First-person exploration games

demagogue on 27/2/2013 at 12:25

Re: Minecraft, at this point Minecraft exists for the mods. The vanilla game never really took advantage of the exploration element, but some the mods (& adventure maps) do a lot better. And the best mods are already packed together in Technic, so you don't even have to figure it out where to start. A few mods are quest based, so revolve entirely around exploration. And most adventure maps are just maps you drop into a folder & play. I don't know why anyone would play it vanilla anymore.

Edit: Wait, I think I already posted all this... *looks back* Yep, sorry. Still a point worth making though.

Briareos H on 27/2/2013 at 12:45

Re. Miasmata, is there some sort of time limit?

@demagogue sounds interesting. I never looked at those huge mod packs, thinking they would be hard to set up and a kludge to use. If there are interesting adventure experiences to have though, I'll try it. Technic then?

gunsmoke on 27/2/2013 at 14:36

It's 9$ off! I am quite sure it is limited time, it doesn't appear to say how long, though. Man, I wish they hadn't shitcanned my debit card due to a fraud attempt at my acct. I would totally gift this to you. I was given it by a TTLG friend a few weeks ago (it was like $16 then) on Steam and I'd love to pay it forward. I will try to get my new acct. set up and get the game code to you. No promises, but I will do my very best.

Briareos H on 27/2/2013 at 15:19

gunny, sorry my post was poorly worded. I'm considering getting the game and I can afford it, especially at that price, but I was wondering whether the gameplay itself had a time limit like "if you don't make the cure in time you'll die". I'm still doubtful I'll like it. But I'll probably end up getting it and seeing for myself.
So many thanks for thinking about gifting it, still! :)

Renault on 27/2/2013 at 15:29

Re: Miasmata's time limits, if you stay out in the wild for too long, you will die. You need to get to a hut occasionally and sleep, and I believe drink water too. But there's nothing like "you will die in 30 days if you don't find a cure." You can always heal up enough to keep the game going.

Am I the only one who's played/finished this game here? :cheeky: But $6? Man, that's a no brainer, even to just try it out. Get it.

Thirith on 27/2/2013 at 16:00

Got it, but I'm mostly a one-game-at-a-time man these days. Will be busy with Dark Souls for a while yet.

gunsmoke on 27/2/2013 at 17:03

Yeah, Thirith! Go Dark Souls!

Angel Dust on 27/2/2013 at 18:51

Quote Posted by Brethren

I did too and it was one of the best things I played all year. Possibly only beaten by Hotline Miami for my GOTY.

june gloom on 27/2/2013 at 19:45

Re: Minecraft, there's a map I've been playing called (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1515963-survivalstorybooks-letters-from-a-dead-earth-now-with-optional-challenges-over-17000-downloadsupdated-for-14/) Letters from a Dead Earth, meant for use with this (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/787848-32x32-147-the-end-is-extremely-nighvanilla-over-250000-downloadsfeatured-on-curse-newly-updated-for-147/) texture pack.

While it follows the standard mechanics of Minecraft (hence crafting bullets with sticks, feathers, and... broken cigarette lighters ;) ) there's something really quite creepy about the whole thing, especially if you use a shader mod. I threw the Day Z soundtrack into AIMP3 and put everything on shuffle and my god it's frightening at times -- I got lost in the city one night and had to take shelter in a very dark apartment. I've only barely begun to explore the city north of the starting town, though there's a junkyard nearby with loads and loads of different ores, if you take the time to dig it all up you can wind up with quite a bit of iron and plenty of diamond too, all of which are textured to look like junk (old rebar and electronic parts, respectively, and emeralds are big ol' gas cans.)

demagogue on 28/2/2013 at 05:59

Quote Posted by Briareos H

@demagogue sounds interesting. I never looked at those huge mod packs, thinking they would be hard to set up and a kludge to use. If there are interesting adventure experiences to have though, I'll try it. Technic then?

What you get depends on what you want to get out of it.

Since you mention adventure experiences, it sounds like you'd really like adventure maps most of all. Those aren't mods that change the game (well, some do); they're more story-driven maps with quests (somebody made the full map in advance) that you drop into MC's "saves" folder (in "/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft" for Windows), open like any world, and then play it like an adventure game. Here's an (http://www.minecraftmaps.com/adventure-maps) archive of them & number of downloads is an indication of popularity & how good it is. There's a lot, & with such different styles, so it's tough to make a recommendation, but (http://www.minecraftmaps.com/adventure-maps/paranoia/viewdownload) Paranoia is a very good one to get you into it maybe.

As for gameplay-changing mods, (http://www.technicpack.net/) Technic is one of the biggest multi-packs, yes, but not necessarily what you want (reading back over your comments). Technic is more about letting you build lots of crazy machines (electricity, quarries, transporters, magic items), which gives you a lot more things to do, but not necessarily any reason to explore the world or any goals to go for. Voltz is a newer addition like it (you get from the same site) that I believe has even more new gizmos. (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/482147-147-jan10-reis-minimap-v32-06/) Rei's Mini map is the one essential mod in it you really should get if nothing else, but you can get it separately.

Mods specifically for exploring would first of all be (http://www.skydaz.com/tale-of-kingdoms-mod-installer-for-mc-1-1/) Tale of Kingdoms (a full-on RPG modded into the game, with a complete medieval kingdom, castles, villages, NPCs, quests, leveling-up... Amazing amount of content.) Two others -- with stuff to search for and quasi-quests IIRC, but still more sandbox -- would be Aether mod (a "heaven" counterpart to the nether with a series of fortresses you have to find & conquer; it may be out of date though), and (http://www.9minecraft.net/the-twilight-forest-mod/) Twilight Forest (a kind of magic forest kingdom thing you can enter).