(Spoilers) Ep4 - final thoughts

[Nitzy]

Just finished Ep4 and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I found everything flowed well, there were no points where I was bored (like with rescuing survivors in ep3... God that takes forever). 

The loot provided was well thought out by the devs, giving us all kinds of toys to play with and the inclusion of the moose hide satchel was certainly appreciated!

The story and side quests let us see a good part of the map while still leaving places to explore when it's released in survival mode.

The puzzles were thought provoking but not overly complicated. I found that the suffocation mechanic was an interesting, yet stressful, addition. 

There are some minor bugs here and there but overall the devs did a great job and should be proud of the episode, especially being able to complete it during covid. 

Can't wait to see the conclusion!

[ajb1978]

14 minutes ago, Nitzy said:

There are some minor bugs here and there but overall the devs did a great job and should be proud of the episode, especially being able to complete it during covid. 

I'm sure covid gave them some ideas too they might not otherwise have had cause to consider. Wearing masks indoors, social distancing, etc. Even if only for background worldbuilding purposes, like markers on the floor six feet apart, "masking required" signs posted, etc. I mean the whole world knows what it's like to quarantine during a pandemic now, it wouldn't make sense to not replicate that.

[Ruruwawa]

For me this is by far the best episode.  Really good, engaging story.  The characters feel more fully fleshed out and individual than in previous episodes. 

But the big thing episode 4 gets right: the tricky balance between "questing" and survival.  We still need to fetch stuff for the story, but it's structured in a way (a few longer trips) with nearly complete freedom for exploration and survival gameplay in between.  And the story tasks are more meaningful.  In past episodes tasks were framed as "do this for me and maybe I'll help you."  In episode 4 when you do a story task, you're not just a go-fer.  You take actions that promote your character's goals.  These longer solo periods are balanced with a deeper exploration of the story and characters when we return to the prison.  It feels rewarding, whether you're coming or going.

Great ending too, very exciting.  I can't wait for the final episode.  Thanks Hinterland, this is a gem.

[Pınar51-06]

I like episode 4 too and ı can’t wait to play Blackrock Prison map on survival mode. Such a good region. It looks like a little bit AC and HRV but better than those. Thanks Hinterland.

Yes wolves and timberwolves are sooo much and annoying but episode gave us a lot of guns, ammo and flares. 

I didn’t expect moose satchel and ıt was a big surprise. 
This mine region, foresttalker cache and mine elevator is my favourite.
I just didn’t like the dangerous gas leak effect in mine and prison break (ı died several times for that)but ı guess ıt makes sense for mine and prison fire. 
ı am curious for episode 5. How did Astrid come to PM on sailing? Will we see her journey in flashback scenes? Where is Methuselah? Will our Hobbs choice affect the storyline?

[SladeyGaming]

I really really hope we can get inside blackrock prison on survival and that the inside is fleshed out a lot more. What an awesome base that would be for the area. I love how you can essentially use the tunnels to get about the map too. 

Im seeing a lot of complaints about the wolves but like, the prisoners, murderers, rapists whatever they are, are SCARED of the wolves. Furthermore theyve been eating the bodies of the deceased prison guards so its plausible that theyre out and about hungry for people because theyve got a taste for people now too. You're supposed to have learnt to survive and be able to tackle anything. 

The only two issues I had that do break the immersion are:
1) You can end up surviving in the wilderness for days by yourself. I crafted a wolfskin coat I was away for that long - I feel like there should be a timer or something. Like if you're not back in time they break out donner or something just to keep the pressure on a bit. 

2) The clothing being taken completely when confiscated. I feel like they should take away only your top layers of clothing. It was a bit much that they took everything and it made little sense to take your long jons and socks.

My other critisism is it would have been nice to play as astrid. Even if you just see her push off the boat after seeing the dead orcas. Some nice imagery of the dead whales and her finding the boat. Just 5 minutes of gameplay to help tie everything up. I liked meeting jace but I hope she isn't dead. Because that is just a waste of an interesting character too. 

I've also seen complaints about the lack of mystery now, but honestly I think that the mystery came from Mckenzie not knowing much about whats happening. Now its been explained by Jace so the mystery has dissappeared. It would have been nice to see methusala again in the wilderness. Maybe after the mine. I think the forest talker puzzle could have been a bit different, but I love love LOVED the gas and suffocation mechanic. Thats way more realistic of actual cave systems. I love the noise makers I think theyre super duper cool and find a use for the excess cans too.

I think it helps push towards wolf avoidance over wolf attacks. I really really can't wait to see how it ends as its been a long time coming. I bought the game for £5 in early access and my gosh its come a long way. 
 

 

[Serenity]

27 minutes ago, SladeyGaming said:

Im seeing a lot of complaints about the wolves but like, the prisoners, murderers, rapists whatever they are, are SCARED of the wolves. Furthermore theyve been eating the bodies of the deceased prison guards so its plausible that theyre out and about hungry for people because theyve got a taste for people now too.

If the wolves behaved more like in survival mode I wouldn't complain much:

• they need to roam more and not always be in the exact same spot
• timberwolves are completely broken and need to have their fear setting lowered (the regular wolves are fine in the regard). The Bleak Inlet wolves also run away sometimes, but not like this. The pack attack bar needs to go away sooner when you're out of range
• there needs to be more time between killing and respawning. They seem to be back right away.
• maybe make it so they can spawn and despawn a bit like in survival, but on a shorter timescale. So their presence isn't so predictable.

I wouldn't mind having to deal with wolves if they behaved properly and in interesting ways. I can enjoy playing with wolves in survival mode. But especially the broken timberwolf behavior made me not take any of it seriously. It unfortunately continued the trend where the actual survival part of Wintermute is really bad. Which is a shame because the storytelling and animation was far better than in previous episodes.

I enjoyed exploring certain parts of the map, but I just can't enjoy Wintermute as a survival game because the settings don't support that. I'm not even asking for Interloper difficulty here, but more basic things like not being able to sleep when you aren't tired.

[SladeyGaming]

3 minutes ago, Serenity said:

If the wolves behaved more like in survival mode I wouldn't complain much:

• they need to roam more and not always be in the exact same spot
• timberwolves are completely broken and need to have their fear setting lowered (the regular wolves are fine in the regard). The Bleak Inlet wolves also run away sometimes, but not like this. The pack attack bar needs to go away sooner when you're out of range
• there needs to be more time between killing and respawning. They seem to be back right away.
• maybe make it so they can spawn and despawn a bit like in survival, but on a shorter timescale. So their presence isn't so predictable.

I wouldn't mind having to deal with wolves if they behaved properly and in interesting ways. I can enjoy playing with wolves in survival mode. But especially the broken timberwolf behavior made me not take any of it seriously. It unfortunately continued the trend where the actual survival part of Wintermute is really bad. Which is a shame because the storytelling and animation was far better than in previous episodes.

I enjoyed exploring certain parts of the map, but I just can't enjoy Wintermute as a survival game because the settings don't support that. I'm not even asking for Interloper difficulty here, but more basic things like not being able to sleep when you aren't tired.

I think thats the thing though, wintermute is not intended to be survival really. I've had the game since early access when it was easier to learn. But I have friends who really struggle getting into the game because the tutorial side of things just isn't that good. Wintermute IS the tutorial essentially so yes there are some mechanics like the sleeping mechanic that need to stick around to help new players. I've got over 250 hours in the game. I can survive on stalker easily. But I have friends who struggle with the basics of the long dark. They have given you the tools to keep the timberwolves at bay. You are supposed to craft noise makers and scare them off. 

That said I do kind of agree that the severity of the timberwolves mixed in with the normal wolves at times was a bit much - perhaps keeping seperate timber wolves and normal wolves areas would have helped with this. However, I kind of expected the wolves to be intense if even the prisoners are scared of them. Wolves usually spawn a few days after being killed whereas I think the point with this map is theres a lot and theyre there all the time. I think the spawns essentially worked that when you entered or left a building they would respawn. 

I mean went a bit survival mode myself for a while. Made a wolfskin coat and survived over two weeks before getting back to the prison, but that in itself breaks the immersion of the game and I think this episode is not meant to be played like survival. 

[Serenity]

2 hours ago, SladeyGaming said:

 Wintermute IS the tutorial essentially so yes there are some mechanics like the sleeping mechanic that need to stick around to help new players.

I think that's really bad game design. And I'm speaking about gaming general, not just TLD. Where the whole story is treated as an introduction to some other mode. It really hurts games. It also doesn't make sense for TLD since story mode was actually supposed to be the main attraction of the game. And survival mode the side show. That's not how it turned out.

And in the case of TLD there is plenty of hand holding and explanations in the first two episodes that not every setting has to be so easy. A new person can handle not being able to sleep. They can pass time instead (which burns more calories). Also, there are several difficulty modes. Easy settings are perfectly fine on the lowest. But why is Hardened Survivor tuned down so much?

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That said I do kind of agree that the severity of the timberwolves mixed in with the normal wolves at times was a bit much 

The timberwolves aren't hard or intense. Just super annoying. When I said their behavior is bad I didn't mean that they were too difficult. They  constantly change between growling and threatening to attack and then running away. Often you can even walk right up to them and they will just flee. 

Don't mistake this as a complaint about difficulty. It really isn't. It's more about immersion. And that wolves just aren't fun to interact with if they behave like that. Survival mode also has occasional issues with the animal AI and it also hurts the game. But it's usually not this bad.

It's the same with the wolf packs being placed where they are. Always on the road between objectives. That's not hard. Just annoying, gamey and predictable. Sure, I can just use a noise maker to scare them away and walk on. But after the second or third time doing it in exactly the same situation that stops being fun.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Serenity

[Semple Fi]

TOO MUCH PROFANITY.  

Really unnecessary to provide an engaging plot line and character development.  
HUGE turn off actually. 
 

otherwise the episode is good and I’m looking forward to survival mode as well.  

[Admin]

6 hours ago, Semple Fi said:

TOO MUCH PROFANITY.  

Really unnecessary to provide an engaging plot line and character development.  
HUGE turn off actually. 
 

otherwise the episode is good and I’m looking forward to survival mode as well.  

Have you tried our new Curse Filter in the Accessibility settings? The amount of profanity can be adjusted. For more info: 

 

[Semple Fi]

On 10/14/2021 at 1:35 PM, Admin said:

Have you tried our new Curse Filter in the Accessibility settings? The amount of profanity can be adjusted. For more info: 

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

[Kranium]

I actually liked the profanity. These are nasty prisoners/criminals, after all. Glad it's an option, though, for the kids.