The One Guy Who Doesn't Like the Update

[SpookyShoes]

Things i have issues with-

Foods that restore sanity and foods that don't:

This makes some foods more desirable than others so you end up running around from the start until you find bees and rabbit holes. We all know what the title of the game is - any food should be good food.

The map generator now makes carrot fields and berry patches trivializing the starving aspect and only focusing on the insanity portion.

Picking flowers and catching butterflies is everyone's new job:

Personally i liked having flowers around my house and not feeling required to pick them all up just to burn them or even worse throw them back down on the ground. Gamers can enjoy mindless things but please don't ask us to pick flowers and put them back because our inventory is getting crowded.

Where's the love for the darkness?:

my favorite part of this game was getting everything i wanted gathered with 2 torches. Night time dung and twigs gathering spree? you betcha. Now, sleeping through the crafting portion of my day is encouraged and there is a little hand that loves swatting fires while my scientist just wants to sit back, craft, and contemplate his next move.

More things, same amount of time in the day:

I can no longer gather in the dark if i sleep through it (also things in the edge of the campfire's light radius, like trees are penalized for gathering with greater sanity loss), I have to pick flowers, I can no longer freely use wormholes. These things add up to movement/crafting restrictions and ultimately large restrictions on the time you have to gather and what. This could have been the objective of this patch sure, at least somewhat, but the way it has been done is so anti-fun I don't even want to play again when i die.

How it is now and what it could be:

1. No one likes camera shake, especially if you're going to be replaying this game a lot you don't want your screen constantly making you nauseous. Borders that close in the more "severe" a condition gets like getting shot in Call of Duty and not being able to see because your screen is a giant red sphincter(in this case a shaky black one) are never cool.

2. If I were to go insane that wouldn't cause demons to appear and thirst for my blood. I propose a doppelganger is spawned when insanity reaches 0 that has access to the weapons and armor you do(in your chest/chester/inventory), has the same hunger, but has max life and makes his way to your camp. If you're hungry he will probably try to kill you for your food, if you are full he may have useful things to trade for or he may just take a seat next to the fire and chat your ear off. I was also thinking that if you were to bribe him with meat before he attacked you he'd behave like a pigman but may also turn on you when your hp is low and/or he is hungry.

3. Sweets for Sanity. In keeping with the theme of all food is good food and making some foods more desirable is a bad idea, there should be craft-able charms, like garden gnomes that increase sanity recovery rate around them that can be built anywhere like a science machine.

Personally i don't like the insanity meter at all but those are some ideas on how to make it more of a background objective that doesn't override the hunger objective. I feel like the beginning of the game is the perfect balance of learn-able/difficult/fun(without insanity). Any additional monster dangers should be related to end-game imo. Basically as Soon as you figure out how you want the combat of the final boss to go you break down his moves and give them out separately to mini-bosses to prepare the player to fight the last guy. Like... if the boss had a move where he puts down a circle on the ground and teleports to it two seconds later and does an attack similar to a tentacle attack when he gets there a mini-boss would be made around that type of attack. Heck put a shadow dog mini-boss in if you like em so much. More mythical creatures that you have to work to find like some of the ones in the game now are always a good idea.

That's what I think, although I have a feeling it's going to be an unpopular opinion lemme know what you guys think.

[RueckenMarc]

I like the insanity-stuff, but i must agree on a few points:* Every food should be good food (okay, every food but monster meat)* Candy for Sanity: Kinda like the idea, but it is nonsense and breaks the rule above. So, why not make Medicine that only restores health and sanity, but not hunger?Can't tell more, because i've not run totally insane in the game yet. But: Screenshaking is bad. And losing 20 points of sanity in just one night is a bit much. I had to hurry for making a hat.IMHO, sanity should be a slower thing. You should be fine with about 5 ingame-days of normal gameplay (not eating monster meat, fighting that much or stay too long in the darkness) without having huge problems with your mind.

[Alvhem]

If you don't like the effects of insanity then don't go insane.Make a top hat, dapper west, pick flowers, get a pig companion, do happy stuff.

[Little Teemo]

i was having trouble with the sanity meter at first but if u go around and kill enough tier 1 spider nest on the first couple of day to collect the silk, u can make a top hat......sanity problem solved....the rest is just the same as usual after that.

[Avelarius]

There must be the best, the good and the not so good food.In the beginning you get any food you can lay your hands on, later you are able to consume good food and only the best once you settle down.There are lots of ways to heal your mind other than through your stomach.Agree with the shaking screen, there are previous posts warning of its danger. Best to turn it off by default.I still walk/work in the night, now with just one torch, all I have to do is to keep my mind healthy.At day five, hunger and sanity are no longer a concern for me in the current version.The laws of the world are changing, they change every couple weeks. Give it a try first.

[Beta]

My interest has been in decline since the 'Food Spoilage' update.I logged into the "Insanity" update, saw that my Research level and points on a saved game had been wiped, stood around long enough to see the down-arrow on the Sanity meter, and logged out.I became interested in the game after seeing it being played by a gamer on YouTube. Would love to see one of them playing it now, it'd be like; "WTF? Where did "Don't Starve" go???"

[Arkadiusz103PL]

i dont very like this update because of many bugs;/

[Gigahappytown]

DOPPLERGANG YES!!! I always wanted someone to sit next to the campfire and chat with!

[Mysiaca]

I'm not quite sure how you're going insane so often, or losing so much sanity. I don't spend all my time chasing butterflies or picking flowers, although there was one instance near the beginning after I heard the 'Crawling Horror Appears' noise that I panicked and instantly started grabbing anything planted nearby. I'm only on day 31 however, so perhaps as you expend your world, it becomes a problem. I've yet to make a piece of taffy, and only have one beehive, since I only just learned while browsing the forums now how to actually make taffy. So I guess I can't really comment on that until I've played a few more hours, or maybe actually bothered going insane. Still it seems more like, instead of it just being a pleasure thing, its one of many things you know have to work in to stay alive, not all you're doing.As for the shaking camera, I barely notice it in fullscreen. I know it gets more intense the further down you go though. Still, I'm personally okay with it.All food IS good food. Just as I was sometimes forced to eat monster meat and lose health before, I'm sometimes forced to eat raw meat/monster meat and lose sanity. In most cases, I give it to pigs, and they end up turning into Werepigs, since I'm not a honey-hammer, but when you get really busy and forget the name of the game, only to realize you've gathered resources for everything that day except your stomach, all food is welcome. With the new research system too, I tend to... forget to eat a lot more, since I'm anxious to work my way back up. Besides, hasn't more desirable food (honey ham, durians) been around for a long time, anyway?So far, I really like Insanity, but obviously, I've only been playing with it since yesterday, so I doubt there's much weight to a mindless 'oh I like this update!' post. Sorry. DxAlso, even if it's an unpopular opinion, you should still voice it I think. You laid it out very nicely, and it's constructive criticism. You'll probably get a lot of disagreements, like this post, but I doubt you'll get any rude responses. :3Edit : I haven't seen the hand outside the campfire yet. Does it actually put out your fire, or does it just lower it?

Edited February 13, 2013 by Mysiaca

[tehMugwump]

I agree with almost everything the OP says. My suggestion is to leave the insanity punishment update for level 50+ when you've had a chance to establish yourself.

[Stroomschok]

Learn the love the Straw Roll, people!

[Uszaty]

Insanity can be too punishing and the ways to restore one's sanity are pretty arbitrary (picking flowers is just dumb). Sanity monsters should attack and vanish, come and go, harass you to no end but let you live to give you false hope from time to time. There should be a way to embrace the sanity if you dare to live in a more hostile environment. I would also like to see more actions influencing sanity meter (for example building a campfire when the night approaches or destroying the local pesky spider nest should restore hope to the character and give some sanity points). Also I'm not sure if it is implemented, but repeated actions should have lower influence on your character ("I killed 20 spiders already, I'm not afraid of them like I used to be"). Basically, there are tons of possibilites for the Insanity. I hope that Klei will enhance this part of the game greatly.

[ImStarving]

Everything presented in the op is pretty much due to not knowing how to navigate the sanity system. I have a strong feeling that your opinions will change over time as you get to know it better. I have knowledge through my learnings. Let me share.*A Top Hat is overkill for restoring sanity. Wearing a Top Hat at night pretty much negates sanity loss, it may even give sanity.*Food has always been a balancing act. Monster Lasagna is great for the belly, but not so great for health. Not all food should give you back sanity because not all food is equal. A crock pot is really useful for sanity foods. Cooked meat seems to work the best though.*Exploring at night *should* be dangerous. Night time is full of predators and horrors. Your sanity should go down, you should have problems. Even turtling in your base should bring apprehension. Primitive man was fearful of the dark, and rightly so. That said, the requirements for portable light are not that bad.*Preparedness, now that the patch is out you should be exploring. You should be getting used to the new system! This is part of the game. Perhaps in time a character will be released that will negate the need for sanity. (Wallace, Waverly, or Wortox perhaps...?) *Sanity/Insanity is fun! Make a new save and explore the effects. You may find that it is a refreshing experience!

[RueckenMarc]

1)Food has always been a balancing act. Monster Lasagna is great for the belly, but not so great for health. Not all food should give you back sanity because not all food is equal. A crock pot is really useful for sanity foods. Cooked meat seems to work the best though.2)Exploring at night *should* be dangerous. Night time is full of predators and horrors. Your sanity should go down, you should have problems. [...]3)Sanity/Insanity is fun! Make a new save and explore the effects. You may find that it is a refreshing experience!

Excuse me for numbering your points and shorten them.1) Indeed.2) Yes, but you are going insane to quick, imho. i just experimented with insanity and damn, in a new world you really have to be carefull and keep stuff to restore your sanity. That slows you a little bit down. I'm not sure if that is good or bad slowing. Maybe a bit of both.3) No. Insanity (value below 50) just made my restarted the world. I got headache and my eyes hurt after 1 day with sanity below 50. That jittering is really PITA. And i restarted the world, because i had no chance getting my sanity up quick enough. To be fair: it was a test-game for the insanity-stuff.A game that gets harder when i do "bad stuff" is fun. A game that gives me physical pain while getting harder? That is not fun. That's disturbing.

[ImStarving]

You can scale back the insanity effects in the graphics menu. I've read that in other posts here.

[TylerTheDragon]

Aww come on guys , silk is not hard to get , and its not hard to keep sanity , I tried a new world before going back to my old one , and sanity isn't overly powered...Remember , Klei won't make it impossible to not be able to stay sane without going insane , sure maybe 50 , which isn't that bad , and after you've lost it , and if you play right , you can get it all the way back up.What I suggest is to get a tentacle spike as your first priority , and just stay sane , you go more sane during the day , so try camping around for a bit , and afterwards , use that tentacle spike to kill spiders and their nests for silk , then build a top hat and maybe a breezy vest if you've killed a koalaphant , and you can get sanity every night (sinse being dapper and staying near your campfire heads you sanity... Rinse and repeatDapperness is key , don't let maxwell fool you!

[GamingGorman]

I haven't had any problems with sanity and I haven't made a top hat or anything.

[DeadlyFoez]

I was very sad when I found out that mandrakes do not restore any bit of sanity. I'm not sure if it was intentional or just an oversight, but I feel that they should restore at least something for the sanity when eaten.What are your thoughts and opinions? <--This question is directed to everyone who reads it.

[Weyrling]

Learn the love the Straw Roll, people!

As a long time insomniac, I can tell you that never sleeping is very harsh on the psyche, so all these people complaining about "I can't run around all night doing stuff"...Try doing it in real life, you will quickly fray your nerves, gain a short temper, and have trouble focusing. Fortunately I don't have to worry about giant shadowy hands and hounds eating me, so I'm still (relatively) sane, but if I was stuck on an island with a grue, giant spiders, hellhounds, and pigmen, I'd certainly start to go insane if I suffered from insomnia at the same time.

[RenardSolitaire]

edited because post no longer needed after reading:

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/showthread.php?9535-The-One-Guy-Who-Doesn-t-Like-the-Update&p=79770&viewfull=1#post79770

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/showthread.php?9535-The-One-Guy-Who-Doesn-t-Like-the-Update&p=79512&viewfull=1#post79512

Thanks !

That camera shaking was making me sick IRL im happy i can disable it

Edited February 13, 2013 by RenardSolitaire

[RueckenMarc]

You can scale back the insanity effects in the graphics menu. I've read that in other posts here.

Thank you.For the others: Goto Settings and disable "Distortion". No shaking / jittering anymore.You sir saved my game.But: I still want a slight rebalance for the sanity

[Alrom]

I started a new game and I'm so far at day 30Had no problems with insanity. Once I managed to get it below 50 but I just made a straw roll, got some rest and my sanity went from 45 to 88 (or something like this)So far the only things insanity did to me was to make some hands diminish my fire. They don't seems to put it out because there was two at the same time, the first one diminished it to almost nothing and immediatly the second one appeared before I could put anything in the fire and it did nothing.Plus that weird long shadow from some mysterious guy/thing.I even enjoy the company of those bodyless floating eyes.

[Kniggi]

I actually like the insanity-meter. And i don't really need/use the candys and this stuff, I just make a straw roll..

[NoNameNPC]

I love this update and i my feeling says me, Don't starve is getting better with every update :DKeep sane is not to hard, a straw roll is easy to make and restores many points

33 points

, crockpotfood seems to restore a bunch of points too.

15 points

(except monster lasagna, but you can turn monster meat into kabobs).

which gives 15 points sanity

Picking flowers is just for emergency,

(gives 5 points)

don't eat them!

(-2 sanity)

Don't eat raw meat!

(-10 sanity)

And ignore monster meat or eat crockpotfood afterwards.

(-15 points for raw/cooked monster meat,-20 for monster lasagna)

Don't fight the shadowcreatures, they attack usually only while you are very insane.

(something about 25 sanity)

P.S. Love how creepy the shadows look, especially at the campfire Edited February 14, 2013 by NoNameNPC
spoiler tags added

[RenardSolitaire]

Wow nice !I will try this and if it work it also saved my game too ! Cause that shaking was causing me IRL effect :(Thanks for pointing this up