2 ms·

> At the same time, the main game loop of Don’t Starve seems like you have to memorize a bunch of survival tips and constantly read the wiki to survive, or you’

> At the same time, the main game loop of Don’t Starve seems like you have to memorize a bunch of survival tips and constantly read the wiki to survive, or you’re doomed after the first week for sure, and probably before. In truth, I gave up after failing to thrive through four or five attempts. In other games, I hate the nagging tutorials and compulsory/free savepoints. But it seems like DS could've benefitted from some compromises here. So, I 'cheated'. After telling a friend who was excited about the game that I'd given up, they told me about the cues the game was giving me and how to mitigate them. The dynamics of the game are somewhat open world (not quite Dwarf-Fortess level but lots of great flexibility in interactions/systems). After getting past some initial hiccups and knowing what the threats are (beyond starvation) and potential solutions means you can have a lot more fun. And it's a drag when you die but going from a clean start to a workable place is easily doable after you know the basics. "Don't Starve Together" is a much easier way to be introduced to DS, especially when entering after the team has made some basic progress.

INTPenis 5y ago
I never figured out those cues. I also gave up after a while because the only way to progress was to cheat. I think if I re-played it today I'd check one of the many gameplay videos on youtube to understand how to get started and then take it from there.
fifilura 5y ago
I genuinely recommend Don't starve together as a remote co-op game. I played it with my son and his friend. In the beginning we got stuck pretty quickly but the 12-13 years old guys had all the patience to look at the videos and figure it out. The confused faces of the moms when hearing the loud (non american friendly) curses and shouts from two different corners of the house for "We need more meatballs, deerclops is coming in two days" or "oh no not a tree guard again". It will be an important memory of my oldest son's teens. Hopefully his too.
YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
Don't Starve lets you tweak many of the details of the world so you can remove threats you find too hard (or unfun) and make a "safe" game. Conversely this means you lose some resources, for example enemy drops or that are the result of weather phenomena. In turn that means that some items can't be creafted (in Don't Starve - Shipwrecked a rain of meteors comes in the dry season and some hatch into Dragoons that you can harvest Dragoon Hearts from to make items in the Volcanic tab that you can't make otherwise). But on the plus side it lets you create a relatively peaceful game that can be enjoyed for a long time (especially in a large world) and that gives you the chance to learn the basics without having to constantly struggle against sudden calamity. In a sense, you can make an Easy mode that you can play for ever until you get bored and want some challenge. Personally, that's how I always play (except to unlock characters which requires surviving a certain number of days in the standard game). I just like to build stuff and survive and the constant attacks (e.g. by Hounds) end up annoying me after a while. I appreciate that the game's designers had a vision for the world but I appreciate it even more that they gave the player the tools to craft his or her own vision in turn. Like the menu item where you can choose your own simulation options says "Your world, your rules". Very often I've played games where the designers seem hell-bent on imposing their own, personal idea of fun on the player and it pisses me off (my worst example is in Underground Sea where apparently the designer thought it's great fun watching a slow moving boat treading water without anything happening for real-world minutes on end). Don't Starve still takes a lot of wiki reading though. I think it appeals more to old-school strategy or city building game players, who would have expected to have to read a manual and playing a tutorial campaign before even playing (like Cesar III for example).

INTPenis 5y ago

I never figured out those cues. I also gave up after a while because the only way to progress was to cheat. I think if I re-played it today I'd check one of the many gameplay videos on youtube to understand how to get started and then take it from there.

fifilura 5y ago

I genuinely recommend Don't starve together as a remote co-op game. I played it with my son and his friend. In the beginning we got stuck pretty quickly but the 12-13 years old guys had all the patience to look at the videos and figure it out. The confused faces of the moms when hearing the loud (non american friendly) curses and shouts from two different corners of the house for "We need more meatballs, deerclops is coming in two days" or "oh no not a tree guard again". It will be an important memory of my oldest son's teens. Hopefully his too.

YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago

Don't Starve lets you tweak many of the details of the world so you can remove threats you find too hard (or unfun) and make a "safe" game. Conversely this means you lose some resources, for example enemy drops or that are the result of weather phenomena. In turn that means that some items can't be creafted (in Don't Starve - Shipwrecked a rain of meteors comes in the dry season and some hatch into Dragoons that you can harvest Dragoon Hearts from to make items in the Volcanic tab that you can't make otherwise). But on the plus side it lets you create a relatively peaceful game that can be enjoyed for a long time (especially in a large world) and that gives you the chance to learn the basics without having to constantly struggle against sudden calamity. In a sense, you can make an Easy mode that you can play for ever until you get bored and want some challenge. Personally, that's how I always play (except to unlock characters which requires surviving a certain number of days in the standard game). I just like to build stuff and survive and the constant attacks (e.g. by Hounds) end up annoying me after a while. I appreciate that the game's designers had a vision for the world but I appreciate it even more that they gave the player the tools to craft his or her own vision in turn. Like the menu item where you can choose your own simulation options says "Your world, your rules". Very often I've played games where the designers seem hell-bent on imposing their own, personal idea of fun on the player and it pisses me off (my worst example is in Underground Sea where apparently the designer thought it's great fun watching a slow moving boat treading water without anything happening for real-world minutes on end). Don't Starve still takes a lot of wiki reading though. I think it appeals more to old-school strategy or city building game players, who would have expected to have to read a manual and playing a tutorial campaign before even playing (like Cesar III for example).