First Impressions from a Filthy Casual...

[ubai]

I should be sanding drywall in my bathroom (not a euphemism), but A17 came out, so here are my first impressions. Obviously all of this is my opinion, so please reserve internet levels of butthurt/outrage for someone else.

 

First off, I do agree that the visuals look a bit washed out. On the one hand, it kind of reminds me of old movies from the 1950s, which is kind of fun, but I'm not sure if people who want a more spooky or realistic look will feel about it. textures don't seem much better, but there do seem to be more of them. Most of them seem to be ugly 70's wallpaper.

 

Performance wise, everything seems to be OK on my mid-range PC (amd ryzen 1300x, 8GB ram, GTX960), but I am getting the same slowdown around buildings as everyone else. My FPS goes from 60 to 30 in and around buildings, so I hope this gets fixed. It's playable, but not ideal. I play on medium settings with no fancy god rays and such.

 

The pace seems OK so far. Zombies not dropping loot took some getting used to, but now I like it. No more loot pinatas is a good thing, and recovering my precious arrows from their stinky corpses is awesome!

 

I know a lot of people complained about level gating but so far it isn't bothering me. I'm not trying to finish the game in a week, or even a month, since I have too much RL stuff to do. Maybe I'm old, but when I see people complaining that they it will take them 30 hours to hit level 100, my instinctive response is "So what?". I get it, I'm American and I want my instant gratification RIGHT NOW, but seriously? When I play Skyrim I don't expect to reach godly levels in a day, or even a week.

 

That being said level gating something and then charging skill points for it too is a silly design decision. Fortunately you can fix it easily with a mod, but I would say pick one type of gating only. Conversely, add an XP modifier that goes up for the impatient and down for those who are not type A.

 

As far as crafting goes I like the simplified quality levels, and I like being able to make orange weapons or tools pretty quick, even though making a stone axe or arrowhead in real life is very tricky (I have tried flint knapping, and it ain't easy).

 

Encumbrance seems fine. I have always made frequent trips back to my base to store stuff anyway.

 

Combat feels good to me so far. I am getting used to the new stamina system and so far I am OK with it. It drops fast, but it comes back fast, just a matter of finding a rhythm. Archery feels better to me, perhaps because I finally get to keep my %$#$$#$# crosshair when aiming.

 

Many of my beefs with this game still exist, but are fairly minor. Why can't I pour murky water from a bottle to a can so I can boil it? WHY??? Dying of thirst because you can't pour a liquid from one receptacle to another is... silly. Zombie block damage is still ridiculous. Rotting zombie hands should not be able to tear through stone, steel, or even wood in seconds. I want to play a survival game, not handyman simulator 2018. Also, why can't I make leather out of zombies? I want zombie leather armor! Stuff like this irks me, but again, mods and config edits covers a multitude of sins.

 

So, no game stopping bugs yet, performance is maybe a touch worse, gameplay seems better so far. I have yet to find a POI stuffed full of zombies, but time will tell.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Scyris]

I agree with you on the pouring thing, It does seem really silly that its like this, or better yet why can't we just boil it IN the jar? Why do we need a pot? The diff is thee jars stack to 15 while the cans don't stack iirc.

 

I don't have the food problems others do, why? I use what the game provides, there are vending machines all over, use them. Especally now that wellness is not a thing anymore the vending machines are like a unicorn that poops food/water, after you feed it.

[Juliet_Capulet]

Regarding leather, I cleared out a diner and chopped up all the booth seats. I got lots of animal hides from them (a tad weird but okay).

 

Agree with you about encumbrance and levels- it'll take some adjustments in game play but I like them so far. Although, I was a little bummed out that I can't make a forge sooner.

 

For me, visuals seemed a little washed out only in the desert (45-55 fps). However, my FPS were best in the desert, compared to in town or in the forest (25-29). I've fiddled with my settings to get closer to 40 fps. My rig is a bit of a potato, GTX 760, 16 MB ram.

[ubai]

so far my biggest problem has been a lack of cotton, since the desert is lacking in that department. I am living on boiled eggs and water, camped out in the first POI that I cleared. It's close to water, red mesa, and some other good stuff so I figured I would stay!

[Draz]

so far my biggest problem has been a lack of cotton, since the desert is lacking in that department. I am living on boiled eggs and water, camped out in the first POI that I cleared. It's close to water, red mesa, and some other good stuff so I figured I would stay!

 

You can get some cloth off of the curtains and yellow couches, very common in the house PoIs.

[chinothepony]

Many of my beefs with this game still exist, but are fairly minor. Why can't I pour murky water from a bottle to a can so I can boil it? WHY??? Dying of thirst because you can't pour a liquid from one receptacle to another is... silly. Zombie block damage is still ridiculous. Rotting zombie hands should not be able to tear through stone, steel, or even wood in seconds. I want to play a survival game, not handyman simulator 2018. Also, why can't I make leather out of zombies? I want zombie leather armor! Stuff like this irks me, but again, mods and config edits covers a multitude of sins.

Matt

 

LOL the concrete punching zombies made me picture a 7 Days movie. I think it would be awesome and hilarious at the same time. Can you imagine? These zombies coming up to victims, close-lining to a back breaking ground. Or punching them and they go flying. These definitely aren't zombies from any other movie!