Dissapointed with some aspects of part 3 of the DLC.

[BugReportEnthusiast]

Because this is going to be a critique of some things in the recent patch, let me start with this:  Your biggest fans are also often your biggest critics. I love this game and hold it to a very high standard which is why i am taking the time to provide this feedback and talk about it. That being said, here's some issues I personally have with this update:

The new "Improvised Insulation" accessory can get wet from snowfall. This doesn't make sense because it is worn beneath your other torso layers. Its description states:

 "A simple base layer made from down feathers. Warms the core when worn." This should be protected from weather and wildlife as long as you wear something on your chest.

I understand why this happens from a practical standpoint. The accessory slots work like all other clothing slots with inner and outer layers. But i feel like this is a good point to rework the system to make it reflect reality more, instead of needing to cheat the system by (for example) using crampons (100% waterproof) on the outer accessory layer and the insulation on the inner to protect it from the snow.

Now my main gripe, non-renewability of cooking ingredients.

I am a player that enjoys very long survival playthroughs (current is 405 days) and particularly living off the land. I was really looking forward to the cooking update, so i could make my survival more interesting by making foods other than just BBQ over and over. But the fact that none of the ingredients in this update are renewable means that you'll eventually get locked out of this cooking system entirely, and go straight back to grilling bear meat forever.

So you've added all these amazing, creative recipes and then made it so you can only use em a limited amount of times. After that you can never use them again. Why?!

Why can't we boil seawater to produce salt? Why can't we harvest the oil from cooked fish to make cooking oil? Why can't we hammer down cat tails/burdock to produce flour?

Food is something our survivor constantly needs. Restricting the entire (and very awesome) cooking system to a limited number of uses feels very silly given that it could provide so much entertainment over the long run.

That's my rant for today. I am a very sad survivor because the ingredients are limited and can't be crafted or created somehow.

To close with some positivity: The new fishing system is just *chefs kiss* fantastic (we can fish in DP now!), the new pistols look great, the new improvised bedroll is awesome and looks very comfy, the miner's flashlight looks incredible (i like the sound effects too), and the extra insulation is also very creative and much appreciated for the far territory.

[ChaosArchbishop]

I really resonate with what you said in this thread, I really hope the Hinterland team takes an eye on this because their proposed cooking system is way too good to throw away due to extreme scarcity of ingredients. If done correctly it'll allow them to sell the expansion in a pretty appealing way.

[ManicManiac]

Personally, I'd say give it some time.  Every new system, item, mechanic, etc... has nearly always gone through a period of tuning, adjustment, and correction.

Earnest feedback is good, and I think it's healthy to question what the intention is... but I ask folks to please bear in mind that just because a thing isn't how we imagined, doesn't mean it needs to be "fixed."

 

4 hours ago, BugReportEnthusiast said:

Now my main gripe, non-renewability of cooking ingredients.

I might posit that the scarcity/non-renewability is a good thing.
Besides, we don't really know yet if it's truly non-renewable... has any of the ingredients made it into the beachcombing loot-table? (I don't think we know yet)  Perhaps cooking items are something where the NPC Trader comes into play.  (I still don't much like the idea of an NPC in my survival sandbox... but I digress)

I don't think it's necessarily intended for our survivor to be able to survive indefinitely (even though many clever players have figured out strategies to essentially do it anyways)... and I think having limited resources gives us good reason to manage what resources we have more carefully.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

4 hours ago, BugReportEnthusiast said:

...since you chose to invoke Rogue One...

😋

[UTC-10]

I suppose the only complaint/comment  I would make, at this point, for pot based meals/ingredients would be that all the stews need broth and to make broth requires 1 kg of Ptarmigan meat.  How much broth that results in I don't know.  The main stews need 0.5 kg of the relevant meat as part of the recipe.  That would make, at least initially, Ptarmigans a priority item to make broth else one cannot really makes stews.  

Other than that, so far, it looks pretty good.  It would have been nice to have an easier, but less helpful, useful for warmth and calories, form of simple stew.  But that's just me.  

[James Hickok]

You have a good point there with the cooking ingredients. Im a survivor that loves long runs as well. My longest one was 1300 days and would be even longer but the update killed the save. Before the update came out i had a thought about that. I was wandering about the new ingredients and how to get them, will they be finite or not? 

I feel the same about the cooking update. 

[Serenity]

Yeah that's something I immediately noticed as well.

I like the introduction of ingredients like flour in theory, but I also hoped for some recipes that combine existing items. Like meat and mushrooms or something like that.

[conanjaguar]

12 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Perhaps cooking items are something where the NPC Trader comes into play.

That immediately sprung to my mind. One could go so far as to suggest that cooking ingredients could be used as currency..? It’s been done before…

(“Salary”, after all, literally comes from “salt”).

[conanjaguar]

6 hours ago, Serenity said:

Like meat and mushrooms or something like that.

Also this ^^

There seems to be a pretty wide gap between plain roast meat and peach pie… and some simple things like that would be fun and probably more sustainable in the long run.

[UTC-10]

I finally found a skillet.  I have been finding ingredients though a good percentage of them would be ruined (0% condition).  

Going back to my comment about broth.  

Image.  Broth.

If you examine the recipe you need 1 kg of Ptarmigan meat, 1.50 liters of water, some salt (0.01 lg) and need to cook it for 39 minutes.  

Then what do you have?  At this point in the recipe it doesn't say how much broth you've produced.  A bit of clarity needed.  

The information in the center bottom implies the broth would be between 20 to 100% condition (what does that mean?), have 212 calories, 5 hydration, and weigh 0.10 kg.  Not sure what that means. 

Next image.  Ruined broth. 

0% condition, 4 cups and weighs 0.80 kg.  

Finally information about how much broth was produced... I assume from the Broth recipe.  

Next image.  Ruined broth in inventory. 

4 cups (obviously when the recipe calls for *1* broth it means *1* cup.) The calorie content of broth is presumably 170 calories (was that a result of the broth being ruined (0% condition)? 

Next image.

What I found going through Thomson's Crossing.  I am at more than 1,000 days since starting again so I would have expected some of the flour and oats, some of the potatoes and carrots, would be ruined.  

I would have cleared the table before laying all that stuff out if the game would allow it.  

Still kind of nice to have recipes now.  

[Admin]

Thank you for your feedback, and for all the constructive, respectful conversation in this thread. We appreciate it, and we will continue to review feedback as it comes in. 

[Enigmaecho]

Some feedback to add.

the fishing is fantastic but feels a bit restrictive in location I.e. in ash canyon you can’t fish the lake at climbers cave and there’s a very narrow section above anglers den otherwise you gotta fish the marsh where there’s already a hut

ive only found 2 of the recipes so this is with a grain of salt 

the fish stew needing trout only and not any fish severely limits the cooking and fishing systems working in tandem,

i would like to see some variation in a future update like, beans and bear, soups with the tomato soup as the base, and other recipes utilizing existing ingredients 

finally, the Ptarmigan, I don’t know if they are very elusive im very unlucky or they are bugged but I have walked every inch of Timberwolf, Ash Canyon, and now Pleasant valley and i haven’t seen or heard a single one(have found some new stone piles in random wood areas assuming they’re supposed to spawn around there?) I have my game on custom and my wildlife spawns maxed I should be seeing them right?!

[Leeanda]

7 minutes ago, Enigmaecho said:

Some feedback to add.

the fishing is fantastic but feels a bit restrictive in location I.e. in ash canyon you can’t fish the lake at climbers cave and there’s a very narrow section above anglers den otherwise you gotta fish the marsh where there’s already a hut

ive only found 2 of the recipes so this is with a grain of salt 

the fish stew needing trout only and not any fish severely limits the cooking and fishing systems working in tandem,

i would like to see some variation in a future update like, beans and bear, soups with the tomato soup as the base, and other recipes utilizing existing ingredients 

finally, the Ptarmigan, I don’t know if they are very elusive im very unlucky or they are bugged but I have walked every inch of Timberwolf, Ash Canyon, and now Pleasant valley and i haven’t seen or heard a single one(have found some new stone piles in random wood areas assuming they’re supposed to spawn around there?) I have my game on custom and my wildlife spawns maxed I should be seeing them right?!

I think the birds are only spawning on new saves ....I haven't seen any either in more than 5 maps and it's a save from before the update.

[Enigmaecho]

Just now, Leeanda said:

I think the birds are only spawning on new saves ....I haven't seen any either in more than 5 maps and it's a save from before the update.

😑…. @Admin confirmation? It is what it is but I’d rather not continue a dead save if that’s the case 

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, Enigmaecho said:

😑…. @Admin confirmation? It is what it is but I’d rather not continue a dead save if that’s the case 

They are supposed to be there but I'm just not getting any.. several others aren't either... I filed a ticket.... I really don't want to start again after nearly 300 days.

[Enigmaecho]

Just now, Leeanda said:

They are supposed to be there but I'm just not getting any.. several others aren't either... I filed a ticket.... I really don't want to start again after nearly 300 days.

Same at 200 after losing a 240 to a broken mesh(my fault O.O.B. Route) but for me it’s that window of a new update on top of my current save loot hoard that  I don’t want to sacrifice 😂, hopefully this is a top priority as it’s never been an issue for them to put new animals in existing saves like Timbers and Moose

[Shadox]

5 hours ago, Leeanda said:

They are supposed to be there but I'm just not getting any.. several others aren't either... I filed a ticket.... I really don't want to start again after nearly 300 days.

I can confirm Ptarmigans are there, found several Packs already. But i read in another Thread that they dont spawn on custom saves yet, which is probably a bug and could explain the lack of those experienced by you. I found them pretty easy to hunt, shot all 4 of the pack with fire hardened arrows and the rest of the pack didnt even run away after it got shot one by one.

[Leeanda]

18 minutes ago, Shadox said:

I can confirm Ptarmigans are there, found several Packs already. But i read in another Thread that they dont spawn on custom saves yet, which is probably a bug and could explain the lack of those experienced by you. I found them pretty easy to hunt, shot all 4 of the pack with fire hardened arrows and the rest of the pack didnt even run away after it got shot one by one.

Someone did say that to me,and it does explain it...  I've had no birds, not found any variants either and I've only found three burdock s so far too. Archery is not my best skill and my eyesight isn't great so I think they may fly off before I get one😁

[Enigmaecho]

@Admin is getting the ptarmigans into existing custom saves a priority or should we start new runs while other things are focused on?

[Lemonhartsour]

I really like the direction of the cooking system, and I agree that renewability in the form of naturally harvested improvised ingredients would be a very welcome addition. I also think that the cooking system has a solid foundation, but would benefit from incremental additions of recipes, as in every update 1-3 would be added. Overall, I am pretty happy with this update, and think that it is providing a solid base to add more features.

 

Also, on a side note, for recycled can recipes, are those only cooked in the can, or are they preserved, as I think a way to preserve meat (either through smoking or salting) would be an excellent addition, as just throwing raw meat into piles in the snow, as we have been for a while, is not my favorite gameplay mechanic.

 

I am exited to see what Hinterland cooks up next! (Punny, right? I am deeply sorry for that one...)

[Kain]

20 hours ago, Enigmaecho said:

@Admin is getting the ptarmigans into existing custom saves a priority or should we start new runs while other things are focused on?

This, will you kindly provide a response?

[hozz1235]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:36 PM, Enigmaecho said:

@Admin is getting the ptarmigans into existing custom saves a priority or should we start new runs while other things are focused on?

I'm sure it will be fixed at some point.  In the meantime, I've used the dev console to spawn a few in my existing saves.  I've also temporarily started a new save since many issues seem to stem from existing runs.

[Enigmaecho]

1 minute ago, hozz1235 said:

I'm sure it will be fixed at some point.  In the meantime, I've used the dev console to spawn a few in my existing saves.  I've also temporarily started a new save since many issues seem to stem from existing runs.

I’m on console so I can’t console command assets in, that would solve a lot of issues.I assume it will be fixed at some point but what I want to know is wether or not it’s a priority, if it’s gonna be in the next hot patch cool great if it’s gonna be when update 4 comes not so cool so I’m just trying to figure out if I have another 160 hr to trash because asserts aren’t loading correctly and restart or if it’s worth waiting I only get a few hours a week to play and this is the 4th time I will have restart because momentos or variants or now the ptarmigan won’t work in custom saves 

[hozz1235]

5 minutes ago, Enigmaecho said:

I’m on console so I can’t console command assets in, that would solve a lot of issues.I assume it will be fixed at some point but what I want to know is wether or not it’s a priority, if it’s gonna be in the next hot patch cool great if it’s gonna be when update 4 comes not so cool so I’m just trying to figure out if I have another 160 hr to trash because asserts aren’t loading correctly and restart or if it’s worth waiting I only get a few hours a week to play and this is the 4th time I will have restart because momentos or variants or now the ptarmigan won’t work in custom saves 

Wait, variants aren't working in custom saves?  I'm having no problem finding them.  

I can't imagine HL would ever say, "Yeah, for you custom/existing saves folks, sorry, you will never have ptarmigans or mementos in your saves - time to start over."

[Enigmaecho]

1 hour ago, hozz1235 said:

Wait, variants aren't working in custom saves?  I'm having no problem finding them.  

I can't imagine HL would ever say, "Yeah, for you custom/existing saves folks, sorry, you will never have ptarmigans or mementos in your saves - time to start over."

Yea variants and momentos are busted in custom the last three restarts were because one or multiple variants didn’t spawn or any of the visor notes, the run before this not a single variant spawned, so yea it does kind of feel like “well it’s only affecting some players that use the custom setup and not a default difficulty so we’ll get to when we get to it”