Valheim

Stuie · Post by **Stuie** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:53 pm

Rather surprised there's no forum thread for Valheim....

This is the survival game I've been waiting for. I've tried most of the popular ones and none of them ever captured me. Valheim has that special something that has kept me coming back each day eager to explore, craft, build and fight all the evils in the world.

It's based on Norse myth, which is a cool starting point, and has progression based on defeating bosses. I've only killed one so far, since I much too busy building beehives so I can brew some mead, but there are other enemies in the world, large and small, that have filled the time between exploring and mining and gathering and building.

The selling point for me was the procedurally generated maps, which are insanely beautiful. The graphics may not be top-notch, but the gameplay loop makes up for it and then some. Combat seems sort of basic, but there are weaknesses to find and exploit for different monsters.

And then there was the time I finally went out sailing on a raft, and a storm came up... wow.

Anyway, if you enjoy survival games (or even Minecraft and the like) make sure to give this one a go. I'm pretty sure you'll be glad you did.

Obligatory Steam link and oh yeah it's early access but feels really tight as is.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:02 pm

My older son and I were talking about this last night. I am pretty sure we'll be giving it a go before too long.

Apollo · Post by **Apollo** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:11 pm

Yep, this is right up my alley and I'll be picking it up later this year.

Dan256 · Post by **Dan256** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:12 am

Yeah, just noticed this game today on Steam. Seems right up my alley. I'll give it a go. Looks promising.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:45 am

I messed around with this a little the past few days. I'm still figuring out how to best build a structure. I think I got the floor figured out but roofing around corners seems to be a bit tricky in getting things aligned properly. I made it past the first boss but got ambushed by a bunch of dwarves in the Black Forest. Unfortunately I got waylaid again on my way to the corpse and didn't buff my HP up beforehand, so I lost all my good stuff. The game would be much better with others on the same server so if anyone wants to set one up I'd be in.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:37 am

I set up a server if anyone is interested, pm me for the info/password. I just started messing with it so there's only a small workshop next to the original spawn point. It's nice that your character brings his gear and inventory across servers. I also found my old corpse with my better gear, apparently the map only marks your last corpse but your others will persist for at least a while.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:20 am

I tried it for a few minutes the other day and it felt super janky to me. Considering everyone under the sun is loving it I feel like I'm missing something.

Cylus Maxii · Post by **Cylus Maxii** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:40 am

I'm loving it. But it is a lot more fun once you get at least a little established. And it is a lot more fun with at least one other person. I'm having no issues building except for the occasional trying to place items above me and having to climb up on scaffolding or a ladder. We have beat the first two bosses. The 2nd one was brutal and most of us died multiple times. But I think I'd have the trick if I had to do it again.

Notes: Spear sucks, dagger rocks at low levels. Also be willing to go swing or stab at a rock or tree for a bit to skill up. Things get easier when you get a few levels (20+) of running and swimming and sneaking so stuff drains less stamina. FWIW - Stamina is ALL! Be sure to eat three different food types for max HP and stamina buffs; and rest under shelter until you get a buff. Also - you need chimneys and venting for indoor fires if you don't want to take smoke damage and maybe die..

If anybody wants to play and get a little help this weekend, hit me up.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:29 am

Octavious wrote:I tried it for a few minutes the other day and it felt super janky to me. Considering everyone under the sun is loving it I feel like I'm missing something.

Janky how? Controls? Too rough around the edges due to low budget?

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:04 am

The controls in general just felt clunky to me. and the gfx style was a bit meh for me. Which is odd as I really like some other games with a similar style. I also could just be in a cruddy mood because it's snowed like a million times this year and will hate everything.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:29 am

Octavious wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:04 am The controls in general just felt clunky to me. and the gfx style was a bit meh for me. Which is odd as I really like some other games with a similar style. I also could just be in a cruddy mood because it's snowed like a million times this year and will hate everything.

I've had no problem with the controls. The character model and textures are absolutely terrible, like original Tomb Raider terrible. The survival gameplay and progression are great though.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:42 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:29 am
Octavious wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:04 am The controls in general just felt clunky to me. and the gfx style was a bit meh for me. Which is odd as I really like some other games with a similar style. I also could just be in a cruddy mood because it's snowed like a million times this year and will hate everything.
I've had no problem with the controls. The character model and textures are absolutely terrible, like original Tomb Raider terrible. The survival gameplay and progression are great though.

Hey, I was right , from the FAQ posted by the dev on reddit:

Q: The visuals of Valheim look kind of old, what is up with that?

A: We have chosen a stylized graphical look that blends low-resolution textures and sparse polygonal detail with modern materials, lighting and post effects. The visuals are inspired by the early days of 3D graphics, like the style seen in PS1 titles and old DOS-era 3D games (before hardware acceleration and texture filtering was a thing).

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:47 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:42 pm
Hey, I was right , from the FAQ posted by the dev on reddit:
Q: The visuals of Valheim look kind of old, what is up with that?

A: We have chosen a stylized graphical look that blends low-resolution textures and sparse polygonal detail with modern materials, lighting and post effects. The visuals are inspired by the early days of 3D graphics, like the style seen in PS1 titles and old DOS-era 3D games (before hardware acceleration and texture filtering was a thing).

"...in order to save time and effort on 3D modeling (or... we didn't have the skill to actually make them look better aka the case with most 'retro' styled games)"

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:12 pm

I was planning to skip this because I generally don't enjoy survival games and avoid Early Access. However, after reading a number of articles praising it for having a more "forgiving" survival experience, I think I may give it a shot. It actually looks kind fun, even though it's not in my typical genre wheelhouse. We shall see...

Besides, they did a trailer using Amon Amarth's "Shield Wall". I feel like I kinda have to buy it now.

Dan256 · Post by **Dan256** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 3:39 pm

Yeah, I'm with Octavious, I'd call this game very janky. The combat is janky, the buildcraft is janky, collecting resources is quite janky, graphics are ok, but you could call them janky as well; the enemy AI is really janky, too. None of this stuff is game-breaking, but it all adds up to a bland sort of experience.

I do think this game, as it is, should be damned with faint praise. But it's early access and it doesn't try to pass itself off as a triple A title; so, it is what it is. I fell for the Steam hype on this one, but I'm hopeful things improve with time. Maybe I'll play some more and submit some janky feedback to the devs, they do seem to make feedback a priority; so, we'll see, I guess.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:06 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:12 pm However, after reading a number of articles praising it for having a more "forgiving" survival experience, I think I may give it a shot.

Hmmm, I've played a lot of survival games and forgiving isn't how I would describe this. I guess if you just hang out in the meadows and are careful in the black forest and don't venture too far, but that would limit your progression severely. There is nothing forgiving about the swamp or mountains. I suppose that by default there is no PvP it is more forgiving. On the other hand the death penalty is worse than most survival games. Generally you just drop all your stuff, here you also lose skill progress.

Maybe that janky enemy AI makes it seem more forgiving. It can certainly be abused.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:29 pm

This overview is one of the articles that sold me on it.

The game is also mechanically forgiving, without any of the usual survival game obstacles like expiring food or prohibitive repair and expansion costs. There are terrain manipulation tools, and a building system that lets players build elaborate structures and sprawling settlements. Building can be a bit fiddly, but players can either free-place wood or snap pieces together depending on their preference, which leads to something that is mostly easy and flexible. PvP is a toggle; unless I opt-in, I don’t have to worry about another player wrecking my house or sinking an axe into my back while I farm.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:23 pm

Yeah the food not spoiling and weapon/tool/armor repair being free is very, very nice.

The kiddo and I just had a multi-hour epic adventure. We are at the stage where we need iron to progress and we built a small longship to explore and find some. We finally found a swamp dungeon. The damn place is tiny with only one path and a handful of scrap to mine. We get EIGHT bars and decided to take the ship back to base. We got it back to base on a pretty uneventful trip and decided to continue exploring... we ran across a... umm island with some barnacles on it and as we harvested them the island got upset and capsized our ship and we lost pretty much everything. We didn't have the materials for another ship so we put together a raft and headed out after our stuff... and as we got close a sea serpent came along and ate our raft and we lost all our backup gear. We decided to run to a closer launch spot to then use another raft (hey, they're cheap!) to get our gear and we successfully get the stuff back and celebrate and decided to continue on to the swamp we can see ahead which is where you get iron. The damn sea serpent swims up right then to show us the error of our ways. I guide the raft to the closest land while my son starts pelting the serpent with arrows. There is no way we are making it to shore and neither of us has much swimming skill. The raft is down to around 20% health. The kid hits the serpent right on the snout and he peels offs, circles us and then slinks away... As we approach land, leeches are coming after the raft and then an ooze decided to come after us and finally greydwarves start throwing rocks. I turn away from shore a bit to get some distance, the raft is ungodly slow, but the wind is finally with us. Finally we hit land, most of the others are left behind, greydwarves are NOT good swimmers. We quickly set up a workbench and portal and teleport home.

Over the course of 3 hours we gained 8 iron, 40 chitin and a portal just outside a pretty big swamp area. Tomorrow, the search for iron continues.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:22 am

Coop, do you broadcast your plays through Steam? If so, let me/us know because I'd love to watch!

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:29 am

Can you log out anywhere without penalty or does it have to be in your home/spawn?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:48 pm

Jag wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:29 am Can you log out anywhere without penalty or does it have to be in your home/spawn?

You can logout anywhere. When you log out you are completely removed from the game world. It's not like ARK or Conan where your body just lay there while you are offline.

Lorini wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:22 am Coop, do you broadcast your plays through Steam? If so, let me/us know because I'd love to watch!

I can't imagine watching me play would be entertaining and I am way too anti-social for that. I think this is what you are looking for: https://www.twitch.tv/cohhcarnage He has been playing multiplayer with his mods during the day and solo in the evenings. Lots of people streaming it and I assume some are more entertaining.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:54 pm

No no I don't want to watch Coh with his mods, I want to watch my friends play

But if you aren't comfortable then that's fine as well.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:30 pm

Just got it. Having fun so far. Killed my first troll. Love that you can kite things that normally can one shot you.

Hoping my chests are safe outside because I'm dumping everything of value in them.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 7:20 pm

Jag wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:30 pm Hoping my chests are safe outside because I'm dumping everything of value in them.

They aren't really. weather can damage wood and enemies can break them as well. You want to build a small base to hold your stuff pretty early on. A bed and a workbench require shelter as well so a small, simple base is pretty much necessary. After you explore a bit and know where things are you might want to make a bigger base someone more convenient (close to the black forest for mining T2 materials). Swamp and mountain are nice too but not immediately necessary and portals can help there.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:35 pm

Our world map after the second boss and some prep for the third:

...and a zoomed out view to show how far out the third boss is (and the circuitous route we took to get there):

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:56 pm

I put about 4 hours into this today. While I'd say I like it better than most of the other survival games I've tried, I've come away with the same general feeling of 'meh' combined with "damn, that game's janky as hell".

The fact that I've spent the past 90 minutes doing nothing but chasing down deer, killing around a dozen with only 5 trophies to show for it doesn't help. It's just annoying more than anything at this point.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:59 pm

Coop,

Awesome adventure story about your son and you and the sea serpent. Like seeing your world map also. I was wondering what the dungeon numbers looked like since I've only hit 2 and itching to find more.

I started it a few days ago, and I am comfortable just now in the black forest [ i run and kite now, not run and hightail it]. I've cleared 2 dungeons and just set up an operation that's close to some tin and copper in the BF biome. Its taken a while to find this area because the other areas had a small BF area and then it went straight to mountains. So no joy hunting for materials there.

Where I left off, was just about to jump into a dungeon to look for more sturtling cores. Man I wish I had more of them.

A few tips from my experience

-use the 1st boss power on Cooldown. Makes building bases easier and running around exploring the world.
-I'd learn how to make small shelter, bed and workbench so you can set up little outposts . For a workbench just need to make sure its sides are covered and has a roof. Once you can create little outposts it will help in exploring your world. I am on my 4th now and probably a good base sight [ has boars and raspberries nearby and close to BF]. Its also close to a ruin..the funny thing is when I am building at night Greydwarves spawn nearby and come check out my place.
-You will come across jagged rocks that form outlines of a ship. They are very distinct. But if you dig up that little area you will find a buried treasure chest and some skeleton bones.
-When aiming with a bow, aim higher than the target....the arrows sag to the ground. Takes a bit to get use to it.

MOB Tips

Spoiler:

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:30 pm

I setup an outpost where the first boss was figuring I would be spending most of the time there until I was ready to kill it. Spawned the boss nearby and he absolutely wrecked my entire structure. It was funny as hell. Just down to the loose boards when he was done with it.

I know I am really bad at building structures. I wish I was better, but I just don't have builder blood in my. I'm happy if it is barely functional. Forget aesthetics.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:07 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:56 pm I put about 4 hours into this today. While I'd say I like it better than most of the other survival games I've tried, I've come away with the same general feeling of 'meh' combined with "damn, that game's janky as hell".

The fact that I've spent the past 90 minutes doing nothing but chasing down deer, killing around a dozen with only 5 trophies to show for it doesn't help. It's just annoying more than anything at this point.

You only need 2 or 3 deer trophies ever. I'm not sure why you are looking for them? Also for deer, sneaking and a bow = success. The bows are... uhhhh, not great from an accuracy perspective early but you get used to them.

Newcastle wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:59 pm I was wondering what the dungeon numbers looked like since I've only hit 2 and itching to find more.

I've been through a ton of dungeons at this point. Some are tiny and barren and some are sprawling and full of trouble. We've gotten 8+ sturtling cores from a single dungeon and also gotten 1. Swamp dungeons are similar, some have almost nothing some have an embarrassing bounty.

Newcastle wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:59 pm -use the 1st boss power on Cooldown. Makes building bases easier and running around exploring the world.

Bonus tip: if you are playing with other the power affects everyone in the immediate area. Share the stamina!

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:36 am

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:07 am
Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:56 pm I put about 4 hours into this today. While I'd say I like it better than most of the other survival games I've tried, I've come away with the same general feeling of 'meh' combined with "damn, that game's janky as hell".

The fact that I've spent the past 90 minutes doing nothing but chasing down deer, killing around a dozen with only 5 trophies to show for it doesn't help. It's just annoying more than anything at this point.
You only need 2 or 3 deer trophies ever. I'm not sure why you are looking for them? Also for deer, sneaking and a bow = success. The bows are... uhhhh, not great from an accuracy perspective early but you get used to them.

I read two guides yesterday that said you need 10 to summon the first boss. Is that not correct?

EDIT: Just looked into it further and it’s two, not 10. Goddammitsomuch.

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:31 am

I think I finally got this streamable on my rig though the fps suffers at times. wish I could afford a new one. At any rate hit me up to play, I wouldn't mind checking out some of your servers either. I will be streaming on twitch as well when I can.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:28 pm

So I think my favorite new activity is starting to chopping trees at top of a hill....find a small forest on a hill....start at top of hill and start chopping, but only chop the tree until it breaks the first time and does a partial timber. Move to next tree and do the same. Rinse and Repeat. Eventually what will happen is the consecutive hits from trees into each other, damages them, and breaks them down further, eventually into wood planks. Breaks down the trees a little bit faster. Also its fun in a jenga like way to pick out the tree that will bring the various "chopped trees" all down in a massive crash. KABOOM! Also, make sure to be ready to run and be uphill. Let gravity do the work!

So finally cleared out that dungeon and I found a rune/ward that gave me the location to boss #2. Its a long ways away. Right now my main goal is to get my cart into the copper/tin area I've edged into and start clear cutting so I can get plenty of bronze.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:00 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:07 am
Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:56 pm I put about 4 hours into this today. While I'd say I like it better than most of the other survival games I've tried, I've come away with the same general feeling of 'meh' combined with "damn, that game's janky as hell".

The fact that I've spent the past 90 minutes doing nothing but chasing down deer, killing around a dozen with only 5 trophies to show for it doesn't help. It's just annoying more than anything at this point.
You only need 2 or 3 deer trophies ever. I'm not sure why you are looking for them? Also for deer, sneaking and a bow = success. The bows are... uhhhh, not great from an accuracy perspective early but you get used to them.

You'll need a bunch of deer trophies to make that Stagbreaker weapon and upgrade it. I still prefer to use my bronze weapons and a shield but the Stagbreaker is handy for when you get overwhelmed by mobs.

There's an annoying, what I assume to be a bug with sleeping. I got into a bed and it didn't put me to sleep, so I went outside to do some stuff. I then 'fell asleep' outside in the cold without any warning. When I woke up I was in a freezing state which put me back to sleep for a day after a taking a few steps. It took me 5 days to make it close to building with a torch before it stopped. My hunger level never changed so at least it didn't starve me to death or something, but WTF.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:12 pm

Newcastle wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:28 pm So finally cleared out that dungeon and I found a rune/ward that gave me the location to boss #2. Its a long ways away. Right now my main goal is to get my cart into the copper/tin area I've edged into and start clear cutting so I can get plenty of bronze.

Rather than bother with carting back and forth we relocated our base to a location just outside a couple large black forest areas rich with copper and tin. Totally worth it.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:18 pm

How the hell do you create level ground? I'm using the hoe, but the ground is still uneven. Maybe i'm not using it correctly? I figured I would put some floorboards down first, but those dont even sit right on the uneven ground.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:34 pm

Jag wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:18 pm How the hell do you create level ground? I'm using the hoe, but the ground is still uneven. Maybe i'm not using it correctly? I figured I would put some floorboards down first, but those dont even sit right on the uneven ground.

Not sure if you can make perfectly level ground with the hoe and pickaxe, so I used post and timbers to create a foundation. Building is definitely a learning process, hopefully by the time I'm ready to build something substantial I'll have it mostly figured out.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:34 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:23 pm Yeah the food not spoiling and weapon/tool/armor repair being free is very, very nice.

The kiddo and I just had a multi-hour epic adventure. We are at the stage where we need iron to progress and we built a small longship to explore and find some. We finally found a swamp dungeon. The damn place is tiny with only one path and a handful of scrap to mine. We get EIGHT bars and decided to take the ship back to base. We got it back to base on a pretty uneventful trip and decided to continue exploring... we ran across a... umm island with some barnacles on it and as we harvested them the island got upset and capsized our ship and we lost pretty much everything. We didn't have the materials for another ship so we put together a raft and headed out after our stuff... and as we got close a sea serpent came along and ate our raft and we lost all our backup gear. We decided to run to a closer launch spot to then use another raft (hey, they're cheap!) to get our gear and we successfully get the stuff back and celebrate and decided to continue on to the swamp we can see ahead which is where you get iron. The damn sea serpent swims up right then to show us the error of our ways. I guide the raft to the closest land while my son starts pelting the serpent with arrows. There is no way we are making it to shore and neither of us has much swimming skill. The raft is down to around 20% health. The kid hits the serpent right on the snout and he peels offs, circles us and then slinks away... As we approach land, leeches are coming after the raft and then an ooze decided to come after us and finally greydwarves start throwing rocks. I turn away from shore a bit to get some distance, the raft is ungodly slow, but the wind is finally with us. Finally we hit land, most of the others are left behind, greydwarves are NOT good swimmers. We quickly set up a workbench and portal and teleport home.

Over the course of 3 hours we gained 8 iron, 40 chitin and a portal just outside a pretty big swamp area. Tomorrow, the search for iron continues.

I thought Vikings got iron from peat bogs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:45 pm

@ Coop - My location is about a minute run to the BF area that has a good swath of resources. Want to build up my base and get an apiary going soon as well. Found a few bees but havent taken the time to catch em yet.

@ Jag - re: HOE. Where your toon is standing is the level the ground will change to. So use the hoe circles, center around the area you want the same as your toons feet...and hoe away.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:50 pm

I just build everything on stilts. Just need a lot to give proper support.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:56 pm

I'm beginning to feel the OO effect strongly on this, but I have a couple of concerns...

1. I play solo and while I see that the game supports solo play, I've also seem comments like those on the quoted polygon.com overview which suggest that the playing the game solo might be more of a grind. I'm not thrilled about grinding, I remember that my from old WoW days.

B. I see references to bosses. I'm thinking that I understand those to be creatures that you have to overcome to... do what? Access certain areas? Unlock more tools/weapons? And how tough are the bosses, especially when playing solo?

Thanks for any answers folks might provide!