PC The first time you played 7dtd

I first started my 7DTD adventures back in Alpha 10.4. A couple friends of mine wanted to get people together to play something interesting, and he spotted the game on a Steam sale. He bought it, then bought 4 copies for the rest of us a bit afterward. He hosted the first game (he had a really good PC at the time, and a pretty good connection).

We decided to do a random gen map, and when we connected to the game we felt lost and intimidated by everything. Fortunately most of us were quick learners and got a pretty good grasp of some of the fundamentals fairly quickly.

After finding everyone, we struck out on the road until we came to a small town in a forest biome somewhat close to the hub city (we didn't know about it at first), and our first couple nights were spent huddling together in one of those old yellow flagstone (?) shops on the roof. After a couple days spent looting the small town we ended up in, we decided to travel along the road to the west and ended up in the burnt forest...

The first time we heard that screaming baby ambient sound we almost turned back to the safety of our small forest town, but we put on our tryhard pants and pressed on. Apart from the spooky sounds and atmosphere, we found that the burnt forest was pretty tame. Our confidence began to grow.

On Day 3 when a friend was out gathering food and plants, he told us about the infamous hub city that looked like it held all kinds of tantalizing loot and fun experiences. We decided that if we were to go to the city, we would have to gather more supplies and have at least one gun for each person. So we got to looting a couple of the surrounding towns.

On Day 5 we felt we were decently geared enough to poke around in the hub city. We were wrong...

Our first horde night was terrifying but ultimately relatively easy, as we had gone crazy with the wood spikes and we had some decent guns.

On 10.4 we ended up playing until around Day 18 or so, then someone had to stop due to IRL. So we called it quits then. We mostly skipped Alpha 11 because people had IRL obligations and life situations that prevented us from getting a game going. Alpha 12 was when we began our first serious game, building a huge underground base out in the plains biome. That game lasted until Day 146.

Several of the people I used to play with have drifted off to other things, both IRL and other games. However I still actively play (mostly solo though). I do have two friends who still play with me on a NitroGen map I host every now and then, at least.

(Also my first post, been a longtime lurker).

 
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First time I played was just after the release of Alpha 15 and I didn't know what the heck I was doing.

I'd seen (and still do see) Kage848 play some and I'd seen the official live action trailer but not much else.

Spent the first night stand on top of a wooden shack just not moving, waiting for morning to come. Second night I was a bit braver and used my stone axe to take off some roof tiles but freezing whenever I saw a zombie.

I didn't know anything about building a base or protecting myself so I spent every night up there until horde night came when they took down the wood building and I kept running until my stamina ran out. Then I died. A lot.

 
One of my first Alpha 1 sessions was trying to tower defend one of those tall cobblestone buildings with a store inside... the one on the north-west side of the map... and I was watching a pig go up and down a ladder and thought it was the funniest thing ever. This was before forges existed and before fireplaces served a purpose other than light which slowed the zombies down. I also remember cutting trees down using a shotgun as it was a lot faster than an axe.
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That's right, I forgot that in the early alphas only direct light would slow them down so in darker houses they could still run even in the daytime.

The game was a lot harder in those earlier versions.

 
I started playing in A10, I believe, and spent the first hour running around punching dogs in the face until I died. Almost gave up on the game but something compelled me to watch some youtube videos on how to play. I usually don't give a game that much time and opportunity to click with me, but after 2 hours of youtube vids I gave it another go, and now I'm over 1,300 hours into the game.

Biggest thing I miss from earlier alphas is the crying baby sound in the burnt biome. That was so creepy, I loved it.

 
That's right, I forgot that in the early alphas only direct light would slow them down so in darker houses they could still run even in the daytime.
The game was a lot harder in those earlier versions.
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Yup. Not only that, but the entire focus of the game was trying to survive each night as each night was basically horde night. That of course got old pretty fast and was glad they changed that in later versions.

 
My first time wasn't so memorable as the first time I logged into a public server later that week. This was around alpha 15.x

I drop into the world, in the middle of a canyon at night in the desert biome, day 100+. It's dark and I had no bearings. I hear all kinds of noises and motions all around me, grunts, etc etc. I panicked and ran for dear life. I must have died 3 times on very long runs to get to any kind of civilization. When I arrived at civilization, the entire town looked like it had been set up by a previous group but had since been abandoned. They left behind so much random crap but to me it was a treasure hoard. As I'm sorting through it all, I die AGAIN and spawn on the other side of the map. I lost everything. I decide to just dig a hole into a giant rock formation and cover up the hole behind me. I wait until sunrise, crouched. I hear a lot of ruckus but the zeds pass me up. I crawl out and start completely over.

Days later I met the trio whom had set up the town that was ransacked. Decent group of folks I ended up playing with for several months. Good times!

 
One thing in common here is a WTF do I do now scenario. Without YouTube Videos and the good tutorial quests, it is way too hard to get anywhere anytime fast in alphas below 16. Its the same story, I spawn and I get killed by dog, I spawn and get killed over and over before I have a chance to figure to what king of strategy to use to survive. This is why I uninstalled it and did not go back to it for over a year.

Once you have some experience you can get to work doing what you need to do before day 7, it takes some practice and patients to get to that point but once you start to build a base most people are hooked and cannot put it down like a good addicting RPG of sorts.

Maybe it is an acquired taste, all the same it was very hard on beginners that do not know where to start. FPS players get in the game and have to gather stones, wood and feathers just to make a bow with arrows, those who are accustomed to starting out with a pistol in a FPS are not going to want to do all of the required resource gathering to get a decent weapon and start shooting like in counterstrike (bad game to compare). RPG players are going to dislike not being able to save the game and the game lacks a story. Patients is required to get anywhere and a lot of gamers including me in the early Alphas just don't have patients to scour the area to find a weapon and getting killed helplessly before that happens.

I bought a Rogue Like RPG called Demise Rise of the Ku'tan a while back and it had a nice manual and all but it was just a pointless (pointless being the best description of these games) romp through a dungeon just waiting to die and starting all over again, this is the kind of RPG I hate and was another reason I was unimpressed with 7 Days before A16, it was this style of Rogue Like gameplay. Once you have a decent starting location and craft a bedroll the Rogue Like aspect of the gameplay becomes a decent mechanic and is far less annoying later in the game when you can get your backpack back after you get get killed and its kind of cool to get a "Nearly Immortal" Steam achievement after you stay alive for 1250 Minutes, this being the only time I actually payed any attention to Steam achievements.

As Fox has said I am glad they got rid of the mechanic of helplessness without direction in early alphas, for me I think it was A12 or something and it had to be a good reason for people to just give up. They changed this and made it a bit more friendly to begin the game, also the difficulty options for starting a new game is a great way to get new players into the game with training wheels or for the hardcore make it very hard.

 
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I was introduced to 7Days to Die a couple of years ago when one of my daughters came home from college and was playing it on her laptop with a few of her friends. I was playing SWTOR at the time and remember thinking "That game doesn't look very fun judging by the complaints and yells I heard coming from her", (I think it was A14-A15; about 3-4 years ago) and "Snobbishly" went back to my "True Epic Classic game" haha

My daughters knew how much I enjoyed "Walking Dead" and got me a "State of Decay" game for Father's day 2 years ago and I admit I played the Hell out of it. When I told them how much fun it was, they told me that they still played 7Days and explained that it was in "Alpha" stage and if I enjoyed "State" then Id probably really like 7Days. So I bought it on Steam and loaded it up..

There I appeared.. Butt naked on the western part of the map of Nav; at the edge of the Burnt and Forest Biomes. Having gotten some info from my girls, I immediately started gathering mats and looting everything I could find. Confident in my Flimsy Bow, stack of stone arrows.. I started following the road and Kited/Killed 2 zombies.

I had Survived an entire hour .. this game is Nothing.. I can see some buildings across the river. I will cross and see about looting the place and maybe setting up a safe place for the night...

And the bridge collapsed under me .. <loading Screen>.. Naked again.. <head desk> Laughter

I called my daughter and told her.. "Damn.. Even the World tries to kill you in 7Days.. "

Been "Surviving" ever since..

 
My theory is correct, we are all mainly geezers playing this game, no offense Lanadon. let the kids play Battlefield 5, if they made a 5 by now. I loved Battlefield 2 but when they got rid of SP matches it was over for me.

 
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My theory is correct, we are all mainly geezers playing this game, no offense Lanadon. let the kids play Battlefield 5, if they made a 5 by now. I loved Battlefield 2 but when they got rid of SP matches it was over for me.
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Not geezers....We're youth challenged. I think I just started sucking at Battlefield after 3. Kids got too good. I could never walk outside and just look at the pretty graphics...because my head was instantly blown off. I like a game where I can stop and just enjoy the surroundings. Hearing the birds chirp mid-day with sun rays casting through trees with a lake nearby or looking up at the stars as clouds drift by on a moonlit night. But yeah...us geezers do like this game.

 
My theory is correct, we are all mainly geezers playing this game, no offense Lanadon .
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Absolutely none taken

I REFUSE to try the new VR Tech because I am afraid that If I put the goggles on, when I take them off, I will discover that my children have secretly slipped me into a retirement home :biggrin-new:

 
Absolutely none taken
I REFUSE to try the new VR Tech because I am afraid that If I put the goggles on, when I take them off, I will discover that my children have secretly slipped me into a retirement home :biggrin-new:
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Seriously? Having VR Tech at a retirement home would be the best. Not only you would have the only set, not only you would be the only person eager to use them (or capable of), but also have enough time, peace and quiet to enjoy every game you play it with! I'd think that would be ideal ;)

 
I will admit when I seen a few friends of mine streaming it I just didn't think I be into the game. I open the stream up and chat but then go lurking to support them.

One day 3 of my friends was getting ready to play and begged me to buy it. I kept telling them no but with them not knowing I was downloading it ;) so it finished about them time they was coming up with a seed name for the map and I said ok how do join up? They said did you get it? I was like yeah already downloaded.

So got into game and spawned in the wasteland. Luckily wasn't that far from one of them and we teamed up to find the other 2. So the one I teamed up with was walking me through what to do. They was speaking gibberish like I knew what they was talking about. Was like you see the things in the corner telling you what to do make sure to get those done. Like ok but I didn't because I didn't know nothing like I didn't know grass was fiber and so on. So the other 2 cought up with one another was in the dark green area. So the 2 of us met up with them. We found a barn and killed a few zombies and looted it. Then next thing we know a dang bear was near by. It started chasing someone and I went one way as the other 2 went the other way. The bear killed the one it was chasing then turned towards me and started chasing me. By this time I said I'm dead and turned around and punch it a few times before my death lol. So we spawned back and met back up at the barn again. So we decided to head north and find a place before dark. 2 of us noticed some buildings and I was like oh look a town. Nope it was hub city smh, although I didn't know it was any different then anything else at the time lol. We managed to live and got to a roof top. Once we made a fire and stuff I was getting more into it but still didn't wow me. But I kept at it and once I seen more of what the game actually was I got hooked and been hooked. Will say this game is up in the top 5 games I have played in my life and I been playing games since the early 80s.

 
My theory is correct, we are all mainly geezers playing this game
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Will say this game is up in the top 5 games I have played in my life and I been playing games since the early 80s.
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I'm actually quite happy to be an "older gamer" these days. Got to play some amazing games, as well as seen how games evolved beyond belief. Of course, I also appreciate the fact that I had a childhood that didn't revolve around gaming. My experience with gaming was ocassional Arcade games, and my Stepdads son lived with us for a short time who had a NES, but I still was outside 95% of the time. My Mom had an Atari though, and that was pretty much off limits lol.

But I agree with this game being on a personal top tier list that I've ever played. May only have the console version at the moment, but the atmosphere it brings, the work towards obtaining materials, to the level of creativity that can be done is addictive. I lost count of how many hours I spent at work drawing up designs and learning how to manipulate structural integrity.

 
Absolutely none taken
I REFUSE to try the new VR Tech because I am afraid that If I put the goggles on, when I take them off, I will discover that my children have secretly slipped me into a retirement home :biggrin-new:
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Now that was funny.

As far as top games, It is a different kind of game and the category or genre is broad so its hard to set this against any other game. For myself it is the only game I have installed and I don't even consider any other games at this time even though I have about 500 games via Steam and GOG.

Reading the stories here, I am jealous that I don't have any friends interested in it to play co-op, that has to be the best way to play. Meeting up at a location, working together, one guy mines, another salvages cars another makes a run maybe with another guy and one stays and holds down the fort. That would be the best way to play this game and I am jealous but not in a bad way of course.

 
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Now that was funny.
As far as top games, It is a different kind of game and the category or genre is broad so its hard to set this against any other game. For myself it is the only game I have installed and I don't even consider any other games at this time even though I have about 500 games via Steam and GOG.

Reading the stories here, I am jealous that I don't have any friends interested in it to play co-op, that has to be the best way to play. Meeting up at a location, working together, one guy mines, another salvages cars another makes a run maybe with another guy and one stays and holds down the fort. That would be the best way to play this game and I am jealous but not in a bad way of course.
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Im old school. So single player mentality is just fine by me. But I will admit I've had some amazing times while playing with others on various games.

That said, playing with others is also risky. Everyone ha's their own idea of what needs to be done. And if everyone is the creative type mentality, who gets the say on what to spend those resources on? I got lucky, I ended up being the builder, I also put more into the game by grinding for the materials, so I built whatever I saw fit with that 1st building. We did start a new navezgane under their account, and actually lived in different places. I was in the Junkyard as usual, they took the Farm. We only interacted when I started to get ahead on farming, if they needed items to finish something, and on horde night we'd team up. I was able to make the minibike rather quickly in the game, so I can remember driving to him and dropping off a new bike for him to use. But we never got to far, as usual. And one day the game glitches for me with my bike and it resulted in me losing everything in my toolbelt. There went my good sniper, my hand gun, my spiked club and steel tools that I had worked so hard for. The melee and tools I knew was a little work but easy to get back, but the guns?... ugh.

However, in one RWG game, where we put some time into it, we were just west of the Hub city in a forest biome. The game really shined when we decided to go there together. It was only two of us, but the fact we went looting together made the situation feel so very different. And building a huge rectangular base with accommodation's for everyone to have their own apartment in a sense was a fun aspect to build. I only recently with my previous game finally built a base that didn't include room for anyone else. That felt amazing in itself, yet with a hint of sadness I must admit...

 
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