Ok old timers, tell us kids some stories

[Doc Gonzo]

I'm hoping we collective "newbs" can coax a few stories out of you vets out there. 

Tell us "kids" what The Long Dark was like "back in your day." For instance I know that during early builds surviving even a full day was a great accomplishment, why was that? I can remember an update bug that once caused time to stand still, any other fun, interesting or painful bugs? 

So come on all you grandpas and grandmas out there. Get seated on the rocking chair, we'll light a fire and get you a blanket if you'll only regale us with tales of days gone by.

(I am 100% serious, I love hearing about what the game was like in the earlier states.)

Thanks!

[illanthropist]

I've pulled up a sandbag, waiting for a story now...

[starfighter441]

3 hours ago, illanthropist said:

I've pulled up a sandbag, waiting for a story now...

You're such a pongo...we light blue types prefer a dragchute.

[Rusty_Old_F250]

Hang on, let me get my glasses on and find my dentures... 

I don't know if I'm an "Old Timer" but I started playing over a year ago and the main thing that sticks in my mind was that the 200 days achievement seemed IMPOSSIBLE! There just wasn't as many supplies as we have now, and the rifle was your only option for hunting. That is, unless you wanted to go hand to paw with a wolf, which was a LOT more dangerous then than it is in the current version. Trying to outrun wolves was also a non-option, unless you were really close to a building.

I remember the first time I tried hunting for a bear, I waited till the bear got close to a fishing shack (mystery lake) and took aim, BANG!, I can't remember if I got off a second shot or not, but before I knew it the bear was reading the menu and digging into the main course, ME! I survived at about 5% and limped over to the fishing shack and got a fire going. Then a blizzard set in, so I had to keep it going constantly. The only thing that saved me was the old wood gathering system, I was able to keep the fire going and harvest wood in perfect warmth. I recovered, gutted and ate that bear and turned his hide into a sleeping bag. Victory.

Sam

[Hotzn]

Rusty_Old_F250, when you were just a little baby and old Hotzn was changing your diapers, there was a time when neither the 200 day achievement nor bears existed. Mystery Lake was the only existing map, and wolves could not be outrun. Crafting clothes was unheard of, we neither knew hammer nor hacksaw nor bow. Men would cry hot tears if they found a piece of cloth, as it meant you could make 2 bandages and kill 2 wolves with your knife, extending your miserable existence for a couple of days... if you survived the fights, which was an art in itself. We could watch the few clothes we found rot away on our skin, we would constantly count our few matches, finding that rare piece of scrap metal would throw us in turmoil - repair the hatchet or the knife? And other decisions: Use a match, light a fire by that deer carcass, make it thaw and harvest it with your bare hands? Or use the hatchet, shortening its lifespan? Use that last firestarter liquid to increase your fire starting skill and thus save matches? Or keep it in reserve for emergency situations? Resources were scarce and moved around like chess pieces. Death was inevitable and never far away, desperation our companion. That is how it was in the olden days. Hugh.

[bethany]

Would be great to hear tales from some of our long-time players!

For any interested specifically in early gameplay mechanics and challenges, you can find some great development videos and diaries on our YouTube channel -- Some of these might help our "old timers" recall some interesting stories! 

https://www.youtube.com/user/hinterlandgames/videos

[Rusty_Old_F250]

Dang Hotzn, if your were changing my diapers, you must be practically fossilized by now   Just kidding just kidding

It's great to hear from some of the people that were here from the beginning, how long has TLD been around anyways?

Sam

[bethany]

We launched our Kickstarter campaign in September 2013 and officially entered Steam's Early Access program in September of 2014. In case you missed it, you can find some interesting facts and notable dates in this video: 

 

[Scyzara]

Hm, let's see what old Scyzara still remembers. If only my memory wasn't so bad... 

I started playing somewhen around V.160 and the most significant difference I recall in comparison to the current game is the great value of almost all items back then. When I found a knife or hatchet in the old days, I really celebrated my find as there were just a very few of each item to be found in the whole game (which only consisted of ML and CH). There was no guarantee to find a rifle at all and even IF you found one you still hadn't made it automatically as rounds were pretty scarce as well. If you found maybe 20 bullets alltogether on both maps, you could already consider yourself lucky. Bows didn't exist yet ofc. 

Almost everything was scarce back then (at least I remember it like this^^), even cloth and scrap metal which were necessary to maintain your clothes and tools. Running around naked on purpose was unthinkable, at least for me. I tried everything to keep my clothes in a good shape, but sometimes I didn't even find a sewing kit and had to watch my clothes rot away while I was wearing them. (Fishing tackles couldn't be used to repair your clothes yet).

Not sure why exacty, but the time it took your character to freeze to death (your rl reaction time so to say) also seemed to be WAY shorter than now. The weather was also changing randomly. In one minute there could be a clear sky and sunshine and in the next suddenly a blizzard or thick fog. Smooth weather transitions or means to predict upcoming changes didn't exist. Making sure never to lose orientation was thus of utmost importance. Unaware players could easily find themselves freezing to death somewhere on the Coastal Highway ice plains or in the backland valleys of Mystery lake.

Wolves were also a whole lot more ferocious back then. Not only did they always run towards you at full speed as soon as they noticed you, struggling with them also caused a bleeding wound and an infection 100% of the time. In other words: Your medical supplies were shrinking at  tremendous rates unless you played with a lot of caution and prudence.

As it wasn't possible to pull torches out of campfires (and flares & craftable torches were pretty scarce), absolute avoidance was pretty much the only option how to deal with them properly. Not to mention that the old fighting system was a lot more punishing. Nowadays wolves leave you be even if you don't fight back at all, in the old days they would tear you apart without mercy unless you were both a fairly fast clicker and had understood the fighting system. Doing nothing or being a slow clicker always resulted in death accordingly.

That's all I recall for now. Need to get back to my rocking chair and knit some scarfs now. 

[cekivi]

I bought the Long Dark as a Halloween present to myself back in 2014. v0.153 according to my screenshot library. By then, the Coastal Highway was already in the game. I didn't know the mechanics as well back then and my first two playthroughs were ended shortly as a result. I somehow fell between the railroad ties on "that" bridge and went to sleep in a room without a high enough warmth bonus. My third playthough I still have the save file for and open it up from time to time

The biggest changes have been the graphics (all for the better!), the UI (mostly for the better, sometimes I miss the simplicity of the old one), firewood collecting (way better now although the "harvesting from inside" was a great exploit), wolves (they were a lot worse) and resource scarcity. I remember having to rip up the shirt on my back because I hadn't found any bandages and had no cloth. Scrap metal was almost unheard of. You coveted every piece you found since it was vital to keep your few tools functioning (knife, hatchet, gun). I remember laughing when I finally (finally!) found a can opener in the camp office to open the cans I kept finding!

The game as a whole has improved a lot. I do sometimes miss the early builds though when items were rare and precious and every decision you made was tense since you knew a mistake would be very hard to come back from.

If you want to get a sense of this, check out the forum archives. You'll see quite a few threads begging for more scrap metal since there wasn't enough for crafting and repair. Compare that to today's relative glut

[LucidFugue]

I bought TLD in December 2014 as a Christmas present. I jumped in on Voyageur and it took me about 5 starts to get beyond day 2. There wasn't a delay on wolf spawns back then, and I recall freezing probably about as fast as one does on Stalker now. If you didn't "win" an enocounter with a wolf they would take you down to zero, and the fighting took longer. You had to tap the LMB to build strength, then hit the RMB to attack. The wolf had a visible health bar. It would take 3 strikes to damage a wolf enough where it would disengage. So straight up it was close to 3x longer to finish a wolf struggle, and they seemed to deal condition damage on every attack event. If you had a knife, and you were familiar with wolf struggles, you could kill the wolf outright by deliberately dealing a weak blow so it was just above its retreat threshold, then deal a maximum strength hit.

Every match counted. You might only have 2-3 dozen across the whole map. But wood gathering was far easier because you basically traded 15 minutes for your choice of fir or cedar, so you could have permanent fires if you had the time/food to spare. Torches didn't exist though, and if you were LUCKY you might find either a firestriker or a magnifying glass. That basically gave you weeks of extra survival time.

I haven't checked when I got my 50 days achievement, but it was in ML, on Voyageur. I'd have to check to verify what version it must have been on.

Also - instead of the "Sheltered from wind" icon, it just said "Warmer" when you were sheltered, and "Colder" when you weren't. It confused the hell out of me because I thought it was letting me know when I was above or below freezing temperature, and I'd be trudging through the snow freezing to death and be like "Warmer my butt!"