Forgotten Seasons

[-Km3r-]

Hi survivors of the Constant!

After quite a few hours into the game, I was thinking about how incredibly outdated the seasons are right now.
They have been with us since the first game, but since then they have received practically no changes and currently the seasons are almost more of a problem than an attractive way of gameplay.

When you have been in the same game for more than 300 days, you completely forget that they exist and in some cases you are waiting for the days to pass and end, to be able to continue normally.
I think it is time to give a little love to a game mechanic that is a constant part of the game.
How difficult it would be to do a complete rework of the seasons making them much more fun and including them both in the early and late game?

Without thinking much, it occurs to me that the seasons evolve by themselves, for example, keeping the first winter as it is, but making it evolve in successive winters, creating new forms of gameplay, like great blizzards that change the way you play, or even creating a new glacier island that only appears in winter over time, with new mechanics, enemies or bosses
Or maybe make them evolve within the season itself in the same way that Moonson did in Shipwrecked or that allergic season in Hamlet.
Creating unique ways to play that make us wish for those seasons to come instead of wishing they would go away.

I think some of us would still like to see that survival game spirit maintained, rather than end up being a mega-base building game, controlling boss respawn times to farm them for nothing. (I'm not against this, I respect it, but I think everything could be made much more attractive to everyone) Sorry for the wall of text but I had to say it.

Salutes my friends!

[Sinister_Pig]

So if I understand what you are saying it is that successive seasons should get more difficult?

I can understand why someone might go to wanting this, as at the end of each season, you get something from giants to help you deal with the next season.

However, the seasons currently are pretty well fleshed out and any changes to them would be, in my opinion, unnecessary and trying to build on to something that has already a core gameplay mechanic for years.

Maybe in a mod this would be cool though

[Pet Rock]

56 minutes ago, Sinister_Pig said:

seasons currently are pretty well fleshed out and any changes to them would be, in my opinion, unnecessary and trying to build on to something that has already a core gameplay mechanic for years.

Building on something that has already been a game mechanic for years can still improve it (look at farming). Adding more seasons as time progresses would also provide incentive to keep playing to see all the new content and gather the rewards, provide a great way to introduce new dangers without them seeming out of place, and can accommodate for a players increasing skill level.

The best way to add these seasons would be to add a challenging optional objective that activates them so the player is prepared for them. Rifts currently do this and I'd love to see what other effects on the world they'll add. Adding (more?) rift activated content that changes based on the season would be cool and add the new seasons people have been wanting in a way.

[Shosuko]

I believe part of the idea of the new arc is to do something like this.  We can see it more clearly with the caves and rain turning to acid rain.  More things like this could be in the works.

idk I think I would rather have varied weather events that effected me differently then the current state where every winter is just a constant freeze.  Spring is so much better then Winter b/c you have moments where you can run around and do what you want, and then the rain starts - it might even start mid task - and you probably have an umbrella, but you also planned on what you would do without the umbrella on so you get to make decisions in the moment based on what is happening.

Then you hear that thunder and try to quickly drop the lightning rod near the reed trap you were clearing before the lightning strikes, but you also want to place it well so it looks good when you come back...  always a race against time and fashion.

And then, just as you're getting the juggle of eyebrella and bee hat down while fighting bee queen... a frog drops next to you... lol

[Mike23Ua]

5 hours ago, Sinister_Pig said:

So if I understand what you are saying it is that successive seasons should get more difficult?

I can understand why someone might go to wanting this, as at the end of each season, you get something from giants to help you deal with the next season.

However, the seasons currently are pretty well fleshed out and any changes to them would be, in my opinion, unnecessary and trying to build on to something that has already a core gameplay mechanic for years.

Maybe in a mod this would be cool though

See I disagree with this, because we live in an area of “you can turn it off.” Or in some cases even “You can turn it On”

To some they may find that insulting.. but just hear me out and allow me to explain- On the Xbox console there is no such thing as Klei Official or Dedicated Servers, the ONLY types of Servers we can play in are Player Hosted, and those worlds will Adhere to whatever glorious wacky sets of toggles the Host has turned on/off at any given time.

it is a literal GRAB BAG of what kind of experience your going to get when you join another players session, I’ve joined worlds locked to 24/7 Summer, or I’ve played in worlds for a very long time before realizing Nightmare Creatures were toggled off when I WANTED to go Insane.

It creates this “Play Your Way” or “Think outside the Box” type of thinking.. 

Without easy Access to Nightmare Fuel from Insanity Creatures I had to rely on more obscure sources such as: Beardling, or even combining Dark Petals into NM fuel.

In addition to that: DST is a difficult game like it can be Overwhelming for a new player struggling to learn, so it is ALWAYS nice when my friends want to join me and play for a bit I can exit my worlds and at any given time: alter a few settings before relaunching it.

(such as changing it so that players immediately respawn after dying rather than becoming a ghost, or turning off the ability to die of freezing/overheating)

this allows me to play the game with my friends of various skill levels & then still enjoy their experience.

Rather then needing to reserve a save a lot for Day 1 fresh start worlds, I can NOW make my day 500+ ones less punishing by removing the progressively difficult stuff (such as larger hound waves or Varglets)

I Imagine that IF new weather seasons (or variations of existing ones) were to be added- that they would be considerate enough to give them that same kind of “You can Turn it On/Off” functionality.

So for example: If Autumn year 1 is Easy, but Autumn year 4 is Too Hard, you can deactivate Autumn Year 4 so your friends can still join you in your Long-Term world, WITHOUT you needing to start a brand new less progressed world.

If Klei adds more new mobs to Lunar & Shadow Rifts: I fully expect the ability to “Nit-Pick” the parts of that content I experience, and if Brightshades are Easy, but whatever new horrible mob they come out with later is Too Hard, I can Opt to keep Lunar Rifts and Brightshades toggled ON, but I can opt to toggle OFF something like “Lunar World Destroyer”

I would also like to see large islands out at sea similar to lunar island where a particular weather hazard behaves differently when on said island (How Sanity & Lunacy get flipped) so for example if Spring adds a Wetness Meter- Being on a hot volcanic island that never rains on during spring will replace your Wetness Meter with a brand new type of meter (maybe volcanic ash intoxication?)

My “Point” is that If Lunar Island can flip a certain status meter to do something different. Why can’t Klei add more islands that further expand on that idea?

And IF seasons were to have progressively harder variations as the years go by, we need an OPTION to Opt Into/Out off that scaling difficulty-

Otherwise, you may reach a point where your game has progressed so far that it’s too difficult to still enjoy and your better off just starting a new less progressed Day 1 world.

[sudoku]

i will always be in favor of ways to spruce up seasons, since its one of the core systems in the game that everyone interacts with. We could always use more seasonal activities and challenges.

Still hope we get a seasons refresh some day..