Sherri

On 10/4/2020 at 3:19 AM, manolitode said:

Reading the replies to this post has been a delight. The vast majority acknowledge that, while we all have our opinions, your gaming experience is your own and you do what you like with it. Thank you for  the great quality of this community. 

Hear hear!! ❤️

1 hour ago, pdxthehunted said:

The major mechanic of TLD is its unforgiving, carelessness-punishing nature. With that mechanic removed, or sidestepped, you’re not really playing The Long Dark  

 

Considering the wealth of options in custom difficulty, you can completely remove the punishing nature and play it to enjoy the exploration and travel. That is STILL a valid way of playing the game.

I understand some of the criticisms of save scumming and using downloaded maps etc.... but for me... I have 3 children, a business, a household to manage....  I just don't have the time for gaming that I did when I was younger or before I had kids. While I don't save scum, I do download maps because I don't have the time to learn by trial and error, and fumbling around blind and dying then replaying is time consuming. I don't have the time in my life to do much re-playing of things I've already done. One big reason that I don't like rogue-like games where the point is to do a level over and over and keep dying as you get marginally better. Repetition is not something I can afford in my limited free time.

As I get into harder difficulties that mean dying more, I may start to backup saves for this same purpose. So far haven't died on Voyager yet.

But to each their own.

I suspect that they might start having predators attracted to, or stealing from, our meat stashes left outside. Which would make the rock caches more vital.

I just pick up stones as I see them, dropping at my base & eventually I get 50. It does take forever though.

17 hours ago, Serenity said:

The bear can be there on any difficulty. Stalker only jacks up the wolves to 11

You can do a custom game with worse weather and less loot (though Stalker still has stuff everywhere), but Voyager wolves for example

Wow, I was in ML for a long time and never saw a bear there.  A moose yes, but not a bear. Guess I dodged it. Although that moose broke a few ribs! XD

I would jump at this so fast, if my progress from PC/Steam could transfer to the Switch. lol

I think I died like 10 times my first attempt. Luckily Wintermute is more forgiving with multiple saves and the ability to re-load a previous save if you die.

So. Many. Predators.

A bear in front of Trapper's cabin? Not cool.

(Sadly I was hoping for more challenge without more predators. I know, I know, it says it in the difficulty description.)

Day 4 in ML, still don't have a single tool or weapon. These animals are definitely going to get me... lol

Wow! This is awesome.

On 9/10/2020 at 1:50 PM, ManicManiac said:

  I don't like the idea of an "end game" in what I think was always intended as a "survival a sandbox."
I think the end-game or "you win" scenario, is what the "Wintermute" Story Mode is for.

I say we let the story mode, be the story mode... and we let the survival sandbox, be the survival sandbox.

 

I don't really mean this as a win scenario. But just a way to conclude a save-file without jumping off a cliff.

I'm super excited about this teaser image. I wonder if there will be several NPCs inside?

I originally posted the idea of a helicopter or boat rescue after a set period of time, but many, many comments pointed out how silly that is given the geomagnetic event and lack of electricity. So...  I propose an alternative:

When starting a new Sandbox, you can pick a survival goal you want to reach: short, medium, long, super long, random, etc.

After a slightly random # of days related to the length you chose something happens... An Earth Quake!! Felt everywhere on Bear Island. This opens up a new path out of one of the regions - say a new rock slide or a new pass appears.

If you make it to that path, you get a nice end-game picture and a "You escape into the great unknown..." type of message.

An alternative to suiciding or just abandoning your save game.

There could be achievements based on number of 'escaped' games you've completed of various lengths.

This would not need electricity, and would not run counter to the Wintermute story because for all we know our survivor didn't make it off the island. Or maybe they found other people, and built some rafts. Who knows... but you get a open ended conclusion to survival mode that isn't death. A satisfying option that would be totally optional if you don't like it.

14 hours ago, sonics01 said:

Exactly. Open-ending is enough. No one knows what will going to happen after and the game don't need to show everything. This is just one another way to finish a sandbox mode, instead of suicide or uninstall. Are there any "aftermath" contents after suicide in sandbox? No. Just one line screen and that is all. "Escape" ending can show a similar thing. Just one screenshot and several lines of description, and the end of sandbox. 

I also suggested boat and hidden tunnels, after mysterious radio contact during the aurora. 

They could perhaps have one of the rockslides 'settle' or an earthquake occur after X number of days and that's when a pass out of the known maps opens up and you get a chance to travel there and take a 'you escape into the mysterious beyond...' ending.

I actually like this better than my original helicopter idea. I think I'll make this it's own thread.

One of my fav things to do in my current (Voyager) run is snipe the bear from the Mountaineer's Hut.

This one decided to die on my doorstep. Nice!

I'm actually finding TWM to be a good place to speed run my final days to the 500 day achievement. The hut is warm enough, and with cooking 5, I have Deer, Fish, Bear, Wolf and Rabbits all within eyesight of my base. I currently have 3 rock caches full of meat. LOL (Might be time to go up to Stalker hahaha.)

I'd settle for a path out of Bear Island and a 'you escape to the great unknown....' sort of ending. Anything other than death.

On 8/29/2020 at 11:37 AM, ajb1978 said:

....this deer is completely unafraid of me...  Slightly east of Spence.  Interestingly, this is the same location I've heard a phantom deer in the past.  Am...am I dead?

Edit: It's this one deer specifically.  Other deer still run, but this guy...completely unafraid.  I respect that--he can live.

 

Sneak peak at the new pet system! lol

On 8/15/2020 at 2:19 AM, dahemac said:

You will be shocked to learn that as a child I sometimes went tobogganing. This is a process where you walk up and slide down long steep slopes every few minutes for hours on end until your snow pants are soaked through and beginning to freeze and you have to go home.

Something my kids and I do every winter if we get a decent snow. Even my 4 year old can manage this. Up and down over and over, no sprains. LOL

I agree with @Vince 49 the sprain system does add significant stress to the game and discourages exploration. Which seems counter to what the game is about.

For me, the main thing that bothers me is the jump scare effect that the current sprain system has. It startles me every time. I jump in my seat, mouse goes wild. The few times my 8 year old has briefly watched me play, he nervously warns me about the sprain indicator non stop because he's also nervous about how startling it is. Even more than encountering a bear or wolf.

I find the frequency has become much more reasonable and I don't think it should be removed from the game. But perhaps make it less startling.

I love, love, LOVE @Danielviomusic's idea of a mountaineering skill which would level up and reduce sprains. That would be AWESOME. At max level you'd never sprain and never even see the stress-inducing slope indicator. Man that would be a great feature.

OMG please don't make anything HEAVIER.

Another event idea, since I love love the archery in the game but often have arrows at a premium, would be to flood the game with bow and arrow crafting supplies and have goals for hunting X number of animals with a bow. Makes for good practise too. Or set up targets in various locations that you need to bullseye as you explore.

I enjoyed the challenge with a taste of temperatures I haven't experienced yet in the game. Those first few days of the event where you're slowly dying outside, and you need  a fire even inside were really exciting and challenging. But with so much loot, I quickly got enough high-quality clothing to nullify the most of the cold. I didn't bother with the syrups because I don't like repeating saves just for a achievement.

I think this was quite fun and a nice event. Thanks Hinterland!

If you guys were to do another similar event, I'd reduce the loot in the world or maybe have the temperature drop at a moderate rate over the course of the month-long event. So by the end of the month it was like crazy cold outside and inside even with good clothing. Also, I would add more goals that can be reasonably achieved in one save/run. Goals around keeping a fire burning or chopping wood would have been cool to add to this event since we are trying to stay warm indoors anyway.

Bug or feature?

In the hut on Timberwolf Mountain, I'm getting some bizarre red graphical effects on the fireplace. I think it's a strange combo of circumstances involving the building being partially outdoors (hole in the roof). It seems to happen at dusk/sunset.

Doesn't happen at any other fireplace in the game, that I've seen.

Running latest version of the game on a Windows PC.

10 hours ago, Dum_Gen said:

And for me it is not enough, because survival mode players receive free content, DLC-s, events while I haven't received what I paid for.

Plus, "they are still working on it" wouldn't be a good excuse with almost any other service or product, if it takes 5 times more time than others usually take. I don't understand why game devs suddenly became special in these regards.

Obviously you're within your rights to be mad that you're still waiting for what was promised you. That's valid of course.

But at some point you have to make a sunk-cost analysis and ask yourself if... knowing what you know now... and ignoring the costs you've already sunk into the game, whether it's still worth your emotional investment. Since you aren't going to have to pay more money, that's the only cost left that this can take from you. If it's not worth it, then drop the game and quit sinking your time and energy into it and these forums. Or... decide that it is still worth it, and keep waiting.

But spending more time and energy complaining, and I'm not just talking about Dum_Gen... is just giving more valuables (time, energy) to something you're bitter you spent $ on in the first place. IMHO.

10 hours ago, Dum_Gen said:

Almost all episodic games that I know released all story content within ~1 year.  So it is natural that customers would compare new episodic games to the industry standards and will be expecting something somewhat similar.

Man, the only episodic game I ever cared about this much was Half-Life. We were promised an ongoing episodic story. We got Episodes 1 & 2. Then Valve pissed off with Steam and Left4Dead. Siiigh. I'm still bitter about that.

As a female gamer I appreciate the often rare chance to play a female character.

God knows I've played enough male characters, not that I mind much. LOL

I really appreciate games like this, and Mass Effect that take the time to fully voice and create both gender versions of the player character. I like how Mass Effect used the last name Shepherd in all the dialog so that the NPCs didn't have change what they were saying. I wish Red Dead Redemption did this. Playing a female bad-ass cowgirl would be awesome.

I found it jarring but pretty funny. I do think the story needed to take the infinite fire away from you. Maybe dumping your stuff in a box outside would make more sense. But I did get a good laugh at the ungrateful ole hermit booting me out.

An NPC in the next episode is much more friendly.