Madigari

I think they're saying that there's still fake dead zombies, but they were moving around due to the meta game sounds so they weren't faking being dead very well.

I think this is great, just from the storytelling aspect. I'm going to like reading all these survival stories, as they're far more epic with more zombies to contend with.

The zombies are kind of numerous, but it's not a hard thing to deal with if you're slow and cautious. That said, I can see how the numbers would be jarring to people who don't have 100+ hours on the game or are used to a more "run-and-gun" style of play that was possible with lower zombie numbers.

I'd maintain your skepticism. I think a lot of players have based how they feel NPCs are going to work on their expectations, but no one really knows how they're going to work as they expect, or if difficulty concerns will result in balancing adjustments, and so on. Besides that, there's no ETA for them, and I think that anticipation is fueling a lot of the "magic bullet" sensationalism over NPCs. It's best to just wait to see what TIS does down the line. I think they're doing a good job fixing problems as they arise without the need for NPCs as a cure-all.

Then perhaps the sense of struggle needs to come in other ways, rather than arguing about difficulty of sustaining yourself with food at the expense of gameplay. I don't have a problem with difficulty, and I don't have a problem with dying. But when it feels as though you're being pushed in one direction (level Carpentry, or else; level farming, or else), this -also- takes away my enjoyment.

If the popular answer to killing people before they reach end game is make Winter the unbreakable wall for anyone who isn't farming and/or canning their food, I can't see the logic or enjoyment. This is turning into water collection requiring Carpentry: one solution, no alternatives.

Fishing is possible in winter, though. And I don't think they're aiming for a total lack of realism for the sake of difficulty, just semi-lack of realism.

I was reading through a topic in General Discussion and it got me thinking about how some players seem to dislike the pure rogue-like nature of the game, and how they want to have something to work towards. Is there the possibility for some sort of bonuses within the same world if you start a new character there after you die to give progression-minded players something to strive for? As it goes currently, if you die in the world and start a new character in the same world, that character is a blank slate as though they've been completely unaffected by the world. It's like every new character is "28 Days Later"-ed into existence; no skills for survival, even higher handicaps if the world's food has decayed and power and water has stopped, and higher zombie count due to the time elasped in game world. What I'm suggesting is an option to either start in the same world with that clean slate, or offer a sort of Legacy bonus to the new character, at the player's choice. If you choose a clean slate, you get the above-mentioned situation as currently implemented. If you choose a Legacy bonus, perhaps you can start with a negative amount of points for traits so you can take more positive ones with less negative ones. Or perhaps you get 50% of your skill point XP and 50% of your skill levels XP, except the skill level experience is randomized across the skills (e.g., level 5 cooking becomes level 2.5 blade maintenance). I haven't quite figured out what the system could be, or how to balance it so that it's not overpowered. But this could help in giving the people who are complaining about a lack of feeling progression something to get that feeling. Other rogue-likes have implemented similar such systems; Wayward Souls, for example, lets you buy upgrades for the characters that persist across all future playthroughs. I'm not sure if that would necessarily work for PZ, but I think keeping it within the same world/save might.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks When in doubt.

I've seen a few people complain about that with Axe and Spiked Baseball Bat. I'm wondering if maybe any damage in excess (since it always seems to be with high damage weapons) of the zombie's health is still being counted towards exhaustion. So overkill might be making you more tired.

That's because their moans also now attract other zombies to create hordes in the world naturally.

They're not actually from beyond your sight radius. Your sight radius goes farther than the default zoom area around your character. They got a buff to where if your character could see them, they can see you (if they're faced the right way, anyway).

I reported this in General Discussion on the tactics thread. Zombies lose memory of you real quick sometimes, and I have no idea why. I can only imagine it might be a side effect of that zombie moans attract other zombies thing.

Yes, there are. They look like white grapes.

It'd be nice. I never use candles for light, so that'd be a neat use for them.

That's going to end up being a bug, then. I think that might have to do with that change that was made, where swinging the weapon only exerts you based on how much damage you do to a zombie. Tree damage probably isn't recognized.

That seems more feasible.

Can I ask, why trapping? The occurrence of birds might be less during winter, but in Southern Illinois (about a 3 hour drive from Muldraugh), we still have plenty of mice and squirrels around during winter.

Ah, alright. Just checking. I know when the reduced foraging during winter was mentioned, fishing was mentioned as well. So I didn't know for sure how far it went.

When you say scavenging, which of the methods (foraging, trapping, fishing) are affected?

This feels way too aggressive for me. I've said my piece about making a more hands-on tutorial and making it unable to be skipped the first time or at least harder to skip over than the survival guide. I'm sure it will work out, regardless. I have faith in the devs to get it just right.

I don't think anyone questions that someone would get winded in a real life situation like that. The real question that needs to be asked and debated is, "Does it make for good and/or entertaining gameplay?"

And now it's getting derogatory on both sides of this debate...

A tutorial mode doesn't need to be anywhere near that level, and I'm actually kind of disliking the derisive attitude I'm seeing towards who are people who paid for the game, same as you. If the game expects a certain style of play from you, as opposed to letting you decide how you want to play the game, then it should help guide you in that direction. Numerous games have in-game interactive tutorials that help ease you into the game. Just to name a few off the top of my head, Kingdom Hearts, Assassin's Creed, the inFamous games, Phoenix Wright games, the console/mobile versions of Terraria, etc. It doesn't have to be a big, theatrical video clip, it can just be pop-up text that guides you through a preset world. Example: "Welcome to the world of Project Zomboid! (Flavor text describing the game goes here.) To start off, you have been placed in this house. The first goal you should have is to find a weapon. Use (Movement keys here) to find the kitchen." Player moves to kitchen, possibly with an indicator next to the cabinet with the weapon in it. "Looking through cabinets and other storage space will help you find useful weapons, food, and other survival tools. To search these spaces, click on the cabinet with the mouse, or select it from the loot menu. When you've found the correct cabinet, take out the rolling pin and equip it by (controls here)." Etc., etc., up to the point where it warns people about sprinting, swinging wildly, etc. It doesn't need to be a "big, theatrical" ordeal, and it can be extremely helpful in getting people into the PZ mindset, rather than the one that other zombie games have conditioned them to. And, more importantly, it doesn't alienate paying customers by telling them "we're not going to hold your hand."

I'm think it's been said that loot only generates when you first open the container. So if you haven't looted a spot, it has a chance to have the new items. But I might be wrong on this, so don't quote me.