Sherri

5 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

YESSSSS!!!  Guess I'll be putting in my Vacation request to work for the 6th (assuming it's not midnight ON the 6th).  @Admin, can you confirm time and time zone?

I would do the day after to let those launch-day hotfixes come out. 🤓

Eeeeeeeeeee!

This is great.

Really curious to see how it's going to work having to deal with human NPCs.

On 6/13/2021 at 11:28 PM, Jrod7405 said:

The long dark can get pretty easy after the initial 50- 100 days because you can hunker down and get kilo's upon kilo's of meat and especially when you get cooking level 5 when you can eat anything you kill. To combat this I think that any meat you leave out can be eaten by wolves making it much harder to stock up a bunch if meat that basically never degrades if you play your cards right.

I've assumed that the rock storage things they added recently was a precursor to eventually having meat left in the snow, vanish or attract predators or something.

Given the geomagnetic issues in the game's story, I don't even try to navigate with compass directions. And it's always so stormy I can rarely see the sun anyway. I try to use landmarks instead to orient myself on the map. Funny because this is how I navigate in real life too - almost never via compass directions.

16 hours ago, Stinky socks said:

O deer, @Sherri, brace for impact lol

Speaking of point and click, GOG is giving away free syberia 1and2. It's for pc. 

There is also game without enemies actually, that might suit certain folks. It's called "the first tree". I have it on epic. Haven't played yet.

*raises shield* LOL. Feels like I'm constantly running across people who want a game to be something it's not. 

On 3/12/2021 at 12:58 PM, Siago said:

I'm playing games only for a good story. I don't like to spend time to learn how to kill/scare some virtual game creatures. 

said:

Same here, I just want the story and do not want to deal with this silly timberwolf mechanic. 

How do we turn off the timberwolves or make them run away like wolves in episode 1 & 2

Good grief. I'm looking over the TLD Steam page trying to figure out what gives people the impression that they won't have challenging survival mechanics to deal with including dangerous wildlife. 🤦‍♀️

It says it right on the 'box' folks.

You might want to look into point-and-click, interactive-fiction or choice-based narrative game genres. Survival might not be your jam if the wolves & bear wreck the game for you or if you think they don't belong in the game. 😆🤷‍♀️

The bear gave me a headache for sure but damn it felt good to beat him!

Found this too.

Ralph dropped this on Twitter. 😍

So excited for a new, large indoor location to explore!

I don't really think that the OP's concern is one that has to exist if you know how to adjust settings. There is Pilgrim difficulty to help newbies get used to the game. I myself started on Pilgrim and completed story mode that way. It was never an off-putting level of difficulty - in fact too easy. I later re-did story mode on a harder difficulty. So the early punishing difficulty is something you very much do not have to suffer. After some warm up on Pilgrim, even Voyager is not too hard.

Later in the game yes, you get equipped and skilled and the game gets easier... however, I have watched YouTubers like @Hadrianplay on near-Interloper difficulty and by not obsessing about min-maxing everything, he has a really exciting level of challenge and it's not easy to reach 100 days.

I feel like this is only a problem for people not willing to tweak the difficulty for their needs, or players who are on several hundred day runs and are getting bored because it feels too easy... but really they have just completed getting the bulk of the enjoyment from the game. Might just be time to move on to another game, or try the challenge modes, or just wait for the next Story chapter. I don't know any games that don't have that peak where you have mastered the game so it's now very easy. Real life brings constant challenges and growth forever... but wanting that from a game... is a lot to ask. How would a game prevent you from reaching a state of mastery? Add more content endlessly? Come on. *shrug* At the same time if a game was made so you can NEVER master - hooo boy that would be unsatifying to me. Or it would be like a creative sandbox game like Minecraft - about making cool stuff not 'mastering' skills and challenges.

Honestly it's like game devs can never win. Make it too hard - players complain. Make it too easy - players complain. Allow very in-depth difficulty customising - players still not happy. I've never seen a game with such detailed difficulty customising as TLD. The problem is that there are very few core mechanics: stay warm, feed yourself, avoid getting lost, avoid aggressive wildlife. Once you master those, there isn't more to it. True of most games though.

Literally the only thing I would change is allow achievements and badge progress on Custom difficulty. I am at the point of Voyager being much too easy but I don't like the volume of wolves in Stalker. I want to do Stalker with fewer wolves - but MOST of my drive to play is to continue my progress on badges and achievements. So I'm kinda stuck.

If your difficulty setting isn't so high that it's too cold, the Mountaineer's Hut at the foot of TWM is excellent for long term. 

- Tons of wood and sticks and birch bark close by.

- Deer close by, rabbits, and a bear comes within reach sometimes.

- Fishing hut.

- Few wolves that are easily avoided.

- Has a workbench (!).

I never quarter predators because I want to leave a tiny bit of meat on the carcass to make it take longer for it to respawn.

Other than that, I play it by how the weather is, what condition I'm in, and how desperate I am for guts and skins.

Quartering causes the meat to lose condition quickly while sitting in those bags. So that's also a factor.

On 2/25/2021 at 5:10 AM, peteloud said:

The game is meant to be the survival challenge of an unequipped crashed pilot in unknown hostile territory.  He has no maps, no warm clothes, no food or equipment.  If you go to fandom to get copies of, or just look at, the maps of the regions you change the nature of the game's challenge.

It is the same if you use fandom or other spoiler webpages/forums to get information about playing the game and the resources.  Similarly if you edit your save file to give yourself warm clothes, good tools & weapons and some food then you are not playing a game about the survival challenge of an unequipped crashed pilot.

I get what you're saying here. I agree that using online maps changes the nature of the game. But whether that is a good or bad thing is subjective. I like maps, because as a parent with limited leisure time... wandering around lost is not how I want to spend that time. Does it change the original intention of the devs? Sure does. But I can't imagine anyone being upset that someone is enjoying their art in their own way - they are still, enjoying that art.

I like how the charcoal maps are kind of inaccurate. If I tried to make a map of my own town which I know well... it would be very hard indeed. But really... a town like this would have maps in every home and glovebox.... so I just pretend that the ones I get online are from a glovebox somewhere!

I see this is a month old, but I'd like to chime in.

First, I commiserate. The Great Bear combat is my least favourite part of Wintermute. It's tough to get the hang of, and the mauling which you can't skip is disturbing. I found myself quickly muting and looking away when it happened. Once, one of my kids snuck in behind me and I didn't know, when a mauling happened and was petrified in fear. I had to quickly turn off my monitor. A skip option after the first one would be nice.

However, after watching a few YouTube tutorials and a lot of trial and error, I eventually defeated him. I'm going through a second playthrough on medium difficulty (first time was on easy)... and knowing what to do made the bear much easier this time.

@GwynrenI hope you persevered through the bear section. Let this be your motivation - Episode 3 was my favourite by miles. You play as Astrid and I felt like I was really accomplishing something during that episode - it was very rewarding. Well worth getting past that damn bear!

LOL

On 1/24/2021 at 12:13 PM, UpUpAway95 said:

Hinterland - Allowing for manual saves in survival mode would fix this without overtly hand-holding the player to prevent them from making a lethal mistake.   Some people want to play permadeath and don't mind starting their games over every single time they die... and others simply don't or they ultimately become frustrated by it happening.  The OP here is a good example.

OP - Sorry for your loss.  Hopefully, someday, you'll find your way back into the great Canadian northern wilderness to try again.

I don't think a game should have to scream at you for every possible danger, keeping an eye on these risks is THE challenge of the game.

However, @UpUpAway95has a great idea here. Allowing survival play with saves... _or_ a permadeath option would be cool. I'd definitely choose to have saves because with 3 kids and life being crazy I have zero desire to lose hours of play due to a silly mistake.

Well... I can toss my printed maps now. lol

Just now, odizzido said:

I am glad you're enjoying it. I hope I will too once the story is done, patched up, and will give me the best experience possible. I will dedicate a weekend to plowing through it in one go when it's time.

I was initially meh about Survival mode... but give it a try. The open world freedom to make your own story, is a full game itself. While you wait for the complete story.

23 minutes ago, odizzido said:

I had to answer "I don't feel I have received good value. " because there was no answer that said "I don't know yet since the story mode isn't complete". That would be a better answer, but I guess as of yet I don't feel I have received good value since I haven't even played the story mode. Once that is done I will be able to answer the question.

I'm now at pennies per hour played but there was no "I've received so much value I feel almost embarrassed for buying it on sale" option. 🤣

If any thought to new wildlife is in the works (hinted in the survey) let my vote be for some type of bird. I have enough four-legged 'friends' on the ground, it would be cool to be forced to look up more & put those gorgeous trees to more use.

(I want to shoot those crows lol.)

This is so wonderful. Every line of this update is full of good news, interesting details & exciting teasers, I am super jazzed about episode 4!

Thank you so much for this update & your hard work. And for such an open peek at how the studio works, some of the decisions you all are tossing around & what goes into making this game.

The sales numbers are awesome & inspiring.

And omg Blackrock looks incredible.

One thing I love about Wintermute is having a purpose to my gameplay. Survival is fun but I often feel a bit aimless. And once I've explored all regions I rarely know what to do with myself.

I confess, Wintermute is my fav part of this game and the story of what on earth happened to the world has me hooked. I'm a lost in the wilderness / shipwrecked / Robinson Crusoe type of fan so this story is right up my alley.  

So, I'm replaying story mode because the first time I did it on Pilgrim it quickly became too easy. And you can't change difficulty between episodes. When the final two chapters come out, I don't want the game being too easy to detract from that.

Anyway... the first time I played, I was new to the game. Playing without map knowledge was a real challenge. Now, with several hundred hours into Survival, replaying the story feels fresh again because now I know the maps and having a story and quests to follow is extremely fun.

I haven't seen a single bear other than The Bear... I wonder if Wintermute has no other bears? 🧐

Anyone else tackle Wintermute more than once and notice anything different the second time around?

Funny that people don't seem to have such a feeling of entitlement over how the big movie studios who make the blockbusters we love spend their money and resources. Something about the interactivity and investment players get into games seems to translate to a misconception of investment in the company. These are the same folks with hundreds or thousands of hours played who leave horrible reviews on Steam. Enjoy media for what you can get from it, then look to the infinite other options out there, rather than getting in a twist about some perceived beef with the game or studio. 

57 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

I think it's a misunderstanding from some people in the community (and players of other games as this seems a common sentiment) that they have some entitlement to influence or dictate how a studio's resources are utilized. At the end of the day we will deliver all the things that have been promised. We also have to make the best decisions for our business.

46 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

If this is about donations made to support different disadvantaged groups, I would say these are not a function of questionable morality as much as perhaps philanthropical decisions you might not agree with. Which is entirely your prerogative. And ours. 

This x 100.

I've never doubted for a second that Hinterland will deliver on their promises. More than any other game I've played... Hinterland is forthright with their players and unwilling to compromise their ethics and vision.

Thank you Raphael and Admin for the excellent info, exciting hints for the future and reassurance for those who need it.

51 minutes ago, starlin said:

OP just questioned the Financial solvency of a game studio based solely on the fact that they don't blog as often as they used to.  As a Player, you might think of studios as interchangeable entities.  But as a business owner, this could be seen as borderline defamation.  At minimum, its FUD. The intention is irrelevant here, because it has the power to cause real damage to a business where reputation carries a lot of weight in their success.  In whats left of Journalism, you'll notice quality reporting and investigation to puts verifiable facts first, and speculation to a minimum.  Unfortunately, what gets passed as journalism, especially in gaming, is highly sensationalist; and goes through the process backwards to start with an outcome (one that will get attention), and work out evidence to support that claim in away that makes it look like the current state of "truth".   Then you have opinion pieces which are presented in a way that makes them appear to be more factual then they actually are. 

@starlinI really like your post here and agree fully with your points about fans developing an unhealthy need for constant attention. For a small company this can result in a HUGE burden. Those of us who use this forum look for updates here. But don't forget there are also the Steam Forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc communities that revolve around this and other games. How much time, & energy must a studio spend on giving news, feedback, attention to all these different communities? A huge company like Blizzard can have an entire paid department whose job it is to engage players on all these platforms... a smaller studio doesn't have the manpower to do so. And players getting angry because there isn't a steady IV drip of updates/news is burdensome and unreasonable.

I personally don't engage in player communities almost at all. This TLD forum is the first and only I've been involved in for many, many years. And even then just to pop in and see what's new. My post was targeted at the players who bemoan the lack of updates and offered one possible theory. Just to say, don't freak out folks, there could be business reasons for delays and those would be legit reasons (ie, they aren't betraying original promises, there's more to it than just "where's my game, what's taking so long boohoo"). In fact I was originally posting as a reply on the Milton Mailbag thread specifically to a user upset that the Mailbag had not yet been replaced, then moved it here.

Where I disagree is the idea that my post was anything like defamation or harm. To say "Hey I love your game, if income stream is an issue, I and many others would happily give you more money for small things," is not a negative post. Heck I'd like that kind of post targeted at my own company and game. LOL. I started off by offering one possible reason for slow updates... and evolved into daydreaming about paying for more awesome TLD stuff. This is very different than spreading rumors. I also was very sure to post this (now debunked) theory here on official forums where official responses can be made... rather than whispering about it in non-official communities like fan groups on Facebook or whatever where a theory could grow without being seen by Hinterland official people. I am well aware that these are official, moderated forums - I actually prefer official communities like these because nonsense and false info is less likely to be there. I was bitten by false rumors of HalfLife 2 Episode 3 ... many many years ago... I prefer my info straight from the source after that fiasco.