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Whats the point of surviving


Kem

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Hi,

after playing for a few days I would like to know why I should survive in this Game.

When I set a spawnpoint there is no real meaning of surviving, sure I have to get my Stuff back but If im out of food

I just starve and wake up with full heal and half saturation.

For me this is a big drawback for a "uncompromising wilderness survival sandbox"

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Hello,

I would say that this game is about going from a pseudo caveman to a proto-industrialist and is generally about material progression. Dying early doesn't matter much because the items then are generally easily replaceable (first 40 copper nuggets and rare seeds are exceptions). Restoring your health is relatively easy anyway (horsetail + reeds) and hunger is easily restored with the berries and wildlife, so giving those back when you die is not really the punishment for dying.

As you progress though the game it is the items that become more and more painful to lose. Dying underground and losing your 50+ tin bronze ingot armor set is much more painful after considering all the materials and time that went into making it. Some materials are rare and losing them sucks just as much. As for hunger being refilled, you could depend on this and ignore food, but you would lose out on the Hp bonus that comes from sating your nutrition, making you easier to kill.

Sure you could try to progress without that 50+ ingot armor and with poor nutrition, but as you go deeper into the depths and into bad terrain like wooded hills, you can die very easily and fail to acquire the next materials needed to progress. Some enemies can one-shot some of the weaker classes.

As you progress you will be able to do tasks easier and for longer. Your tools become faster and last longer, enemies that used to be a threat can be dispatched easily, you can generate food and materials easier, you can replace your time spent refining materials with powered machines, and on and on. You basically build your power in this game.

As for long term goals, you could try to learn all the industries to their full extent, explore (the game has quite a few nice sights above and below ground). Surviving winter without starving is an accomplishment on its own. You could rebuild civilization with a group and make a ~1700s era village after starting in the stone age. You could build a nice house in survival mode. Lots of options.

 

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Thank you for your detailed explaination.

Dont get me wrong i really love the looks and the mechanics of this game, I had more wow moments in the few hours I played as in any other AAA Title I played the last years

I just wished that death is more punishing and less exploitable but maybe I will change my mind as I progress further

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Kem is right. Right now there's nothing to do except make a nice base for the sake of enjoying the game and its mechanics. This is why people feel like there's nothing to do once you hit steelworking - because there's nothing to do once you hit steelworking. You've "won". All that's left to do is play pseudo-creative mode, but the world itself isn't actually dynamic so things get rather dull once you "win".

All of the "options" that Silent Shadow brings up are things that are player-driven and not required by the game whatsoever. The main driving force early on is simply not starving to death, and not freezing to death. Once you have a house and a small farm, that's taken care of and ennui starts to set in. This is a flaw with the entire genre and not just VS, but that doesn't mean VS shouldn't try to tackle the issue.

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If you want a "real" challenge in the game, try to find all the lore books/scrolls. That should keep you occupied for a long time.

My current goal is building a large museum with sections for clothes/jewelry, natural history (rocks/ores/shells/etc.), and every type of armor. It is true though that you need to give your own goals in this game, just like real life I guess.

Edited by Silent Shadow
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For my part, Im far away from not having anything to do in the game im still in bronze age and have a lot to learn.

my Topic is still the death handling of this game and how its easily exploitable.

 

Maybe some kind of debuffs after dying that let you think twice if you want to take a death 

or loosing your inventory on death ( what still dont prevent you from putting your items in a chest, starve, respawn )

All optional of course

 

The Temporal Stability in VS reminds me of the Sanity in Dont Starve Together where dying is mostly the end of your run maybe take some inspiration from there.

Respawning needs an Amulet made from Temporal Gear

Or exclusiv for multiplayer your Mates need to make some kind of ritual ( what would fit the lovecraft touch of the game )

At the early game some kind of Wicker Man, made from grass and sticks that needs to get burnt and let you spawn with really low health and satiation

and later some kind of pentagram with candles and animal blood, both resources thats not to hard to get in the later game, that spawns you with 50 % Health and satiation

Thats just some mindstorming 

Edited by Kem
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  • 4 weeks later...

my worst expirience was loosing all of my Leatherbackpacks and knowing I will never ever get them back. :D I dont even wear my steelchain amor at home cause it was such an effort to make those damn chains, I wear a linen one when i'm at home so dont  wear it out taking dmg form a goat or something :D 

10 hours ago, l33tmaan said:

There should really be debuffs or other temporary penalties for dying. I know your Max HP already gets reduced, but like you said - that doesn't really matter early-game since you haven't eaten enough food to really have that much HP.

Debuffs would be a good thing i guess. not to harsh so you just die right again as newbee but so you have a reason to actually want to live. I think there could also be more food types or some other ways to be healthy so to loose this hp bonus could be a real loss. even worse than its now.

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On 5/25/2021 at 10:05 PM, Kem said:

Hi,

after playing for a few days I would like to know why I should survive in this Game.

When I set a spawnpoint there is no real meaning of surviving, sure I have to get my Stuff back but If im out of food

I just starve and wake up with full heal and half saturation.

For me this is a big drawback for a "uncompromising wilderness survival sandbox"

This is why setting spawns points may only last X number of spawns.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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