Silrana

What I did when I got the game was play in Exploration mode until I felt I had a handle on things. Then I started my real game.

The only one I have any objection to is lettuce. It has next to no nutritional value, so a realistic satiation score would make it not worth growing. Oh, and wild hemp doesn't really have any, um, extras. That is a result of centuries of specialized cultivation. The hard part of having a flax equivalent is the edible component, though cottonseed might work. ETA: Other medieval plants that might be good are salsify, lovage, corn salad greens, "fat hen" and "Good King Henry".

62 here. If a game has an end, I usually finish it unless A- real life interferes and by the time I get back I forgot what I was doing, or B- I run into something I really dislike. There's one game I've almost finished three times because overall I enjoy it but when I get to this one point my desire to play wilts. I've found over the years that I prefer open-ended games. Though even some of those try to herd me. "You can build this city any way you want. Unless you want to use technology we don't approve of. But don't worry, we'll make sure you don't use it by making it nearly impossible to implement it successfully."

I play very slowly, too, because I'm addicted to exploring. In my current game I'm building a compound but I also build little shacks here and there to store things I find until I can move them. From what I've seen on the forum, there are a lot of people who race to steel and then decide there is nothing left to do. I can always find a hill or body of water to go see what's on the other side. One of these days I'm going to make it my goal to uncover the entire map.

In general principle I agree with you. My post was about my overall experience as a newbie to the game, and I consider a wiki a creation of the community. However, if the wiki is locked, then it does become the dev's responsibility. The handbook is nice but only presents data in small bites, at least for everything I've looked up. The wiki has room for more indepth information and explanations. And part of it, I admit, is personal preference. I have a two monitor set up, so I don't have to interrupt my game to check a crafting recipe or consult my spreadsheets.

If the buyer is American, buying something from a foreign company starts ringing alarms. Heck, if it's for more than a small amount, I get a possible fraud notice from my credit union. I had to tell them just a few weeks ago that my malware blocker subscription was okay to pay.

Those are interesting points. I wonder, though, how many people are like me and play with the music turned off. It isn't that I don't like the game music, I just feel that having a life-soundtrack breaks immersion completely.

I found my first halite by stripping out all the cobblestone walls in an underground ruin room.

First, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to reply. Real life has a way of eating into my scant gaming time. Thanks for all the kind words. I'll leave out the debate about the wiki being a good form for game information. But since we have a wiki, my attitude is that there is no such thing as too much data. For example, for things like the beehive kiln, I would really like exact size information. I'm an incorrigible planner (graph paper is my spirit animal) so anything that lets me know in advance how much space to leave in my hot room is wonderful. I did enjoy the remark about the game ending when you make a cooking pot, because I had just been thinking that the game *begins* when you make an anvil. I have to be honest, though I searched for a survival game, what I was really looking for was a homesteading game. But when you search for homesteading or farming games, you get, well, cartoony substitutes for farming and games that have that 'making fake friends with fake people' I mentioned before. I wanted a game that was just me against a challenging environment, without cutesiness like putting pigs in a sauna to get bacon. About the Minecraft thing - I have no problem with learning new controls. I've been doing it since DOS, so no biggie. The problem for me was the assumption that I already knew the new controls, and didn't need to have them explained. I reallly think that is something to remember, because this game is attracting attention outside the block game genre, and things should be as easy as possible for newcomers. Hmm, what else. Block measurements in the wiki, bog body blocks in peat... I looked at the future plans, and am looking forward to them, especially herbalism and mushroom farming. I'd like to throw in suggestions for food smoking and drying, and looms for more decorative cloth items. I'd really like to see a setting between Aggressive and Passive. A wolf strolling past me feels deeply unnatural, but having one chase me for miles because it spotted me across a valley doesn't feel right either. But I am eager to see what the devs have in store for us. I've had so much fun with the homesteading I haven't tried any of the story stuff yet, but I will soon.

Every time I dig up some peat, I can't help thinking about bog bodies. I think it would be fun to add a special block to peat along the lines of bony soil. Yes, my mind goes weird places.

All opinions are based on vanilla single-player. The Ugly - I am an old time techie. I have been gaming since my brother's friend up the street got Pong for Christmas. I have known the mysteries of Telnetting, the Mother Gopher and DOS shells. I remember when we were all excited about this new World Wide Web thing that was coming. I have not bought a PC in over 30 years because I build my own. But... I have never played Minecraft. So when I check the wiki and boards and then are told to hit keys that are not on my keyboard and do actions with no explanation of how, it is very frustrating. I almost didn't give the game a try because even though it said it wasn't a Minecraft mod, everything expected me to know all about Minecraft.The tool tips help, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that a lot of those Clicks were actually Holds. I am not just pointing this out for myself. I found Vintage Story by searching "best survuval game" and about 3/4 of the responses named this game. With hits like that, I am sure I am far from the only non-MC person to come looking. The Bad - The wiki. Okay, I can already hear, "Well then you fix it." I can't, because I simply don't know enough about the game. But this game very much needs a solid wiki. I can deduce things from the game, like 'I bet I can use those cattails for something', but the wiki tells me how many and where to put them on the grid. Some of the pages basically say to look it up in the in-game handbook. That doesn't do me much good when I'm, say, sitting in a doctor office. I like to cruise game wikis to make plans for when I'm playing. Things are missing from where you would expect to find them. Let me give you an example - The juice press is not mentioned under cooking or food preservation. I found out it existed by looking to find out where the fruit mash I could feed my pigs came from. Please note, I know keeping a wiki up to date is a huge job. I am only suggesting that it would be a good idea for the people who know far more than I do to give it a good once-over. I will say that the more recent pages are really excellent and deliver exactly what I need to know. The Good - There is no Good. There is only Magnificent. I have finally found a game where I feel like I'm living it. No levels. No nonsensical unlocks. No making fake friends with fake people. No making fake friends with real people. No nudges to play the game the 'right' way. If I want to spend all my time chasing wild chickens with stone spears, nothing penalizes me. Being able to chase wild chickens with stone spears. Climbing a massive mountain and sharing the view with a bighorn ram who gives me a 'sup nod. Snow that reminds me of my childhood so much I feel cold. And it may seem strange to say in a game with temporal storms and malevolent ragdolls, but what I love the most is the realism. Big things like the rock and ore structures, but the little tiny things like throwing a maple seed and watching it spin. It all boils down to this - I love this game. It is truly unique.

A tiny story. I respawned at the top of a huge cliff, and before I knew what was happening a goat butted me off. I fell a long way, hoping on the way down I spawned in a better place.