Don't Starve - initial thoughts and opinions

[CycloneSP]

Hey all, so, not too long ago I finally got around to buying Don't Starve due to all the talk about it here on the forums. After playing it off and on for the past few weeks I decided to share my initial thoughts and experiences.

So, first thing I noticed and enjoyed was the abundance of humorous commentary by the selected characters. I always enjoy it when game developers insert details like these into their games.

As for difficulty, I find it isn't all that 'hard' to start off, but I did find myself making a lot of nooby mistakes on my first few tries. (one try I didn't even last more than 3 days. XD stupid living tree) I like how even without a manual or starters guide, the game is still easy to pick up. I did find maintaining my sanity to be a bit of a problem if I lasted more than 10 days. I always seem to spawn in worlds devoid of flowers, or at least very few flowers. (also, don't eat the mushrooms.....)

Over all, I really enjoy the survival experience the game brings, but I do rather dislike how dependent you are upon the random world generator to spawn you in a favorable world. For example, I spawned in a world once where it took forever to find just one piece of flint.

But yeah, great game. :)



A few fun facts, the longest I've yet to survive is 29 days. And I am on day 27 in my current world.

I have mixed feelings about winter though... I really enjoy the aspect of preparing for winter and stocking up food and such, but I really hate winter gameplay itself. It is really hard to see the ground through the snow, and I feel like I can hardly do anything productive due to the long dusk/nights.



What are ya'lls thoughts on the game? Any tips or tricks ya'll would like to share? Have any cool misadventures to tell us about?

[BinoAl]

I enjoyed it, but it did get a bit stale for me after 6 or 7 playthroughs. My first attempt was 7 days, the developer did a great job of making everything intuitive.

[Foxy Boxes]

Survived twice about 18 days each. First time a tree guardian got me. Second time WHY DO FROGS ATTACK IF YOU FISH?!

I can kinda see how it's still in Beta though. At one point I caught two rabbits and though "Great, a breeding pair!" But alas, I've been unable to find any info on the matter. That said it's a great game, one you can't go wrong with.

I also have a free Don't Starve key for the best offer, just saying.

[FlowerChild]

I want to be stranded on a desert island with Don't Starve and breed with it non-stop in order to found a brand new civilization which will then proceed to dominate the earth.

All I can say to the comments above is:

Haha...noob.

I can kinda see how it's still in Beta though. At one point I caught two rabbits and though "Great, a breeding pair!" But alas, I've been unable to find any info on the matter.

Not really. The game is only a few weeks for release, and as far as I know they're just polishing adventure mode right now and making a few balance adjustments. It's very close to feature complete.

Not sure why you'd expect to automatically be able to breed animals in an MC-like fashion.

[Foxy Boxes]

It was less that and more "Well if I release them into a large enough enclosure..." Then I died to frogs before I could test it. I mean, they're rabbits, they breed like... well, rabbits.

[FlowerChild]

It was less that and more "Well if I release them into a large enough enclosure..." Then I died to frogs before I could test it. I mean, they're rabbits, they breed like... well, rabbits.

Even rabbits don't breed in the amount of time that would make doing so a useful part of the game.

Anyways...whatever. Random realism complaints always amuse me.

[Foxy Boxes]

Well if you want realism complaints, I had the *ahem* fun experience of seeing what would happen if I dug up a rabbit hole... on the only nearby rabbit hole. That was a bad choice.

To get back on topic; Personally I love the balance (sans-Ents) it has. On the demo I tried attacking a spider nest and died, yet in my most recent world I can take them out without a problem because I advanced. And then there's the quantity of food - Most of the time I was borderline starving yet searching around gave me enough to get by until I could get more profitable foods. I've yet to experience winter though so that should be fun.

[FlowerChild]

Well if you want realism complaints

No, I don't. You've already filled my face-palm quota for the day thanks.

"It's still in beta because frogs attacked me and I can't breed rabbits" will do it every time.

[Foxy Boxes]

Eh, facepalms are inevitable with DS, it's what makes it fun! And dying. Lots and lots of dying.

EDIT: Just to clarify the quoted post, my complaint wasn't with DS, but rather my actions.

[FlowerChild]

Eh, facepalms are inevitable with DS, it's what makes it fun! And dying. Lots and lots of dying.

No...you misunderstand...YOU gave me the face-palm, not DS.

[CycloneSP]

Heh, yeah I'm still pretty noobish, but I am improving! I have out done my old record and am now on day 35-ish. I have a sizable base and plenty of food to last me the remaining winter days.

I will say, I am a huge fan of jerky and crockpots.

I think my preferred strategy is to settle down next to a large savanna biome and set out as many traps as possible. This way I can amass a large amount of rabbits to store in chests for winter, and after I have my 2 or 3 chests filled I turn the rest into jerky.

I did get pretty lucky in this play through tho, as I found both a small graveyard and a pig king! I'll be living off of golden tools for quite a while. :)

*mutters to self about finding a way to farm spiders for silk*

also, can anyone tell me the benefit for building walls around your base? I managed to burn down an extremely large forest, so I won't have to worry about fuel any time soon, so I have wood and stone to spare, so I've been converting them into wood flooring and stone walls respectively. But is there much of a point?

[Foxy Boxes]

Ahh. How to clarify...
Basically I started of summarizing how my short lived forays into the wilderness ended abruptly. Then I mentioned the beta-ness vibe I got (although I haven't played in a while), and yes, I'll admit, a complaint about how I couldn't breed rabbits. Frogs attacking me was worth mentioning because well, man did they take me by surprise... and kill me when I had a semi-established base.

Hope I clarified it a bit.


EDIT: I've used walls to force rabbits into my traps before, which is quite handy.

[CycloneSP]

wait... you actually chase rabbits? But.. whhhyyyyyyyyyy!?!?!?


Just set the trap on top of the hole, and wait, rinse, repeat. More traps = more rabbits.

[Foxy Boxes]

Not chase no, I just use them to channel them from their burrows to a collection point. Sure it's slow, but with enough burrows (I'd found a particularly rich area) that's not too much of an issue.

[FlowerChild]

*mutters to self about finding a way to farm spiders for silk*

Plop down a spider egg in the middle of a pig village. Easy peasy.

Granted, getting the spider egg isn't quite so easy :)

[CycloneSP]

Oooo!! brilliant idea FC! Thx a lot! I just so happen to have a few pig huts near that pig king and I also just so happen to have a spider egg! Woot!

Honestly, I still don't know how I managed to get that spider egg... I mean, the spiders came at me one at a time... and there were no warriors... and... XD

[HappyDyas]

One nest would be enough. Trust me when i say you don't want to get greedy with the monster meat and silk.
The last thing you want to happen is to have 5 spider queens with a horde of about 40 spiders chasing you across the map

EDIT: I know from experience.

[FlowerChild]

Also: don't build your only camp right next to the pig village.

That's me speaking from experience ;)

[CycloneSP]

NoooOOoOoOOOo!!!! Leave me allloooonnneeee!!!! Staaay awwaaaaay!!! Get back! back I say!



:( first I get assaulted by a mega and baby tree-ent, then I get hunted down by almost 10 red hounds.

but! I have survived! (minus one amulet I found while grave digging) I am now on day 45.

[Foxy Boxes]

I had my base near a bee hive. I didn't know the bees attack hounds until I stumbled across some monster meat :P

[romer]

I set my base in the Savannah, its easier to get meat and fertilizer for farms. The game is really good. It has a different feel from minecraft and has unlock-able characters (Wolfgang FTW!). I think this a more accurate "survival" kind of game where you actually have to kite enemies, set traps or use spider eggs for pig meat not like minecraft's get equipment and kill innocent pigs, because in the game everything retaliates and your too weak to go at them head on (atleast not at the beggining).

[Rianaru]

Never got to the 'end' of the game(as far as unlocking everything and having a fully renewable food resource), but I feel like the end of the game could use more progression. After day 60ish, I feel like all I'm doing is running around maintaining everything rather than actually progressing through the game

[CycloneSP]

Day 50 - Willow meets her end at the jaws of the vicious spider queen.


Note to self, 5 pigmen an army does not make.

[LiveInPain]

I also bought DS cause of the talk about it on the forums, and I'm really loving the game. It was hard for me to survive past day 10 but now i can reach day ~70 pretty easily. Before day 10 i try to explore the borders of the map and search for a savana with beefalos and rabits, locate a pig village, a swamp and spiders. I use traps to harvest spiders and rabits, and excess monster meat to get pig skin and meat, i usually destroy spider dens close to my base at tier 3 so i dont have to fight the spider queen to close to my base and if i come across spider queens i lure them to the pig village, i also try to switch to gold tools as soon as possible to save flint for weapons. So far my strategy as got me pretty far compared to my initial attemps. The thing i love about the games is that some resources aren't renewable and you must be carefull and think were you want to spend them. (sorry for my english)

[myrkana]

I find it amazingly fun xD though I haven't yet made it to winter haha my first 2 worlds were devoid of pigs or beefalo o.O or at least the huge area I explored had none and I ended up dying in some way (went insane not knowing to pick flowers xD and I think I starved once haha) My current game has a field of beefalo next to a large rabbit field :D so I'm stocking up on rabbits and poo. Though how do you shave a beefalo for the fur? Do I have to kill it ): all my beefalo stay together D:

I've never had so much fun dying and restarting so much before xD I've only unlocked 4 or 5 characters so far because some of the games didn't last too long before I died to an ent or some other hazard.