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The Long Dark |OT| The True North Strong and Freezing

Another good tip for dealing with Wolves is to use the drop bait option (push down on the d pad?) if one gets too close. I can't remember if the bait needs to be meat or if you can drop Jerky etc.
 

pitchfork

Member
Oh. My. Gawd.

lH9EJ9I.gif

I can happily 'gib' people all day long in Gears of war without an ounce of sympathy, but I see this and my hearts breaks a little : (

Can anyone confirm if the Xbox EA issues have been resolved? hoping to jump in later
 

Aaron D.

Member
- Keep moving! The most impressive thing about the game is how it can seduce you to hunker down, take your time, and try to 'mine' or peter out the resources in an area. THIS. IS. A. TRAP. Handle immediate needs and concerns, but keep moving. You should only hunker down in a very viable area. Trying to capture/kill all the rabbits in the second area of the tutorial may feel a good choice as you're stalking up on food. But not only are you wasting your resources (sleep, heat, water) in hunting those rabbits, the meat draws wolves. Get what you need and move on.

Nice collection of tips.

This right here though, I think it's the most important concept to digest from the start. As I mentioned earlier, TLD is a time-management game. You may think that cold, thirst & hunger are your enemy (and they are), but the real enemy is time. Every second you stand still your vitals are dropping. So you should always be doing something productive to push against that non-stop stat depletion.

Now you can breathe a little easier when you find legit shelter and get inside for a bit. On easier difficulties you may even find lodging where the average (no stove fire) temp. is above freezing. Remember that 33°F may seem cold, but it's above freezing and will halt your internal temp. drain (hypothermia). Enjoy those moments. Use it to assess & manage your inventory, repair & outfit clothes, plan your next foray out into the cold.

On a side note, I'm REALLY digging Wintermute story-mode thus far. Hinterland done good.
 

Aaron D.

Member
It's so refreshing to play a survival game without zombies. There are not going to be zombies right?

Nope. No zombies or monsters or aliens (oh my).

This is what makes The Long Dark so unique in the genre.

The premise is based on real-world ideas and conflicts. There's a simple, intuitive logic to survival.

Makes the experience feel thoroughly authentic because of that.
 
Alright made it to the church but back to work now :(

Hey question is there no way to swing a torch at wolves etc? I thought I remember being able to but I don't see it on key bindings
 

Quikies83

Member
It does but it varies, sometimes they get scared away from it and sometimes they dont

I just thought the swinging it at them was a mechanic but maybe I got that mixed up with a different game
Nope. Just light the flare or touch and move away from the wolf. Breaking line of sight helps. But don't fire up a flare and move towards the wolf, they will attack. You have to keep distance.
 

Kuga

Member
It does but it varies, sometimes they get scared away from it and sometimes they dont

I just thought the swinging it at them was a mechanic but maybe I got that mixed up with a different game

Bit of a story on that one:

Originally, throwing torches / flares was used to scare off wolves.
Then they removed throwing and added brandishing for those items, which is what you probably remember using.
Recently, they decided to remove brandishing and return back to throwing.
 
Bit of a story on that one:

Originally, throwing torches / flares was used to scare off wolves.
Then they removed throwing and added brandishing for those items, which is what you probably remember using.
Recently, they decided to remove brandishing and return back to throwing.


Ahhh yeah that must be it. Thanks.

By the way, Raph says there's a Steam and PS4 patch in the works, hopefully today. He didn't mention what it might fix but possibly that'll help some people seeing crashes
 

rfield84

Banned
Ahhh yeah that must be it. Thanks.

By the way, Raph says there's a Steam and PS4 patch in the works, hopefully today. He didn't mention what it might fix but possibly that'll help some people seeing crashes

Oooh, I hope so. Had it crash twice on me last night. Not fun.
 

KC Denton

Member
Nope. No zombies or monsters or aliens (oh my).

This is what makes The Long Dark so unique in the genre.

The premise is based on real-world ideas and conflicts. There's a simple, intuitive logic to survival.

Makes the experience feel thoroughly authentic because of that.
Can we really say there aren't any zombies in this? From my experience so far (got to the
blindfolded woman with a gun
) the wolves in this game feel very much like zombies in the way encounters with them are designed. They have really poor perception skills when eating to the point where I can crouch-walk past them at noticeably close distances, and when they aren't eating they try and beeline it to me at a strangely sluggish pace until I get far enough away from them, I hide in a car and wait, or they get distracted by food I drop or a nearby corpse. The behavior design of these wolves seems far more like an Amnesia: The Dark Descent monster rather an animal trying to survive.

I know that there's a space magic explanation as to why these wolves are so zombie-like from the intro disclaimer but dealing with them hasn't really felt like an authentic survival experience compared to the rest of the game.
 
Can we really say there aren't any zombies in this? From my experience so far (got to the
blindfolded woman with a gun
) the wolves in this game feel very much like zombies in the way encounters with them are designed. They have really poor perception skills when eating to the point where I can crouch-walk past them at noticeably close distances, and when they aren't eating they try and beeline it to me at a strangely sluggish pace until I get far enough away from them, I hide in a car and wait, or they get distracted by food I drop or a nearby corpse. The behavior design of these wolves seems far more like an Amnesia: The Dark Descent monster rather an animal trying to survive.

I know that there's a space magic explanation as to why these wolves are so zombie-like from the intro disclaimer but dealing with them hasn't really felt like an authentic survival experience compared to the rest of the game.

To be fair what you describe could apply to wildlife in most video games. I think complex and realistic animal AI is expensive and difficult, it could probably be done but I'm struggling to thing of a game that really got it right.
 
To be fair what you describe could apply to wildlife in most video games. I think complex and realistic animal AI is expensive and difficult, it could probably be done but I'm struggling to thing of a game that really got it right.
Rain World and maybe the roguelike Unreal World
 
Man, I suck at this game. Got to Day 3 in story mode last night, my wife and I couldn't figure out how to survive. The fire I built lasted well over 9 hours as I kept adding stuff, but it's not clear to me if the fire itself has to say it will last over 9 hours when you first build it or not.

I think the fire has to say it will last over 9 hours in order to allow you to go to sleep and heal from your injury, but I can never find enough materials before I freeze. Anyone else struggle here?
 
Can we really say there aren't any zombies in this? From my experience so far (got to the
blindfolded woman with a gun
) the wolves in this game feel very much like zombies in the way encounters with them are designed. They have really poor perception skills when eating to the point where I can crouch-walk past them at noticeably close distances, and when they aren't eating they try and beeline it to me at a strangely sluggish pace until I get far enough away from them, I hide in a car and wait, or they get distracted by food I drop or a nearby corpse. The behavior design of these wolves seems far more like an Amnesia: The Dark Descent monster rather an animal trying to survive.

I know that there's a space magic explanation as to why these wolves are so zombie-like from the intro disclaimer but dealing with them hasn't really felt like an authentic survival experience compared to the rest of the game.
It's funny you think that cause I remember watching a YouTuber a while back saying the hardest difficulty back then, Stalker, turns the game into a horde mode except with wolves.
 
Man, I suck at this game. Got to Day 3 in story mode last night, my wife and I couldn't figure out how to survive. The fire I built lasted well over 9 hours as I kept adding stuff, but it's not clear to me if the fire itself has to say it will last over 9 hours when you first build it or not.

I think the fire has to say it will last over 9 hours in order to allow you to go to sleep and heal from your injury, but I can never find enough materials before I freeze. Anyone else struggle here?

Break down the crates and every branch and stick you can find. Combined with cedar wood strewn about there should be ample there

I indeed had to get it to say 9 hours left before I progressed
 

rfield84

Banned
Man, I suck at this game. Got to Day 3 in story mode last night, my wife and I couldn't figure out how to survive. The fire I built lasted well over 9 hours as I kept adding stuff, but it's not clear to me if the fire itself has to say it will last over 9 hours when you first build it or not.

I think the fire has to say it will last over 9 hours in order to allow you to go to sleep and heal from your injury, but I can never find enough materials before I freeze. Anyone else struggle here?

From my experience, it has to be that the fire's stat's (to call it that) has to say that it will last over 9 hours from the first build. Can't keep extending it every hour because then the previous hour is gone and the game doesn't count it as part of the 9 hours. It has to last 9 hours without you having to add more material each hour.

As for materials, I thought there was plenty of stuff to find to burn to make it nine hours. Don't make a fire and keep adding it as time goes on. Collect everything at once, and add it in at once. Hope this makes sense and helps.
 

KC Denton

Member
To be fair what you describe could apply to wildlife in most video games. I think complex and realistic animal AI is expensive and difficult, it could probably be done but I'm struggling to thing of a game that really got it right.
Ultimately how the wolves were designed in this game is fine in regards to having a direct enemy to avoid or fight. My issue with the wolves is more about claims that there aren't any zombies/monsters in this game.

EDIT: and how this game probably shouldn't be described as an authentic experience, which I know more than one person has described the game as.
 
Cool, didn't know this was 'out' out. Mucked around with early access last year and decided to wait for release. I appreciated everything it was doing but wasn't sure I would get to the point of enjoying it, exactly.

I'm too old and life's too harsh, I need my games to spoon feed me >_<

But we'll fire it up and give it a pop ...
 

Mupod

Member
I get why they have ultra aggressive wolves for gameplay reasons but the unrealistic aspect of that really sticks out. Not enough for me to play on the easiest mode though.

so how hard is the story if you already know the basics? The last time I played this I figured out how to survive indefinitely but I never explored some of the harder areas.
 
I get why they have ultra aggressive wolves for gameplay reasons but the unrealistic aspect of that really sticks out. Not enough for me to play on the easiest mode though.

so how hard is the story if you already know the basics? The last time I played this I figured out how to survive indefinitely but I never explored some of the harder areas.

I was always terrible in sandbox and I'm finding story mode challenging but not too much trouble. Food seems plentiful so far. Wolves are the biggest obstacle for sure
 
Can't say I'm too impressed with the single player so far. I've been playing the EA version for almost two years now and the survival mode still remains fantastic, but the single player not so much.

Firstly about a year ago the released a patch which introduced a sound bug, so every new sound the game had to load would cause a skip before it played, that's still in there and spoils the immersion. Also, I'm seeing many bugs throughout such as wolves clipping through cars, and even not being able to change your brightness within game.

The story is downright horrible too. Some ex wife love story crap you see in many bad movies. You're also pushed down a very linear path, which is complete opposite to what you get in survival. I'll see how chapter two finishes, but if it doesnt improve I'm sticking to survival.
 
34.99, there may be a launch ps+ discount but I'm not sure.
There isn't a ps+ discount.

Very disappointed to find out after purchase that the story mode is episodic, unfinished bullshit that I'll need to pay more for a year from now to finish.

Getting a bit tired of finding out PS4 games are Early Access after purchase with no clear warning on the store.

Really putting a damper on my ability to enjoy this.


Edit: Also, is there any way to jump or climb? Was playing survival, and got stuck in a 4 inch deep pothole near a slope and a fence. The kind that anyone physically able to climb stairs should be able to get out of. Instead, I had to pass the time until I froze to death.
 
There isn't a ps+ discount.

Very disappointed to find out after purchase that the story mode is episodic, unfinished bullshit that I'll need to pay more for a year from now to finish.

Getting a bit tired of finding out PS4 games are Early Access after purchase with no clear warning on the store.

Really putting a damper on my ability to enjoy this.

The episodic nature has been very clearly communicated as far as I've seen. The entire season is included in the purchase price, you don't need to pay more.

This also isn't Early Access, it's the final release. If you aren't happy with what's in the final package that's perfectly reasonable but it's not really false advertising.
 
The episodic nature has been very clearly communicated as far as I've seen. The entire season is included in the purchase price, you don't need to pay more.

This also isn't Early Access, it's the final release. If you aren't happy with what's in the final package that's perfectly reasonable but it's not really false advertising.

For EA people only the two episodes are free, the rest you pay extra. Not sure if that's different for new purchasers.
 
For EA people only the two episodes are free, the rest you pay extra. Not sure if that's different for new purchasers.

Where are you hearing this?

From the official FAQ

http://www.thelongdark.com/news/frequently-asked-questions/

Q: If I bought THE LONG DARK in Early Access/Game Preview, do I need to pay more for the 1.0 version when it launches on August 1st?

A: No. Your purchase of THE LONG DARK in Early Access/Game Preview gives you full access to all the launch and Season One updates (Episodes One to Five) when the game’s 1.0 version launches on August 1st.
 

rfield84

Banned
There isn't a ps+ discount.

Very disappointed to find out after purchase that the story mode is episodic, unfinished bullshit that I'll need to pay more for a year from now to finish.

Getting a bit tired of finding out PS4 games are Early Access after purchase with no clear warning on the store.

Really putting a damper on my ability to enjoy this.


Edit: Also, is there any way to jump or climb? Was playing survival, and got stuck in a 4 inch deep pothole near a slope and a fence. The kind that anyone physically able to climb stairs should be able to get out of. Instead, I had to pass the time until I froze to death.

From my understanding, paying the 34.99 USD lets you get all the episodes of Season 1. Eps. 1-2 are out now, and 3-5 will release later on. All 5 are included in the purchase.
 
The episodic nature has been very clearly communicated as far as I've seen. The entire season is included in the purchase price, you don't need to pay more.

This also isn't Early Access, it's the final release. If you aren't happy with what's in the final package that's perfectly reasonable but it's not really false advertising.
The episodic nature might have been clearly communicated on Twitter, Kickstarter, steam or wherever, but it certainly isn't on the PSN store, where I bought it. There is no mention whatsoever of episodes (current or future) in the product description.

I didn't find out until I hit the Wintermute menu, and saw the "Content to be unlocked in the future" message. That's the kind of info that needs to be front and center on the product page. I shouldn't have to rely on external sources to discover the game is incomplete.
From my understanding, paying the 34.99 USD lets you get all the episodes of Season 1. Eps. 1-2 are out now, and 3-5 will release later on. All 5 are included in the purchase.
That's something I suppose. Still, I don't want to play the story until it's all there. Would have liked to know that I should have waited another year before buying to do so.
 
The episodic nature might have been clearly communicated on Twitter, Kickstarter, steam or wherever, but it certainly isn't on the PSN store, where I bought it. There is no mention whatsoever of episodes (current or future) in the product description.

I didn't find out until I hit the Wintermute menu, and saw the "Content to be unlocked in the future" message. That's the kind of info that needs to be front and center on the product page. I shouldn't have to rely on external sources to discover the game is incomplete.

That's something I suppose. Still, I don't want to play the story until it's all there. Would have liked to know that I should have waited another year before buying to do so.

That's fair, and I totally agree. PS Store should actually have a marker or icon that can be tagged to games that are episodic to make it easier to identify, I think even putting it in the description is still too obscure
 

Vlightray

Member
Episode 1 Down! Enjoyed it although the errands almost got a bit long in the tooth but ended just in time. Will have a break before I get cracking into Ep.2.
 

Djostikk

Member
I've played it for over 100 hours during early access and I'm really enjoying story mode so far. I've bought it really cheap so I can't complain. Can't wait to go deeper.
 
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