I’ve been attempting to play CDDA off and on for over a year, I think more like 2. I started on my android tablet before I moved over to PC. I was never even able to survive 2 in game weeks. Hundreds of attempts and I never really got anywhere. Never got or fired a gun. Never drove a vehicle. Never found or used CBM’s or whatever they are called. Nor did I ever find mutagens.
Never made it inside a gun store. Nevermind a hospital or pharmacy. Labs or Fema sites or any of that stuff? Forget about it. Npc’s? What are those?
Well the other day, I decided to stop remaking the same character I’ve been lazily remaking over and over again all this time, and I made a totally new character. Decided to investigate the npc in my starting bunker besides just taking the mission he handed out. Got him to join me. And the whole game just changed.
All of a sudden I was kicking ass like never before. Even got another npc to join for a 3 man group. I’ve got a ton of useful stuff back at my base. Weapons, food, medical and crafting supplies. Some of skills are at the 3 and 4 mark which for me is really high up there lol. And today for the first time ever, I have a character that has lived long enough for the game to cross over from spring into summer.
Now I know for alot of you guys out there, all of this is no big deal. But for me, after all this time playing, this is far and away, farther than I ever have gotten. And tonight as I was playing it hit me. As my character gets stronger and more powerful, and I as a player get better at playing, the game SHOULD be getting easier.
It was there-in, that the beauty of CDDA revealed itself to me. The longer I play and the more powerful my character gets, the HARDER the game becomes. No not because the monsters get stronger or anything. Its not some secret cheating dev made AI that kicks in to make it harder. No the game gets harder because I’ve invested so much time and effort into this character/playthru, that the thought of dying and losing it all is literally making me stop and think before I do stuff.
I’ve found that in CDDA, one wrong move can frequently spell the end for you. Even a simple bite that gets infected. Or getting trapped in a building by zombies. The list goes on and on. It may be easier for me to kill a zombie now than it was before, but overall its getting more difficult. Because the longer I play, the higher the chance of making a mistake. The game is stacked against me. Eventually I will make a mistake and lose it all. And its THAT, that is increasing the excitement. Yes my gear is now better, my skills higher and I have a couple of followers to help me. And this ALL makes things easier from moment to moment. But eventually, something WILL go wrong, a mistake WILL be made. and thank god because THAT is keeping things fun!