TWM

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  1. The other day I decided to stay the night over in Winding River to harvest the wolf I just killed. I'm thinking, it's in a somewhat secluded spot, so I'll just make a fire, cook up some wolf meat, and hunker down for the night right there. As long as the wind doesn't come from the wrong direction, I'm good. Perfect opportunity to try out my new Bear Skin bedroll, or so I'm thinking. Except, I'm not allowed to place it. So I move a couple of steps up on the ice, I'm thinking: surely this is a flat surface. Nope. Won't do it. I'm thinking: this is likely a bug with the Bear Skin bed roll, so I'll walk over to the cave a little further down the stream, where I've left a regular bedroll. After some comparing, it turns out I can deploy both bedrolls, it just won't let me deploy them on ice. It's not an appropriate surface I guess? But that doesn't really make sense (it might from a developing standpoint, but I mean, intuitively). Am I doing it wrong? Or is ice actually off limits for deploying a bedroll? And should it be?
  2. Doesn't that buttress the very point I'm making though? As soon as you obtain all the things you need to survive, you're basically settled for life. You could do fifty days, a hundred days, two hundred, pretty much easy peasy. But what if surviving kept on being a challenge, even if you had enough clothing and all essential tools? Imagine holding on for life to the only rifle you're going to get. You're down to six bullets. You have to venture out further and further to find the odd deer. Repairs are costly, because all mechanical tools are repaired with the tool box and scrap metal is hard to find. Eventually you'd be forced to explore new, dangerous regions, just in order to survive another week. Now, wouldn't that make for a more exciting experience?
  3. Call me an old time player; a veteran of the pastel winter outback if you will. I picked up the Long Dark in februari 2015 and been playing it ever since. Back then we only had one map, Mystery Lake. When later maps (first Coastal Town, then Pleasant Valley) came out, it wasn't just a struggle to get there, but if you managed to get yourself killed, you'd had to start all the way back in Mystery Lake and get yourself prepped for the big journey all over again. When supplies were sparse One aspect that greatly enhanced the challenge of the game, was that resources were scarce, which meant that every find felt like it could mean the difference between life or death. For instance, you didn't have sticks lying all over the place. No, if you wanted a fire, you'd need to either find some piece of wood, break down some furniture, or chop down a branch. Which meant that finding an axe was priority no.1. But the axe would break down, so you'd have to repair it. We didn't have whetstones back then, mind you. One repaired the axe with a toolbox and a piece of scrap metal, which were scarce. And it could go wrong - similar to clothing repair - so then you'd be left without the means of repairing your axe. This meant that repairing a tool was a moment of suspence. To make matters more interesting, the same applied to your rifle. We didn't use cleaning kits, but again: the toolbox. That meant the player often was forced to make hard choices: do I repair the gun in order to defend myself, shoot game & provide food, or do I repair the hatchett, which I need to chop wood & make water, as well as to harvest frozen carcasses effectively. And what about the knife (same thing, you repair it with the toolbox). Creating dilemma's There were more instances where the player was put before such dilemma's, just by account of the scarcity of resources: do I use my last piece of cloth to try and repair my pants or do I save if to be able to craft bandages? Do I use the flare as a lightsource or save it to be able to defend myself against wolves. Do I use the birch bark as tinder or save it to craft some tea? Do I save the oil to fill the lamp or craft a torch to maybe fight off a wolf? Do I use the cured gut to craft a snare or make some fishing line? The more pressing the choice was, the more anxious one felt about it. But exactly that created suspense. Unearned accomplishments With all the maps, extra additions, options & resources, that sense of scarcity seems gone for the most part. Sure, you can play on Interloper or design your own 'hard mode', but it just feels like handicapping yourself. Furthermore, it still doesn't take away from the fact that once you're settled, the world is your oyster. You want to hunt some rabbits? Just pick up a rock from anywhere. So why even bother crafting a snare? The snare used to be a vital piece of kit to eek out a living. Now it's just the lazy man's way to catch some rabbits. You need to build a fire to make some water? Just pick up sticks as you go. Heck, if you pick up every stick you find, even on Interloper, you can find enough to keep a fire burning through most if not all of the night. (However, when you had to spend half a day to find resources to fix your one hatchett in order to keep chopping wood, for which one had to venture ever further from basecamp, thus inviting danger, that sip of water felt earned.) You need some scrap metal? Just take a hacksaw and start demolishing one of the many metal objects in the game. Not that you'll need to often. You'll do it once or twice to craft some arrowheads, which are reusable anyway. Maybe you'll create some extra scrap to repair the hacksaw, which is one of the few instances you'll actually need the toolbox. Less is more, more is less So basically, by introducing an abundance of resources, the developers have taken away the hard dilemma's the player once faced. And in so doing they've diminished the amount of challenge & suspense the Long Dark had to offer. I can see the reasons behind adding new stuff, but as fun as The Long Dark still is for me, I think it was to the detriment of the sandbox experience. It made a great, gripping game into a solid, decent game. Still engaging, but... I'm just going to say it: I feel it used to be more compelling than it is now. Part of it seems to be that the Sandbox originally wasn't intended as the main feature. It was more of a way to keep players interested and test out game mechanics while story mode was in development. And story mode demands places that feel real, lived in. So then you get Milton with dozens of houses. A whole village was added to Pleasant Valley to facilitate a mission in the story. Sandbox might just be the main feature Thing is though, for a lot (if not most) of the players, the Sandbox is the main attraction. Just watch the dozens upon dozens of video streams of people playing the Long Dark. They aren't showcasing Story Mode. They're showcasing how long they can survive. I get that The Long Dark isn't going to revert to the days of scarcity. It simply isn't feasible. One could play earlier versions of the game I suppose, and I'd recommend trying it out for players who want a direct experience for what I've been talking about here. Some conclusions Anyway, ssome general principles can be inferred, which may be worthwile to anyone who's inspired to develop a game like this. Scarcity of resources in combination with limited solutions create dilemma's on how to spend supplies. The more pressing the dilemma's, the more urgent choices become, generating suspense. The more urgent the choices, the more impactful & thus the more meaningful these choices feel. The more trouble one has to go to achieve even daily chores, the more these achievements feel like they're earned & thus are meaningful Therefore, calibrating the right amount of limitation to the player's resources & options is key. Just 2 cents of an old time player...
  4. 'Lief kadaver...' (sorry, ik kon het niet laten; dit taalvautje is net iets te vermakelijk om 'm te laten passeren).
  5. Volgens mij heeft niemand de vertaalfouten als bugs opgemerkt, want wat je al zegt: omslachtig, zowel voor de ontwikkelaars als voor degenen die de bugs indienen. Bovendien krijg je dan verstrooiing: een plukje vertaalsuggesties hier, weer eens daar; veel doublures ook. De realiteit is dat er gewoon niks gaat gebeuren, want dit zou dan eerst door de ontwikkelaars als probleem moeten worden ervaren - en dat is het niet, want het vertaalt zich niet in teruglopende verkoopcijfers of spelers die afhaken. Dat zal met de demografie van hun doelgroep te maken hebben, dat zijn geen jonge kinderen, maar volwassenen die het Engels machtig zijn en dus gewoon over kunnen schakelen. Ik snap het ook wel, als je al moeite hebt je deadlines te halen voor de ontwikkeling van nieuwe regionen en verhaallijnen, dan ga je geen tijd investeren om te knutselen aan de vertaling in tientallen vreemde talen. Maar had die taalopties dan liever laten zitten, denk ik dan. Pak het vanaf begin goed aan of doe het liever helemaal niet. Nou ja, 't is ook weer geen ramp. Meer een kleine ergernis over iets dat op zich een leuk idee is, maar waarvan de uitvoering vervolgens rammelt.
  6. Gently bobs my float Light dances on the water The trout won’t bite though The trees look all grey A sea of fog cloaks the woods Each step silence grows Cold creeps up the bones ‘A little rest could not hurt’ The void reels me in A wet sleeping bag Hail and snow pummel the skin Was it worth the risk? Fingers growing numb Can't even feel that trigger A wolf has a meal
  7. Blood clots in the snow Wait, what's that in the thicket? Supper is ready...
  8. You know there's a cave up on the summit, right? Not saying it's fool proof protection against a blizzard, but it sure beats the wreck, which only provides protection against the wind.
  9. I began an Interloper game recently, and was off to a really good start in Desolation Point. Managed to get to the mine near the Lighthouse, during a blizzard, found a fire striker inside and I had some time to kill so I chopped up some crates and built a nice fire near the entrance. Storm settles down, I go outside in the direction of the lighthouse because I want to check for a nice coat which can be found there sporadically. Unfortunately I encounter a wolf which starts running at me, so I dart back into the mine... right into the fire. I could have stepped off at that point, but with my clothes being ripped and me severly burned, I thought: "F*ck it, I'll might just as well get fully cooked." Really don't like the idea that you can step into your fire by the way. It serves no purpose and it's just frustrating. An invisible wall would be more convenient.
  10. Met enige regelmaat kijk ik playthroughs van The Long Dark, ook in het Duits, en dat vind ik wel grappig. Dus toen ik vernam dat er inmiddels een Nederlandse vertaling is gemaakt, besloot ik eens een kijkje te nemen. Maar ik moet zeggen dat het me hier en daar behoorlijk tegenvalt. Het lijkt wel alsof ze Google hebben gebruikt om te vertalen. Had dat dan vooraf even gecrowdsourced, denk ik dan. Zo uit mijn hoofd: 'uittrekken' is 'vertrekken' geworden. Een 'stick' is een 'stok' geworden, oké dat kan nog, maar takje of twijg ware beter geweest. En wat ze van de prepper cache gemaakt hebben, kan ik al helemaal niet thuisbrengen. Trapper's Cabin = 'Hoeve Trapper'? Trappers Blokhut ware beter geweest. Bij 'hoeve' denk ik toch eerder aan de Homestead. Zo zijn er nog veel meer voorbeelden te geven van woorden en uitdrukkingen die men, zo lijkt het, motorisch vertaald heeft. Het resultaat ervan heeft in het Nederlands helaas vaak net even een andere betekenis of soms slaat het gewoonweg als een tang op een varken. Misschien kan iemand dit aanhangig maken bij de ontwerpers. @elloco999, jij lijkt me als TLD backer enige standing te hebben; zou jij hier eens een balletje over willen opwerpen? Als ze mij een woordenlijst sturen, wil ik desnoods zelf wel even naar de vertaling kijken, want dit kan echt beter.
  11. While I don't have a problem with the notion of contracting intestinal parasites itself, what isn't all that helpful is that as of v.321, I get a permanent red cross medical warning because I'm currently at 2% risk. And it won't go away either. This causes two problems: initially, it suggests something is going on which needs immediate adressing (which is not true); secondly, this will render the 'flagged-for-medical-problem'-indicator-system moot real quick; because after a couple of days of noticing the red cross and verifying nothing acute and serious is going on, players will start ignoring the red cross-indicator all together. So when there's an actual problem that needs immediate adressing, the mechanic won't function as it's designed to, namely alert the player that they might want to check on their medical status. Remember the story of boy cried wolf? Well, that's what the red cross-medical problem indicator has now been rendered to: a boy crying 'wolf!' all the time, even when the 'wolf' is still far, far away...
  12. Something tells me it's going to take a bit longer than just a few months. If it was a matter of a mere few months, I highly doubt Rafael would feel too embarrassed offering yet another prospective deadline he might very well have to break. Have you seen the Sandbox Roadmap? That's a timeline for over a year! So my guess is: the release of story mode is going to take at least 6-9 months. At a minimum. Heck, it could even take as much as 1½ year.
  13. The competing sense of beauty and despair the game manages to invoke. One moment you're admiring the majestic beauty of the landscape in all it's outstretched glory. The next moment you despair of your solitude and your imminent death by it's sovereign forces. Also: the sense of urgency. Especially at the beginning of a run, you're in want of everything, you are constantly running from here to there, in order to keep warm, find food, find tools, getting to the next location to see what treasures lie in store. (Oh, the joys of finding that one sewing kit when your clothes are tattering!) At time moves on, the games allowes for a more relaxed play (at least on Vogayeur). There is more time to explore every nook and cranny. And with the addition of new craftables, I'm challenged to go out and find those elusive maple saplings, for instance (haven't managed to locate them yet in my run of CH; found two birch saplings though!). You can still get into trouble, and those wolves have become really good at detecting you from afar, I've found. So it's still engaging enough, although the sense of urgency and dread dissipates over time.