Miguel Preguisa

Recently, I wanted to make a long post including points that I somehow dislike in my (otherwise liked) game. But the more I thought about what to include, the more I realized it all ties itself together into one big point. I miss the small moments of joy and/or accomplishments. My playtime usually starts with enthusiasm over a new promising update. Firstly I inspect all the new goodies in the Sandbox mode. Then I launch a new Exploration save. Play around for a day or two and then... just stop? I wondered why is it so and now I think I know. Most sandbox or survival games do not propel their players forward with a story or quests. Players have to find their own motivation to do sometimes mundane tasks like traveling or managing inventory. But in Ylands, I quickly get bored by mundane and I move on. It will be easier to list some of the games I play instead of me trying to put together a vague description of those important "small moments": Starting big, Minecraft. Players differ a lot, but for me personally, its two or three main things keeping me invested. One, mining. The small pockets of ore blocks underground are like small packets of joy. Two, easy building. Give me coffee, a week and I will make a breathtaking castle or laboratories. Three, growing my domain, my kingdom. As I progress, it is easier and easier to feel like a master of his realm. Continuing, Subnautica. To keep it short, definitely the overall atmosphere and suspension when being chased or stalked on by something in the shadow. I feel like it's important to emphasize here that Subnautica is not a difficult game at all. But it makes itself look way more intense to the player currently playing it. Next BI title, DayZ. It's a bit more difficult here because I do not think the positives there overweight the problems for me. But still. Being it multiplayer perma-death "walking simulator" I had some great moments of suspension and roleplaying there. Being ambushed in a port with a friend by bandits will forever be in my favorite gaming moments. Staying close, MiniDayZ. It can be hard from time to time. So I look forward to the next village to find loot. I often just look forward with anticipation of a rare building being almost sure I will be pleased with goodies inside of it. Even common duct tape can be a lifesaver and I'm going to feel great after acquiring it. In the end some honorable mentions even though not in the same genre pool. Real like FPS like RO2 make me feel good about myself after defeating other skilled players in a fair fight. Racing games like FlatOut2 or Midtown Madness (weird picks, I know) award me for that perfect turn or bumping into an opponent at the right moment. PUBG both for looting and outsmarting opponents. In Pixel Dungeon it all relies on pre-combat preparation and greatly awards you by good feeling (and utter destruction) for being ready for every situation and combining limited assets. Simple arcades like Tetris let more bricks disappear if I make the right move. Why do I not feel the same joy in the Ylands even though I'm confronted with very similar situations as listed? 1) It's complexity, mainly in building. More freedom always comes with more responsibility. But... sometimes I just wish to build simple? I have about 3 rules in Minecraft about building (block palettes, symmetry and powers of two) and I strongly believe anything will then look good even if it was randomly generated. On the other hand, Ylands is always giving me more to choose from. More patterns, more materials, more colors, more shapes. I want to use the best block possible, in the best place possible, in the best rotation possible. I admit it may be me being lazy. It still means that my builds even with more freedom will never be so quick or so nice as the ones build in Minecraft. Even though the game has most definitely the potential to do it. One thing I would say is really lacking is terrain modifications in Exploration. 2) The loot is oversaturated and the progress seems broken to me. I get some of the little sparks of joy from unlocking new workstations and recipes. Sadly, it's greatly reduced when the workstation proves to be near useless for me. That happens because I already got everything I needed from the Places of Wonder beforehand. I'm not saying those PoW are bad things. But they are not anything random like an Easter egg to be excited over, they are way more part of the game even though they often do not fit the surroundings. I would way more appreciate them underground or under the sea only. Maybe also limit the loot of them or make it proportional to the intended game progress? I do not look forward to looting if I already have great loot in all aspects. I can imagine decreasing loot or increasing different aspects of items (tied with different game mechanics such as combat, movement, farming, researching, crafting, exploring, sports even?) so you are never satisfied and always hungry for some nifty new thingy. Today, I played Ylands. In just two in-game days I was in full iron armor, had a katana, and two other powerful weapons and an inventory full of Zirconium. I was not specifically looking for anything, the weapons and armor were found in PoW on the first island I sailed to (no point in staying on the starter island more than necessary), which was the second tier, and Zirconium was at the entrance to a cave. I do not have really anything I wish to explore progress-wise anymore. Combat seems all about dmg and def. skills to me, ranged is sometimes fun but sometimes just waiting for it all to die (easy obstruction). Energy has not seen big upgrades since its launch - it is very basic (correct me if I'm wrong, not just there). So it all boils down to building myself a place to call home. Which gets tiresome after a while. 3) I do not know what The Spirit of Ylands is. Quo Vadis, Ylands? I have a hard time getting to know Ylands. Which is difficult to say considering I've been with Ylands more than four and a half years. At the start, I felt the potential. All was new and buggy, sometimes unbalanced (waiting an hour for nine ingots, if I remember correctly?). As I was slowly getting to know the game, I fell in love. Classy, calm, serene, and charismatic. Top hats, monocles, mustaches and sunsets in the color of industrialization. The game was about being washed ashore on a deserted island and slowly creating your own story (there was even an idea of one survivor dying and another character washing ashore after him to unravel its own story instead of respawning). Ylandium served as a mystical and powerful new element with its distinctive glowing green. The game seemed to be themed around magic meets ylandium steampunk. All of that is lost. Allow me not to phrase it as an opinion. I think the game slowly lost its scope by adding more and more different and most importantly not anyhow framed features. I do not understand the ylands world. Who are we? Why is there a center island surrounded by others? Why are there many different NPCs all eager to trade with us or annihilate us? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do here? Am I a lone survivor or is it just normal that I'm here? Is this fantasy with all the different races? Did this world come through all the historical epochs as ours did? How are we supposed to create our own story in a world that doesn't seem to have its? And why are those questions even important? I'm not immersed and I probably won't be. Most things in-game don't feel like a part of the world. I do not know where is ylands heading. Should I expect a farming update? Or space update? Or smartphone update? I'm lost. The atmosphere of the Ylands is lost for me.

Allow me to disagree Explore used to be called Survive before the ships changed where the mode is going. Not that I complain, I liked the feel of both.

Thank you for the edit, I really tried to keep this post at least a bit positive. I for example really like the mysterious, so I quite like the first exploration of a new yland, new cave or a new set of recipes. And I agree with you on the first part of the post too. I like the idea of some incentive to actually build more than the workstations.

I get this. But it makes me sad. And I really think they changed their focus with the game in the span of years. I would say that most of the older players bought and played this game because of Exploration. It is then sad to see it side-tracked.

Disclaimer: most of those are just my opinions. It fell into a "what I personally feel is wrong with the game" in the last paragraph. It was not my intention at first but it summarized my feelings pretty well so I'm not going to change it. And also, don't forget my question in the title. I really would like what makes you play Ylands continuously. Thank you

Didn't some of the 1.2.2 features slip into this changelog? Namely the Easter eggs and Easter foods?

Once, there was a tale about a place where all wishes came true. On the north pole where only bears gather. Happiness factory full of elves. A truly magical place. At least they said. Of course, there were many young adventurers that felt the urge to discover. To claim their share of fame and gold. And with the vision of wealth, they left their homes. Never to return... Many snowmen lost their friends in these journeys. Even every ship from the famous Frozen Fleet has vanished. But not everybody shared the feeling that nothing can be done. Two years and one week after the disembarkment of the Frozen Fleet flagship, the famous and feared buccaneer Henrik Barbarossa decided to take the matter into his own sticks. A complication appeared. There wasn't any ship left. All were gone along with adventurers. But that couldn't stop him. Barbarossa managed to modify his beloved boat - Swift Seagull, for longer travels (it's told that he once poked out a Kraken eye with this boat). Armed just with his bravery and a medium-sized cannon on his shoulder, he left. So there he is. Fearless buccaneer. His hope to find anybody is, just as his prideful carrots, getting thinner every day. But he won't give up. Does that mean he will eventually succeed? We may wish so, but the ocean is unpredictable and the sun is setting. Let the waves make the decision.

1) There are ways how to terraform and flatten large areas of ground in the real world. Why not make something similar? Maybe using Ylandium so making it end-game feature? 2) If you want smoother terrain in the reality, you BASH it gently a few times with a shovel. So maybe alternative function of the already existing tool? Other alternative could be new tool such as rake. Even though I'm hoping for some gardening/farming update so maybe keep rake for then ?

I'm right there with you. I feel like there is just too much too unorganised. Too much colors, fading in and out. Gradients, big icons, useless buttons. I miss the old interface quite a lot.

I was bored again, so there's my "work" Remade famous movie posters.

I'm an old Exploration player. When I thought Ylands, it was Exploration mode. It was being updated every update. But the aim of the updates changed (I know we just got new updates to it. I may sound silly for it now. But they honestly made the Explore a bit more fast and flashy just as a minigame so my next point stands, I believe). Now it mostly tries to get the Ylands minigames (=> +Editor) right. And I have to ask. What is my incentive to launch Ylands with the goal of playing Ylands minigames? No offense creators. For example the golf was actually fun. But I can't really imagine thinking "I now have some free time to game, let's play some Ylands minigames!". It would have to beat the competition of Minecraft, of Terraria, of No Man's Sky, of Steep, of Red Orchestra. My comparing is not unfair. All those are on the menu when choosing how to spend the evening at PC. And you wouldn't believe, Ylands minigames usually don't win. But in the past, Minecraft didn't stand a chance against some good time in Exploration mode. Neither did Subnautica. Even Kingdom Come and Witcher 3 had to be put aside. I had a farm and smithery to attend to. I still can enjoy the Explore. There are good things being added to the game. But I feel like the game took a turn (sometime before the #100 Dev Diary) and I'm not particularly enjoying the ride.

I'm under the "Account" tab but the "Change Account" is nowhere to be found:(

Hope to see you someday soon! You are a great part of this community.

Two questions. a) When first trying out the android game, the login didn't work yet. So I chose "Play as guest" and named myself something that seems like my cat typed it. How do you log out? Do I have to reinstall the game? I haven't found any "Log out" button in the menu. b) Is it "safe" to login with my normal PC/Bohemia account on mobile? I've registered some issues regarding that in the past but I didn't pay much attention to that as I was not involved. So I better ask before loging in with my account.

Don't worry, we stay with you @bojo2736 I hope he still likes the game and makes another series. He's a cool guy.

I was just restating that once more. Because same as @Indian Chief I picked up quite ambivalent feelings from Keralis in this video. Yet I still hope he may have do some more of these. I don't really feel like a part of the playerbase they're aiming at with Ylands now and it seems like Keralis may have similar feelings. I'm still sticking around ,maybe he will too.

It was a sponsored video, you have to keep that in mind. Nonetheless, I hope he may still want to do some more content.

Happy Holidays ?

Welcome!

What are the changes?

This is the official quation from a Dev Diary. To sum it up, nobody was buying it and it's better to have a craftable variety for everybody

I would like to stress this one out. Alongside the change "all crafting recipes are now shown" I'm kind of losing the drive and goal of the game. To be more precise, it shifted so much it feels like a different game. It used to be about building a base and gradually improving it thanks to new unlocked recipes found thanks to new materials found exploring (pretty Minecraft style). I thought that the new changes will change it just a bit. I thought that we will see a clear objective before us (get to the next island tier) but won't be really pushed about that. Casually building base and when we feel like it, conquering another island, stripping it of its valuables and treasures and returning home. Where we feel like Kings for a bit. And then we casually upgrade the base with new materials. And after some time, we conquer again. And then home. And then conquer. Maybe building one extra base to be closer to some resources (gameplay similar to Subnautica). Mind you, I've generated just two Exploration maps in 0.15.1 but the islands on both of them were pretty far from each other. Definitely not visible from one another. Caves yet to be found (are they only on Tier 2 and 3?). And according to other posts here on the forum, even basic resources are scarce on the islands. Seems like the best course of action is to build no base at all on the first two islands then. You just go forward and pillage with no place to call home. I don't know if I played any game with similar gameplay to that yet, but ambivalent sums up my feeling pretty well about it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bistudio.ylandsgoo This should be it. It would be maybe nice to link it somewhere in the Dev Diary itself

Yeah, definitely! ? The Playstore showed me every sandbox game other than Ylands when searching the phrase "ylands". Had to find it through Arma in the end. The search mechanisms there are weird.

Yay! THE Moment is almost here! I'm being cautiously excited! And according to Google Play, I'm in the first ten of people who ever downloaded the Ylands mobile from the Playstore Number of downloads: 5+ downloads Loged in for the very first time on this version