"Cheat Death" Impressions

[Veskaida]

My initial reaction to the "Cheat Death" mechanic being revealed (in the TFTFT Part 5 video) was negative: I felt that permadeath was a core pillar of TLD's design/identity (something it was known for, and stood out from other survival games), and that this feature might ruin or dilute that identity; however after playing around with it a bit: I rather like it!

• Thematics are strong: the color filter is fun and choices are interesting and puts the player in memorable situations, rather than simply ending a story.
• Leads to many new and interesting survival situations: trying to survive in a different or far-away place, some pieces of gear/tools, or with low Condition. It feels fresh and unique to other TLD gameplay.
• Was concerned it would equate to a "lives" system, without adequate punishment for the player or be interesting. I feel it does both respectfully and in an interesting manner, without disrespecting TLD's permadeath history.

Mostly experimented with it in few goofing-off 'test runs', deliberately trying to die explore the system or to see if I can survive with multiple stacks of it's affliction (fun!). In some ways it reminds me of earlier versions of the TLD sandbox, which I think had something of a rogue-like feel (namely TLD's difficulty and the soft progression system of "Feats").

In the future I don't think it is something I'll necessarily always want to use, but it definitely is interesting to play with and I enjoy the implementation: of anything I wish there was more 'punishment' options rather than just two variations of 'condition'. Perhaps the Misery afflictions, or something like them?

[Leeanda]

Personally I think it doesn't need anything added ,or taken away..  it works very well as it is.. its tough,challenging on all levels/difficulties..and it's great fun even as a challenge on its own.. 

Htl did a cracking job on it   ..it doesn't need to be made harder..  misery mode is just that and if htl wanted to add it they would've..I think it's balanced just right as it is.

[Veskaida]

Agreed, I like the implementation of Cheat Death. Wasn't necessarily advocating for Cheat Death to be 'harder', just I thought it might be interesting if some of the penalty options affected something other than just "Condition". Maybe it's just me, but I got that perception from the reveal: that the "-Condition" choices were just a sample, from a larger pool. Am fine with that being all the options for Cheat Death though, TLD does a good job wrapping many different systems into that Condition meter.

[Leeanda]

I think running around with less condition and next to no gear  in an unknown area is enough fun for me😊

[SuperStriker16]

I think unless you’re doing something important that would be hard to repeat, like the tales storyline that I was doing when I got to experience the cheat death mechanic. To put it simply, it’s not worth it, you permanently lose a ton of gear, and I had for example, looted almost every cartridge in the world, and had all my shell casings on me as well, and lost hundreds of rounds and casings. I also lost my moose hide coat, about 400 matches, half the durability on all my clothes, my knife, hatchet, hacksaw, etc. effectively everything but the clothes on my back, and of course half the condition bar. The only time it would be kinda worth it is if you died real early on before you had the world’s supply of bullets, but then you would start with half your condition gone, and you would have the guilt of dying every time you pull up the hud to see what time of day it is.

TLDR: just accept death and start a new run.

 

[Leeanda]

13 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I think unless you’re doing something important that would be hard to repeat, like the tales storyline that I was doing when I got to experience the cheat death mechanic. To put it simply, it’s not worth it, you permanently lose a ton of gear, and I had for example, looted almost every cartridge in the world, and had all my shell casings on me as well, and lost hundreds of rounds and casings. I also lost my moose hide coat, about 400 matches, half the durability on all my clothes, my knife, hatchet, hacksaw, etc. effectively everything but the clothes on my back, and of course half the condition bar. The only time it would be kinda worth it is if you died real early on before you had the world’s supply of bullets, but then you would start with half your condition gone, and you would have the guilt of dying every time you pull up the hud to see what time of day it is.

TLDR: just accept death and start a new run.

 

I'm sorry you lost so much stuff, that sucks...  Why did you take all your ammo though?  I have at least 20 rifle ammo in two bases on each map..

[SuperStriker16]

1 minute ago, Leeanda said:

Why did you take all your ammo though

I normally do, as I only had about 30 live rifle rounds and 70 live revolver rounds, and I always pick up my brass so I can remake ammo. And dropping all my 300 ish pieces of brass would be a pain to pick up as you have to pick up each one individually. I’ve never cheated death before so there was never a reason for me to leave stashes.

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I normally do, as I only had about 30 live rifle rounds and 70 live revolver rounds, and I always pick up my brass so I can remake ammo. And dropping all my 300 ish pieces of brass would be a pain to pick up as you have to pick up each one individually. I’ve never cheated death before so there was never a reason for me to leave stashes.

Oh I see..    that many cartridges would've been a nightmare to pick up..

[Veskaida]

13 hours ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I think unless you’re doing something important that would be hard to repeat, like the tales storyline that I was doing when I got to experience the cheat death mechanic. To put it simply, it’s not worth it, you permanently lose a ton of gear

I agree, Cheat Death's implementation is a system to continue playing that same sandbox, but not (necessarily) with all your equipment. It has interesting benefits but also consequences. You certainly can maintain some items through it, but it's also reasonably punishing for 'cheating death'. I think it succeeds in giving player the option, while still maintaining the general spirit of "permadeath" for TLD.