Kenshi - open-ended sandbox RPG set in a desert world

[cioran]

Are these guys the only ones left playing the game?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Codexers: "RPGs should have hard enemies that you should run away from."

Also Codexers: "Running away is too strong, nerf plz."



Who picks up a barrel full of food and runs when bandits show up? How you gonna run with 100 stacks of foodcubes? The bandits just wait calmly for your evacuation? That's the most retarded shit I've ever read.

 

[mondblut]

Who picks up a barrel full of food and runs when bandits show up? How you gonna run with 100 stacks of foodcubes? The bandits just wait calmly for your evacuation? That's the most retarded shit I've ever read.

If you've got 100 stacks of foodcubes at your base, it ought to be capable of repelling anything short of a leviathan herd.

Heck, at that point each of your guys is ought to be capable of repelling anything short of leviathan herd. On his own.

 

[thesecret1]

Who picks up a barrel full of food and runs when bandits show up? How you gonna run with 100 stacks of foodcubes? The bandits just wait calmly for your evacuation? That's the most retarded shit I've ever read

Maybe play the game, retard? All raids are announced days in advance (you can even track them on the map), and even if you forget, the bandits usually have a whole speech to deliver before starting the attack, giving you plenty of time to leg it. And if you have 100 foodcubes stocked up, odds are you don't care if a couple of them get stolen, since you can easily make more

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Who picks up a barrel full of food and runs when bandits show up? How you gonna run with 100 stacks of foodcubes? The bandits just wait calmly for your evacuation? That's the most retarded shit I've ever read

Maybe play the game, retard? All raids are announced days in advance (you can even track them on the map), and even if you forget, the bandits usually have a whole speech to deliver before starting the attack, giving you plenty of time to leg it. And if you have 100 foodcubes stocked up, odds are you don't care if a couple of them get stolen, since you can easily make more

100 cubes probably don't weigh that much any way. Though I got a guy with 1300 kg of recursively stored ores in traders bag and boy he takes his time walking.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

If you think Kenshi is too easy, the single most important change you can do yourself(I think there are mods too) is to nerf your running speed. It's 100% correct that your ability to run away from everything(except Beak Things, which have an exploitable attack animation) trivializes the survival challenge of the game. Imagine Arnold outrunning the wolves in Conan the Barbarian, that's how dumb it is.

Pah. Try a torso start, noob.

What's the point? After you save up enough to get prosthetics, the challenge is completed. The rest of the game will be exactly the same, even slightly easier, as prosthetics are superior to natural limbs, with no drawbacks.

Codexers: "RPGs should have hard enemies that you should run away from."

Also Codexers: "Running away is too strong, nerf plz."

There are all kinds of "RPGs". Kenshi is a survival game. It totally defeats the point to be able to run away from every dangerous situation. Mind you, in Kenshi you have awareness advantage, which means you can already avoid danger by playing carefully. That's acceptable, even if the game is already casualized by giving my level 1 mook the ability to see better than everything else in the game. Letting the player outrun everything just by playing a little bit(Athletics level up naturally and very quickly) is straight up CASUAL design.

 

[mondblut]

100 cubes probably don't weigh that much any way. Though I got a guy with 1300 kg of recursively stored ores in traders bag and boy he takes his time walking.

I hope he's also carrying some random corpse too? If not, you're wasting an opportunity.

 

[mondblut]

What's the point?

And what's the point of not being able to run away and getting killed? Congrats, game over, reload. How exciting.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

What's the point?

And what's the point of not being able to run away and getting killed? Congrats, game over, reload. How exciting.

The game is already quite forgiving. You can:

1. Use your superior awareness to avoid dangerous enemies.
2. Become nearly invisible with sneaking, even though the enemy can't do the same.
3. Lead enemies away to other hostile groups/environmental hazards.
4. Split enemies into more manageable groups, or sacrifice one companion, then rush back to heal him when the coast is clear. Very few animals will eat you alive, even if it'd make sense for them do so(wolves).
5. Cheese the encounter by using exploitable attack animations.

Other survival games have more interesting mechanics like tracking, distractions, traps, etc. But if you're stupid enough to run naked into a pack of wolves, it should be over for you anyway. Unforgiving world and all that.

 

[mondblut]

And what's the point of not being able to run away and getting killed? Congrats, game over, reload. How exciting.

The game is already quite forgiving. You can:

1. Use your superior awareness to avoid dangerous enemies.
2. Become nearly invisible with sneaking, even though the enemy can't do the same.
3. Lead enemies away to other hostile groups/environmental hazards.
4. Split enemies into more manageable groups, or sacrifice one companion, then rush back to heal him when the coast is clear. Very few animals will eat you alive, even if it'd make sense for them do so(wolves).
5. Cheese the encounter by using exploitable attack animations.

Other survival games have more interesting mechanics like tracking, distractions, traps, etc. But if you're stupid enough to run naked into a pack of wolves, it should be over for you anyway. Unforgiving world and all that.

That doesn't answer my question. How does not being able to run away and consequently getting killed and having to reload enhance gameplay?

If you find the game not "unforgiving" enough, feel free to smash your balls with a hammer everytime someone lands a hit on your character. House rules n sheet, ya know.

 

[PlayerEmers]

kenshi is hard and unforgiving till the moment you pass the knowledge check phase of the game experience

that takes hundreds of hours (if you avoid guides) but when you learn how things work and how broken things can really get, I'd say kenshi is a rather casual and chill game

its literally the same thing as project zomboid: its a interesting time consuming janky experience that takes you far too long to realize the game is not as complex and deep as some autists make people believe
funnily enough, both have britbong devs and both have some infamy of being incompetent (but zomboid devs are obviously far worse and way too retarded)

i like both games still

and about running from everything making things easier, i kinda agree but this would require total revamp of game systems and design philosophy, so we will need to wait for kenshi 2 or some korean autist to make a big mod for kenshi for this running problem to get fixed (or at least an attempt to get fixed)

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

And what's the point of not being able to run away and getting killed? Congrats, game over, reload. How exciting.

The game is already quite forgiving. You can:

1. Use your superior awareness to avoid dangerous enemies.
2. Become nearly invisible with sneaking, even though the enemy can't do the same.
3. Lead enemies away to other hostile groups/environmental hazards.
4. Split enemies into more manageable groups, or sacrifice one companion, then rush back to heal him when the coast is clear. Very few animals will eat you alive, even if it'd make sense for them do so(wolves).
5. Cheese the encounter by using exploitable attack animations.

Other survival games have more interesting mechanics like tracking, distractions, traps, etc. But if you're stupid enough to run naked into a pack of wolves, it should be over for you anyway. Unforgiving world and all that.

That doesn't answer my question. How does not being able to run away and consequently getting killed and having to reload enhance gameplay?

If you find the game not "unforgiving" enough, feel free to smash your balls with a hammer everytime someone lands a hit on your character. House rules n sheet, ya know.

Survival game + unforgiving world (this is the game's own marketing, not something I'm making up) is irrelevant if every decision is reversible. There have to be times where you're truly fucked and it's your own fault for not avoiding it. You're talking as if the player has no agency in what kind of situations he gets himself into.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

kenshi is hard and unforgiving till the moment you pass the knowledge check phase of the game experience

that takes hundreds of hours (if you avoid guides) but when you learn how things work and how broken things can really get, I'd say kenshi is a rather casual and chill game

its literally the same thing as project zomboid: its a interesting time consuming janky experience that takes you far too long to realize the game is not as complex and deep as some autists make people believe
funnily enough, both have britbong devs and both have some infamy of being incompetent (but zomboid devs are obviously far worse and way too retarded)

i like both games still

and about running from everything making things easier, i kinda agree but this would require total revamp of game systems and design philosophy, so we will need to wait for kenshi 2 or some korean autist to make a big mod for kenshi for this running problem to get fixed (or at least an attempt to get fixed)

In defense of Zomboid, though, its gives you a lot of freedom in how to curate specific scenarios and it can range from 'pretty difficult' to 'next to impossible' if you choose to do so, while maintaing a fair challenge. It also features meaningful CC, while in Kenshi every character can become godlike.

 

[mondblut]

Survival game + unforgiving world (this is the game's own marketing, not something I'm making up) is irrelevant if every decision is reversible. There have to be times where you're truly fucked and it's your own fault for not avoiding it. You're talking as if the player has no agency in what kind of situations he gets himself into.

Games are entertainment, not morality lessons. Running away from danger praying you'll make it and won't accidentally end up in even worse predicament is gameplay. "You have made a WRONG CHOICE, sinner, now REPENT and RELOAD" is not.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Survival game + unforgiving world (this is the game's own marketing, not something I'm making up) is irrelevant if every decision is reversible. There have to be times where you're truly fucked and it's your own fault for not avoiding it. You're talking as if the player has no agency in what kind of situations he gets himself into.

Games are entertainment, not morality lessons. Running away from danger praying you'll make it and won't accidentally end up in even worse predicament is gameplay. "You have made a WRONG CHOICE, sinner, now REPENT and RELOAD" is not.

It's entertaining to me to be forced to use my BRIAN as to not die stupidly. Consequences are necessary. BTW, the main dev himself has stated that the real way to play Kenshi is ironman. I just want the game to live up to its potential.

 

[mondblut]

It's entertaining to me to be forced to use my BRIAN as to not die stupidly.

Well duh, you failed, now what? APOLOGIZE and accept your PUNISHMENT for doing the WRONG THING?

BTW, the main dev himself has stated that the real way to play Kenshi is ironman.

And that's why he minimized the amount of fail states. Not only by making most encounters not deadly, but also... drumroll... by giving us the ability to run away from them.

I just want the game to live up to its potential.

REPENT and RESTART then. You must be fun at parties

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

It's entertaining to me to be forced to use my BRIAN as to not die stupidly.

Well duh, you failed, now what? APOLOGIZE and accept your PUNISHMENT for doing the WRONG THING?

BTW, the main dev himself has stated that the real way to play Kenshi is ironman.

And that's why he minimized the amount of fail states. Not only by making most encounters not deadly, but also... drumroll... by giving us the ability to run away from them.

I just want the game to live up to its potential.

REPENT and RESTART then. You must be fun at parties

You're a CASUAL, I don't care about arguing this with you. Go play with out LEGOs.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Maybe play the game, retard? All raids are announced days in advance

Formal raids, yes, wandering pack attacks, no.

Letting the player outrun everything just by playing a little bit(Athletics level up naturally and very quickly) is straight up CASUAL design.

Running becomes challenging when you are injured, wearing enough armor to survive basically any fights, carrying unconscious teammates, carrying any amount of loot, or all of the above.

Besides, what kind of strategy is running away all the time? Who plays the game that way? Sure you can build a no-armor high-athletics character, run from all enemies and ensure he never once takes any injuries or picks up anything heavy, and you'll live until you starve. Is that really playing Kenshi though? How many ancient science books or AI cores can you get this way?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Besides, what kind of strategy is running away all the time? Who plays the game that way?

Fallout diplomats.

 

[BlessedBlakeHolyBeHisWord]

Anyone mention in this thread how the development of some parts of the game (such as The Holy Nation) were retroactively changed during development by a single person (Nat I believe, there's a lot of hatebonery on /keng/ and I understand and approve of it) to be unintentionally worse than its original state because said person wanted to check boxes or some shit? Most of what I hear about developer shenanigans I don't experience for myself comes from /keng/ and man...there's some shit here and there. Take them with a grain of salt of course.

 

[Hag]

Anyone mention in this thread how the development of some parts of the game (such as The Holy Nation) were retroactively changed during development by a single person (Nat I believe, there's a lot of hatebonery on /keng/ and I understand and approve of it) to be unintentionally worse than its original state because said person wanted to check boxes or some shit? Most of what I hear about developer shenanigans I don't experience for myself comes from /keng/ and man...there's some shit here and there. Take them with a grain of salt of course.

What are you even trying to say ?

They should put a big advertisement on imageboards on how using them has been proven to make you lose communication skills and possibly create brain damage.

 

[kangaxx]

Is this game any good? I've been tempted to try it for a while.

 

[Hag]

Is this game any good? I've been tempted to try it for a while.

It's very good if you like exploration and free play with no quests nor hand-holding.
Very few games offer such a complete liberty to do whatever you want the way you want, with a decent dynamic reputation and faction system.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Running becomes challenging when you are injured, wearing enough armor to survive basically any fights, carrying unconscious teammates, carrying any amount of loot, or all of the above.

Besides, what kind of strategy is running away all the time? Who plays the game that way? Sure you can build a no-armor high-athletics character, run from all enemies and ensure he never once takes any injuries or picks up anything heavy, and you'll live until you starve. Is that really playing Kenshi though? How many ancient science books or AI cores can you get this way?

Well, injuries also slow down enemies. In normal circumstances, the player doesn't need to play carefully--that's all I'm saying. The player shouldn't always have initiative. If I'm in the woods and a large predator stats running in my direction I have serious problem, in Kenshi I can just run away. The only exceptions are Beak Things, but then you play the game for a few hours and realize they have a laughably exploitable attack animation, and can be kited indefinitely by the weakest character. This is casual design, why are we making excuses?

Is this game any good? I've been tempted to try it for a while.

It's one of my favorite games, despite how much I shit on it. There's nothing like it.

 

[BlessedBlakeHolyBeHisWord]

Is this game any good? I've been tempted to try it for a while.

Damn right, while there are some limitations the freedom it offers is unlike many other games. Want to be a slave trader (though you can't directly enslave others sadly)? You can do that. Want to be a bounty hunter? Obviously available. Peaceful farmer? You can be a farmer at least, not really peaceful. Want to just build towns? Go ahead, just be prepared to face what all builders before you have conquered or fallen to. Want to be an absolutely murderhobo and kill every important NPC in the game and destroy civilization? You most certainly can, no threads of prophesy to sever. Modding community is pretty extensive so if you feel like something is missing you're bound to find something in the workshop. There's much to criticize of course and you'll find them out for yourself and on this thread, but at the end of the day this is hell of a game. Fair warning if you try, game will rape you right out of the gate so learn to exploit the shit out of it. And getting your ass beat by a bunch of hungry bandits isn't a net negative since you become stronger from the fighting (Toughness for example). Even being enslaved yourself can offer opportunities, losing is !fun!
Read up on the game well, there's not really anything to spoil yourself on except for certain encounters since there's no quests or anything of that nature so there's no reason not to go in as prepare as possible.