Bad balanced

[Luna plays]

I know this game is old school and the developers intended to make it a bit harder to give the people some more chellange, but it gets kinda frustrating to never finish a round. Probably it takes pretty long to learn everything about the game, I read the wiki, but you can not even expect that from everyone. I can't get rid of the impression that the developers have some sadistic tendency to let the player fail by too many bad events during your travel, which is no fun on a long term, because:

Playing it all over a hundred times doesn't make a game fun.

Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but it is not well balanced. Most of the time, I would say estimated at 95% of the travels you'll die or any of your crew members dies or you loose your relics or the quest you did pick up at the harbour fails. Unfortunately the game is also very short, far too short, except to those problems that you have to repeat it too often. In my opinion an endless mode would have solved that problem. And create an easy mode for all those kids that don't like chewing on a piece of code forever and will by this never finish any round!!!! You need to step into the shoes of your players guys!

[Mustardoish]

Nah, the game is actually quite balanced. Go to youtube and search for 'SB plays' and you will see some walktroughs on hard mode that look, well, effortless.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Endless mode is already a mod on the Workshop. There's also one that extends the game up to level 8 with much larger maps.

There's already an "easy" mode that's pretty forgiving if you take advantage of everything you run across.

[Luna plays]

Without further informations than the basic ones from the wiki I did play this game quite some time now and could not find it easy at easy setting, so it seems it is not well enough balanced. I did take a look at the reviews and saw a couple of guys complain about that too. So for some people the game might be too hard. If you look up the number of reviews you can easily see that the game doesn't sell that well, at least it could do far better, which might be also caused by those bad reviews. I do believe it is better for the developers to know what causes the problems some people might have with their game. Except they don't care at all about the money they earn, btw if you find people playing the game as if it would be super easy, I do believe they did repeat the missions probably for countless hours till that worked for them. And as I already mentioned to most people repeating 6 mission a hundred times is not fun. ;)

[Mustardoish]

See, I would find the notion of making a game easier to appeal to a broader market somewhat troubling and counter intuitive. In fact, the relatively recent rise in indie rogue likes/lites suggests that people do appreciate the difficulty of overcoming hurdles.
I can guarantee you that the successful runs you see in the videos are not survivor bias. Even I, a medium strength player at best, feel that I have an about 50% win rate on Certain Death difficulty, maybe higher. But I think that what makes it a rogue like, little things you learn go a long way to improve your chances of winning.
Either way, let's try whether we can make your experience more enjoyable. I would suggest starting with an easier character, like Freya Stark. She starts with a great weapon, one good companion (the cook) and her desert expert perk makes deserts always available, which means you can taylor your strategy to deserts, like picking up the desert explorer skill and making sure to get a lot water. Another great starter is Nicola Tesla, for the increased max sanity or Frederick Selous.
Also, keep in mind that losing a companion is frustrating, but by no means mean that you cannot finish the run. Often you can revive them later at a sacrificial altar for like ten animal teeth, which really is not that much. Even if you not manage to get to a pyramid in a world, you could still end up winning the overall run.
If you describe how your companions die, maybe we can give some tips of prevention. But from what I read above it sounds like your sanity management can be improved. Constant unnecessary starting and stopping to travel needlessly makes you lose sanity. This is the reason why the scout is a great companion. The further you see, the less likely you have to stop mid-way just to have a look around.
Also, check for camping sites at the stone circles. They are your gas stations to charge up your sanity for free. So when you reach a camping site, eat food until you have 30 sanity, this way no bad effects happen while you rest, and then you can fill yourself up to 100 or more. Remember, even your starting ship works like that, so on larger map it pays off to stop at your ship every now and then just to unload loot and to charge up.
It is a little bit like in real life. As long as your car makes it from one gas station to the next, you can go all across the globe. With this mental model, you can think of what actions can be taken to make going from camp site to camp site easier. For example, initially I thought brothers and sisters are weak, because they can carry little and have bad dice. But if you do the math, it turns out they are super strong. Even at level 1, they improve your sanity by 10 points, which means you can roughly travel 10% further, or 10% less efficient, and still make it to the next campsite. On top of that, their ability to stay at missionaries indefinitely means you get another campsite for free. Nowadays, I sometimes skip the first village just to keep the initial companion, especially when playing characters with overall lower sanity.
The wiki is actually quite detailed at explaining of how much sanity movement costs, which ultimately is the engine of the game. For example, from the wiki I learned that going through deserts is expensive, but going trough deserts with water and the desert explorer perk is very cheap. So with 100 sanity and the perk and enough water you can almost traverse the whole map in one go. That is why a specialised character like Freya Stark can be exploited to make the game easy-ish.
What is also maybe a bit counter intuitive is that ultimately the difficulty is inverted. Level 1 or 2 tend to be more difficult than later levels, simply because your companions/character are weaker and your expeditions are under equipped. So don't lose hope if you just barely survived the first level, it gets easier after.

[Luna plays]

I had no problem to survive, also I accepted that my crew died, but it was either surviving or winning with fame, both together did never work for me. And once again, there are always at every game some people stating they would be the ultimate gamers being able to just win everything, but if you look up how many hours they put into those games, you have an idea why.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/4b631521e0621cecefd67655baa50038/tenor.gif?itemid=4060344
Most people do have a real life with school, university, kids of there own, a job and so on, they can not sit there forever and repeat 6 missions and if they do they will be fast annoyed. So an easier mode for those would be very nice to have, noone forces you to play that one and they will be able to play later on on any harder mode.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Luna plays:

I had no problem to survive, also I accepted that my crew died, but it was either surviving or winning with fame, both together did never work for me. And once again, there are always at every game some people stating they would be the ultimate gamers being able to just win everything, but if you look up how many hours they put into those games, you have an idea why.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/4b631521e0621cecefd67655baa50038/tenor.gif?itemid=4060344

So because they've taken the time and effort to learn the mechanics inside and out, they're able to success where you cannot.

It's almost like this is how basically every video game has ever functioned...

Most people do have a real life with school, university, kids of there own, a job and so on, they can not sit there forever and repeat 6 missions and if they do they will be fast annoyed. So an easier mode for those would be very nice to have, noone forces you to play that one and they will be able to play later on on any harder mode.

There's already an easy mode which allowed me to come in 1st before I even hit 10 hours, and now I'm coming in first on that easy mode with other Explorers as well. Hell I'm feeling like I'm ready to move up to the "Normal" difficulty now that I have a basic grasp of what to do and what not to do.

Read up on the Wiki, and actually learn from your mistakes if you expect to see results in getting further and further where you'll be winning much more often.

Either that, or maybe this game is too challenging for you and you might want to put it down because you don't have the determination or spirit to continue playing to get better at it despite sometimes losing (Which is a part of every video game in existance as well, that's why there's a "game over" screen).

[Mustardoish]

Yeah, Luna plays should maybe try watching movies instead, one just cannot lose there :-)

[jenn]

I haven't gotten that in depth into this game but I find it annoying when there's pretty important mechanics that aren't really explained (like a lot of the advice Mustardoish provided above) -- not everyone wants to spend 100 hours playing a game in order to work out the mechanics by dying repeatly over and over again or to have to do a bunch of research online. Why not just provide hints somehow? Even some type of in-game mechanism of relaying that type of information (maybe as you play you discover bits of info at certain locations that provide information about the mechanics of the game).

I know you can read through forums/wikis etc but I prefer to pop open a game and just play it instead of needing to stop and do research.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by jenn:

I haven't gotten that in depth into this game but I find it annoying when there's pretty important mechanics that aren't really explained (like a lot of the advice Mustardoish provided above) -- not everyone wants to spend 100 hours playing a game in order to work out the mechanics by dying repeatly over and over again or to have to do a bunch of research online. Why not just provide hints somehow? Even some type of in-game mechanism of relaying that type of information (maybe as you play you discover bits of info at certain locations that provide information about the mechanics of the game).

This is how a Rogue-like plays. It's not designed to be forgiving if you choose your decisions poorly.

For the record, by 10 hours I already have a decent grasp as well as seeing a decent chunk of the items and Perks. I've barely skimmed the wiki, and the information I did read I had already learned from playing anyways.

I know you can read through forums/wikis etc but I prefer to pop open a game and just play it instead of needing to stop and do research.

If you're not learning by what you're doing in the game, the Wiki and the forums would be the ideal place to ask for assistance with something. Steam Overlay will easily let you have the Wiki up if you run across something that isn't immedately unstandable.

[Luna plays]

I still stick to my opinion that the developers should know about the problems some people have with their game.
Also I really don't know why there are always some people that can't accept a different opinion, if you guys have no problems playing the game that is nice, but others might have a different experience and opinion, that doesn't mean that they are stupid or do not learn anything about how to play a game, they might just have a different style of playing or a different approach. Maybe you can learn to tolerate, that not everyone feels like you, then you really learned something of value for your life and that might be far more important.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Luna plays:

I still stick to my opinion that the developers should know about the problems some people have with their game.

But you've said "I don't like the genre they used or the mechanics this genre uses".

That's not constructive, or even remotely helpful or useful. You haven't explained what parts need improving, or how they can improve them.

Hell your OP shows you haven't even bothered to learn the basics by saying "95% of the time you will lose someone, the quest will fail even if you get the item, your journey will end because". None of this is true since I've had no deaths on 2 of my runs thanks to ensuring I'm not running around with 0 sanity for extended periods of time.

Also I really don't know why there are always some people that can't accept a different opinion, if you guys have no problems playing the game that is nice, but others might have a different experience and opinion

I'm not going to "accept" opinions not based in reality. All the infomation you need to complete and get your Statue built are readily avaliable, and in most situations, poor decision making will be the cause of your expedition failing.

that doesn't mean that they are stupid or do not learn anything about how to play a game, they might just have a different style of playing or a different approach.

Clearly they aren't learning how to play TCE if they're failing over and over due to a series of bad decisions on their part.

If they were using a different approach that allowed them to win constantly, this thread wouldn't have been a thing in the first place.

Maybe you can learn to tolerate, that not everyone feels like you, then you really learned something of value for your life and that might be far more important.

My first attempt landed me 3rd place, successfully completing all 6 maps. My 2nd attempt landed me 2nd place, losing to Darwin by 20 Fame. My 3rd attempt landed me 1st place, winning by well over 400 Fame.

The only thing I learned from this thread is that people still complain about the mechanics of Rogue-like games on Steam and want them to be tuned and catered to them because they don't want to deal with things like Perma-death and/or RNG despite both being cornerstones of the genre, all the way back to Rogue when a 10 hour run would be lost thanks to a single small mistake.

In MY opinion, it would be best if you and your opinion read up on the games you wish to purchase in the future, instead of buying a game and wanting the Devs to tune to what YOU believe is "best".

[Luna plays]

Never said that: But you've said "I don't like the genre they used or the mechanics this genre uses".
Maybe take your glasses for reading and I won't even comment the rest of that post, not worth the effort anymore, you just seem to like posting and attacking people.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Luna plays:

Never said that: But you've said "I don't like the genre they used or the mechanics this genre uses".
Maybe take your glasses for reading and I won't even comment the rest of that post

Why don't we both walk through your OP then, since you seem to think I'm not understanding your complaints. I'll be happy to explain in detail.

Originally posted by Luna plays:

but it gets kinda frustrating to never finish a round.

This stems from making bad choices that later screw you over.

This is a common mechanic that's shared in Permadeath which Rogue and Rogue-likes have.

Probably it takes pretty long to learn everything about the game, I read the wiki, but you can not even expect that from everyone.

If I can manage to complete my first 3 attempts, placing 3rd, 2nd, then 1st, then obviously your complaint doesn't seem to mirror other new players experiences.

Also with the focus on "Probably" screams to me you haven't really learned much of anything from your mistakes, or really bothered to read what things do with the flavor text that appears on the Tooltip.

While some items aren't immedately obvious what they do, such as Tome of Wisdom...Other items like Otherworldly Box being consumed to stay inside a portal to something that would seem "like another world" can easily be deducted by a quick test. Especially when the Shaman sells them bother.

I can't get rid of the impression that the developers have some sadistic tendency to let the player fail by too many bad events during your travel, which is no fun on a long term

That's because you attempt every event you come across, and then are surprised when the outcome isn't in your favor and you have no way to migate that downside.

Such as, having a Green Mushroom before attempting to eat some Coca leaves or drinking more then a single swig of Whisky. Or attempting to raid a Tomb and getting someone Cursed, or being unable to go toe to toe with the potential Mummy inside.

Playing it all over a hundred times doesn't make a game fun.

If you're playing it 100 times over and still not learning from your mistakes or asking for help with X situation, obviously you're going to have a bad time.

but it is not well balanced.

That's not explaining what the issue is still.

Most of the time, I would say estimated at 95% of the travels you'll die or any of your crew members dies or you loose your relics or the quest you did pick up at the harbour fails.

So the faults of your actions are only 5% of the issue, and the rest of the problem is on RNG?

This is another common complaint when it comes to Rogue and Rogue-likes. The illusion that "RNG screwed me over", when in reality you have to the choice to do said actions.

You can choose to send in your Cook through that small hole in the cave, but if he doesn't come back, you can't cook that meat from the tiger that's aggroed onto you outside the cave and that could cost your entire run.

Sometimes it's better not to explore through that underground cave that sends you the opposite side of the map, far away from a small section that might have that final Ray of Light to raise the Golden Pyramid.

Unfortunately the game is also very short, far too short, except to those problems that you have to repeat it too often.

This game can take upwards of over an hour on Permadeath. That's pretty lengthy when we consider that at 59 minutes in, your entire run can end with stealing a single Golden Llama from that altar that collapes the ground in.

In my opinion an endless mode would have solved that problem.

As I've already pointed out to you, the Workshop has one that extends it to 8, 12, and one that's endless. Kind of pointless asking them to add something to the game that already exists as a mod.

And create an easy mode for all those kids that don't like chewing on a piece of code forever and will by this never finish any round!!!!

You might as well ask for an "I win" button here, because "easy" is already very forgiving.

You need to step into the shoes of your players guys!

They did by adding in 3 difficulties.

not worth the effort anymore, you just seem to like posting and attacking people.

I humored you and read your OP, as well as replying to key points.

My previous posts still stand firm after showing you haven't given any feedback beyond "RNG unfair, game to hard, make easier difficulty because I don't want to learn the game".

If you want to be taken seriously, ask for help on what you keep getting stuck on and I'd be happy to help with whatever knowledge I can provide. I'm sure others would happily jump in with more advice too.

[MC_BoneZ]

Who said that completing a game's last world must be its funniest part? Or that this is necessary? In CE the journey is what counts most, including your crew dying, natives chasing you, falling into chasms and so on. Why would you want so hard to win a game you're not good at, without having fun along the way, reading all the good stories and dialogues.

I'm NOT beating the 6th world in 80%-90% of my runs and still think this game is genius and very well balanced.

[birdlaw]

its nowhere near as hard as FTL, which for me is the benchmark for rogue-likes. Once you have the basics it is mostly poor inventory management that kills, and greed: damn those temples