Let's all not starve (Don't Starve Together)

And really, we had every disadvantage against us. We didn't find Beefalo (which were apparently within a few minutes walk) so no fur for suits/ear muffs and we started our farms late, we had no gears so no ice box, and all that ice we were using for filling meant we'd have no ice in summer (not that it would LAST till summer without the icebox).

Still, we didn't starve. I'll call that a win.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Ahh shit, turns out I had my mic turned down somehow last night, my voice on the footage is SUPER QUIET >_<
 
Didn't get home 'til 9:30 and it looks like I don't have the game anywhere.
Still, for $15 I might be persuaded to pick it up in time for next time if next time's time is more timely.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Didn't get home 'til 9:30 and it looks like I don't have the game anywhere.
Still, for $15 I might be persuaded to pick it up in time for next time if next time's time is more timely.

--Patrick
Mmm, if you're just going to buy it for us, you might hold off, I'm not 100% certain we'll do this again. It was really frustrating for some people.
 
I had actually considered getting it when it was on Steam sale but didn't and now I'm regretting the lost opportunity a little bit.

--Patrick
 
Mmm, if you're just going to buy it for us, you might hold off, I'm not 100% certain we'll do this again. It was really frustrating for some people.
And it's completely understandable WHY they were frustrated. Don't Starve is a game that doesn't want to tell you how to play, yet demands you figure it out quickly or you'll have lost the game days before you actually die. Worse, it's perfectly willing to deny you easy access to the resources you need to live. We had that problem with the Beefalo: had we gotten them in a better position, we'd have gotten enough manure to do our farms and berry bushes way earlier (letting us focus on using berries as filler instead of meals early on) and had plenty of fur to make ear muffs/breezy vests to survive the winter. Instead, food was a constant issue until winter and this meant we didn't have enough time to get walls up or to get basic necessities.

I GET why people wanted out. It's not fun to lose at a game you don't know how to play... you just feel like your being punished. Worse still was the fact there really wasn't anything they could do to prevent it.
 
Don't Starve is a game that doesn't want to tell you how to play, yet demands you figure it out quickly or you'll have lost the game days before you actually die.
This isn't without precedent. There's a fairly large (vocal?) segment of the gaming community out there who believe todays games are too easy and for whom beating a game on the hardest difficulty is still not satisfying enough of a challenge. Games like this and Dark Souls (I assume) were created to fill this niche, introducing a new metagame where learning how to play the game is part of the game, and where the developers' (imagined) laughter at your constant deaths as you suss it out is part of what spurs you on.

I'm not against this, really. I'm actually really happy that people are finally doing something other than glorified memorization games such as DDR, most shooters, platformers, etc. I absolutely do not enjoy a game that is less a test of skill and more a matter of playing it enough times so you know the patterns/where the enemies will spawn/how the level is laid out/where the power-ups are located.

--Patrick
 
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This isn't without precedent. There's a fairly large (vocal?) segment of the gaming community out there who believe todays games are too easy and for whom beating a game on the hardest difficulty is still not satisfying enough of a challenge. Games like this and Dark Souls (I assume) were created to fill this niche, introducing a new metagame where learning how to play the game is part of the game, and where the developers' (imagined) laughter at your constant deaths as you suss it out is part of what spurs you on.

I'm not against this, really. I'm actually really happy that people are finally doing something other than glorified memorization games such as DDR, most shooters, platformers, etc. I absolutely do not enjoy a game that is less a test of skill and more a matter of playing it enough times so you know the patterns/where the enemies will spawn/how the level is laid out/where the power-ups are located.

--Patrick
Dark Souls doesn't quite fit into this equation. They give you at least some tutorial in the Undead Asylum (via notes you can read) and give you places where you're forced to learn how some things work (like narrow hallways that force you to switch up your attacks) and there is NOTHING random about it'd design... everything is where it is for a calculated reason. Don't Starve just kind of dumps you into the world and doesn't tell you anything... you aren't given the controls or even basic instruction on what your priorities are (Getting food, getting twigs and flint for tools, finding a gold vein to build your Science Machine).
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Yeah, and imagine if you had a random chance of being dumped into dark souls and not finding a weapon until after the first boss.
 
Yeah, and imagine if you had a random chance of being dumped into dark souls and not finding a weapon until after the first boss.
To be fair, this is a Souls tradition: encountering the first boss way before your ready to fight it. And you get fairly rewarded if you actually manage to win (and it IS winnable)... beating the Asylum Demon with just your broken sword (and maybe the fire bombs you picked as your starting gift) nets you the Demon Hammer, which is incredibly strong for the stage of the game you get it in. Managing the same feat in Demon's Souls get you an early upgrade item that helps a bit too and you get to pick up a bunch of useful items later. Beating a tough early enemy in Dark Souls 2 gets you a ring that is very much worth the trouble and beating the Beast on the bridge in Bloodborne gets you some upgrade stuff earlier than you would otherwise.

More to the point, it's supposed to be a fight you can't win: they are telling you it's okay to run if you have to.
 
I've never actually played Dark Souls, I was just going on reputation. Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress are probably better examples.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Alright, here's episode 2... I gotta hit the sack. More to come in the future.

[DOUBLEPOST=1440133988,1440133653][/DOUBLEPOST]PS, my subscribers hate you and your shitty mic, Ash.
 
Alright, here's episode 2... I gotta hit the sack. More to come in the future.

[DOUBLEPOST=1440133988,1440133653][/DOUBLEPOST]PS, my subscribers hate you and your shitty mic, Ash.
I've turned down my output (It was set a lot higher back when my mic was almost completely silent and I forgot to turn it down) but the only real way to get rid of the wind tunnel effect is to turn off my fan... which means my room quickly approaches 90-100+ degrees after a bit, as I have to close my door in order to not disturb everyone else in the house. I can try this next time, but it is COMPLETELY awful.

EDIT: Doing a brief bit of testing, the issue is Ventrillo, not my mic. I can use Steam Chat or Skype without that background noise... turning off the fan works too, but it only matters if I'm using Ventrillo.
 
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I saw y'all all playing this when I logged on the other night... I hadn't been checking here that much, so I was curious about what was going on.

Looked up the game, hemmed and hawed, then gleefully went and TORPEDOED ALL THE SHIPS in World of Warships.

It looks like fun, in a much harder "Banished" kind of way, but I don't have the fundage spare right now.
 
Oh dear god, I started a Wilderness game and I have everything I need EXCEPT ONE FUCKING PIECE OF GOLD, so it's Day five and I still have no science machine. *cry*
 
Let me rephrase, I have been stripping the landscape of every rocky bit in any unexplored area I come to and have still not found a stripey one.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Let me rephrase, I have been stripping the landscape of every rocky bit in any unexplored area I come to and have still not found a stripey one.
Oh dear, that's not good.

I don't suppose you lucked out and found a Pig King?
 
Sadly no, but I started practically right on top of a Beefalo herd, two fishing ponds, and a spider biome.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Honestly, starve no. Get slaughtered by monsters, yes.
Name trope aside, I've never actually starved in this game. I always die by violence. Being out of food propels me to ever more insane antics to try to get the food, which usually gets me killed.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I always get eaten by wolves. I don't know how to not be wolf edible!
Log suit. It absorbs 80% of incoming damage. Grass suit if you can't make one by then, it absorbs 60%. Try to run the dogs around if you can, kite them, get in a hit when it's safe to do so (like when one stops to bark for a while).

The next video (working on it as I type this) has our first hound attack in it.
 
Log suit. It absorbs 80% of incoming damage. Grass suit if you can't make one by then, it absorbs 60%. Try to run the dogs around if you can, kite them, get in a hit when it's safe to do so (like when one stops to bark for a while).
If you are close to them, Beefalo and Penguins make great distractions for the Wolves. Run into these mobs and try to get the wolves to attack them... it'll go one of three ways:

- The don't aggro and you need to try again.
- They aggro and get killed by the friendly mobs. Pick up your monster meat and wolf fangs.
- They aggro and kill the friendly mobs (but still take damage). Mop up the remainder and collect your meat/fur/eggs.
 
I made camp in the middle of the Beefalos for this reason. Then I accidentally hit one and it was bad until puppies came.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
While the next episode is rendering, here's the best crockpot recipes, for reference:

Meatballs -
One morsel of any sort, three filler (including ice but not twigs). Also, monster meat and 3 filler works as well. Fills 62.5 hunger, 3 health and 5 sanity.

Meaty Stew -
Meat value of 3 (morsels/drumsticks count 0.5), any filler other than honey, twigs, moles, mandrakes or tallbird eggs.
For example, meat, monster meat, morsel, morsel would make the stew. Fills 150(!!) hunger, 12 health, 5 sanity.

Turkey Dinner -
two drumsticks, a meat filler and either a fruit or vegetable.
For example, two drumsticks, monster meat, berries. Or two drumsticks, morsel, carrot. Fills 75 hunger, 20 health, 5 sanity.

Trail mix -
A roasted birchnut, one unit of berries, one fruit based filler (another berries would work) and a twig. Doesn't really sate hunger (12.5), but restores 30 health. 5 sanity.

Dragon Pie -
If you get a dragonfruit from your farm (it's rare), cook it with 3 twigs. Restores 75 hunger, 40 health, 5 sanity.

Honey Ham -
Monster meat, 2 morsels and one honey. Restores 75 hunger, 30 health, 5 sanity.


There are lots more recipes, but these are the most convenient/efficient ones I found.
 
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