How's the game play?

[TrickyNick77]

Odd question, yes, but here's the full meaning of the question.

I am legally blind so games are a bit difficult just because of that.
Since there is hunting and picking up items I'm worried about picking up this game.

First, I read a post that you can unofficially increase the font size so that's not an issue.
When hunting, are targets small? Like in shooters, you're shotting at things that, for me, are invisible cause it's too small.
What about picking up items? Are they easy enough to spot?
Are the menu's easy enough to read when increasing font size?

Also, is the Ultimate Version worth it?

[Not MrBallen]

Hi, I will speak slowly and loud so you can hear me. Oh blind not deaf, sorry(I am just messing with you, lol).

But seriously, there are small animals to hunt so you might struggle there, larger animals tend to be more aggressive and until you get further on in the game or have more experience you will find it hard to survive. There are moose and deer which are large but skittish. I cant atest to the font size as I have not changed it.

Could you watch some youtube videos and see if you see (excuse the pun) what they are doing, would that help?

[Jaunitta 🌸]

With Hunting.
Once you get the tracker skill you gain the option to hunt with the skill Inspector Mode.
The default key-bind for Inspector Mode is the Alt key,
Inspector Mode is a visual effect that overlays the vision of the playable character, with the purpose of highlighting environmental features.
It can be used to find herbs lost tools sticks and stones...anything that is important to you.
There is a lot of picking up items sticks and stones.

Coop is also availabe play with friends called the Oxbow

The game is very customizable. At the Start new game select customize. Or use Esc then customize my game.
Change the carry weight to infinite. God mode skills speeds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sEAzmf2RBI

Best to test the game buy it play for less than 2 hours refund it if it's not suitable.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/

[AdvancedFollower]

Honestly, the game is probably not ideal if you're visually impaired. While you can get a skill that highlights items of interest (rocks, sticks, herbs etc.), you won't have that in the beginning. Hunting is also quite difficult as the animals have natural camouflage and blend into the environment. Later in the game you're mostly managing your village through the menus, but it takes a while to get to that stage.

I'd recommend Foundation if you haven't played that. It's similar in some ways but it's more of a strategy/builder game (no first person survival). The graphics are more abstract with greater contrast and bold colors. You can also pause the game while you look around and plan your actions.

[Foxglovez]

Having minimal eyesight myself, though not legally blind I have enlarged the font, can spot enough critters to kill, just stick with rabbits for early on who will let you get quite close, then chase them down. Winter is great for wabbit thumping. Once you get veggies and things you can grow yourself you will be fine fairly meatless-wise but boars give a lot of meat and you can hire a hunter. I never see the birds until they fly up in the air, just don't see them, lol. There are bindits but you can turn them off at first anyway. I think on sale it would be worth a shot as there are lots of fun things to do in the game. And inspector mode is your great friend.

As others said you can change settings, maybe even make aggressive creatures almost dead on arrival to your axe. Those are the only downsides for vision in the game. Lengthening the seasons is good first time around as you will need to figure out the game and turning off carry weight but at some time if you actually want to try it with weight on and down to about 5 days a season the game plays very differently, but probably not the first time if you are dealing with other stuff.

The other thing is to try it for under two hours and if it is just too annoying you can always get a refund. But I think it's worth a go. You may just have to use better strategies than others. The game is a slow burn that others rush through so being slow is a good thing.

[TrickyNick77]

Originally posted by Not MrBallen:

Hi, I will speak slowly and loud so you can hear me. Oh blind not deaf, sorry(I am just messing with you, lol).

Could you watch some youtube videos and see if you see (excuse the pun) what they are doing, would that help?

First, if I don't laugh about it I'll cry. LOL But yes, I took it as a joke and no offense taken.

I've been watching YouTube videos and it's getting me interested in the game. I've learned that what I see in videos isn't necessarily what I get when I play myself so it's why I tend to ask when it comes to games I'm on the fence about.

Originally posted by Jaunitta 🌸:

With Hunting.
Inspector Mode is a visual effect that overlays the vision of the playable character, with the purpose of highlighting environmental features.
It can be used to find herbs lost tools sticks and stones...anything that is important to you.
There is a lot of picking up items sticks and stones.

Coop is also availabe play with friends called the Oxbow

Best to test the game buy it play for less than 2 hours refund it if it's not suitable.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/

Inspector Mode: is that what made things glow in the videos I watched or was that the tracker skill?
I don't think I will do Co-Op as I don't have many friends that play games or ones that play games I like so I always play solo. But yes, I know Oxbow can be played Solo.
I dislike refunding but have done it in the past.

Originally posted by AdvancedFollower:

Hunting is also quite difficult as the animals have natural camouflage and blend into the environment. Later in the game you're mostly managing your village through the menus, but it takes a while to get to that stage.

In the videos I've watched, they laid Wacally Wabbit Twaps, (ahem, Rabbit Traps), now I don't know what they received but couldn't I use a lot of them to get meat? I know rabbits won't have a lot of meat, but they still have some.

I will check out Foundation and see what it's like.

Originally posted by Foxglovez:

I never see the birds until they fly up in the air, just don't see them, lol. There are bindits but you can turn them off at first anyway. I think on sale it would be worth a shot as there are lots of fun things to do in the game. And inspector mode is your great friend.

As others said you can change settings, maybe even make aggressive creatures almost dead on arrival to your axe.

The other thing is to try it for under two hours and if it is just too annoying you can always get a refund. But I think it's worth a go. You may just have to use better strategies than others. The game is a slow burn that others rush through so being slow is a good thing.

Funny you say that, was watching a video and then saw the bird take off. The guy I was watching had normal vision I would assume and he didn't see the bird until it took off either. Granted I saw it once it was in the air couldn't see it on the ground.

Will changing the aggressiveness and/or hp will it disable achievements? While I doubt I will get them all, I like to get the ones I can.


I'll keep watching and check out the videos that were posted including the other game mentioned above.

[Foxglovez]

Morri will chime in on achievements but not that many have anything to do with fighting. I did think of wabbity twaps after last post and they will also be a good option. For your first run through I wouldn't bother with the new Oxbow but do the original valley. It has a better set up for new players imho. And yes the inspector mode is what makes items glow. It even works in mines. Something I didn't even try until a few days ago. Noone can see ♥♥♥♥ in mines so it's very helpful.
If the aggressive critters are just too annoying you do have option to turn them into the walking dead but giving them 10% life at first would be a fine option. Hey, it's a game. It should be fun. Melee Hit boxes in the game are not particularly sophisticated so wolves in particular are a hoot. It's basically flail wildly as they come in range and hope for a hit. This ain't no shooter though with a crossbow it isn't awful at all.

[Morri]

Inspector mode will be your friend. Default it's the alt key, and at first it will only light up items you have dropped yourself. But you can improve it by taking skills. There's one that will make harvesteable things light up that you can get relatively early. All plants, stones, sticks etc will light up so you can easily see what you can harvest and what not.
Another one will make animals light up. Green for prey animals, orange for animals that will usually run from you but will fight back when you attack them, and red for predators. This will definitely help you seeing birds.
You won't have that skill from the beginning though.

As for traps, eventually you are limited at 6 of each (there's rabbit, bird and rat traps) but you start of with only 1 and you need to invest in skills to be able to put down more.
You'll normally only really need them at the start though. The idea of the game is that you'll set your villagers to work, so they will do the hunting for you.

One tip for you at the start: rabbits will be easy to kill. You don't need a weapon since you can outrun them if you are full stamina. When you see one running away, just run after it. You'll catch up and can one-hit-punch it. Easy meat to get you by at the beginning.

Otherwise, I think boars are a good way to eat early in game as well (you can change animal damage in the customisations if you find they tear you apart before you manage to kill them) because they won't run from you and will charge towards you, so you can take them out with melee combat.
Don't worry; changing the settings in the customisation will not affect getting achievements.

I'm with Jaunita; try the game out for 2 hours to see if it works for you, and refund before the 2 hour mark if it doesn't. Do keep in mind that you might not be able to get the inspector mode fully upgraded before that time to experience if that'll help with animals.
But if you like I'll make a screenshot using inspector mode on various animals so you can see the difference?

[TrickyNick77]

I've decided to give it a try. I will lower the challenge a bit so it'll be easier for me.
Such as lowering their HP and their damage.
I will report back what I think after around 2 hours of play time.

[TrickyNick77]

According to Steam, I've been playing 70 minutes.
I won't refund the game, as I am enjoying it, the hardest thing to get is Stone. I actually just saw how to unlock Survival Sense which helps in inspector mode for Rocks and other stuff.

I tried to go with 2x font, but when I did I couldn't see the starting menu lol
I went to 1.5, good see menu, couldn't read full description of map.
So, 1.4 - The only thing this doesn't let me see is my chat options or at least fully read them - I miss 1-3 words on the right side so have to assume what those missing words are. And you know what happens when you assume?

[Foxglovez]

That would be good info for devs. No use giving us things for added inclusivity and then not having them be fully functional for folks that need it.
Glad you gave the game a go. It's pretty fun even after a thousand hours. It was a bit of a learning curve for me. Used to more survival, less village builder but it is still entertaining.

[Not MrBallen]

Originally posted by TrickyNick77:

According to Steam, I've been playing 70 minutes.
I won't refund the game, as I am enjoying it, the hardest thing to get is Stone. I actually just saw how to unlock Survival Sense which helps in inspector mode for Rocks and other stuff.

I tried to go with 2x font, but when I did I couldn't see the starting menu lol
I went to 1.5, good see menu, couldn't read full description of map.
So, 1.4 - The only thing this doesn't let me see is my chat options or at least fully read them - I miss 1-3 words on the right side so have to assume what those missing words are. And you know what happens when you assume?

Stone can be hard to see for the normally sighted so dont feel to bad about. As a tip stone is really easy to see in winter.

[TrickyNick77]

Well, got 5.8 hours in.
In Summer, day 2 (or 3) of 6 per season.
Enjoying it, just the collections of rocks bugs me. Just how infrequent they are compared to trees for logs and sticks.
Ohh, I have trouble finding straw (reeds), any tips?

What do I need to so my villagers will survive?
Water: I can craft buckets (not not yet made)
Food: Hunter for meat?
2 Empty Houses

How do I get a lumberjack to get Logs/sticks/rocks to automate it?

Anyways, off for the night.

[Morri]

Originally posted by TrickyNick77:

Enjoying it, just the collections of rocks bugs me. Just how infrequent they are compared to trees for logs and sticks.

Do you mean the mineable rock mass or do you mean stones? If it's stones you want, you'll get more than you need from going into a cave and mining the ore in there. You'll get stone automatically as well from that as a side product, and lots of it. If it's limestone you need from the mineable rock mass, that is indeed a bit slow to gather.

Originally posted by TrickyNick77:

Ohh, I have trouble finding straw (reeds), any tips?

There's lots of them growing next to the lakes. Are you playing on the Valley map or on the Oxbow?
By taking the "survival sense" skill in the survival skill tree and using inspector mode those will light up as well and will be easy to see.

Originally posted by TrickyNick77:

What do I need to so my villagers will survive?
Water: I can craft buckets (not not yet made)
Food: Hunter for meat?
2 Empty Houses

They need water (so you'll need buckets or waterskins filled with water), they need food, a house to stay in (you can only put one unmarried man and one unmarried woman together in a house) and wood to burn.

Best is to also build a food storage building and a resource storage building. All your villagers can access those and will also put the stuff they gather or produce in there. Without them you need to baby your villagers more and put food, water and firewood in their house chests. Or take their products out of the work building's chests yourself.

You also probably don't want your villagers to keep eating raw meat as it's not that nutritious. Pay attention to the food value to see how much it'll fill them.
It's better to at least roast it, even better to prepare other dishes with it (like potage). To do that, you either need to cook it yourself, or you can build a kitchen and hire a cook.

Don't recruit too many people at once, as your villagers won't be that skilled yet at the start and you'll need to help out yourself as well to keep everyone fed. I would start with just one woodcutter and one hunter just to see how it goes. You can then slowly expand once you notice they bring in enough meat and wood to accommodate more people.

Originally posted by TrickyNick77:

How do I get a lumberjack to get Logs/sticks/rocks to automate it?

With all work buildings you need to set the tasks in the second tab of the building management screen. There you can say how much % of their time workers in there have to spend on something (and how much that'll cause them to produce). And when you click on a task it'll also show you what material/ingredients and tools your workers need for it.
Keep in mind that a lumberjack is not able to get your stones; you need an excavation hut with a miner for that.

A handy tip is to disallow your villagers to burn sticks or logs for firewood, and only allow them actual firewood: https://imgur.com/a/lcLnu1T (1st screenshot).
You can do the same thing with food and drink to forbid them from eating the raw ingredients that you need for your kitchen.

Have fun!

[Foxglovez]

Yeah, those little tabs that show food, drink and heating are pretty important. Figuring out how much value you get from different foods takes some time but indeed roasting meat is a good beginning. The excavation shack is a little down the road for you but till then use winter as your time for rock picking. My first two villagers are always lumberjack and then excavation but that may take me a year or two to get as I like villagers with really good stats, no 1s if I can help it.

If you walk along lake shores where there are reeds then rocks and sticks will be near too. Early game you will do a lot of this and though annoying is actually increasing your survival skill level so it's in a good cause. Eventually you will take all the information you gain with this first character and probably start another one down the line. This is your practice town. My first one was totally a lesson in what not to do but I certainly learned a lot. I had a whole notebook of information and admit to, after a week of play, watching a couple of the vids on most important things to know. But that's just me. lol