge. But so far, the only way to make them run away is to shoot them from really far away before they've detected you, while crouched; Aiming at them when they're already stalking you results in a 50/50 chance between them charging, or fleeing. Yet if you shoot a wolf in the body with a projectile while it's charging you, it'll ignore the harm and continue finishing the charge, 100% of the time. A bullet or arrow hitting a currently-charging animal never makes it run away. Why? Why not implement an organic chance for it to run away in that context, too? Why not make it so wolves sometimes run away when firing at them during a charge, and missing? Why not make it so a stalking/charging wolf/bear that just got struck by a bullet or arrow might decide to run away rather than charge, 50/50? The static rules in that instance are pretty annoying... It's too mechanical and not organic enough. All the animals being hyper aggressive just sets the narrative of "Animals bad, player good." But if the wildlife ran away more, reacted to pain, cried, responded as a real living creature with life-preservation would, players would feel guilty. It would provide another effect, a profound effect of "What if mankind's end is right?" That would be a real difficulty, feeling like you had to finish off this creature because you were guilty for its current, wound-based suffering, killing it because you had to, because your life is worth fighting for too. Adding a layer of depth to the emotional rollercoaster, but also another avenue of chance-based safety to the player, which would benefit even Interloper difficulty.

And add wolf packs... Please! Like regular wolf packs, similar to Timberwolf packs. I'm down for it, as long as they fear gunshots and get intimidated by wounds, scared off by displays of, say... Swinging an axe, harming them, firing beside them with arrow or bullet, hitting them with arrow or bullet, just having a torch or flare in hand and swinging it about, throwing those things, seeking to take bites and grab my limbs and scratch me up. I feel the struggle system is... Aging slightly, and a point-for-point based combat system all across the board could be pretty good. I'd love fighting Timberwolves if I could use my hatchet against them proactively, I mean... Survival isn't a joke. You do what you have to do. Wolves, moose, bear, I feel like if they all fought like Timberwolves it could be a lot better. Combat mechanics could be revolutionized, difficulties reimagined. Bear traps? Pitfall traps, box and spike traps? I mean... There's a lot potential here. Spears? Just imagine a purely combat and hunting-based update, with more animal mechanics, more weapons to wield and to forge, more traps to utilize, more clothing to craft... I mean, I'd love that. Don't know about you guys.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Trunks_Budo]

I've basically decided to go with my custom settings world, and ignore feats completely, allowing myself to use none. I'm playing stalker/loper with more extreme animal and weather conditions, but also much better loot availability, guns, low condition recovery rates, low deterioration rate for clothing, very high animal spawns, and you wake up if you start freezing near a fire. Only realistic, research it, the cold wakes you, before hypothermia can keep you asleep, as long as you were initially warm when you went to sleep. But obviously don't use "Fires prevent freezing" because starting a fire with 1 stick and 1 piece of cedar to survive an hour in -30 temperatures is just ridiculous; Making it cost more wood to reach the required temperature is a good realism technique for immersion. Try it out if you want: 8N3M - X0(<-zero)97 - KzuD - TcjW - N2MC

At least this way, I'm challenging myself even more by avoiding feats entirely, and escaping the repetitive linear purgatory of vanilla Interloper lol

Edited February 10, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Trunks_Budo]

We should also be able to turn 360 degrees while sitting in a car, to look behind us. We should also also be able to switch seats from inside a car. We should also also also be able to roll down a window (in hand-crank viable vehicles, or electric vehicles on aurora, with no +5 car interior insulation bonus if a window is down) and shoot a predator from the car that way. Small changes, man... Small things make a big difference, I hope they consider such things for future development.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Stinky socks]

I have a feeling Hinterland will have to rewrite the entire code for TLD2 to satisfy our bottomless appetite. 

[Trunks_Budo]

I played Interloper today, survived 20 days, made a bow, several arrows, a knife, a hatchet. Tried to hunt a bear, shot it twice, got mauled by it twice, didn't survive overall. It's just too static and unrealistic. Why can't I climb onto rocks to escape it? Why doesn't the bear sometimes try to run away after I've damaged it? Why aren't there bear traps, like, anywhere? It's easy to kill a wolf, you just have to let it attack a rabbit or deer, then shoot it from far away. But it's basically impossible to kill a bear unless you get a lucky headshot, otherwise you're guaranteed to get mega health condition damage and clothing condition damage. It's just broken. I even had a torch out too, I switched from the bow to a torch and lit it, why couldn't I swing my torch around and scream to try and repel the bear? I'll tell you why, because Hinterland sucks. The game is really good, once you just try to play it. Beautiful atmosphere, but it's all entirely artificial difficulty. They tell you that you're playing as a human who's incapable of walking over a fallen log, incapable of climbing over fences, incapable of using bear traps, incapable of just about everything.

I hate to say it, but The Long Dark is just a stupid game. It has really awesome potential, I love the feeling of the "prey" phase in interloper where you're just trying to get a forge run done, and get a base settled, while staying alive. But once you make a bow and arrows, and you're expected to hunt, you realize just how broken it all is. Why can't I crouch and shoot with a bow? I'm a martial artist, I'd figure it out IRL. I'd practice. Why aren't there bear traps on GREAT BEAR ISLAND? Why can't I put down a bear trap, THEN shoot a bear, luring it into the trap so it can just starve out or be finished off? This game is incomplete and the difficulty of it is SOOOOOO god damn artificial dude. I wish I could get a complete refund for every version of the game I've bought. Over the long term, I've realized just how inaccessible and poorly designed it is, and I don't feel Hinterland deserves my money anymore. Just a welfare development team that's spit out a subpar game, but yeah, it's artistically beautiful. Just plays like absolute hot garbage. It's pathetic.

I'll say it one last time, for all the plebeians who I just know will disagree because they're idiots: This game is not well fleshed out. It's basically early-access, and should not be out on consoles. The story mode, has drained valuable developer resources concerning survival mode. The game plays like garbage because of that divided developer attention. I'm extremely disappointed, you guys (hinterland) need to improve combat mechanics in this stupid game. All the love I have for it is rapidly dying because in literally every other survival game I play, I can succeed WITHOUT save scumming through my own skill and merits. I can ALWAYS guarantee my success with enough focus and calm determination. But your game is just a complete roll of the dice, and the only way to kill a bear is to exploit some sort of safe spot, which doesn't exist for half the bear spawns. WORK ON THE COMBAT. Your players deserve more than this absolute pathetic trash heap of hot garbage.  This is always the damn result of Interloper on my mind, and my mental health. It ALWAYS causes damage to my mind because of the ARTIFICIAL DIFFICULTY IMPOSITIONS THAT THE DEVELOPERS PLACE ON MY CHARACTER. WHY CAN'T I STEP OVER A LOG. WHY AREN'T THERE BEAR TRAPS. WHY CAN'T I SCALE OBJECTS. WHY CAN'T BEARS ATTACK OTHER WILDLIFE, LIKE MOOSES AND WOLVES? Seriously just hire me, pay me, because it seems nobody else in your god forsaken development team is having any good ideas lately.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Stinky socks]

Well, maybe bear attacks are also hard to survive in real life? I haven't been mauled down by a bear. Maybe a rifle should be able to do more damage than it does?

Either way, I'm not an expert on this topic, but I am sure hinterland did a lot more research than most of us.

[Dr. S.]

11 hours ago, Trunks_Budo said:

But it's basically impossible to kill a bear unless you get a lucky headshot, otherwise you're guaranteed to get mega health condition damage and clothing condition damage. It's just broken.

If you really want to kill a bear without any danger of taking damage, you can. Just go somewhere it can't reach before shooting it. I suggest one of the following:

the roof of the barn by Trappers (good for moose, too)

the top of the derailed train cars (at poachers) in FM

the broken tree in the middle of unnamed pond in ML

the roof of the cannery workers residence in BI

the deck of the Riken

the rock ledge by the cabin at Miner's folly (I think the space behind the workbench works too, but I haven't tried that one)

the fallen tree by Eric's falls in TWM

the passage in the rocks where you have to crouch to pass through on Hushed River

Some of these you might have to lure the bear to, others he will just pass by on his rounds. I'm sure there are other spots; these are just the ones that come to mind off the top of my head. But they are all places I've used to safely kill a bear.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Dr. S.

[Trunks_Budo]

Yeah but I was using a bow, it has a trajectory arch, and if you miss, you'll break a valuable arrow. I didn't have a rifle, and it's always too freezing to just camp a spot until a bear passes by. There needs to be bear traps, or bears have to attack and eat wolves or something, but they don't typically do that, they eat fish. If a bear at least got distracted at one place or another, you could comfortably line up a head shot; But again, you can't crouch until you're LEVEL 5 IN THE BOW SKILL. It's ridiculous, I can't even defend the game anymore. Every single difficulty aspect is artificial, some arbitrary rule they made up to make it harder on the player. The player being unable to jump, is literally one of their elected difficulty decisions. It plain and simple just sucks, it's inaccessible, no wonder everybody struggles to play Interloper without save scumming. I try to pride myself on never save scumming, and I just end up dying after every forge run, or, often times, dying before I can even complete the forge run. There needs to be a spear, a bear trap, some form of security to trying to hunt. You're not even entirely safe in a hunter's blind, it's completely useless. Why can't the bear get struck by my arrow, look at the wounded area, contemplate, then decide to run away rather than engage me? Why does wildlife behave in such a static and aggressive way? Realism when it suits them, a lack of realism when it suits them. It's pathetic. The only way Hinterland knows how to make a difficulty, is to rob the player's character of basic bodily functions (IE Jumping) and hunting ideas (IE bear traps). 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Stinky socks]

44 minutes ago, Dr. S. said:

If you really want to kill a bear without any danger of taking damage, you can. Just go somewhere it can't reach..

No.

And another one:

https://youtu.be/rb4UgTUMph0

[Trunks_Budo]

God forbid they let me ram my axe into its skull, gauge an eye out with my knife, ready a forged spear before it charges, lay a bear trap between myself and it, god forbid it does anything besides charge me without thinking because that's how wildlife behaves. Right. It's all arbitrary; Realism when it suits them, a lack of realism when it suits them. That way you don't have to make an actually good game, you can just jank every player's capabilities and guarantee their death, thus, subsequently, guaranteeing repeat playthroughs and an increase in overall playtime, guaranteeing a lack of fulfillment overall. The game shouldn't be like this. Wolves should attack you in a Timberwolf way, with struggles being a SOMETIMES thing. Melee weapons should be more effective than they are, you should be able to ready your axe to swing while the animal is charging at you, not AFTER it's already upon you. I'm sorry, but the protagonists are weaklings. No sense of proactiveness at all, they deserve to die, only because Hinterland designed them to be so incredibly inept. Most bears in the wild can be scared away by waving your arms and screaming loudly. I get the fact that you shouldn't be able to do that, because of the Aurora's effect on the wildlife; But you SHOULD be able to lay a bear trap, make a spear, more reliably use weapons in struggles against the bear. I got attacked by a bear WITH a torch out. Why didn't I press the torch up to its belly, rather than drop it? Why didn't I burn the bear? Because, Hinterland said such a tactic should not exist. Completely arbitrary and idiotic. Make your game good, Hinterland, I'm damn sick of how objectively terrible it is from a gameplay standpoint. Nobody cares about your self-indulgent crappy story mode. The art is beautiful, the story is sub-par, the gameplay, is absolute garbage when you do anything even remotely related to hunting or combat. I can't even step over a log. Just think about that. 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Trunks_Budo]

I will give this game every chance to get better and redeem its present-day inefficiencies and inadequacies, every chance. I will wait years to play the Long Dark version that I dream of playing, where my character uses their human body and mind in productive, proactive, and engaging ways. But for right now? The love is just gone, and it's gonna take one hell of a honeymoon to get it back. Some really, REALLY meaningful hunting and trapping updates. 

I can see it now... "The Hopeful Hunter" update. New feature added: Player can jump, and lay bear traps, and forge a spear in survival mode. Please just do it, for the sake of every player like me with a big brain that your game just can't appease fully because of the artificial limitations you've imposed on it. I'm a martial artist, but even before I became a martial artist, I was able to step over a log. Temperature can be handled with hot drinks and snow shelters, yeah matches are scarce but you don't always need to travel, and late-game clothing / bear skin bed rolls make caves a good checkpoint to warm up in. But there is nothing, literally NOTHING to help with hunting. It's always 50/50, at least when hunting a bear or moose. I know if I shoot a wolf at least in the body while it's charging me, I can then stab it in the struggle, and the struggle will end quickly enough, it'll run and bleed out, especially if I use the smithing hammer for the struggle. But I should not be so powerless against a bear. I should be able to burn it with a torch, lay a bear trap, use a spear? Give the spear low durability, 2 uses and it breaks, causes a bleed on the charging bear, and makes it run away from you. That's a balance of hunting, not an imbalance created in favor of the player, as Hinterland would assume. Anything, just give us god damn anything. And make it so these methods will also work against a moose. 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[Dr. S.]

46 minutes ago, Trunks_Budo said:

Yeah but I was using a bow, it has a trajectory arch ...

I confess I couldn't bring myself to read the additional wall(s) of text, so I'll just say I play interloper, so I know all about using a bow. (I'm on about day 400 in my current run, so I'd forgotten you can't crouch and shoot until archery 5, but that's NBD).

I agree that TLD is very limited in its game-play mechanisms. To some, that's its charm. To others, not so much.

[Trunks_Budo]

I just feel like it's too much in one direction. We could use some form of easily breakable, but craftable spear, which deters charging bears and causes fatal bleed damage on them. Shoot it with the bow, switch to the spear, plant the spear into the ground; Or forgo the bow all together, and just use the spear. Make it break in 2 uses =/ It'd be so easy to balance this concern of mine. Add bear traps, that would break a moose's leg and render it lame, then you could put it down. Just make bear traps cost 10 scrap metal, same with spears. Add findable blueprints which teach you how to construct them. Make them rare, but valuable. As practical in use as they are expensive in cost and difficulty to acquire. Add a blacksmith location to one of the maps, where one can venture through many threats and rope climbs to unlock the ability to forge them. 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Trunks_Budo

[TheKnightIsDark]

By itself, no interloper is not toxic for mental health.

But for you it seems to have become exactly that. In the past when I've felt a fraction of how upset you are, and been self-aware of it, I've taken a break from the game or moved on from it permanently. Because personally when I get obsessed with a game, or anything else really, to this degree as reflected in your OP and subsequent elaborate comments... it means I'm no longer happy playing the game. And that I'm still hanging on for whatever reason even though the experience has soured. And for me, playing games is supposed to be enjoyable, relaxing, challenging, thrilling, distracting etc. But certainly not stressful or torture.

I was in love with TLD for the first 250 hours of my playtime. But after that the infatuation slowly started to fade and I could sense myself getting irked by various gameplay elements that didn't make sense, or were missing, or immersion-breaking etc. And this happened the more thoroughly I started to learn the game. And that lead to me having a vision different than Hinterland for the game. I agree and admit both interloper and stalker are far from perfect. TLD overall is not perfect either and could use a lot of fixes, improvements, additions etc. You make some good points but... the quantity of points that you've made, and your sheer frustration is just... strange. But also interesting.

Maybe you love this game too much and need to loosen your grip on it a little bit. For your own good. If this is just a vent to get it out of your system and you'll be back to enjoying the game and will have brushed off and forgotten all these... expectations... then sure carry on. But if not, and this is how you've been consistently feeling about the game for a long while, then I'm afraid I see you being unhappy playing TLD for the foreseeable future as well. And at that point you need to question your motive in playing any game.

[Megaloceros]

I personally love this game, but as many players who also love the game can probably agree, TLD is not for everyone. Give it a chance, but if the difficulty or limitations of the game is making you so deeply frustrated and upset that you are suffering mentally, there is no shame in moving on to another game. That doesn't mean you're bad, and that doesn't mean the game is bad. It's just not the game for you sometimes, and that's okay. 

[Megaloceros]

1 hour ago, TheKnightIsDark said:

By itself, no interloper is not toxic for mental health.

But for you it seems to have become exactly that. In the past when I've felt a fraction of how upset you are, and been self-aware of it, I've taken a break from the game or moved on from it permanently. Because personally when I get obsessed with a game, or anything else really, to this degree as reflected in your OP and subsequent elaborate comments... it means I'm no longer happy playing the game. And that I'm still hanging on for whatever reason even though the experience has soured. And for me, playing games is supposed to be enjoyable, relaxing, challenging, thrilling, distracting etc. But certainly not stressful or torture.

I was in love with TLD for the first 250 hours of my playtime. But after that the infatuation slowly started to fade and I could sense myself getting irked by various gameplay elements that didn't make sense, or were missing, or immersion-breaking etc. And this happened the more thoroughly I started to learn the game. And that lead to me having a vision different than Hinterland for the game. I agree and admit both interloper and stalker are far from perfect. TLD overall is not perfect either and could use a lot of fixes, improvements, additions etc. You make some good points but... the quantity of points that you've made, and your sheer frustration is just... strange. But also interesting.

Maybe you love this game too much and need to loosen your grip on it a little bit. For your own good. If this is just a vent to get it out of your system and you'll be back to enjoying the game and will have brushed off and forgotten all these... expectations... then sure carry on. But if not, and this is how you've been consistently feeling about the game for a long while, then I'm afraid I see you being unhappy playing TLD for the foreseeable future as well. And at that point you need to question your motive in playing any game.

Entirely agree! I couldn't have said it better if I tried.

 

[Trunks_Budo]

Yeah... I think I'm chasing how the game used to make me feel. To be fair, everything leading up to my forge run was a trip down memory lane, I love the "prey" stage of Interloper. But once I make the bow, in every run, I realize the limitations more in regards to hunting, combat, and even crafting. Can't make rabbit skin socks, etc, or a deer hide sweater. Hunting is painful... Most people's solution to my problem is "Just utilize exploits and safespot the bear" and I just feel like, if the word exploit has to come anywhere near a player's elected decision for how to handle a situation, then the game isn't sufficiently fleshed out. Maybe one day Hinterland will alleviate my concerns but I think you're right, until then I have to step back and try to find a new game for which the magic can freshly exist.

[Stinky socks]

1 hour ago, Trunks_Budo said:

rabbit skin socks, etc, or a deer hide sweater.

Now that would be dandy! I really wish pelts and hides were used for more things, but I am sure they will add them in later updates. It's a work in progress.

Also don't be sad about certain limitations. I am sure they are doing the best they can with the engine. Many other games also have certain shortcomings..

Cheers:)