One Hour One Life Forums

Ellesanna

Member

Registered: 2018-07-20

Posts: 95

The problems that make this game now boring for me.

Jason posted something about posting problems instead of solutions so I'll try to skip to the points.

All towns are essentially the same. The only differences between one town from the next is what they lack vs what they don't lack and maybe some key people who decide to stop and chat. If you've been in one mega city, you've been in all of them.

The underlying problem behind this problem is that there is only one way to do things. In our real world, your population does not die out because you did not farm carrots- if you need carrots but do not have them you find something else in your local area to fill the role of a carrot. There are different environments with different stuff that can still add up to surviving and a successful civilization even if you did not have a thing.

Because there is only one technological path to walk and no alternative paths, all civilizations walk the same path and after a few hundred hours- that same path, however interesting initially, loses its spark and shine.

There are so many fun and interesting civilizations and cultures in real life all because of simply having different resources and landscapes unique to their area. Yet in OHOL everyone deals with the same biomes and items, making trade improbable.  The reason people trade is when they dont have a thing and need/want said thing. But because of how ohol works, if you run out of a necessity you die quicker than you can facilitate any sort of trade with a neighboring village. Any sort of necessity-based trading would have to be done by someone with a lot of foresight who notices the dwindling number of that something- in which case they would either go out and get the thing themselves or make it so they can get it when they need it later. And if they find themselves unable to- usually because there is no more of said thing in their area- the village next door will be no help as they're probably in a similar boat. And even if they're not, how many times are you going to be trading with them for the thing until they inevitably run out or the person(s) facilitating trade on either side die?
There aren't a lot of luxury items to want in ohol either, most of the time if you don't have that thing you want you just live on without it because there are more important things to do and you just don't have the time. Maybe you could trade that iron for some paper, but would you? Especially since your people will need that iron generations on? There are no silks, jewels, and/or high dining stuff in OHOL or really a lot of things to be described as luxury save for the crown. Plus, with how most players are on ohol- how long would it take just to get the people from the other village to stop and listen to your proposal? Especially with the limits of communication.

To put everything in short: Trade doesn't really happen in this game due to its very nature and neither can any real variation from one village/town to the next.
I would like this to be changed one day, as I believe this game has a lot to offer and a good amount of potential in the future. Just as this point, I am bored of playing the same jobs in ridiculously similar towns.

Keyin

Member

Registered: 2019-05-09

Posts: 257

Re: The problems that make this game now boring for me.

I do not think simply adding a bunch of substitutes would help either, because people would find the most efficient one and it would become meta.

I think the problem can be condensed to too much of the early tech tree requires access to the green/swamp biome. During the early game when you have no clothes, it becomes unfeasible to settle anywhere else due to lack of food, necessary crafting ingredients for early tools, large amount of clay needed for first pottery/oven/kiln, and  swamp will be only water source until you have steel.

Also, because people are born in different places the average skill level/expertise with different jobs/crafts will be around the same and biomes are small enough that we can feasibly have access to every biomes resources no matter where we are.

Ellesanna

Member

Registered: 2018-07-20

Posts: 95

Re: The problems that make this game now boring for me.

I do not think simply adding a bunch of substitutes would help either, because people would find the most efficient one and it would become meta.

I think the problem can be condensed to too much of the early tech tree requires access to the green/swamp biome. During the early game when you have no clothes, it becomes unfeasible to settle anywhere else due to lack of food, necessary crafting ingredients for early tools, large amount of clay needed for first pottery/oven/kiln, and  swamp will be only water source until you have steel.

Also, because people are born in different places the average skill level/expertise with different jobs/crafts will be around the same and biomes are small enough that we can feasibly have access to every biomes resources no matter where we are.

Well yeah just adding potatoes that work exactly as carrots would be no fun. In my original post I tried to focus exclusively on the problem and not go too far into potential solutions. I'm not entirely sure how to fix the problem anyway, just wanted to point out that this was a problem and was hurting replayable due to all towns being very similar.

Dodge

Member

Registered: 2018-08-27

Posts: 2,467

Re: The problems that make this game now boring for me.

It's too easy to progress in tech if there was some kind of challenge to go high in tech it would be more interesting.

There is no trade because everyone can do everything. Why would someone trade if they can do it themselve as fast and easily?

A 4 year old gen 1 kid could assemble a diesel engine if the parts where accessible to him? How does that make sense?

You say all the villages are the same, i say all the people are the same.

The people have no history, the family has no history, a branch of the family decides to go in the wilderness and become hunter/gatherer a few generations later they decide to come back, what do they have to show for?

A bunch of skins? It's like their whole experience didn't really matter, it didn't make them different from the ones that stayed in town. It had no impact on their lives. They come back to town and somehow they can make engines, pumps, carts after having spend generations hunting and gathering in the wilderness.

Last edited by Dodge (2019-05-30 15:35:42)