The gimmick of this game is not working

[lyravega]

(apologies for the rant, gotta vent...)

TL;DR: Starting over every mission is not a gimmick, it's a way to stretch the content, and artificially extend the game's life.

Look at all the missions, in general it's like this: Move onto a region, scan it, then do something else like exterminating a creature or building something, then head to a new region. All of these could've been one lengthy mission. But it's not.

You're forced back to your ship, so that you can drop for another objective, so that the game can force you to grind the very same stuff, mine the very same caves all over again. It's not a gimmick, it's a way to stretch the content, and artificially extend the game's life.

At the very least, you'd expect that the buildings you make in the building missions persist, but no. The only thing that persists is your character, and whatever workshop stuff you have on you.

Workshop is supposed to speed up parts of the game in a way, but the price tag on items is rather steep, and the mission payouts aren't that good to compensate. Thus, it becomes yet another grind, to help with the rest of the grind a little bit. And as far as exotics go, you need to finish two different missions then you may find them in any other mission, which is not communicated to the player at all.

Any mission that requires something from T4 instantly becomes a chore as anything in T4 has extremely high requirements, mainly gold. You spend most of your time in caves, trying to find enough gold so that you can at the very least finish the mission. And by this time, you probably have stopped caring about exploring, because it's the umpteenth time you've been here, raiding the very same caves (some of which are blatant copy/pastes), and possibly have a map in the background to check if you've missed any... and possibly you're building "efficient" houses now, or even settling up in caves, because whatever you build will be gone in the next mission anyway.

I'd have never thought I'd say this in a game, but holy cow... "muh immershun!!!1". I mean there are so many things that I feel wrong with this game, I started to nitpick on immersion. And all the whining above stems from one thing: Mission system, and having no persistence between them.

Most of those missions should've been rolled up into one gigantic mission per region. And maybe they could've had dynamic mini side missions that you could either do or ignore, extermination and retrieval missions for example. Whenever you accomplish an objective, you'll get your mail with your payout, but the mission moves onto another objective without requiring you to go back to orbit, or wiping the progress. You can leave and get something new with your payout, swap your characters, but when you come back everything is still intact, maybe damaged a little or something.

Though, as I've said before, starting over every mission is not a gimmick, it's a way to stretch the content, and artificially extend the game's life. Because we'd be done with the game in like 15-20 hours my way. This way, we still have little content, but to reach and experience it, you need to run, grind, build all over again, and again. And again.

[Earthgrasper]

pee pee poo poo

[Macdallan]

Wrong, it is working. It's fine.

[Zep Tepi]

I bought this game deliberately because of this mechanic. I'm one of those people who think that the first few hours in a survival game are the fun part. Then I get bored when I have a cozy set up. I have restart-itis. Different people have different preferences. There's no need for this game to be just like all the other games out there. And in most survival games, the grind is the cake and the boss fights, or other objectives, are the icing on the cake.

[Deathndk90]

I think if you could do missions in outpost it would make a lot of this angst go away. Keep the 1/3rd EXP but just give them something to do. Maybe even earn some of the workshop $$ this way too.

[Old Scaley]

I read the game description before I bought it so there's no problems there. I play solo and enjoy the fresh start each time.

Suits me fine, no complaints.

[hazelrah]

+1 op.
i did the icestorm and the one right after it (another scanning mission) last night. it is not engaging in any way to run the exact same map, in the exact same path (avoid the polar bear spawns, which occur in the exact same spots), after building the exact same shack to build the exact same crafting stations out side the exact same cave. i'd purchased the pickaxe thinking i'd at least have a jump on things... nope about the same as an iron pick i just can't repair it... yet another let down.
then while doing the scanning mission on the glacier my disappointment grew. the only thing different from the first scanning mission is it's a polar bear the devs decided to spawn on top of you rather than 2 bears. otherwise it is the exact. same. thing. same wolves. same. cats. presented in the same order. not to mention that this time it's just running across the most boring landscape possible. you do the bear dance with the polar bear (due to the lack of any real combat mechanics this is the only tactic available to handle them), then go ohk the wolves and cat.
were maps procedural, or there were some variety to spawn location, or mobs it might be engaging for awhile. but as it is there is ZERO incentive or reward to explore. there is no sense of wonder or astonishment as i crest the next hill, or run into the next valley... for a handcrafted map it is very generic, repetitive and mundane.
the missions as they are, are just as generic, repetitive and mundane.
and yet for all that i still want to like the game. maybe modders can save it...

[n00B]

Minecraft updated to 1.18

[Mist]

Originally posted by Macdallan:

Wrong, it is working. It's fine.

No.... No it's not.

[Team Triss]

Originally posted by delp435:

I read the game description

Why would you do that when you can just buy the game and then complain it isn't what you wanted?

[Lydhe]

I have 102 hours on Icarus, lv.40+, I keep playing it but I admit that it is repetitive and not very varied, we land on a planet; we harvest, hunt, scan, mine, then we return to the HQ to buy items in the workshop, then we leave to a new planet, rinse and repeat, a bit like on Monster Hunter as comparison, doing the same thing all the time, (kill the creatures, gather crafting items, returning back to town, then going to a new mission and do the same thing again to craft better gear), that has bored me in the long run... as soon as I unlocked and crafted all the items that require the exotic currency in the workshop I think I wouldn't want to play it anymore.

And also I find that the techs in tier 4 are very expensive to build (need electronics and composites for a lot of things), I find that there are not enough certain resources (like gold ore for example for electronics although they have patched this recently I find that we still sorely lacking in gold ore), the concrete constructions and beyond are also a pain to make so I decided to stick with the wooden constructions by taking some talents to reinforce the wooden constructions, at least we have fibers and wood everywhere.

[MycroftCanadaNS]

Originally posted by Macdallan:

Wrong, it is working. It's fine.

[Macdallan]

Originally posted by Mist:

Originally posted by Macdallan:

Wrong, it is working. It's fine.

No.... No it's not.

Yes, it is. I'm nearing 40 hours and it's just fine the way it is. Some people don't like it and that's okay, too. Many of the loudest voices I've seen are complaining because they just don't understand what they've purchased but they didn't do any research so it's their fault. This core game mechanic was explained in reviews, videos, on the Icarus website, on the Steam store page. The developer is doing something a bit different and I like it, but some people expected a bog standard crafting survival game and can't help but complain when that's not what they got. It's not like the developer hid this from us and it was a big surprise for everyone when they bought the game.

A chief complaint is that people think they have to grind to complete each objective. I am *NOT* very good at the game, but some missions are an hour or two in length if you focus on the objectives. Some are faster. There is no need to grind and build huge bases with all the bells and whistles to complete many of the missions. Get planet side, get the basics together, get to work completing your goals and, before you run out of time, get back to the station. There's zero need to grind out huge structures or to make one of everything, multiple consumables. Honestly a lot of the extras seem like they are there so people who can't get the hang of the game can spend some time crafting in order to get by the tougher sections.

Originally posted by Zep Tepi:

I bought this game deliberately because of this mechanic. I'm one of those people who think that the first few hours in a survival game are the fun part. Then I get bored when I have a cozy set up. I have restart-itis. Different people have different preferences. There's no need for this game to be just like all the other games out there. And in most survival games, the grind is the cake and the boss fights, or other objectives, are the icing on the cake.

Yes, but the game also lets you build up more if you really want to. It caters to both. They also added the outpost for people who want a persistent base. Icarus really covers all the bases but there are still so many complaints. I'd happily jump in a game with folks who just don't get it to show them what to do, how to change your survival crafting game mindset and play style to suit Icarus because that's all you need to do. Slightly shift your expectations and slightly change what you usually do, what you're used to doing.

That's why Icarus is great, it's pushing you just a bit outside that comfort zone, just bit beyond what we're used to, but it's still familiar. Sadly that's also the main reason people don't understand it and complain so much about non-issues. Even the time limits are there for a reason, you keep the game in mind even when you aren't playing, you have the potential for real loss - time and character progression. The building is done this way for a reason, it's usually secondary to the objectives. It's even explained in game. This game gives you everything, including teleporting ninja spider bears, but people still aren't happy.

[Macdallan]

Originally posted by MycroftCanadaNS:

Originally posted by Macdallan:

Wrong, it is working. It's fine.

Don't get mad, get to work. Get better at the game. It is fine. I'm extremely harsh on games, check out some of my reviews if you don't believe me. If this game was truly that bad I'd be ripping it apart.

[Nil]

Something is working, I'm 56 hours into playing this and still having fun.

[lyravega]

Originally posted by hazelrah:

were maps procedural, or there were some variety to spawn location, or mobs it might be engaging for awhile. but as it is there is ZERO incentive or reward to explore. there is no sense of wonder or astonishment as i crest the next hill, or run into the next valley... for a handcrafted map it is very generic, repetitive and mundane. the missions as they are, are just as generic, repetitive and mundane.
and yet for all that i still want to like the game. maybe modders can save it...

Bingo! Procedural maps would help greatly. It wouldn't look as good as a handmade map, but at the very least it'd put you under an illusion. Instead of staring at the very same stuff all the time, you'd get something different.