Why is this game being praised?

[CastIronFabric]

2 minutes ago, Forceous said:

Nobody said you don't need to research, it's just the difference of how you research it. YouTube tutorials is the easy mode of researching.

ok fair enough I get that. Its not something I care to avoid but I can understand using a online wiki to answer a perplexing question vs watching a youtube titled 'how make steel end to end'

fair enough

[Foe Hammer]

7 minutes ago, Forceous said:

The difference is that you don't need any thought process or any usage of mind when watching a youtube video and following it.

I think the keyword there is "need". Yes you can just copy it, but I think this is still a valid learning method. Some people learn better with reading, some learn better from listening, and some learn from watching and doing. I fall into that last category to a degree.

I think a video shows you how it works and then you can figure out the why, which also can be provided for you same as it would in the handbook.

Maybe one way to look at is similar to reading the textbook vs having a tutor?

[Foe Hammer]

4 minutes ago, CastIronFabric said:

ok, I get that. Its just my misunderstanding of the intent for the phrase 'going in blind'

Oh ya no problem. I cannot answer what it means for everyone, but that is kind of what it is like for me. I think you cannot truly go into something blind if you have any idea of it, like you buy a game you have seen no trailers for, no art, and not even the name lol. But that is largely semantics and very much an extreme exaggeration of it lol.

 

5 minutes ago, Forceous said:

This, I haven't even realized there is a popup tutorial until hours after.

Ye, it is there and will be seen, but when everything is new, it just becomes weird set dressing at first, especially if you spawn into violence lol.

[Forceous]

2 minutes ago, Foe Hammer said:

I think the keyword there is "need". Yes you can just copy it, but I think this is still a valid learning method. Some people learn better with reading, some learn better from listening, and some learn from watching and doing. I fall into that last category to a degree.

I think a video shows you how it works and then you can figure out the why, which also can be provided for you same as it would in the handbook.

Maybe one way to look at is similar to reading the textbook vs having a tutor?

Exactly, it's different from person to person. For me personally seeing YouTube videos on how to do stuff in games just spoils the game for me.

4 minutes ago, CastIronFabric said:

ok fair enough I get that. Its not something I care to avoid but I can understand using a online wiki to answer a perplexing question vs watching a youtube titled 'how make steel end to end'

Yep, every person is different. For me reading instructions and then doing them gives me more sense of accomplishment than watching a YouTube video.

[OBAMFSpike]

Its a long thread I didn't read through everything though im sure everyone has valid points and useful tips and such. 

I encourage just hunkering down and fighting off all the wolves and bears and struggle with the struggle to fully immerse yourself in a survival experience unlike any other that I have experienced. I truly think it really helps with the overall feel of the game. It does get easier. It does have many rewards. 

My first single player world, okay second, I made a dirt hut beside a trader. And wouldn't you know that I was killed by wolves? And not only that wouldn't you know that I came back to get my flint tools and my cattail roots and the damned wolves had taken up residence in my dirt hut! No good deed unpunished. I shacked up with the trader I started my build by and I died over and over until I departed those damned wolves of my hard earned keep! It is a benefit to being a seraph after all. Being a human having one life must get fairly mundane im sure but we have it good! 

So anyways, stick it through. 

Oh! My first world was a survival world. I couldn't feed myself. I died over and over and over and couldn't feed myself. I wanted to rage quit so bad. I deleted that world and started a standard game and I still have that single player with about 500 hours and I just got into iron and such. 

Now im on a server suited out in steel and night vision goggles and the reward is world building. At least in my eyes. 

Enjoy. Its a load of fun!

*If it matters, I am SPIIKEANON and I play on Vintage Armisteros 

We welcome you to our server. You can play it safe in our walls of TerraCaelum and enjoy the safety of civilization blossoming.*

Edited January 20 by OBAMFSpike
adding information about my character and server I play on

[LadyWYT]

4 hours ago, OBAMFSpike said:

Oh! My first world was a survival world. I couldn't feed myself. I died over and over and over and couldn't feed myself. I wanted to rage quit so bad. I deleted that world and started a standard game and I still have that single player with about 500 hours and I just got into iron and such. 

I'm not sure how many worlds I chewed through when learning to play, but I do know it was several since I found it easier to just start over whenever I had a major mishap. Once I had the basics down and was more comfortable with the game and its settings, the worlds started to actually last and I've had a good handful of 100+ hour worlds since.

As for food, I can't really recall that ever being much of an issue, but that may be because I started VS life as a Blackguard. The concept of "food" becomes very thoroughly ingrained in your gameplay when playing that class. I do recall having several ragequits though.  At least one of them was due to not putting a door on my dirt box and getting snuggled in the night by a bighorn ram. A few minutes later though I'm back in the game with a fresh start and avoiding prior mistakes.

[OBAMFSpike]

So I discovered Vintage Story watching YouTube videos on MC with my children. My youngest boy pointed it out to me. So we watched some videos on it and later I purchased it. 

I am playing with a track pad. Just figuring out to pick berries let alone eat them when I first started was difficult to say the least. But then finding more food as I tried to progress and I was already starving when I started. It was difficult in the survival simulation world. And ive only tried the one time.

Maybe I should repay it a visit. 

I do hear you well concerning the Blackguard. When im wearing plate armor my hunger rate reaches 247%. I consume red meat and cabbage stew, rice and pineapple porridge, cured meats and peanuts non stop. Save the hooch for bandages (well aqua vitae does make for rather interesting glider challenges) and then pick at fruits and berries and have occasional pies (blueberry, those bears can eat dirt). I also lucked out and succeeded in Bleu Cheese. Bleu Cheese with Sunflower bread is just so damned good ill arm wrestle other seraphs for it!

So I have found a marvelous method of keeping my griping belly from grumbling non stop. True Story. 

 

[CastIronFabric]

21 hours ago, Foe Hammer said:

I think the keyword there is "need". Yes you can just copy it, but I think this is still a valid learning method. Some people learn better with reading, some learn better from listening, and some learn from watching and doing. I fall into that last category to a degree.

I think a video shows you how it works and then you can figure out the why, which also can be provided for you same as it would in the handbook.

Maybe one way to look at is similar to reading the textbook vs having a tutor?

As long as the information gets into the brain and solidifies as it should for the understanding it really does not matter which method.

I try to refrain from such debates because they usually go nowhere but as an exercise it would be curious to find out how many people who think reading is the best way to learn are also the same people who advocate in classroom teaching over remote learning. I wonder if they see the contradiction.

EDIT: as a microcosm example, we need to know that a iron anvil comes in two parts molded together with crushed borax. How that information is given to the public be it text, video or interpretive dance does not matter as long as the information enters into the brain in a way that makes a person understand it. Now if someone wants to play 'super sleuth' and try to figure it out with various hints and clues I actually honestly DO understand that but at the end of the day the same information needs to be solidified in the brain in order to make an iron anvil and there is no other way around it.

  

 

Edited January 21 by CastIronFabric

[Sheepleclench]

Hi, OP here.

I read many of the responses and would like to make a collective reply here without quoting.

I spent my evenings the last week getting to know the game. I changed the settings to have an easier time, more grace with monsters and no item drop on death; colored map and a tagging strategy (color/symbol code,) universal block gravity (makes it more fun for me personally,) and no random rifts. Almost forgot, reduced the vertical block distance to 10K to make biomes accessible. That's about it for difficulty.

After investing significantly more time in the game the soundtrack has really grown on me, though I wish there was an iPod track control function.

I paced myself and read through the recipes available to me through materials and went from there. Getting to know some of the hotkeys helped, as well as remapping the map key to 'z.' After settling on my preferred brand of packed dirt I started building.

Last night I finally panned enough copper to smelt a pickaxe and a hammer, but when it came time to pour I had forgotten to fire my molds and was panicking thinking the ore would solidify to the crucible and become unsalvageable.

Tonight I crafted my first copper tools and built a vertical mineshaft to a copper ore vein only 5 tiles down. With 400 nuggets I am excited to get crafting.

Now, I also have some observations and comments to both reply and piggyback some of the comments:

Not having experienced smithing yet, I already appreciate the depth of crafting. The game loop elements all remind me of the best parts of Minecraft, Don't Starve, Stardew Valley, and Terraria. All games that I adore. 

I spent some time working as a structural soil and concrete inspector professionally, and I certainly appreciate the scale of geologic complexity here. Although, I wish soil of any kind, not gravel or sand, on a level grade would stay in place with gravity enabled/ As an expert, mother nature is the best compaction possible and level grade soil with no organic material (peat, topsoil,) +4 sieve size aggregate stones, moisture, or fat clay should stay put when adjacent soil is removed. I realize this is an autistic level of detail and do not expect this to be in the game.

I will revisit this thread soon and reply to those that asked me things directly.

For those that are interested, I am committed to a playthrough on a seed I found perfect: 1675214073

You spawn where a forest, mountain, and prairie fields meet. Medium fertility soil is just south with bountiful crops, and rich with red clay and peat AND copper veins. Gravel fields to the east. Plentiful ruins further south. Near where starter farm fields are most convenient there is a structural ruin that is a great frame for a starter base.

I hope everyone that has contributed to the thread and visits here finds my reply thoughtful and proactive.

Edited Saturday at 03:25 AM by Sheepleclench

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Sheepleclench said:

I spent some time working as a structural soil and concrete inspector professionally, and I certainly appreciate the scale of geologic complexity here. Although, I wish soil of any kind, not gravel or sand, on a level grade would stay in place with gravity enabled/ As an expert, mother nature is the best compaction possible and level grade soil with no organic material (peat, topsoil,) +4 sieve size aggregate stones, moisture, or fat clay should stay put when adjacent soil is removed. I realize this is an autistic level of detail and do not expect this to be in the game.

You might be interested in this mod: https://mods.vintagestory.at/stickydirt

I don't know that it does exactly what you're asking, but it might make the ground instability mechanic a little more to your liking. I do recommend trying it out on a test world first though, both to make sure you like it and that it works properly, before adding it to a world you actually intend to play(you might make a backup anyway before modding just in case).

[Forceous]

9 hours ago, Sheepleclench said:

I hope everyone that has contributed to the thread and visits here finds my reply thoughtful and proactive.

Rare moment when someone criticizes the game without giving it a proper chance, but still does and it starts to grow on them.

For me it took me about 5 hours of gameplay for it to start growing on me lol, now I'm almost 20 hours into my world, still stuck with copper tools but that's the beauty of it, I don't need to rush towards bronze tools, at the moment I just focused on improving my build and expanding my farms, hunting from time to time.

[Sleeves]

On 1/18/2026 at 7:59 AM, Forceous said:

Honestly I don't get the people who just come into forums like that to just bash the game especially since the devs were clear about a refund policy I haven't seen anywhere else. 

Given OP's nicer behavior after the initial post, I think they probably just got a little frustrated after the game threw too many bears at them. I don't know about you, but I'm not immune to some venting after having a tough time with a game.

On 1/17/2026 at 4:10 PM, Sheepleclench said:

Still gonna try to enjoy the game. It's got that magic that minecraft used to have for me, the ambiance.

If there's anything that you just can't grow to like, remember the game has an excellent modding scene. Plenty of quality of life, difficulty modifiers (in both directions), and mechanical changes are available on the database :-]

[CastIronFabric]

43 minutes ago, Sleeves said:

Given OP's nicer behavior after the initial post, I think they probably just got a little frustrated after the game threw too many bears at them. I don't know about you, but I'm not immune to some venting after having a tough time with a game.

If there's anything that you just can't grow to like, remember the game has an excellent modding scene. Plenty of quality of life, difficulty modifiers (in both directions), and mechanical changes are available on the database :-]

ok, its time for my rant.

If one wants to solve the problem of getting frustrated on a game they purchase blind the solution is to watch some lets play for a week or so. 

I thought this would be obvious standard operating procedure, I personally would never buy a game without watching some lets play and please (this is for everyone not just you) please do not try to peddle the arguement that most youtubers are paid to make a game play look good, just dont.

[Forceous]

1 hour ago, Sleeves said:

I don't know about you, but I'm not immune to some venting after having a tough time with a game.

Any game with some sort of a challenge no matter how good it is will probably make you vent. I’m loving VS but I geniuenly got upset the first 2 hours when I couldn’t find clay for the life of me, and I wanted to build my base next to a deposit. OP if you’re reading this I mean no disrespect is just my opinion, but in that first 2 hours I didn’t come straight to the forums where it’s obvious most people who use it are fans of the game and call it $5 USD shovelware.

OP has given it another chance most likely because people were praising it even more and probably went and watched some gameplay, the game is genuinely good and I haven’t been this immersed in a game for a long time now personally.

But again OP if you’re reading this I don’t mean no disrespect, and it’s nice to see people like you that can actually give something a chance even after they disliked it.

Edited Sunday at 04:41 PM by Forceous

[Sheepleclench]

I'm working my way to bronze. This game is Terraria levels of crafting for me and I hit the power curve on the difficulty scale. Will put in some more hours before I revisit the forums. Attached some photos of my starter base. Even made trapdoors to to a cellar and an attic.

[LadyWYT]

48 minutes ago, Sheepleclench said:

Attached some photos of my starter base. Even made trapdoors to to a cellar and an attic.

That's a palace compared to my first house in this game.  I went with the standard newbie dirt box when I wasn't just camping under a tree.

[Ratbatboo]

3 hours ago, Sheepleclench said:

I'm working my way to bronze. This game is Terraria levels of crafting for me and I hit the power curve on the difficulty scale. Will put in some more hours before I revisit the forums. Attached some photos of my starter base. Even made trapdoors to to a cellar and an attic.

That's looking downright cozy.

[Martin Horváth]

I think Vintage Story is a more rewarding game because of the learning curve and a more challenging sandbox because of the difficulty of acquiring resources. It is a joy to complete the most basics tasks because you FEEL you progressed and got rewarded for your work.

 

Altough I'm a masochist who played Gregtech:NH and enjoyed it so take it with a grain of salt. I just found your thread but it is a joy to see that you got enjoyment from the game like I did, and your house looks really nice.  Big ups.

[vinnland]

I'm at the point where I have more hours in VS that factorio, and i have had factorio since it came out.

As much as I don't want to sound like a fan boy... im going to 100% fanboy this and say that this game is a masterpiece. And they are not even finished.

Ill prob buy more copies to support hte studio.