Played some of this during lunch.
I’m really intrigued by the game, but I’m worried that my fear of creepy crawlers will keep me from enjoying it. It’s basically survival horror game for. Best case scenario, it helps me overcome some of my fears!
There’s other creepy things in the garden too. The spiders are the worst. I’m not altogether sure what they are, but there are these things I think of as grubs which also grossed me out during the beta. Those were at least fairly easy to kill individually, although at one point I got swarmed by them. The spiders are not only creepy, but tough, deadly, and fast.
This is me as well - I’ve played over 700 hours of Conan exiles, dismembered so many people, enslaved them and thats (sort off)fine - but this cartoony game? I am positively shaking all over when playing it - and the silly spideroptions is NOT helping at all.
When I see the leaves start to bend in the distance, cold sweat break out, and then the music begins, and I just panic!
Its a bit of a shame, because the game is really fun!
that sense of real fear elevates the survival aspect of the game to a new level! join us!
There’s an arachnophobia mode to help with the worst of them. Turns spiders into cute -ish blobs with eyes. Won’t help with other crawlies though.
Me and the kiddo are really having fun with this. Share world online. I went in late last night to upgrade our base near the start. He went in today while I was at work to get more supplies and unlock more recipes. Tonight we head out on the campaign for a bit. Works perfect so far.
I have lost track of time two days in a row on this and accidentally did an 11 hour stream yesterday and forgot food for me. Looking forward to some coop.
So - all you people - how do you deal with the spiders? Especially in early game, as I am in?
IT REALLY DOESN’T! IT JUST GETS WORSE!
2 nights in a row staying up way too late…just love this game
I also found the options to make them ‘less scary’ were far worse. I suffer from pretty bad arachnophobia but honestly the more I play it the less the ones in the game bother me. They still instill the fear of ‘crap that is dangerous and will kill me’ but I don’t have the ‘drop the controller and run’ reaction I had originally.
As far as actually dealing with them game mechanic wise most of the game comes down to gear and timing. Get better gear and learn perfect blocking and the attack patterns of everything. Combat has a soulslike timing feel to it for me. having said that I am crap at it and die a LOT now that I am trying to fight the tougher stuff.
I lost track of time for 2 days as well, sleep schedule is screwed now.
Spent a couple hours playing this today. The first few hours were sitting in my hammock in the backyard, playing on my Steam Deck, via Cloud Gaming, using the Discord app running in the background, and it all worked flawlessly. Technology is awesome, sometimes.
Then it started getting dark and chilly, so I switched to playing on my XSX inside, but used the Discord app for voice via my Xbox, since we already had that set up, and it worked great, too. It’s so weird that the rumor was that MS was going to buy them, but then that didn’t happen, and then Sony announced a partnership with them, but Xbox still gets integrated voice chat first? Wacky.
But hey, Grounded is pretty fun. There’s been a lot added since the last time we played a year ago.
I just got to the first lab. It was a real sick move of the developers to put a bunch of wolf spiders right near it. Really like this game but I’m concerned that I may not get over the bug/spider anxiety (though when they’re blobs).
I have a way worse time with mosquitos in games.
mosquitos here are bigger than bumblebees. it’s one of the few things that screams SCALE IS WRONG when I see them.
got lost in another day of this. looking forward to some coop, hit me up if any of you are up for some. I can just tool around in someone else’s world happily :)
Is everyone Xbox, or is it crossplay, or what? I’m tempted despite my recent RSI problems.
it is pc and xbox gamepass with full crossplay I believe. fwiw I find gamepad helps with RSI
I am loving Grounded. It has some rough edges, simplistic combat, and grind, but exploring this little (or big) world is fantastic fun. It’s a wonderful antidote to being stuck inside hiding from the pandemic, and the 80’s toy throwbacks really grab me. It makes me want some mini-world Monster Hunter and EDF games.
Medium difficulty is pretty harsh though, and muliplayer makes it harder if you don’t cooperate. My group needs to put someone in charge for organized outings. The shared world system (cloud saves) works well. You can’t manage your friends list in-game though, and I could not get the Xbox app to work (it wouldn’t load, or would do nothing when clicking sign-in), but the xbox.com website is a functional workaround.
I had a couple issues that both came down shared keys I had re-bound. Moving structures would sometimes randomly destroy them because Relocate and “Interact (Cancel)” were both on the F key, and throwing would occasionally stop working with both Huck and Clone Structure on middle mouse click. These seemed like reasonable overlaps, and the game didn’t complain or prevent them, but the results were very frustrating until I discovered the cause. The input handling code needs a little more work.
I started to build my first base in a small clearing where some paths intersected, but it was next to a hidden Larva nest that spawns groups and maybe on a prime Wolf Spider patrol. I relocated under a big leaf on a cliff top (east of the first juice box, between the Mysterious Machine and the Oak tree), where enemies won’t walk through, and have since built some little outposts with just a respawn, cooking spit, basket, and Trail Marker. The latter is a very handy time saver, especially for your home base.
T2 equipment is a big upgrade, with the hammer for Molar unlocks and a healing item that doesn’t spoil, and I should have started it sooner instead of exploring so much. I’ve killed all the big bugs around the Grasslands except for the Stinkbug, which I can now tackle directly with the gasmask, and the Wolf Spider which is my next target to get a T2 bow. But, I’m going to put off facing that nightmare for a while and make another outpost to explore the pond instead.
A few years ago I re-discovered a rubber Snoopy-on-a-turtle soap dish from my childhood, which just brought me to tears. Grounded is gently pushing my buttons like that, but in a good way.
Looking forward to the inevitable David Attenborough -knockoff Grounded nature documentary spoof.
If your xbox app on windows doesn’t work right, force an update from the windows store. This happens every couple months where clicking things just doesn’t work and has to do with updates.
I have been playing enough hours to be way further than I am progress-wise, but am at about the same point as you I think having just got the t2 hammer. Enjoying exploring and base building. Been revenge attacked three times though.
After collecting the Pond Lab chip and proceeding with smashing stinkbugs, I was given a Quest for the other Pond chip. It has a clue about where to find the key I missed, which is pretty nice because I didn’t know if it would show up later or what. It also has a 2500 Raw Science reward. What a great feature!
I had tried that and other recommended fixes, then gave up and uninstalled it.
Can you change your clothes? I just booted this up and want to be the nerdy kid, but for some reason I find those clothes horribly distracting. I’m guessing this is all 3rd person? Silly I know, wish I could fix my brain.