A long time TLD player finally arrives in the community

Sgt Socks

By Sgt Socks
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Sgt Socks Pathfinder

Sgt Socks

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Hi everyone

I have posted a few things already, but thought I would briefly introduce myself so you don't wonder who that strange Sgt Socks is.  You'll still think I'm strange but at least you will know who I am!

I'm an old lady gamer from the UK - well, not that old at 45 but in gaming terms, that's getting on a bit, especially for a woman.  I've been gaming since my father was involved in working on the B.B.C. computer in the early 80s.  My general preference is for open world, sandbox, RPG games.  I used to run a WoW guild in the early 2000s and my most treasured game series are The Elder Scrolls/Skyrim and Fallout.  However on those, particularly with Bethesda involved, I was pretty appalled at the level of quality control and completely game breaking bugs.  Strangely I've never been one for survival games, but TLD feels like a game which is its very own genre to me. 

I've been playing TLD (Sandbox Survival only) since 2016 and am completely in love with the game.  By nature irl I am a very solitary person, even though I love a good natter over a brew, so the entire premise of the game grabbed me straight away.  I have remained impressed with the ethics of the devs who seem to love the game as much as I do, and also seem to value the players.  Whilst there will always be things people want to change, myself included, on the whole TLD is one of the most impressive and immersive games I've ever played.  The last couple of QoL updates have, in my opinion, made an enormous difference to the wonder of The Great Bear universe.

I don't play the Story Mode because it just wasn't my thing, but have 800+ hours in Survival Sandbox.  These have been over various difficulties but mostly Stalker.  I haven't played Interloper because it doesn't appeal to me... I like a challenge when I play but goodness me, I'm not that self masochistic! Mostly I play a custom game where there are less wolves/timberwolves, but more bear and moose... I'm not good with jump scares due to having PTSD so the constant surprise wolf attacks in Stalker finally got too much.  However I wanted to keep some wolf involvement because it was wrong without them, and even though the Bear really does terrify me, especially when you unexpectedly hear the roar and don't know where it is , I wanted to make sure a significant hostile wildlife element remained.  Also to compensate I play with increased cold and cold over time, I like the weather to be my biggest opponent.

These increases in difficulty I made to compensate for the fact I have high loot settings... what can I say.... I am a proud loot goblin, 80% over encumbered and always try to carry/hoard everything *and* the kitchen sink! I still want a really good challenge when I play.  Thank you Hinterland for the Custom settings.

I am about to dip my toe into the QoL mods available as there remain some big areas of irritation for me - lack of crafting, inability to create a base properly (not building a base but working with the spaces already available).  I still adore the game without these things but have been finding myself discouraged to continue long runs (200-300+ days) without them, and I hate abandoning things.

So that's me, you can call me Socks for short.  Thank you to everyone who posts and helps, this is a great little community and I am pleased to be here.

Sergeant Socks, Over and Out 

Edited by Sgt Socks
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ChillPlayer Pathfinder

ChillPlayer

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Welcome to the forum, you came to the right place.

I think the days are definitely over where games are only played by young teenagers because those boys & gals are now well in their forties, me and many others here in the forum included ;)

Stalker has actually more predators spawned that can jump scare you than Interloper, but then, you don't have a gun or revolver to scare them back on loper. One of the many appealing aspects of TLD is that everyone can play it the way one wants and there is no "better" or "lesser" way to play it because people are playing the game for different reasons. I am happy with Interloper because Stalker became too easy and loper has just the right amount of difficulty for me. For others, even that is too easy and they play NOGOA or deadman challenges and others just want to enjoy the scenery and have clocked hundreds of hours in Pilgrim. The most important part though is: no zombies, it's you against the wild and that is another aspect of TLD that sets it apart from almost all other survival games.

But give story mode a try, they struggled a bit with ep1 and parts of ep2 but the story telling really picks up in ep3 and it's worth to get some background of the locations we use to roam for many hours in survival mode. And it's not pure click&point story either, you still have to survive like in sandbox on Voyageur difficulty but with some context.

If you are looking for a fun challenge to play the game and use the resources you have at hand without the need for mods, try staying for 100 days on every map without leaving it, idealy on interloper. This will let you learn and appreciate the maps in a new way and makes long runs much less boring because you can't just settle in and be done with it.

And in case you missed that, hinterland announced new payed content for sandbox with a game/season pass style payment which many are very excited about, me included. Not sure if this will start this year already but next year for sure, this will bring many sandbox players back I think.

 

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Sgt Socks Pathfinder

Sgt Socks

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@ChillPlayer

Thank you for such a wonderful welcome! And you make some really good points.

I had missed that Hinterland announcement! How I don't know so thank you for mentioning it. I'm just hoping it isn't too expensive, but I doubt it will be from these guys. If it allows them to offer more stuff in sandbox then I'm all for it, they've given us a huge game for such a small price already. New content on a regular basis is massively exciting 😁

I do hear you about the  Story Mode. I had seen good things about the later episodes. I might give it a whirl for the hell of it one day. 

But I do like your 100 day challenge suggestion. I won't play pure Interloper, no weapons? I'd starve in five minutes! I cannot, despite hours of trying, use the bow or master stones for bunnies. Perhaps I'd become a fisherman instead. I will however make an almost Interloper custom game and give that a try. I can see it would make it a real challenge only being able to stay in one region. Especially if you only find rubbish clothing. I will make sure to report back when I do it 👍

You're absolutely right. This game is great in that it offers a way of playing for everyone, according to their preferences. Not many games do that.

Edited by Sgt Socks
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Sgt Socks Pathfinder

Sgt Socks

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17 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

@Sgt Socks

Welcome to the wilderness, though I know see you're no stranger.

:coffee::fire::coffee:

Thank you dear Maniac. Indeed, I am no stranger in the Great Bear wilderness. A 30 year old catastrophic injury to my left arm has over the years deteriorated to where TLD is about the only game I can now play. It is more than a game to me, the solitary world is beautiful, magical and helps keep my heart alive.

It is a pleasure to know you and I look forward to bumping into you on the trail. I'll have a hot coffee waiting for you.

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Sgt Socks

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8 hours ago, Asinine said:

I'm a spry 44 and have been a female gamer since I can remember. Wasn't allowed console games, but always had a PC. Welcome, and glad others like us are representing!

Fabulous! It's a shame you missed console but PC is far from second class. There is something "pure" about it in some ways. Back to the days of Donkey Kong & Chuckie Egg 😁 Lovely to meet you Asinine. Hopefully we'll bump into each other again along the trail. 

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ChillPlayer Pathfinder

ChillPlayer

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3 hours ago, Sgt Socks said:

It's a shame you missed console but PC is far from second class.

lol if at all, I always thought of consoles as 2nd class. Back in the day we tweaked our config.sys and autoexec.bat to play commander keen, monkey island, zac mkcracken and indiana jones when my consoleros friends only could save the princess with mario in a sideways scroller or shoot at ducks :D

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Sgt Socks Pathfinder

Sgt Socks

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7 hours ago, ChillPlayer said:

lol if at all, I always thought of consoles as 2nd class. Back in the day we tweaked our config.sys and autoexec.bat to play commander keen, monkey island, zac mkcracken and indiana jones when my consoleros friends only could save the princess with mario in a sideways scroller or shoot at ducks :D

Oh my gosh, Indiana Jones!  I had completely forgotten about that!  What a fabulous fun time that was.  You're right Chill, PC first all the way.

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Sgt Socks

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3 hours ago, javijungle said:

Welcome @Sgt Socks! Enjoy the experience and funny to see another 80's player like me,  I also come from old games and ZX Spectrum 128K.

Currently exploring the island to get full cartographer and explore all maps. 

Bon voyage!

Hi Javi, good to meet you too!  Lol, yes we are of "an age".  The coolest age of course.

Have fun doing the mapping, I take my hat off to you. I don't have the patience. But it will be a magnificent achievement 👍

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Sgt Socks

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3 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

Don’t forget Jumpman, Doom, Warlords, Imperialism, and all those other old PC games... that I still play!

Ah Conan, thank you for even more nostalgia.  So many great games over the years, I still can't believe how far it has all come.  And it seems like the blink of an eye!

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