Sub Stories


henroe32

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I know that the game is a "sandbox" and that the story mode for the game is not yet done, but it would be nice to add some small stories to give locations a deeper feel. 

The way I would implement these is through the use of small journals, notes and other forms of simple literature found in and around locations that tell stories from before the disaster. You may also be able to find them near the clutches of corpses, giving them more intricacy and purpose in the game. This would be very similar to the ones found in Bethesda titles such as Skyrim where every book contributed to the lore. The difference would be that in The Long Dark you have the relaxed state of mind to actually bother to read them and not go and kill the dragon swooping down overhead. 

Comment your thoughts on this idea and also comment any ideas you may have for sub stories and which locations they would suit.

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Interesting, but keep in mind this is why Story Mode is being developed. Perhaps more context would be nice (journals maybe?) but when I play sandbox I like to feel randomized. Even though replayability  is limited, it would feel too linear in my opinion if they added too much of a backstory. 

 

Anyhow, all the questions we have about the map will be answered in a few months ;)

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I agree; a sandbox is a sandbox

8 hours ago, EricTheGreat12 said:

Interesting, but keep in mind this is why Story Mode is being developed. Perhaps more context would be nice (journals maybe?) but when I play sandbox I like to feel randomized. Even though replayability  is limited, it would feel too linear in my opinion if they added too much of a backstory. 

 

Anyhow, all the questions we have about the map will be answered in a few months ;)

I agree; a sandbox is a sandbox. It would be a really neat idea to add backstory though to a game where map is open to explore while travelling to more mainline story objectives.

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16 hours ago, henroe32 said:

The way I would implement these is through the use of small journals, notes and other forms of simple literature found in and around locations that tell stories from before the disaster. You may also be able to find them near the clutches of corpses, giving them more intricacy and purpose in the game. This would be very similar to the ones found in Bethesda titles such as Skyrim where every book contributed to the lore. The difference would be that in The Long Dark you have the relaxed state of mind to actually bother to read them and not go and kill the dragon swooping down overhead. 

An interesting idea. Are you imagining that these lore items would function mainly to give insight into the backstory of the world, or would they impact gameplay somehow?

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There is already some little story in the actual sandbox : how the climber ended at the summit, the car accident in desagreement point, matt's truck, katie's secluded corner. and the dam...
Yes it's not obvious but with the several items who can be found around the corpse we can recreate a story.

For exemple in the dam you have a broken door, several clues of fight (with human or against fluffy ?),a body in the upper level , an abondonned backpack in the lower level, and a frozen body( called Frank)  with bandages/blood on the floor and a bow and two shoted arrows on the door. 
My theory : Frank was a worker or lived in the dam when the Event occured. Full of ressources the dam was a real treasure for raiders.  A  stealer arrived to loot the worker's breakroom but he was surprised by frank. In the panic the stealer left his backpack on the floor and ran away.  Hurt, frank tried to shot two arrows but the raider arrived to close the door at time. Wounded, frank tried to heal himself but he was too late.
For the raider, he was surprised by a wolf (our lovely fluffy ! ) and lost his gun while he tried to defend himself (that was there is a rifle spawn in the dam maybe). But the wolf won...

It's just a theory but with few element you can create a story !  

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22 hours ago, Mel Guille said:

An interesting idea. Are you imagining that these lore items would function mainly to give insight into the backstory of the world, or would they impact gameplay somehow?

I guess the way it can impact the game play could be trough hints where you can find some special items, or the preppers cache, or some other special or hidden rewards. 

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On 04/03/2017 at 5:49 PM, Mel Guille said:

An interesting idea. Are you imagining that these lore items would function mainly to give insight into the backstory of the world, or would they impact gameplay somehow?

Perhaps both.

If for instance you read articles of others attempting to survive in the world and entering the hydro dam for instance, reading that article could make fluffy's code far more likely to occur. 

Perhaps if they added a craftable map to the game (I have also written a suggestion on this idea) finding notes could be memorised and added to your map for further reference. Similarly to how information is added to the map in firewatch.

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@Mel Guille I would like two things to add more story elements to the sandbox:

1. More notes like those left by the Climber in Timberwolf Mountain

2. "Junk" items found on corpses to give some sense that they were people and not just item containers. E.g. burnt out lighters, candy bar wrappers, a gas coupon, etc.

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More than creating gameplay element, i also think that those king of thing would be really interesting at creating a living world (well, dying for that matter). Even if those element (journal, "junk" item, etc) don't add anything in a gameplay aspect, having a "feel" about the places you are, the "people" you "meet" is what's making a huge difference in immersion. Like all those book you burn to survive... What if it was a "real" book that tell a story that you could like, or not. You may felling a bit bad for burning it but then, would probably need to sometimes, thus making a simple gameplay element as feeding a fire a choice that have a weight for you. You would feel the price of survival more vividly wouldn't you?

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Agreed, I loved the climber's journal page when I first found it. The stories don't have to be connected, and in a way their separateness will tell a greater story, the story of The Long Dark. I have the feeling we'll see a lot more of this once story mode is out.

On a related note, the first time I found the farmhouse and saw the upstairs, it hit me right in the gut, right in the feels. Same with the swingset in coastal highway. We need more stuff like this!

@cekivi I like your ideas, having corpse's be containers always bothered me. it would be fascinating to see things like a corpse that was clearly attacked by an animal, with a jammed rifle laying nearby. Or one deep in a cave clutching a burnt out flare/lantern out of fuel, etc

Sam

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2 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Welcome to the forums @Bidule ^_^

Thanks ^^. Glad to be here actually !

 

To the topic at hand, i also feel like it would be interesting to have newspaper with "real" article inside. Just to be reminisced of How The World Was when traveling through How The World Is now. Going trough the fishing camp wouldn't be the same after reading a newpaper with some trivia about it, reading of people who was there (with name and everything), looking at what they were doing here before, not just imagining it but living it through an article. That, in every aspect, would be so awesome !!

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6 minutes ago, Bidule said:

Thanks ^^. Glad to be here actually !

 

To the topic at hand, i also feel like it would be interesting to have newspaper with "real" article inside. Just to be reminisced of How The World Was when traveling through How The World Is now. Going trough the fishing camp wouldn't be the same after reading a newpaper with some trivia about it, reading of people who was there (with name and everything), looking at what they were doing here before, not just imagining it but living it through an article. That, in every aspect, would be so awesome !!

If you want to get really dark in a hurry all you'd need are some parked cars, out door BBQs, fire pit, and banner's for "10th annual Great Bear Island Ice Fishing Derby". That'd be a really quick way to juxtapose the happier "what was" with the long dark "what happened".

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Yes ! Exactly the kind of feeling that The Long Dark deserve in my honest opinion !! Even thing like an add "Great Sales on sandwiches" in Quonset gas station of a teddy bear in the cabin by the mystery lake. There are so many tiny element like that that could add so more depth. Would you harvest the cloth of the teddy bear? For every thing that it's representing?

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41 minutes ago, Bidule said:

Yes ! Exactly the kind of feeling that The Long Dark deserve in my honest opinion !! Even thing like an add "Great Sales on sandwiches" in Quonset gas station of a teddy bear in the cabin by the mystery lake. There are so many tiny element like that that could add so more depth. Would you harvest the cloth of the teddy bear? For every thing that it's representing?

It's a good idea but you'll have to be careful with amount of large scale stuff like that you have; too much of it and you'll soon be entering the fallout franchise

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