Fast Travel - Game Difficult

[Requi3N]

After playing more than 200 hours of the game.

Actually walking long distances back and forth several times makes me stop enjoying the game.

Why not implement the fast travel system. Just one click on the point of interest and travel automatically.

For those purists who enjoy spending more than half their time traveling. You just have to deactivate the option before starting a new game.

Another way to do it would be to disable the option in hardcore mode.

Please this would be the best implementation in the game. Players would stop using hacks and I'm sure 90% would love to have this system.

[Wayfinder]

We don't have plans to introduce "click to fast travel" type of mechanic because it goes against the spirit of the game.

There'll be a limited way to travel medium/long distances with the introduction of the player's caravan.

[@xaker89]

Waste your time guys, because walking 5-10 minutes in an identical field and forest areas is the "Spirit of the game" Wow, what an answer, dev, bravo.
i can understand it in 3d game if you need to walk 5-10 minutes of the game, but not in 2d, without anything happening at all, what the magical spirit of the game are you talking about ? This is your typical answer when you have nothing more to say, right ?
"Spirit of the game"

[Ardjun]

Originally posted by Wayfinder:

We don't have plans to introduce "click to fast travel" type of mechanic because it goes against the spirit of the game.

There'll be a limited way to travel medium/long distances with the introduction of the player's caravan.

Can you elaborate on the spirit?
Really looking forward to the caravan introduction and stopped playing for the same reason as the OP as the long walks are really killing enjoyment for me in the otherwise very good game.

[💖Medibot💖]

Just get a mod from modnexus that speeds up the game 4x with a click of a button on your keyboard, or use cheat engine to do it manually

[Lujo]

The game is about walking around, and the POI's are stuff you pick up along the way. If you could fast-travel to them the whole thing would fall apart -.-

[Tato]

The walking is terribly boring and what keeps me from enjoying the game as well. The game is not about walking around. This is just a mercenary Sim with an open world for some reason? There's currently very little point to the open world let's be real here.

[Berserkr]

Just use cheat engine spead hack put it to 3x problem solved
Enable screen edge panning in the options if you don't already have it turned on problem solved

[Requi3N]

Originally posted by Wayfinder:

We don't have plans to introduce "click to fast travel" type of mechanic because it goes against the spirit of the game.

There'll be a limited way to travel medium/long distances with the introduction of the player's caravan.

I appreciate the time and the response. I agree to keep the spirit of the game alive.

However, including fast travel system will not end the spirit of the game. A very important part of the game is exploration, discovering the map and its secrets. But once they are discovered, there is no point in returning to the same place or taking the same route of travel. I think the best example of a good use of fast travel is skyrim. Its map is gigantic, it has more than a thousand quests, caves, secrets. It is set similarly to stone shard. Using fast travel in skyrim doesn't kill the spirit of the game. It makes it much more enjoyable, especially when it comes to playing it again.

For many, as this discussion cites, it is using hacks. Which completely breaks the spirit of the game and breaks the purpose for which it was created. You guys created a game we love, keep that love going. Allow us to play a thousand more hours, without hating a mechanic that only causes frustration and that the only way to fix it is by using hacks.

[Lujo]

Originally posted by Tato:

The walking is terribly boring and what keeps me from enjoying the game as well. The game is not about walking around. This is just a mercenary Sim with an open world for some reason? There's currently very little point to the open world let's be real here.

The main mechanics are still being implemented, and some of them will make the walking part a lot more hazardous and challenging than it is now (illnesses, for one thing).

The walking around actually is the point, because what your goal is isn't just to teleport to a dungeon and then beat up the bad guys there. It's packing enough provisions and supplies to get there, do it, and get back in good enough shape.

The challenge of it is achieved by all the various counters ticking down all the time (like hunger, thirst, fatigue etc). You feel safe in the towns because ways to refil the counters are at hand, but once outside of the city, they are not (usually). So what you're doing, what it's about, is making (and surviving) expeditions while balancing your expenses and risks of running out of a crucial resource, or overloading on loot, or simply venturing farther than you planned.

As for whether going out there is worth it - valid criticism to a degree, as it's certainly going to be *more* worthwhile with more non-generic POI's introduced. However, there are about a dozen or so unique ones which feature loot that's either unique (and highly useful), or not readily available until certain points in the game (meaning you need to have visited certain towns, and/or acquired reputation in them to access it).

Like, on my current run I found the Shovel and the Backpack in unique POI locations in the general area of the first Town (8-square radius). Finding them much later would not mean much, but finding them early - and risking trekking through woods early on while playing permadeath - was rather substantial.

Also, at lvl 5, I undertook a rather daunting trek all the way to the bottom of the map (and back !) in order to get a special utility artifact. All the fighting, the danger and resource management happened during the trek, and the biggest challenge was making it back to civilization before my gear literally falls apart from use (which means more fighting than you can find in a dungeon).

There are other very useful things that I will make one or two expeditions (and even scouting expeditions to even find them) to, where surviving the trek is almost the entirety of the challenge.

Not to mention that a lot of the difficulty of tier 4 dunegons comes precisely from the fact that they are, well, remote, and as such tax your inventory space by preventing you from just teleporting there and back loaded with supplies. And, if you haven't experienced it, you might not know that the most lethal, dangerous and engaging thing in the whole game is trying to limp back from a run that spiraled out of control, often because you pushed it after running out of supplies.

Also, learning to *time* your exploration increases appreciation for it. You do a round of quests, steal stuff around towns, and then both the quests and the stolen stuff is on cooldown. And while you did the quests you pick up rumors. And then you go pick up some PQI's or undertake an exedition to find/reach something unique. With a bit more knowledge of what's even in the game, and what can show up in which general part of the map (or biome), the game becomes a lot more about these expeditions and getting the most of this "downtime" between dungeon runs, then about the dungeon runs themselves.

Also, this is how you get value out of stolen/looted food, as you just load up on it and go around in a circle (or from one urban destination to another), picking up PQI's and discovering others, while also picking up choice herbs and drinking/munching on choice stuff that lets you build up your immunity or recover morale and sanity after it gets knocked down (or you go digging up graves or hunting, why not).

So, you know, the dungeon runs are just a very streamlined part of a game that's about keeping your mercenary alive, in shape and prospering, and it wouldn't really work if it was just a setpiece dungeon crawler. Even if you can, honestly, just play it like that, too, but you will miss out on a bunch of unique acquisitions that are worth picking up an making use of on just about any run.

And there is inevitably going to be more of those when the basic systems are all in place and there's only just "content" to add.

EDIT: Also, do this - "unfix" the camera from your character so that you can scroll around with the mouse. This makes trekking through a safe, empty, revealed hex of the map mostly a matter of two mouse clicks, and speeds things up a bit without any hacks. Very very handy for many other reasons, too.

[Requi3N]

Originally posted by Lujo:

Originally posted by Tato:

The walking is terribly boring and what keeps me from enjoying the game as well. The game is not about walking around. This is just a mercenary Sim with an open world for some reason? There's currently very little point to the open world let's be real here.

The main mechanics are still being implemented, and some of them will make the walking part a lot more hazardous and challenging than it is now (illnesses, for one thing).

The walking around actually is the point, because what your goal is isn't just to teleport to a dungeon and then beat up the bad guys there. It's packing enough provisions and supplies to get there, do it, and get back in good enough shape.

The challenge of it is achieved by all the various counters ticking down all the time (like hunger, thirst, fatigue etc). You feel safe in the towns because ways to refil the counters are at hand, but once outside of the city, they are not (usually). So what you're doing, what it's about, is making (and surviving) expeditions while balancing your expenses and risks of running out of a crucial resource, or overloading on loot, or simply venturing farther than you planned.

As for whether going out there is worth it - valid criticism to a degree, as it's certainly going to be *more* worthwhile with more non-generic POI's introduced. However, there are about a dozen or so unique ones which feature loot that's either unique (and highly useful), or not readily available until certain points in the game (meaning you need to have visited certain towns, and/or acquired reputation in them to access it).

Like, on my current run I found the Shovel and the Backpack in unique POI locations in the general area of the first Town (8-square radius). Finding them much later would not mean much, but finding them early - and risking trekking through woods early on while playing permadeath - was rather substantial.

Also, at lvl 5, I undertook a rather daunting trek all the way to the bottom of the map (and back !) in order to get a special utility artifact. All the fighting, the danger and resource management happened during the trek, and the biggest challenge was making it back to civilization before my gear literally falls apart from use (which means more fighting than you can find in a dungeon).

There are other very useful things that I will make one or two expeditions (and even scouting expeditions to even find them) to, where surviving the trek is almost the entirety of the challenge.

Not to mention that a lot of the difficulty of tier 4 dunegons comes precisely from the fact that they are, well, remote, and as such tax your inventory space by preventing you from just teleporting there and back loaded with supplies. And, if you haven't experienced it, you might not know that the most lethal, dangerous and engaging thing in the whole game is trying to limp back from a run that spiraled out of control, often because you pushed it after running out of supplies.

Also, learning to *time* your exploration increases appreciation for it. You do a round of quests, steal stuff around towns, and then both the quests and the stolen stuff is on cooldown. And while you did the quests you pick up rumors. And then you go pick up some PQI's or undertake an exedition to find/reach something unique. With a bit more knowledge of what's even in the game, and what can show up in which general part of the map (or biome), the game becomes a lot more about these expeditions and getting the most of this "downtime" between dungeon runs, then about the dungeon runs themselves.

Also, this is how you get value out of stolen/looted food, as you just load up on it and go around in a circle (or from one urban destination to another), picking up PQI's and discovering others, while also picking up choice herbs and drinking/munching on choice stuff that lets you build up your immunity or recover morale and sanity after it gets knocked down (or you go digging up graves or hunting, why not).

So, you know, the dungeon runs are just a very streamlined part of a game that's about keeping your mercenary alive, in shape and prospering, and it wouldn't really work if it was just a setpiece dungeon crawler. Even if you can, honestly, just play it like that, too, but you will miss out on a bunch of unique acquisitions that are worth picking up an making use of on just about any run.

And there is inevitably going to be more of those when the basic systems are all in place and there's only just "content" to add.

EDIT: Also, do this - "unfix" the camera from your character so that you can scroll around with the mouse. This makes trekking through a safe, empty, revealed hex of the map mostly a matter of two mouse clicks, and speeds things up a bit without any hacks. Very very handy for many other reasons, too.

Again my friend everything you say is correct. I agree with everything you say. What I propose is not teleporting anywhere.

Take the example of skyrim. First you have to reach the place by exploring to unlock fast travel.

It would simply be enough to limit the fast travel when you are doing a dungeon. For example when entering a dungeon, cancel the option to use fast travel to the city.

Other things could be to simply use it on POI.

Use it 2 times a day maximum.

These are just a few ideas but it could be implemented in a way that doesn't damage the scanning system and everything in it. As you mentioned in your comment.

This way most players would play without using hacks. And 90% of the players would appreciate it. It's even possible to simply enable a non-fast travel mode for walkers like you.

[Sir Gura]

You'll be able to move your Caravan to an explored empty tile once RtR comes. With proper planning, that should reduce travel times in the wilderness by some extent.

[DeliSubs]

Originally posted by Requi3N:

After playing more than 200 hours of the game.

Actually walking long distances back and forth several times makes me stop enjoying the game.

Why not implement the fast travel system. Just one click on the point of interest and travel automatically.

For those purists who enjoy spending more than half their time traveling. You just have to deactivate the option before starting a new game.

Another way to do it would be to disable the option in hardcore mode.

Please this would be the best implementation in the game. Players would stop using hacks and I'm sure 90% would love to have this system.

Lol, i made a review mentioning how bad the travel is at late game given it's a chore. I literally just read a novel while heading back to towns after running dungeons and traveling.

Even if there's no fast travel, i dont understand why they dont just add in a toggle-able feature to speed up movement when no hostiles are in sight. You stop autopathing anyways when your character spots a hostile either way, and speedhacks do what's missing according to some reviewers.

[Merio049]

If walking back to the dungeons is too boring just bring a bedroll and sleep at the start of the dungeon and boom no travel time back too the dungeon

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by Requi3N:

What I propose is not teleporting anywhere.

Take the example of skyrim. First you have to reach the place by exploring to unlock fast travel.

It would simply be enough to limit the fast travel when you are doing a dungeon. For example when entering a dungeon, cancel the option to use fast travel to the city.

Other things could be to simply use it on POI.

Use it 2 times a day maximum.

These are just a few ideas but it could be implemented in a way that doesn't damage the scanning system and everything in it. As you mentioned in your comment.

This way most players would play without using hacks. And 90% of the players would appreciate it. It's even possible to simply enable a non-fast travel mode for walkers like you.

Actually, I personally don't use Cheat Engine to go anywhere. I just unfix the camera and then click on the edge of a map, and let my character auto-walk there.

I can see the value of having limited fast travel. After all, I do that same thing on my modded Skyrim LE. If I went from Whiterun to Riverwood, killed the random bandit encounter on the way, then go back to Whiterun from Riverwood I usually fast travel to save real time (not ingame time). And if I have to go back to Riverwood, I fast travel again, so on and so forth. This is because the mods I installed for randomizing road encounters don't generate an encounter every time I enter the cell, but generates one every 3 or so days.

However, honestly it doesn't matter how you slice this topic in Stoneshard, even if say, the devs implement exactly the kind of fast travel you just suggested; someone is gonna ♥♥♥♥♥. I guarantee you that. Look at Save On Exit. How many people ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about it now? But how much work did it take to implement that? The devs had to rework the entire world map. Look at the other thread about "tired of walking"; OG player didn't know nor care how much work it took just to implement a version of saving that doesn't break the spirit of the game but also lets people with real-life interruptions save their progress, even if only temporarily. Nope, that guy just cared about his own experience and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

It doesn't matter what game you jump on these days, moddable games have made a lot of gamers very self-entitled. They want games modeled after their own conveniences and they don't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about how the features they want would be implemented. They want it exactly as how they "ordered" it, they want it as soon as possible, and they want it free if not cheap as all hell.

Even if you say, there is a limit on using that fast travel 2 times a day; someone's gonna ♥♥♥♥♥ about that too.

Also, you aren't going to run into a snake that bites you if you fast travel. So, let's say you're level 1, you have no access to antidotes (that syringe thing, I keep forgetting what it is called) in Osbrook, you walk out of town and you get bit by a snake. Oh, the misery. By the spirit of this game, you still run that risk of getting bitten by a snake at level 20, only by then you might have an antidote in your inventory to help you out. But if you have fast travel? Nope, zero chance of getting bit by a snake. That makes late-game very easy (as it voids a lot of ingame mechanics, snake bite just one example) and early-game a RNG hell. Guess who's gonna ♥♥♥♥♥ about it again? It definitely ain't gonna be the players who plan to leg their way to the dungeons, because they would've planned ahead and stocked up on antidotes.

We also haven't got Maladies system yet. I'm gonna guess Maladies system is like disease. Like, you stay out in the rain for too long and caught a cold etc. If you fast travel, the game probably will freeze trying to compute all these elements and tally them all up for you.

Even Skyrim (just LE and not SE because I don't play SE)... The mods I have that govern random encounters... I use some simple mods for that, and the best that these mods can do is bring random encounters with me to my fast travel destination, under the pretense of them following me all the way to Windhelm. Really? They'd track me down and attack me right in front of Windhelm with city guards patrolling outside? Does that make any sense? Because it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ doesn't, which bandit in his right mind would not attack his prey out in the wilderness but wait until the prey is in the vicinity of 4 guards and THEN he attacks alone? That is suicidal. And that is the limit of the mod, unfortunately.

Stoneshard devs aren't going to settle for such limitations. The problem is, how are they going to implement this, without making it look completely ridiculous or nonsensical or lacking in common sense?

The easiest solution to me is just leave it be, no fast travel. There is an easier fix for this "boring walking simulator" issue as well: just have more randomized, procedurally generated encounters on the road.

Here is the REAL problem most critics have right now: they're impatient. Some of them have waited for years and have become impatient. (Not many, to be honest, I'm one of these guys who have waited for years and I haven't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ once.) Some of them are self-entitled pricks who want the good stuff right now and "♥♥♥♥ you if you don't deliver". I mean, outposts are on its way, they're meant to make exploration more interesting. The devs ARE doing something about this. So let's not forget that and instead of trying to make a request that implementation-wise probably is a bad idea or waste of resources, how about we make a request and then actually listen to why it is not a good idea if the devs say so?

Because this isn't the first time I've seen fast travel topics. I've read so much from the devs' perspective why they don't want to implement it and they have voiced reasons so far, not excuses. Whereas every time I see a new thread about this, it is usually made by people who just have no clue what's been going on for the past several years and don't give no ♥♥♥♥ about anything other than what they want.

The worst thing is what they want is not even collectively the same thing. They all want EXACTLY what they want and what each of them want is not exactly the same. It is impossible to please the crowd this way. And if the devs with such a small team to boot (not to mention the war and pandemic etc) try to please the crowd, this game is doomed and we won't even see Stoneshard v. 1.0 at this rate. Rant over.

[funkmonster7]

Also, if you actually leg it to the dungeon, you might run into say, two Gulons, forcing you to run a wide berth around them. That might force you to go to a forest map, where you run into a Young Troll, forcing you to run a wide berth around it as well. Then you run into 3 wolves, you kill them, and move on, etc.

*This* is the spirit of the game. The map procedurally generates random encounters for a reason. People who want fast travel just want to complete objectives and move on. They're playing a different game.

People who play Stoneshard "right" are the ones who don't use fast travel in Skyrim *even if* the option is there. The only time I'd use fast travel in Skyrim is either when I know the game's random encounter generation is exhausted and won't refresh for X days; or if my game crashed and I had to restart my run from A to B. The fact that Stoneshard doesn't crash that easily for me is why I can leg it for long distances and not worry about loss of progress due to technicality (dying to Gulons don't count as a technicality). There is the random 0.1% chance of just being unlucky, but that is in every game that features some degree of RNG. I mean, look at Darkest Dungeon; I'm not playing that game because missing your attack at 95% hit chance and then getting chain-critted to Death's Door in a single turn is just too unfair and unfun.

Stoneshard is nothing like Darkest Dungeon and yet there are still people complaining about it. I think it is time that people stop looking at Stoneshard through their rose-colored glasses and actually see it for what it is. It is unforgiving, it is brutal if you don't learn how to get good at it. It will also take a lot of time going from A to B to C to D.

BUT the good news is the devs are at least on top of that case (they've always been, they just can't do everything at once). Let's see what they have as a solution first, instead of demanding for a feature that renders all of their ideas moot.

If you want to play a game where fast travel is an option, just play other things, like Tangledeep. (Tangledeep has its issues as well; too damn casual. I love the game but damn... I got bored of it quick.)