Game has too much artificial difficulty right now

Please, I want to play the game and immerse myself in a different world, not spend 3 hours mining and looking for material so I can craft stuff, while thinking about how I could be using the coal I find to travel because wood isn't a fuel anymore

The homing nuclear birds and unbalanced defense is quite a hassle to deal with while attempting to slow down and enjoy the scenery, because I end up having to run like hell. Having no items at the beginning of the game is not making the game more challenging, just delaying the point when it actually becomes a game, and not a grind.

At the very least, the player should start off with a rudimentary set of essential items and materials (e.g. sword, leftover survival pistol that has more knockback than damage). For example, having both an old sword and gun in the storage would make sense, seeing as this is a sci-fi game; including the materials to create a basic set of tools, like a patched together pickaxe made from broken ship parts, would go a long way in teaching the player both how to craft things AND allow them to not spend 20 hours trying to break some rock, while avoiding death by bird airstrike.

Sure, the environment should feel hostile, but not on the first planet; also, the fact that birds on the first planet are on average more annoying to deal with than alpha sector's boss isn't really a good sign.

The pixel system is also pretty annoying; I think it would be more satisfying if storage was free of charge, but the player lost all pixels on death (about half should be recoverable afterwards).

Don't make this a grind; the grinding aspect of any games has pretty much brought nothing but ruin (e.g. Maplestory was a game that could have been amazing, as it was pretty much the only strong 2d platform mmorpg in existence, but ended up as a flashy 24/7 grinding cash cow game). This game has so much potential, hence why I am still playing it despite how annoyed I am with it. I really hope this doesn't foreshadow the future of the game, and that it turns out to be nothing more than a passing thought in the grand scheme of things.

For example, when I see some kind of dungeon now, instead of wanting to explore it and think about its history, I walk in extremely cautiously, anxiously grabbing anything that looks to be of any value, ripping things off walls and looting chests so I can leave and craft more. I've seen some really cool things which I sadly couldn't spend the time I would have liked at because I was too busy trying to stay alive.

Starbound is extremely frustrating right now, and far too difficult, coming from an avid Dark Souls fan. The type of game it seems like it will become should be immersive, imaginative, awe-inspiring, and bring a sense of both wonder and dread as the player explores its universe; the grind that Starbound is right now completely breaks any sense of immersion, as pretty much the only way to advance seems to be to ignore exploration and enjoyment in favor of looking for more materials. I don't want to ignore the millions of star surrounding me, but I have to because I don't have nearly enough fuel to go anywhere, other than where is necessary or nearby.

Please don't force the player to do anything, or induce artificial difficulty in areas where it obviously serves no purpose. I don't want starbound to be that kind of game. I've already paid for the idea of Starbound; introducing fake difficulty would be a horrible choice in a game that has enough potential to become the best game I will play.

 

This is a game. Not a free tour across flufyy random pink adorable planet.

 

All this because he doesn't want to grind for 5 minutes.

 

Artificial difficulty sounds like another phrase for opinion difficulty. Is this another one of those buzzword/phrases going around now?

 

Oh god if you lost all pixels on death I'd cry.

 

Artificial difficulty? Looks like /v/ is here.

 

This is the issue I didn't foresee with putting the game out on Steam. People are playing it as a game, when they should be testing it as a beta. At this phase in the beta, difficulty balance should only be as complete as it is necessary to test end-game features. Balance should be somewhere below content on their priority list.

 

Artificial difficulty is what you would refer to as grinding.

Instead of making you kill 1 or 2 enemies I make you kill a few hundred to lengthen the game and make it seem hard when all it really is is tedious and repetitive.

 

This genre have the RPG element in it, that means grinding, don't like it? Don't play it.

 

"Don't like it, don't play it". I am so tired of seeing this reply on games that are regularly patched and changed, let alone a beta! How about, don't like it? Explain the reason why and let it be known to the developers since this Is the entire reason why the game was released early.

 

How dare you leave feedback on a beta.

You just have to like it and play it and that's FINAL.

 

The issue doesn't seem so bad here, but a lot of issues with "feedback" is it's less constructive criticism, more whining and complaining without being direct about the issues. For instance, this complaint will likely become irrelevant naturally as the game becomes more balanced. Other complaints are more legitimate, but so many people are COMPLAINING rather than critiquing.

 

I actually feel the game has become a bit more easy now.
I got a hold of my gold pickaxe in 2/3 hours already got a tech, almost silver armour, and could solo the boss.

 

I do agree that the birds are insane now. They can pretty much one-shot me with their attacks even in full armour of the latest tier and this isn't really how it should work, is it? I think monster special attacks are a bit too powerful right now, even with the health boosts from armour.

The game wasn't hard for me until gamma sector, and now its mostly because the cold planets forced me to wear low defense armour, meaning any mob will kill me in pretty much one hit. So I would either warm up colder planets slightly, or give access to more cold-resistant armour. Even the 3rd tier racial armour that give some +10-ish on each piece is not nearly enough to keep you going for any meaningful distance right now, making moons especially and frozen planets really challenging.

 

But if you're skilled enough and if you look for trends you can start to easily mold your game to have a better mass appeal. Some people have trouble articulating their experiences and instead of going "the game would probably be smoother and more fun if armor was more relevant in the early game" they say "The enemies hit to hard and everything is killing me in 1 or 2 hits." both have the same meaning and both can be used to fix issues.

 

Oh no no. You misunderstand. Saying "Everything is killing me to quickly" is fine. Saying "This game is the worst, it all sucks, how could you do this to us. Oh and it's because I can't find enough coal." isn't.

 

@Felonious
but that whole "I can't find enough coal" is exactly what the devs are looking for. I don't believe they really care all that much about our opinions on the game right now they are just looking for ways to make it more appealing. however if someone just said "this game is the worst..." without the coal part then no one should reply and let it fall into obscurity until a moderator removes it. that way you actively discourage useless threads and annoying people who's only goal is to upset.

 

Why isn't the latter fine? It's a bit more rude than the former but it is still feedback that can be used. Practically all that's being added is the person's feelings on the matter.

 

Because most posts that follow the latter's format spend more energy on whining and complaining than in providing constructive ideas and suggestions. They also make it harder for others to focus on the issue, and cause the fanboys to jump. If they're taken less seriously, then the complaint becomes quickly overshadows by the inferno that follows. If the sole purpose is to concur that coal is an issue, they can look at the ten or so other posted threads, and add their voice to those, rather than making a new one purely to vent frustrations.

 

you could do that but on the threads for people who wanna complain about the coal being an issue there are tons of people saying that coal is perfect and doesn't need to change.
people should just ignore the parts of messages they don't like or constructively reply "Oh yeah the coal is a real problem but if you really wanna get the Devs attention you should really just leave out the whole "this game is the worst bit""