No NPCs in Sandbox

[Salty Crackers]

I don't want NPCs in the Sandbox. For me, the loneliness of the game world adds to the presentation of the game and sets it apart from other survival games. If you're all alone, you can focus more on your survivor's experience instead of all the NPCs in the world. If we do add NPCs, at least provide an option to disable them.

[Timber Wolf]

4 minutes ago, Salty Crackers said:

I don't want NPCs in the Sandbox. For me, the loneliness of the game world adds to the presentation of the game and sets it apart from other survival games. If you're all alone, you can focus more on your survivor's experience instead of all the NPCs in the world. If we do add NPCs, at least provide an option to disable them.

I feel the same way.

[Docterrok]

I feel it should be an option.

[Lovehandel]

Much like the Canadian north is in real life, you can be as alone as you like.

 

Remember, you can play more than one game at a time. In one game I can be a recluse in, another a wandering trader in another or a raging lunatic if I so choose. Choice is seldom a bad thing. As long as the map is large enough, I see no reason not to put pockets of npc's.

 

If I start on TWM I may never encounter an npc. If I make it to CH maybe there are a few. I can trade some skins for fish and continue on my trek to find civilization. Alternatively, I could kill everyone in CH, use up the supplies and then look for other places to release my rage.

[Pillock]

1 hour ago, Docterrok said:

I feel it should be an option.

I think the option of an on/off switch for NPCs in the Sandbox is the most desirable solution, from my point of view.

But if they want to keep a standardized format to the Sandbox, then I'd prefer it to be left without them.

[Baukster77]

I wish it could be turned on and of during a game... or is that cheating? I have a long sandbox game going on and it gets a bit boring. NPC's in the game would be nice to stir things up a bit.

[Salty Crackers]

I'm just going to change this thread into discussing the stuff I don't like on the roadmap.

I think the Rifle is very balanced. It shoots straight, but ammo is scarce and the thing weighs 4 kilos. I don't want a Revolver. We already have enough weapons, and adding more would just make this game into all the other survival games on the market. If we can carry an accurate, lightweight weapon wherever we go, it will completely eliminate any use for the Rifle. If the devs manage to find a specific use for the Revolver, I may be in, but for now, I'm worried it would be too OP.

[JAFO]

7 hours ago, Salty Crackers said:

If we can carry an accurate, lightweight weapon wherever we go, it will completely eliminate any use for the Rifle

No.. it won't. Or it shouldn't, anyway. Generally speaking, revolvers are close-range weapons only. Typically, for your average person, when firing a handgun under pressure, accuracy beyond 10 metres or so is problematic at best. I would hope Hinterland would model that correctly.

[Dirmagnos]

Optional, without a doubt. Some people like NPCs, others dont. And then there is possibility that they may change their mind or try new experience on a new run.

[jessrm89]

I'd love to see an NPC ticker in a sandbox customization menu so that we could manually adjust how many NPCs were operating in the sandbox. (As long as it includes the option: surprise me.) My ideal experience would be to put only one or two in the entire world. Running into them isn't a certainty, and if you do: it's a major, heart-stopping event, and requires lots of risk-negotiating. Do you hide? Do you try to attract their attention and make friends? Do you kill them and take their flares?

It also adds a very low, but nevertheless game-changing possibility of coming back one day to your Mega Safehouse and finding someone cleared out your fridge. In my opinion, that being a frequent or semi-frequent possibility would detract from gameplay. It being an extremely rare, but terrifying prospect? Bring it on. (Of course, I'd want some kind of new craftables to help secure my home when I'm away. Smithable chains? Findable padlocks? Craftable boards to shudder the door/windows? Don't forget to use picks, hammers, and axes to break-and-enter into NPC bases, too! I mean, if you're a jerk like that.)

Mainly, I'd really like to see a sandbox customization menu. That would enable us to tweak our own difficulty settings, i.e. food scarcity, animal aggression, weather ferocity, etc.

[Lovehandel]

I think people encounters should be like wolf encounters. You have a choice, you can avoid them or you can interact with them. I also would not like it over-done. Meaning, you may or may not run into them, even in a long play-through.

[Patrick Carlson]

We've said for a long while now that NPCs, in some form, will eventually make their way to Sandbox (now Survivor Mode). While we're not ready to speak to this feature specifically yet, I am sure their inclusion will work to support, not undermine, the most compelling parts of that Mode's gameplay and atmosphere. We are very aware of the importance of sandbox for many of our players. I hope you understand that. 

 

[WildGPS]

At first, I was definitively against NPCs in the Sandbox.  I thought that they would be a nuisance or pull me out of the isolated wilderness of the Long Dark.  The more I think about it, though, I am actually excited for the eventual addition of NPCs in Survivor Mode. They present a completely new angle to the game, and can open the doors for many new concepts. Ideally, the player should be able to get rid of (potentially fight and kill, or perhaps negotiate a peaceful way for them to leave) all NPCs if they really don't want anyone else in their world.

Most of all, I really, really appreciate @Patrick Carlson being as clear as he can, in a politely firm way, about the direction that the game will be taking.  This more than anything assures me that Hinterland learned from the "countdown fiasco" and (hopefully) will continue to communicate with and gently guide the community regarding the direction developers are taking the game so the community doesn't waste time debating an issue that has already been decided upon.  Thank you again, @Patrick Carlson.

[vancopower]

OMG Not this again.  As I posted many times before there is a way to have both, to preserve the lone wolf survival experience and have NPC's.  Day R the phone game is an excellent example of that. You start alone trying to survive by scavenging, hunting, fishing and so on... but eventually you will meet other survivors and interact with them which includes trading, looting, fighting... if it works so well for a phone game imagine how the 3D experience would feel like.  

I am sure that many veteran players will back me on this, surviving alone is  fun until day 60 at most then it becomes repetitive so we need another form of interaction new challenge. That's why I think that there should be NPC'S in the sandbox.

[EricTheGreat12]

17 hours ago, Patrick Carlson said:

We've said for a long while now that NPCs, in some form, will eventually make their way to Sandbox (now Survivor Mode). While we're not ready to speak to this feature specifically yet, I am sure their inclusion will work to support, not undermine, the most compelling parts of that Mode's gameplay and atmosphere. We are very aware of the importance of sandbox for many of our players. I hope you understand that. 

 

While I am against NPCs in Sandbox, I still appreciate the feedback coming from you guys. 

 

Once again though, this will come down to how you actually implement it: will groups of 4-8 NPCs meet up and form a community? Will I walk in the wilderness, meet a NPC, and 1 minute later after walking away I meet another NPC? The trick is to guarantee an enviroment of true survival, therefore there have to be very little amount of survivors besides the player. 

 

A perfect alternative however, would be to just give the players the ability to turn the NPCs On or Off before starting a new game

[SameMax]

I think that, if implemented, there should be two types of survivors.

 

The first type should be pretty rare and is a native who didn't evacuate (god knows why) and that has a neutral attitude toward us; living alone he/she might have scarcity of a certain commodity (medicine, lantern fuel, ecc.) so we can start bartering and once there is trust we can rest at the place and get a bit of water or food and get infos about hidden caches of goods or interesting points.

 

The other type should be a sort of threat, an human equivalent to wolves and bears. The geomagnetic storm made collapse the society and the communications, so armed bands of criminals patrols the streets and the surrounding forests looking for survivors to rob.

Potentially i think is pretty interesting the possibility to run away, engage in a fight or given the circumstances surrender to their requests, like half of the food we are carrying.

 

I am not really interested in npcs in TLD, but these two types might add new layers to the whole experience.

[LonelySurvivor]

How to play without NPCs on sandbox:

1. craft axe

2. meet NPC

3. harvest NPC

I heard it tastes like chicken too

[Captain Obvious]

Completely agree. It'd be such a waste of rifle ammunition.