First(?) impressions

[Allen]

The game tells me I've played it for about 24 hours now and I just experienced my first temporal storm, so I thought now would be a good time as any to write up my experience with the game so far.

Overall, I enjoyed the game quite a lot. Everything looks really nice, the hands-on crafting was fun, and there's a lot of stuff to get into. The chiseling system is also really cool, though I haven't nearly enough artistic talent to make full use of it. The crop nutrition is super easy to understand, which was nice. I initially thought ores were really hard to find, but once I started playing for a while, I kinda realized that A: copper is freaking everywhere, and B: Copper is perfectly good for 94% of things you'll do.

Some (granted rather minor)annoyances I had were:

1. Inability to carry large loads over large distances. Maybe I had a really unlucky spawn, but I had neither fire clay, chalk/limestone, or much ores other than copper and quartz near my spawn, so I ended up having to do a lot of walking around for stuff. It gets better as you get better bags, but long distance exploration/resource gathering is still pretty annoying since there are multiple things you can find that you'd want to carry, so you often have to leave stuff behind if you're off exploring any respectable distance.

2. Gathering seashells is really annoying. There's like 6 different types with 4~5 color variations, none of them stack, and each seashell gives iirc 2 lime each. Inventory space is limited, and you need loads of seashells to do anything more than very small scale lime stuff. Lots of trips, lots of back and forth, pretty annoying all things considered.

3. You can't have non-cellar type blocks next to cellar walls as the game would interpret that as your cellar not having a 100% stone wall and make your cellar crappier. Which wasn't very nice because I had to choose between having a nice looking cellar with wooden 'shelves'(made some half-slab 'shelves' to put my second row of storage vessels. Had item spoil rate increase from around 0.28ish to 0.32, which isn't much, yes, but still rather annoying) or having a uglier cellar that stored food better.

4.The temporal storm makes your screen go all weird which made me feel slightly sick, and I'm hoping there's an option to disable the vision thing that I missed.

And because I don't think I showed enough appreciation for it:

This game looks really good. I especially love how the night sky looks. I could stare at it for (in-game)hours.

[AngryRob]

I am under the assumption that transloacators are there to allow other parts of the map to be accessible. the ones i have found do take me to other biomes, and that was how i found chalk. The more i watch youtubers, the more i realize that the carrying capacity mod that lets you pick up chests and put them on your back is a necessary mod. I have a love hate relationship with the inventory system. i hate the limitations, but i  appreciate them and the challenge they add. 

Exploring is hard, and it's dangerous, and it's necessary. I also have realized that farming is the highest priority for base building. One of the first things that you need to do is catch animals. Catch them in dirt walls, THEN work on the copper age. Breeding comes later, but if you do not catch them first it will be much harder later on as they fall in pits or get killed. Getting bees is also important, if you do not have bees, then you will not have lanterns or worse sealed wax crocs for winter. The nasty bit, is you do not realize that you need to do these things until you need them. 

Nutrition is another nasty thing. If you do not have a balanced diet, you will die. Not collecting berry bushes = death. Berries do not last long, they spoil fast. We really need a means to dry them for later, or more fruit options.

I had no idea that having a torch or lantern in the off hand, increases hunger, there is no explanation for this in game.

 

I think survival quests/tutorial quests would help a lot. if you jump in thinking it's minecraft, you will have a hard time. Minning is a mid game thing. the first part of the game is getting steady food. Panning really is necessary, not only do you get  copper from it, but i have noticed that half a stack will give a temporal gear. 

 

I love the game, it's a hit for me, and the handbook is great. but man this is not a game you want to be thrown into all alone. its very much a survival game.