FA_Q2

Don't know if there is a way to manipulate it into happening more often outside of maybe the chain MOD but it happens quite a bit. I have knocked quite a few coyotes so far away that I cant recover the body XD I don't like the effect tbh as it is jarring in how unmatched it is with all the other physics in the game but that is very minor.

I think this speaks volumes about TFP doing the alpha release properly. I have been a part of several other alpha games and none of them were close to as good as this one in terms of simply making the process painless and fun for the players. I no longer trust anything in alpha because all those other companies. To your OP, I think another poster nailed it when mentioning the differing gameplay making a 'planned obsolescence' counter productive for a game like this. Keeping the player base happy and active ensures they will buy the next one rather than reducing that chance. I can see the dev team losing some interest if the game stopped selling as that would mean continued development (aka work) may not translate to actually getting paid. Then it simply becomes a calculation of money vs reputation. Thankfully that is not the case here and unlikely considering they have a strong product IMHO. I hope you are happy now that you have just ruined my life.... I just got a Quest 3 and I am paralyzed by the massive backlog of games I have that are just screaming to be played in VR. Subnautica! Hell ya. SKYRIM! FALLOUT 4! Halflife anything! and now you have to add 7 days on that list. Managed Subnautica already. Halflife 1 almost down. But I have to go through 2, 1 and 2 episode 2 and Alyx and Skyrim VR cant wait that long. Where am I going to fit 7 days in? It is more than worth it and actually has been for about 3 years. Samsung VR is not really VR, those are noting more than a gimmicks though neat for a short film. The actual PCVR setup costs a lot more but man they change everything. Even the games that are not native and are ported into VR are pretty amazing and most major titles gets some sort of VR love these days. The meta series headsets have hundreds of pretty good games for them too as they are essentially consoles. I have only tried a few native games thus far but they are solid and bring a completely different gameplay concept considering they are motion based.

The books have put crafting at a bit of a disadvantage IMHO. By the time I can craft it, more than likely I have already found it. Several tbh. Perking into schematics gave me access to things when I wanted to access them and spend the points. Now, the game determines when I have access to them and that is what makes the gameplay MUCH more bland IMHO. The only way around that is really to go the min/max rout and manipulate the system. Oh the irony at min/max having the opposite problem this entire time and now that style increases the variety. Unfortunately I feel that rout boxes you in when it comes to other things making that play not very fun either. This change and the farming changes really are the only ones I do not like. Still consider the game, overall, to be a damn good one though.

I assume it is here to stay, TFP rarely goes back on a major redesign like this as far as I know. I don't think it was a good idea at all and find gameplay much more bland now.

You are brining back my PTSD. Nothing is that annoying. Nothing.

That used to be the case. The new description removed any mention whatsoever to getting better items at the trader and "gain access to better trader items" was added to the daring adventure perk. From a strict reading of the perks, better barter only reduces prices and daring adventure will improve the trader items but it is not entirely clear if this is for rewards or for purchasing. Considering the perk and the surrounding context, it would make more sense that it is only talking about quest rewards. That does not mean, of course, that this is how the game actually works. From some very basic testing, it appears to me that the old function giving you better items for trade has been completely removed. Are you sure better barter still gives you the boost in trader options and if it does, is it now tied to trader inventory reset? The old system was not and worked in real time and since that seems to no longer be the case I assumed the entire function was just flatly removed.

It is almost like people are confused what alpha means. Games in alpha are introducing new functionality, period. It is not when you hunt down fixes if the game is operating or add polish. When it comes to alpha games, this is by far the most polished I have ever played in alpha, the game is nearing completion after all. The reality here is that you do not really want them addressing all the bugs and laying off adding new content as that would herald an end to getting new things. Granted, the development here seems more beta at this point as most functionality is already complete but there are several entire systems that still need to be added like bandits. I still maintain they can keep the game in alpha and ad more stuff without addressing any of the current bugs and I would be more than happy, the new content keeps me coming back and the game is more complete than several 'finished' titles I have played.

As others have stated, the real gain is in T5 infected. The jump in time to clear a T5 over a T4 is MASSIVE and generally makes T5 not worth the overall effort. Using a T4 POI for a T5 quest makes it MUCH more valuable IMHO. Before that, however, I do not find them all that useful.

It does not make sense to limit the creative menu to just working items and there is more to just placing those items to get them to work correctly. I am not sure if there is a better way to do this outside of taking dev time up for a feature that almost no one will notice let alone use.

Nope. And the fact that you have to change the argument in order to make a statement against it is one of the reasons I do not think you guys have any actual reasoning here. In order for someone to use a MOD you are REQUIRED to purchase the original. Your example is wrong because if I modified the movie and then sold it then the original would not be necessary. I certainly could sell you something that goes along with the movie. Indeed, people do that now.

Not really relevant. That does not change the way ownership works. Only in the example of digital media do your ownership rights get removed when you purchase a product. Not that some of these MODS do not have teams larger than TFP anyway. There are quite a few people involved in the Skyrim Requiem and that product is easily worth more than the base game to me. That is for the customer of the after market product to decide. It has nothing to do with the originating company. And no, they would not need to charge enough to make a living from it... what would make you say something like that? All of these people have jobs and this is just a passion. It would sure be nice if the best ones were able to make a living though - you would see a massive increase in the quality of such mods as the people would have the time as well as the obligation that comes with having customers. Then they do not have to change. I don't understand your point here. No one has to charge for anything. The point is that the option to charge for hard work, the exact same type of work the creators of the original product have done, has been removed for no reason whatsoever. I still do not see a single reason other than you stating that they do not have large operations. A point that is rather irrelevant, it is not as though TFP themselves are a large operation or that there are not single game developers out there. Rise to Ruin has one single developer. That has changed nothing in how that game was monetized or the rights that individuals have. That extends to physical product as well, there are people that create their own products without employees. Does not mean others cannot make additions to them and sell those as well.

Tough. The car company owns the design of the car you bought too. They still cannot tell me I cant sell after market products for it. Nope, you buy the product and THEN on installation you get the EULA. That is how things generally work. And an EULA on update is worthless, I already own the product at that point and there is noting I can do about changes to the EULA in any manner shape or form.

Yes, it is pretty @%$# but considering that localized difficulty/loot is new I think this is more related to that than it is actual finalized gameplay. It would not surprise me if they remove it after creating a more natural way of indicating the difficulty level like hints on the exterior of the buildings.

I have a solid explanation, I already gave it. I doubt a solid explanation even exists on the other side but I await one from anywhere. A copyright lawyer certainly would not furnish one, they cost hundreds per hour and they get paid that to understand the law, not why a law exists. I think the why is actually pretty simple, the monied interests in this field are all on the side of trying to limit the rights of customers as much as possible, the people writing these laws are utterly ignorant about what these laws mean and the voters that provide the counterbalance to the lobbyist interests don't really care and are equally ignorant. Most people just want @%$# to work, they do not care about the details. Who do you know that has actually read an EULA? I know exactly zero people that have read one. The fact that it is a contract that you are functionally required to 'sign' before you even read it should turn a few heads at the onset but no one really cares. Though this might be way beyond what people want to discuss on a video game board

I know it is not uncommon in THIS industry but I still do not understand the reasoning for it in a general sense. I am not really commenting on this specific incident as I do not know enough about what has been targeted but in general it seems asinine that anyone tries to limit MODS making money off a product that the modders created. I see no difference between a MOD being sold and an after market scoop for my car. They are both third party additions to a product. There are a LOT of absolutely asinine things in modern copyright/digital 'rights' that are simple nonsensical. I have never been furnished with a single reason that makes this practice any different from the other nonsense thing you find in the 300 page long copyright 'agreement' that comes with most software these days. What am I missing?

This, this and more this. The struggle is what makes the game fun. It will not take long for you to intimately understand the games various systems to the point where you never have to worry about anything at any time and you start 'chasing the dragon' with this game. The game is extremely trivial for me at this point and that makes it less fun even if I still enjoy it from time to time. Enjoy the road and forget about the destination. It will make the game last a lot longer and you will be better for it.

I don't understand this. Why should someone be barred from charging for content they create. TFP certainly wants to make money from their creation. If modders want to do so then they should be able to as well, no matter what TFP thinks of it. TFP certainly does not have to support such an action yet I do not really understand that either. I does not effect them in any negative way unless I am missing something.

Cant agree more. This particular addition treats the player like a child and holds their hand cheapening the overall experience. Though I do not think it should exist at all. New payers are not dumb and information like this should be communicated though the game itself, not a banner. The outside of the POI, its size and its general design should effectively communicate the difficulty within, not a lazy banner. Though, like BFT was saying, this might just be an effect of playing alpha rather than a permanent feature of the final product. This particular design decision is very lazy and TFP does not strike me as taking the lazy rout that often. It might go away when the POI's are designed to communicate this effectively.

You know, now that you mention it and I read it again, you are right. It does sound eerily like a chatbot. But the real question would be why?

Considering what happens downtown when you get anywhere near the T5 towers, I do not think occlusion works as well as you want it to though I am not a programmer so I could be totally off here. Seems that there are resources expended no matter what, just less with occlusion. I would really like caves though. No mans sky caves were fantastic. Of course that may also have a lot to do with the complete lack of anything else in the game world for them to compete with...

Well.... no. The problem is deeper than that Roland. Balance is almost impossible to achieve because some skills are highly useful but not high use and others are constant use but may or may not be high use. This is why armor skills, both in Elder Scrolls and in this game, proved quite unwieldly. Make leveling reasonable for the average player and it becomes broken fast for anyone that tailors their play a bit or, even worse, has just a slightly different way of playing. Acrobatics was another one in Morrowind. There were several problem skills in Skyrim as well. Skills that would never max no matter how long you played unless you power leveled them in one form or another and changing the balance to make it more organic would break the game. Then you have skills like crafting (both here and in ES) that were just necessary to power level to use at all. In ES, I only really ever wanted a dozen enchanted items all game but you have to level that skill so if you want to make those enchantments you were going to have to make a thousand enchanted daggers. If you leveled enchanting organically it essentially meant you were not using that skill in any manner whatsoever. I do not see a way around that for a skill like that. This is why I find LBD to be a fundamentally broken way of leveling unless the entire game is structured around that type of system. That structure would limit the rest of the game significantly. The idea itself, and the way it feels when it is in the right spot is really good but implementing it properly for an entire game is almost impossible IMHO. I think at a bare minimum to implement an lbd system it would have to be hybridized with a more traditional leveling system.

Nothing, and I really do mean nothing, in games has any connection whatsoever with the use of a firearm. Most movies are equally bad though some have a little more care. I don't care what 'realism' they jam into it, actual life behaves nothing like games do. Indeed, it used to be hilarious for us when we would get on the paintball field and watch the army grunts use actual battlefield tactics to play there - it was equally worthless. Feel, performance, movement type, actual skill sets, general aiming and even down to simple functions of a firearm are rather unique to actually using one. None of the silly things you do in a game have any connections with these things. The ranges are all off. You have no issues with jamming or improperly loading a magazine, the latter is a given if you have never used a firearm before. Without a considerable amount of skill, you not only could not hit the broad side of a barn when you are moving but even after you stop you will fail to hit anything not shaking your hand until you were no longer winded. Not moving is something games teaches you NOT to do. Breathing itself is highly important when trying to hit a target. Hell, even if you were reasonably acquainted with a firearm, if you just picked a random one off the ground without dialing in the sights you likely are not going to hit @%$# either. I will say I always found it extremely nonsensical to charge at an enemy sprinting and then nail them with every round I fired. Not something I could pull off in the real world but works just fine in most games.

I do not think you are using those terms correctly. You do not take clips into the field, at least not for decades. I am sure there are some weapons still in use that take clips but generally magazines are just better. You take full mags. You do fill them yourself before going into the field but once in the field you got what you got. They are really easy to fill and certainly do not 'come that way' but when you are actually engaged you are not going to take the time to stop and focus on anything that is not combat. A simple example here would be room clearing. If you have to clear out multiple rooms you are going to form up outside the room, breach in one action with your team and if you expend any ammo you will likely reload before breaching the next set of rooms. There is no reason to go into a situation like that without doing so. You do not toss a half mag of course, you just store it in a different location and fall back on those if necessary.

Or they could run their own server which is, more than likely, what has driven the OP's numbers through the roof. That may give him some insight that most players will not have though multiplayer in a game like this is always a struggle. However.... I do not think that those of us with thousands of hours actually have the best perspective on the health and needs of the game because we have passed the point that most people would play. Most of the changes I would like to see happen apply to a game that I have become very good at and may not improve the experience for those coming to the game from a fresh perspective. We certainly have A perspective and may have some good insight as the posts thus far have shown but just as important would be the insights gained from people that have tens of hours of gameplay and are acutely aware of things that frustrated them with their initial introduction to the game. There were several things that almost made me delete the game when I first played but those insights are mostly gone and apply to an iteration of the game that does not even resemble the current version. Please no, lol. This is, actually a good idea but having played games like this for decades I have likely 'picked' tens of thousands of digital locks and... I am SO tired of doing so One of the things I now remove if playing a Bethsada game now but the lockpicking minigame missing is clearly a 'me' thing and not a generally something that is a good idea. Broadcast workstations though, absolutely. I do not see it happening though as multiple people access a chest at the same time looks like a no go as that has been brought up many times. I think there may be issues with the way storage is coded in this game. The new(ish) sorting, fill all and fill same buttons help a LOT of that inventory fatigue for me at least as I can just keep a min of one item in a bod and those buttons make it auto sort. Certainly not as bad as Diablo, that inventory management system is purposefully annoying.

I disagree that it would add anything to looting. For me, it would remove looting altogether. There would be zero reasons to go looting for a tool rather than simply crafting it as whatever I found would not be anymore useful than a crafted item and a crafted item is FAR faster to acquire. By orders of magnitude. As it stands now I loot for specific items all the time. Meh, this is certainly true but I use these mods now anyway so no real change there. It would have more meaning if there were a lot more variety in mods. As it stands now, most of my mods are in place simply because they raise the damage values. There are very few mods that provide functionality that is actually meaningful past the incremental damage output. Guns have a little more variance here but durability mods do not apply there. Not really. Crafting would fill that hole almost immediately and the loot levels make that pretty much irrelevant anyway. I do not really care for spoilage either to be honest. It is in Empyrion and The Forest but I pay, essentially, zero attention to spoilage in those games. I have never played a game where spoilage was a factor that added anything. I think there is a key difference in how we view the progression of a game. It seems to me that you want something more pervasive where survival means having to constantly deal with the challenges of scarcity in some form or another. I prefer having a lot of holes early on and then progressing past each one of those barriers rather than having to return to them. At least that is how this feels to me and I find that interesting.