Are you liking the game or did you quit?

[emitfudd]

There are not many, but some games that I just can't get into. This is one of them. I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ around for 30 in game days in the starter areas and then finally went into the Mines of Moria. Could not figure out how to exit back to the elven area where all my stuff is stored in chests. Tried to make a jump and died. Now I am back in the elven area but have to go back to get my backpack and inventory. I think this game could have been 10x better than it is. I can't imaging struggling through this game any more unless somebody can tell me it honestly gets a lot better. BORING. Hate the fast day/night cycle. The building sucks. It's kind of depressing being in dark underground areas all the time. Maybe I need to ♥♥♥♥ around on sandbox mode for a while? I love base building. If I can customize all settings on sandbox and it is like creative mode I might try it for a bit.

[Phoenix Cat]

I have 3 full 100% playthrus and another one started. Have several hundred hours in game. Love it. It's not everyone's type of game. For me it is great.

[Martin]

I just take it slow, learn every tunnel like my life depends on it. Game is great fun imo. I like the building system, it's a bit finicky but there are worse building systems in other games.

[GreyBeard512]

I would recommend against sandbox mode. It appears to be more for experienced players that have run thru campaign mode a few times. Everything is randomized and harder to find. You don't stumble across things in a logical sequence - you can stumble into a level five area straight out of a level 1 area. And sandbox does not have a peaceful mode.

There is a broken map stone in the tutorial base near the start. There is also a broken map stone in a base near the bottom of the stairs in the mines. The surrounding areas are different so the bases appear different, but they are very very similar to each other. I'm assuming you have found both of them. You will run into orc camps in the mines. If you destroy their banner (easiest after the orcs are dead), you'll get a key to their chest. That chest will probably have 2 black diamonds. Those will let you rebuild the map stones in the two bases, and that will enable fast travel between the two areas. (Plus you can deconstruct the map stones and move them.) The game gets a better after you get fast travel.

If you go back down into the mines, place some markers on your maps. Particularly the bottom of the stairs. Take note of the places on the way down where you travel over rocks instead of stairs, so you can find your way back up again. I wound up walking up the stairs about four times before I had fast travel. (You need to do it at least once, to get a black diamond from the mines to your base.)

[emitfudd]

Originally posted by GreyBeard512:

I would recommend against sandbox mode. It appears to be more for experienced players that have run thru campaign mode a few times. Everything is randomized and harder to find. You don't stumble across things in a logical sequence - you can stumble into a level five area straight out of a level 1 area. And sandbox does not have a peaceful mode.

There is a broken map stone in the tutorial base near the start. There is also a broken map stone in a base near the bottom of the stairs in the mines. The surrounding areas are different so the bases appear different, but they are very very similar to each other. I'm assuming you have found both of them. You will run into orc camps in the mines. If you destroy their banner (easiest after the orcs are dead), you'll get a key to their chest. That chest will probably have 2 black diamonds. Those will let you rebuild the map stones in the two bases, and that will enable fast travel between the two areas. (Plus you can deconstruct the map stones and move them.) The game gets a better after you get fast travel.

If you go back down into the mines, place some markers on your maps. Particularly the bottom of the stairs. Take note of the places on the way down where you travel over rocks instead of stairs, so you can find your way back up again. I wound up walking up the stairs about four times before I had fast travel. (You need to do it at least once, to get a black diamond from the mines to your base.)

I just got my first 2 black diamonds after playing for over 30 in game days and destroying multiple orc camps. I finally figured out how to get back up to the elven area from the mines. There was one pesky spot where I had to jump up onto a rock ledge to continue going up the stairs. I had dropped some meat there so I left it as a bread crumb. I'm surprised I have just now found black diamonds as I have the settings on custom with the highest level of drops.

[FirstToDie]

I loved the game. I played through the story solo on normal mode. Sure, it has its problems, but I really enjoyed the experience and the setting. I would like to play through it again in co-op in sandbox mode.

[M.Red]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

There are not many, but some games that I just can't get into. This is one of them. I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ around for 30 in game days in the starter areas and then finally went into the Mines of Moria. Could not figure out how to exit back to the elven area where all my stuff is stored in chests. Tried to make a jump and died. Now I am back in the elven area but have to go back to get my backpack and inventory. I think this game could have been 10x better than it is. I can't imaging struggling through this game any more unless somebody can tell me it honestly gets a lot better. BORING. Hate the fast day/night cycle. The building sucks. It's kind of depressing being in dark underground areas all the time. Maybe I need to ♥♥♥♥ around on sandbox mode for a while? I love base building. If I can customize all settings on sandbox and it is like creative mode I might try it for a bit.

i recommend sandbox if you have completed the story
but beware! you might stumble up higher tier enemys, sublevels (sometimes hard to find access to) and mixed up level architecture
there are some mapstones along with structures known from story mode
but everything has different names
also need to mention that you might see repeating "cells" or have several crytal descents

on the other hand you might be swimming in ressources
and overall face other handicaps
like meeting the eastern stairs from the side in my case
was a good piece of work to get access on that one

i like RtM - it has this "lone in the halls vibe" with alot of cool looking places

[korac]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

Maybe I need to ♥♥♥♥ around on sandbox mode for a while? I love base building. If I can customize all settings on sandbox and it is like creative mode I might try it for a bit.

All considered, I think I would only recommend the sandbox experience to someone who has persevered, played through and ultimately enjoyed the campaign. Switching to sandbox too early is likely only to prove even more challenging / frustrating for you.

That said, I would also recommend persevering with the campaign. I wasn't too sure about the game myself in the early days but here I still am, almost 300 hours later. It has a unique charm when you get to know it better - It kinda grows on you, if you give it a fair chance.

[GreyBeard512]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

Originally posted by GreyBeard512:

I would recommend against sandbox mode. It appears to be more for experienced players that have run thru campaign mode a few times. Everything is randomized and harder to find. You don't stumble across things in a logical sequence - you can stumble into a level five area straight out of a level 1 area. And sandbox does not have a peaceful mode.

There is a broken map stone in the tutorial base near the start. There is also a broken map stone in a base near the bottom of the stairs in the mines. The surrounding areas are different so the bases appear different, but they are very very similar to each other. I'm assuming you have found both of them. You will run into orc camps in the mines. If you destroy their banner (easiest after the orcs are dead), you'll get a key to their chest. That chest will probably have 2 black diamonds. Those will let you rebuild the map stones in the two bases, and that will enable fast travel between the two areas. (Plus you can deconstruct the map stones and move them.) The game gets a better after you get fast travel.

If you go back down into the mines, place some markers on your maps. Particularly the bottom of the stairs. Take note of the places on the way down where you travel over rocks instead of stairs, so you can find your way back up again. I wound up walking up the stairs about four times before I had fast travel. (You need to do it at least once, to get a black diamond from the mines to your base.)

I just got my first 2 black diamonds after playing for over 30 in game days and destroying multiple orc camps. I finally figured out how to get back up to the elven area from the mines. There was one pesky spot where I had to jump up onto a rock ledge to continue going up the stairs. I had dropped some meat there so I left it as a bread crumb. I'm surprised I have just now found black diamonds as I have the settings on custom with the highest level of drops.

Multiple orc camps in the mines? I don't think you get black diamonds from the orc camps in the elven quarter.
Rather than dropping meat, you can place map markers to find your way back.

[inkbiegel]

Originally posted by GreyBeard512:

Originally posted by emitfudd:

I just got my first 2 black diamonds after playing for over 30 in game days and destroying multiple orc camps. I finally figured out how to get back up to the elven area from the mines. There was one pesky spot where I had to jump up onto a rock ledge to continue going up the stairs. I had dropped some meat there so I left it as a bread crumb. I'm surprised I have just now found black diamonds as I have the settings on custom with the highest level of drops.

Multiple orc camps in the mines? I don't think you get black diamonds from the orc camps in the elven quarter.
Rather than dropping meat, you can place map markers to find your way back.

Like I told you before: you absolutely can get black diamonds from chests in the elven quarter, in sandbox mode at least. Depends on RNG I guess.

[Tale Schmitt]

Loving it. Playing co-op with my friend. We are at the second to last area, having a ton of fun. Positive surprise for me definitely, much better than expected.

[M.Red]

Originally posted by inkbiegel:

Originally posted by GreyBeard512:

Multiple orc camps in the mines? I don't think you get black diamonds from the orc camps in the elven quarter.
Rather than dropping meat, you can place map markers to find your way back.

Like I told you before: you absolutely can get black diamonds from chests in the elven quarter, in sandbox mode at least. Depends on RNG I guess.

its rng in a sandbox game - but you can get them there

[MISO4EVER]

I just started I have zero experience with these kind of games I only got it becuase im a massive Tolkien and specifically dwarf fan (they are my favorite race in lotr / the hobbit etc ) but I’m rather confused I may be looking for people to help me soon. I’m used to RPGs and MMOs this is def out of my wheel house but cool so far

[GreyBeard512]

Originally posted by MisoForever:

I just started I have zero experience with these kind of games I only got it becuase im a massive Tolkien and specifically dwarf fan (they are my favorite race in lotr / the hobbit etc ) but I’m rather confused I may be looking for people to help me soon. I’m used to RPGs and MMOs this is def out of my wheel house but cool so far

Play Campaign, do not play Sandbox until you've completed Campaign at least once and preferably a few times.
Do not take a pickaxe to broken map stones. Repair them instead once you have access to the right materials.
Adjust your difficulty as needed. Start with Solo, and consider increasing "drops" to maximum. You can adjust difficulty on the fly, don't be afraid to do so.

[ajfusch]

I just finished the campaign with 3 friends 2 days ago. We had fun and plan on coming back to the game if they add real DLC (not just cosmetics but content) or maybe even without new content in a year or two. The atmosphere was great, a lot of details were just fun. Not sure if that counts for you if you're not a Tolkien fan. However, there is too much copy & paste in the building of the world for it to be a great game. The last boosfight was disappointing. Still, fun was had.

I can only imagine - but imagine very well - how this game would be boring and depressing in solo mode. It's fun with friends, but since there are no NPC except for the raven that you encounter once in a while, it sure gets lonely all by yourself in the dark.

So my advice is: find some friends to play the game with. That way you see some friendly dwarven faces, have more than one voice when singing, and have some good conversations while you play.
Also, inventory space can be managed way better that way (items stack but each different item needs a new slot. More players = more slots)

About black diamonds: They drop from enemies but also from orc chests. Usually you have at least 1 per chest.

[Ash]

So I've desided to try the game last Saturday...
I fell into Moria and lost 22 hours of my life. HALP.

Just kidding, the game is good, if a bit rough around the edges. I'm playing solo and it's a great atmospheric experience. My only regret is that my dwarf sang the Song of Durin alone when he first encountered that monument. I couldn't help but think "My, how awesome it would be if there were some more fellow dwarves to sing together!"
Maybe I'll try a multiplayer walkthrough when I finish the story, if only for that purpose.