Structures and Good Progression (This Game Does it Right)

[ifoz]

I was thinking today about how generated structures can influence a sandbox game's progression, and how VS does it really well.

I think that the ruins showcase really good structure design and purpose.
Early game, ruins can give you some handy tools and items, but nothing game-breaking. Just little things to reward you for your curiosity.
Late game, ruins offer tons of unique clothing and decorative items, incentivising exploration without jeopardizing the early game with overpowered rewards.
If you like fashion, lore or building, you will still actively be seeking out ruins tens of hours into your world, and yet they never sacrifice the early game progression despite offering these 'late game rewards'.
I just think this is a really good way of doing things, and with the tons of different ruin types, exploring does not get old quickly. Sure, it can, but it's really fun for a good long time.
I also love to rebuild ruins. There's just something inherently fun about it, having to imagine what they looked like in their prime.

Playing something like Minecraft where structures can give you the best gear only minutes into your world, or have a place for you to stay instantly available as soon as you spawn in just does not compare in my eyes to how this game handles it's structures.

I really hope this game doesn't add anything like that, I think it would really take away from the early game's grit and the journey to getting your first tools and building your first base. There's something really special about the way things are now.

Basically I'm just saying really good job Vintage Story team, I really like how the structures are handled in this game, I've been doing a lot of exploring lately and have been having a blast. 

Edited March 31 by ifoz

[Velifax]

The same phenomenon is present in many other genres. Even in the heavy simulation genre I have found a fun little arcade style economic simulator, echoing its big brothers, and to great effect. It's a cute little Xbox store title where you deal with a miniature economy and resource extraction and such. Quite charming.

In the end though I too prefer the games with gravitas, a bit of heft. Though as is common I've played much of both.

In Vintage at first I thought maybe the progression bypassing was a bit overtuned. I'm hyper sensitive to this and so have been looking for it, and so took my first copper scythe with hesitation. But it turns out, no, you burn through those like Cheetos at a college party. Also thought maybe it was a bit too easy to get fat, an early game bottleneck. But again, no, it's a standard resource in fairly heavy use.

Can't name too many other games that manage this, but all of them are installed.

[Thorfinn]

IMO, the copper pick is the only thing that might stick out, but more often than not, even if you got a pick drop at 9AM day 1, it gains you less than 2 days. Even if copper saw were a possible drop, that means a lot less now that chests are no longer just made of boards. Offhand, the biggest impact would be barrels, but without limestone and hides and oak, so what?

I agree. Things are well-gated in VS, and not in the contrived fashion of some other games.

[LazyDrifter]

The best I found during one of my game starts was a copper pick and a copper shovel from one vessel. I think it's cool that you can get lucky and be able to skip some of the linear progression early on.