One Year Voyageur - A New Beginning


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Hey everyone, my name is Bryen, and I wanted to share my Let's Play of The Long Dark with the community here on the Hinterland forums. I am new to the forums, but not to the game. I have been playing The Long Dark almost since the first Alpha release, and I've got to say that it is one of my favourite games.

A little bit about me: As I said, my name is Bryen, and I have a YouTube channel called DragonXIII Gaming. My channel is small, but dedicated, with regular uploads every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I mostly play older games, stuff that I remember from my childhood, but I will also be including more current PC games in the future, starting with The Long Dark.

A little about this Let's Play: I have a lot of ideas for my Let's Play series on The Long Dark. Things like running the Challenges, trying Interloper difficulty for the first time, "naked" runs, and so on. To start with, however, I will be attempting to survive for 1 in-game year on Voyageur difficulty. I expect this part of the series to be heavily edited, cutting out a lot of the more tedious, but necessary, "farming" aspects of the game. I will, however, make sure to showcase all of the survival challenges that make this game so compelling, from hunting and fishing, to crafting and exploring. I hope everyone will join me on this journey. Comments and criticisms are both welcomed and encouraged.

 

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So, I really didn't expect that this episode of my TLD series would turn into my first vlog, but sometimes things happen. I'd love to hear peoples' feedback on this series. Let me know what I'm doing right, let me know what I'm doing wrong, maybe give me some ideas for what to do in the future. All comments and criticisms are welcome.

Specifically, I have some ideas about the direction I want to take this first challenge of the series. Surviving a year on Voyageur is all well and good, but how should I do it. The easiest way, as I mention in the video, is just to spend 2 in-game months on each of the 6 maps. But is that really the best division? Should I spend more time on some maps and less on others? And what order should I do them in?

Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

 

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Sometimes less is more regarding commentary. It is no secret (my professed preference for GamerNate's videos) that I prefer to hear more regarding the process, the player's thoughts within the game from moment to moment, thinking out loud, in a sense, but on-topic. Listening to why they are making this or that choice and less hearing their dismay over item X not being where it may or may not be (knowing that the game elements are randomized). I hope this doesn't sound harsh; I am just answering your call for feedback. While some games may demand a more voluminous, energetic commentary, I feel TLD warrants a lower-key, contemplative narration. Just my preference, for what its worth.

 As for how you spend your time, there are too many variables to say with certainty. Of the choices that one can make and control, this seems to lean towards personal play style decisions; many enter a map, choose a location to call home, and then make 'day trips', hauling items back to said location, repeating until said map is exhausted. Others prefer a more nomadic/transient path, calling no single location home, moving from place to place, consuming what's there and then moving on. I have 'settled' in Pleasant Valley myself; while many find the map large and unwieldy, I like the numerous connections to other maps (access to TWM, ML and CH) and prefer an open location to a more mountainous or enclosed area (ML or TWM, for example). I enjoy Forlorn Muskeg for this attribute, but the area is quickly exhausted of resources for long-term situating.

 Making particular forced journeys seems unavoidable however; getting to the forge requires entering certain maps, likely before another area's resources are depleted. On the whole however, it seems to make sense to remain in a given area for a length, learning the map and leveling up skills, making newer areas less of a struggle when entered. This too is dependent upon resources; can a given area support you for a particular duration and we now return to the variables; it's a roll of the dice in many ways which will determine how one can or will proceed.

Love your passion and best of luck with your series! :)

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I don't think it's harsh at all, it's honest feedback, and I appreciate it. In my own defense, I don't normally freak out over not finding certain items where I have come to expect them to be. I accept the fact that there's a lot of randomness in the way various loot generates. In the first part of the video, which was unfortunately unusable, I talked about how I hadn't found much food while exploring the map. Rather than freaking out, however, I took it as an opportunity to try something new, fishing. I don't normally do a lot of fishing in TLD, preferring to hunt and trap for food. I guess that all I can say regarding my freak-out over the rifle not being at Trapper's Homestead is that it was just a shock. Maybe it's just that I've always been lucky in the past, but I have never not found a rifle somewhere on the Mystery Lake map, often after I have already found one on another map, since I don't normally start on ML. Also, I normally play on Stalker, I basically jumped to Stalker directly from Pilgrim shortly after starting the game, and I've never really played Voyageur before. I guess it just shocked me that I'd always find a rifle somewhere when playing on Stalker, and then one would fail to appear on Voyageur. But, I will adapt, and I will keep what you've said in mind for the future. I can't guarantee you exactly the low-key, contemplative narration you're talking about, I can't not be myself after all, but I will try to control future outbursts.

As I said in the video, I believe that my current plan, to spend 2 in-game months on each of the game maps, is the one I will follow. I have some ideas about order, but as you said, it will likely depend heavily on how things go. For instance, having no rifle may force me to move from ML directly to Forlorn Muskeg, since there's a forge there that I can use to craft arrowheads. A big part of the appeal of this game is that there is always more to do, always something else to try. It's what really keeps me coming back to the game and prevents me from getting bored.

Thanks so much for your feedback, and I hope you'll check out my future episodes.

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@togg Thanks for the feedback! :) Interloper is definitely on my agenda, I've specifically avoided playing it just so that I can record my very first attempt. I can't guarantee a relaxed approach at that point though lol. I'm also planning a Naked Stalker run and a few of the Challenges. Probably not some of the longer ones like Nomad or Whiteout, but Hopeless Rescue and The Hunted 1 and 2 are definitely in the cards.

On a more general note, while I do agree that my outburst at the end of the second episode was uncalled for, I am not sure I agree that playing and commenting on the game in a relaxed way is 100% necessary all the time. Everyone has their own style of playing, and everyone certainly has their own way of talking. Certainly, the game does lend itself to a quieter, more introspective approach, but there is still plenty to get excited about. Everyone approaches these things differently I suppose.

I hope you'll come back and enjoy some of my future episodes. :)

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The new episode is live, and I really hope that anyone who's watching these enjoys it. We're getting along fairly well so far, but I am definitely starting to realize how ambitious a goal a 1-year survival is on any difficulty. Not that I think there's a problem actually doing it. It's clear to me that near-indefinite survival is possible on any difficulty (except maybe Interloper). No, the ambitious part is recording it in such a way that there's still plenty of content, but that the series itself doesn't actually take a year to complete. I'm either going to have to start playing longer stretches offline, or start recording shorter segments of footage (over a longer in-game period), and then stitch those pieces together to make an episode.

Anyways, those are thoughts for another day, but if anyone cares to share their opinion on it, please feel free. For now, please enjoy this episode of The Long Dark.

 

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Yes yes of course, I mean it's not about the amount of talking. I wasn't clear. I think it's more about the kind of public that you aim for. A way of giving informations can work for let's say an introduction to the game another can work for those that already like the game and want to see runs of it. Just this :)

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Good episode my friend. I hope it was as natural as it sounds; I enjoyed hearing you think. My comments didn't warrant any apologies! Who am I? It's your game and we can be nothing if not ourselves. :)

I'll keep watching and appreciating no matter what you do. Thanks for posting!

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So, as it turns out, I needn't have worried about the rifle after all. I found one today while I was out looking for birch saplings to make arrow shafts between episodes. I'd never have found it otherwise, because this body was tucked away somewhere I never would have gone. It does go to show though, just finding the rifle won't guarantee survival, it certainly didn't help this poor guy out.

New episode will be coming out at 4 pm Eastern. Small teaser: Hunting!

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