Some Feedback (and Criticism) after 143 Hours of Not Starving.


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I'd like to make a compilation post highlighting some of the judgments i've come to make about this game, please keep in mind this is personal opinion and coming from a long time fan and avid player who has fully enjoyed more play time than five times the value spent on the game.

 

First i would like to explain the focal point of my complaints for the game, after you learn how to survive the base game is far too easy.

 

I can pretty much outline how to survive permanently in a few lines: 

 

Step 1: Gather food, flint, twigs, and grass for a few nights starting out, make an axe (for cooking) one or two torches and a pickaxe.

 

Step 2: Explore around and find the rock biome, mine enough stone and gold for a science machine, crock pot, lightning rod, and stone fire pit. 

 

Step 3: Find the large Savannah biome, set up camp next to rabbit holes, have nearby forest (charcoal/logsuit), rocks, beefalo and preferably not be in the very corner of your map.

 

Step 4: Relocate grass, twigs, berry bushes and trees next to your base, set up lightning rod, use manure to fertilize plants and make gardens.

 

Make a Top hat. Cook meatballs. Win.

 

After this is done the game is simply researching useful but not essential items and exploring while preparing for the new elements introduced in RoG.

 

Again keep in mind this is coming from someone who has played this game a lot. At first its all fun to figure out and most players will enjoy their $14.99 - $20 spent on the game just like i did. The reason i am posting is to address the longevity the game offers. (Who doesn't want more Don't Starve??)

 

Anyways, after you have this setup its almost impossible to die unless you become reckless and don't prepare when you leave on an expedition (without RoG)

 

A quick note about Reign of Giants, i think this expansion was a great leap forward in terms of upping the game difficulty and really surprising even veteran players.

 

Some quick ideas that i think might add some longevity and difficulty to the base game:

 

Give new players more information about the tiers in the game. I've watched newbies play and they fumble with the idea that almost everything is locked until they make a science machine, maybe add a specific minimalist symbol in the science tab like an exclamation point! to lead players along.

 

Current enemies that evolve, much in the same way a spider nest gets bigger and eventually turns into a queen. Hounds, tentacles etc could all be made to advance as the game progresses, offering new and less repetitive challenge to players who have figured out how to deal with the same static enemies.

 

More interesting, scary and difficult challenges at night for example torches and other lights that start to dim when they start to go out. Enemies that pursue the player and make eerie, hard to distinguish noises to let there presence known but still being hard to detect.

 

Introduce new essential items, for instance, new end game enemies that can only be damaged with a specific weapon type. 

 

Thank you so much for reading, and i look forward to any feedback. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1. You could be god at the game but still bite the dust if you don't pay attention to things

2. RoG is going to kill you one day

3 it does tell you "Use a science (or alchemy engine) machine to prodotype. If they don't see that then they don't need

4 certain types to damage enemy's isant don't stave's way of nuking thing

5 Wes

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I agree; Don't Starve does have problems with longevity. Once I've played through each season of RoG, I know that I can pretty much survive ad infinitum and usually start a new game with a new character. I know there's always the caves to explore as a challenge, but it's risky and doesn't really offer rewards to justify the risk. Increasing the difficulty of the game with time is a concept I'd like to see used more in Don't Starve, and not just with larger and more frequent hound waves. For example, enemies that behave differently or more intelligently, or more severe weather events, like blizzards in the winter, could be really interesting.

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