Sunwolf

This is not the game I bought so many years ago.

I bought a survival game, with minimal civilization intrusions, that let me wander around and interact with the world on my terms.  There were no quests or objectives or anything pressing to do.  It was, despite the difficulty and constant sense of menace from the environment, peaceful.

After an extended break, I returned to find all kinds of new and frankly unwelcome additions.  Most of the new zones are heavily focused around human activity/facilities.  New mechanics are mostly based on new human-constructed items.  There are now fetch and deliver quests, of a sort, involving electrical equipment and radio towers and some such, and in my opinion the whole Blackrock access thing is godawful.  I appreciate that many of you may enjoy this kind of thing.  But I'm not speaking for you.  I'm speaking for me, and I do not.

Is there any way to download and play an older version of the game?  Pre-Bleak Inlet perhaps?

Fantastic.  Mod Tools?

...

Yep, but then you're using twice the wood to fuel two two-slot fires than if you had a single 4-slot stove.  Options exist.  More could exist.

We have 1-slot cooking options, 2-slot cooking options, and 6-slot cooking options.  I'd like to see some 4-slot cooking options.

4 hours ago, LkP said:

Me too. I'm built like a 12y old and yet do mountain hiking for weeks carrying 20 to 25kg. Never had a sprain. In the snow, you may sprain your knee way more easily than your ankle, btw. I'm tired of this mechanism, I like to explore. I understand that doing crazy thing with the character must be balanced with injuries, but walking downhill in the snow is not a crazy thing if you have a little experience, it's actually fun (and if the characters have no experience at all, they can't carry 30 to 40kg, they can't walk all day long, just let them die :p).

Precisely.  When traversing slopes in snow, particularly when carrying any kind of load, the true risk factor comes with speed, not the mere act of the traverse.  If anything, sprain risk should be tied to sprinting on said slopes.

On 5/7/2019 at 12:58 PM, Ape88 said:

And IRL would you be traversing such steep slopes in snow? 

Actually, yes.  One of my favorite backpacking routes involves traversing hillsides, maybe 30-40% grades, for maybe 1.5-2 miles.  It's the first couple hours of the route and certainly the most difficult part.  I regularly do my winter backpacking, sometimes with snowshoes, sometimes without, on this route.

5 minutes ago, Looper said:

Have you tried putting 50 kg on you back including a bed roll, 40 sticks 15 pieces of coal and several long saplings. No.

No, but then I never move any distance in TLD while coming close to being encumbered.  I have, however, spent much of my time traversing said mountain slopes while wearing a moderately heavy backpack, perhaps 15-20kg, which is roughly what I carry in TLD when I'm moving any distance.

9 minutes ago, Looper said:

It's a game. There has to be some punishment for goating encumbered. I rarely travel encumbered - almost never get sprains. The update almost exclusively made the game easier. Don't pick on every negative mechanic. 

Thank you for pointing out that it's a game.  I otherwise never would have noticed.  Sure there has to be some punishment, but in my opinion (that's the key word here), the punishment for traversing a steep slope while UNencumbered is too predictable.  I'm not picking on every negative mechanic, just this one.  LTR.

I kind of agree with the OP.  I have extensive real-life experience traversing mountain slopes, some very steep, and have never sprained anything.  I'm not saying the mechanic shouldn't be there, but in TLD an increased risk risk seems to have turned into a guaranteed result.

I would suggest an off-low-medium-high option in the customize menu to fine-tune the sprain result the individual player is looking for.

Personally, I'm looking for an experience that goes like this:  I'm wandering around, exploring.  I'm a fit, relatively strong adult with no major health issues.  Yes, the slope I'm on is steep but I'm not too worried.  Most of the time I do just fine and complete my traverse of the slope without incident.  Rarely (as I would expect to see in real life), I would get a minor sprain.

As it stands now, what I'm seeing is: I'm wandering around, exploring.  I'm a fit, relatively strong adult with no major health issues.  OH CRAP, the slope I'm on is steep.  I'd better reverse course or I'm almost certain to injure myself if I continue.

Fair criticism, and I agree with most of it.

This is not an MMO.  You're not on a subscription plan.  Beyond the original purchase price of the game, there have been precisely zero attempts by Hinterland to solicit additional funds from their customers.  They released a game for a set price, and you bought it.  If you weren't happy with the original game when you bought it, that's one thing, but to complain that the extensive updates throughout the months/years since you forked over your funds amount to the game not being worthwhile smacks of delusion or a deliberate attempt at trolling.

Bye Felicia.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- the implementation of the customizable game mode was the first and neccesary step to provide such an Option (not only for experienced Players) but it did not really provide the Option for experienced Players to create an intersting Gameplay that was more challenging than the existing difficulties, or create a challenging Gameplay that focuses on harsh weather conditions and rare supplies rather than placing Wolves at every Corner of the map and removing items from the game

This is demonstrably untrue.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- and there is also the Frustration that the developers started the trend (!) to implement items in the story mode that are not available in the Survival mode

The frustration to which you refer is entirely subjective.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- not to Mention all the outdated Systems and mechanics (like the skill System, workbenches, etc.)

This is purely opinion.  Please try to separate your personal opinion from fact.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

These factors unfortunately resulted in a very much boring and unchallenging Gameplay for any experienced Player who was Looking for a challenge and almost indefinite replayablitly like other Survival games can offer.

You fail to provide the groundwork for your comparison between The Long Dark and "other Survival games"...

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

...i like the base idea and implementation of the game, but coudnt enjoy the game for the last months/years due to the lack of interessing/challenging Gameplay and improvements...

Sorry to hear about your personal frustrations.  Please keep in mind that they are personal and not shared by everyone.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

...they only update the game About twice a year, so i was expecting a lot ...

Yes, it's frustrating that The Long Dark was produced and developed by a small, independent studio and not a giant gaming behemoth like EA or Activision/Blizzard.  But just think, were the opposite the case, the game likely would likely either 1) never see any updates, or 2) any updated would come in the form of obscenely expensive loot boxes.  Be careful what you wish for.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- first of all, since the initial implementation of the custom game mode was such a Long time ago and this feature is so important for the fun and replayability of the game, i could not believe that they did not make any improvements...absolutly Nothing to improve one of the most important feature of the game (or even THE most important)

The Long Dark was released in August of 2017.  Since that time, Hinterland hasn't released a single pay-to-play update.  Every single thing they've done to improve the original game has been released for free.  Your lack of appreciation for the free updates that have been released is remarkable.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- and what a surprise … 4+ months was not enough time for them to make an item available in Survival mode that is already in the game (spear)

Perhaps they had other priorities.  You do not run Hinterland.  You have not seen the totality of the feedback they've received from their customers.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

- and the rest of the update?! … a couple of items and some overhauls (while being a great Addition to the game, this adds absolutly Nothing to its replayability or challenging Gameplay)

See above re: opinion.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

it is also frustrating to see that new Things get added to the game that make it easier, but since a couple of years basically Nothing has been added to make it more challenging and create this element of replayability that is so crucial in a Survival game, not only for experienced players

You mean like Forlorn Muskeg, Hushed River Valley, Interloper, and the ability to customize the game to be even more difficult than Interloper?  Is that the Nothing to which you refer?

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

… that is my experience and opinion as Player who wants to Play and love this game, but is just frustrated by the evident lack of interest/competence from the developers to improve the game for this part of their community.

I appreciate your belated admission of opinion, but the "evident lack of interest/competence" is, again, demonstrably false.  Hinterland could well have released the game, shut down all development in favor of a paid sequel or released the updates they've made as minor paid updates, or together as a paid DLC, and virtually no one would have batted an eye as this would conform to SOP in the gaming industry.  Instead, they've worked for a year-and-a-half, financially unrewarded, to make this game better because they (and this is my opinion) clearly love and take great pride in their product.  They've been rewarded with a rabid fanbase and widespread acknowledgement that their product is, and has continued to be, the height of accomplishment in its genre.

19 hours ago, ben91 said:

i do understand and made the experience that People can get very Angry when one of their favourite games is criticized, but while i hope that i can create a conversation and Argumentation About this Topic, try to Refrain to argue About how much you love the game and therefore i am wrong, and try to realize that as much as i understand that there are a lot of People who enjoy the current state of the game, there are also People who dont enjoy it and can express their criticism

While I appreciate your opinion of the game, and you're certainly entitled to it, you base your criticism on things that are entirely subjective or are demonstrably false.  Personally, while there are things about the game that have, and continue to drive me nuts (the immersion-killing, brightly-lit breath effect even when no light sources exist, for example), I choose to focus on the fact that I paid less than $20 (black friday sale) for a game I've played in excess of 600 hours and will likely play hundreds more.  Because of this, I can only either hope you find something else that holds your interest, or write you off as a troll.

I'm very impressed with the new developer update.  However, I'm nervous as well.

I'm nervous about what I like to call "resource creep".  I'm not sure if there's an established term for it but it amounts to adding new mechanics and resources without doing anything to increase the difficulty of the overall game beyond static difficulty setting adjustment.  Over time the end result is, while there may be a few "hardcore" zones that provide some challenge, the majority of the zones, particularly those that were introduced early in the game's development, become boring and easy and fail to provide any meaningful sense of threat as the game goes on.  I can already see things like the active feats system as well as in-game stuff like the moose hide satchel causing this.  The mechanisms already in place (progressively increased cold, reduction of wildlife, etc) help but I'm not sure if they help enough.

Has "resource creep" been discussed in-house and if so,  are there plans to address it beyond what's already been implemented?

Will you ever implement a jumping mechanic?

How are you guys doing financially?

On 3/6/2019 at 12:51 PM, admin said:

Fixing the Sprains system.

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Oh god, thank you so much.

I'm going to survive for, at a minimum, 200 days without ever having to poop.

I'm going to survive for, at a minimum, 200 days without ever having to poop.

Would you ever consider adding a mechanic to put clothes on the various corpses scattered around?  After a few hundred days or so, when the character is really starting to lose it, he/she could run dead body fashion shows.  Oooooh, and you could add makeup to the game for the corpse fashion shows!  I can see it now..."And here we have Steve wearing a fetching ensemble from Cabela's, though that left sock is looking a little torn.  Probably a post-apocalyptic derivative from Mugatu's abortive 'Derelicte' campaign, but Steve is so rocking it!"

Sooo....any plans in the works for something like this?

Easy:  The sound.

This is my favorite thing.  Can't stop watching it.  This might be the greatest game-related thing I've ever seen that isn't actually a game or part of a game.  A work of art.

Seriously, I've never been a "fanboy" of any game or developer.  It's always just been an entertainment company/entertainment consumer relationship.  For the first time in my life I think I can actually call myself a fanboy.  Proudly.  You guys have something special going.