Valheim

[solops]

So, how many of you are into Valheim? My son is nuts about it and apparently the devs have become fabulously wealthy in three weeks based on the Steam responses and data. Comments, pros, cons, what is it all about??

[Jarhead0331]

I know al_infierno is playing and enjoying it.

I keep watching videos, but I just don't see what is so God damn special about this one....very strange.

[al_infierno]

I keep watching videos, but I just don't see what is so God damn special about this one....very strange.

Basically, if you're a big fan of the survival/base building genre like The Forest and Minecraft, this title is a huge breath of fresh air in many regards, and revolutionary in others.  The resource management is streamlined so that you're never just doing "busywork" simply to maintain what you already have - resource gathering is always to get new stuff, and when you do gather resources, it's lightning fast.  Whenever I run out of something, as long as I'm a short jog away from more (the map is rather huge and requires exploration to find everything), I can have everything I need and more in no time.  The "survival" mechanics are just about entirely removed in favor of RPG style buffs that simply help you out in combat, rather than keeping your character alive.  The gameplay in general feels more akin to Dark Souls or Breath of the Wild with base building mechanics rather than a proper "survival" game.

The base building mechanics are rather unique - you need proper support to keep your buildings upright and can't just build stuff in the air or ridiculously lopsided.  Once you wrangle the building mechanics it's a delight to create a big, realistic looking Viking structure that stands on its own.  Add to that the awesome aesthetic and overall "Viking afterlife" feel of the game and you have a knock-out-of-the-park title.

Oh, one more thing I mentioned in previous threads but it's worth restating here:  Like any other game it's better and more fun in co op, but unlike many survival games it's a great Solo experience.  You can create a world and build it up and move it online or offline at a whim, and password protect it to keep griefers out.  It's really a great balance between singleplayer and multiplayer, and there's plenty of content and bosses to keep yourself busy without the need for other players.

I would strongly recommend anyone who's interested in base building games to check it out.  I think it's the strongest title in the genre in years, possibly ever.  I don't think I'll be returning to any of those other titles any time soon, nor picking up any others unless they really offer something special.

I'll post some screenshots later of some stuff I've built.  Most of it is on my buddy's server so I have to wait for him to sign on to see it again. 

[solops]

Al, thanks. Very informative. And it is a $20 title....

[Ubercat]

I've got 2.1 hours in according to Steam. Steep learning curve! I've put it on the back burner and recently started Skyrim SE. I finished vanilla Skyrim when it first came out years ago but apparently it wasn't on Steam because I have no record of how long that took.

[Sparhawk]

Valhiem is my current guilty pleasure. I spent close to 300 hours playing Shadow Empires after it came out on Steam and was ready for a different direction. I've got around 50 hours and can highly recommend it. The game doesn't hold your hand but doesn't push you off the ledge either. You will die now and again as you figure everything out and the skill point reduction can suck. I love exploring and the surprises that come with it so haven't read many help articles. That's pretty much how I die. The music is wonderful, especially out on the ocean. Don't judge the game until you've ridden out a storm on the ocean. It's amazing. Even being early access it's a complete game with much more content coming from what I hear.

[al_infierno]

^ Yeah, there are at least 2 more biomes they're going to add to the game, but it already feels feature complete to me.  Totally agreed about the music and sailing, it's great fun even when not a lot is happening.  I'll just say, be careful not to bring too much valuable equipment onto your first deep sea boating excursion.   ;)

There are a few things worth looking up, like knowing that you must kill the first boss to unlock the first pick axe.  This lets you get minerals for metal equipment, and clear obstacles blocking space where you want to build.

[Jarhead0331]

Alright...it's pretty damn good.

That is all.

[Tinkershuffle]

What comes to crafting in games, i've always been as anti-craft as a player can be. Yet, for some reason i now can't stop chopping wood and building those walls..

[al_infierno]

Here's the first shelter me and my buddy made on our communal server.  This ended up becoming sort of a crossroads between all our shelters, so I thought the variety of banners was fitting.  The heads of the troll and first boss are a warning to the local wildlife 




My personal shelter is a log cabin on a cliff with an extensive stair system leading to the bottom, which conveniently spits me right into a Black Forest.








Inside my shelter, with my organized chests and badass dragon-head decor  8)






Also, here's a screenshot from one of my sea excursions.  Hilariously enough, this dinky shack built on a mossy rock provided 4 Comfort.  Go figure.  Nice and cozy!  ::)









There's a lot of really clever things you can do with the building system.  Here's a cool little portal house my bud built.









And another buddy's fight pit.   

[Jarhead0331]

Man...you're kicking ass. I'm still using flint axes, crude bows and wearing rags.

[al_infierno]

Lol, according to Steam it only took in the neighborhood of 80 hours to get where I'm at.     In fairness, I've been heavily using the wiki and spoiling stuff for myself after it took me ages to figure out some pretty basic stuff, so I blew through a lot of the progression quickly.

Edit - to clarify, I spent most of those 80 hours screwing around and building stuff and helping my friends get their basic gear.... not necessarily powering through the progression

[spoiler]Once you beat the first boss, you can make a pick-axe out of his antlers and get yourself bronzed up!  Then the real fun begins  ;)[/spoiler]

[Father Ted]

This game comes up so often on my Steam Friends list that I've taken to calling it Vallium

[Jarhead0331]

How do you build effectively at higher spots, like roofs? It's very hard to get pieces up properly from the ground. Is there some camera option or way to raise pieces that I am missing?

[al_infierno]

How do you build effectively at higher spots, like roofs? It's very hard to get pieces up properly from the ground. Is there some camera option or way to raise pieces that I am missing?

First things first, if you're not doing this already:  Build beams for foundation, and make sure they connect with the ground.  With larger structures, the smart thing to do is build a foundational skeleton out of beams, then fill it out with walls, roofs, and floors.

For stronger support that gives you more leeway:  Go to a Black Forest and chop down some Pine trees.  These give you Core Wood, which you can use to create much stronger pillars for base support (I forget what they're called, but they're separate in the build menu).  Core Wood is the bread and butter of log cabins, but even if I'm creating a basic wood structure I like to use Core Wood support beams because each one carries a shitton more weight than plain wood.

If I'm using plain wood, I find I have to spam the shit out of support beams - as you can see in my screenshots of the early shelter I built. 

EDIT - I just realized I think you mean purely from a camera perspective.   I just build random ladders to get myself into good vantage points.