Thoughts on Part 5

[DavidinNorwayHD]

First of all, I really enjoy most aspects of the new update. The new map is awesome, and misery mode is a veeery interesting game mode. And, of course, the Tails are always a welcoming addition to the sandbox mode. However, not everything in this update was perfect. The implementation of cougars is pretty rough, and not what I thought we we're gonna get. I think having a dangerous predator stalking you is really cool, but... I think this needs a little more work. I don't think we should get any HUD warning signs when the cougar is/has arrived, it kinda ruins the immersion. I am fine with the cougar sign to indicate that it is stalking you, but otherwise I think roaming the world and see and hear signs of it should be the only indication of it when it is on it's way, it makes it more spooky like that. Having a count down on the map telling me when it's coming is not what I would personally want. Now, I really enjoy the fact that the cougar can easily kill you, but I am not a fan of the fact that you can only encounter them during a struggle and not protect yourself in the slightest. It just randomly spawns on you out of nowhere, which means if you want the cougar claw knife and hide wrap, you have to purposefully get yourself almost killed, and, in worst case scenario, have your poor clothes ruined, and even then... you might even fail to kill it. I don't think we should necessarily be able to hunt them down roaming the world, but at least being able to spot it and have the chance to kill it before it's deadly attack would be welcoming, even if the chances of being able to take it down is quite slim. I know the threat they impose won't be as ''big'' if you can kill them, and that the purpose of avoiding them diminishes. However, I think as long as they are difficult to fight against and a constant threat to you for as long you are staying in the region, wishing to avoid them should be natural even with the ability to stand your ground.

Another thing I am feeling mixed about is the cheat death system. I don't think it hurts to experiment with this kinda system, but I am personally not a fan. I know most people excuse it's inclusion with the fact that it is optional, but I think people underestimates peoples will power to not choose it. Just by having the option there is quite a significant change from a psychological stand point as it is proven people appreciate games with permadeath more, because how precious each moment is and how it all can disappear if you do a mistake. For some people, knowing that death in this game no longer is as a big of a threat anymore, and that your actions doesn't matter as much anymore, is a game breaker for some people, but I wouldn't go as far to say it ruins the game, far from it. I do think that this is a good system in case you might die due to a bug or something, but otherwise I would not use it, even if I died in a silly way after hundreds of days. And I think most players on pc, if they died due to a bug, would most likely just continue backup their saves in order to avoid the consequences of cheating death, because they simply get punished for a death that was the games fault and not their own actions. And also, it's just not as impressive knowing someone survived a 1000 days after they had died two times, but I guess it is somewhat cool they were able to survive through the penalties at least.

Yes, losing a game after hundredes of hours and in-game days because you died in an ''unfair'' way, like freezing to death in your bedroll because you accidentally slept for 10 hours in the cold, is devastating after all the hardships and beautiful moments you go though surviving in that game, and it is hard to give it up. A part of the games beauty for me is the ''suffering,'' if you can call it that, and that also means no second chances when you die, for me. That being said, I do agree with Raphael that having this kind of choice in the game is very interesting whether or not the player are able to resist the temptation to cheat death, but I agree more in theory than in practice as just don't feel a system like this should be in a game like TLD where death always lurking around is such an essential part of the game.

Of course, this is just what I personally think of it, if people enjoy the cheat death system, good for them. But I think a decent amount of people, if not a large majority, think similarly to me, but whether that's correct or not is for yourself to decide. I still think this would be a better system for custom game modes and not for the regular modes, as I think it suits customs much better. And I do think having the option to turn it off would be nice, and I think it should be turned off by default. And now that survival settings have been introduced, I would like to see a survival settings menu in the settings menu where you can turn on or off the settings to your liking and keep them permanently until you wanna change them, just so you don't have to choose which settings to have on or off every time you startup a new run, but that's a minor nitpick.

Edited June 26 by DavidinNorwayHD