PC A20 Developer Diary Discussions

Roland said:
So you are willing to challenge yourself by increasing the slider marked "difficulty" but not willing to challenge yourself by playing a build other than strength or agility? Here you are complaining that the game is so samey play after play and the only way you can keep playing is to up the difficulty to be challenged. Why not play on an easier difficulty like warrior (if necessary) but ignore strength and go fortitude or perception or even intellect as your main build for weapons and only do strength and agility for support perks? Personally, I'd call the Strength build the "Noob Build" because it is easiest and most straightforward. Sounds like you have mastered it and may be ready to try something new.

Saying you want a challenge and a different kind of playthrough but then doggedly sticking to always playing Strength because you perceive it to be superior to everything else is a big contradiction. The "dumpster fire" is actually you limiting yourself to a single way of playing and ignoring all the alternative pathways that can offer different gameplay experiences and challenges-- all the things you claim to be craving....
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You try to make it through Insane Nightmare mode with a pure perception build with minimal investment in strength and agility and let me know how that works out for you lol. The club and sledge are the only weapons which reliably knock enemies down, it's necessary to use them and invest in them. Combat is a science on Insane Nightmare: Always get a sneak archery shot whenever possible, because that makes you knock down the enemy easier with the club or sledge once they reach you. Use wood frames and the spear for buried treasure quests, so you can hit them, and they can't hit you. Use the knife to cause bleeds, to expediate that process. Of course I could spec into agility to slow the speed of zombies with bleeds, making them more manageable. But I absolutely have to invest in sexy rex for club/sledge efficiency first, there's no way around that. Then I need intellect, there's no way around that. I need a forge, workbench, mixer, chem station, etc. You simply reduce your chances of survival significantly if you don't take that linear path. I like the level by doing aspect because since I am using every single weapon, maybe I'd slowly get better with all of them. Spears/knives for buried treasure, bow/club for quests and wilderness, etc. Using frames and hatches as needed to safe-spot the enemies, repairing the frame/hatch as needed periodically. Glock9 does a good job of succeeding, but you just know that if he deviated from Strength, he'd fail. That's not to say he's at all flawed in any way, he's just using the only viable path to succeed on such a difficulty. My only gripe is how trader-centric the meta is. Traders used to be an afterthought and your survival came first, but now it's like survival comes second and basing up near the trader comes first. 

I DO appreciate profoundly, the fact that different weapons have different uses. I know for a fact that it's safer to use spears and knife-bleeds for those buried treasure quests, because the range of my club was not long enough to ensure I could hit them and they couldn't hit me. Archery and clubs are dope for wilderness kills, just get that sneak shot and you'll floor 'em with the first power attack to the head with your club. I find myself using every weapon for different contexts... I just wish I was leveling my proficiency in the weapons while I did, it would feel organic. The issue with Attributes is you'll always have imbalance, Strength and Agility are objectively superior, with Fortitude being a close second place, but fist weapons are bunk crap compared to anything else. @%$# range, @%$# damage, just no whump factor. Remove the attributes and restore leveling by doing, and at least a person will be able to choose the perks they want, use the weapons they want, and won't be pidgeonholed into some poorly curated build that nobody asked for. It would be particularly dope if you simply had a gameplay style slider, where one end was level by doing A16 type stuff, and the other end was attribute stuff. Because sadly when you elect for one you do in essence punish anybody who liked the other. And yeah, I've felt the game just hasn't had the same appeal since A16. It looks better now but feels worse and I can't articulate it any other way, I should get better at mining by mining. It should build my muscles and grant me more endurance while doing it, over the long haul. I shouldn't have to kill 16 zombies to unlock a point so that I can spend it on an attribute, then do the same thing again, then unlock 2 more points to get a little better at mining. It just feels inorganic and hollow. 

But clearly you can see, since I quit smoking, although still rough around the edges, I'm not the same ass hat lol. Cigarettes just make emotionally challenged people become even more emotionally challenged, I think it's purely the nicotine and how it compels you toward anxiousness.

 
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Anyway Roland I have a lot of respect for how you probably get a lot of people like me who stir the pot and cause trouble, yet you always try to create relatability and understanding rather than firing back. I've seen it too many times where you temper yourself and be the bigger man, and try to reason with people who are frustrated, and I've seen it happen several times where I was the frustrated person. I just want to, of my own volition, for no real reason, express the fact that I respect and appreciate the person you are. It's a fine example of how to conduct oneself. 

 
Promethean Winchester said:
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I'm currently engaged in a playthrough where I am initiating zero contact with traders. It's quite liberating. If you're still playing the game, I suggest you give it a try at some point.

I have little issue with traders, both in Alpha 19, as it's been pointed out numerous times already by other individuals including Madmole himself, they are terribly unbalanced when it comes to loot progression, but in their stock and quest rewards. As it stands they are just overpowered vending machines that are one step away from the creative mode, essentially giving the player "free" handouts every few days. They are air drops or regular vending machines on steroids. Remove the human element, and that's all they are really. If you want to avoid traders, play with that mindset. ;)

I'm curious what they'll be like in Alpha 20, although I suspect they'll be as "essential to gameplay" as they are now. Hopefully we won't be getting nail guns and T4 augers for T2 quests though.

Edit reason: spelling error

 
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Space4Ace said:
Nice job and all but, doesn't it look too much like the Resident Evil dogs?

Just saying because TFP had a zombie early on that looked too much like a zombie from another game and were forced to remove it, right?

Does it have to be a Doberman? Any zombie dog would be scary.
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Zombie poodle? Terrifying.

 
Promethean Winchester said:
Anyway Roland I have a lot of respect for how you probably get a lot of people like me who stir the pot and cause trouble, yet you always try to create relatability and understanding rather than firing back. I've seen it too many times where you temper yourself and be the bigger man, and try to reason with people who are frustrated, and I've seen it happen several times where I was the frustrated person. I just want to, of my own volition, for no real reason, express the fact that I respect and appreciate the person you are. It's a fine example of how to conduct oneself. 
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Dammit! You said this before I had a chance to respond to your last post. Now I gotta respond with relatability and understanding or say nothing.

So here's my response:

 
Promethean Winchester said:
I'm on day 7 right now, still haven't died, Insane Nightmare. I'm using the Sledge instead of the wooden club and I'm having a LOT of fun with it
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Weak. I'm currently on day 23 on Insane/Nightmare (permadeath). ;)

Almost died on day 22 though to two rad soldiers and a rad biker at the end of a T4 POI.

Just taking a jab, nothing harsh meant by it. I wish you luck on your Insane/Nightmare adventure!

 
Danidas said:
Now that's a well done zombie dogo.
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I think you guys are loosing time over something insignificant , we want so much from this game and you are all over some textures .

Tell you what , even if the dog was 1 plain color but they fix some major issues i would be still happy , like people cheating in multiplayer with glitches making everybodies lifes hard and like make the game more serious at surviving so when i play in survivalist and i end up at first week with loads of steaks , millions of boiled water , and if i mine for 1 day straight i can have so much gunpowder i start putting it in my coffee . Millions of other serious stuff out there and we are talking about textures !

 
MonkCrimson said:
I think you guys are loosing time over something insignificant , we want so much from this game and you are all over some textures .

Tell you what , even if the dog was 1 plain color but they fix some major issues i would be still happy , like people cheating in multiplayer with glitches making everybodies lifes hard and like make the game more serious at surviving so when i play in survivalist and i end up at first week with loads of steaks , millions of boiled water , and if i mine for 1 day straight i can have so much gunpowder i start putting it in my coffee . Millions of other serious stuff out there and we are talking about textures !
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This has been said a thousand times but apparently people still don't know it... The Fun Pimps is not a one developer business, especially not now.

They have devs working on "dev stuff" and "artists" working on textures and such... no one is wasting time on something they are not specialized in.

 
Jost Amman said:
This has been said a thousand times but apparently people still don't know it... The Fun Pimps is not a one developer business, especially not now.

They have devs working on "dev stuff" and "artists" working on textures and such... no one is wasting time on something they are not specialized in.
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I see , thx for correcting me .

I still don't care much about the textures of dogs , but this is just me , others may love this ! Cheers !

 
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