First impressions of a former Terraria addict

I loved Terraria. I love the expansive vision for Starbound. I do not like the initial gameplay experience of Starbound. That's an understatement, actually. Because I cannot play the game for more than 15 minutes before quitting out of frustration whereas Terraria had me hooked at the start and playing hours at a time. I tried again after the patch+wipe expecting and was similarly frustrated.

It felt in Terraria that the nearby mobs (whether surface or digging) were appropriate to my low level, dangerous, but never one-shotting me, and that the early crafting mats were more easily found and farmed. I might die a few times, but I was also rewarded with mats or treasure or just interesting areas to explore without a constant risk of dying and able to progress reasonably well along the crafting tree to have fun and keep playing.

In Starbound Beta, early game difficulty is too high with too little guidance (despite the quest system). I think the intention is to convey the feeling of a hostile, alien world. It definitely feels hostile, but it's low on reward and enjoyment.

My gameplay experience has amounted to slight variations on this theme:

1. complete first quest, beam down, make campfire and crafting table. Likely die once if it's nighttime or sit around spaceship waiting for daytime.

2. Die repeatedly to nighttime mobs -- often getting one-shot -- while attempting mat gathering. Learn to quest during daytime.

3. While exploring surface during daytime (not far from basecamp) die to mobs while searching for simplest mats (vines, iron ore). Reassembled and beamed down. Now it's nighttime again. Learn that surface is too dangerous to gather mats.

4. Dig down in hopes of finding valuable mats. Tediously slow without pick, which I don't have mats to make. Dig sideways, even more tediously slow. Find cavern, die to mob, or buried by gravel underwater while trying to get what I think might be valuable mats. Learn that mining is for later when I can make a pick

5. Reattempt daytime surface exploration, aggro ground mobs and flying mobs, die. Reassembled. Nighttime. Esc. Save and quit.

*. Mix these in at various points: dying of starvation, dying from mob trying to get meat so I don't starve, dying again of starvation as screen washes out white (oh wait, I'm freezing to death). While I actually love the idea of these mechanics -- even having to discover some of them the hard way -- that the end result is frequent deaths with incredibly slow progression just isn't fun.

 

meant for this and my other thread to go under "General Discussion", not "General Discussion > FAQ". If someone can move them there or wherever the proper home is, that would be grand. Sorry and thank you.

 

combat mechanics are being tweaked right now, i'm also an ex-terrarian moved over and had incredible amounts of fun with the previous patch version, so much that when i went back to terraria to compare, it felt clunky and awkward and uninteresting. wait until they re-balance monsters and give it another try

 

Good day all! My boyfriend and I, as well, have just started playing Starbound. We played Terraria for, like, a day, then we never went back. I was always on the verge of falling asleep when we played that game... just something about it didn't grip me as I thought it would.

So far, Starbound's been pretty cool. I've died a couple of times, but nothing one-shot (I can only imagine your frustration on that- it'd annoy me, too). I DO know if you craft a Campfire, you can keep yourself warm overnight. My boyfriend was busy building us a little haven while I went and collected wood and stuff, and I placed the Campfire down (honestly, it was only for light and decoration. I hadn't figured out you needed to stay warm at that point. Once it's down and the night comes- stay near it for warmth). You should also get some Toxic Fruit from completing the first mission onboard your starship, which you can eat to replenish your hunger. I killed a couple of those creatures and got some Raw Alien Meat, which could be cooked for consumption.

I'm not sure if you knew these tips or not, this is just what I've done so far (I've literally only played for two hours, then passed out 'cos I started playing at 2 in the morning). I don't have any tips on combat yet, other than ducking and attacking as they lunge towards you to knock them back.

Honestly, I'm impressed this game is documented as little as it is. I understand the Beta just launched on the 4th, but usually people passionate about something never sleep- especially on the Internet. I guess they're all still too busy playing Starbound!

 

i logged well over 200+ hours in terraria and so far i'm nearing 100 hours in starbound. yes this game needs work but duh its beta. so far i'm really liking what i'm seeing

 

After spending a lot of time in starbound, I can honestly say this seems like it will be an amazing game

However, it is nowhere near amazing at the moment; beginning difficulty is tedious and insane, the nuclear birds atm are quite a hassle, the lack of a readily available fuel that isn't a major component in other items pretty much kills any exploration to stars that don't have a lot of planets, and the fact that there is no way to store/recover pixels (I would be fine with a 100% pixel loss rate on death, if it meant I could store them beforehand) really doesn't make for a friendly experience.

It's pretty difficult to get started, and doesn't get easier any time soon; I'm hoping they make amends in the next patch, because right now this game is more frustrating than Dark Souls