I just finished up the last episode currently released for The Long Dark and was wondering if anyone else has played it and what they thought of it.
I tried it many updates ago and found it to be too difficult. I play games to relax now and have adjusted my difficultly level accordingly. I decided to give it another try recently and really enjoyed the game. Based on some changes I saw when I restarted I think others must have felt the same way.
Re: The Long Dark
By: Ray Sbaitso to All on Sun Mar 01 2020 03:47 pm
I need to go back to The Long Dark. I've only played it for several
hours during Early Access phase when story mode wasn't available. How
long do episodes last? Maybe I could do a gameplay video for Youtube if they're not too long.
I've had and played the game since early beta days and and a love/hate relationship with the game. I don't care for the 'difficulty'
settings, at one end, all th ewildlife other than moose run away from
you so quickly you have slim chance of hunting. At the next difficulty the wolves will hunt you in packs and make it difficult to survive at
all. I've not even tried the next two 'more' difficult levels.
The same thing happened to me Story mode, but in reverse. It started quite difficult and dying before I would reach the end of the story,
but later updates seem to make it almost impossible _not_ to get to the end. Story mode does have some encounters that are set, you will get mauled by the bear multiple times, etc, but it rarely kills you.
I enjoy the sandbox mode the best, and am thankful for periodic updates
to the maps as I typically play in exploration mode because I have
having to deal with wolves attacking me multiple times each day.
--JH
I haven't worked with the sandbox mode at all. What is out there on those maps? Is it just endless woods? Are there any kind of "goals" that you have to work towards? Locations you need to visit, etc.?
The maps are not endless, and you basically have free roaming rights
over any of the maps with the premise of just try and survive. You are completely alone, other than wildlife. You will find resources and shelters in the same locations, and the resources are a bit randomized,
so as an example, I once had explored 3 regions and had found over 80 rounds of rifle ammo, but still had not found a rifle. No set goals,
just you wandering around trying to find what you need to survive. And avoid getting eaten.
Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-
When I first started playing the game I had no clue what you did and didn't need, so I started picking up everything that wasn't nailed down while trying to find a hammer to get the rest of it. I'm famous for grabbing everything in site in these kinds of games because "I might
need it later". It didn't take too many piles of scrap metal before I realized I was going to have to make some serious adjustments or starve
/ freeze to death.
That's me in a nutshell. I have that game mentality from years gone
by.. if I can pick it up and carry, there must be some importance to
this that will become clear later in the game. Pick up and carry all
the things!
As I learned a little more abouth TLD, I would hoard stuff and haul it
to certain areas where it would make sense to have it, near or on the
way to a forge or crafting table. I've started using the in-game notes and calendar to write down where I've placed things in case I forget
what I have or don't have and where it is.
Did you happen to play Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Infocom? I am the exact same way and I believe that's where the issue came from with me. There was a point in the game where you got told you needed a certain item to finish the game. If you didn't already have it, you had to start all over because you couldn't go back. The first time I went back and started over I didn't realize it was apparently random or there was at least a list of items it could be because I picked up the item it mentioned the prior time and it asked for a different item the next time. From that point on I grabbed everything in sight! :)
On Saturday March 28, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...
That's me in a nutshell. I have that game mentality from years gone
by.. if I can pick it up and carry, there must be some importance to
this that will become clear later in the game. Pick up and carry all
the things!
Re: Re: The Long Dark
By: Ray Sbaitso to John Hiemenz on Sat Apr 04 2020 12:45 pm
If I recall, I never finished that one. When this type of game was
new, I would sit for hours playing games where I would tediously map on paper and maintain notes. Because of the great amount of time this consumed, I didn't get to play many of those until later, when computer games were starting to incorporate these features, and I grew impatient having to do those things myself and they would lose my interest.
I do have a version of THGTTG running on my BBS using DOSemu, but I haven't spent much time with it other than making sure it would run as
a 'door'. I may have to go back and look at it again, since it can
save progress.
Thinking back to The Long Dark, I find myself talking back to the game
a lot.. when I pick up a feather and my character complains they don't think they can carry much more. I don't think I've every carried so
much that it resulted in anything other than moving at a snails pace.
There was a point during The Long Dark where I was in real danger of freezing to death and did not have time to stop to drop things after finding a wolf killed deer. I managed to "motivate" the character to make it to a cave without an ankle sprain. I like to think that my encouragment was the difference in that little adventure. :)
What games are you working on now? Anything new?
Any word about when the next level will be released? Are you on the mailing list?
I haven't tested this, but I think if you are playing in story mode on
the easiest level, it is very difficult to die while playing.
These email conversations urged me to pick my story mode game back up
and see where it goes. Honestly, I hadn't really played since sometime
in January. I've just finished the last bit the preacher gave me for
the town hall and am working on the next bit of travel out of the area.
I've picked up an old game, Might and Magic VI, and have been tinkering with that off and on. Weird I have 'fond' memories of this one but
first thing I find is a lot of grinding to get characters at a decent enough level to do anything.
Other than that, I frequent Sniper Elite 4. There's an aspect of role playing and discover when playing in the campaign mode, typically play campaign solo.
I am on the Hinterland mailing list, no news that I've seen regarding
the next level yet...
Stay safe and be well.
--
JH
Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-
I spotted the update for The Long Dark and when I saw the size of the download I was certain it must be the next chapter. I was so certain
that I didn't bother to go read the news item related to it. I was
really disappointed earlier today when I got ready to play and went for
a look.
I saw a post on the forums where someone said they were going to answer the question they knew was on everyones mind. "Can you spray paint a sleeping bear?" The answer is no. I've never spotted a sleeping bear
in the game. The only bears I've seen are the ones that keep attacking you.
I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you heard of it?
That's actually pretty funny. The only bears I've seen are either
walking around, chasing /attacking you, or dead. I suppose a dead bear sort of looks like it might be sleeping, but it's going to disappear in
a few days anyway.
I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you
heard of it?
I have not. I briefly looked it up but was convinced to start playing
DayZ by/with some gaming friends I'd been playing Sniper Elite 4 with.
In my opinion, survival in DayZ makes survival in The Long Dark look pretty easy.
Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-
I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you
heard of it?
I have not. I briefly looked it up but was convinced to start playing
DayZ by/with some gaming friends I'd been playing Sniper Elite 4 with.
In my opinion, survival in DayZ makes survival in The Long Dark look pretty easy.
I listen to Jason Scott's podcast and I'm pretty sure he has talked
about DayZ on that. It sounds pretty intense. I haven't done any multiplayer online gaming in years. He mentioned that it could be
fairly buggy. Is it still under development?
It's good to have a group of people you know to game with, there can be
so much hostility out there if you just have to wander into a random server or game that it takes all the fun out of it.
I was always interested in more multiplayer co-op, but there just isn't much of that out there. I guess it's difficult to find a way to put something like that together that would draw a big enough player base
to make it worthwhile.
I remember Leo Laporte talking about Minecraft once and him saying how unreal it would have sounded if Notch had gone to EA to try to pitch
the game. "It's going to be all pixelated and it's going to sell a million copies." You just hear the EA rep yelling "SECURITY!!!"
It is under development, sort of. Not a lot of 'new' things I've seen, though in the last month I have seen new updates fixing bugs. There
are also a lot of community mods for it, and it is usually those mods
that highlight the game's quirks and bugs. If you play on the
'vanilla' server, it's not very buggy. If your character spawns in the woods and it's raining, or in an area infested with the 'infected' ( zombies by any other name ... ), well... then your character is likely
to die very quickly. I do have one character that I play on a vailla server and finally spawned in an area without rain and some fruit
trees, so a 'hack' I learned it to navigate the fruit trees, removing
any rotten fruit and eating the good fruit. Without any fruit on the ground, new fruit will spawn. Then, if it is dark and cold, or starts
to rain, I tend to hide in a building and leave the server for a few
hours until the nighttime cycle has passed. That has kept me alive
long enough where I finally found an axe and a knife, so now I can stay around at night, build a fire. Usually in the middle of the floor of
an old building...
Ah.. Minecraft is another game I used to love playing. I love the creative ability the game offers, though my biggest issue is I'm not freelance creative.
I can follow plans and instructions though, and have built some
castles with moats and towers, but only if someone else has designed
them. If I build from my own plans, things tend to look like big pixelated squares.
Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-
On Saturday June 13, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...
<blah> <blah> <blah> DayZ stuff <blah> <blah>
How long have you been able to stay alive using this method? What is
the average survival time on that type of server, any idea?
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