We need actual end-game stuff this time round, Klei/Capy!

[DeputyDeath]

My issue with RoG was always that there isn't enough stuff to do after day 100 or so except clearing out the ruins; which, with luck, can be done in 2-3 seasons anyway. The game just turns into endless base maintenance, which is tedious and less preferable to making pixel art out of my desktop icons. I find this to be a particularly big problem because I have 4 worlds with a day count >100 just sitting there because I don't want to die in the world or delete it in case I want to go back on it in the future. I know fully well that i probably won't however because there's nothing to gain from doing so. There are no more areas to explore, nor mechanics to discover.

It's like that (stupid) concept that men prefer the 'chase' of getting a girl to the relationship itself. Making a world and watching it progress is fun, but having to wander around your creation for a few in-game years isn't.

How do people manage to get past day 1000 in this game? It's not the fact that Wilson survived for that long that impresses me; rather it's that the player managed to do so without growing bored and faintly suicidal.

I guess that Shipwrecked has alleviated this problem somewhat by being - subjectively - far more difficult than RoG in almost every aspect, with the game forcing you to explore the vast seas by scattering the resources around the map as if the world generation tripped on ball bearings, and then making sailing much harder by practically removing your ability to fight on a ship. But the issue of stuff to do when I've gotten a decent base set up still looms over every new save I create.

Now, I think I have a decent idea to prevent this from happening, which is to restrict certain recipes for crafting until you've survived past a certain day. I personally don't like the idea of the whole world itself getting gradually harder over time - an idea suggested by many - because the reward of playing Don't Starve is taming a hostile environment, not to be able to run away from packs of hounds for a few more days. But the promise of new and improved tools and structures to award my obsessive persistence in this game would be enough to keep me going a bit longer. 

They could make it interesting by giving us large structures that require insane amounts of resources, such as a galleon or a Manor house, that only the experienced and determined would be able to reap the benefits of. Or keep it simple by locking some of the more powerful weapons and clothing, like the cutlass supreme and dumbrella, to day 100, or by offering improved versions of the standard tools and armour that would be more expensive but twice as effective.

Imagine if opulent tools were locked to day 150 in RoG? I bet that'd encourage you to play on, and it would be oh so satisfying to use the upgraded tools after so long without them. Or maybe magic items could be locked to day 100, which would make Wilson a bit more balanced, and give the amulets the 'end-game' feel that they were probably going for in the design yet ultimately failed to do. Even the science machine and alchemy engine could be locked until day 5.

It would also make base progression more interesting if we were forced to make the inferior structures during the early game, or leave certain parts out entirely. The basic farm could finally become a viable thing to have in your Base, and the concept of having 6 pig houses before you even have a tent would be gone! It would also make people think more tactically, in the sense that they could either build an inferior version of an item and have to hammer it down in the future, or risk 10 days or so without it and move straight to the better one.

Hell, even certain plants, like the dragon fruit, could be set not to grow until day 50!

Idk, these are just my thoughts. Sorry if it's a bit long and ranty, but this is an area of the game that I passionately feel needs some improvement.

 

EDIT: Okay, I think I need to make some changes to my plans.

I agree with some of the suggestions that this could be a 'hardcore' mode option in the world settings for those who want to ramp up the difficulty, or just share my belief that the god tier stuff should be reserved as a reward for the persistent.

HOWEVER, I'm still sticking to my guns when it comes to god-tier structures and items being locked depending on your day count, albeit ones that aren't in the game yet. I feel that most things in Don't Starve are too 'cheap', and the cost (in terms of resources) of something only really becomes an issue if you make a lot of it, such as when you make flooring for your base. It just causes resources to pile up unnecessarily, which is why I think it would be nice if you had large 'resource sinks', where there would be some items that would take a few stacks of ropes/boards to craft, rather than just one or two. And it would be weird for something so expensive to be available so early on in a world, so it would make sense to lock them depending on your day count.

 

[EmilioEstevez]

A "hardcore" mode, then? Not bad, I'd like to see how it would turn out.

Imo although I spent hundreds of hours in this game and still love it, I would be very pleased if Klei came up with a truly hardcore map which you can enter after "completing" the volcano in SW and/or the ruins in RoG. This would be similar to your suggestion in that you would still be grinding for that thing you really, REALLY want to achieve.

 

[Hezel]

Quote

Imagine if opulent tools were locked to day 150 in RoG? I bet that'd encourage you to play on, and it would be oh so satisfying to use the upgraded tools after so long without them. Or maybe magic items could be locked to day 100, which would make Wilson a bit more balanced, and give the amulets the 'end-game' feel that they were probably going for in the design yet ultimately failed to do. Even the science machine and alchemy engine could be locked until day 5.

.... Explain how that makes any sense now ?

Though I agree on the end game problem, keep in mind the majority of players barely more or less knows how to survive a year. Maybe be more creative instead of suggesting to cut down options in the game.

[YsaNoire]

I think restricting anything that exists now to a certain date would be pretty artificial. 

 

What I've always hoped for is some kind of aesthetic DLC that contains lots of items that don't do too much but look pretty and require some effort to craft. This game is lacking that creative element that, say Minecraft has. You know potted fern? There could be a lot more stuff like that. There could be flowers, potted and not (you could find rare seeds in ruins), there could be decorative chests and wardrobes, or other furniture. Maybe the ability to make an artificial pond. An aquarium. Lots of possibilities. It would be easy to make cause it doesn't require balancing, just some art. I'd pay for it. 

[Machine Reaper]

How about an Adventure mode?...not to mention the ability to customize your adventure...

[grekon]

Locking crafting would be counterproductive. Klei should increase on structures so that people can build more complicated things and add more resources that are very difficult to get but also very rewarding.

It's possible to survive one year in SW without making a science machine. No point in locking anything. Some of us can golden tools in matter of days while others have a hard time finding gold and surviving mild season.

[Tulingu]

1 hour ago, DeputyDeath said:

Now, I think I have a decent idea to prevent this from happening, which is to restrict certain recipes for crafting until you've survived past a certain day

This should never be turned into default DS, however, it could be a hardcore mode option.