What got you good at DST?

[HojMcFoj]

What was the thing that either really got you into DS(T), got you good at it, or both?

For me, I play on PS4, and I can only play online on weekends since I don't have PS+ at my household on weekdays. At the time I only had DST there, meaning that I had to deal with the higher health enemies solo. I honestly couldn't get past my first winter or spring, because I was horrible at fighting.

To fix this, I sort of just made a world, got a spear, found some clockwork knights, and kited them. I wasn't even bad at it at first, I guess I just had never had the willpower to really try it well. I practiced on all kinds of mobs, got the kite patterns memorized, and now I can kite pretty much anything kiteable. I continued to make it to the point in the game where time is practically irrelevant.

Another thing I think that really drove me to become better at the game was that I really wanted to get my friends into it, but we always struggled through the first winter and lost interest quick. Now I really got them into it so we can share this crippling DST addiction, and today (a weekend day) me and my friends finally killed dragonfly for the first time!

[minespatch]

The aesthetic and trailers. It took me months to wait to get the money for the first game and then for Togehter.

[Fridgetty]

The gameplay and the community. For me, The dst gameplay is engaging. Everytime I successfully done something considered hard, I get inspired to work harder so I can improve myself and flex on my irl's who wouldn't want to play with me /j. The community also contributed on making me stay here, I almost got sucked in the danganronpa fandom. The community is nice and welcoming, little to no drama can be found here (compared to the mcyt fandom, GOD that fandom is so overwhelming) and everyone's helping each other out. I've only been here for 5 months(1 month in the forums) and i already made this place my comfort place. I do not think I would be leaving very soon, especially since it's constantly getting updated

[Cheggf]

1 hour ago, HojMcFoj said:

What was the thing that either really got you into DS

The theme.

1 hour ago, HojMcFoj said:

got you good at it

My enormous gamer brain that I lug around in a wheelbarrow.

[HowlVoid]

The aesthetic, the atmosphere, strategic elements, the magic, oh my!

Ah, the old days... When I would go about my day planing in my head how many rocks I needed for farms. Farms that were supposed to get me through winter of all things... Yeah, I died a LOT. I remember being terrified of RAIN lmao. If Night mares spawned I would give up and let them kill me because I thought they were immortal.

I am a sucker for Survival games. As far Don't starve goes, it is truly a one of a kind game.

What made me good? The community! The guides have been indispensable, it is the mast that steers my ship. I would of never gotten this far without everyone's help.

 

 

[Owlrust]

For me? It was Helicalpuma.

[DaZoul]

Slurper

[inferjus4]

I heard about Don't Starve from one YouTuber. It was that video that got me into this game. It was over 8 years ago.

 

EDIT I misunderstood the question, I thought it was "What got you into the game", not "What made you play well".

[CaptainChaotica]

Bold of you to assume that I AM "good" at the game.  : P

But what got me _into_ it was at first a combination of the gameplay and art, and I dove in deeper from there to discover things like the lore and the community.  I'm also quite fond of mods that add something to the game in a way that looks/plays like it could still belong to the original, and am grateful to those people who can make them.  

Don't Starve is a mix of adorable and deadly, but...having been a cat person all my life I'm already used to that. 

...Notorious

[Duck986]

8 hours ago, HojMcFoj said:

got you into DS(T)

Some videos from russian Youtuber, I don't really remember his nickname.

 

8 hours ago, HojMcFoj said:

got you good at it

Dead Cells's tagline ("Kill. Die. Learn. Repeat."), and some youtube guides and basic info from wiki

[GetNerfedOn]

Wendy.

In the old days of DS Alone, other characters I tried (e.g. Willow and Webber) only got me as far as day 20 or so. Common causes of death were spiders, hounds, and the occasional "crap, i forgot a light source".

And then I began to play Wendy.

And lo and behold did the spiders and hounds fall. My kiting had to improve with her lessened attack, and routines and reflexes to improve my survival length soon began drilling themselves into my mind. Admittedly, I still fell back to summoning lots of rock lobsters from the underground and having them swarm my base.

My skill rose until the only threat that faced me was Dragonfly, and Bearger. (the only things rock lobsters couldnt kill.) i learn to kite the latter, but the former was insurmountable.

I switched to Wickerbottom and applied my skills (as well as treading new waters in terms of her books) and finally killed Fly solo on a summer with logsuits and football helmets. Wicker was aslo the one which taught me to set up good bases instead of foraging stuff when i needed it.

Wendy's supremacy continued on even in my forays in Shipwrecked where (although i did use the close window exploit when I died lol) i reached my highest day count at 278.

Then upon switching to DSt as a Wendy/Wicker main, i was once again pitted against my old enemy Dragonfly.

Luckily... I searched around and this video taught me exactly how to deal with them.

And on a solo world, it was indeed Wendy who managed to fell the dreaded beast at last, with guidance from Puma. (RIP, king. You will ever be honored in my memory.)

Ever since, I have long gained new skills and tactics, but ever do I give thanks to Wendy for granting me much of my initial experience.

A shame I can't play her that much because her exam quotes just thrust an emotional dagger into my gut at times. But now i've been planning to play as her sans rollbacks and reach day 366, a full irl year XD. If i got my motivation back anyhow

[Well-met]

Discord friends playing it

[Lemoncello]

There is lots of reasons to what got me into DST. I was watching videos from a couple youtubers and I found the game’s artwork and gameplay really interesting. Once bought what really made me stay in the game was not because of the artwork or features in specific but a feeling that I haven’t feel in a while since playing the game. It was the feeling of curiosity, wonder and pretty much fascination, the game had soo many things in it and it made me feel overwhelmed, I had to deal with weather, temperature, hunger, sanity (Which I learned is an actual thing due to this game) and other things all while trying to become better and survive, I really miss having that feeling, but I still play this game pretty much everyday.

 

What got me good in DST (Not that I’m great/really good) was watching guides from all sorts of youtubers, mainly Helicalpuma (May they Rest In Peace) Beard777, James Bucket and Don Giani.  I watched all guides I could find, and read everything I had interest in learning. In doing so it really made me like this game more, I learned that the game had even more things I have never even noticed, such as caves, ruins, crockpot dishes and many others. I also took to play with others and they taught me some tips. 

 

Also, funny story, I being a Minecraft player believed walls would protect me from everything. So I closed myself with them, and once leaving, I tried to use a pickaxe to break a wall, but it only damaged it, and my little brain believed I couldn’t pass through it, so in my first world I died due to a mixture of hounds and starving.... Good times, good times indeed.

[Just-guy]

I watched Sr Pelo's Mokey Mod videos and I got curious what the game was, I watched some gameplay videos and the Wortox trailer was the one that introduced me DST and Klei's channel.

I'm still in the process of getting good at the game, I managed to survive Winter and Spring in one world and now I'm going into Summer.

[LinknAllie]

On 3/21/2021 at 10:56 PM, HojMcFoj said:

What was the thing that either really got you into DS(T), got you good at it, or both

I got into it because I played the single player Don't Starve ever since reign of giants came out.  I got good at it because of how long I was playing the game,  I played DST during early access and got better over time.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

 I started with dont starve, little after insanity was introduce. The atmosphere creepy tim burton like, having changes in the world when winter come,(there was only autumm (called summer) and winter when i knew the game), ents going after you because you wanted some logs to dont die, moon cycles changing things like pigs converting into werepigs, spiderqueen desing, random generated map with set pieces and traps, character having an insanity meter (love it, i wish i get more interactions like allucinations since shadows arent that anymore), totally dark night that kills you if you dont have light, characters that changed the gameplay with their downsides (again, when ds came out characters didnt have upsides (it came in strange new powers) so even abigail was a thread since she spawn every dusk trying to kill you) needing to adapt the playstyle and knowledge to survive with a different character brings a lot of replayability, caves to explore but not being brave to do it more than locating light bulbs and rock loabsters

Later RoG was announced and i couldnt stop to watch the trailers holding my hype. Decidious forest make me fall in love and my first encounter with bearger in a  pig village was epic, i was so afraid od hearing his roar but not knowing what will happend (spoiler: he destroyed all the village and killed every pig, included myself)

I can keep writing what i loved but that is what hit me harder

[Cassielu]

Hmm...lonely?

[MikoFanboy]

idk why
I found this game on chrome store then I was like "nice artstyle, I will play you forever"
and bem, almost 9 years and I still play this game XD

[Cr4zyFl4mes]

3 hours ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

Later RoG was announced and i couldnt stop to watch the trailers holding my hype. Decidious forest make me fall in love and my first encounter with bearger in a  pig village was epic, i was so afraid od hearing his roar but not knowing what will happend (spoiler: he destroyed all the village and killed every pig, included myself)

I can keep writing what i loved but that is what hit me harder

That made me recall the times before RoG when my strategy of surviving was to find a pig village and base nearby while living off of drying rabbit meat xD. Unsurprising to say, i was usually dead if the hounds came at night, cause the pigs couldn't help me.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

1 minute ago, Cr4zyFl4mes said:

That made me recall the times before RoG when my strategy of surviving was to find a pig village and base nearby while living off of drying rabbit meat xD. Unsurprising to say, i was usually dead if the hounds came at night, cause the pigs couldn't help me.

i hear bearger meanwhile i was exploring (i didnt even know that the sounds was bearger or how was bearger) and thoung "whatever it is the pigs will help me". What a pathetic fight were all the pigs die in seconds with all their houses xD

i did that strategy too in the early days but i changed it when one time i came to my base and was filled with were pigs xD

[RoughCactus69]

What got me good at DST? Well....... I watched a stupid amount of tutorials. Every single topic that exists, I've watched a video about it. I didn't learn all of my knowledge from videos though. They just helped me survive my first 70 days. Once I ran through 70 days MANY times, I started to REALLY learn how to play. 

 

It basically all boils down to motivation.

 

Sincerely,

Cactus

[W0l0l0]

Bold of you to assume I'm good at the game. 

[HojMcFoj]

2 hours ago, RoughCactus69 said:

What got me good at DST? Well....... I watched a stupid amount of tutorials. Every single topic that exists, I've watched a video about it. I didn't learn all of my knowledge from videos though. They just helped me survive my first 70 days. Once I ran through 70 days MANY times, I started to REALLY learn how to play. 

 

It basically all boils down to motivation.

 

Sincerely,

Cactus

That thing about motivation couldn't be more true. Most of the time I couldn't get past day 120 or so, because my friends wouldn't play with me, and playing with randoms is, excuse my language, sus, but I couldn't progress by myself, I'm just not that advanced. This weekend though, since Klei added all those world customization settings in the March QoL update, I made an easier world for us and they were having so much fun we got to day 130 in a single weekend. They had motivation to play because they were able to now!

2 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

Bold of you to assume I'm good at the game. 

Bold indeed, bold indeed.

[Echsrick]

well what got me into the game was some random youtube person and no its not a bigger one its an actual random one a german one that played the game i watched his letsplay and liked the game and years later i found out that he (misterflagg) im not sure if he deleted his youtube or what ever but all of his chanel is gone too bad i realy wanted to watch the early days of dontstarve again but what got me good at it? well time realy just time

[CaptainChaotica]

Now that I think about it (and see longer origin stories here), I realise I left some stuff out from my story.  The FULL version is more like this:
--I heard about the existence of a game called "Don't Starve" on a podcast named Video Games Hot Dog, by the people who make Kingdom of Loathing (if you've heard of West of Loathing, that takes place in the same universe.  KoL is much older, going back to 2003 _and still being updated today_.  KoL and I go almost as far back.)  I remembered enough about that part of the episode to file Don't Starve in my brain as a "Huh.  That might be interesting to look into some day." kind of thing and went on with my life. 

Spoiler

For the sake of completeness, the episodes in question are #84 "Video Games Taco" (where the wives/girlfriends of the main podcasters do a guest episode), #143 ("Fiddly Gribblies") and #145 ("Tom Nook Owns My A$$"), but they do have others later as well, including one about early DST (#228) literally called "Wagstaff".  (The ladies were way more into it than the guys, to begin with, although SOME of the guys liked it.  Jick is just a grumpy ol' sourpuss sometimes, I swear.)

Note that I can't help you as to WHERE in the episodes Don't Starve comes up (short of listening to them all the way through myself and noting down timestamps, which...no.  : P), because these are rambly informal podcasts where a bunch of friends who've known each other forever geek out however the heck they want about the video games they've been playing lately (and a bunch of other random stuff).  Like, there's _some_ organization, but a little discussion about a particular game might slip in before or after its "official" segment, from time to time.

--YEARS later, like, I have no idea why it took me this long, I was like, "Wait.  I watch Let's Plays all the time.  Why don't I look up one of THOSE, for that 'Don't Starve' thing I remember hearing about?"  And so I ran into first Jacksepticeye's old old playthrough (it's when he was still doing that slow American-accent voice) and then Sips's, up to where Wilson carked it due to a red-butted beefalo, (so, up through the sixth episode.  You DON'T have to watch all 114 on that playlist to get the same experience I had by then!  : P) then stopped because I'd figured out I definitely wanted to try this for myself.

--To this day, I still think it helps that the very first way I encountered Don't Starve was through people who were just as new to it as I was, watching them struggle and learning along with them, rather than super-expert walkthrough stuff, because not only is it more fun to watch (especially with their silly commentary along the way) but it also gave me a feeling that _I_ could try this too.  Anyway it was through these old Let's Plays from 2013 that I first found out what the gameplay and art style was like, and THOSE were what got me into the game, yada yada and we've caught up with the beginning of the other version of this story.

--I started playing for myself when Shipwrecked was still in beta (I remember seeing patch notes like "WOODLEGS CAN NOW DROWN") but started on vanilla on purpose anyway, so I could experience the game in the same order older players had.  Because of all the "advice" (mostly on what NOT to do!) I'd gotten from my unwitting tutors Sean and Sips, I made it to the night of Day 36 on my first attempt...before not being able to place my fire in time in a super-thick forest, and died of the newbiest thing ever--darkness. Still, making it all the way through winter first try ain't bad!

--And last but not least, what KEPT me playing was RoG, these forums existing, and the official launch of DST, in that order. 

...Notorious