Exponential Difficulty


henroe32

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The Long Dark is a hard survival game, it's supposed to be (unlike minecraft) but perhaps a changing difficulty version would make a more enjoyable game.

I was recently playing on stalker difficulty on desolation point and I was having a great time. I had visited the Riken, the warehouse, the lighthouse, the church, the truck, the mine and Katie's secluded corner. I was preparing my gear for leaving my base ready to head to coastal highway. I'd gathered plenty of cans, plenty of firewood and even a bow and pry bar. I crossed the perilous bridges as I left the lighthouse. Suddenly, I was attacked by a wolf when I rejoined the road managing to lose a 50% slice of my condition (shameful I know) before the minute I awoke I was attacked again by another one (this one finishing off Will McKenzie). What angered me even more was that I had tried to stop the wolf with a torch only for it to attack.

The game is good and and I understand that a wolf is more likely to attack wounded prey, but if the game got slightly easier the lower your condition it may make the sandbox more enjoyable rather than downright frustrating. 

If any of you haven't played Half Life 2 then you definitely should, but if you have played it you will know that you could always tell when there would be a hard section because you would probably be given access to a large number of health packs and ammunition crates.

This is what the game needs. If you get attacked by a wolf you shouldn't immediately be subject to another one in the same way in that you never have a boss straight after another one. The difficulty should be a mountain range rather than a constant flat line. 

If not in the sandbox (I expect it would be hard to implement) then at least note that unfair attacks like that should not be something that occurs in the story mode.

One of the things I find the most challengeing but also enjoyable in the game is how you try to improve one stat only to have another decline, like sleep and hydration. I think these are good things that form peaks of difficulty, but disasters such as animal attacks should not be something thrown in to provide the zig zag.

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I find that making adjustable difficulty would ruin game. If youre chose punishing difficulty, then its your choice.

Generally speaking its all about planning. So if things get bad later in game, then you have only yourself to blame. Being 2 lazy or being 2 greedy.

I periodically get attacked by up to 3 wolves, so for me its not even a notable event. Im more frustrated about loss of all that meat as i cant track all of them at same time and there is no skill that would assist me with those things. And the fact that it takes a ton of antiseptic, even tho its fairly rare medication, especially compared to drop rates of, next to useless in comparison, painkillers(i can play whole games without taking even one pill, but infection is practically always lethal if not treated and there is only one way to deal with it).

Honestly, for me wolf threat is divided: 90% infection, 5% condition, 5% damaged clothes. With non-existing condition management system i could stab 3-4 of them to death every day, if not for need of dealing with infections. They are not particularly smart nor strong.

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I agree, it is usually just being frustrated because of poor planning.

 Example, had you climbed down the hillside of the lighthouse, walked close to the ocean, towards Katie's, then up the hill and across the street, the up to the cave, you probably would have avoided them altogether. But because you went right where they go often and they were likely shielded from view with the high snowbanks, you got surprised and paid the ultimate price.  [spoiler/]

Lesson learned, next time, either scout out from a better vantage point, and be sure your path is safe, or travel armed (equipped with the bow or flare, torch, etc....) expecting them to be there and pleasantly surprised when they are not....

There is a tendency with the games (I am just as guilty) to blame the game or settings when we fail, with this game, more experience teaches you to not make the same mistakes again as you would in a survival experience. Like falling thru the ice, ya probably learn fast what NOT to do if you survive!

 

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4 hours ago, henroe32 said:

The Long Dark is a hard survival game, it's supposed to be (unlike minecraft) but perhaps a changing difficulty version would make a more enjoyable game.

I was recently playing on stalker difficulty on desolation point and I was having a great time. I had visited the Riken, the warehouse, the lighthouse, the church, the truck, the mine and Katie's secluded corner. I was preparing my gear for leaving my base ready to head to coastal highway. I'd gathered plenty of cans, plenty of firewood and even a bow and pry bar. I crossed the perilous bridges as I left the lighthouse. Suddenly, I was attacked by a wolf when I rejoined the road managing to lose a 50% slice of my condition (shameful I know) before the minute I awoke I was attacked again by another one (this one finishing off Will McKenzie). What angered me even more was that I had tried to stop the wolf with a torch only for it to attack.

The game is good and and I understand that a wolf is more likely to attack wounded prey, but if the game got slightly easier the lower your condition it may make the sandbox more enjoyable rather than downright frustrating. 

If any of you haven't played Half Life 2 then you definitely should, but if you have played it you will know that you could always tell when there would be a hard section because you would probably be given access to a large number of health packs and ammunition crates.

This is what the game needs. If you get attacked by a wolf you shouldn't immediately be subject to another one in the same way in that you never have a boss straight after another one. The difficulty should be a mountain range rather than a constant flat line. 

If not in the sandbox (I expect it would be hard to implement) then at least note that unfair attacks like that should not be something that occurs in the story mode.

One of the things I find the most challengeing but also enjoyable in the game is how you try to improve one stat only to have another decline, like sleep and hydration. I think these are good things that form peaks of difficulty, but disasters such as animal attacks should not be something thrown in to provide the zig zag.

What you describe as frustrating is actually one of things I like most about the game: you get into a groove, start to feel comfortable with the environment and your prospects; you make long-term plans, but in doing so forget to be careful on that awkward wolf-passing spot: and then BAM! suddenly you're fighting for your life.

I think more could be made of this, if anything, rather than toning it down. Having longer-term effects for injuries incurred by fighting off animals, or for any serious or sudden condition loss - so that you can't just sleep for a day or so and then carry on afterwards as if nothing had ever happened. Have your character wear his/her past experiences, as it were - making each playthrough slightly different.

I know it's frustrating at the time when you die from these things  - we've probably all had that happen more times than we can count - but for me it's the very fact that you can have your playthrough wiped out in an instant that gives the game its tension. And in turn, it makes it all the more rewarding on the occasions when you do manage to survive by the skin of your teeth.

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18 hours ago, AZHockeyNut said:

I love the way I panic when crossing the ravine bridge, the broken rail line, or some of the edges of peaks on TWM... I keep thinking, don't look down don't look down.... yes, I have fallen......  and yes... it totally sucks!

Im acrophobic, so that bridge part scares the shit out of me every time i cross. I have event went around, thru PV on numerous occasions, just to skip this part. Game itself is extremely immersive(with some exceptions), but this part...fuck me...

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I absolutely love that bridge. Even after the billion times I have crossed it, I enjoy looking at it and the noises you hear while crossing it.

 

As for the OP, it's a combination of bad luck and laziness. I have done it countless times myself. Wolves are easy to avoid if you actively choose to avoid them. As soon as you think about the destination instead of the journey you are likely to become a snow angel.

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Yday i actually outwalked 2 wolves, lol. I had sprained ankle and was heading back to base and run into two of those. Considering that i already meleed 4 of them on same day(thus problems with ankle), i was really not in the mood to engage them.

Way that wolves are just evenly dispersed across map is really lame, usually they are stupid enough to easily avoid them, but sometimes their mere presence starts to piss me off. And even if you kill them, they just respawn the very next day. Out of curiosity i killed 22 wolves in exactly same area over period of 6 days, they just spawn back every time.

Anyways, i cant run, so im limping, determinedly, towards my hq, when one of those comes out from around the rock. Tried to avoid it, but he spotted me and started to growl and follow. Im limping. And then from another side another fker comes out. FFS!!!! Im limping, trying to keep trees and snowpiles between them and me. And that went for a while, them following and growling and me trying to outwalk them. And i actually got away.

Didnt happen first time, but considering my state, it was rather funny. I know that i cant outrun them, but outwalk them...lol

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