Will future TALES content be locked by difficulty?

[Seajay]

Firstly i want to say Thank-you to Hinterland for adding the narrative TALES content to Interloper. Regardless of any other thoughts on this, i am grateful.

 

This post is about a concern that future TALES content may also be locked behind certain difficulty modes.

The lack of the TALES narrative content from interloper was a suprise to me, it was only unveiled on the day of the content drop without being hinted at prior to the release video and this makes me worried.
While you have now added the content, it took a near unanimous outpouring of feeling form the community to do so. Such vocal responses are rare and shoudl be avoided.

From previous experiences you are naturally cautious about making blanket statements to the community (they can be a rough bunch!). Things change and i understand that. However I also feel that some additional clarity would be useful so that I do not hold my breath at every future content drop!

 

Your roadmap is well designed, it builds hype and anticipation! I read the roadmap and I'm motivated to play the game and wait eagerly for the next drop. Just as a recap;

• The new maps: industrial Mine and Mountain Pass
• The enhanced cooking
• The trader
• Ptarmigan hunting
• The Travois
• Safehouse Customisation
• The Camera and Darkroom
• The deadly Cougar

This sounds awesome!

My original assumption is that all of the above would be in my current Interloper run started shortly after the TALES update, I am sure others are also progressing with their own runs on various difficulties eagerly awaiting the new additions to the game! However should we be looking forward to this?

• Will the Travois be considered 'too easy' for Interloper?
• Will the Cougar be considered too hard for Stalkers and below?
• Will Safehouse Customisation be considered against the spirit of the 'barren interloper experience'?
• Will the camera and darkroom be considered more for a Voyageur only experience?

I think this is where some sort of communication would be useful. Without words to the contrary I would assume (perhaps wrongly) that the intention is for all of the above features to be in survival mode across the board. Not just to certain difficulties. it is dangerous to speak for 'the majority' but I will risk saying that regardless of peoples opinions on whether TALES narrative content should or shouldn't be in the Interloper game mode I feel the lack of narrative TALES in interloper was a SUPRISE to the community. Can we avoid that in future please.

What upset me personally was getting hyped for the new narrative experience only on the day of hte release to find out i wouldn't get to enjoy it. It was a real gut-punch there!

 

So what am I asking for?

Some clarity on whether the roadmap items are (generally) going to be available in some form across the whole of survival mode. If specific items are being left out, it woudl be great to know that ahead of time!

Edited April 15, 2023 by Seajay
Formatting and Title

[UpUpAway95]

I still thing the best thing is to eliminate the standard difficulties and move the custom menu to the main start page... leaving the name templates there as templates (i.e. allowing the player to see right off the start what template include what features and at what levels each are set at before choosing one.  To go with this, enable feat progression in custom (necessary since all games (whether they use the templates unchanged or alter them) would be, in effect, custom games.  Which features they individually access and at what position on each slider they do that would be completely in the hands of the player.  In addition, adjust the baseline resources allocation (bra) to control only the quality of loot, not the amount and add toggles for more items individually (like the guns can be currently enabled or disabled, but expanded to more items).  That way, if an interloper player wants an expedition parka without finding a ton more food and other tools, they could do so.  If a pilgrim player then wants an aggressive cougar in their game and all other animals still passive, they could do so.

I think this would avoid future feelings of being "left out" of content.  I would hate to see HL prevented from conceiving of and adding different sorts of future content to the game just because it isn't ideally suited to every current "standard" difficulty.  For example, the other way this could have gone down is if, say, HL had decided to not create the Tale at all (i.e. killed it in the boardroom) because they felt that it wasn't suitable for Interloper... which would have been a sadder outcome for all of us because it is a great piece of content.

Edited April 15, 2023 by UpUpAway95

[A Lamp]

Overall i think almost all of those features in the roadmap will be available even on interloper. Same goes to tales.

By almost i think the trader won't be available on interloper, but i don't think the community will overreact as they did with the exclusion of tale on interloper since most of us don't even want the trader in the first place.

[Leeanda]

I suppose the simple answer would be to make all new additions toggable in the settings

[UpUpAway95]

41 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I suppose the simple answer would be to make all new additions toggable in the settings

That is basically what I'm saying.  If, however, you present things as they are with 4 difficulties on the main page and then toggles within each of the 4 difficulties for each Tales piece of content... and then potential future content, you're effectively creating a lot menu duplication (4x) that would be unnecessary if the page presenting the "standard" difficulty options was removed and the game simply started up in the custom menu.

The only reason I can see for that first "start-up" page existing is to cancel feat progression if the "custom" option is selected to open the custom menu.  The templates for interloper, stalker, voyageur, and pilgrim already exist within the custom menu.

Edited April 15, 2023 by UpUpAway95

[Seajay]

I would like the trader in Interloper.

 

For me personally I play Interloper because I think that the risk / reward balance best suits my playstyle. the harm caused by weather, wildlife and deprivation give me a solid risk of losing if I take too many risks. What would make my game more enjoyable and what i consider to be good content is more REASONS to take risks.

 

I was upset TALES wasn't in Interloper because i felt that encouraging me to explore during an aurora was absolutely brilliant gameplay design, it asked me to prepare for and take greater risks in order to experience a new reward.

 

I feel the addition of a Trader would be a good addition for the same reason TALES aurora exploration is good game design. Currently once you have crafted a bear coat or moose satchel you have little reason to hunt Bears or Moose further. If a trader wants you to provide pelts from these animals, maybe within a certain timeframe, that encourages riskier behaviour for some sort of reward. I like that. Alternatively if the Trader wants certain items brought from one location to another then that encourages travel with weight management and perhaps travel to riskier zones (Blackrock to Bleak Inlet perhaps?). Again, sounds thrilling.

 

At the risk of speaking for other people, I have sometimes heard that Interloper is supposed to be a solitary experience? I have not really understood that argument. There is as much sign of life in Interloper as there is any other difficulty mode. There is less loot and more damaging weather effects but that doesnt make the game solitary. I don't see why a Trader wouldn't fit into a Interloper gameplay as much as any other difficulty mode.

 

I trust Hinterland to find a way to integrate the new features without disproportionately negating the current risk/reward system. To be honest, the weather and the wildlife damage are the main risks anyway. So long as the new content increases exposure to risks rather than negating them entirely i don't really see a problem.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Seajay

[Kranium]

I'd rather not turn this thread into another debate about custom settings. (even though I agree with it)

 

I would be pretty shocked if Hinterland didn't include Interloper in the future content, after what happened previously + the fact they've now announced they will release a patch to include 'lopers.

[Mistral]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:42 PM, A Lamp said:

By almost i think the trader won't be available on interloper, but i don't think the community will overreact as they did with the exclusion of tale on interloper since most of us don't even want the trader in the first place.

Indeed...

If the Trader is what we fear it is, hopefully it can be turned off in Custom too.

[UpUpAway95]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:37 PM, Kranium said:

I'd rather not turn this thread into another debate about custom settings. (even though I agree with it)

 

I would be pretty shocked if Hinterland didn't include Interloper in the future content, after what happened previously + the fact they've now announced they will release a patch to include 'lopers.

I agree... or at least they are going to find a way to make all the disparate groups of players feel more included rather than excluded.

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Mistral said:

Indeed...

If the Trader is what we fear it is, hopefully it can be turned off in Custom too.

I agree... although I'm confident that he could also just be ignored easy enough.  I'm not too concerned about it at all.