How good is the story?

[Buurt]

I never finished portia even when I really like it so I don't know all story plots of it but I wonder was the story good ? And how is the sandrock story ? Without spoilers.

I really like to get invested into the story while having cozy farm sim time

[Aerogems]

I'd say it's better than Portia, but you're asking a question that is completely subjective and one that only you can answer. How am I supposed to know if you'll like something? Until you made your comment, I didn't even know you existed.

[Buurt]

Originally posted by Aerogems:

I'd say it's better than Portia, but you're asking a question that is completely subjective and one that only you can answer. How am I supposed to know if you'll like something? Until you made your comment, I didn't even know you existed.

A story can also be just objectively bad or good atleast decent.
It's of course always a subjective thing but there are enough games and movies where 95% of all people say it's just bad.

[Kathykins]

I feel the story of Sandrock grabbed me a lot more than Portia. I also feel that is much due to the great characters of the citizens. They are strong, varied personalities, while I think most of Portias people were kind of dull, very few really stood out to me.

So for me the Sandrock story is, subjectively, 100% good. I've enjoyed the ride all the way, probably getting close to the end now.

[Aerogems]

Originally posted by Buurt:

Originally posted by Aerogems:

I'd say it's better than Portia, but you're asking a question that is completely subjective and one that only you can answer. How am I supposed to know if you'll like something? Until you made your comment, I didn't even know you existed.

A story can also be just objectively bad or good atleast decent.
It's of course always a subjective thing but there are enough games and movies where 95% of all people say it's just bad.

Sure, but the OP could be one of those 5% who thought it was great. Or maybe 95% of people thought it was the greatest story ever, but the OP was one of the 5% who didn't. People consider the book Huckleberry Finn to be a classic, but I couldn't stand the thing. I had to force myself to get to page 60, and then I just couldn't take it any longer. I hate just about any bit of Mark Twain fiction, but oddly enough his non-fiction work isn't nearly as bad. Also don't really get what the big deal is about Shakespeare.

So, I'd say mercifully it's better than Atlas Shrugged, but if you compared it to items that land in the top 10 of the NY Times best seller list, it probably couldn't compete.

[Harris]

Originally posted by Buurt:

I never finished portia even when I really like it

News flash - Sandrock story is 3.29 times longer than Portia, so if you never finished that I don't know how you're gonna finish this one.

It feels INCREDIBLY bloated, to the point you feel like it should have logically ended hours ago but the game keeps throwing more and more quests at you. Tons of filler in the midgame especially, including tedious pixel hunting "investigation" missions. There's a few pretty cool quests, like for example a short quest that gives you the ability to collaborate during Duvos occupation, but it doesn't change the fact most of the story feels like padding.

Originally posted by Buurt:

I really like to get invested into the story while having cozy farm sim time

I'd say "pick one", because Sandrock is anything but cozy for the most part, and the setting is to blame here. Water, sandstorms, grind grind grind, lots of sidequests on a timer that overwhelm you, story quests that force your attention and even outright teleport you to where they want you to be in the morning.

Cozy time doesn't really start to happen until well into the second half of the game, when you've got decent tools, gear, the water became cheaper and so on.

[Niras]

Portia's story was okayish, on par with various Harvest Moon likes and Rune Factories. My gripe was relatively small amount of character utilized or properly introduced. Some bachelorettes had more content than others (can't say anything about bachelors)
e.g one of bachelorettes requires doing some task for the parent in order to get blessing to marry.

Also main conflict enters the stage late into the game and ends somewhat fast before the ending. It's more of a suprise. I wasn't expecting serious while starting the game.



Based on what I remember from "Knives out" update in April Sandrock's story in comparison to Portia's:
- gives spotlight to more characters get via main plot or side quests,
- utilizes more characters in main plot,
- has more memorable moments,
- is present from the beginning,
- more joke reliant in 2nd half? (apperently according to some ppl, for me jokes are better and more prevent),
- is setting up side plots better if at all (can't say more),
- slow start can be more felt,
- story beats are separated with lenghty distractions, like you getting smth from caves leads you to mandatory 1,5h long side guest.

tl;dr It's better and longer but structurally is the same. It shares slow start and story beats are considerably apart from each other.

[SimuLord]

It's incredibly content rich, main and side quests alike, well-paced (YMMV; I'm a "power gamer" type of player in this genre, aggressively building up my workshop), great writing, likable characters, solid quest design...by a mile my 2023 Game of the Year.

Of note, when I say it's well-paced, I'm referring to the downtime that some folks complain about; from where I'm sitting it gives the player a chance to catch up with new machines and products and such and get a surplus built up to power through the next bit of quest content.

[omgilovesteak]

This story is on par with The Lord of The Rings Trilogy.

[Buurt]

Originally posted by Harris:

Originally posted by Buurt:

I never finished portia even when I really like it

News flash - Sandrock story is 3.29 times longer than Portia, so if you never finished that I don't know how you're gonna finish this one.

It feels INCREDIBLY bloated, to the point you feel like it should have logically ended hours ago but the game keeps throwing more and more quests at you. Tons of filler in the midgame especially, including tedious pixel hunting "investigation" missions. There's a few pretty cool quests, like for example a short quest that gives you the ability to collaborate during Duvos occupation, but it doesn't change the fact most of the story feels like padding.

Originally posted by Buurt:

I really like to get invested into the story while having cozy farm sim time

I'd say "pick one", because Sandrock is anything but cozy for the most part, and the setting is to blame here. Water, sandstorms, grind grind grind, lots of sidequests on a timer that overwhelm you, story quests that force your attention and even outright teleport you to where they want you to be in the morning.

Cozy time doesn't really start to happen until well into the second half of the game, when you've got decent tools, gear, the water became cheaper and so on.

it could also be 15 times longer, I didn't drop portia because of the length or anything.

I mean game still can be cozy... it depends, I get stressed from stardew and for many people thats most cozy game, but something like Sandrock doesen't stress me as much, I played in early access without doing to much story and it was cozy

[[OTG] Aelirenn]

Originally posted by Buurt:

it could also be 15 times longer, I didn't drop portia because of the length or anything.

I mean game still can be cozy... it depends, I get stressed from stardew and for many people thats most cozy game, but something like Sandrock doesen't stress me as much, I played in early access without doing to much story and it was cozy

While I loved Portia, I personally love Sandrock's story more. I think it is much better written and far more engaging than Portia. I also feel like my builder is more involved and not just an extra sword to help out the civil corps sometimes. She's actually an important part of the story. This is all just my opinion though so take it with a grain of salt. You may find your experience different. Out of curiosity what stresses you about Stardew?

[Buurt]

Originally posted by OTG Aelirenn:

Originally posted by Buurt:

it could also be 15 times longer, I didn't drop portia because of the length or anything.

I mean game still can be cozy... it depends, I get stressed from stardew and for many people thats most cozy game, but something like Sandrock doesen't stress me as much, I played in early access without doing to much story and it was cozy

While I loved Portia, I personally love Sandrock's story more. I think it is much better written and far more engaging than Portia. I also feel like my builder is more involved and not just an extra sword to help out the civil corps sometimes. She's actually an important part of the story. This is all just my opinion though so take it with a grain of salt. You may find your experience different. Out of curiosity what stresses you about Stardew?

I played Stardew alot so I even when I play casual and wanna be cozy and now which is the best to farm when and stuff like that so I always get stressed to make every day as productive as possible and than I get burned out in year one or something, this doesen't happen to me with sandrock/portia because I just don't have the playtime like stardew in it and because its more story focused I just go on the big grind side when it feels like I wanna continue the story, while stardew doesen't really has a story so I always do the big grind 24/7 for some reason

[[OTG] Aelirenn]

Originally posted by Buurt:

Ok good. I was a little worried that it was the fighting through the mines because there are some tough fights in the second half or so of the main story in Sandrock. I think that for the most part you can take your time doing stuff in Sandrock, as long as there isn't a timer. A lot of the main story missions are based on when you finish the previous mission so if you want to hold off (and there's no timer) for a few days or whatever you can. If you do things too fast, it can cause issues like commissions for things you can't even buy the recipe for yet or side missions overlapping with main missions. I often hold off on doing things like turning in a main mission item for a day or 3 just to space things out a little more. On the other hand, if you go too fast or too slow, you may end up overlapping missions with scheduled events like holidays.

Elsie seems to have the worst timing. She always wants to go do something silly and pointless when there are 1000 other things going on like sandstorm damage. I have yet to be able to get her to bug people to take a day off at an appropriate time. lol

[Pathetic]

Sandrock's story feels much more important and engaging. Portia always kind of gave off the feeling that the town was already idyllic and its problems could be solved by the people already there. The builder is coming in to experience the story and help where they can.

In Sandrock the premise for me was already 10x better. The town is dying, the economy is miserable and despite all that the people still clutch onto hope. Each of your actions feels very impactful and you feel like youre accomplishing something.

It pulled me in so much more than Portia ever could. The characters also get great development overall, and numerous of them get heavy story involvement.