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 PC THREAD IS HERE. PLEASE GO THERE FOR PC TALK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpJIGXtqkc (Disclaimer: This trailer is for the Xbox One version of the game, but it looks significantly better than most people are able to run reliably on PC with top-of-the-line machines. Take this footage with a grain of salt until the game is actually launched.) What the gently caress is Ark? Ark: Survival Evolved is a survival game. This style of game is becoming very popular on PC, but relatively few of these titles have made their way to consoles. For many console gamers, the best point of comparison here is Minecraft. For PC gamers, a better comparison would be Rust, DayZ, etc. What really sets Ark apart from most of its contemporaries is the setting. Ark takes place on a mysterious island filled with prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. You wake up on this island naked and with a strange metal implant in your arm, and must survive on your own or with a tribe of friends. Although the backstory is largely told through as-of-now unimplemented content, we can assume based on some of the hints in the game at the moment that we are part of some experiment being conducted by future-scientists (or possibly aliens! Oooh!). Also, there's a button that makes you take a poo poo. Not only does Ark feature Dinosaurs, everyone's favorite class of extinct creature, but those dinosaurs can be tamed and even ridden around. Some of the largest creatures can even be built upon, creating walking/flying fortresses that are sure the strike fear in the heart of unsuspecting pubbies. You can also built bases, craft weapons, and do whatever else you expect in a survival game. The tech starts at stone age wooden/stone spears and goes all the way up to futuristic assault rifles.  More information on Ark can be found on the official website, the unofficial wiki, or the Steam forums. Or just search for it yourself like a normal human being. How does this game work on Xbox One? The game is coming to Xbox One via the Game Preview program. This is equivalent to Early Access on PC. To be clear: you do not need to be an Xbox Preview Program member to download or play games in the Game Preview program, these are two completely separate things. There will be a 1-hour trial, which will allow you to play for a while to get a sense of what the game is like and how it runs before committing to purchasing the full game. While playing the trial, you can play in Single Player mode, connect to a friend's private game, or connect to a private dedicated server. You cannot join public servers in trial mode, probably to prevent littering them with half-finished huts belonging to players who will never return.  The game can be played in a number of ways: 1) Public servers: These are hosted by the developer and will remain static for most of the time, only undergoing wipes when additional content changes the landmass or a particularly gamebreaking bug occurs. These run on standard settings and support up to 70 players at a time, but have no limit to the number of characters that can exist on the server, only how many can be logged in at once. These come in PVP and PVE varieties. 2) Private dedicated servers: Players can host their own dedicated servers from their Xbone. However, this will require an extra console, an extra LIVE account, and an extra copy of the game. This is because you cannot play the game while acting as a dedicated server. Server hosts have access to server settings, console commands, and can set a player cap of up to 70. These can be open to the public or passworded to prevent access to pubbies. 3) Single Player mode: Self-explanatory. Just you against the world. 4) Tethered Multiplayer: Up to 4 players can play in a host's world, similarly to how Minecraft works on consoles. There's actually a maximum distance from the host that other players can get, which is kind of lame. Not the best way to play. This game ran like poo poo on PC at launch, there's no way the Xbox One can han- Shut up. Nobody cares. The Xbone has had a number of console-specific optimizations. It runs fine.  Is the Xbox version cross-compatible with PC? No. Stop asking this about every game, it's never the case. Just accept that console players are going to play with other console players and be pleasantly surprised when games do allow crossplay instead of being disappointed every time a game releases. What about PS4? The PS4 version will release sometime in July. If this thread is still active at that point, it may become a general console version thread. Otherwise, look out for a thread for that version to appear. The details! RELEASE DATE: December 16th, 2015 via Game Preview CAN I PRELOAD?: No. PRICE: $34.99, 1-hour free trial. The cost will increase when the game fully releases, but to how much we do not know. Buying in Preview will get you "free" access to the full version. FULL RELEASE: July 2016, TBA. Ark: Survival Evolved will launch on Xbox One with all the content currently in the PC version. Xbox One players who purchase the game in Game Preview will also receive an exclusive in-game trophy, a hat skin, and a T-Rex saddle skin that will turn your tamed T-Rex into a giant fuckoff robo-rex, the latter of which is exclusive to Xbox One, which really really pisses off pubbies on the Steam forums. Funkmaster General fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 15, 2015 |
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Dec 11, 2015 19:42
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The Second Post: AKA the reason "Read the OP" is technically not a productive thing to say. Where do Goons play? NA-XboxOfficialServer65 How did I get into the Tribe? Post in the thread and then meet a tribe member in-game for an invite. Our base is located at the west coast, slightly closer to the north, on a large outcropping near (but not at) the snowy area). Be careful approaching us before you get an invite, we have LOTS of base defenses. All the tribe's stuff is free, right? Don't be a dickhole. A lot of the stuff in the tribe base is free for all to use, but a lot of it isn't. Use your common sense here, and in general replace anything you take as soon as you can. For dinosaurs, the general rule is that resource-gathering dinosaurs are free to use so long as you don't wander too far from base, while otherwise you should only use dinosaurs you tamed yourself, unless you have explicit permission from the person who tamed it to use it. How to get started? Here's a starter's guide that's only vaguely terrible and outdated. How should I spec my stats? The most important stats for a new player are health and melee damage. The former is important for your survivability, while the latter affects both how much damage you can output and how many materials you can gather from resource nodes. Stamina lets you run longer, making escaping large predators more possible. Fortitude increases your resistance to extreme temperatures (important because our new base is located close to the snowy area) as well as your resistance to poisons and tranquilizers. Weight is less important, but still worth investing some points into, simply to make your life a bit easier. Note that you can get dinosaurs to carry things for you instead, but doing so always means you're putting two lives at risk instead of just one. Losing a dinosaur isn't a huge deal, but each one represents at least an hour of someone's time. Oxygen not only helps you breathe underwater, but also effects your underwater movement speed. Most people can probably ignore this stat, but the difference between never upgrading and putting a handful of levels in it is the difference between having to be careful around rivers and being able to dive deep underwater for pearls. Movement Speed does what it says on the tin, but be careful with this one - it's possible to move too fast and be unable to easily control where you're going. Food and Water increase the amount of time you can go without eating or drinking. This seems like a good idea to upgrade at earlier levels, but you probably shouldn't; you'll reach a point where these are easily managed even at normal levels.  Crafting Speed is a complete joke, DO NOT UPGRADE IT. Here's a general stat layout to shoot for: Health : 200+ Stamina: 150 Oxygen: 100 - 180 Food: 100 (No points spent) Water: 100 (No points spent) Weight: 150-200 Melee Damage: 200-250 Movement Speed: 100-120 (no more than 130) Fortitude: 10-14 Crafting Speed: 100 (AGAIN, DO NOT UPGRADE THIS) What About Engrams? In order to be self-sufficient, you'll want to grab the engrams for basic stone tools, as well as Torch, Campfire, Hide Sleeping Bag. You'll also want Narcotic, as crafting them in bulk is an extremely easy way to gain experience. Aside from this, we have pretty much everything covered. One or more of us can make anything else you might need, and we have blueprints for most of the important things, such as metal tools and weapons, most varieties of saddle, and tons of building pieces. Generally speaking, the best use of your points is to hold on to them for expensive high-level gear later on, like specialty saddles. That said, your engram points won't be in high demand until you reach a very high level, anyway. If there's something you'd like to make, and nobody is around to make it for you, don't feel like you're wasting points by grabbing the engram. If you're playing solo, or on a different server, this all goes out the window: you'll need to grab the engram for anything you want to build so there's no point asking what to get. I made a mistake with my character build. How do I fix it? If you're under level 30 or so, honestly the best way to fix a mistake with your stats or engram points is to die and choose "create new survivor" on the respawn screen. This will delete your character and start you off fresh as a level one character. This is not reversible, so make sure you really want to do it. If you're higher level, you can respec your character using Mindwipe Tonic. This is an expensive process, and we'll make you farm the materials for it yourself, so try to avoid making mistakes! How do I gather poo poo? Generally, there are two ways to gather any material: Manually, or with a Dinosaur. In many cases, getting materials manually is more tedious but ultimately more efficient, while dinosaur gathering is easier, less dangerous, and faster. *Berries and Fiber both come from plants, such as ferns, bushes, and large flowers. Basically anything that isn't short grass or trees yields berries and fiber. You can gather either of these materials with your bare hands in a pinch (hold Y), but this is both slow and inefficient. To gather fiber, grab a metal scythe (if there isn't one at base, ask someone to build you one) and swing it at the bushes for fiber galore. For berries, take out one of the dinosaurs. The Bronto, Mammoth, and Trike are all excellent choices for this. Simply use RT while riding them to attack the bushes; you'll recieve large amounts of berries in mere seconds. Remember that Narcoberries and Mejoberries are worth saving, while everything else can be used as dino feed, turned into paint, or simply tossed away. If you want to dino-gather fiber, you'll need a Gigantopithicus (the giant apeman). *Wood and Thatch both come from trees. You can hand-gather these materials by punching the tree (which hurts you, so be careful!) or by hitting them with tools. Remember that metal tools are more efficient than stone, and that your melee damage stat improves yield. A pick will gather you lots of thatch, while a hatchet will gather lots of wood. To dino gather wood, use a mammoth, for thatch, use a bronto. *Stone, Flint, Metal, and Obsidian all come from rocks. You cannot hand-gather any of these materials (except basic stone, which you can pick up off the beach with Y) without tools. Stone and Flint come from *all* rocks. Hit them with with a pickaxe to get lots of flint, metal, or obsidian, or a hatchet to get lots of stone. Metal can very rarely appear in regular rocks, uncommonly appear in smooth river rocks, and will always come from metal rocks (which have gold lines on them) or metal veins (which are almost completely gold). Obsidian only comes from special, smooth, dark black rocks. To dino gather these materials, use a Dodi or an Ankylo, and just hit the rocks. To do this more effectively, you can have one player on the Ankylo while a second player carries him with a Quetzal. Because the latter can move faster and over uneven terrain, and has higher carrying capacity, you can get a lot of materials very quickly. This is the best way to gather metal. *Crystal comes from giant glowing crystals, either on top of large mountains or in the snowy region. Hit them with a pickaxe. You can gather crystal with dinos, but doing so is not effective enough to be worth the extra effort. *Oil deposits and Silica Pearl clams are deep underwater (best gathered using an Icthyosaur or Megaladon or, in a pinch, a frog), although some can also be found aboveground in the snowy area of the island. *Meat, Hide, Keratin, Chitin and Pelts all come from creatures. Generally speaking, everything is good for meat, dinos get you hide, mammals get you pelts, and bugs get you chitin. Keratin comes from dinos with large plates or horns. Gather meat by hitting dinosaur corpses with a pick, and skins by using a hatchet. Use any predatory dinosaur to gather meat more easily, or a Dire Wolf or Saber Cat for skins. I'll be updating this post as my info is proven wrong and bad and dumb, or new information needs to be added. Funkmaster General fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Jan 4, 2016 |
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Dec 11, 2015 19:42
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This is a great thread and I'm really excited to be here.
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Dec 11, 2015 19:49
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Whoops, forgot to add my dumb stupid joke title. Good thing it was dumb and stupid, I guess.
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Dec 11, 2015 19:52
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This is a good thread. We should coordinate a server to get all of the xbone goons on (similar to what they're doing over on the PC version) when this comes out. Hopefully there's some sort of global communication in game (even if it's only within your tribe), since this game might be a bit of a pain in the rear end without it.
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Dec 11, 2015 20:07
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Just a heads up, you linked the server thread. The PC thread is here - http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3722532
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Dec 11, 2015 20:26
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Jackard posted:Just a heads up, you linked the server thread. Ah, thanks. When I looked a while ago I wasn't able to find a thread in Games for it, so I thought the PGS thread was the only PC thread. My bad! Fixed the OP. Funkmaster General fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Dec 11, 2015 |
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Dec 11, 2015 20:29
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I can't wait for this game. Will definitely want to play with goons as much as possible on a dedicated server.
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Dec 12, 2015 00:25
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This looks p.fun. I wonder if you'll be able to maintain even a small camp from poopsocking kids if you only get a few hours on the weekends like my brother and I. Pvp in these survival games is always a ton of fun. I'll definitely grab this.
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Dec 12, 2015 15:16
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always be closing posted:I wonder if you'll be able to maintain even a small camp from poopsocking kids if you only get a few hours on the weekends like my brother and I. This ruleset only allowed medieval tech, so stone structures and no guns or explosives. Raiding was possible but not effortless. Kinda out the window now they added the stonebreaking Giga which every poopsocker tribe stomps around with Jackard fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Dec 12, 2015 |
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Dec 12, 2015 21:10
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Here's a clip from Major Nelson's podcast where he interviews one of the developers. Not really any new info, but some interesting questions in there.
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Dec 13, 2015 02:32
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBfKgMCaVu8 Here's the first footage I've seen of someone actually playing on the Xbone. The audio was out of synch for me, but other than that... Pros: * Generally looks great and the hitches we see look like they were lag, rather than dropped frames. Cons: * Holy poo poo, when he first spawns in you see the worst texture I have ever seen on any console, including the Ps1 and N64, for the inside wall of his thatch hut. As soon as he gets outside everything looks gorgeous, but oh god that texture. Lasts a long time for pop-in, too, but he never goes back in to confirm if it did look better later or not. * The UI seems clunkier than the PC version, which already has a terrible UI. Also it looks like the server he was on had a massive buff to item gathering, he got 50 chitin from one trilobyte and 100 wood from a rotting log. I assume this won't be the standard rates for consoles.
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Dec 14, 2015 20:40
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It's pop-in, when he runs passed the hut again it looks fine. You can only really see the door interior, but it's loaded okay. Stuff like that is to expected in early access though.
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Dec 14, 2015 20:51
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I had completely forgotten about this. Count me in my tag is the same as my forums name.
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Dec 15, 2015 00:36
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There's a bunch of videos of the Xbox version out there now, all of them from the most obnoxious YouTube streamers on the planet (I swear one guy used the phrases "stuff and things" at least 40 times in a 20/minute video). I haven't seen anything like the thatch hut texture pop-in in that first video and the game looks like it runs really nicely on the 'ol bone.
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Dec 15, 2015 05:58
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Funkmaster General posted:There's a bunch of videos of the Xbox version out there now, all of them from the most obnoxious YouTube streamers on the planet (I swear one guy used the phrases "stuff and things" at least 40 times in a 20/minute video). I haven't seen anything like the thatch hut texture pop-in in that first video and the game looks like it runs really nicely on the 'ol bone. That's pretty exciting, since (thatch aside) it looks gorgeous. Much nicer than it runs on my Macbook Pro with an i7 and a dedicated GPU.
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Dec 15, 2015 06:19
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So are we going to be able to get on the same server so we can be the most powerful gang and extort the other players?
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Dec 15, 2015 13:22
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If you want the true PC Gamer experience, you can download the game early right now by switching your region to New Zealand. 24gb download. E: New Zeland's price is inflated. Download the trial now and wait for US launch to pay for the whole thing. ChocNitty posted:So are we going to be able to get on the same server so we can be the most powerful gang and extort the other players? I'll try to sort that out sometime around noonish central tommorow, when I get off work. As of right now I'm not sure about the server situation in terms of how many there are, which are PVP, which have inflated settings that would benefit old PC players over us, etc. I don't want to commit to one until I see that it will suit our needs. Funkmaster General fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Dec 15, 2015 |
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Dec 15, 2015 18:24
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I'm glad I downloaded tonight via New Zealand marketplace. Took me 6 hours to download and when it was done it needed an 18gb day-zero patch which is downloading even slower. I'd be livid if I'd waited.
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Dec 16, 2015 01:16
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Funkmaster General posted:Whoops, forgot to add my dumb stupid joke title. Good thing it was dumb and stupid, I guess. Looks to me like the Line of Defense
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Dec 16, 2015 01:33
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Funkmaster General posted:I'm glad I downloaded tonight via New Zealand marketplace. Took me 6 hours to download and when it was done it needed an 18gb day-zero patch which is downloading even slower. I'd be livid if I'd waited.  Funkmaster General posted:If you want the true PC Gamer experience, you can download the game early right now by switching your region to New Zealand. 24gb download. And I cannot loving figure out how to eat and died within like 10 minutes, although I figured out to hit Y to pick up stones and to punch trees for wood, and was able to build a pick, torch, and hand axe before I died of what I assume was hunger because I couldn't figure out how to pick up melons. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Dec 16, 2015 |
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Dec 16, 2015 03:12
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For those of you who may want to play locally with loved ones, Wildcard announced today that Splitscreen c-op is coming. Only local, no splitscreen online, and not at launch, but rather sometime in 2016.coyo7e posted:Your internet sucks, mine was done in an hour. Oh, don't lie. When I got on to find the update rearing its head, you were still in My Games and Apps. You're right about my internet though, at this rate my update will be done just a few minutes before official US Launch.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:21
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^^^ LOL @ couch co-op splitscreen - perfect for those of you with two pre-teen kids and no internet access. (like my nephew)Funkmaster General posted:For those of you who may want to play locally with loved ones, Wildcard announced today that Splitscreen c-op is coming. Only local, no splitscreen online, and not at launch, but rather sometime in 2016. How the gently caress do I eat? 
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Dec 16, 2015 03:30
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I'm downloading now. Add gamertag kinkymonkey577. I'll be purchasing.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:32
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GodspeedSphere posted:I'm downloading now. Add gamertag kinkymonkey577. I'll be purchasing. The price is ABSURD right now because it's in NZ moon money or something, like nearly 50 bucks. Also your character's given name is what is displayed in the server chat FYI, so gamertag may or may not matter but I'll send an FR
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Dec 16, 2015 03:37
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coyo7e posted:How the gently caress do I eat? Hold B to open your inventory, move some berries or meat to your hotbar, and then press the corresponding button to eat them. Don't eat raw meat, Narcoberries, or stimberries.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:44
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coyo7e posted:gamertag may or may not matter but I'll send an FR Send a message? I didn't get ya.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:47
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Funkmaster General posted:Hold B to open your inventory, move some berries or meat to your hotbar, and then press the corresponding button to eat them. If you have no other choice, eating Raw Meat can save your life if you're starving. You'll lose health, but once your hunger refills you will just regen that health right back.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:48
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SolidSnakesBandana posted:If you have no other choice, eating Raw Meat can save your life if you're starving. You'll lose health but it will fill some hunger for a time. True, but unless you're in the tundra or a cave there's always berries nearby, so it shouldn't be hard to survive long enough to get a campfire going to cook it up.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:50
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Okay, I never saw anything that resembled being edible except for some orangey-yellow melon things that I couldn't loot. Switching to bare hands to pick up certain items is kinda obnoxious as well. Do you maybe have a picture of what something edible to a newbie LOOKS like, Shiny?  http://ark.gamepedia.com/Getting_Started GodspeedSphere posted:Send a message? I didn't get ya.
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Dec 16, 2015 03:53
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coyo7e posted:Okay, I never saw anything that resembled being edible except for some orangey-yellow melon things that I couldn't loot. Switching to bare hands to pick up certain items is kinda obnoxious as well. I was going to be sarcastic and post a picture of some berries but instead I'll be helpful and say to use your bare hands to gather from random bushes and ferns (I want to say Y is the button). You can eat all the berries you get there, just avoid the black ones and the white ones.
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Dec 16, 2015 04:06
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^^^^^ Yeah Y button spam on random plants seems to be the order of the day. Oh god I finally figured out how to collect food and was killed by a pack of spitters that looked like they had porcupine quills, while I vainly flailed my torch at them and wished I had learned to build a campfire less than 30 mins left in demo
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Dec 16, 2015 04:13
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Apparently if you hit the xbox Guide button and then don't start another app or something, the trial keeps going whoops edit: yeah gently caress these things I felt like Newman from Seinfeld http://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/spotlight-compsognathus-r24/ coyo7e fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Dec 16, 2015 |
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Dec 16, 2015 04:48
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Funkmaster General posted:Don't eat raw meat, Narcoberries, or stimberries. You can eat stimberries just fine if it's raining. 
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Dec 16, 2015 05:46
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If you head into the swamp or caves it's a good idea to put stimberries on your hotbar. Eating them can counter the knockout effect of being hit by a frog/snake/scorpion/bee/fly Jackard fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Dec 16, 2015 |
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Dec 16, 2015 07:11
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Jackard posted:If you head into the swamp or caves it's a good idea to put stimberries on your hotbar. I didn't mean never eat stimberries, or that they're useless. When the question is "how do I eat," I think it's a good idea to also warn the person against eating things that are likely to kill him if he doesn't understand what he's doing.
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Dec 16, 2015 08:52
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Well, played for a few hours. Visuals are a bit muddy but framerate is pretty smooth. I've got a little hut and small collection of stuff going on NA server 65 around South Zone 3, if people want to start gathering there. The building is owned under the tribe name DRS. There's another tribe nearby owned by a guy named MeXiCaN, who I agreed to leave alone if they leave us alone for now. They're assholes though, they killed me and "returned" my stuff with most of the good bits mysteriously missing. Also pulled some less obvious trolling, like putting all my wood into my campfire and lighting it, and building a storage box of their own by my house to return my gear in, hoping I'd continue to use it and they could loot it later since they own it. I'll be at work until noon-ish, but when I get back we can start setting up the tribe (or moving to another server if we need to, I guess). E: Oh, as a quick note, the server browser lists incorrect ping times of 2000+, but in-game the correct ping shows, so don't get scared off by big ping numbers.
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Dec 16, 2015 12:38
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Is their proximity chat then?
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Dec 16, 2015 13:21
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PriorMarcus posted:Is their proximity chat then? Yes, as well as serverwide text chat.
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Dec 16, 2015 13:51
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I joined NA Server 65 and messed around until the trial was up, then bought the game. It's hard to try and get back in the server though. Also the server browser doesnt look like it tells you if you have a character on it, and the bookmark function doesnt seem to do anything. And we're gonna have to either form or join a tribe soon or we'll keep getting jacked. Hepnotic fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Dec 16, 2015 |
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Dec 16, 2015 19:41
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