...And Less Like A Magic Health Pack

[JackTrysGames]

"...so think of this as part of a condition maintenance regimen, and less like a magic health pack. Like most things in The Long Dark, there are no quick-fix solutions- it's only through careful planning and maintenance that you can hope to survive over the long term."

-The Long Dark Devs (Steadfast Ranger Update, Birch Bark Tea)

 

And then they added the Prepper's Pie, a food item that instantly-restores 25% of your condition like a magic health pack, and the Peach/Rose Hip Pies, which restore roughly 40% of your Fatigue in one hit- a perfect quick-fix solution.

[Leeanda]

Ah but the ingredients will not respawn.. unlike birch bark... once they're gone that's it.. so you still have to learn to manage them carefully.

[UpUpAway95]

2 hours ago, JackTrysGames said:

"...so think of this as part of a condition maintenance regimen, and less like a magic health pack. Like most things in The Long Dark, there are no quick-fix solutions- it's only through careful planning and maintenance that you can hope to survive over the long term."

-The Long Dark Devs (Steadfast Ranger Update, Birch Bark Tea)

 

And then they added the Prepper's Pie, a food item that instantly-restores 25% of your condition like a magic health pack, and the Peach/Rose Hip Pies, which restore roughly 40% of your Fatigue in one hit- a perfect quick-fix solution.

It's really nothing new - The emergency stim (the quintessential "magic health pack") was been in the game long before Birch Bark Tea (15% instant condition restoration and unlimited stamina for 1 minute).  They were/are in a very limited supply.  Birch bark was renewable, so they made it act over time.  Now, years later, they decided to add something faster acting but still not really unlimited - yet at least.  Not sure what your point is here.  I'm sure that devs, like everyone, can change their thinking over time.

[ManicManiac]

On 12/11/2023 at 11:20 AM, JackTrysGames said:

And then they added the Prepper's Pie, a food item that instantly-restores 25% of your condition like a magic health pack, and the Peach/Rose Hip Pies, which restore roughly 40% of your Fatigue in one hit- a perfect quick-fix solution.

okay... but you wouldn't want to have to convalesce for several weeks to recover from being half dead (50% or less condition), or several weeks to let a sprain recover... would you?

I think this is another situation where we can say, "Sometimes a video game just has to... video game."

Edited December 22, 2023 by ManicManiac

[conanjaguar]

3 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

I think this is another situation where we can say, "Sometimes a video game just has to... video game."

That’s true… but, say, a gradual increase in condition from eating the Prepper’s Pie (like that BBT gives) would be more fitting with the philosophy of the game, in my opinion.

[conanjaguar]

2 hours ago, diggity said:

I'm still wondering why pain pills don't fix the headache...

Maybe it’s not physical pain… maybe it’s psychological pain .

[PilgrimReaper]

14 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

Maybe it’s not physical pain… maybe it’s psychological pain .

Guilt for eating certain foods 😅

[JackTrysGames]

On 12/22/2023 at 12:03 PM, ManicManiac said:

okay... but you wouldn't want to have to convalesce for several weeks to recover from being half dead (50% or less condition), or several weeks to let a sprain recover... would you?

Well, what if I do want that? What then?

 

On 12/11/2023 at 3:23 PM, UpUpAway95 said:

It's really nothing new - The emergency stim (the quintessential "magic health pack") was been in the game long before Birch Bark Tea (15% instant condition restoration and unlimited stamina for 1 minute).  They were/are in a very limited supply.

You're conveniently omitting the complete loss of fatigue and sprint meter at the end of the stim's duration. It has drawbacks. The new items have very minimal if any drawbacks. (Headaches can be easily ignored, the loss of carry capacity from prepper's pies can be easily negated by eating a meat pie)

 

On 12/22/2023 at 12:10 PM, conanjaguar said:

A gradual increase in condition from eating the Prepper’s Pie (like that BBT gives) would be more fitting with the philosophy of the game, in my opinion.

Or completely halting the loss of fatigue for some time for the peach/rose hip pies.

[ManicManiac]

9 minutes ago, JackTrysGames said:

Well, what if I do want that? What then?

Then of course that's fair enough... make that its own wish list item and I will give my opinion and perspective on that as well.  

[odizzido]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:03 AM, ManicManiac said:

okay... but you wouldn't want to have to convalesce for several weeks to recover from being half dead (50% or less condition), or several weeks to let a sprain recover... would you?

I would. It's why when I tried the sandbox mode I ended up turning off sleep regen and putting awake regen at minimum so that making a mistake would hurt instead of you just sleeping off a bear mauling. I turned off sprains though since they're just crazy common and, to me, make no sense.

[ManicManiac]

@odizzido
Fair enough, I think it's great that the game is already flexible enough that you have been able to tune it that way and shape your experience more to your liking.

I'm all for folks using custom settings to tailor their experience how they wish.
I'm just generally not so in favor of those ideas that seem to want to change the game for everyone... just to suit another's personal taste.

Edited December 23, 2023 by ManicManiac
Edited for clarity

[odizzido]

@ManicManiacMore to my liking yes, but still not good enough. I don't play TLD sandbox. Oh well, there is the story mode which is really what I want anyways. For sandbox mode there are games like Zomboid or STALKER which are much closer to what I want, though I am mostly waiting on zomboid since it's still early access.

[Fuarian]

On 12/11/2023 at 12:20 PM, JackTrysGames said:

"...so think of this as part of a condition maintenance regimen, and less like a magic health pack. Like most things in The Long Dark, there are no quick-fix solutions- it's only through careful planning and maintenance that you can hope to survive over the long term."

-The Long Dark Devs (Steadfast Ranger Update, Birch Bark Tea)

 

And then they added the Prepper's Pie, a food item that instantly-restores 25% of your condition like a magic health pack, and the Peach/Rose Hip Pies, which restore roughly 40% of your Fatigue in one hit- a perfect quick-fix solution.

Coffee gave an instant fatigue shot and always has. I think that's fine. 

The pie giving health is ridiculous. Not just because having no magic health packs was a point made a while ago, but because it just doesn't make sense. You don't have to make the game super realistic, but come on.. somehow a pie made with ingredients scrounged up and cooked over a fire instantly heals you more than carefully procured pharmaceutical stimulants do. I cannot fathom how an emergency stim, literal medication heals you LESS than a PIE. Let alone how upon consuming the pie you're instantly healed. 

The Long Dark has never been a sim game but there's a degree of believability it has. Mechanics like this just throw that out the window and remove all sense of immersion it has built up until then.

[Ansible]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:21 AM, diggity said:

I'm still wondering why pain pills don't fix the headache...

This really REALLY bothers me. Especially since, as the husband of a pharmacist, I'm familiar with the "color coding" of all of the pill bottles:

• RED - Tylenol, aka acetaminophen
• BLUE - Advil, Motrin, aka ibuprofen
• Yellow/Brown/Green - Bayer, Ecotrin, aka aspirin

Obviously "painkillers" in the game are meant to be acetaminophen, which is specifically and famously known for treating HEADACHES, whereas ibuprofen is more known for treating MUSCLE ACHES.

[odizzido]

The strangest thing about the pain meds is you have to select the specific thing when taking them or it does nothing. First time I tried using them it confused me as to why it wasn't working.

[Ansible]

29 minutes ago, odizzido said:

The strangest thing about the pain meds is you have to select the specific thing when taking them or it does nothing. First time I tried using them it confused me as to why it wasn't working.

I think the strangest thing is that you can take painkillers twice in a row or more - one time for each affliction. You try to take 6 acetaminophen all at once in the REAL world - and you'll probably DIE.

If they wanted to go with more realism, they'd let that one dose heal all current applicable afflictions, and then prevent you from receiving more of those applicable afflictions for X amount of time.

[odizzido]

Yeah that's something I notice as well. More people should be aware of how deadly pain meds actually are. That being said, it is less known and it's also hard to keep track of time since it's highly accelerated so I am more forgiving of that.

However at a certain point things get too far from reality and it starts to become confusing. If you have real items for use in real world situations people will go for how things work in reality. People expect to swallow a pain med pill and have it work. Our character in this game seems to be grinding them up and using them as a poultice or something.

[Stranzua]

The thing about the preppers pie is that it's a recipe you have to find, and isn't it in one of the prepper bunkers scattered across the map? I don't think I've even found that one yet. 

 

[hozz1235]

Keep in mind, this is a game, not reality folks.  We all need to be reminded of that from time to time (myself included!).

Edited January 19 by hozz1235

[Ansible]

2 minutes ago, diggity said:

I didn't know that was deliberate, thought it was just coincidence or branding so that's good to know thanks.

It basically is branding. It's nothing required by the FDA or anything like that. It's just what companies have sort of all informally agreed on to help move the product easier. I suspect that for each drug, it started with one company doing it, and then they were successful, then everyone else that got into the market copied them.

You could look at this phenomena one of two ways:

• Optimist - companies do this to let customers know at a glance what drugs they should be able to expect to find in a container without having to read it
• Pessimist - companies to it to sort of "trick" consumers into buying their product instead of their competitors product with the same drug

[manolitode]

On 12/26/2023 at 8:17 PM, Fuarian said:

You don't have to make the game super realistic, but come on.. somehow a pie made with ingredients scrounged up and cooked over a fire instantly heals you more than carefully procured pharmaceutical stimulants do [...] The Long Dark has never been a sim game but there's a degree of believability it has.

I agree with this, the believability line is thin and an instant health boost from food just doesn't fit with my conception of TLD. If other players like the health boost pie, good for you, I'm going to pass on using this in my playthroughs.