Gaming

Dinosaurs!



Yes, I didn't have to wait long for Ark to appear on GFN.
I don't really know what I'm doing yet (apart from dying! ) as I've never played an all-out survival game and it's a bit of a learning curve. But I did pick up some Dodo poo.

Sadly I haven't survived long enough to do a poo of my own (there is a key assigned for it! ) and so far my deaths have come at the hands of some slithery snakes of some kind, a Dilophosaurus and a couple of terrifying encounters with the Spinosaurus. But in the few moments I've been alive I've worked out that you should pick up lots of things (fibres, stones, berries, etc) and punch a lot of trees to get thatch and wood. I got enough to craft a pickaxe thing and then died.
Later I tried to tame the Dilophosaur after punching it to unconsciousness but I can't have done it right because it eventually woke up and killed me.
And then it started to get dark, which was too scary for me.

But... Dinosaurs!

Mostly it just requires a decent internet connection and if you want to play at a "normal" time and avoid queues then a monthly fee (the amount seems to vary by country.)
But I'm still on my free account and my 40Mb wifi connection seems to work fine (even though they advise against 2.4ghz wifi) but I do have to limit my GFN play until after midnight to avoid the long queues and freeloaders are limited to 1 hour sessions. You can just log in again when it's over so that's a minor inconvenience.

You just download the client software (just like having another launcher) and all the games stream through that but you do have to login to your Steam/Epic/Uplay account every time you play.

If it runs OK on your internet then the only real downside is the number of supported games, especially when they get removed. I was a bit annoyed when Mad Max got pulled just a few weeks after I'd bought it.
Also GoG games are not supported at all which is a rather unusual oversight.

I managed to survive the night in Ark.
In fact I didn't die once during the entire session. Admittedly it was a close thing when I started being chased by a massive alligator-type thing. (I don't know the specific species because I was running away from it and had to hide behind a big rock until it went away.)

But I digress... I was discussing the night before, wasn't I?
I gathered lots of fibre to make some clothes and then crafted a campfire....



The distant triceratops was interested for a while and came to watch me for a few minutes before going away but it's OK cos they're not aggressive. You may also notice a dodo that's as dead as a dodo. (Yes I also crafted a spear for some killing but they don't last long and seem to break right in the middle of fights! )

So I was all set for my nightly survival but... I didn't know how to light the fire! I tried all kinds of things but before I could work it out darkness fell. And it fell very darkly indeed. It was absolute pitch black. Couldn't see a single thing. I just had to stay there in complete blackness listening to the sounds of nearby dinosaurs until a bit of morning glow peeped above the horizon.

A second visit to YouTube has taught me what I should have done with the fire so hopefully the next night won't be so... dark.
And in other events, I ate lots of berries, including the wrong kind of berry that makes you drowsy. And I ate so many of those that I collapsed and had to sleep on the beach for several minutes.
And after finally waking up... I did a poo!

Confession: I have never ever played The Sims.

Ark is mostly reminding me of Morrowind but that's probably just the very unforgiving start. There are no cut scenes explaining the story (although there is apparently a story when you get to it) and there's no in-game tutorial at all! It just throws you onto the island and you have to work it out yourself. Or die, die, die then go to YouTube.

I did feel guilty about the Dodo but I'd made the spear and needed to test it on something and the Dodo was the smallest, least dangerous thing around.
Eventually I did kill some bigger things too in order to make a water carrier from the hides.

It's a fine balance between realism and boredom in video games.

That's one of the reasons why I haven't touched Kingdom Come Deliverance for a while. All the historically accurate medieval stuff is interesting enough but when you remove ALL the fantasy/action from an RPG it does become a little mundane and in the end it becomes a game that's easier to admire than like.
Ark isn't at that level (yet? ) The biggest critique of it is the early difficulty and all the grinding you have to do to constantly harvest/collect/craft/repeat etc. And you lose everything you're carrying when you die.
Must craft some kind of safe storage when I get around to building a base.

I haven't even got a sleeping bag yet so I think it'll be a while before I'm building structures.

But the dinosaurs seem to be escaping. I saw one while driving around in GTA.