Disappointed with current end game story content (mild spoilers)

[Julie Brown]

I have so many issues with the latest story content update. 1. I just used a lot of resources to build the rickety teleporter and complete the current story content. 1. It's bugged, the teleporter did not work. 2. I followed suggestions online and got it to "work" but the sound bugged out and would not stop until I exited the game but then when I restarted the teleporter was broken again. 3. Talked to the NPC who gave this teleporter mission in the first place and there was no new dialogue.  I have no idea what the point of this teleporter was. Is the story just done? Why send us on a wild goose chase to build something and not have it advance the story? 4. The Devastation Tower is incredibly difficult for casual players, I had to cheat into creative at the end because it just felt like I was suddenly playing a different game. The game goes from survival, crafting, exploring, and building to parkour platformer with a dark souls boss. I'm sure hardcore players will love the challenge but I think it'll block a lot of casual players from getting to the next chapter of the story. 

In general I'm just disappointed in the newest story content. The locations are really cool but the story is weak and there is very little reward to finishing. At least with the library we could loot some nice relics and got a build schematic. 

I absolutely love Vintage Story. I've had it since the start and want it to do well for years to come, I just wish story content was more rewarding (and not bugged).

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @Julie Brown

Sounds like you encountered a few bugs I did not. You are absolutely right about it feeling like a different game. The RA felt like a different game, too. You go from the only places you can't affect being the trader wagons to this massive complex, where the point was obviously so you could gate the reward behind playing out the linear quest line.

My hypothesis is that what's being developed is not Vintage Story, but rather a game engine. Vintage Story is a showcase, demonstrating what kinds of games are possible with this engine. And that the new project being undertaken that won't affect development of VS is something that seems completely unrelated, like an asteroid mining game with ship to ship combat. What with rafts and sailboats having a cargo hold in the new release, it would be the same game, just with different models. The Chapter 2 content is not unlike Luke running the canyons to destroy the Deathstar. 

[LadyWYT]

18 minutes ago, Julie Brown said:

Why send us on a wild goose chase to build something and not have it advance the story?

Welcome to the forums! The teleporter is the end reward for completing chapter 2, much like the glider was for completing chapter 1. Regarding the rest of the story, it's not finished yet. There's at least 6 more chapters to go, and in regards to chapter 3, Tobias himself said he would need a lot of time to work and figure out a solution using the Lens that you brought him. Which is also why the reward for chapter 2 is a teleporter--you'll need to return to him for chapter 3, presumably, so having a teleporter will save you the walk. I'll also note that his cave is located near the village, so the teleporter is still useful prior to chapter 3 assuming you wish to revisit the village for trade and whatnot.

23 minutes ago, Julie Brown said:

The Devastation Tower is incredibly difficult for casual players, I had to cheat into creative at the end because it just felt like I was suddenly playing a different game. The game goes from survival, crafting, exploring, and building to parkour platformer with a dark souls boss.

The Devastation is definitely going to be hit or miss for a lot of players. Those who don't enjoy parkour at all probably won't enjoy this segment as much as those who do. The Mad Crow feels about on par with the Eidolon in terms of difficulty, however, I would say the Crow fight is a lot more unforgiving if you make a mistake.

25 minutes ago, Julie Brown said:

I'm sure hardcore players will love the challenge but I think it'll block a lot of casual players from getting to the next chapter of the story. 

It might, but then again it might not. Chapter 2 has had some definite growing pains, though after recent tweaks it does feel a lot more manageable than it did on the initial release candidate. I think a lot of it will still boil down to whether or not one enjoys parkour, and there's also no shame in just using creative to skip the parts you really don't like/get stuck on. I've done this a time or two myself.

28 minutes ago, Julie Brown said:

The locations are really cool but the story is weak and there is very little reward to finishing. At least with the library we could loot some nice relics and got a build schematic. 

Some of the locations did get tweaked, with some unique curios added to the Lazaret and other unique trade goods added to the village. The village itself isn't quite finished yet, as there are still services that are obviously offered there but not yet implemented.

I'll also note that at least part of the reward for chapter 2 is just meeting Tobias and getting the scoop on what's happened since the cataclysm, what's going on now, and what's coming down the pike later. Basically, just a lot of lore that you really only find by talking to NPCs, closely examining the story structures, and piecing the clues together. It's not everyone's cup of tea, to be certain, but those who enjoy really digging into the lore will probably enjoy it.

7 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

My hypothesis is that what's being developed is not Vintage Story, but rather a game engine.

I'd say it's both, really. It probably started out as a just a game, that Tyron decided to build his own engine for. And I mean, if you have your own game engine, why not harness it for other games while you're at it?

[Thorfinn]

16 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

I'd say it's both, really. It probably started out as a just a game, that Tyron decided to build his own engine for. And I mean, if you have your own game engine, why not harness it for other games while you're at it?

Maybe, but content that does not showcase a new engine mechanic is added at a glacial rate relative to how difficult it is to add. Exceptions, obviously, for things like goats, but my sneaking suspicion is that they were used as examples so that content creators would realize how easy it is to add things like FotSA and similar creature mods. Rather than the bog standard of the mount being a horse, make it an elk to get people to understand the range of possibility.

Edited March 15, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Julie Brown]

Thank you for the feedback. I think the bugs I got with the teleporter just riled me up, the last thing I want to do is complain about VS. It is an amazing game. Also, the builds at all the new locations are so good and detailed  I really appreciate all the work that must have gone into it. Again, thank you for the response and I look forward to future content. 

[Cetasaya]

49 minutes ago, Julie Brown said:

Thank you for the feedback. I think the bugs I got with the teleporter just riled me up, the last thing I want to do is complain about VS. It is an amazing game. Also, the builds at all the new locations are so good and detailed  I really appreciate all the work that must have gone into it. Again, thank you for the response and I look forward to future content. 

Welcome to the forums!

Nah you have a right to complain and you should if that's what you feel like doing.  In fact posts like this are valueable.  For my part, as long as you arent rude to actual people you can say whatever you want.  And all your criticisms are legit.  That bug is unacceptable and the chapter 2 lore content is severely lacking, and IMO that entire tower needs to be scrapped completely and replaced by something MUCH more creative and unique than a 2011 esque minecraft parkour tower, its a total failure.  Doesnt mean VS isnt worth the price it just means the latest content was released too early and didnt go through thourough enough testing and someone somewhere made a lazy decision.

But those are just my opinions and we can all play the game just fine while completely ignoring the tower.  And whenever im ready to move onto the future chapter 3 I can poke that bird with a dev weapon in creative mode and move on with my life. 

Edited March 15, 2025 by Cetasaya

[jhonspelltrong]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:46 AM, LadyWYT said:

Welcome to the forums! The teleporter is the end reward for completing chapter 2, much like the glider was for completing chapter 1. Regarding the rest of the story, it's not finished yet. There's at least 6 more chapters to go, and in regards to chapter 3, Tobias himself said he would need a lot of time to work and figure out a solution using the Lens that you brought him. Which is also why the reward for chapter 2 is a teleporter--you'll need to return to him for chapter 3, presumably, so having a teleporter will save you the walk. I'll also note that his cave is located near the village, so the teleporter is still useful prior to chapter 3 assuming you wish to revisit the village for trade and whatnot.

The Devastation is definitely going to be hit or miss for a lot of players. Those who don't enjoy parkour at all probably won't enjoy this segment as much as those who do. The Mad Crow feels about on par with the Eidolon in terms of difficulty, however, I would say the Crow fight is a lot more unforgiving if you make a mistake.

It might, but then again it might not. Chapter 2 has had some definite growing pains, though after recent tweaks it does feel a lot more manageable than it did on the initial release candidate. I think a lot of it will still boil down to whether or not one enjoys parkour, and there's also no shame in just using creative to skip the parts you really don't like/get stuck on. I've done this a time or two myself.

Some of the locations did get tweaked, with some unique curios added to the Lazaret and other unique trade goods added to the village. The village itself isn't quite finished yet, as there are still services that are obviously offered there but not yet implemented.

I'll also note that at least part of the reward for chapter 2 is just meeting Tobias and getting the scoop on what's happened since the cataclysm, what's going on now, and what's coming down the pike later. Basically, just a lot of lore that you really only find by talking to NPCs, closely examining the story structures, and piecing the clues together. It's not everyone's cup of tea, to be certain, but those who enjoy really digging into the lore will probably enjoy it.

I'd say it's both, really. It probably started out as a just a game, that Tyron decided to build his own engine for. And I mean, if you have your own game engine, why not harness it for other games while you're at it?

From my Knowledge VS started out as a Minecraft mod but quickly hit the games limits. So, I'd argue that VS is a mod turned game. Not quite an engine nor a game on its own. I'll add that VS does seem to encourage modded playthroughs. And anyone who has toyed with the gunpowder mod knows that last section becomes much easier albeit still unforgiving. I am very new to the game still at the point of watching tutorials for everything I do lest I destroy hours of progress haha, so feel free to correct me

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @jhonspelltrong!

I think VS is probably mostly engine. As easy as it would be to add wheat or horses or cougars or sandwiches to augment content with little effort, the decision has always been to focus on adding new functionality. IMO, the VS game is, at present, mostly a showcase of the kinds of things you can do. Chapter 1 story line reinforced that, with the addition of new ways of looking at the challenges possible in a voxel game, basically becoming an adventure-type game, and Chapter 2 content has turned that up to 11. You can easily produce a 3-D platformer using the engine. You can also add skills or abilities, like time switch. The early parts of Chapter 2 made plain the RPG possibilities.

I'm not an employee, nor paid to hype the game. I'm just saying out loud that the development cycle does not comport with most games. I think there is a bigger picture here.

Edited March 22, 2025 by Thorfinn

[LadyWYT]

16 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

As easy as it would be to add wheat or horses or cougars or sandwiches to augment content with little effort, the decision has always been to focus on adding new functionality.

Could just be that the devs are focusing on making all the functionality first so that there's a solid foundation to finish fleshing out other stuff later. Hence why we don't have horses, cougars, or sandwiches in the base game at the moment, assuming they get added later.

Regarding wheat...we already have that, in the form of spelt.

[Thorfinn]

Could be. I have no idea if, for instance, the crop model is going to change. Will bienniels become true to nature, and produce only crop the first year and only seeds the second? Dunno. That would make farming turnips and carrots and parsnips and cabbages something quite different. Soybeans and grains directly plant-able? Again, game changing. That would be a good reason to leave crops as is, so they are not having to keep updating things to work with the new engine. But does the same apply to turkeys and ducks? Is the animal husbandry model changing? Again, I'm the wrong one to ask.

10 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

Regarding wheat...we already have that, in the form of spelt.

And rye, for that matter. I was just mentioning ideas I've seen floated in the suggestions.

Edited March 22, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Dilan Rona]

Quote

How finished/playable is this game?
We consider Vintage Story to still be in early access, not due to its lack of stability and performance, but because our full vision is far from implemented. The game is fully playable and offers rich and varied gameplay from the Stone Age through to the Steel Age, including a number of story elements. The game is being developed with a carefully planned release cycle to always offer very stable gameplay. As for its completion - we cannot really put a time on it because we see no reason not to keep adding new content for many years to come. That being said, going through the main challenges alone should easily offer at least 100 hours of engaging gameplay.

 As per the developers themselves. The game is still under heavy development, much of the new content is still being fixed as problems are found, and as stated by the above people, there is still another 6 chapters yet to be added to the story.

Edited March 22, 2025 by Dilan Rona

[Zane Mordien]

On 3/15/2025 at 1:12 PM, Julie Brown said:

Thank you for the feedback. I think the bugs I got with the teleporter just riled me up, the last thing I want to do is complain about VS. It is an amazing game. Also, the builds at all the new locations are so good and detailed  I really appreciate all the work that must have gone into it. Again, thank you for the response and I look forward to future content. 

I'm with you. I was so annoyed the first time I did the tower. I had my own rant post as well. The tower didn't load right and I didn't know that because I didn't watch any spoiler videos. I finally gave up and asked in discord for a spoiler and that's when I realized something was wrong. I had to reload the chunk and it deleted my elk of course. The lift bugged out and dropped me to my death about 3 times. It was very frustrating, but the game as a whole is great! The 2nd story location just needs some love.

 

and fewer bears! Did I mention fewer bears?

 

Edited March 22, 2025 by Zane Mordien

[DUCATISLO]

the game is like 30% done 

[-Glue-]

After finishing the current story, I can say that I wholeheartedly agree. Currently making my own suggestion post about my issues. Such as the lack of tutorialization on the ability you get. Which made ascending the tower extremely tedious, as I had no idea of the abilities intended use, and thought it was just to get past walls, and climb broken stairs. I had to look up a walkthrough, and only then did I realize you need shift mid jump. Absolutely crazy difficulty curve, considering this was the first time we even saw this ability.