Need help with early story mode.

[Zer0beaT]

yeah, I haven't played this in a long time. Excited to get into it again with story mode. Anyway, I am already stuck early in and can't figure out what to do.

 

I have to eat. There doesn't seem to be anything I can get to. There's a dead deer but it's out of reach. Can I climb or something? I keep dying of starvation. This game must be very confusing for new people. I'm just not sure what to do next I have campfire in the cave, I've searched all over the little area and tried doing stuff in the menus etc. 

I'm on "day 2, find and eat some food to keep your strength" but I can't find food. I can't take any berries it says I don't need those yet. 

Help appreciated and boy did I get stuck right off the bat!

[Zer0beaT]

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I finally figured out how to move on. 

When I was searching containers I was just clicking A (on Xbox One) not holding it down. I thought all the containers were empty. 

I don't even know actually why I eventually decided to hold the A down, I honestly just didn't think I should hold it down but there it is, that's what was holding me back from finding any food.

I really think completely new players are going to have trouble getting started in this game if there aren't better tips about how to do things in the beginning.

[Badger]

Also try breaking down the crates in the area.

[nicko]

The first few days just try to follow your journal and do the basics, collect sticks wood where you can. etc.

[joseph_kang]

On 8/2/2017 at 1:00 AM, Zer0beaT said:

I really think completely new players are going to have trouble getting started in this game if there aren't better tips about how to do things in the beginning.

I completely agree with you on this point. I died a few times before I figured out how to boil water. While I initially played survival mode for a bit after it first launched, it wasn't why I backed the game so I hadn't touched it since. I think they need to do better about tips on starting fires, boiling water, and searching containers. Or make those sorts of tutorial tips optional through a setting in options.

On 8/2/2017 at 6:06 AM, nicko said:

The first few days just try to follow your journal and do the basics, collect sticks wood where you can. etc.

I think the problem is that for completely new players, there's nothing in the story mode that says how to even do the basics.

[erichoya]

14 hours ago, joseph_kang said:

II think the problem is that for completely new players, there's nothing in the story mode that says how to even do the basics.

I can echo this as I stared at my TV for 20 minutes trying to get past the opening scene  (shrapnel in hand) of episode one on my Xbox One.  From the forums I think I now know what I need to do (bash a button repeatedly) but it would have been nice if a prompt would have appeared describing what to do after a few minutes had elapsed.  I'm all for complex  games and don't want hand holding, but a short tutorial on game systems would do wonders.

[Winnsford]

Took me a few minutes to realize there was a metal shard in my hand. Barely see it in the darkness. Then I ate the deer in pieces before I realized the journal said "eat until you're full". Had to restart. Best advice is to keep referring to the journal.

[Hackfleisch]

The start can be tough, my problem was that I just went to default game mode, so in the beginning I immediately made a big fire to warm up and make some water, then the next day the objective was 'build a fire to last the night' and I couldn't find enough wood before dark. Then I almost got there but between having to warm up after collecting a branch or crate and the falling darkness, I got my fire up to 8h58m twice before it got too dark to grab another stick. With the deer I also couldn't harvest it all at once, but eventually I had enough to progress. Can be pretty frustrating at times. The game doesn't hold your hand, and in the beginning you'll be restarting a few times and thinking 'how the hell?' I had more trouble completing the first few days of story mode than I ever had in survival.

My advice is to keep checking the journal and stick to the bare minimum requirements, save everything you can in case you need it later.

[cullam]

They've actually changed how the fire objective works. It now counts the time the fire has burned as well, so this issue has pretty much gone away. The shrapnel, however, is still easy to miss. 

[Concillian]

I think the UI wonkiness is intended.  I think you are meant to be a little disoriented and figuring things out as you go along.  I think it's meant to mimic the experience your survivor is going through as someone who is in a new situation and learning how to surivive.  Your UI discoveries are meant to bring an emotional response in the same way that discovering how to reliably make fire would in your survivor.

The game is not meant to hold your hand.  This will be off-putting to some people, but it's clearly a part of the game, as they had ample time in early access to guide users better in the UI, and they didn't.

[Mike in GA]

Actually the UI changed a good bit pre-release to the icons. Lots of debate in the forums about it. 

To be fair I had some difficulty in story mode from time to time, and I was playing the sandbox for months with a couple hundred hours logged. Several of the same issues brought up here. Like the rose hips not being harvestable until they are needed for the story. The shard in the hand threw me for a couple minutes  

The advice to follow the bare minimum in the journal is key. Also picking up sticks whenever they are around, and try to interact with anything in the environment. If you can, then it will be helpful in some way to keep surviving. Search everything you safely can. 

The button holding/mashing mechanism was also changed and debated a lot before release.  There is a way to change it in the options for those that prefer, or are not able to hold the buttons for opening/harvesting. 

Don't know where it is for the other platforms as I play on PC. 

Do stay with the game though, absolutely one of the best games I've ever played.