Game seems kind of empty

[MrEntity]

Been playing for a while now, and my main concern so far is that I feel like I'm doing nothing. I've explored a huge section of the first map, and while I've found 3 ports, I have found VERY few landmarks.

I keep shining my headlight on stuff, trying to get close to things that seem like they should be discoverable, and it keeps turning out that I'm wasting my time. I feel weird about the rarity of landmarks. Especially since I'm exploring this land-filled map faster than the wide empty stretches of ocean in Sunless Seas, but finding notable things far less often. And the main thing I AM finding are the mainly pointless 'feed-me nothing please' homesteads that don't even get mapped, and only replenish supplies on the (never-happened) chance of me being out of food entirely.

And I know that the discoveries in Seas were mostly pointless, but they did serve to make it feel like you were accomplishing something - actually exploring the place. Mostly all I'm getting in this game is... nothing.

[Cryten]

A good peice of advise is follow the directions of quests and opportunities to find ports. there are about 11 ports and several things of interest extra in the Reach that act kind of like ports but not quite.

There are less landmarks compared to sunless sea, usually a few landmarks near each port and the wounders and terrors.

[HappyIguana]

It's strange that you've found so few. Prospects come with general directions to their ports. Are you using your scout?

[Baron Robie]

Not all prospects indicate the direction. Also, in my experience in the reach, (1) any wrong turn leads to enemies who will destroy you, (2) any wrong turn will lead to friendly or neutral AI who will T-bone your hull in two, (3) fuel and supplies are expensive and used up quickly, so unless you happen upon the correct destination to sell goods/turn in quests, repurchase fuel and supplies, you die.

[MrEntity]

The problem isn't directions - I know how those work. The problem there is the serpentine canals through which you wander, going every which way, elongating the path to your destination, and that, on the way there, you find virtually nothing. To be more blunt, there seems to be virtually nothing BETWEEN the ports to pique my interest - just a maze of nameless landmasses bespeckled with nameless ruins and the occasional dogfight between the warring factions.


Add that to the fact that you can't recollect port reports quickly (as far as I understand, within 15 days), and you are left with a few wrong turns impoverishing you, and leaving you limping around the closest areas until you die.


To be clear: I am not complaining about the distance between ports. I am merely saying that the fact that nothing in the inter-port distance seems to be more than, effectively, a scribbly line drawn to prevent you from wandering in open space without landmarks.
My issue is that in Sunless Seas virtually everything you came across had a name, had some identifier, had some personality attached, had some INTEREST.
In Sunless Skies I feel like everything I come across is just... oh, look... some sort of land... with some... stuff on it? maybe? ... like everything else I've passed. Some buildings? Some ruins? Oh, it doesn't have a name. Oh, I can't discover it. It is just some generic graphic.
Until I get to a port.
Hell, half of the LIGHTHOUSES I've found don't have names, and you're damn sure every one of those had some personality attached in Seas.

[dorianmode]

Add this to fuel and supplies costing the same everywhere, and the inheritance conditions being so lenient, and the 'levelling up' eventually earning you *every* facet of personal history... Feels quite cardboard-cut-out-y. A shame, since a lot of it stunning beautiful and wonderfully written.

[Sanglaine]

I'm gonna have to kinda agree that the reach redesign wasn't a great move with the serpentine cavernous feel to it because it lacks good evidence of 'you're going the right way'. Too much of the reach looks similar so it's easy to get lost if you haven't played it a billion times.

[HappyIguana]

In full disclosure, I did not play until full release so I never got to see the pre-redesign Reach, but I absolutely loved it. I've been exploring Albion which is much more open and the contrast is great. I think the Reach compensates the labyrinthine corridors by being smaller and that works well.

[Necronson]

It's pretty empty yeah. It's sad to not see traders or passenger trains going about. Even if it was just in the background. It doesn't feel like a lived in world. It's just lots of empty space with fixed spawn for enemies scattered around. To be fair I did see a passenger train on rails in the background on Albion I believe?
Eh. I want things to wow me. But it's not surprising at all most of the time, you see stuff on the map way before you even get there. Oh look terror up ahead, nice. Oh it's some ruins. Scary? Noone in my crew going to pipe up and explain to me the story about it if any? No? Okay then off we go.

[HappyIguana]

Originally posted by Necronson:

It's pretty empty yeah. It's sad to not see traders or passenger trains going about. Even if it was just in the background. It doesn't feel like a lived in world. It's just lots of empty space with fixed spawn for enemies scattered around. To be fair I did see a passenger train on rails in the background on Albion I believe?
Eh. I want things to wow me. But it's not surprising at all most of the time, you see stuff on the map way before you even get there. Oh look terror up ahead, nice. Oh it's some ruins. Scary? Noone in my crew going to pipe up and explain to me the story about it if any? No? Okay then off we go.

I'll agree that it's a little disappointing that you don't get anything on most horrors other than "thing scary" and a snippet of text.

[Necronson]

Originally posted by HappyIguana:

I'll agree that it's a little disappointing that you don't get anything on most horrors other than "thing scary" and a snippet of text.

To be honest I imagine this every time I come up against terror.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erzj1FdJc0I