Just Some Thoughts

Some random thoughts about Valheim.

The Smell of Sulfur In The Morning.

Or afternoon. Or evening. Any time of day, really.

I'd read that as you downed each boss the attacks on your base would change to represent the next coming threat. With Bonemass down it was supposed to be drakes. I read it was drakes. Only I'm getting surtlings. Why is that?

Surtlings: the sugared-up toddlers of the underworld. When they come the sky turns orange and fills with ash. It's ominous as hell. And then two or three of the fiery sprites turn up and run about outside the walls, throw a tantrum and race around, throwing fireballs.

Sometimes they don't even manage that. I've seen them just hang around in the trees, staring. Then the sulfur fades and off they go. 

Why did they come? What did I do to annoy them? 

Heck if I know.

Difficulty Curve.

I'm beginning to wonder if it might be on upside down. 

Starting out in Valheim is tough. You die a lot. Greydwarves are scary. Trolls are terrifying. Even boars can give you a hard time. 

When you get to the swamps it feels like death is lurking in every puddle. You can't see properly, move properly, everything poisons you or shoots at you from the dark. It's horrible and it feels as though it can only get worse.

And then it gets better. Easier. Easier, still. Your skills go up, you fit yourself out in decent kit. You learn how the gears of the world turn and you stop dying. So much, anyway. 

Mostly when I die now it is completely my fault. I'm pushing on to get something done long past the point where I know it's a bad idea. I'm out of food, wet, cold, it's night, my stamina is on the floor and I just keep going because I've forgotten what it's like not to be stronger than everything else. Or at least faster.

By the time I was done with the swamp I was treating it like the meadows but getting there took a couple of weeks. In the mountains the same process took a day. Drakes make a lot of noise but they hit like day-old chicks. Wolves telegraph their attacks and go down in two hits. They spend more time stunned than they do attacking. 

Even the initially imposing stone golems quickly turn into mere nuisances. They move slowly, they're easily confused, they get stuck if you lure them into holes. Best of all, they're more interested in fighting drakes than they are in fighting you so most of the time you can just leave them to it.

It's almost all about perception. The mountains look deadly but in practice it's placid. Most of the time.

I'm wondering if the plains will live up to their reputation when I get there. I've been running scared of setting foot on the savannah but given that I was able to kill fulings when I was wearing bronze I'm not so sure I ought to be so wary. 

Is this a good thing? Wouldn't it make more sense for things to start out easy and get harder rather than the other way around? Or is that you have to pay your dues before you get to ride on your rep?

Bad Weather Is Good Weather.

Valheim has the best weather I've seen in a game, bar none. I don't play a lot of single-player games so maybe this is par for the course for survival titles but compared to what I'm used to it's astonishing. 

Partly it's the way everything's turned up to eleven. Storms are torrential. Blizzards are whiteouts. Waves lash, winds howl, trees bend. 

It's not just excess, though. There's much subtlety. In the meadow you can tell when the wind changes. Breezes ruffle the grass before a storm brews. Or so it seems. Whether you can read the weather that's coming from the signs I'm not sure but it feels like you can.

There are some oddnesses. When I take a portal from my mountain lair and step out onto the sundrenched deck of my log cabin I sometimes bring the winter with me. Thick flakes fall for a few seconds as if the chill mountain air has followed me through. And maybe it has. It's magic, after all.

Needs Some Work.

How, exactly, does building decay happen? Anyone figure it out yet? That decking outside my cabin that I mentioned? Needs constant repair. I come back home and it's turned green again. Out comes the hammer.

The stairs in the Stilt House, they're the same. In the castle it's the railings around the patio at the top of the tower. If it was the whole building I'd understand but it's not. It's just certain parts.

I have a couple of theories. Maybe some of the building materials are invisibly flagged for interior or exterior use. I haven't seen any sign of core wood decaying, nor pallisades, nor roofing. It seems to be beams and flooring that weather. Perhaps they're meant to stay indoors?

To get weathering you need weather. That's my other theory. The parts that deteriorate are storm-damaged. Lashed by rain, shaken by gales, they bend and fracture and rot. It's an hypothesis supported by my observation that adjacent boards seem to suffer different rates of damage that could possibly be related to the amount of cover they enjoy. 

Those two theories fit together, of course. The boards that stay dry and don't decay, though they're outide, might be considerd to be "inside" if they're in a location that triggers the "sheltered" buff. Then again, sometimes that triggers when I walk between two trees in the swamp so maybe not...

Plain Sailing.

When I played Vanguard I used to sail my boat for the sheer fun of it. I'm starting to do the same in Valheim. It took me ages to get the feel for how the longboat handles. I was always getting it becalmed or stuck on sandbars and if the wind was in the wrong direction I just had to sit and wait until it changed.

There are no in-game instructions on how to rig the sails or pull the tiller, or not that I've seen. I worked it out by trial and error. Now I can make the ship go in any direction no matter which way the wind blows. Slowly, if it's against me, sure, but at least it goes.

Being able to steer the longship at speed through a narrow gap between the mainland and a string of low-lying islands is exhillarating. Time was when I'd have had to go the long way round. Now I just cut through. It's a thrill.

Breaking Up Isn't Hard To Do.

A sailor's best friend is their axe. After a long voyage it's ridiculously quicker to demolish your boat and pack it for a trip by portal than it is to sail back home. All my sea trips are one-way, now. Sail out, plant a portal, break down the boat, gate back.  

The risk comes in the nails, which sink. I'm a little nervous of that part. I'm still trying to figure out the best place to stand to be sure the bits of boat all pop straight into my bags. And always remember to check there's space for at least four items. If you don't, you can bet the one that won't fit will be the one that doesn't float.

Sometimes You Just Need A Hint, Sometimes You Need The Whole Damn Manual.

If you don't look stuff up two things happen: you don't know what you're missing and you do. I can't say much about the first but I have plenty to say about the second.

I've known since about the first week that you can tame animals in Valheim. There's even an in-game tip that tells you boars like root vegetables. I've seen screenshots of people with tame wolves.

I'm still waiting for something to happen that lets me know how. How do you  give a boar a turnip? Do you lure one into a cage you built and then grow turnips inside with him until he gets the idea? 

And what about wolves? I know I said they weren't much of a threat but I wouldn't like to stand there letting one bite while I tried to nudge it into a pen. 

Is there some tool you can make? A harness or a lead? A trap? If so, how come I've never seen the recipe? 

But then, I only discovered the recipe for the Drake Helmet today. It must have taken close on fifty kills before the first drake trophy dropped. Is it meant to go that way or is it just my bad rng luck?

That's all I have for now. Well, it's all that comes to mind. I know full well as soon as I log in something else will come back to me. It's that kind of game. Always something to make you wonder.

Like where the hell Moder might live. 

Time I climbed another mountain.