Opinion: magic potions destroy survival gameplay

[Gummario]

The game is supposed to be a challenging and (somewhat) realistic survival simulator, so I want to talk about that huge elephant in the room that everybody knows about but pretends not to notice: magic potions (living water, snake potion, etc.). Their very existence disrupts the whole concept of realistic survival simulator.

Just one simple example:
To sail away from the first island you need animal hides, and obtaining them is not so easy, especially on higher difficulty modes. Peccaries are very fast and initially you just don't have enough stamina or weapons to run after them and kill quickly. Boars don't run away, but they will defend and can kill you. So approaching either normally requires weeks of preparations, crafting an obsidian spear, a stock of food and medicine, and upping your athletics skill.
-OR-
Grab a bottle of buffalo potion (1-minute walk from the game's start point) granting you unlimited stamina for a day and kill every single peccary on the island with pathetic wooden spears on day 2 of survival. So by the end of first week you can get best possible gear on the first island (maxed out canoe, hide bag, hide belt, etc.), and sail away. That's just one big middle finger to the whole "survival" concept the game is built on. And all of that is possible even on hardest gameplay mode.

I know that those magic potions are part of the lore, but I think they should be made into collectable but unusable artifacts (like pieces of natives map) so that they don't screw the gameplay so badly and irreversibly. At least as an option in the main menu, similar to "numbers of faints", allowing to disable effects of magic potions.

Because after I found out that I can kill six or more peccaries on day two on "very hard" mode thanks to magic potions (normally that would take around a month of gameplay), that kind of destroyed all the fun of playing the game. Those magic potions are basically built-in cheats that allow you to skip actual survival and just go in fast-forward mode towards the endgame. Nothing wrong with having built-in cheats for people who need them, but an option to disable them completely for people who want an actual survival without cheating would be nice, I think.

[turk0gamer]

There is no where written that this is a simulator, its a challenging survival game point.
The potions are as you said a main part of the lore and you can chosse to not use them.

[Gummario]

Originally posted by okruTGamer:

There is no where written that this is a simulator, its a challenging survival game point.
The potions are as you said a main part of the lore and you can chosse to not use them.

"All Games > Simulation Games > Twin Sails Interactive Franchise > Survival: Fountain of Youth"
I clearly see both "simulation" and "survival" words right at the top of the game's Steam page. You can call it "survival game", or "survival simulator", it is pure casuistry and playing with words, we all know that all core game mechanics are built around survival simulation experience.

As to choosing not to use magic potions, yes, for sure, much like I can choose not to stand on tiny rocks (which allows to kill jackals or jaguars with bare hands without getting a scratch), or choose not to disassemble campfires to avoid using infinite fuel, or choose not to use many other poorly designed features. But if I'll have to invent self-imposed limitations all the time just to get around some serious issues in the game, at some point all of that becomes really tiresome and not fun. Moreover, I'm not complaining about some finished product, I'm providing feedback about a project in early stages in development, it's not too late yet to make changes and create a more balanced gameplay.

[Cougarific]

I'm not a fan of potions either which is why I don't use them.

I don't even bother to pick them up anymore.

[chrisbamb]

Originally posted by Tal:

It's a single-player game so you may choose to play it however you want. Skip the potions! It's not like multi-player or co-op where you have to worry that someone else has an unfair advantage over you.

Why have you jumped up a topic from a Banned user from over 17 Months ago?

[Ominous187]

Originally posted by chrisbamb:

Originally posted by Tal:

It's a single-player game so you may choose to play it however you want. Skip the potions! It's not like multi-player or co-op where you have to worry that someone else has an unfair advantage over you.

Why have you jumped up a topic from a Banned user from over 17 Months ago?

why are you replying to something that's more than likely 5 months or older? or you shamed them into deleting their comment lol