UpUpAway95

1 hour ago, I_eat_only_wolf_meat said:

Always?  I don't know about always, but Hinterland made some nice changes to the interloper standard difficulty with the last major release:  my interloper run has a gin-u-wine store-bought hunting knife, a revolver, and a fisherman's sweater.  These dilute the difficulty a little bit, but the new loot was such a welcome addition because they give you a reason to explore the entire map.  As it turns out, the only one of the three things that's a significant boost is the hunting knife.  Sweater is seond place.

I was hoping HL would engineer a "difficulty appropriate" way for interloper players to enjoy the new content.  That doesn't sound wildly unreasonable or demanding to me.

It's not... but also think about the possibility that the next Tale might be created as an "interloper only" challenge and that will balance things out... encouraging staunch standard stalker players to step out of their norm and play something a little differently.  What's unreasonable is the claim that interloper players are "being ignored" or that they cannot still play the DLC... and the insinuation (blanket assumption) that non-interloper players don't like difficulty as much as interloper players do.

The release vid tells me that HL did not make this choice without thinking about it... and it doesn't preclude the notion that interloper players can still play a custom stalker game where they've manipulated the other existing tools to increase that difficulty back up to and even beyond standard interloper difficulty.  A standard difficulty is HL's vision regardless of which one it is... Pilgrim, Voyageur, Stalker, and Interloper and I respect their choices - whatever they are - in that regard.  HL has historically only given the player the ability to craft their own experience within Custom; so.  I don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to continue to expand on custom (and I don't think "interloper" players should necessarily assuming that "custom" players are only driven to make the game easier than loper.)

I was hit with another free update this morning on the Xbox Series X.  I'm now at version 2.11.  Any word on what this update changed (assuming it's a hotfix of some kind)?

22 minutes ago, Renn said:

Which is currently not the case, as Tales are not available as a separate custom setting. Nor is Glimmer Fog, also a recent addition.

Correct - and that's why I'm asking for them to put in the missing toggle(s)... and yes, I forgot to ask for a toggle for the Glimmer Fog as well.

That's my bigger concern... with everyone so wrapped up in "perfecting" the standard difficulties to their individual likings, HL seems to be forgetting their Custom menu tools and not keeping them current with new additions to the game.  As I said before, I hope they do commit to expanding the custom options.  Some toggles, of course, won't be possible due to tech limitations, but I'm hoping that they'll at least consider it.

8 minutes ago, Renn said:

To everyone saying that us "hardcore" interloper fans can just create a Stalker game and experience the Tale all the same, or just make a custom game, I have to ask:

What if it was the other way around? What if, in the update video yesterday (and not any time before that) they announced that the Tale would only be available in Interloper, because they felt the lower difficulties didn't need extra loot and incentives. Would you be responding the same way you are now? Would you be like "Well, we'll just create a completely new run on Interloper for one time to experience the Tale! It's no big deal!"

Or would you be upset that you didn't get to experience the Tale the way you wanted to?

 

Or, let me guess, it's "not the same".

That's still possible for a future Tale... we don't know how they plan to implement the next one.  I'd say the same thing... Pilgrim and Voyageur are their visions... their standard difficulties.  They control absolutely what goes into them and what doesn't.  Custom is where HL has historically given the player control over "crafting" their own experience.  As long as they keep the custom menu options "current" with new additions to the game, I really don't care what  they put in or leave out of their standards.  I'd just as soon see them go the way of the dodo since they continue to cause a lot of discontent among players and a lot of unnecessary pressure on HL.

30 minutes ago, Dr. S. said:

I think you have it exactly backwards. If HL makes it possible (even easy) to create an "interloper" game with the new content through the use of custom settings, what exactly is the point of not including that content in interloper itself? Why make the player jump through the hoops of setting up a custom game?

I did say earlier that people were welcome to try to change their minds about their standard... but that doesn't mean they (as standard interloper players) are "being ignored" or that they cannot effectively play the Tales at a difficulty level they can enjoy.  Interloper has NEVER been the most difficult setting to play the game (just as Pilgrim has never been the easiest one).  Those options are in the custom menu.  Right now, whether you agree with HL or not, they have made a conscious decision to leave the Tale out of THEIR standard for Interloper, but that doesn't mean that the Tale cannot be played by players who love hard difficulty.  You can, for example, use Baseline Resources Medium, but lower the amount of loot below standard stalker levels by increasing, for example, the "empty container density" and decreasing "loose item availability" settings to their respective maximums/minimums.  You can make the wolves as abundant as stalker and still have them deal as much as damage and be as agressive as they are in interloper.  You can eliminate condition recovery... and enjoy the difficulty while playing the Tale.

What HL puts into their "standard" is their choice and does not mean that the players don't have other options even now when the current missing toggle is to turn the Tale on or off separately from the Baseline Resources setting.  I would love to HL put that in... along with the ability to change custom settings without having to start a new save file.  I see no reason to always pressure them to change their "standard."

53 minutes ago, I_eat_only_wolf_meat said:

You get it.  It would be difficult, but we like it difficult.  Once you get some hours in of dodging timberwolf packs in interloper, aurora navigation shouldn't be an impossible task. 

One has always been able to make a "more difficult than loper" setting in the Custom menu... so why does it always boil down to pressuring HL to change their take on their standard difficulty?  Now, with this, they are even complaining about not being able to continue a Loper file with a changed setting (i.e. one that HL has determined is not generally suited to their standard Interloper vision).  Allowing custom settings to be changed without starting a new file would circumvent this.  If people want to play a "standard" difficulty they should live with whatever HL determines is appropriate for their "standard."  Interloper players are not being "ignored."  They have a myriad of options to play with the Tale in a very difficult save manner.  Those options are "customizations."  One that is currently missing is the ability to toggle theTale on or off separate from Baseline Resources in custom... and the ability to change individual custom settings without starting a whole new save file.

41 minutes ago, Coristun said:

DON'T GIVE ME SOME GAME EXPERIENCE BS WHY YOU'RE LEAVING"TALES" OUT OF INTERLOPER. IT'S UP TO THE PLAYER TO DECIDE THE EXPERIENCE, THAT'S THE GREAT THING ABOUT THIS GAME AND WAS RAPHAEL'S INGENIOUS REASON FOR MAKING THE LONG DARK!!! TALES IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL PLEASE PUT IT IN INTERLOPER!!!

Firstly, shouting is unnecessary.  I agree with the statement that it is up to the player to decide the experience.  That is why I tend to only play custom games and the reason I have suggested in the the past that they eliminate the standard difficulties altogether and start everyone off by familiarizing them with the custom menu (which I hope will continue to be expanded as new gameplay features are added to the game)... giving the player more freedom in, for example, toggling different mixes of the various animals on or off and even more control in determining which sorts of clothing or weapons might be found around the map.  I'd also like the opportunity to change these selections without having to start a new save file each time... enabling the player to freshen things up by not only increasing the difficulty but by changing the "nature" of the gameplay.  So many players (even interloper ones) complain about the game getting boring as they get increasingly "comfortable" in the world with stashes of supplies established where they want/need them.  I think allowing some mid-save "custom" changes would help circumvent some of this.

However, every time I've suggested this, I've been lambasted by players who want their expertise to be able to be compared readily with other players... establishing their dominance to other more average players by bragging about being "interloper" players... gamer egotism is a common thing.  So, the reality is that the standard interloper experience is set by the devs and always has been... something, I doubt HL will change things to give players the true ability to "create their own experience" anytime soon.  In this particular case, their choice for "standard" interloper is to not include this tale for the reasons they stated.  Of course, you are welcome to try to change their minds... but lose the shouting, please.

To the devs - I would love to see a toggle in the custom menu that turns the "tale" on or off independent of the baseline resources setting selected.

1 hour ago, Admin said:

Thank you. We can confirm that this latest update includes Part One and Part Two. (Also, thank you for the head's up!)

 

Regarding the store, if you are able to send us a screenshot via private message, we would be happy to investigate this further. 

Screen captures on the Xbox X appear to be disabled when I'm inside the Microsoft Store, so, sorry, I cannot comply with that request.  Here is an exact quote of the details for the only add-on showing for the game:  The Long Dark Tales from the Far Territory:  "TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is the first paid expansion pass for The Long Dark's Survival Mode and adds to the game core Survival foundation, with new Regions..., new Gameplay, and and objective-based Tales."

CAD $23.39 with Game Pass or Buy CAD $25.99

Another click on details brings up another Desccription that begins:  Deep along the spine of Great Bear tracks a steep mountain range and bisects the islands.  This is the Far Range, an imposing wall of rock that stands vigilant over Great Bear's priceless resources riches.... "

After a fair bit of text and scrolling down, it ends with Tales from the Far Territory is the first paid expansion pass for The Long Dark's Survival Mode.  Releasing in multiple Parts over the course of a 12-month campaign... (more text and scrolling).... The full Roadmap for the Expansion Pass will be available at www.thelongdark.com/expansion in the lead-up to the December launch.  Please keep in mind that features and content added to the Expansion are subject to development realities, and may change over time..."

The link takes you to the roadmap on this website, but one has to go through an additional click and a lot of text and hoops and outdated information that has changed since to put the pieces together.  I propose that it might be worthwhile to change just a few words in the main description to indicate that the payment includes any and all parts of the expansion that have been released to the date of purchase.

Also, the game pass pricing should be removed since the game is imminently being removed from the game pass.

Question was when am I going to finish the story?  Answer - Sometime after they finish the story. 😀

As of 4:06 pm MDT, the Microsoft Store for Xbox is still showing what appears to be only Part One of Tales of the Far Territory (per their description of the add-on) for $25.99 CAD).  Can you please tell me whether, after purchasing this add-on, I'll be included in a subsequent update for Part 2 automatically or does that cost another $25.99 (or other amount) to purchase it as well?... or, should, perhaps, something be changed in the description in the Microsoft store to make it clear what the player is buying?

ETA:  Also @Admin - Your description of interloper rebalancing in the OP states "(For more information please visit this post.)"  However, there is no active link to whatever post is being referred to here.

11 minutes ago, TheHatchet said:

Anyone else experiencing issues on Xbox??

Completed update and downloaded tftft - now I can’t access wintermute, survival, nor challenges

I wish I could say.... my free update won't be finishing downloading for another 5 hours (per my queue screen).

3 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

@TheOtherBob

It's a simple observation...  Epic is responsible for getting updates to their player on their platform... Microsoft is responsible for getting updates to their players on their platforms... and GoG is responsible for getting updates to their player on their platform.   It's not an attitude... I think if I had a problem with GoG, then I probably ought to register a complaint it GoG.  That's all.. wasn't passing judgment (as you just did), I was offering a polite suggestion.

It's a bit uncalled for to try to get personally insulting.  

 

I don't think that's entirely accurate.  You're assuming they are unhappy with how GOG is delivering updates to all their games.  If it's just happening with TLD, then the responsibility is Hinterland's because they are the ones who have the contract with GOG to sell their product on that platform system.

28 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

@Polynomial-C
It might perhaps be better to maybe take GoG issues up with GoG.   
 

I disagree... I think it's Hinterland's responsibility.  They finally came clean about leaving Xbox Game Pass (although we don't yet know if or how this has been affecting the delays in the DLC's being released on that platform... and there is still much uncertainty as to how this is going to affect future releases and their price).

With these significant delays and issues, I think we have some good reasons to be frustrated at this point.

13 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

7 hours??   I hope not!!  

 It is all rather confusing and a bit messy .   I thought that the dlcs would've been spread out like that ,it certainly would make more sense and save a lot of problems. 

I hope you can get some time to play it tonight and have some fun doing so🙂

I'm reading the estimated download time right off the Xbox queue screen.  It's usually pretty accurate.  Yes, rural internet sucks big time, but nothing I can do about that.  I'm just thankful it is downloading...  yesterday, my internet was down for most of the day due to some issue my service provider was having.  It's one reason I get so frustrated when games plan for sequential updates like this.  If I buy the DLC now, I might be lucky to be playing it by the end of April.  If I wait, part 3 will probably be available before I can start playing (joking... I think).

ETA:  ... and that's only if none of my other games decide to throw in a big update in the next few days as well.

Just now, Leeanda said:

I didn't get chance to read it earlier I'm afraid and I won't be playing it until the morning so I can't tell you yet.  Sorry.  I imagine someone will be able to tell you sooner though. 

Thanks anyways.  The free update is going to be downloading for the next 7 to 8 hours for me, so I guess there's no point in me even considering buying the DLC anyways until tomorrow.  Maybe by then the product descriptions will be more clear... or maybe it is just best to keep waiting until the end of April when the mentioned discounts might appear.  I think there should have been a much simple way for Hinterlands to handle this whole thing that would have allowed it to release on all platforms at the same time and with much clearer pricing scenarios overall... e.g. just 4 independent DLCs released separately over the year, perhaps(?).

1 hour ago, Leeanda said:

Now it's available separately.😁

What I'm seeing now (12:56 MDT) is that Tales from the Far Territory is available for $25.99 CAD, but nothing indicates that Signal Void is included with this (which is what I thought should happen based on their earlier announcements).  The Description of it says explicitly "Tales from the Far Territory is the first paid expansion pass for The Long Dark's Survival Mode..."  I' would assume then that another payment will be required to get Signal Void??  What are you seeing on your end of the world since it seems everything is happening more quickly for you?

6 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

No tftft yet though

Have you purchased it (preorder) somehow or are you waiting, like me, for it to appear in the Microsoft store?  I'm thoroughly confused over all of this.

At this rate, they are going to have a hard time convincing me that it's "safe" to purchase any of it until all of it is fully released.

Xbox X - 10:36 am MDT - Began updating with free update.  Checked Microsoft store for DLC to investigate purchase (I am not on game pass).  No DLC found, so it is not yet available.  Please clarify, when can Xbox users who own the game expect to be able to purchase the DLC?

If my fire is sheltered, I feel comfortable sleeping for the full duration time shown for the fire (and the fire will usually burn longer than the time shown, allowing me to restoke it for an early morning meal & tea before heading out).  If my fire is not fully sheltered, then I sleep in 2-hour increments at most... better to wake up still tired and cold than to not wake up at all.

I'm on Xbox X.  My build showing in the upper left corner of the menu screen is 2.03 108470.  I show no updates pending (and my Xbox account is in good standing and updates are coming through for other games).  The news screen in game referencing the release date for Tales is still March 15, despite the 2-week delay being announced here on this website several days ago).

So, is my build actually current as of the date and time of this post (March 18, 2023 3:19 pm my local time).  If not... what is happening (i.e. why do I appear to be several updates behind)?

ETA:  I have not purchased/pre-ordered any of the expansion as of yet... so I should still be on the "free update stream."

3 hours ago, Admin said:

Thank you for reaching out. We are still on track for a release in early 2023. You can find more information on the Expansion Pass website: https://www.thelongdark.com/expansion/faq/ 

Thank you, but you're still not answering my question... I'm not asking about the DLC release, I'm asking about the free update to the main game as it pertains to consoles.  The update that does the loot refresh and makes it impossible for us to play our old saves.  Is that being done now or is it being held back until the DLC releases?  Going forward, for each subsequent fee update, will they occur at the same time as the PC free updates, or will they lag behind the PC since it appears that the DLC will lag behind the PC releases for the upcoming year by about 2 months for each one?  Alternatively, will the first console DLC release include the stuff in the second PC release (catching up then to the PC)?

You did say that your plans for the console regarding this first DLC release hasn't changed...I get that... it's late January or early February.  The announcement implies, however, that the free update stream is something separate and that is what I'm asking about.

ETA:  You know what - just forget it.  See you in February 2024.  I'll just play something else until then.

7 hours ago, Admin said:

FYI - we are working on a list of Known Issues. In the meantime, we released a Hotfix last night that addressed a couple key issues from yesterday: 

We appreciate your patience. 

Still no information for console users - Is the free update (loot refresh, etc. that will force us to start new save files) imminent (i.e. as soon as it clears console certification) or can we expect no update at all until the DLC content is ready for release (late January or February).

49 minutes ago, Demetrious said:

But we should keep in mind that Hinterland and The Long Dark are solid, established entities now and thus Hinterland doesn't need hype to get off the ground

Then, they didn't need to tease DLC content that wasn't going to be in the expansion for as much as nearly a year from now.  Those elements of the expansion should have been teased just before those elements were being released.  That way, people who bought the DLC would have been basing their expectations more in line with what was delivered instead of being disappointed to find out that elements they were looking forward won't be seen for at least a month and half or even as much as a year.

They obviously felt they needed to "overhype" this DLC.  In addition, I bought this game a few years ago now thinking Wintermute would be done long before now.  Still waiting, so perhaps this time, they can wait to get my money for the DLC once it is 100% complete (of course, they'll charge me more for it)  The amount I originally paid for the game is irrelevant here.

28 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I noticed it on game pass this morning.   

I might just wait until it's all sorted out.

That's really all we can do... just wait it out.  I think I'll just play one of my other games until I see that "needs an update" message.  Rather than getting a more ceremonial end, this last Will of mine will just "fade into cyberspace" on some unknown date.

26 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I agree.  A definite date would be better. Everything seems to be more of a mess at the moment so I'm happy to wait as well.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Microsoft Store and TLD is also included with the Game Pass... oh, this is getting messier... don't envy HL.  I wonder whether or not the Game Pass will include the DLC at all?