The Long Dark

The Long Dark

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towny.w May 4, 2017 @ 3:21pm
Why didn't devs adapt to the success of sandbox and DROP story mode
Seriously, all these years waiting for story mode and it's already known that that there will be as little as 6 hours game play in the first release. I can play 6 hours in one sitting! Imagine all the cool maps that could have been created in the time wasted on story mode. Just one new map can give you days and days of 6 hour stints in fact.

I can visulise already the reviews from new players who bought the game expecting a huge storyline , "I finished the game in 6 hours".

Sure, storymode was promised from the beginning, but breaking that promise for the reason that sandbox was such a huge success, is not that bad. It's no worse than the years of broken promises about when story mode will be released. It has stifled the development of an excellent game where all you need are new maps to keep it interesting.

If they want a story led game, then why not create a new game entirely that really is a story, not 6 hours.
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Showing 1-15 of 26 comments
AAAARGH! May 4, 2017 @ 4:03pm 
You're probably right. Story mode could have been a sequel or spin-off. The sandbox is a great game in its own right, and it would undoubtedly be a lot better, even an epic stand-alone game, if they had just focused 100% of their energy on it.
Last edited by AAAARGH!; May 4, 2017 @ 4:03pm
MaGicBush May 4, 2017 @ 4:05pm 
I'd say the OP is correct here as well honestly. I have been waiting to play for story mode but after hearing its only 6-10 hours I am no longer hyped for it. Including their stupid timer that pissed me off only to find out its an announcement and not the patch because of their childish marketing. The funny thing is that did the opposite of what they wanted which was to build hype.
Last edited by MaGicBush; May 4, 2017 @ 4:06pm
Leon Quin May 4, 2017 @ 4:07pm 
While I don't think they should've dropped story mode I do think the game's strong point is in the sandbox mode and wish they focused more on it instead of putting so much effort in a story. The update next month which is supposedly the last one until story mode comes out in august is a rather disappointing one to me. Improved UI, stones you can throw, quartering corpses, a feature we already had, was removed and now put back in (throwing flares and torches) and less noticeable features. No improved cooking, new animals, weapons or regions. Nothing that would make people that are bored of the game interested in it again.

Before the whole countdown thing a lot of people were wondering why HL was so quiet this year but kept hoping the next update would probably be huge. It seems the update in December brought more changes than the one next month.
MaGicBush May 4, 2017 @ 4:07pm 
Originally posted by Stoibs:
Um yeah that would result in one hell of a headache of refund requests/payouts for those of us who only want the story and don't actually care about the sandbox.

If they wanted to focus on two different gamemodes and separate the funding from the get go then that would have been one thing, but to just cut ties with the very reason a lot of us are here and backed in the first place would be very questionable.

Id say your actually in the minority.
Reventlov May 4, 2017 @ 4:09pm 
Right. The community would absolutely lose it's shi*t if they went back on a promise. It would be Evil Hinterland this, and worst mony grubbing early access bla bla bla.
Renesco May 4, 2017 @ 4:12pm 
Originally posted by Reventlov:
Right. The community would absolutely lose it's shi*t if they went back on a promise. It would be Evil Hinterland this, and worst mony grubbing early access bla bla bla.
As I recall, they had a large chunk of story mode done and dusted 18 months ago but Raph decided to go back and redo the whole thing using in-game characters rather than cutscenes because he wanted it to be perfect.
I agree with OP though, sandbox is what gained this game its community, and the updates for sandbox are 5 months apart now while 75% of the team works on a storymode which nobody knows anything about, and many more care even less for at this stage.
Storymode has become code for delays and more delays.
Reventlov May 4, 2017 @ 4:18pm 
Originally posted by Renesco:
Originally posted by Reventlov:
Right. The community would absolutely lose it's shi*t if they went back on a promise. It would be Evil Hinterland this, and worst mony grubbing early access bla bla bla.
As I recall, they had a large chunk of story mode done and dusted 18 months ago but Raph decided to go back and redo the whole thing using in-game characters rather than cutscenes because he wanted it to be perfect.
I agree with OP though, sandbox is what gained this game its community, and the updates for sandbox are 5 months apart now while 75% of the team works on a storymode which nobody knows anything about, and many more care even less for at this stage.
Storymode has become code for delays and more delays.

Yeah, it's a good point that perhaps they're bound and determined to have a perfect story mode to the detriment what what people really want.
Last edited by Reventlov; May 4, 2017 @ 4:18pm
Dread Arkive May 4, 2017 @ 4:20pm 
Originally posted by Reventlov:
Originally posted by Renesco:
As I recall, they had a large chunk of story mode done and dusted 18 months ago but Raph decided to go back and redo the whole thing using in-game characters rather than cutscenes because he wanted it to be perfect.
I agree with OP though, sandbox is what gained this game its community, and the updates for sandbox are 5 months apart now while 75% of the team works on a storymode which nobody knows anything about, and many more care even less for at this stage.
Storymode has become code for delays and more delays.

Yeah, it's a good point that perhaps they're bound and determined to have a perfect story mode to the detriment what what people really want.
Well, would you like it if you went to a restaraunt, ordered what you saw on the menu, then received something different because the cook thinks you would prefer what they gave you instead?
Reventlov May 4, 2017 @ 4:30pm 
Originally posted by Dread Arkive:
Originally posted by Reventlov:

Yeah, it's a good point that perhaps they're bound and determined to have a perfect story mode to the detriment what what people really want.
Well, would you like it if you went to a restaraunt, ordered what you saw on the menu, then received something different because the cook thinks you would prefer what they gave you instead?

Excellent reading comprehension.
Renesco May 4, 2017 @ 4:30pm 
Originally posted by Dread Arkive:
Originally posted by Reventlov:

Yeah, it's a good point that perhaps they're bound and determined to have a perfect story mode to the detriment what what people really want.
Well, would you like it if you went to a restaraunt, ordered what you saw on the menu, then received something different because the cook thinks you would prefer what they gave you instead?

More like, you go to the restaurant and order what you had the last time, but they make you wait 4 months until they get it right, then make you wait 4 months more just to make it absolutely perfect.
Lucid May 4, 2017 @ 4:32pm 
The devs *did* adapt to the success of sandbox mode. They pushed story mode out because they got loads of people signing up to play sandbox and asking for all kinds of things. It wasn't just about "now we can do 3d modelled cutscenes". It was a whole host of things that otherwise would have remained aspirational what ifs. They spent an extra year and delivered a range of features.

But throwing out story mode altogether and just making a bigger sandbox isn't adapting to the success of sandbox. It's abandoning their core vision. What they set out to do.
towny.w May 4, 2017 @ 5:24pm 
A story led game is something like Skyrim. I honestly think that the devs bit of more than they can chew with this idea. The amount of work that has gone into such a short play time is depressing for both players and I would imagine devs too. The platform "Unity" might be the wrong software to create such a thing (I have no idea) but frankly, the entire thing has been a shambles where story mode is concerned.

I know that huge numbers of players want story mode, it's almost become an anthem, despite knowing how short it will be. I'd like it too, but I'm not going to worry over a 6 hour side quest that it will end up being.

They have created a game that can be played for hour upon hour and if it were me, I'd cut my losses and run with sandbox unless it was actually illegal!
Walt Whiffman May 4, 2017 @ 5:26pm 
Aren't the story maps also being integrated into sandbox mode? I read a while ago that it was.
Telzen May 4, 2017 @ 5:57pm 
I've been wondering this for a while. They said at one point that half the team has been working on story mode for the last year and a half. I thought about the sand box updates we had been getting, and how amazing the game would be if all the devs just worked on sandbox instead.
Aragosnat May 4, 2017 @ 6:10pm 
Maybe I miss understood this part here found here (http://www.thelongdark.com/news/posts/frequently-asked-questions/) "However, in our playtests, we have found episode play times typically range from 4-6 hours.". Could it be that each episode is around 4-6 hours of play time and not the whole 5 episodes? Just a little food for thought.
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Date Posted: May 4, 2017 @ 3:21pm
Posts: 26