Regions Going Forward


gapshot11

Would You Like To See Regions Locked Again Until Their Transition Zones Are Discovered?  

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I've been around for awhile now, logged 489 hours of game play through my Steam account. Two things I would love to see happen in TLD going forward....

1) I would love to see MANY more regions added (I don't know what the community thinks but I love Sandbox mode and would be more than happy with the game just playing it. But I would want twice as many Regions)

2) I would love to see the Regions locked again like they used to be, and only unlocked once you found the transition zones (I loved this aspect of the game and felt it added another layer of accomplishment to each play through. Knowing there were these other regions out there but not being able to get them without surviving and exploring first helped add deep levels of immersion and ultimately value to each game that was started in my opinion. I don't want to have 5 different games in 5 different regions all at the same time. My style is to play one game at a time until I perish.)

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41 minutes ago, gapshot11 said:

I've been around for awhile now, logged 489 hours of game play through my Steam account. Two things I would love to see happen in TLD going forward....

1) I would love to see MANY more regions added (I don't know what the community thinks but I love Sandbox mode and would be more than happy with the game just playing it. But I would want twice as many Regions)

2) I would love to see the Regions locked again like they used to be, and only unlocked once you found the transition zones (I loved this aspect of the game and felt it added another layer of accomplishment to each play through. Knowing there were these other regions out there but not being able to get them without surviving and exploring first helped add deep levels of immersion and ultimately value to each game that was started in my opinion. I don't want to have 5 different games in 5 different regions all at the same time. My style is to play one game at a time until I perish.)

We liked the sense of "progression" that the locked Regions brought to the game for exactly the reasons you outline.

At the same time, we were seeing that many, many players were simply never venturing outside Mystery Lake. That's one reason we wanted to allow for more flexibility in Sandbox Mode game starts--so players could see more of the world! 

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I guess that is the unavoidable "fork in the road" that developers have to deal with. You have built this amazing world, truly beautiful and haunting in so many ways. The simple fact that players were willing to stay in Mystery Lake is a testament to how much effort has been poured into each area! That a player like myself was happy to remain in ML for over 40 days even though I knew how to get to Pleasant Valley is a triumph and ringing endorsement to the team at Hinterland, not a curse! There was an excitement and at the same time anxiety that would build inside of me when I would think of venturing to PV while sitting comfortably in the ML Camp Office.

When the regions became unlocked, however, something fell away. Please do not mistake me, I have had many a run in other regions that were quite fun. But no matter how many times I told myself I would follow the rules established before the regions were unlocked, I could not control myself. Like a child left alone with the cookie jar, I snuck a peek here, and a peek there. I ate even though I didn't earn it. And although it still tasted good, and I did (and still do) enjoy the experience, I don't believe it is as fulfilling as if I had earned it. The excitement and anxiety are no longer there.

I will continue to champion not only The Long Dark, but Hinterland as I have never experienced a game or developer as engaging and talented as this. I must try at least to lobby the team into re-locking the regions and any subsequent new regions that are added. For those who desire to see the areas, they can hunt and search from the very beginning. For those of us who desire to "live out" the experience, we will once again have to find the path that leads to "Hinterland Forest", and then make the decision on when to use it.

 

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45 minutes ago, gapshot11 said:

When the regions became unlocked, however, something fell away. Please do not mistake me, I have had many a run in other regions that were quite fun. But no matter how many times I told myself I would follow the rules established before the regions were unlocked, I could not control myself. Like a child left alone with the cookie jar, I snuck a peek here, and a peek there. I ate even though I didn't earn it. And although it still tasted good, and I did (and still do) enjoy the experience, I don't believe it is as fulfilling as if I had earned it. The excitement and anxiety are no longer there.

Welcome to the forums @gapshot11 ^_^

I agree, it was nice when regions were locked and you had to struggle to find each one.

@Patrick Carlson: perhaps locked regions and exploration can still be achieved through the challenges? Almost every challenge requires you to travel to at least one other map.

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To be honest, I've had ideas on regions that could be made...I posted something right after the Timberwolf Mountain update that mentioned a region almost exactly like it. I still stand by my other suggestion, though. And with the new Interloper mode, I think that is a challenge even the most experienced players would have trouble with.

I'll post a thread on this idea.

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1 hour ago, cekivi said:

Welcome to the forums @gapshot11 ^_^

I agree, it was nice when regions were locked and you had to struggle to find each one.

@Patrick Carlson: perhaps locked regions and exploration can still be achieved through the challenges? Almost every challenge requires you to travel to at least one other map.

Something similar could be an interesting way to approach a Challenge Mode. On the other hand, isn't the freedom in something like Nomad, to spend time at any of the locations in any order, a good thing? :)

 

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Maybe there should be something like this established for story mode - you can only visit regions related to the chapters you have completed. If they makes sense to avert spoilers and stuff I'd be all for it. 

But just finding the transition points in sandbox is kind of arbitrary as a means of locking start locations. Exploring a new area is awesome fun, and I used to just look up where the transition points were anyway so I could head across in my game anyway. 

Plus, now the challenges start you off in different regions anyway. 

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41 minutes ago, Patrick Carlson said:

Something similar could be an interesting way to approach a Challenge Mode. On the other hand, isn't the freedom in something like Nomad, to spend time at any of the locations in any order, a good thing? :)

 

Yes, but doing the Nomad Challenge would also encourage you to unlock all the regions too :winky:

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1 hour ago, LucidFugue said:

But just finding the transition points in sandbox is kind of arbitrary as a means of locking start locations. Exploring a new area is awesome fun, and I used to just look up where the transition points were anyway so I could head across in my game anyway. 

Totally agree with you on this.

For story mode it will make sense to lock the regions and to define a fixed start-location, but i assume, that this is the case anyway, when story-mode get's available. For sandbox games i prefer to choose in which region i want to play. And when there's a new region introduced, i want to play it immediately and not having to search for the transition-zone, first. I think it also helps the developers when more players are able to (and do) play newly introduced regions, in regard to finding bugs and evaluate new / changed game concepts. Eg.: climbing was only available in TWM at first (if i remember correctly).

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5 hours ago, aurora said:

Eg.: climbing was only available in TWM at first (if i remember correctly).

You remember correctly :winky:

I understand that reason to unlock everything and it is fine for the alpha but if the sandbox is included with the finished game (which I think is the current plan?) then locking regions makes sense again. You'd be encouraging exploration and hiding the wonders that are just beyond the winding river or creaky ravine bridges. :big_smile:

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3 hours ago, LucidFugue said:

Maybe there should be something like this established for story mode - you can only visit regions related to the chapters you have completed. If they makes sense to avert spoilers and stuff I'd be all for it. 

But just finding the transition points in sandbox is kind of arbitrary as a means of locking start locations. Exploring a new area is awesome fun, and I used to just look up where the transition points were anyway so I could head across in my game anyway. 

Plus, now the challenges start you off in different regions anyway. 

That is great, if that is the way you want to play. For those of us who preferred the exploration aspect and reward of finding a transition zone, well, we no longer have that option. (Or we do if we can exert enormous amounts of self-control)

By your own comment, even when the regions were locked you still just skipped right to the new region by finding the transition zone online. So it seems to me that everyone could still get what they want if the regions were locked. Remember, what seems arbitrary to you may have been fairly significant to some of us.

I'm not crazy about it being a challenge, as my trouble was no self control and that wouldn't really solve that.

Sandbox had better not go away when Story Mode comes. I know I might be in the minority, but I bought this game for the Sandbox mode.

I also prefer it like before across all difficulties. I never play Nomad. I only play Stalker (and now Interloper). Or maybe that is the answer. Regions are locked until Transitions discovered on Stalker and higher difficulty.

I've touched on a lot of things in this post. Sorry. Many not pertaining to the quoted text. Sorry again.

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Well, I tended to look up transition points because I didn't want to have to scale the edges of a map I knew looking for the exit. That's potentially a few hours of play and I was super eager to see the new area. I get that there is temptation there. 

But I didn't want to start in a random location in a map I didn't know at all with starting gear. So you are right - if the regions were locked until visited, I'd be fine with that. It's how I play anyway.

The maps Hinterland are making right now are for story mode and they have said they're not releasing them all into sandbox ahead of story mode coming out. This is so there is some surprise and novelty when story mode comes out. I wouldn't think it would make sense if those were immediately available in sandbox on release day. 

So I guess they could reset back to the old way, once story mode is out. At least then the narrative will drive people onward. 

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9 hours ago, gapshot11 said:

That is great, if that is the way you want to play. For those of us who preferred the exploration aspect and reward of finding a transition zone, well, we no longer have that option. (Or we do if we can exert enormous amounts of self-control)

:D ... i definitely do not have this amount of self-control ... :D ... sometimes it's even hard to not look-up one of the great maps available for TLD.

I think both sides have valid points on this and @cekivi is probably right regarding locking regions when TLD is out of alpha / when story-.mode is introduced.

 

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18 hours ago, gapshot11 said:

and now Interloper

and there the regions are locked sort of, because the game choses a starting location on one of 3 maps for you, you have to discover all the other regions by yourself ;)

Personally, if region locks come back I hope they won't be locked for existing players, just new ones - which in my opinion should be the case anyway. But after several hundred hours "finding" another region is hardly a challenge anymore, it just hinders you to start out in your prefered map, which is why I like my regions unlocked (Interloper aside) :D

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