After having struggled a bit with the start game, I found a rather repeatable way of making money (the trip to Venderblight, then once found the one to Salt Lions).
Now I wonder, as I have not found any other mean to get echoes to pay for my fuel in a reliable way, without much risk, is it not boring, to have all new games starting like that, and by starting, I mean several hours doing that in the end, as you need to pay for some fuel, then a few extras, like an upgraded gun. I’m not even speaking of a new ship here!
And more globally, if I do most of the stories in a play through, I guess I’ll encounter them all again in another game, right? So in the end, is the game only worth a nice, long playthrough, but no more? I’m a bit worried about this part in fact. I don’t see for now the interest in restarting a character once I die, because I’ll already know 90% of the content probably.
What I would like to hear is that the zee nearby London is the same between 2 games (i.e even if the Salt Lions are not placed the same, they perform the same) but that most of the story content is very variable between 2 walkthroughs, and that I’ll discover tons of new stories, events and oddities if I redo another game; But I’m not really sure about that…
I have 113 hours in the game and have no where near experienced all of the stories (I think, anyway :p). The way to make furture playthroughs start out with more ease it to write a will and leave the max amount (12)of heirlooms for your ungrateful heir. Wit hthose 12 heirlooms sold, you should be able to purchase a new ship as well as two of the Caminus yards guns. But, no. I don’t think any of the story content is different between playthroughs, but I have had several captains in my 113 hours of play and have yet to get bored or even have the feeling that I’ve seen it all
That’s nice to hear, but it means you have to redo all the known nearby islands, Station IV, Chapel of Lights etc. right? edited by Rapiere on 10/17/2014
Well, not exactly, I suppose, then. Cause, as far as I can tell a lot of the stories have quite a few different outcomes and different storylines can be unlocked from choosing different options on different playthroughs.
It is definitely replayable, I have had many captains since the very early beta.
Some of the reasons
each time you play you get a different map, so no guarantees that you will get the so-called "profitable" routes near to London. At the moment the only thing that is stable is the coastline (Whither and Codex; Tomb Colonies; London with Hunter’s Keep and Mutton Island; Cumean Canal; Iron Republic and the Southern edge of the map).
The North of the map is supposed to be a shuffle of a certain set of tiles - Mount Palmerstone; Avid Horizon; Ragged Crow and a few that haven’t been completed yet. As for everywhere else for me that is part of the fun - discovering all the islands again.
you can choose a different past and different ambition each time which effects how you will play the game. I must admit that I tend to stick with the one past at the moment as I think it makes the game slightly easier.
the random nature of the storylets in ports, is something going to be good, bad, profitable. Will you fail or succeed.
combat - are you going to encounter something in the dark, is it something that you can take on with a reasonable chance of success or are you better off turning your lights off and trying to evade.
You can make different decisions on different stories.
At the moment it is still being developed so something new comes along often enough to add another reason to keep coming back and maybe starting a new captain
So I’m still not bored with the game and I’ve been playing for months :)
I understand your fear Rapiere although I do not share it.
Having lost ships and crew to the Zee I can tell you only my perspective. In one playthrough the salt lions were the first island generated east of London. After an embarrassing death they moved quite far away. I gave up on that route and when I died again it became very profitable again though less so. Ultimately it has replayability right now based on your ability to choose differently and try things like any game. Be wary of falling into a routine or safe play style other than to get a few extra echos. The fun is in the exploration. I have hunted Lifeburgs for profit, the savage wreckers, and hope they get more dangerous. I have yet to complete an ambition as death cuts ambition short. I was pleasantly surprised at how much better a new ship was. I was expecting a big merchant vessel to be sluggish. Maybe I’m just bad at the game. ^-^
There is sure to be a lot of content to follow. Possibly even making previous forms of trade dangerous if done too often besides stone and clay men. edited by Fox on 10/18/2014
I only do the stone trade to subsidize my expeditions… This is a mean, not an end to me. Still, if I die, I’ll want to do the same things again, find the Salt Lions, and bring stones to London… So I would like Sunless Sea to introduce randomness not only in the position of the islands, but on others things, for example stones are not in unlimited quantity and regenerate over time. Or trading wine is more profitable in a game than in another, etc.
With a release date in December, I know this won’t be done. The poor devs must be whipping themselves to death to finish the new combat system (with special abilities) and all the missing stories.
[quote=Rapiere]That’s nice to hear, but it means you have to redo all the known nearby islands, Station IV, Chapel of Lights etc. right? edited by Rapiere on 10/17/2014[/quote]
There is more than one way to do Station III. There is more than one way to do Hunter’s Keep. Try making a character with a different ambition – a lot of these stories leave more questions than answers and require you to see the story from multiple angles before the mystery is truly solved.
Like what’s actually happening in Station III, or why what happens at Hunter’s Keep – happens.
[quote=Rapiere]I only do the stone trade to subsidize my expeditions… This is a mean, not an end to me. Still, if I die, I’ll want to do the same things again, find the Salt Lions, and bring stones to London… So I would like Sunless Sea to introduce randomness not only in the position of the islands, but on others things, for example stones are not in unlimited quantity and regenerate over time. Or trading wine is more profitable in a game than in another, etc.
With a release date in December, I know this won’t be done. The poor devs must be whipping themselves to death to finish the new combat system (with special abilities) and all the missing stories.[/quote]
The proposition of randomized trade prices/limited trade goods is an interesting one. Though, I’d wager would take a lot of tweaking to get it close to being balanced, especially with the islands being shuffled already each play through. The amount of dev time going into a system like this may not be worth the pay off, but what do I know? :p
As far as the release date being December. Yeah, it feels like there’s not much time between then and now, but then, I had hesitation when I heard about the combat overhaul (Ahhh… CHANGE!!!) and was worried that the devs would, indeed, be stretching themselves too thin. But, lo and behold, Steel combat is the blemmigan’s knees! And, I don’t want to speak for the devs, but I’d wager they will push back the release date if the game is not ready for 1.0 by December
I agree with Dr. Alloy. It’s been very interesting to see how the game has evolved.
I don’t think I will be concerned with replayability anytime soon (within the next year or so) just because I can’t put that much time into it in any one sitting.
[quote=Rapiere]for example stones are not in unlimited quantity and regenerate over time. Or trading wine is more profitable in a game than in another, etc.[/quote]Bravo! That’s a great idea Rapiere but on your comment about the limited time I prefer if a game is released when ready instead of rushed. I realize it’s still a lot of work but there can be an option to allow all resources in ports to have random amounts at start of play. Good lord the unwieldy code nightmare that must be.
Ultimately I don’t feel the trade system will evoke replayability though. Shouldn’t the topic of interest instead be story? That is what the devs are focusing on right?
Yes, stories is the meat of the game, but you still need to get some income and trade is present, so it’s not like you can’t do any trade, and right now trading is very boring and lackluster.