Ark: Suvival Evolved

[SciFiFan]

Howdy y'all. We bought this game for my oldest daughter for Christmas and she got me to playing. We have been playing together and we seem to focus on two different aspects of the game. She wants to hunt and tame dinosaurs. I want to build. I have a world on my own log in and I can build to my hearts delight. I have begun my first full scale project. I am building a bridge.

 

[kjc733]

I know some people who are really into this. If only building in real life were so easy (or taming dinos).

 

[Syf]

For those that Play Ark (Such as myself), Today is the release day of the latest update which X-Box 1 and PS4 (and other consoles) get a new Map called Valguero. The new map has a handful of new features including the newest added Dino, new Biomes, and previously rare or "not on map" Dinos available in regular SP play. The new map measures 63km (a between size of the original "the Island" map and the "Ragnarok" map).

This is my current go-to game to detox from daily life. (Note: I only play SP mode)

The update will go live in just a few minutes.

Edit:
Update is live. X-Box 1 update 19.49GB

Edit II:
Corrected new Map size.

 

[Archonon]

I've often wondered about this game, the premise looks like it could be interesting however I am hesitant to purchase it given that, like you Syf, I only play SP games and this looks like something that has a rather empty SP experience.

What I mean is that there doesn't seem to be much of a narrative (You're in Jurassic World, now build a house and tame some dinos), there are no other characters to interact with (Npcs), there really isn't an endgame either. It reminds me of Monster Hunter World (Except that did have npc questgivers but that was pretty much all they were) and, about a week after I bought it, I traded it in because it was just one endless repetitive grind.

The premise of Ark looks very intriguing to me but, from what I've read about it, it doesn't seem like it would be a satisfying immersive SP experience but perhaps you can offer your thoughts on the game Syf and mention what Ark offers you as a solo player?

 

[Syf]

The Ark has many features to offer. In SP, there are 5 types of game-play. 1.) Survival & Taming. 2.) Homestead/base-building/ Crafting 3.) Exploration 4.) Battle/Conquering the story. 5.) Creative. Dinos are the NPCs. Basically,

Survival &Taming - Its like Minecraft in survival mode, but with more aggressiveness from the creatures and not as blocky/cartoony/kiddie. Not only just creatures, but even the elements are out to kill your character. Snow, Cold, Heat etc. Taming is important because tamed Dinos act as pack-mules/guard dogs/horses (300+ when counting the variants). Some are simple to tame, some are not tame-able. A few are not agressive, Some will flee, most will attack you, Some will hunt you.

Homestead/Base building/Crafting - Heavily involves gathering resources (which there are many different resources ).You even craft your character...(skin, body style/build, Hair and eyes, etc. You Start the game with only your "Undies"for clothing. Tighty-whities for men, basic Bra and panties for women. You want real clothing, make it! Materials go from Stone-age to Space-age..."Minecraft with better graphics" ( Note; There is Pixel-ARK for those minecraft lovers now too, ARK in the minecraft blocky/cartoony/kiddie style)

Exploration - There are many clues that make up the SP story that you have to locate. Also there are Arena/end bosses that you have to hunt down key artifacts to unlock the different Boss arenas. The artifacts are found all over the map. On land, on cliffs, in volcanoes, in swamps, in caves, at the bottom of the ocean, and even in ocean caves where you can die very quickly because your lost/trapped with no air.

Battle/Conquering the Story - You will need an Army of tamed Dinos to take on the arena bosses. Your reward for taking on the storyline, is Ascension.

Creative - Forget the story and just build....like minecraft! (Note: there is a "Structure Limit" of 6000-7500 items placed "Within the area of render", more so on consoles...i.e. Limited Hardware issue.


AND the game is MOD-able, the company even encourages, promotes, and sometimes sponsor mods.


as for SP vs MP, its really personal taste...


I play SP mode because over the last few years, MP only seems to attract Trolls/hacks/ID-10-Ts that dont play by rules, that cheat, lie, and steal... in my opinion.

 

[Archonon]

I understand about MP, I've never liked MP of any kind myself, pretty much for the same reasons that you have described. The closest I like to that is couch coop of SP campaigns and modern games barely do those anymore.

Thanks for the explanation of how the game works, I appreciate the insight. As I mentioned, my greatest pet peeve in this type of game is that since there isn't a clearly visible storyline such as cutscenes, conversations, decisions, etc; this is the type of game that has more of a backdrop story with found logs, notes, diaries, etc.

From your descriptions it seems like the game consists of grinding for resources/dinos with no clear end for the game per se. Minecraft is not my type of game, I'm more of the Elder Scrolls type in open world games.

Nevertheless, I really appreciate the explanation. Enjoy your dino hunting!

 

[Syf]

I agree, its not much of a story to play on. The appeal to me, is really the creative side of things

 

[SciFiFan]

I mostly play SP as well for the building aspect of the game. I do play a bit of private MP with my kids. I just hate the tether restrictions. I think it could be fun for us to start a private MP map just for us MSFC people. We could work together to build and fight the arena bosses.

 

[Terradyhne]

Hello, i play this to in SP only, cause this is the only game with Building + Dinos + Survival, that you can play in First-Person. MP of this is more about one clan against the other and that i don't like but i like the combination of Building + Dinos + Survival and that it has SP-Mode. The Dodo's are epic.

 

[Syf]

I agree, the Dinos are pretty epic. My favorite creature in the game is currently the snow owl.

Yes, the 2-player tether is annoying, but also is understandable. (Simply to limit the rendering of 2 player POV). Honestly, I see it as very smart on the software developer's side. Having the understanding of all that happens inside the game engine and the hardware as I do... I fully accept it and try not to complain.

I don't know for sure, but... It may to be fun to have a coop server. Just the thought of the fun of building a virtual online MSFC community might be worth thinking about. If there were are enough interested.

There would have to be some sort of agreement/restrictions. I see a lot of exploits be used by trolls/trouble-makers. I can't stand people that enjoy ruining the fun of others. I can see someone using the built in "cheat codes" when playing in creative. But to using exploits (AKA, those that hack) just so you can beat all others with a one sided, unfair, and illegal advantage (per the TOS/EULA/game maker's say so) ruins it for the others that don't. I don't and won't use hacks. I do for fun in SP use "GOD mode" in creative, sometimes. But that is coded into the game, not an exploit.

I have thought to look into modding it as well. However, I only have the X-Box edition at this time.

 

[SciFiFan]

I agree, the Dinos are pretty epic. My favorite creature in the game is currently the snow owl.

Yes, the 2-player tether is annoying, but also is understandable. (Simply to limit the rendering of 2 player POV). Honestly, I see it as very smart on the software developer's side. Having the understanding of all that happens inside the game engine and the hardware as I do... I fully accept it and try not to complain.

I too understand why and agree that it is smart. I think what is annoying the most about it is when I am playing with my kids, I'll be building or taming and my kid that is hosting runs off exploring. Hate being dragged away from my work.

I don't know for sure, but... It may to be fun to have a coop server. Just the thought of the fun of building a virtual online MSFC community might be worth thinking about. If there were are enough interested.

There would have to be some sort of agreement/restrictions. I see a lot of exploits be used by trolls/trouble-makers. I can't stand people that enjoy ruining the fun of others. I can see someone using the built in "cheat codes" when playing in creative. But to using exploits (AKA, those that hack) just so you can beat all others with a one sided, unfair, and illegal advantage (per the TOS/EULA/game maker's say so) ruins it for the others that don't. I don't and won't use hacks. I do for fun in SP use "GOD mode" in creative, sometimes. But that is coded into the game, not an exploit.

I would be interested myself.

I agree too. If we were to look into doing something, there definitely would be "house rules" that would strictly prohibit trolling and use of cheats / exploits. I would go with a three strike system.
Strike 1: warning
Strike 2: suspension (length determined by offense)
Strike 3: Ban

I am using strictly survival mode on The Island. If there is something I want to test build, I'll go to one of the other maps in creative.

I have thought to look into modding it as well. However, I only have the X-Box edition at this time.

I play on Xbox/Win10. They can cross play which is cool. I have seen some of the mods and they look really cool. I am glad they are starting to incorporate the S+ into the base game. I have seen some comments from Wild Card saying they would like to bring some of the more popular mods to console but there are a lot of hoops to jump through due to Microsoft and Sony.

 

[Terradyhne]

I agree, the Dinos are pretty epic. My favorite creature in the game is currently the snow owl.

I have thought to look into modding it as well. However, I only have the X-Box edition at this time.

My favorite creature is the Thylacoleo, i always prefered the prehistoric mammals and especially the Australian marsupial megafauna, over the Dinosaurs.

I started to look into modding this game to, as i play on Win10 but the editor download is 156 GB and always kicks me out, if i want to start to make a new map. My PC should be not the issue, as i run a Intel Core I 9 9900k with 32GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 2080 and the editor is installed on a 2TB Samsung 860 pro SSD. For this problem i didn't find any solution, but i can mod the dinos and other stuff.

I upgraded the GeForce from GTX 1070Ti to the RTX 2080 in June and after that the game always kicked me out after 10 mins of play, due to additional codeing for the Unreal 4 engine, by the developers and driver problems for the RTX 2080. Solution to this problem is, setting the terrain shadows to lowest.

 

[SciFiFan]

That is quite the setup you got there Terradyhne. I need to upgrade my pc as I am only running a Pentium and GTX 750. Best I can do on CPU is the I7 4790K (which is still $150+ used on ebay). I do have 16gb of memory which is enough everything I do.

As for the Dinos, I like any that helps me collect / carry building resources. The Castoroides (beaver for wood), Ankylosaurus (for metal), Doedicurus (for stone), and Argentavus (for carrying).

 

[Terradyhne]

That is quite the setup you got there Terradyhne. I need to upgrade my pc as I am only running a Pentium and GTX 750. Best I can do on CPU is the I7 4790K (which is still $150+ used on ebay). I do have 16gb of memory which is enough everything I do.

As for the Dinos, I like any that helps me collect / carry building resources. The Castoroides (beaver for wood), Ankylosaurus (for metal), Doedicurus (for stone), and Argentavus (for carrying).

Yeah but you have Kids to care for and i don't and so you do more for the Community of Humans (i hate the phrase mankind) than i do .

For carrying i use the Tapejare as it flyes faster than the Argentavus and the carryweight max on him is much higher than on the Pteranodon but i use a modified ini for the game that enables me to get higher levels on my char and tamed dinos. ( yes i'm a cheater but i only play SP for this, as i'm not patient enough, this game is so time consuming)

 

[Syf]

Indeed the game is very time consuming. If it's SP, then I don't consider it cheating, because you are doing no harm to others. Only when it's MP and your doing something that is not as part of the intended gameplay, just to gain an unfair advantage over others is it cheating. Just like using steroids in the Olympics.

I am all in favor of having a MSFC community server. I would like to see it as a community build/creative project. I am not into tribes and such. I just like being creative, making buildings and such. However, I can not take on the responsibility of organizing it /running it or being a full-time admin of it. I can help moderate whenever I am on it (if it becomes a real thing). I have a full plate with real life since I am a General Construction Contractor. I handle most the projects and repairs of several Apartment complex properties over a 100 mi/160 km area. So I never know when or where I am going to be (not counting dealing with my own Investments/properties nor counting my continued work of Red Ash. Yes, I am still working on both books and games). Which is also why while I have considered Modding Ark, I don't really see it happening. For some reason, I have more things to do than time to do them in. Yes, I even get calls in the evenings to drop what I am doing to go fix an exploding toilet from time to time. Fun fun!