Least favorite region

[Dancewithknives]

This has probably been done before, but I want to hear what your least favorite region is and why. No judgements here, any reason goes, even if its stupid like you hate Milton because the kid that gave you a swirly in the 5th grade had the same name.

 

 

for me, its Forlorn Muskeg. 
 

i’m not experienced in survival in any way, but I died so many times trying to start the game off that I began to name my save files after the profanity that I spouted after I died because of this region.

 

i suppose what makes it so bad is that theres a lot of good loot in it, but only a few ways to traverse it. Add in all of the predators, weak ice, and it will feel like theres only 3 ways to get through the area.

 

I started my games there and would try to make my way to the north radio tower, to broken railroad, loot the region, then circle back to the Spence homestead and get to mystery lake, but i was constantly getting killed near the homestead by my own stupidity. 

 

Runner up is Pleasant Valley. Lot of good loot, but very large and kind if boring. Storms will ruin your fun if you’re not careful. 

[Luca Loquax]

I'll second the Muskeg.  I have some bad memories from THAT place...

[Dancewithknives]

8 hours ago, Luca Loquax said:

I'll second the Muskeg.  I have some bad memories from THAT place...

Stupid weak ice... 

[ManicManiac]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:28 AM, ManicManiac said:

I think my least favorite place for a long term stay would probably be Old Island Connector (a.k.a. Crumbling Highway).
It has a lot of wolves considering how small of a playable area there is.

Of course, it's certainly possible to say there for a long time and even consistently sneak around to slip by undetected (I did that the last time I mapped that region for my personal challenge), but it is my least favorite place to establish a long term encampment. 

On 10/4/2020 at 9:08 PM, ManicManiac said:

Old Island Connector (or Crumbling Highway) is still my least favorite place for long term survival.

 
(granted, it's a transition zone and not really a region per se... but it's still my least favorite )

Edited March 18, 2021 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

@The Orange Birb

Hmm, that's really a tough question for me (and does require a bit more consideration)... generally speaking each region does have aspects that I really love.

I guess my least favorite of the proper regions, would be Broken Railroad.  I think that's for many of the same reasons that OIC is my least favorite place overall.  Like OIC, Broken Railroad has a lot of very narrow passages, and more limited options (compared to most regions) for getting from point A to point B.

Now I do realize that therein lies the challenge, and I've still been able to get a long term encampment set up there (even been able to sneak around and map the entire region without being detected during one of those previous runs ).  However, of all the regions... I think that I've probably spent the least amount of dwell time there.

I do love how the region plays with elevations & winding paths (as we get deeper in); and  I think that the Maintenance Yard, the Hunting Lodge, the Ravine, and the Rickety Food Bridge are all interesting locations.  That being said though, whenever I find myself starting a new run, Broken Railroad is usually pretty low on my priorities list.

To be clear I do still like the region... but if I had to rank each of the proper regions, Broken Railroad might be at the bottom of that particular list for me. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by ManicManiac

[Glflegolas]

@Dancewithknives

I would agree with your assessment. Forlorn Muskeg straight up stinks. There's very little shelter, there's weak ice everywhere, it's cold and windy very often, and there's masses of predators to watch out for. I try to go through it as directly as possible when I'm trying to connect from Mystery Lake, Bleak Inlet, Mountain Town, or Broken Railroad. I've lost a couple survivors there, even on Voyageur. TBF, there's really nothing in that region that would make me want to set up a longer-term base there (though I'm a wanderer by nature in the game, so...)🤷‍♂️

@ManicManiac

Broken Railroad is definitely a surprisingly close second for my least favourite region. Sure, there's great stuff in the Hunting Lodge and the Maintenance Shed, but, after that... what's left? Not a lot of loot, if you ask me. The region as a whole has a lot of chokepoints too, so avoiding the many wolves that patrol this map is not a trivial task if you're trying to go somewhere.

@The Orange Birb

I do not agree with your dislike of Hushed River Valley.It's one of my favourite regions in the game, and, once you get to know it, it's really not that hard to navigate. The region is rich in loot, both from corpses and natural, and there's lots of hunting opportunities The one thing you do not want to forget under any circumstances is your bedroll. While there are lots of caves, they won't help you rest if you don't have a bedroll. If you get trapped in the area around Valley Cave without a bedroll, you're basically screwed unless you have an emergency stim.

[Dancewithknives]

3 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

think that I've probably spent the least amount of dwell time there.

Now, i actually like Broken Railroad a ton (ive heard many people say the easiest moose in the game spawn by the lodge). I like the style, buildings, atmosphere, etc. (the maintenance yard during an auora is like something out of Jurassic Park) and you can find some good loot there, but there is almost no reason to go there at all!

 

Im on my first successful survival run, and my route was to start in forlorn, canvas half the map, get to BR, get the best loot there, and then head out to ML because i would never go back to BR.  
 

i think the strangest thing is that the Devs did the map dirty by really making it unappealing. Theres only 1 way in and out, theres a forge, but although it may be safer, its quicker to go to the Spence homestead, and theres nothing else there once the food decays to junk. Also, i nearly died in the ravine once because I didn’t have a bedroll and lost my strength. The only way I got out was to jack myself with a emergency stim. 

 

I feel like BR needs to be redone or have something added because it feels... incomplete. Dead end, one long trek in and out, lots of wolves, and for as much fun as I have searching the pimped out hunting lodge, its not worth the trip.

 

Now, i know y’all were talking about transition regions, and I have to say that I really like The Ravine. Such a cool and detailed area with some really cool scenery and tons of birch bark as well as the sneaky rope climb to slide into Bleak Inlet.

 

[xAnAngelOfDeathx]

Crazy as it sounds, I like FM. I stay around the perimeter avoiding the ice and railway track. I feel pretty safe in FM. I feel  the same about PV now that I know it inside and out.

Probably CH would be my fav area, I feel reasonably safe there and I know the map very well.

HRV was my nemesis... I know it better now but I'm not in any hurry to go back there. Between the weather and the different heights of areas I'm just not crazy about HRV - lot's of bad memories too lol.

[Old Hermit]

I definitely HATE Unpleasant Valley. It's not my least favorite. It's out of the list =D

The only area in which i still tolerate on it is the south/east section, most precisely the triangle between the passages for other areas.

Maybe it's just me, but every time i try to stay long periods inside PV, there is a weather pattern that is annoying as hell: 1 day partially clear, 4 or 5 days of blizzards, and these occurs only on daytime (and lasts the whole day), while the night is clear sky. Rinse and repeat, with 1 clear day and another daily blizzard week.

Maybe it's a pattern to force the player to work at night, and if it's true, is an awful thing.

[odizzido]

Forlorn Muskeg for me because it's the zone I have the least fun in. I simply don't enjoy the weak ice mechanic as it exists. I think initially I tried to run over it and I was really close to making it to the other side but fell through. I ended up back at the place I started even though it was much further away. So my character swam all the way back instead of going 30cm forward to the spot I actually wanted to be? I think it's the feeling of things not making sense, gameplay wise, that generally bothers me in TLD and Forlorn Muskeg just amplifies it.

I can understand why it is made like that. It's simple and safe to note the location people get on the weak ice and then put them back there if they fall through, but it does come at a cost.

[Dancewithknives]

@Old Hermit

I agree the weather in Pleasant Valley is very nasty. (I kept books to pass the time i was caught in blizzards) but from what I have read, I do not play the game very optimally, choosing to raid locations and congregate it at a base, and when I was playing in PV, it felt so boring because it felt like I was just walking across open fields all day. 

[hozz1235]

BRR - Just too many wolves.

[manolitode]

You may not believe it but there are reasons to love Pleasant Valley: Why Pleasant Valley deserves your love - Survival Mode - Hinterland Forums. I never start a serious playthrough anywhere else anymore. Once you know where to look, PV can be a gold mine.

[Dr. S.]

I like the regions that have sub-regions that seem to feel distinct to me and give me a sense that I can get different experiences by moving around the region. So my least favorite regions are probably Desolation Point and Coastal Highway.

Both of these regions seem pretty monochromatic to me; I never have the feeling that I'm going anywhere. Of course, DP is small, and what little area there is is dominated by the ice (unless you like walking along the road 😂). Coastal Highway has the same problem from my point of view, even though it's considerably larger. Too much ice, and if you head up into the hills, there's not much there there.

OTOH hand, my favorite regions, PV, TWM, FM, and MT are all pretty large and have distinct sub-regions for exploring/hunting/camping, etc.

[Ahatch]

Gonna change it up and say Bleak Inlet. I play interloper so I find the region tends to hem you down a bit. I usually set up my base at the cabin by the fishing hut. But soon discover I have to forage a long ways to get firewood and sticks. Timberwolves everywhere is the other thing and with no need to craft bullets so the cannery seems to be a novelty. I used to think Forlorn was bad but once you have a good archery skill you really can live long term with the amount of game there. 

[AdamvR]

Unpleasant Valley, no questions. Horrid weather (as @Old Hermit explained above ), and crossing it for the interesting areas takes forever with 5-10 wolves and 1-2 bears to slalom around in every direction. The farmhouse is large and nice for sure, but only for a quick stopover from TWM to ML, or the other way round. Same with the new townhall towards CH.

I used to be freaked out by FM, but  no longer. surely not the best place for long-term base, but quite traversable. My main spot is usually the poachers' camp train-wreck, that is kinda central to every other direction. When the weather is clear-ish, you can actually see the way across the marsh, you can get the hang of it what distance is traversable without any weak ice. the larger spaces are almost certainly dangerous, so just don't go there. But there are nearly straight lines criss-crossing the whole area, that are traversable. I usually mark my favorite ways by dropping tinder every 6-8 steps, that are visible even in fog and blizzard, so can find my way no matter the weather.

Also, HRV can be quite enjoyable once you invest the time to learn it, as indeed it is a 'bit' of a maze at first... The cave systems provide a great way to travel to the furthest points 'safely', like metro lines under a huge city giving you shortcuts. Depending on which area you want to explore, you take the right exit and look around. The weather is pretty crap, here as well, for sure, I recently had -27 with -22 wind. Even with the best clothes my dear friend was freezing 3 arrows down. But only till I got to a cave nearby, and there are many small ones as well other than the "metro lines". Some areas are actually quite great for longer bases as well, monolith lake, the lower valley or even the area near the blue "two-storey" cave. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by AdamvR

[Old Hermit]

11 hours ago, Dancewithknives said:

I agree the weather in Pleasant Valley is very nasty. (I kept books to pass the time i was caught in blizzards) but from what I have read, I do not play the game very optimally, choosing to raid locations and congregate it at a base, and when I was playing in PV, it felt so boring because it felt like I was just walking across open fields all day. 

I have no problems with the overall map or level design of PV. It has many interesting spots.

The thing that really makes me crazy is the daylight blizzard/clearsky night pattern repeatedly, day after day. It's too forced to me.

[Looper]

BRR - it's just a dead end choke with nothing to do.

[Dancewithknives]

6 hours ago, Looper said:

BRR - it's just a dead end choke with nothing to do.

Yeah, it feels like BR is incomplete. Like there needs to be another region or maybe a shortcut to somewhere else. It just seems really strange how 2/3 forges in the game are located right next to each other in the same corner of the map.

[Stinky socks]

On 3/19/2021 at 6:15 PM, Dr. S. said:

....and Coastal Highway.

Both of these regions seem pretty monochromatic to me; I never have the feeling that I'm going anywhere.

Well that's because coastal highway is like Florida. People move there to retire. Once you settle into your quarters, it's a great place to spend your days enjoying your sad and miserable lonely life. Plenty of fishing as well! See the similarities?