Multi-headed Cow
Arcane
Haven't even tried the episodes since they rejiggered them after launch since a liner experience kinda works against what I enjoy about the Long Dark, but presumably that'll mean more sandbox content so that's great.
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The Long Dark
- Thread starter Burning Bridges
- Start date
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
same, story mode is horrible shit
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/the-long-dark/home#
Free for a day, got this game so many years ago.
Shooting wolves is fun.
Free for a day, got this game so many years ago.
Shooting wolves is fun.
fuzz
Liturgist
Kickstarter Campaign said:
Since it looks like they will never deliver on those two points - which patch version should I pirate to have the most fun in sandbox mode?
IHaveHugeNick
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1,870,182
Just get the newest version, they update sandbox mode allt he time adding more maps and so on.
- Joined
- May 13, 2009
- Messages
- 27,235
Last summer I made a post about my experiences with this game, and how I had quit half-way through the storyline-mode and requested a refund.
Well... I'm kinda half-embarrassed to say that after my request was denied, I decided to continue playing it.
For more Long Dark-related posts, you can also check out this post by jackofshadows which also sheds some light on the game.
But I also encourage people to read this thread from the start. I just did so, and realize what I missed out on. I had seen screenshots from earlier builds and the UI looked decent back then, but now it's this generic-bland mess. And now I know the reason why: Consoles. Fucking consoles.
Anyway, I figured I'd write a "Part 2" to show people what kind of game TLD really is.
One thing I did notice regarding Wintermute compared to Survival Mode: Wintermute teaches players how the game works, but does so in a drawn-out and ham-fisted manner. But Survival Mode is the meat and potatoes of the game, so reluctantly I recommend that players complete Wintermute before trying Survival Mode... it'll help out.
With all that said, I'm gonna point out that I actually bought the DLC-package and am waiting for the second tier of release, which is at the end of this month. I'll write more once I've given the Far Territories and new gameplay-elements a go.
But one final thing, and this may be good news to some, like Burning Bridges - Hinterland did something real neat with their latest big update. They created the 'Time Capsule' - a method in which every previous version of the game is made available to play, via the Beta-program. Go to the Hinterland-website, find the proper release code, enter it into Steam, and presto! Your favorite version of TLD is yours to play with again! I used this to circumvent a hilarious* bug in Wintermute, so I can confirm that it works. Just keep in mind that Hinterland support is always for the most recent version of the game, but at least people can revisit past versions now.
*The bug was this: A side-quest in Ep. 4 required that a certain trailer be entered. The bug made it so that the game froze if you did this. The funny part is that the audio would endlessly loop the first part that's supposed to play right as you enter the trailer, which is MacKenzie saying "Shit." So you'd end up with a stuck loading screen and MacKenzie going "Shit...shit...shit...shit...shit...shit" until TLD was shut down manually. It's been fixed now, at least.
Well... I'm kinda half-embarrassed to say that after my request was denied, I decided to continue playing it.
For more Long Dark-related posts, you can also check out this post by jackofshadows which also sheds some light on the game.
But I also encourage people to read this thread from the start. I just did so, and realize what I missed out on. I had seen screenshots from earlier builds and the UI looked decent back then, but now it's this generic-bland mess. And now I know the reason why: Consoles. Fucking consoles.
Anyway, I figured I'd write a "Part 2" to show people what kind of game TLD really is.
Episode 3 takes place with a new protagonist (Astrid) and a 'new' map (for Storyline mode, that is). This map has a large open central territory, but also a sizeable forest area on the outskirts. It also features Plot Weather, which are absolutely wild snowstorms that only appear when the plot demands so (like at the start of the episode) and in at least one instance they stay there until you've completed a certain story objective, which makes for a LOVELY experience when you're rebuilding your clothes-tank from scratch. [/sarcasm] The solution to that problem is actually easier than it looks; once the chapter storyline starts handing out side-quests, run and do those ASAP. The one about looking for a sasquatch nets you a wolfskin jacket (the second-best jacket available in the game) and the one with the stolen relic nets you a rabbitskin hat (one of the best hats in the game). The airplane wreck is also stuffed with clothing items, so it shouldn't take long to get Astrid wearing the latest fashion. The lesson here? In Ep. 3 (and 4) it's better to take your damn time to do all the sidequests than to speed the main plot along.
The biggest addition to the game here, however, is a gameplay mechanic called 'Timberwolf Morale'. Those who are new to TLD are likely to have started the Storyline-mode first, and selected the Easiest Difficulty-level... like I did. One problem with that difficulty is that all wildlife runs for the hills the moment they spot you (even the bears!) so the challenge the game presents drops like a stone. Enter the Morale-mechanic, where every wolf in the vicinity is regularly reprogrammed to home in on your position and attack you until either you're dead, or you've reduced their morale enough to break their programming and send them packing. A boss-meter health bar even appears on-screen to show you how brave the wolves are. Sometimes you're lucky and get a short bar, where only a couple of well-placed shots will do the trick. Sometimes the bar looks like the Russian border.
I'll admit that I don't mind this mechanic, except when it's tied into the storyline plot - which you bet your ass it is. Timberwolf Morale-events are timed, so once you've done one there's gonna be some time before the next one hits. Except during an integral part of the storyline you have to find and carry four survivors from all over the map, back to the community hall in one corner of the map. The game reserves a Timberwolf Morale-event for each survivor, meaning you're guaranteed to get wolves in your face while you're carrying a person. (Sometimes it triggers within seconds of having picked them up!) There is no way around this, and it feels ridiculous. The only thing more ridiculous than this abused mechanic, is the actual story going on in Ep. 3. Astrid *somehow* survived getting out of Milton, and *somehow* abandoned that metal case that's so important, but instead of trying to go back to get it, she decides to Go Forward instead, only stopping along the way to save the survivors of an airplane crash, which is a task that takes several precious days. Adding insult to injury is that despite the complete electrical blackout, she's also being pestered by a woman over the phone, whose personality and backstory seems both forced and implausible for woke reasons. The Northern Territories of Canada is pretty much the last place a woman decides to go into 'Kill All Men!'-mode and actually start hunting them down with a bow and arrow, but here you go.
Ep. 3 then ends on a novelty (for TLD) by introducing the first puzzle into the game, but it's not so bad. The ones that come after it, however...
Episode 4 switches the focus back to MacKenzie as he's the latest whipping boy for the prisoners of Blackrock Prison, minus all that sweet gear he'd accumulated during Ep. 1-2. Circumstances develop so that MacKenzie is the only one who can get things done, so he's sent out into the cold to run gopher for the convicts. Hilarity ensues as MacKenzie also gets pestered by a woman on the phone, who sounds almost exactly the same as the one in Ep. 3 who was pestering Astrid.
There are only two new game elements introduced in Ep. 4: Noisemakers and puzzles. Noisemakers are great, they scare off wolves and make short work of Timberwolf Morale-events (yes, those are back, but they're never tied to the plot here) and makes Recycled Cans actually useful. The puzzles... are a pain. The first one is having to re-route steam-based heat through a series of pipes to melt your way through a set of tunnels, and the second is navigating a mine full of poisonous gas. You'll be doing a LOT of running back and forth. Fortunately both puzzle events take place indoors, the bigger problem is reaching those places, as the Blackrock-map is designed exactly to make those two journeys long and perilous, and in completely opposite directions. But once they're completed convenient shortcuts open up to make the travels easier.
(Important note: During Ep. 4 MacKenzie will make repeat-visits to the prison, where the prisoners wisely remove all his gear before entering. The game even tells you to hide your contraband somewhere out of sight... like the trunk of the car parked right in front of the prison's main entrance, where the prisoners are standing and watching you, waiting for you to get close enough to trigger the cutscene.
What the game doesn't tell you is that any articles of clothing that don't count as MacKenzie's 'default' gear will also be taken, even if you're wearing it. So make sure that you completely empty out your inventory into your hidey-hole, and laugh as MacKenzie goes through those lengthy cutscenes while only wearing his underwear.)
The only other point worth talking about in Ep. 4 is the endgame, and how horribly stupid it is. In a change of pace it's an action sequence, where you have to recover the metal case, dodge the prisoners and escape the prison. I sighed loudly once I realized that the prison interior is one large obstacle course with only one way through. I sighed even louder once I realized that some of the prisoners were impossibly faster than I ever could be (listen to how quickly Mathis moves about the prison interior while you're outside on the catwalks). But the kicker was the fact that during the final part of this action sequence you're back in the tunnels beneath the prison. While making my way through them, I realized that the items that I had left there the last time were still there. It wasn't until I had completed Ep. 4 that the revelation hit me: The game forces you to go through this action sequence with an empty inventory - but here a very convenient loophole presents itself. So I reloaded an older save, left my guns and ammo down in the tunnels, and then ran through the whole sequence again, except this time I arrived at the power plant armed to the teeth. But No, the game won't allow for such out-of-the-box thinking. Jace is still an uppity woketard, Mathis still easily overpowers an (unarmed?) MacKenzie, and the episode still ends the same way as before.
The only thing left is the epilogue where we see that Astrid has *somehow* made her way to Perserverance Mills - sans metal case. Story to be concluded in Episode 5, which last I heard had an ETA of 'late 2023'. Wise TLD-players will know better than to take that seriously. We don't even know which character we'll be playing, though something tells me it'll be Astrid instead of MacKenzie.
One final note - I immediately noticed something was off about Jace when she's finally revealed, about the way she moved. For those about to see that part of the game again, watch her body language. This is someone's waifu, just like Elizabeth was Ken Levine's waifu in Bioshock. This is clearly intentional, as it takes considerable effort to animate these cutscenes. I want to add that the animator of Wintermute did a damn good job at times. The look on Mathis's face when he grabs MacKenzie through the prison bars is more than a little chilling.
The biggest addition to the game here, however, is a gameplay mechanic called 'Timberwolf Morale'. Those who are new to TLD are likely to have started the Storyline-mode first, and selected the Easiest Difficulty-level... like I did. One problem with that difficulty is that all wildlife runs for the hills the moment they spot you (even the bears!) so the challenge the game presents drops like a stone. Enter the Morale-mechanic, where every wolf in the vicinity is regularly reprogrammed to home in on your position and attack you until either you're dead, or you've reduced their morale enough to break their programming and send them packing. A boss-meter health bar even appears on-screen to show you how brave the wolves are. Sometimes you're lucky and get a short bar, where only a couple of well-placed shots will do the trick. Sometimes the bar looks like the Russian border.
I'll admit that I don't mind this mechanic, except when it's tied into the storyline plot - which you bet your ass it is. Timberwolf Morale-events are timed, so once you've done one there's gonna be some time before the next one hits. Except during an integral part of the storyline you have to find and carry four survivors from all over the map, back to the community hall in one corner of the map. The game reserves a Timberwolf Morale-event for each survivor, meaning you're guaranteed to get wolves in your face while you're carrying a person. (Sometimes it triggers within seconds of having picked them up!) There is no way around this, and it feels ridiculous. The only thing more ridiculous than this abused mechanic, is the actual story going on in Ep. 3. Astrid *somehow* survived getting out of Milton, and *somehow* abandoned that metal case that's so important, but instead of trying to go back to get it, she decides to Go Forward instead, only stopping along the way to save the survivors of an airplane crash, which is a task that takes several precious days. Adding insult to injury is that despite the complete electrical blackout, she's also being pestered by a woman over the phone, whose personality and backstory seems both forced and implausible for woke reasons. The Northern Territories of Canada is pretty much the last place a woman decides to go into 'Kill All Men!'-mode and actually start hunting them down with a bow and arrow, but here you go.
Ep. 3 then ends on a novelty (for TLD) by introducing the first puzzle into the game, but it's not so bad. The ones that come after it, however...
Episode 4 switches the focus back to MacKenzie as he's the latest whipping boy for the prisoners of Blackrock Prison, minus all that sweet gear he'd accumulated during Ep. 1-2. Circumstances develop so that MacKenzie is the only one who can get things done, so he's sent out into the cold to run gopher for the convicts. Hilarity ensues as MacKenzie also gets pestered by a woman on the phone, who sounds almost exactly the same as the one in Ep. 3 who was pestering Astrid.
There are only two new game elements introduced in Ep. 4: Noisemakers and puzzles. Noisemakers are great, they scare off wolves and make short work of Timberwolf Morale-events (yes, those are back, but they're never tied to the plot here) and makes Recycled Cans actually useful. The puzzles... are a pain. The first one is having to re-route steam-based heat through a series of pipes to melt your way through a set of tunnels, and the second is navigating a mine full of poisonous gas. You'll be doing a LOT of running back and forth. Fortunately both puzzle events take place indoors, the bigger problem is reaching those places, as the Blackrock-map is designed exactly to make those two journeys long and perilous, and in completely opposite directions. But once they're completed convenient shortcuts open up to make the travels easier.
(Important note: During Ep. 4 MacKenzie will make repeat-visits to the prison, where the prisoners wisely remove all his gear before entering. The game even tells you to hide your contraband somewhere out of sight... like the trunk of the car parked right in front of the prison's main entrance, where the prisoners are standing and watching you, waiting for you to get close enough to trigger the cutscene.
What the game doesn't tell you is that any articles of clothing that don't count as MacKenzie's 'default' gear will also be taken, even if you're wearing it. So make sure that you completely empty out your inventory into your hidey-hole, and laugh as MacKenzie goes through those lengthy cutscenes while only wearing his underwear.)
The only other point worth talking about in Ep. 4 is the endgame, and how horribly stupid it is. In a change of pace it's an action sequence, where you have to recover the metal case, dodge the prisoners and escape the prison. I sighed loudly once I realized that the prison interior is one large obstacle course with only one way through. I sighed even louder once I realized that some of the prisoners were impossibly faster than I ever could be (listen to how quickly Mathis moves about the prison interior while you're outside on the catwalks). But the kicker was the fact that during the final part of this action sequence you're back in the tunnels beneath the prison. While making my way through them, I realized that the items that I had left there the last time were still there. It wasn't until I had completed Ep. 4 that the revelation hit me: The game forces you to go through this action sequence with an empty inventory - but here a very convenient loophole presents itself. So I reloaded an older save, left my guns and ammo down in the tunnels, and then ran through the whole sequence again, except this time I arrived at the power plant armed to the teeth. But No, the game won't allow for such out-of-the-box thinking. Jace is still an uppity woketard, Mathis still easily overpowers an (unarmed?) MacKenzie, and the episode still ends the same way as before.
The only thing left is the epilogue where we see that Astrid has *somehow* made her way to Perserverance Mills - sans metal case. Story to be concluded in Episode 5, which last I heard had an ETA of 'late 2023'. Wise TLD-players will know better than to take that seriously. We don't even know which character we'll be playing, though something tells me it'll be Astrid instead of MacKenzie.
One final note - I immediately noticed something was off about Jace when she's finally revealed, about the way she moved. For those about to see that part of the game again, watch her body language. This is someone's waifu, just like Elizabeth was Ken Levine's waifu in Bioshock. This is clearly intentional, as it takes considerable effort to animate these cutscenes. I want to add that the animator of Wintermute did a damn good job at times. The look on Mathis's face when he grabs MacKenzie through the prison bars is more than a little chilling.
One thing I did notice regarding Wintermute compared to Survival Mode: Wintermute teaches players how the game works, but does so in a drawn-out and ham-fisted manner. But Survival Mode is the meat and potatoes of the game, so reluctantly I recommend that players complete Wintermute before trying Survival Mode... it'll help out.
After finishing Wintermute I decided to give Survival Mode a proper go. I selected 'Voyageur'-difficulty and started in Mountain Town, so going through the Wintermute-regions was going to be easy-peasy for me and help me prepare for the unknown. The new maps, however, were both fun and challenging to explore. I eventually settled down in Coastal Highway, and was doing alright except for three problems which hit almost all at once.
#1 The Abandoned Mine. In Coastal Highway there's a mine which has an elevator which only works during Aurora-events. I had been through enough Aurora-events to know how they work, and how long they last. So I held off exploring the mine until an Aurora-event happened which gave me plenty of time to explore the rest of the mine. Imagine the look on my face when the Aurora-event cuts off abruptly in the middle of the night, effectively trapping me in the mine. While I had anticipated that and brought extra supplies, what I did not factor in was a brand-new affliction sprung on me during my stay: Cabin Fever. This is a mechanic which mandates the player having to stay outside if they stay indoors for too long, or otherwise they can't rest. This affliction only activated after Day 50 (which I found out the hard way, after the fact) and here I was experiencing it for the first time. As Aurora-events only take place during the night (and it's not even certain that they do) I had to let time pass manually until the next Aurora-event. Fortunately I escaped by the skin of my teeth, but looking back there's a clear problem with that area. Needing an Aurora-event to get in and out is just moronic. I'd suggest a do-over where a non-electrical exit is available, even if it's fraught with danger.
#2 Superbear. My first real encounters with bears was on this map, as there was one living close to my base, and I wanted that sweet hide for a 'project'. So out I go and hunt for the bear. I'm cautious and sneaky enough to get close enough for a sure shot from the rifle. I aim, I fire - and the bear takes off, clearly injured but not dead. I follow its tracks; it's heading uphill towards the upper paths. But at one point the tracks just stop. At the bottom of a 30-foot cliff. I look around, no bear. I look up, vertical cliff... and no bear. So I try to reach the top of the cliff, and after a few minutes walk I do so... and sure enough, the bear tracks continue there. Am I dealing with a bear that can jump cliffs in a single bound? I follow the tracks to eventually spot the bear next to some cabins. I sneak up, aim and fire again. Another hit! Bear takes off again, heading straight for one of the cabins... then it climbs over the cabin as if it weren't there! Then it continues downhill over steep cliffs and insurmountable scenery. Great, I'm hunting a bear that ignores the Z-axis on this map. It died eventually... somewhere. Despite my best efforts, I never found the corpse. An amusing, but very annoying glitch. I wanted that bearskin!
#3 The next update. As my playthrough went on, I had survived 180 days in-game, and had mostly seen and done everything I could think of... and then Hinterland announces its next big update for the game. Good news? It's a DLC adding new regions, new items and new gameplay modes! The bad news? The DLC costs $20, adds its content in a tiered release, and makes all current save games incompatible with future updates. I realized that my game was about to be forced to end, so I climbed to the peak of Timberwolf Mountain, used a Stim and ran out of the tail section at top speed. What a view! Splat!
The biggest problem I have with Survival Mode is that normally there's no goal to reach, save to find out how long you can survive. Fortunately there are ways to insert goals into that mode: The Challenges. The two easiest ones are great fun, one requires that you stay at certain locations for three days in total, while the other requires you to activate 15 computers during Aurora-events. With a proper end goal Survival Mode becomes a different beast, you have to plan ahead and recognize what is needed and what is not.
On that note, I also gave Interloper-difficulty a go. This mode is brutal. You start with minimal gear, in a setting where the wildlife hunts you down mercilessly, where your stats are constantly sinking like stones, on maps where most gear is unavailable (not removed, unavailable. No guns for you!) and your starting point is always in the fringe zones of the most dangerous maps. I needed several attempts before I happened to spawn in Pleasant Valley and was fortunate enough to recognize I was close to the plane crash - but that playthrough only lasted ten days. I can understand the thrill of players who play the game on Interloper, but for me it's a little too much. I still recommend people try it out, at least.
#1 The Abandoned Mine. In Coastal Highway there's a mine which has an elevator which only works during Aurora-events. I had been through enough Aurora-events to know how they work, and how long they last. So I held off exploring the mine until an Aurora-event happened which gave me plenty of time to explore the rest of the mine. Imagine the look on my face when the Aurora-event cuts off abruptly in the middle of the night, effectively trapping me in the mine. While I had anticipated that and brought extra supplies, what I did not factor in was a brand-new affliction sprung on me during my stay: Cabin Fever. This is a mechanic which mandates the player having to stay outside if they stay indoors for too long, or otherwise they can't rest. This affliction only activated after Day 50 (which I found out the hard way, after the fact) and here I was experiencing it for the first time. As Aurora-events only take place during the night (and it's not even certain that they do) I had to let time pass manually until the next Aurora-event. Fortunately I escaped by the skin of my teeth, but looking back there's a clear problem with that area. Needing an Aurora-event to get in and out is just moronic. I'd suggest a do-over where a non-electrical exit is available, even if it's fraught with danger.
#2 Superbear. My first real encounters with bears was on this map, as there was one living close to my base, and I wanted that sweet hide for a 'project'. So out I go and hunt for the bear. I'm cautious and sneaky enough to get close enough for a sure shot from the rifle. I aim, I fire - and the bear takes off, clearly injured but not dead. I follow its tracks; it's heading uphill towards the upper paths. But at one point the tracks just stop. At the bottom of a 30-foot cliff. I look around, no bear. I look up, vertical cliff... and no bear. So I try to reach the top of the cliff, and after a few minutes walk I do so... and sure enough, the bear tracks continue there. Am I dealing with a bear that can jump cliffs in a single bound? I follow the tracks to eventually spot the bear next to some cabins. I sneak up, aim and fire again. Another hit! Bear takes off again, heading straight for one of the cabins... then it climbs over the cabin as if it weren't there! Then it continues downhill over steep cliffs and insurmountable scenery. Great, I'm hunting a bear that ignores the Z-axis on this map. It died eventually... somewhere. Despite my best efforts, I never found the corpse. An amusing, but very annoying glitch. I wanted that bearskin!
#3 The next update. As my playthrough went on, I had survived 180 days in-game, and had mostly seen and done everything I could think of... and then Hinterland announces its next big update for the game. Good news? It's a DLC adding new regions, new items and new gameplay modes! The bad news? The DLC costs $20, adds its content in a tiered release, and makes all current save games incompatible with future updates. I realized that my game was about to be forced to end, so I climbed to the peak of Timberwolf Mountain, used a Stim and ran out of the tail section at top speed. What a view! Splat!
The biggest problem I have with Survival Mode is that normally there's no goal to reach, save to find out how long you can survive. Fortunately there are ways to insert goals into that mode: The Challenges. The two easiest ones are great fun, one requires that you stay at certain locations for three days in total, while the other requires you to activate 15 computers during Aurora-events. With a proper end goal Survival Mode becomes a different beast, you have to plan ahead and recognize what is needed and what is not.
On that note, I also gave Interloper-difficulty a go. This mode is brutal. You start with minimal gear, in a setting where the wildlife hunts you down mercilessly, where your stats are constantly sinking like stones, on maps where most gear is unavailable (not removed, unavailable. No guns for you!) and your starting point is always in the fringe zones of the most dangerous maps. I needed several attempts before I happened to spawn in Pleasant Valley and was fortunate enough to recognize I was close to the plane crash - but that playthrough only lasted ten days. I can understand the thrill of players who play the game on Interloper, but for me it's a little too much. I still recommend people try it out, at least.
With all that said, I'm gonna point out that I actually bought the DLC-package and am waiting for the second tier of release, which is at the end of this month. I'll write more once I've given the Far Territories and new gameplay-elements a go.
But one final thing, and this may be good news to some, like Burning Bridges - Hinterland did something real neat with their latest big update. They created the 'Time Capsule' - a method in which every previous version of the game is made available to play, via the Beta-program. Go to the Hinterland-website, find the proper release code, enter it into Steam, and presto! Your favorite version of TLD is yours to play with again! I used this to circumvent a hilarious* bug in Wintermute, so I can confirm that it works. Just keep in mind that Hinterland support is always for the most recent version of the game, but at least people can revisit past versions now.
*The bug was this: A side-quest in Ep. 4 required that a certain trailer be entered. The bug made it so that the game froze if you did this. The funny part is that the audio would endlessly loop the first part that's supposed to play right as you enter the trailer, which is MacKenzie saying "Shit." So you'd end up with a stuck loading screen and MacKenzie going "Shit...shit...shit...shit...shit...shit" until TLD was shut down manually. It's been fixed now, at least.
Last edited:
fuzz
Liturgist
Oh, yeah? Thought there will be some drop off point, like last patch before all the talent left.
jackofshadows
Magister
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2019
- Messages
- 4,545
Yup.
Ha, I didn't realize that since have played 3-4 episodes separately as they were coming out. Yeah, there's much more clear.. erm pattern than I noted in my post. Anyway, cannot wait to actually see what a massive shitshow ep 5 will be with such "brilliant" predecessors.
Just tedious and simply there to drag the player down in order to increase *gameplay time*. Annoying as most stuff in the story mode.
Hunting bears down in that manner is a pain anyway. You need to kill in one go and for that you have to repeatedly hit his head and/or neck 2-3 times with a rifle, never myself did so with a bow though but I think it's possible.
Yeah, you have to give the devs credit, they've made it actually very difficult but rather reasonably so if you learn some tricks and gain enough of the game experience. I like the idea that you HAVE TO make a massive journey across most maps since there's too little loot around in general and you need to stock up plenty of arrows. My biggest achievement is only that - making to that coastal map through a few maps and stocking up lots of arrows, afterwards I've felt that I'm done with the game. By the way, in case you don't know but they did a neat mechanic for the last two difficulty levels only that you can eat carnivor meat (and therefore once you get a bow wolves turn into walking burgers) but you risk getting parasites and if you get it you can still cure it but you need supplies and staying more or less at one place for several days.
- Joined
- May 13, 2009
- Messages
- 27,235
So the update came and went, and I've been busy getting familiar with things.
But the base survival game also got updated, with the biggest change being the bunkers and the acorn trees. Several trees were switched out for acorn trees, and you can now salvage the ground around them for acorns. They can then be prepared, cooked and either eaten whole or crushed into ground acorns, which can be crafted into a weak-ass cup of coffee. It's another natural resource to exploit, so unleash that inner squirrel in you and go nuts!
The bunkers got redone from scratch. If you have all those maps with precise possible bunker spawns throughout the regions, forget them. Now there are only nine bunkers in play per game, scattered all over Great Bear. Six of those will be mostly empty, but three of them will be stocked full of goodies. I actually chanced upon one of the empty ones, I got a book, a can of peaches and a hat. Woo.
Another new addition are Memento Caches. These are either lockboxes or frobbable scenery hidden all over Great Bear, though some are just hints to reveal points of interest. To access the ones with loot you will need either the key for them, or be made aware of their location somehow. For example there's a cache in the church piano up north in Mountain Town, but you can't access it without having found the note first, which is sometimes fastened to a visor in a car. I'm not sure how the system works exactly with the Memento Caches, like whether you're supposed to be able to access all of them in a single playthrough, or whether only a randomly determined number of them.
And finally, one piece of good news for those looking to save hard drive space - The Long Dark is now the 'default' game, while Wintermute counts as a DLC. A 9-gigabyte DLC. Which can be uninstalled separately.
EDIT: Updated some info.
The DLC adds three new regions. Remember the machine shop on the Broken Railroad-map? Remember that the rails continue onwards past it towards a broken bridge? Well, the bridge is now crossable and the first region is the Far Range Branch Line. It's close to a full-sized map, but it's basically just one long tunnel - the only change of pace is that at one point you cross a bridge, realize that you can't go any further due to an avalanche, and have to backtrack to go under the bridge and through a cave to get past the avalanche. This whole region can be done in twenty minutes, and beside the view from the bridge itself it isn't even that interesting to look at. I hope something more gets done for it.
After that is the Transfer Pass. There's a bit more walking to do before one reaches an abandoned depot (including getting past the mother of all derailments) which serves as a half-way point of sorts. From there there are only a handful of locations to explore, including one that is clearly a placeholder for something unannounced. (Barring a single wolf in each of these regions I didn't spot any hostile wildlife, so they're safer than many other places on Great Bear.) But one path leads into the mountains, and to the third and final region.
The Forsaken Airfield is where it's at. It's a huge, open field surrounded by mountains on most sides. But first you have to get down there, and that means a long trek through the mountains. I'll give it one thing, the descent is a scenic one, at one turn you can see the entire airfield ahead and below you. Once you reach the flatlands you start to see a problem; there's barely any scenery around to help navigate by. Fortunately there are roads and signs, so follow those and you get to the airfield, where there are various planes and helicopters parked about. The main hangar is a huge structure on three floors, with plenty of storage space and a forge in the basement. Barring the airfield there are a few nice cabins up in the mountains, and a few caves, and a big-ass lake in the northeast. There's also a crashed rescue helicopter close to the middle of the map, and you can even go to sleep in the foldable bed inside. But the airfield is the center attraction.
There's plenty of stuff to see and loot around the airfield, but the main attraction can be found at the top of the control tower, the first 'quest' for Survival Mode. Up there is a small radio receiver, along with a long-ass note on how it works. Great Bear now has some radio transmitters set up; one at the airfield, and a few more scattered around the various regions, and then a 'strange signal' is coming from one of the 'remote' Regions. Each of these transmitters needs to be repaired before they can be activated, and even then they (along with the radio receiver) only work during Aurora-events. Each transmitter needs the same stuff: Five metal scraps, three replacement fuses, two wires, and a car battery. Yes, the 15 kg-monstrosities that were otherwise only used as a source of lead for casting bullets. Getting these things in Forsaken Airfield is easy, but the same can't be said for other regions.
Once repaired, the transmitters send out a signal leading to a number of hidden caches, and that's where the radio receiver comes in. Based on a system of signal strength and a beeping tone, one has to walk around the region watching the receiver, until you're standing on top of the cache, which is buried underground. (Don't worry if you were already doing a Survival run when this update went live last week, the quest can be done at any time, and new batteries were spawned into the world to make it possible.)
There's some new clothing added as well, and there comes the inevitable power-creep that follows with expansions to the main game. The Aviator Cap can be found at the airfield at least, and is hands-down the best headwear in the game. The Flight Jacket is also at the airfield, and is the second-best coat in the game (after the rare Expedition Parka) but I think the hockey jersey is mostly there to please the Canucks. Finally there's an upgraded balaclava, but the upgrade is minor and mostly cosmetic.
With the Forsaken Airfield comes a new hazard, and that's an affliction called Insomnia. You see, the Forsaken Airfield can get Aurora-events during the day. Small arcs of electricity sparkle across the snow and ice, creating a light show that actually drives people mad. This messes with electrics and the affliction is that your rest is disturbed until the affliction ends, which it only does if you hide indoors or underground. Because it doesn't prevent resting it's not that dangerous, but still something to keep in mind. This affliction only seems to appear at the Forsaken Airfield.
The biggest problem with this DLC is that it's a tiered release. When you're asking $20 you better deliver a good product, and the first update only added the new regions, nothing more. The second update added the stuff I mentioned above, but there are two more updates pending which will add more stuff. So for most people the question is when is the best time to buy the DLC, as it will go up in price in a few months. I'd say "now" is close to the sweet spot of getting your money's worth and getting it as cheap as possible.
After that is the Transfer Pass. There's a bit more walking to do before one reaches an abandoned depot (including getting past the mother of all derailments) which serves as a half-way point of sorts. From there there are only a handful of locations to explore, including one that is clearly a placeholder for something unannounced. (Barring a single wolf in each of these regions I didn't spot any hostile wildlife, so they're safer than many other places on Great Bear.) But one path leads into the mountains, and to the third and final region.
The Forsaken Airfield is where it's at. It's a huge, open field surrounded by mountains on most sides. But first you have to get down there, and that means a long trek through the mountains. I'll give it one thing, the descent is a scenic one, at one turn you can see the entire airfield ahead and below you. Once you reach the flatlands you start to see a problem; there's barely any scenery around to help navigate by. Fortunately there are roads and signs, so follow those and you get to the airfield, where there are various planes and helicopters parked about. The main hangar is a huge structure on three floors, with plenty of storage space and a forge in the basement. Barring the airfield there are a few nice cabins up in the mountains, and a few caves, and a big-ass lake in the northeast. There's also a crashed rescue helicopter close to the middle of the map, and you can even go to sleep in the foldable bed inside. But the airfield is the center attraction.
There's plenty of stuff to see and loot around the airfield, but the main attraction can be found at the top of the control tower, the first 'quest' for Survival Mode. Up there is a small radio receiver, along with a long-ass note on how it works. Great Bear now has some radio transmitters set up; one at the airfield, and a few more scattered around the various regions, and then a 'strange signal' is coming from one of the 'remote' Regions. Each of these transmitters needs to be repaired before they can be activated, and even then they (along with the radio receiver) only work during Aurora-events. Each transmitter needs the same stuff: Five metal scraps, three replacement fuses, two wires, and a car battery. Yes, the 15 kg-monstrosities that were otherwise only used as a source of lead for casting bullets. Getting these things in Forsaken Airfield is easy, but the same can't be said for other regions.
Once repaired, the transmitters send out a signal leading to a number of hidden caches, and that's where the radio receiver comes in. Based on a system of signal strength and a beeping tone, one has to walk around the region watching the receiver, until you're standing on top of the cache, which is buried underground. (Don't worry if you were already doing a Survival run when this update went live last week, the quest can be done at any time, and new batteries were spawned into the world to make it possible.)
There's some new clothing added as well, and there comes the inevitable power-creep that follows with expansions to the main game. The Aviator Cap can be found at the airfield at least, and is hands-down the best headwear in the game. The Flight Jacket is also at the airfield, and is the second-best coat in the game (after the rare Expedition Parka) but I think the hockey jersey is mostly there to please the Canucks. Finally there's an upgraded balaclava, but the upgrade is minor and mostly cosmetic.
With the Forsaken Airfield comes a new hazard, and that's an affliction called Insomnia. You see, the Forsaken Airfield can get Aurora-events during the day. Small arcs of electricity sparkle across the snow and ice, creating a light show that actually drives people mad. This messes with electrics and the affliction is that your rest is disturbed until the affliction ends, which it only does if you hide indoors or underground. Because it doesn't prevent resting it's not that dangerous, but still something to keep in mind. This affliction only seems to appear at the Forsaken Airfield.
The biggest problem with this DLC is that it's a tiered release. When you're asking $20 you better deliver a good product, and the first update only added the new regions, nothing more. The second update added the stuff I mentioned above, but there are two more updates pending which will add more stuff. So for most people the question is when is the best time to buy the DLC, as it will go up in price in a few months. I'd say "now" is close to the sweet spot of getting your money's worth and getting it as cheap as possible.
But the base survival game also got updated, with the biggest change being the bunkers and the acorn trees. Several trees were switched out for acorn trees, and you can now salvage the ground around them for acorns. They can then be prepared, cooked and either eaten whole or crushed into ground acorns, which can be crafted into a weak-ass cup of coffee. It's another natural resource to exploit, so unleash that inner squirrel in you and go nuts!
The bunkers got redone from scratch. If you have all those maps with precise possible bunker spawns throughout the regions, forget them. Now there are only nine bunkers in play per game, scattered all over Great Bear. Six of those will be mostly empty, but three of them will be stocked full of goodies. I actually chanced upon one of the empty ones, I got a book, a can of peaches and a hat. Woo.
Another new addition are Memento Caches. These are either lockboxes or frobbable scenery hidden all over Great Bear, though some are just hints to reveal points of interest. To access the ones with loot you will need either the key for them, or be made aware of their location somehow. For example there's a cache in the church piano up north in Mountain Town, but you can't access it without having found the note first, which is sometimes fastened to a visor in a car. I'm not sure how the system works exactly with the Memento Caches, like whether you're supposed to be able to access all of them in a single playthrough, or whether only a randomly determined number of them.
And finally, one piece of good news for those looking to save hard drive space - The Long Dark is now the 'default' game, while Wintermute counts as a DLC. A 9-gigabyte DLC. Which can be uninstalled separately.
EDIT: Updated some info.
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 13, 2009
- Messages
- 27,235
A new update was released recently, the third part of their current update schedule.
The base game gets the fishing system overhauled; new fish to catch, new ways to catch fish, and the ability to create your own fishing holes.
The DLC adds tons of new stuff. There are now ptarmigans about, a brand-new cooking system with tons more cooking ingredients, and some more 'vintage' items to find, like revolvers and flashlights.
Unfortunately this is also the buggiest patch the game has ever received. I would hold off for a week or two (due to Hinterland's slow actions) before giving this a go.
The base game gets the fishing system overhauled; new fish to catch, new ways to catch fish, and the ability to create your own fishing holes.
The DLC adds tons of new stuff. There are now ptarmigans about, a brand-new cooking system with tons more cooking ingredients, and some more 'vintage' items to find, like revolvers and flashlights.
Unfortunately this is also the buggiest patch the game has ever received. I would hold off for a week or two (due to Hinterland's slow actions) before giving this a go.
Iucounu
Educated
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- Jul 4, 2023
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- 612
I first started with Survival mode on Voyager difficulty, that should work fine too if you don't want to suffer through the Wintermute story...
I saw a bear climb over a cabin too once, from a distance it looked like the bear and cabin were of the same size --how did that happen? Some clipping may also occur, another bear I'd shot walked straight through a rocky outcrop and continued out on the other side; I think it died in its cave underneath the floor, since crows were flying above but no other carcass was visible nearby.
It was also impossible to postpone installing that update and keep playing the old version (at least on the Epic client), very disrespectful.
But how it's done is brilliant in its simplicity: you must keep exploring to find resources, and once they run out locally you need to move on or die. On Voyager difficulty this becomes a bit too easy after a while, especially once you learn to craft ammo and have visited all areas.
Interloper is awesome if you wan't a truly challenging game, but you need to be familiar with the areas and the game mechanics so you can take full advantage of them (you'll need it). To survive the first hours it's crucial to know where the nearest box of matches use to spawn, or at least reach a house with a bed and toilet water to drink. :-p
I think this only works on Steam though, not Epic.
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I was being hopelessly optimistic when I said that players should wait a week or two before playing the new patch.
It's been two months now, and the game is still a bug-ridden mess, to the point I don't recommend playing it at all until Hinterland gets off its ass and fixes things.
In the meantime, here's an idea of how buggy the game currently is. (Skip to 39:27 and watch from there.)
It's been two months now, and the game is still a bug-ridden mess, to the point I don't recommend playing it at all until Hinterland gets off its ass and fixes things.
In the meantime, here's an idea of how buggy the game currently is. (Skip to 39:27 and watch from there.)
Iucounu
Educated
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- Jul 4, 2023
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- 612
Nice bug!
Seems there was another update 2.2 in July, after the one you mentioned in June. Haven't tried it yet.
Funny how she treated the bear as some kind of autistic child.
Iucounu
Educated
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2023
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- 612
Good channel, I've already learned a few more tricks watching. But why does she always put all her tea cups in front of campfires? I could understand warming a couple of them, but why all?
Iucounu
Educated
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- Jul 4, 2023
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- 612
Seems the latest update has added carcass harvesting animations, with even more animations promised in the future. Tiresome to watch even once, and harvesting say 8kg of deer meat in 1kg pieces makes you having to re-watch the same thing 8 times.
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I'm still waiting on them to strike a balance between fixing bugs and adding new content that isn't broken, before returning to this game.
Iucounu
Educated
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2023
- Messages
- 612
Adding more detail: playing Interloper, I transited from Carter Hydro Dam lower level to the upper one during an Aurora, and got electrocuted. Next time I started the game I clicked Resume (instead of choosing New Game) without thinking, and spawned just after the level changer.
Wonder if the same thing happens if you exit a house and a wolf kills you just outside?
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