Serenity

All that stuff happened decades ago. It had nothing to with the earthquakes or the aurora. See the date here:

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/A_Page_From_A_Journal

The earthquakes were already an issue while the built the machine:
https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Foreman's_Site_Report_Day_45

that attracted more charged particles from the sun to the region, causing the initial aurora.

That happens all the time naturally during coronal mass ejections

The only long term clothing items that are flat out upgrades are the Aviator Cap and the Technical Balaclava, and they're only marginally better than a toque or Rabbit Skin Hat. The Tactical Gloves are nice, but they are roughly on par with the Rabbit Skin Mittens, but like the Aviator Cap they need leather to maintain. So it's a tradeoff at best.

The Improvised Insulation and the Down Bedroll are nice for the extra temperature, but it's not a huge change and they need some maintenance. Ptarmigans are also not available in coastal regions. That's a good balance.   

The Spelunker's Lantern is really great, needing only half the fuel.

Other stuff is sometimes nice to have or situationally useful. Sometimes useless. It's good to have the variety, but the items don't change the way I play the game.

New regions bring new resources, yeah. But that's the same for any free new map. That was true even early in game development when Coastal Highway was released and survival was suddenly extended a great deal. Forsaken Airfield and Sundered Pass are also pretty difficult maps and you have to work a bit for your loot.

On paper it's easier maybe. But in practice the difference isn't that great.

There are also lots of places where you encounter deer in narrow locations and can't really avoid each other. So I'm against anything serious happening. But I'd like something cosmetic like the deer just pushing you aside instead of running through you.

If TLD was launched today, I could see it really benefiting from an in-game tutorial.

The tutorial is Wintermute. Conceptually it's easier than Survival mode and eases you into things. It also has literal tutorials about several things. Those used to be mandatory, which was a huge complaint before they made them them optional.

On 8/5/2024 at 7:12 PM, TWMountain said:

They can’t even watch a 15-minute video completely.

It's not called the TikTok generation without reason. TikTok prefers these very short, low content videos and other platforms like YT have felt that pressure too. And somehow it messes with people's brains and causes them to prefer short, instant things in completely different mediums too.

That said, TLD probably isn't even for everyone who does like survival games. Even in titles that are a few years old you can usually walk significantly faster or even run everywhere. The genre also tends to focus a lot more on crafting and base building than TLD.

I don't want to see it in the world to hunt it. I want it to be immersive. It would be completely fine if it were only be visible in the distance. Maybe run away and despawn out of sight. Though that's difficult to implement to work properly in all locations.

The problem with the HUD elements is also about immersion. Instead it would be better to have cougar paw prints, kills or sounds in the world. To be in line with the other animals and the general way the game works. The rest of the game requires you pay attention, so why is the cougar suddenly different in that regard? The moose is a great example of different animal mechanics that blend seamlessly into the existing game. The cougar however feels tacked on.

There is plenty of time for a cursory trip through PV and ML. Or just dipping into one those regions. Might just need to visit one location and go back right away.

Having maximum temperature decay right away would be an interesting option for custom mode. Really changes the game when a few items of clothing aren't enough to make houses warm.

The caves are amazing. Uneven floors and walls to make it more realistic and not look like a mine. Frozen underground rivers. The dripping, frozen water falls look and sound great (also available outside of caves). In the transition cave to Forsaken Airfield / ZoC there is that "outside" area with a chasm on rope climb.

The cougar fight mechanic is tricky. It should be special, difficult, and not be able to be toyed with / abused the same way wolves and bears can. But I understand that people don't like it teleporting to your location either.

For me, the bigger issue is how its presence is communicated. I feel like the teasers oversold it, but implying that you'd notice it in the world. Not necessarily seeing it directly, but finding hints that it was there. And I think many other people probably also expected more than what was intended from that.

That sounds a bit strange, but there are multiple packs up there. Three or four. And large ones of up to six of them. That's why the morale meter is so large.

I like the overall gameplay of the tales. Except the going back to Forsaken Airfield (possibly twice if you do the tales strictly in order). Gives me something to do and some of the loot is very nice.

The story is meh though. There are some interesting things here and there, but we never learn what the purpose of the machine was. There is just too much mystery and no payoff in the story.

It doesn't need to be on the main HUD at all. That's just useless clutter. Having on the character status page is enough.

Yeah, the overall story is a bit disappointing. I enjoy doing the tales for the gameplay and giving me something to do. And some aspects of the final tale like the foreman chasing Rüdiger around are nice, but nothing in the background story is explained. I really wanted an answer about what they were doing exactly, but all we got was more crazy manifestos.

33 minutes ago, Shadox said:

Only downside is that theres no bed, which takes a toll on the bedroll

5 hours ago, ElSuperGecko said:

While I can understand wanting to err on the side of caution when making a change as big - and as potentially punishing - as this, the time needed to trigger a cougar attack seems to me to be way too long.  

Personally, I would like to see the encroachment time reduced to a month in game, maximum - with certain player actions attracting it earlier. 

This is personal preference and depends on the play style, but while I do like being nomadic and don't spend months in one area, I sometimes like staying somewhere for a while. Especially if it's a bit more remote and/or complicated like HRV or AC. A month is fine for that. 15 days less so. That would feel very hurried for me.

I see the cougar more as something that discourages really hibernating in one area where you concentrate all your loot. While still allowing you to stay somewhere for a while. And about a month is a good time frame for that.

It seems you're not supposed to go up right away if you want to reach the weather station. But I haven't quite figured out the map yet. The lower path has a nice place to stay with food nearby.

They've really outdone themselves with the ice caves and the transition cave to ZoC. Looks much more natural than previous caves. Even the ice caves in HRV.

I'm not a fan of the multiple 5-6 strong timberwolf packs camping paths you pretty much need to use though.

32 minutes ago, Kayosiv said:

The cougar should exist in the world, full stop. Maybe it follows the player around,

That would be ideal. I like the idea of it being somewhere in the distance, watching you, but if you go after it, it hides and despawns. So you can't hunt it.

But as a compromise, I'd be fine if the cougar signs like paw prints and dead kills would just spawn out of sight Maybe while you sleep.

I'm not a fan of the game-y "the cougar is coming in X days" UI element. That's useful information to have, but how do you know? It breaks immersion. All the teasers and videos gave the impression that you would get in-world information about its presence before it attacked you. Just coming across cougar footprints would be an easy thing to do. In the release video at 2:20 it shows a dead bunny that's supposed to be a warning sign. I supposed it's difficult to place these things in a way that ensure the player will actually come across them.

What is the time limit supposed to be for the cougar? I've seen people say 20 days, which is about what I expected. But when I loaded my Interloper game it said 5 days  I just got there, and the announcement said that it only starts counting from the update on anyways. 5 days is nothing and you easily exceed that just when looting a region on the move.

It's roughly in the middle of the eastern side. If you go north from Justin's Hovel and stay at the edge it's about where the lake starts if you look over towards it. I think you have to go uphill a bit.

Not opposed to the general idea, but I hate the timberwolf behavior as it is. The crazy running around, and then running away the millisecond you aim at them is not fun. Both types' behavior would need to be adjusted  a lot for this.

I think draw distance in general has become a lot worse over time. Either it's overzealous optimization or, as said, probably Unity engine upgrades. But even with the game being dates technically, it wasn't always this bad. Terrain and trees is one thing, but you also see it with carcasses and things dropped on the ground.

The Ambient Lights mod has something like that. It really helps

Looking outside won't come. Technically buildings without a loading screen are a different map. So there is no outside to look at. It's also hard to change at this point because many places are larger inside than outside.

The lethal range for a musket is far higher than usually assumed. 300 meters seems more correct. The issue was more about seeing your target and hitting it, which is relevant for hunting (rather than firing at an enemy line formation). Battles would often start at pretty long ranges and then close. But this common idea that battles were always fought at 50-100 meters is wrong. 50 meters or lower would be the last volley before a bayonet charge.

Also, technically this wouldn't be a "rifle", though that is often used synonymous with "gun" these days.