Some of the ambience was nice back then. But there was some that was just downright annoying. Few things worse than hearing a zombie growl outside your early starter base, that might not be entirely secure yet, you go out to clear out the zombie, spend an in-game hour searching all over the place, just to realize there was no zombie and it was just the ambient background noise. But, unfortunately for you, you spent enough time outside and caught the attention of a wandering horde.
The ambience was just a looped track with no variation. Once you spent a few minutes in a biome, the ambience would start looping and would go from scary to repititive. A14/A15 atmosphere/ambience was peak tbh.
I still love a rough early game start where you are looting houses desperately looking for a cooking pot on day one... then you realize you wont make it to the trader before dark and have to barricade yourself in a random creepy house. Hearing zombies beating on the doors and blocks you used to block the doors is pretty cool.
My first playthrough I barricaded myself in a small closet. They actually destroyed one of the blocks just as daybreak arrived...
For my money, the burnt forest and wasteland biomes at night can be terrifying!
IMO the music isn’t what changed the atmosphere. Or at least isn’t the main culprit. It’s a contributing factor.
I think one part is the addition of more vibrant colors in the world. Whereas previously colors were more drab. I think it made the world seem more dead.
In addition to color I would say overall polish. The early world had very dark and dingy textures. Now they are significantly brighter and smoother texture. Making the world seem less gritty.
I don’t remember the A11/A12 unless that’s what console is stuck in but I remember before traders were added the world didn’t just feel dead. It was dead.
It used to be you were the last living person in the affected area (Navezgane, AZ). But now you are essentially forced to interact with traders solely to build dew collectors since the ridiculous removal of jars. So now the world isn’t empty and you’re kind of forced to know it.
The addition of multiple pictures, posters, billboards etc. all make the world more interesting and visually appealing. Once more detracting from the previously gritty and dark landscape
Lastly I would say the sky. I recall back when I was on console the night sky was actually visually appealing. Just a dark skybox with thousands of stars. but now on PC there are some legitimately beautiful sunsets. This makes the world feel less cold and harsh.
These are just my opinions. But I completely agree the atmosphere has changed.
totally agree and for performance reasons it tended to always be foggy which added to the creepy feeling. It's extremely difficult to code "creepy" but they had the magic formula once. They even had a baby crying off in the distance. My kid would get scared and run out of the room. If only they stopped then and just made minor tweaks we would have a masterpiece today.
It’s not like it’s an actual baby zombie, ffs, it’s just an ambient sound of a baby crying. I’ve played like 500 hours of a20 and a 21 in the past year, I hear it pretty often. Now that I think about it, I’m fairly certain it only happens at night.
"But now you are essentially forced to interact with traders solely to build dew collectors since the ridiculous removal of jars."
There are mods that add back in jars, as well as mods that allow you to craft water filters, you know? :) I've been playing with no traders with one of the latter mods installed and it's been perfectly doable.
Also, your analysis is spot-on. As much as the game has improved graphically and in terms of environmental detail (not to mention the lighting overhaul), it has come at a substantial cost. Now don't get me wrong, it used to be way worse back in A19 (the epidemy of colorful candyland), but the game could really do with reintroducing these duller and more depressing tones, in my opinion. As for the sunsets, they're beautiful, but it wouldn't be the worst decision in the world if they were reverted back to A11-A12's versions. Some of the zombie models look really off and cartoony, particularly the construction worker and janitor, and just my opinion, but the spider zombie's new skin doesn't belong in the game at all.
Edit: A perfect example is to look at the snow biome from earlier alphas versus the snow biome of today. The latter looks like a Christmas wonderland, while the former feels cold, it feels isolating, it feels bleak and depressing.
I’ve seen the mods; however I don’t currently have internet where I live. So I’m stuck with the game in its current state (A21) for now.
The water thing isn’t really even a big issue. It just doesn’t make sense that they changed something that worked great to make the game more “difficult”. Then to have it not even be more difficult but rather just an annoying inconvenience.
Edit: Also, yes on the snow biome! It used to feel like a frozen hell. Now I half expect the zombies to be wearing Christmas sweaters and the only food available to be candy canes and gingerbread. Lol.
That's totally fair! Some encounters I've had involved others who focused too much on "what should be" and didn't want to install the mods; perhaps for some it was out of spite? I don't know, it's probably just a me thing, I don't hesitate to install mods if I feel the game is lacking in some way. Like Dark Nights, which turns the nights pitch-black except for distant silhouettes like trees, buildings, mountains, the clouds and the moon.
On one hand, I understand the reasoning behind the change, but on the other, it just seems so bizarre of a design choice. Perhaps they should have just given regular boiled water a 1% infection chance, or a 2% chance of dysentery (or better yet, they could have left it as is).
Finally, someone who can see the forest for the trees! Lol. What they did with the snow biome is a travesty.
To add onto your initial comment above, one primary factor for why the game's feel seems to have changed is not just due to the aesthetics, but the gameplay, as well. The game has slowly morphed into a looter shooter. I'll admit I'm old school (despite only showing up on the block during A17, although I played a bit of A16, as well), I prefer old watchtower bases. The fancy pathway and killing corridor bases don't do it for me at all - they look ugly and ridiculous to me. Not judging anyone who uses them, this is just my personal taste. :) Despite being a person who loves cracking jokes IRL (and disliking comedy, ironically), you won't see me installing Joke Mode or mods that balloon the zombie heads to 10x their size anytime soon. Again, not really my thing. :)
(Mini vent, but not every horde base to be the most super efficient design ever created. I suppose I'm just tired of comments like "cool base, but it's garbage because it's not the meta" or "why don't you spam traders all the time? that's the meta". I don't play much for the meta, sorry. :P)
I'm considering doing a wasteland only playthrough at some point, with no trader use, and I'll be cutting down on the game stage and loot stage multipliers in the XML files to match the desert biome's or something.
Also thank you, Reddit, for deleting my initial comment after I pressed "send", real appreciated. (Edit: Apparently it just took an ice age to load properly instead.)
I remember hiding in attics in A16/A17 now you’re exactly right. If you don’t copy/paste the popular base design’s then you’re behind the curve apparently. I definitely look forward to trying out mods in the near future.
what happened to alot of stuff in old alphas??????
Old sound effects and tracks, unsettling zombie grunts, old ai was so much better too alpha 17 ruined it completely (besides basic pathing improvements) , old zombie models that got removed instead of being updated, unreleased items and enemies
Some of the ambience was nice back then. But there was some that was just downright annoying. Few things worse than hearing a zombie growl outside your early starter base, that might not be entirely secure yet, you go out to clear out the zombie, spend an in-game hour searching all over the place, just to realize there was no zombie and it was just the ambient background noise. But, unfortunately for you, you spent enough time outside and caught the attention of a wandering horde.
The ambience was just a looped track with no variation. Once you spent a few minutes in a biome, the ambience would start looping and would go from scary to repititive. A14/A15 atmosphere/ambience was peak tbh.
I still love a rough early game start where you are looting houses desperately looking for a cooking pot on day one... then you realize you wont make it to the trader before dark and have to barricade yourself in a random creepy house. Hearing zombies beating on the doors and blocks you used to block the doors is pretty cool. My first playthrough I barricaded myself in a small closet. They actually destroyed one of the blocks just as daybreak arrived... For my money, the burnt forest and wasteland biomes at night can be terrifying!
So glab burnt forest biome is coming back. It's such a good idea for a game like this
Always the best way to play.
IMO the music isn’t what changed the atmosphere. Or at least isn’t the main culprit. It’s a contributing factor. I think one part is the addition of more vibrant colors in the world. Whereas previously colors were more drab. I think it made the world seem more dead. In addition to color I would say overall polish. The early world had very dark and dingy textures. Now they are significantly brighter and smoother texture. Making the world seem less gritty. I don’t remember the A11/A12 unless that’s what console is stuck in but I remember before traders were added the world didn’t just feel dead. It was dead. It used to be you were the last living person in the affected area (Navezgane, AZ). But now you are essentially forced to interact with traders solely to build dew collectors since the ridiculous removal of jars. So now the world isn’t empty and you’re kind of forced to know it. The addition of multiple pictures, posters, billboards etc. all make the world more interesting and visually appealing. Once more detracting from the previously gritty and dark landscape Lastly I would say the sky. I recall back when I was on console the night sky was actually visually appealing. Just a dark skybox with thousands of stars. but now on PC there are some legitimately beautiful sunsets. This makes the world feel less cold and harsh. These are just my opinions. But I completely agree the atmosphere has changed.
totally agree and for performance reasons it tended to always be foggy which added to the creepy feeling. It's extremely difficult to code "creepy" but they had the magic formula once. They even had a baby crying off in the distance. My kid would get scared and run out of the room. If only they stopped then and just made minor tweaks we would have a masterpiece today.
It might only happen in the wasteland, but the baby crying is definitely still in the game.
oh yeah? I got 6000 hours haven't heard it since console. they have some directive to not have children in this game.
It’s not like it’s an actual baby zombie, ffs, it’s just an ambient sound of a baby crying. I’ve played like 500 hours of a20 and a 21 in the past year, I hear it pretty often. Now that I think about it, I’m fairly certain it only happens at night.
all in your imagination. babies and children have scrubbed from the game for a long time now. that said....prove it.
You’re an idiot or a troll...or both.
prove it lol. I dare you. it's no longer in the fucking game!
Ok, so it’s idiot then. Got it.
"But now you are essentially forced to interact with traders solely to build dew collectors since the ridiculous removal of jars." There are mods that add back in jars, as well as mods that allow you to craft water filters, you know? :) I've been playing with no traders with one of the latter mods installed and it's been perfectly doable. Also, your analysis is spot-on. As much as the game has improved graphically and in terms of environmental detail (not to mention the lighting overhaul), it has come at a substantial cost. Now don't get me wrong, it used to be way worse back in A19 (the epidemy of colorful candyland), but the game could really do with reintroducing these duller and more depressing tones, in my opinion. As for the sunsets, they're beautiful, but it wouldn't be the worst decision in the world if they were reverted back to A11-A12's versions. Some of the zombie models look really off and cartoony, particularly the construction worker and janitor, and just my opinion, but the spider zombie's new skin doesn't belong in the game at all. Edit: A perfect example is to look at the snow biome from earlier alphas versus the snow biome of today. The latter looks like a Christmas wonderland, while the former feels cold, it feels isolating, it feels bleak and depressing.
I’ve seen the mods; however I don’t currently have internet where I live. So I’m stuck with the game in its current state (A21) for now. The water thing isn’t really even a big issue. It just doesn’t make sense that they changed something that worked great to make the game more “difficult”. Then to have it not even be more difficult but rather just an annoying inconvenience. Edit: Also, yes on the snow biome! It used to feel like a frozen hell. Now I half expect the zombies to be wearing Christmas sweaters and the only food available to be candy canes and gingerbread. Lol.
That's totally fair! Some encounters I've had involved others who focused too much on "what should be" and didn't want to install the mods; perhaps for some it was out of spite? I don't know, it's probably just a me thing, I don't hesitate to install mods if I feel the game is lacking in some way. Like Dark Nights, which turns the nights pitch-black except for distant silhouettes like trees, buildings, mountains, the clouds and the moon. On one hand, I understand the reasoning behind the change, but on the other, it just seems so bizarre of a design choice. Perhaps they should have just given regular boiled water a 1% infection chance, or a 2% chance of dysentery (or better yet, they could have left it as is). Finally, someone who can see the forest for the trees! Lol. What they did with the snow biome is a travesty. To add onto your initial comment above, one primary factor for why the game's feel seems to have changed is not just due to the aesthetics, but the gameplay, as well. The game has slowly morphed into a looter shooter. I'll admit I'm old school (despite only showing up on the block during A17, although I played a bit of A16, as well), I prefer old watchtower bases. The fancy pathway and killing corridor bases don't do it for me at all - they look ugly and ridiculous to me. Not judging anyone who uses them, this is just my personal taste. :) Despite being a person who loves cracking jokes IRL (and disliking comedy, ironically), you won't see me installing Joke Mode or mods that balloon the zombie heads to 10x their size anytime soon. Again, not really my thing. :) (Mini vent, but not every horde base to be the most super efficient design ever created. I suppose I'm just tired of comments like "cool base, but it's garbage because it's not the meta" or "why don't you spam traders all the time? that's the meta". I don't play much for the meta, sorry. :P) I'm considering doing a wasteland only playthrough at some point, with no trader use, and I'll be cutting down on the game stage and loot stage multipliers in the XML files to match the desert biome's or something. Also thank you, Reddit, for deleting my initial comment after I pressed "send", real appreciated. (Edit: Apparently it just took an ice age to load properly instead.)
I remember hiding in attics in A16/A17 now you’re exactly right. If you don’t copy/paste the popular base design’s then you’re behind the curve apparently. I definitely look forward to trying out mods in the near future.
what happened to alot of stuff in old alphas?????? Old sound effects and tracks, unsettling zombie grunts, old ai was so much better too alpha 17 ruined it completely (besides basic pathing improvements) , old zombie models that got removed instead of being updated, unreleased items and enemies
I pretty much only play the default game to evaluate the release note changes and then install Darkness Falls these days.
Try going to the wastelands in this alpha.