ARK: Survival Evolved

[Ritterin Sophia]

So there's a new game out on Steam's Early Access that I really enjoy. It's called ARK and well (even though this is the PS4 announcement trailer, it's accurate to the PC as well) take a gander for yourselves.


The game, even in Early Access feels more completed than nearly every survival game I've ever played on actual release. There are some minor bugs that occur and despite a rocky first day (they were expecting ~2k purchasers and not the influx of ~10k they got) the game is pretty stable and most importantly actually fun.

[Executor32]

Well, I know what game I'm getting next. It's too bad there aren't any pew-pew lasers, though, I've always wanted to Harness the Power, Dino-Riders!

[Ritterin Sophia]

Anyone who's interested I've got my own server you're welcome to join. Unfortunately it's not showing on the Master List yet, so if you're interested here's how to connect.

Open Steam > Library > Right click Ark > Properties > Set Launch Options

Copy and paste this into the bar: ShooterGame.exe +connect 104.238.133.114:21000

[Flagg]

I may, I dunno. Is it multi-only? Because nothing is more "fun" than finally finally building a nice ax or spear in these almost universally shitty survival games only to have some Thundercunt with a machine gun or something murder me for the hell of it even though I have nothing they want or need.

And no, I'm not talking about that hilarious scam 'DayZ', whose victims are such incredibly stupid self-entitled dickwads who don't understand the difference between what is essentially a charity guaranteeing you nothing (kickstarter) and an investment, which guarantees returns upon profits made (and there won't be any anyway, since the creator of the mod is too busy spending the tens of millions given to him by morons on kickstarter, and from the sales of "early access" copies on Steam to people who are somehow even dumber (and it's hard to believe it's possible, I mean you'd think these idiots who don't deserve to breath my air, drink my water, or look to the sky and gaze upon my massive, swollen, dick und balls, would have been taken care of by nature as children, by choking on a marble, falling out of a high tree after jumping up and down on the branch to show everyone on the ground it was strong enough to hold them, or my favorite: throwing rocks at, or using a stick to swat at bee hives) than that and go on Steam and buy a pre-beta (and sometimes pre-alpha) game for $30 when it says in giant legible and in a prominent place "DO NOT BUY THIS GAME".

I'm talking about "Rust" which I somehow got for free. I mean nothing against it, but so... Many... Wieners.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

You can play on:

• Official (PvP) servers. These are pretty much what you'd expect.
• Official PvE servers. Large population MMO-like survival, but without randoms killing you, your base, and your dinosaurs for no rhyme or reason.
• Host/join a private server. I run a private server for my friends, and we just play how we want to play. No randoms required.
• Solo mode. It's tough, because the game really emphasizes human survival in the context of groups. You can lone wolf it if that's your preference, but the game's pretty hard like that.

[Venator]

When I first saw this, based on the title I thought it was a Halo[: Combat Evolved] spin-off, set on that huge Ark structure. I'm now significantly more interested.

[Darth Nostril]

So there's a new game out on Steam's Early Access that I really enjoy. It's called ARK and well (even though this is the PS4 announcement trailer, it's accurate to the PC as well) take a gander for yourselves.

Of course it's accurate to the PC release seeing as that's footage taken from a very high end PC with the Playstation logo slapped on top.

For actual gameplay of the PC early access watch

[Lagmonster]

You can play on:

• Official (PvP) servers. These are pretty much what you'd expect.
• Official PvE servers. Large population MMO-like survival, but without randoms killing you, your base, and your dinosaurs for no rhyme or reason.
• Host/join a private server. I run a private server for my friends, and we just play how we want to play. No randoms required.
• Solo mode. It's tough, because the game really emphasizes human survival in the context of groups. You can lone wolf it if that's your preference, but the game's pretty hard like that.

This a massively important point for us people who like cooperative play. And I mean actual cooperative play, where seeing a fellow 'survivor' in a post-apocalyptic game should be a cause for celebration and not a panicked exchange of attempted murders. I'm still waiting for the "DayZ" where humans wouldn't even consider attacking each other because it takes the concerted effort of a small towns' worth of people putting in time just to stay out of the food chain. In other words, a game that makes the players' actual effort worth significantly more than the resources they may 'own'.

Of course, with the 'success' of similar concepts it seems like just everyone with a computer is trying to make 'their' version of the survival/crafting MMO. At one point, I had so many games in this genre on my Steam watchlist that I started forgetting which was what. That list started to get pruned when reviews started pouring in from users complaining that many of these games were built by and for oppressed psychopaths and hoarders.

[Flagg]

Well when a game's player base is pacified by adding cannibalism, rather than fixing any of a list of game breaking bugs a mile (or 250,000 miles) long. That says a ton about the players, that fucking being able to bind, torture, and now butcher and eat other players mollifies them so they stop bitching long enough for the "developer" to hike the Alps and laugh at the morons who paid for all of his activities that have nothing to do with his shitty half-game/psychopath magnet. So hilarity (horrible, horrible, hilarity) ensues.

[Purple]

There is a MP game where you can kill AND eat other people?

[Flagg]

There is a MP game where you can kill AND eat other people?

Yes. It's called 'DayZ' and it's not a game so much as a chat room for psychopaths with a ton of bugs and a con artist 'dev'.

[Purple]

There is a MP game where you can kill AND eat other people?

Yes. It's called 'DayZ' and it's not a game so much as a chat room for psychopaths with a ton of bugs and a con artist 'dev'.

I have heard of this game, and have seen some footage of it. None of it seemed bugged though. Could you perhaps elaborate on the bugs you've seen? I am genuinely interested in getting it down the line. (Although not now. It's always stupid to order something that's not 100% complete and than had a year or so to get patched)

[Lagmonster]

In today's episode, Purple puts himself on a community watch list.

[Purple]

In today's episode, Purple puts himself on a community watch list.

?

[Mr Bean]

In today's episode, Purple puts himself on a community watch list.

?

It's a thing you can do in Steam, and "follow" a game. It's available for early access games

[Purple]

In today's episode, Purple puts himself on a community watch list.

?

It's a thing you can do in Steam, and "follow" a game. It's available for early access games

Oh, so this thing is Steam only? Yea, count me out than. I don't need more of that in my life.

[Executor32]

*woosh*

[bilateralrope]

Of course, with the 'success' of similar concepts it seems like just everyone with a computer is trying to make 'their' version of the survival/crafting MMO.

What I've noticed is that I hear a lot about one as it get into Early Access. Then I stop hearing about it as people start talking about the next one. Have any of them got out of Early Access yet ?

[Vendetta]

That's kinda inherent to Early Access though. Due to the relatively short attention span of the internet there'll be a buzz of activity when the game first enters Early Access, it'll pick up sales and by the time it comes out everyone has forgotten it because they only played it when the first early access version came out and even if it's "finished" now they played it already and its old news.

[bilateralrope]

That's kinda inherent to Early Access though. Due to the relatively short attention span of the internet there'll be a buzz of activity when the game first enters Early Access, it'll pick up sales and by the time it comes out everyone has forgotten it because they only played it when the first early access version came out and even if it's "finished" now they played it already and its old news.

True. But I'd have expected to at least hear something when one of them gets out of Early Access, as that seems a good point to do a PR push to get the people who don't touch games in early access to take a look. Instead, interest dies off and it appears that the developers never finish their game.

[Darth Nostril]

Instead, interest dies off and it appears that the developers never finish their game.

No need to they've already milked the gullible early adopters. Just move on to the next bit of vaporware so they can milk them some more.

[biostem]

So is this sort of a "scavange/hunt, develop your tech, and don't forget to stay alive" kind of game, just done from a first-person perspective? Does it have any sort of RPG-esque character progression, or is it more about developing/acquiring better gear? Are there classes or trade/survival skills? How is death handled?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

There is XP and levels. Pretty much everything that isn't dying gives you XP. On level-up, you pick one of your stats to increase: Health, movement speed, stamina, melee damage, etc. Each level also grants you a certain amount of points to pick new things to craft, such as campfires, spears, bows, armor, structures, etc.

There are no classes. By leveling up, people tend to specialize (or generalize) both their stats and their crafting abilities. So one person might become a pack mule tanky character who builds farming equipment and harvesting tools, while another might be a lithe, speedy sort who focuses on building large wooden structures.

Death causes all your gear to drop where you died. You respawn in a semi-random location (or on a bed, if you've crafted a bed) with no items, but you retain your accumulated XP and levels.

The first few levels tend to be pretty brutal, as deathbirds argentavis, deathcats sabertooths, and deathdinos murderengines carnosaurs murderengines kill you over and over before you really have the resources to build a decent shelter and tame a few dinos to protect you.

[LaCroix]

Been playing it a while now, and I really like that there is a hardcore mode, where if you die, you lose the whole character and have to start anew from scratch. I hate games where death isn't the end of all things. Really makes it hard for a lone wolf like me, but it makes people band together and think instead of YOLOing all the time. Still, as a cautious guy, you can easily beat the odds and get into high levels all alone.

Hardcore also allows you to take down a tribe that tries to dominate a server by force, you just band some people together and attack them in groups, trying to kill just one of them. Every time, their tribe gets much weaker, until they are technologically at your level (advanced stuff breaks and can't be repaired if no one has high enough levels) again, and are put into place.

[Jaepheth]

Anyone who's interested I've got my own server you're welcome to join. Unfortunately it's not showing on the Master List yet, so if you're interested here's how to connect.

Open Steam > Library > Right click Ark > Properties > Set Launch Options

Copy and paste this into the bar: ShooterGame.exe +connect 104.238.133.114:21000

I've joined your server Same name as here.


I'm liking the game thus far. I've got a few complaints, but that's normal for Early Access.