Anime Ark: Survival Evolved

[Kane]

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How is this game?
From the currently available survival games this one probably has the most features. Not promised features but actually in the game and working. Someone even seems to have to put some thoughts behind the mechanics, it is definitely noticeable that there is a team of experienced developers behind this game. The developers also seem to like to orient themselves along reality, frequently revising the game as they see what people are actually doing. The only thing I have an issue with is the performance of the game, it runs like crap even on beefy machines.

Discuss.

Contains:
- 10 minute load times
- Boxing with Dinosaurs
- Boxing with Trees (also known as harvesting Wood)
- Russians
- Dying
- Different types of armor, skill points/levels, blueprints, literally farming, base building
- Taming as many dinos as you want (including feeding them)
- FPS combat, dino drive by shootings & roadkilling, Mad Maxing your Dino
- Frequent defecation

Here is my verdict so far:

Spoiler

 

[Kane]

I found someone lying unconciousness in front of his house. I murdered him, then cooked his flesh on the campfire and ate it. Smashed the door to his house afterwards and made myself the property owner. Cavemen politics.

 

[markec]

Its horrible yet I cant look away.

 

[Kane]

Its horrible yet I cant look away.

This is exactly how I felt playing it.

 

[Kane]

Meet Chad Thundercock, Berry Picker, Tree Puncher, and Serial Rapemurderist. He has the largest spear on the ARK and likes to defecate when he is not running from Dilos and Raptors.

This is where we made our home. The Water is fresh and the Dodo Hides are plenty.

Unfortunately it is also the home of a huge-ass crocodile, that keeps the local dino population in check.

OH SHIT

As the sun settles, Chad Thundercock has finished erecting his first shelter:

Congratulations, it is a wooden box (lacking a door). Human flesh is cooking on the campfire, tonight we will feast.

 

[Krraloth]

How's the ratio between boring as shit gameplay:eventful stuff?

 

[Mortmal]

Its tempting , only draw back is anyone can kill you when you log off. Are you playing on private servers ?

 

[Kane]

How's the ratio between boring as shit gameplay:eventful stuff?

Pretty good. Keep in mind that like in any sandbox it is as fun as you make it. For example, yesterday I ran around the beach killing sub lvl 5 people for their stuff and meat. They eventually bonded together and swarmed me with spears and pickaxes. Afterwards the whole area turned into a FFA arena.
But even without other people trying to kill you there is enough to keep an eye on. Dilos usually hunt in the late hours of the day and in Packs. Sometimes even a Raptor may show up. You need to keep an eye on your meters at all times: Work depletes stamina which depletes food. To get food you need to invest work. To earn experience you need to invest work too, as every action you take earns you some. I find myself with enough to do to keep me occupied.

Are you playing on private servers ?

I am playing on Official #82. I don't have a problem so far with getting killed offline. You may lose all your stuff but you keep your progress. I just kill someone running around on the beach and I am back in the saddle. Alternatively, farming & crafting takes a couple of minutes. I can see how this can become problematic at higher levels though.

 

[Kane]

 

[belowmecoldhands]

Graphics are really nice. Like a lot of games seems kind of arcade-ish. I like realism-ish. BUT it looks fun. And loose. Sci fi and dinos. What's not to love about survuval games anyway, most of them are fun.

And why's that pic in the OP of the female model so inflated in upper body? I like big mamaries, but it's wonky.

EDIT: It's the customizations. Nothing against it. You can also make a skinny model.

 

[BulMaster]

Against my better judgement, I will play it tonight. Mind if I squat at your base type thingy? Assuming the server doesn't have horrendous lag from being in the US.

 

[Norfleet]

Its tempting , only draw back is anyone can kill you when you log off.

Heh. This is the kind of thing that caused my insomnia to become as bad as it is today, you know. People would try to kill me while I was asleep, only to discover that I didn't, and be like "DON'T YOU EVER SLEEP?!?".

Can't sleep...clowns will get me...

 

[Suicidal Meat Slapper]

I might try it out later down the road. There better be a clown suit that I can terrorize people in.

 

[BulMaster]

I might try it out later down the road. There better be a clown suit that I can terrorize people in.

Loged in, got to lvl 6, spend 90mins trying to tame a Triceratops by scavenging narcoberries. Tame complete, got griefed by two clowns wearing purple and neon green clothes.

I think you are covered.

 

[Kane]

Progress has been made on this glorious day. Destiny made manifest.

Spoiler

DarkUnderlord was tamed and served us well for about 10 minutes. Then he decided to jump on a bunch of spikes and died. Oh well, at least we got to feed on his flesh afterwards. And he left us a final souvenir.

Spoiler

While thesoup and me followed our primitve insticts as hunter-gatherers, evdk discovered his craftmanship and hammered our first homestead out of 4 walls a roof and a lot of hope.

Spoiler

The path ahead remains clear. A large fortress with huge spikes and an awesome^TM T-Rex for everyone. Dinos or bust.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Awesome game. Reminds me of of A Tale in the Desert, which I played over 10 years ago.

 

[thesoup]

History in the making. Once we have our first castle and mordor gate, we will look at these innocent days with a smile and nostalgia.

And yeah, RIP DarkUnderlord

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Haven't seen this one. I was keeping an eye on another survival game but apparent that one was abandoned.

 

[thesoup]

Another Dino was tamed, this time dubber DarkUnderlord Jr.
Unlike his father, he didn't kill himself yet. He's mostly a mule. But hey, we saddled and rode him around.

Some pics, excuse the shitty quality, game is badly optimized so I run it at medium / low specs for maximum fps gain:

Raw being lazy while me and evdk did all the foraging and hunter gathering.

Spoiler

evdk and DarkUnderlord Jr reflecting on the mistakes they made on this island.

Spoiler

After chopping more wood than I care to remember or count, our little beach cabin got its upgrade to house DarkUnderlord Jr and maybe a gf if he will ever have any.
Well technically DU Jr is female here, but whatever.

Spoiler

Random screenie, not mine, that is too awesome to not be posted:

Spoiler

IIRC this isn't modded.

 

[Norfleet]

Loged in, got to lvl 6, spend 90mins trying to tame a Triceratops by scavenging narcoberries. Tame complete, got griefed by two clowns wearing purple and neon green clothes.

I think you are covered.

Hah, so there ARE clowns, and if you try to sleep, they WILL get you.

 

[Kane]

As the member of the tribe with the most Neanderthalean genes it is my responsibility to keep us stocked on meat. Clad in rags and with nothing but a spear in my hand I set out in the early hours of the day. It is time to HUNT!

Spoiler

My first Victim is a Trike. It uses super clipping tackle but it doesn't proove too effective.

Spoiler

I spot a Phangeasaurus. These fuckers are quick. But man is perfectly adapted for chivvy. I give chase.

Spoiler

Shit, it got friends.

Spoiler

Three large herbivores equipped with spikes as long as a man, good odds for any neanderthal hunter. One by one they fall.

Spoiler

The stegosaur's tail swing nearly got me. But in the end the creature ends as anything that opposes man: A resource of food and wealth.

Around noon it starts to rain. I find a river and decide to follow it.

Spoiler

I find a giant scorpion feasting on the corpse of a dinosaur by a waterfall. I manage to dispatch it without getting stung and injected with paralyzing venom.

Spoiler

I wasted a good amount of spears on the chintinous armor of the giant scorpion, so by now I am running low on means to defeat the wildlife around me. I decide to head back to our hut on the beach. Of course I am intercepted by a pair of Dillos on the way.

Spoiler

My last spear breaks and so I have to decide this fight in the most manly way there is: With bare fists.

Spoiler

Take that, reptile.

Spoiler

Could this really have ended in any other way?

Victorious and with loads of hides and meat in my back I make my way back to our home on the beach, where my faithful wife evdk eagerly awaits my return.

Oh yeah, we also got griefed but despite that managed to upgrade our beach hut to a fortress made out of stones and spikes but I'll let evdk and thesoup cover that part.

 

[Norfleet]

That's what happens when you sleep, the clowns will get you.

 

[thesoup]

Last night we tamed a Raptor. Welcome to the coalition JarlFrank

Spoiler

And a bronto visited us at the beach:

Spoiler

As tempting as bronto burgers are, evdk saw one killing a t. rex like it was nothing so we decided to be pussies and not murder anything bigger than a stego.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Brontosauros never even existed, so they are mythical creatures, thus explaining why they are so powerful. Magic.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Disregard what I posted, the Brontosauros is back! Thanks, <3 Science! <3