Talk to Castellan?

[Lord Darkness]

So I've just started this game and its telling me to talk to Castellan, with no direction or guidance. So... i'm expected to just run around until i come across this person to get started?? Seriously? Can someone please let me if this is a common theme in the game so i can get a refund. Not wasting my money if its like this.

[Morri]

If you double click a quest in your journal so it becomes the active quest, you get a clear indication on your compass and on the map where you have to go for the next step in the quest.

[Lord Darkness]

Thank you, so anything else i should know telepathically before i start this game? Its a poor sign that the developers couldn't give a in game hint to help new players.

[Living Death]

Originally posted by Lord Darkness:

Thank you, so anything else i should know telepathically before i start this game? Its a poor sign that the developers couldn't give a in game hint to help new players.

No, the quest automatically becomes active when you start a new game. Top middle of your screen is a sliding compass on a bar and a yellow exclamation mark with little marks either side should appear.

Like three seconds after the screen loads in, you'll get a pop up saying "New Quest - Starting a new life", or something to this effect. That's when it becomes active.

[Morri]

The game doesn't hold your hand, but it's not really rocket science either to figure everything out imo. Just look around in the menus for a bit and you'll get the hang of it. Other than the tutuorial popups when you do something for the first time, there's also a knowledge tab ingame where you find lots of useful info.
The loading screen hints have useful info as well, coincidentally I just got this one now when I started up the game: https://imgur.com/a/wmxXqcY
And ofc, if you have any questions, people on the forum here (and the discord as well) are very helpful, so feel free to ask if something is not clear!

The only thing I really think the game should tell you beforehand is that if you remove the stump of chopped tree (with a shovel), the tree will never grow back again.
If you leave the stump, the tree will grow back in 2 ingame years. That's also a loading screen hint, but it's ofc easy to miss and would be a shame if you ruin the aesthetics around your village by taking down all the tree stumps before you come across this hint.

[Lord Darkness]

Cool, thank you. I don't expect hand holding but i also don't expect to be wasting my time trying to figure out what to do, that's just not enjoyable. A little bit of guidance can go a long long way. Thanks again.

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Lord Darkness:

Cool, thank you. I don't expect hand holding but i also don't expect to be wasting my time trying to figure out what to do, that's just not enjoyable. A little bit of guidance can go a long long way. Thanks again.

Well no offense, but if you have ever played a game with quests before this is a very common feature. Also what more do you want? The quest tells you exactly where to go and you get an indicator on the map?

[Cocco]

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

.......
Well no offense, but if you have ever played a game with quests before this is a very common feature. Also what more do you want? The quest tells you exactly where to go and you get an indicator on the map?

Perhaps some Youtube videos that are installed with the game and give starting tips would be useful.

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Cocco:

Originally posted by Wizard of Woz:

.......
Well no offense, but if you have ever played a game with quests before this is a very common feature. Also what more do you want? The quest tells you exactly where to go and you get an indicator on the map?

Perhaps some Youtube videos that are installed with the game and give starting tips would be useful.

Have to disagree. Having to try things for yourself and learn, is how we grow as humans. There is already too much coddling these days.

[Cocco]

Why learn to read and write? The AI writes the spoken text and also reads a text aloud.
/s

Wozu schreiben und lesen lernen? Die KI schriebt den gesprochenen Text und liest einen Text auch vor.
/s

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Cocco:

Why learn to read and write? The AI writes the spoken text and also reads a text aloud.
/s

Wozu schreiben und lesen lernen? Die KI schriebt den gesprochenen Text und liest einen Text auch vor.
/s

That is exactly my point. How many students in today's society are going to just get through school using AI? As a species we should be getting smarter, but it seems we have reached the top of the bell curve and on our way down.

[Cocco]

You´re right. But you can't change it.

Therefore: Videos.

[Foxglovez]

There are tons of vids out there. Just type in the name of the game. But there is a basic style of game called survival that this game fits in to where trying to figure out how the game works is a part of the gameplay for most folks. For players used to very carefully orchestrated start ups, like you find in MMOs where everything is spelled out for you and you are gently led through all the game mechanics, this is a shock and folks feel like they are "wasting their time" actually having to figure out how a game works. Add to that the sandbox style and it leaves a lot of players feeling frustrated.

There is a fairly big learning curve that players get to work through in MD. Those that like it like the game. Those that don't for whatever reason put the game down. Sometimes sticking with something and not just threatening to quit almost instantly is a great alternative but it depends on state of mind.

Different generations of players have different concepts of what is fun. We oldsters tend to be more in the "Buck up Buttercup" camp and feel that indeed, there is way too much coddling but coddling brings in the bucks and since games are businesses, the more stuff is dumbed down, the more money they make. A small independent game studio can buck the trend so players used to Bethesda, EA, the big AAA studios are shocked when they find themselves feeling adrift in a game like this. Can a player overcome the need for hand holding if that is all they have ever experienced? Sometimes but it all depends on mindset, curiosity, willingness to figure out the unknown, make mistakes and learn from them.

[Lord Darkness]

Foxglovez you make some good points but you do miss one thing. Time, for those of us who are time poor we don't want to waste our limited leisure time trying to figure out some illogical mechanic of a game. Its just not enjoyable banging into road blocks.. i mean who would think rabbit traps belong in the decoration menu? I what the hell is that about. Sure i would say anyone can figure it out, but its about reward for time being invested and searching the net for a vid to learn how to do something isnt my idea of how i want to spend my limited free time.

[Enjoy The Journey]

Well, then, move on.

[pdoan8]

MD is not really enjoyable if you have less than an hour to play consider that:
- You will need at least 15 minutes in real life to gather enough material to build your first house. It would take me forever to "perfectly" line up the building.
- How about cutting ~300 tree for a quest? Each tree take like 1 minute.
- It takes like 5 real life minutes to run from village to village.
- It would take at least a couple hours to explore the map (just about 1km square).
- A day take like 20-25 real life minutes (7am to 7pm). Worst, you can't speed up the time. You can't go to sleep too early.

I mean the game is extremely slow pace for someone who has little free time.