So. The newest update completely changed the game. The new revamped research system is much easier and much less grindy, but also makes the first few days much harder - the new map generator is now the default (and I think it kinda sucks) and everything is harder. But they also added some fun new features, new items, the hint of an endgame and a new elusive creature. I think I'll completely restart my Let's Play although I won't use the new map generator - I just spent 8 days looking for a good spot for my camp and finally found a herd of Beeffalo. When I say herd, I mean two animals. Spiders on the other hand were numerous.
My herd of two beefalos reproduced into about ten. Should I always be using an amulet until I have a meat effigy? Can the girl build a meat effigy? It kinda sucks that the combat in this game is so bad, but so deadly. I was doing really well (for me), then I accidentally double hit a spider nest, and the horde of spiders got me. I should have ran faster, and/or switched my log armor for an amulet, but...
Only Maxwell can build the effigy, and the amulet is based on random drops. Until this update, you could switch characters in the tent and get the effigy that way, but alas... The tiles only made it in last update and yes, they made old science really easy - not that it was hard before, just grindy. And harder in your first couple of games. Now science is less grindy, but resets when you die... And the time to your first spear can be a BIT nerve wrecking. And I agree with Hanacker on the combat. Camping too close to spiders did me in last time. Dead spiders attract the living, so I was overwhelmed and most of he time you can"t run away. I hope more combat/defence options will make it in... Although I haven't played with the new walls yet.
Last I heard they are shooting for late March, and when I had a small interview with them, they are currently planning on providing post game content for 6 months after release. With additional content up in the air at this point.
I broke down and bought this, meaning I have an additional key. Two, really, one for for Steam and one for Chrome. The Chrome version works on Windows and Mac, while Steam is PC-only at the moment. So I am thinking that each key should go to someone different, preferably Chrome to someone on a Mac. However, I'll give the keys to the first two people to PM me and let me know what you want.
I think I mentioned it in this thread, but they could be falling into the trap of balancing a game based on the experiences of the most hardcore players, who have already "beaten" everything.
I think that's the case. Now that I don't worry about getting all the surprises ruined, I've started reading their forum, and there's a lot of very vocal players, that don't find it challenging at all anymore - and of course those would be the most vocal. It's a shame because while I've looked at the updates for more content, more choices and more to do, I haven't looked for the main game to become even harder. And yet most of the extra content is aimed to make it even harder yet - they're adding characters that have a tougher time and once you done exploring a world, you get to escape to a new even harder world... It's a shame, because those players will burn through the content anyway and more casual players perhaps drawn by the cute style will never see, because they'll most likely quit in frustration.
Yeah it's tough to balance against it. They may easily lose sight of what the fresh player will experience. The hardcore already paid for the game and have gotten most of their enjoyment out of it already. The devs should be polishing up the experience for their official game launch on Steam, and let the good word of mouth from the hardcore players convince others to buy the game (or a demo, which would work very well for a game like this).
Yeah this game is way too hard right now. Like, Terraria did the progression into new harder content much better: basic survival wasn't so punishing and you would generally move to new and more difficult content by choice (digging down further, heading to new areas, killing a boss etc.). With this it's a struggle just to keep fed at the beginning, and I feel like I spend so much time just trying to eat and keep the lights on that I never really get the time to explore, and then something horrible kills me. I like a less frantic pace in my survival exploration games.
Erk. I was eyeing this game in a "Sounds really hard, but still fun" sort of way. But if they're ramping up the difficulty even further, it's clearly Not For Me. Oh well. There's always Minecraft. I just have a terrible weakness for games where you need to build stuff in order to build other stuff, especially with a survival/deserted island kind of theme.
Hmm. I started playing yesterday and I'm not really seeing the part where its hard to gather food? Maybe if you stay in one spot but if you just wander you should be finding more than enough food. That's all I did for the first 4 days was wander around until I found some Beefalo. And then I started wandering some more. Though I did have a couple close calls running through a nest of tall birds, it was a massive shortcut. They will follow you FOREVER.
I don't think the difficulty curve is all that bad. I figured out how to feed myself pretty quickly and can easily get into a rhythm of crafting and farming. Hunger is never what gets me. Instead, I tend to die by getting careless and overconfident. Ah well. Losing is fun!
The thing that makes losing not fun for me is that the first 20 minutes or so of every game is pretty much the same (and fairly grindy) if you don't generate a new world.
I must be missing something, then, because I'm always struggling for food. Even farming seems painfully slow, not to mention labour intensive in terms or gathering vast amounts of manure.
I mostly get killed by the interface. Seriously, this is the biggest problem with the game right now. The greatest joy is in discovering things about it, but every time you learn about something dangerous you have to start all over. Even if you generate a new map, you're going to do the same basic things you did before, you just know one more thing to not do. I'm actually at a point where restarts feel less grindy on the same map than they would on a new one because at least I can try to remember where the most useful materials were, but restarting from day five or six is frustrating because it means redoing a lot of stuff that isn't especially interesting when you know how to do it without dying. I can imagine that restarting from day 20 or 30 or whatever would be really maddening in this respect. I do really like the game, though. Basically just the last five seconds and the first five or ten minutes of each playthrough are irritating right now, the rest is fun.
Farming even with the second level plots seems incredibly slow to me too, to the point that I have yet to make it to a harvest. Marged says that the crock pot is great at securing food, and in my last game I made a spear pretty early on and killed a lone beefalo, which set me up with enough meat that food wasn't an issue for several days even though I accidentally ate two meats while I was trying to cook them and used some of the rest for crafting.
Keeping in mind it's been several months since I last played so might have changed... Edit: Berserker? I was never a Berserker... I was a Pet guy (Sorcerer, Hunter, Mentalist). I think my highest level Berzerker was like... 15. {And yes mentalists COULD be a pet class... at least later on in the game cycle... If I remember correctly there were even some Minstrels that played pet heavy}
I agree that the beginning can be a bit of a grind but I manage to get nearly everything I need to set up a base camp in the first day. One thing I like is that not only do I figure out in-game methods that increase efficiency, my own knowledge of the game and the map makes me more efficient, just as a player. That's why I like that it's the same map each time. I also tend to adopt a different play style each play through. Sometimes I travel light and just wander around until some shit kills me. Sometimes I hunker down and build a base right away.
The last five seconds are my favorite part, even though it means dying. New and inventive ways to go just crack me up.
Are you guys making meat effigies? Once you get invested in that play through you shouldn't really attempt anything too dangerous or once you get setup do too much exploring until you have one. It's an extra life.
Yes. And only one character can grow a beard. No, hunger never gets me anymore either - but if you just wander and collect food, the the increasing number of hounds or spiders will. The game will send more hounds after you for each attack and spiders grow and multiply with two levels of nastier spiders, that weren't in the game to begin with - if you want examples, then look at my LP (now subtitled The Many Deaths of a Stupid and Forgetful Player)
Time. As far as I can tell, they're random, but an attack get more likely the more time passes. I've had the first attack on day 3 and on day 11. The number and type of hounds (there's two) also grows over time. But if you're armed, armored and ready they're not that tough. It's just when they coincide with other nasties... which mine always do.
So I started playing this again and if you've not played in a few months there are a lot of very cool changes: Research points replaced with a prototyping system (you'll see) Weather! Sanity (or more likely insanity) Other things! I'm having a blast with it again.
You forgot the most important change: Seasons. I have the screenshots to start my third Let's Play. Once again, it's a completely different game.
Link it when you post it! I love reading the stories in this game, they invariably turn out hilarious*. *if agonizing drawn out death from starvation is hilarious, and how can it not be?
Will do. The ironic thing is that they added so much deadly stuff to the world that actual starvation is the least of your worries... I did however get killed by bees in my first attempt to gather honey, that you need to make healing balms, so you can survive being stung by bees.
This was even how it was a couple months ago when I played for the first time. The game said in big letters "DON'T STARVE," and then I got smashed by a tentacle monster; mission accomplished.
I don't think I've ever actually starved to death, although fear of starvation does occasionally push me to go places I probably shouldn't be in.
Yeah, true. And you guys are right, that was always the case (just more so). By design the constant need for food and better protection forces you to explore and take chances... which kills you. I guess that if you tried to just hole up, you might starve instead.
I suck so hard at this game. I can never seem to get my condition stable enough that I don't feel like I'm continually on the point of starvation - if I ever spend a significant chunk of time per game-day NOT looking for food, I come to regret it. I mean, I get that "Don't Starve" is right there in the title, but the hunger mechanics feel really super punishing. I manage to scrape together a crock pot, but so far it feels like I'm losing out, nutrition wise on that versus just cooking things over an open flame - especially so when I fuck up and get wet goop, which I do constantly. I also feel like the crafting is somewhat excessively grindy. I get two logs per tree (and they take a while to cut down), and I need FOUR logs to make one planks, an multiple planks to make things with? I wouldn't mind if I felt liek I had leisure to gether wood for a while - I'm crazy enough to find that sort of thing relaxing, but instead I'm constantly under the thumb for hunger. Blargh. I want to like the game - the visuals, the core crafting/survival concept I loved from Minecraft but tied to more of an actual game - but I am strugglign to get to the fun stuff.
