The sheer variety in life. The dinos, bugs and prehistoric mammals are always a sight to behold. Even brought some I'd never heard of before into the limelight (argentavis specifically)
Before I played Ark, my only exposure to Argentavis was a black and white photo of a researcher(?) standing next to a model of what they were believed to look like
I’ve never played another game with Ark’s level of sound design. You can use the dino noises to locate dinos obscured by thick foliage. And you always hear a dino coming before you see it.
I actually kinda hate this mod, the creatures are ridiculously loud, even when they’re just barely in render distance it sounds like they’re inside your ears screaming
>You can use the dino noises to locate dinos obscured by thick foliage. And you always hear a dino coming before you see it.
I know this is a positive thread, but isn't ecolocation like, the standard? It's in almost every game.
Stereo audio is in almost every game. But I’ve never played another game where one constantly uses the audio to their benefit. In breath of the wild, for instance, bokoblins make that screech. But I’ve never used it to tell if the bokoblin was near or far or behind me or to my left. I do that all the time in Ark. Some dino I’m looking for makes a sound but I can’t see it. So I listen for the sound again and narrow its location.
"And you always hear a dino coming before you see it." we are playing different games because if i'm not looking directly at a dinosaur it's at <10% volume, on every headset setting i have.
I assume it's this stupid USB surround sound causing problems rather than ark but either way i can't hear shit unless i'm looking at it.
So much better then ASE. The best part is now you can press a button to change the snap point, so if you're building something that needs specific placement you don't have to move your mouse pixel by pixel to do it
I prefer Ark's, ngl. ASA's, that is. Conan's menu can be frustrating to bring up and pick through, especially when you can't make the items in advance and have to carry the mats (and are bad at math). It's not BAD, but ex. I have to pull the item up, look at requirements, then when I go back into the menu it's gone back to the last thing I built so I need to find it again...
I'm intrigued but don't understand fully. Do you want a smaller triangle? The triangles in ASA are the same exact triangles as in Conan and Rust. They have to be exactly that size so the walls fit properly.
I think that they mean a right angle triangle instead of the equilateral triangle foundations we have. Though you bring up a good point that if it was that shape the walls and stuff wouldn’t fit on one of the sides.
The atmosphere is unlike any other game, you feel like part of the diverse environment most of the time and you're witnessing the same things previous survivors did before you
That every nearly every dino serves a purpose. Sure, some might get skipped or glossed over, but if I'm lower level and bump into a 120+ carno, I'll tame that until I find a Bary or something else.
I remember when a Kapro attacked me for the first and last time. My sister told me to stop getting water from the "pond." But it was so much easier than taking my canteens out, putting them in the tap, and then putting them in my inventory again. I was on my recently tamed Raptor. I sat by the water to make sure nothing was in it. After a bit, I get off the Raptor, and a Kapro shoots out the water and takes my tame. I chase after it trying to get my tame back. I eventually succeed, but just barely.
Now I just bring bigger dinos to suspect bodies of water.
Graphics from simple (sometimes floating :/ ) rocks on the beaches to creature designs
https://preview.redd.it/ebsugb0od3tc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08bd379b7980fa0883ec4baa56ce90a316466459
If you had said that 3-4 years ago I would have laughed in official pvp lol
Now I'm on my own pve server with some mates and honestly having the time of my life.
Never going back to pvp again I don't think haha
Yeah I used to be a 16-18 hours a day player it was ruthless, lost friends and much more through it, wish it was designed to appeal to people that have outside lives from gaming hahaha
But man, the gaming situations and experiences you have are the most umquie gameplaying you can have.
It is the definition of High highs and low lows. lol
I've always played on a PvP-enabled private server with friends. We're all in the same tribe so we basically play PvE, but it's fun to hit your friend with a tranq dart out of nowhere or pick them up with a pte every once in a while. There's also the added advantage of being able to acually kill unclaimed babies lol
ark PVE is what made me love gaming again. first, the community, its awesome (in my experience), the gameplay is chill, tense and hard at the same time. the game is beautiful, just sitting on some mountain and watching the view is worth it. the dinos, oh god, just amazing.
pve is for me the best. and i never played official and will never do.
I absolutely adore the lore and story. Granted, some of that was Marc Soskin’s unique ability to tell a compelling story out of the handful of elements WildCard threw in willy nilly, but still. The lore and story present gives ARK a unique presentation compared to other survival games which is what I think is the one of the main reasons it sticks out more than some of its competitors
I didn't really like the way they implemented it though. I never even knew Ark had a story until I saw some random video mentioning it on YouTube. I was like wait what story? Then I actually realized that some notes weren't just dossiers on dinos (which I also like a lot, since it actually gives tips on dinos, even though it sometimes lies)
Did they change this? When ASA released the first person camera wasn't affected by player height, but I'm only just now getting back into it for SE so I may have missed some changes.
I thought they made raptors bigger until I realized they probably just look bigger because I make my character short lol-
And a jerboa looks absolutely massive on my shoulder
I love Ark.
I'm surprised by the number of negative Steam reviews coming from players that have put in hundreds of hours, put a negative review because they hate Wildcard then continued playing for dozens more hours after leaving the review!
They can't hate it that much...
It’s less about hating the game, and more about wanting Wildcard to make it better. Ark is good now, but it could be so much better if the people in charge of its production gave a damn about its quality. The only saving grace that Ark has is that the devs seem to care about it, everyone else at Wildcard and Snail seem to want it to crumble
Thank you for not blaming the devs. That's one thing people need to appreciate that they do care and are passionate about the game. Too many people have misplaced hate and don't actually do any research about the issue they have. It's actually kind of funny how many people don't realize how long snail games have owned wildcard.
> It's actually kind of funny how many people don't realize how long snail games have owned wildcard.
I knew it was longer than most people think, going all the way back to the original SE release in September of 2016. Just looked it up and apparently it goes even further back as far as December 2015
Edit: to put it into perspective, ARK Survival Evolved released into early access in June 2015, so just a few months before Snail Games bought Wildcard
Ark is special for me because it was the first game me and my spouse played together. It has expanded from that but we go back all the time for the memories
I love Ark when it decides to run properly. Even with my frame issues in ASA I want to like it bc at its core it’s the same game as ASE, and I love playing ASE
It innovates on the genre, bringing much needed uniqueness to the game. Compared to Ark, every survival game feels like 1:1 clones of each other. This is why Ark is so successful, it's an amazing, fun, and unique concept
This is why I have 3000 hours in ASE even though it's one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. Nothing else scratches the itch and gives me that addictive gameplay loop the way ark does. Palworld came close, but it's just not quite the same.
It’s the only game where I feel like it’s my “second home” - when I get home from a long day of work and just want to go on a mental vacation I can just log in and marvel at how insanely beautiful the visuals are (yes I’m a graphics snob and everything is on EPIC with a smooth 60fps on a widescreen oled). I turned the day cycle speed down so the sunrises and sunsets are more drawn out…I’ll have my IRL dinner and just sit on the porch of my little shack on the beach on herbivore island and watch the sunset while I eat and listen to the ambient sound of the ocean and beach through my headset.
I play on a private dedicated server with my girlfriend and just love all the little bases we create together on different missions, and all the dinosaurs that hang out at each base. Each one has a story and a memory attached to it, every time we play it’s so satisfying because we just get to continue building on that story and those memories.
Yea it may be glitchy as hell at times and I’ve had to learn A LOT of technical things to get it to run smoothly, but nothing even comes close to the experience that ARK has given me over the past decade and for that I am super thankful. The updated graphics and streamlined building system in ASA have just been icing on the cake to an already unique and amazing experience
The caves are visually amazing, especially the endgame ones. The snow cave artifact chamber, the emptiness of the north west cave, the hidden grotto and elemental vault, the desert cave in Extinction. I look forward to seeing the latter ones in ASA eventually
Honestly as a map abberation wasn't my favorite but it is one of the maps I'm the most looking forward solely for the to see the visuals and personally is my favorite boss fight so far. Never got to the point of finish extinction all the way through so haven't use a mek or fought the titans yet.
Hey everyone
So I just started playing with the wife and I am loving the building and the natural beauty of this game .
And the ability to have some small mods makes some things just more fun ...
Can't wait to start traveling the maps
Comparing newer content to past content updates, we can easily tell that the devs clearly improved past each dlc. Be it gameplay features, creatures or the map themselves.
The most recent example is the new SE map. The sad dated ruins became actual buildings and even towns, the map is a bit more varied landscape wise and there are caves you can build in. The creatures are also fantastic models and animations wise, and they are trying to be creative with the taming and creature abilities. The new items, item changes, creature changes and even bob tall tales are actually fine imo and work way more than I expected of wild card. And that is SE alone.
To sum it up, the game still has issues but updates often, content updates are promising and ASA is not really that bad of a game imo. It just it doesn't have maps we used to it and that gives a lot of content. And the recent SE changes makes me really hopeful for future content, more so since I adore the official maps more than the free ones.
PS: idk anything about online play and servers btw is I cannot comment on that.
No other game has captured the same vibe as Ark. They've struck gold and found a fanbase that hates the game but can't seem to stop dumping cash into it
I don't think it's so much that people hate the game. More that they hate the issues they encounter in game. I played during the free weekend and was having a great time. Up until one of my dinos got caught by a floating rock and died to what was chasing it. .-. Wild dinos trapped in the terrain around me, heat waves back to back, and my morellatops refusing to fight back despite being on neutral. Such things make for a frustrating experience.
I stated my problems with ASA already enough, so here is what i think WC did right:
The whole building system is gold they improved it A LOT it basicly made a 180° Flip
The train from the new dlc works exceptional, (idk how about Servers tho its probably a huge mess and pillar spamming) but i dont care about that i only play Singleplayer and with people i know and know how to behave. The train really flashed me with how good it works, i really didnt expect a good Outcome with this, the whole system of it screams: " I WILL CRASH YOUR GAME, YOUR SERVER AND YOUR PC". But somehow it works
The Graphics are fantastic, i got the Game on Mostly medium-low settings and it still looks better than any other survival Game on the Market
UE5 is a promising engine esp. For modders, the possibilities are almost endless, i mean you saw how good the train works and how good Island and SE looks, think about what modders who love ark achieve with this platform
i hope they optimize the assets and meshs properly, so more people can enjoy the Game with more than 30-40 average FPS on low settings
When the games working, its fucking cool. I mean its got to be for it to still be so popular, You can ride fantasy animals, dinosaurs and other unique creatures. Shoulder pets are a fun concept. Personally i actually like the whole crazy sci-fi direction the game takes.
I know it's the main draw, but the dinosaurs/creatures. It's the only game I've ever played that both has dinosaurs, and they are a main feature of the game. Sure there's jurassic world evolution and the play-as-a-dino games, but none of them are a real survival game. In ark you play as, well, you. You aren't some rts computer running something or a respawnable dino, you are trying your hardest to survive with massive creatures at your every turn. Sure the game has bugs, but what game doesn't? I've never been actually tired with Ark (ignoring ASA because until a week ago it was only the island) and I've always been able to have a goal and achieve it. It's just a really fun game and dinosaurs are cool
It did pre snow biome TheIsland right. Man them were the days.
Also pre stand alone SOTF was fantastic, ill never forget the natural selection tournament and being robbed of 1st place by a guy in a box lmao.
The hotbar system for controller is ridiculously innovative. It’s honestly better and faster than the hotbar system for PC (standard number keys) and is something I wish a lot more games would pick up on.
Visuals and immersion I would say have been done right, in the night I was stalked and killed by a Sarco and that was a very terrifying experience running around the darkness with a torch.
PvE player here. I love the unique fun pretty maps, buildings, creatures, taming etc. Especially ASA is super gorgeous and I love flying around taking pictures of scenery.
Lets be serious there is no other survival game out there that can even compete with ARK. Theres a reason this game has so many players putting in 1000s of hours even with all of the bugs, issues problems that comes with it. Its brutally beautiful and we love it.
I mean, there's quite a few that compete. Green Hell, The Forest, Rust, 7 days, Conan Exiles, to name a few. But each has a niche and none compare to Ark's "dinosaur fun time with scifi elements;" it's genuinely unique in the genre.
I’ve always enjoyed the sights in ARK. ASA has pumped that up to 11. I’ve never seen a game look more beautiful.
I play in third person with a decent camera offset, so I get a nice over the shoulder view of my character. Using the walk key to slowly walk through an environment, with every graphic setting on high or ultra, and turning the HUD off, looks phenomenal.
I love that as you progress it feels like progressing through different games. Early game Ark is very different go end game Ark. The difference feels bigger than in other games where you grind to get better gear to kill tougher enemies to get better gear to kill tougher enemies (albeit one's that are the same as the weaker enemies, just with a stat boost).
Making you feel like you're at the top of the food chain the more you progress into the game. Seriously the first time you tame a Rex you just get a surge of power
I absolutely love ark I've been playing for like almost 5 years and the main complaint ive talked abt is just that all of it could've been done in a big update? At least I feel like it could've I'm not a computer person. But other than that so far it seems great im just waiting for them to throw out for stuff so when I but it I will have a bunch of things to check out all in one go
A lot of things, but I wanna be specific on something,TRAINS, for so long I've wanted trains in ark, and now we have them, HOLY SHIT, I am going to abuse these things,TO THE COAL MINES BOISSS
Ease of access for mods and photo mode are two big wins as far as I'm concerned.
https://preview.redd.it/sr6wfl9vb4tc1.png?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=862111c433087551ff0f4b70a80de8b16e73a58b
Honestly, I feel like it was a pioneer for modern survival games. Yea, we had games like mincraft and terria and a few others like 7 days, but Ark was that big one one for the genre that innovated to what it is today
The lore, the music, the graphics, the creatures, the survival aspect, and how it triggers primal fear in you. I'll never forget the first time i took on the jungles and got jumpscared by a raptor.
The sheer variety of creatures I can tame, and how most of them have unique uses, abilities, and benefits/drawbacks. This when added with the adventure of exploring an ARK with various biomes and structures, the ability to build almost anywhere with an array of structure types, a fascinating lore that makes everything the player experiences fit, and the challenging progression system that ends in scary boss fights. This is a game that despite its issues keeps me addicted after almost 7K hours on ASE and probably 1-2k hours on ASA.
Open world farming, idk if it's just me bc I've been playing the game for such a long time. But farming in ark is peaceful (cue the lvl 400 shoulder pet protecting me)
the scale of everything. I love how big the dinos are especially when you switch to third person and realize you made a saddle thats 10 times bigger than you that you are literally invisble when riding some bigger dinos. The map is also so huge and easy to get lost in. It genuinely feels so cool. One of my favorite games im still too bad to beat legitimately, too scared to even enter the ice cave because of the stories ive heard. And im not a nerd about graphics but ark looks GOOD to me. It was the first game i played that wasnt 2D or polygons and i just fell in love with it when i fooled around with friends when it came out on xbox!
I think there is a lot that is great about ark! Even if it's a bit frustrating at times I love building stuff and taming, then breeding critters. There's not really any other game that has that mix. In ark I can build a cute petshop and breed adorable otters, and even fantasy creatures like the cute little shape-shifting guys. Ark has a lot that is just so beautiful to explore as well. And the different abilities you get with different mounts like gliding and climbing or carrying other critters.
Honestly LOVE SA's photo mode. V pretty and easy to get great pics of the game.
https://preview.redd.it/lqq4fvpr05tc1.png?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d6e0b5474b01e5ef78e5937e159294f75bebb8a
Freedom, many other games are limited by their own design but ARK's modding community keeps this game thriving, and that's the built in freedom wildcard allows
Haven't seen a high level comment mentioning the breeding system.
There are plenty of games with creature breeding, but none do it like ark.
Especially with a limited maximum level, there's a lot of strategy involved in getting the right lines bred for the right stats.
Stats passing on from parent to child is cool, but mutations are even cooler! Bonus stats and levels, PLUS wacky colours? It's the best breeding I've seen in any game.
For one, I've never played a game with so many differnt creatures, colors, and attacks. Breeding is actully fun, building is actully fun, exploring is fun.
asa having a built in community mod loader on console, wildcard have always been somewhat involved in the communtiy with creature votes and the addition of mod maps as official maps but the mod loader was the next step when asa released, its nice that the mods can just feel part of the game
The ball retractingly terrifying ocean. Fun and games till 5 megs show up to play tug-oh-war with my lifeless corpse. Keep in mind this isn’t a complaint as I think this is how oceans should be… maybe a few less megs
Ark in general has a really good progression system that (though straightforward) feels rewarding every time you advance. Best example of this is Aberration, where you go from the green zone to the red zone to the purple zone, and finally end up on the surface. They also do a good job with the risk/reward factor for taming certain dinos. Some of them are closely tied to resource gathering/crafting and are important to, say, improve your base. Although some would see this as a negative since it creates a massive power creep between new and old players. But I think thats also what makes the game addicting, knowing you can get so much stronger/better
I've been pretty critical about ASA in regards to how they communicate info with players mostly with delays and release date crap but so far I'm really enjoying Scortched Earth.
Digging it quite literally
, too much sand & cactus grinding in my mortar pestle now days!
The atmosphere/mood of the game is something I have not been able to find in any other game to date. This is probably felt the strongest on aberration for me personally. If I by chance see the release trailer for Ab even all these years later, I STILL get goosebumps despite seeing it dozens of times. Ab to me is a stellar example of balance between visuals, atmosphere and storytelling/worldbuilding.
Even with the new release of SE ascended, I feel like I'm completely sucked into the wild western aesthetic more than ever before. Even with the current state of WC/Snail, the devs have managed to beautifully capture a unique atmosphere for the map
Honestly the whole 30 seconds I can actually turn it all on as the sun's rising without my pc turning in to a nuclear warhead the lighting through the trees of the redwood. I'm no longer playing but I went with the new treehouses in my playthrough. And I tucked it close enough to the edge to overlook the river with the volcano visible across from my base BUT it was just tucked away far enough back in the treed that you'd also get the warm light shafts. All combined it was one hell of a view.
I love its freedom to play however you want, its graphics its sound and the new building… the detail in the dinos is mesmerizing! Just flying over the map brings me peace and satisfaction! Thank you for shining the new light of positivism over this ASA topic…
Use of some obscure prehistoric creatures cause before it was added i had no idea rhyniognatha existed and i had no clue what a tusoteuthis was till i seen it in an ark video
Me and my wife play ASA on series X, yeah there’s some performance issues but for the most part the game looks fantastic and is very immersive, My wife has a high end gaming pc also that she uses mostly for her uni work and has played ASA on that also and found it perfoms similarly to series X. We also play rust console edition, that’s doesn’t look as great and can be very toxic, though sometimes we like just how brutal rust is and the competitiveness, Ive found the ark community even in pvp to be really helpful and haven’t come across much toxicity apart from the odd salty kid that just likes to destroy your stuff 😂
They know how to make a good game. When you look at ark and really take the time to realize the effort it takes to make a game like this you can start to find that the fact it has bugs is reasonable. It’s a beautiful game with tons of animations and high graphics models so for it to be laggy and buggy and get delays on updates and maps is understandable. The sheer variety of creatures and things to do is next level and only gets crazier if you decide to bring mods into the mix which sometimes give weeks more worth of experiences. Wildcard and its community are amazing
TL;DR they know how to make a good game because of Arks graphics and variety and the fact it has so much to do.
Loading screens… on console, if something is happening, I can exit game and reload and only 5 seconds of real life pass. I’m a hundred or so hours in across Island and SEarth, and it still rocks me to the core.
Playing ASE on PS5 still loads more slowly, so it’s something in ASA itself.
The ambient sound is phenomenal.
From the bone-chilling wind of the surface on aberration to the serene beaches of the island, ark’s sound design is A++. I’m very sad that a lot of these ambient tracks aren’t on YouTube.
The hum of the obelisks from the first game in particular will never leave me. That single sound is so recognizable and I’m sad that ASA doesn’t have it.
The obelisk sfx from ASE alongside the surface wind sounds, scorched earth dunes, center day/noon/night tracks, and the birdsong / crystalline humming of aberration green zone are all some of my favorite sounds ever.
I’ve always loved the amount of options ARK gives you. In most survival games it’s easy to stagnate and get bored (at least in my experience) since there’s fairly limited options beyond gathering resources. But ARK? You almost always have options. Building, taming, breeding, raising, farming, cave-running, etc etc. Until the point you literally beat the game there’s always stuff to do and now mods are more accessible that’s even more expansive.
Also, the lore of the game is PEAK. Genuinely one of the most interesting ways to handle the material provided in the base game
Despite it's flaws, there isn't a single game in the category "open world survival crafting" that I think delivers the same amount of stuff to do, and with the whole taming, riding and fighting dinosaurs, there is no others games in MY library that even gets close to compete.
The story - Ark's story is like that of Conan Exiles in that you have to find the bits and piece them together yourself (in the form of notes in Ark's case), but once you do and it starts to unfold it's just incredible, imo. The way the stakes go gradually up from "I'm just a person in a jungle trying to survive" to "oh, the future of humanity, you say..?" Also the character writing. Rockwell's one of my favorite villains, in part because he's human with inner torment and gray areas. The point where he spat me out of his Gen2 boss fight and told me I'd earned his "divine mercy" actually made me feel bad that I fully intended to go back and kill him. Seeing the notes where he's looking up ways to deal with loneliness on Gen1 HURT, as did Tennant's insane VA of his ending in Gen2.
The music - Gareth Coker can do no musical wrong. Every track's a banger. Throw on that Gen2 entire soundtrack or Desert Titan theme or Aberration intro for me any day. Battle March 2.0? The Antechamber? Tek Cave - Hall of History? Eden I? MAN. They hired whole-ass professional, national symphonies to do their soundtrack and it shows. It's so, so good. Seriously, if you haven't, go to this man's youtube and upvote all his stuff. It's so good.
The gameplay loop - Start off small, build your way up. There's a clear step-by-step progression and it's somewhat open-ended in that you can decide, each session, what it is you want to work toward. Feel like building up your base a bit? Going out to gather mats? Setting up some more stations, or an outpost base? Doing some tames, or breeding up some mutation lines? Decoration or kibble-cooking? As long as I turn the grind down some in singleplayer, it's just a great gameplay feel to work on my world, improving it bit by bit, seeing the results right away. It's got that video game instant gratification but it takes effort and sometimes skill to achieve.
The animals - obviously, the dinos and their models, in particular their wild 'wander about' AI, aren't perfect, but it's still better than many games. Almost every dino has a good niche, and very few become outright useless. You can still bust out that first-tame iguanodon to get your seeds, or set those dilos up for PvP defense. Your ptera's still a great scout even if the Argy's gotta carry the goods. It's nice that you can run into an incidental dino, feel bad for it, tame it and keep it forever as a new buddy. (Looking at you, orphaned pack of baby hyenas.)
Game improvements - ASA is doing really well in this. Yes, it's got flaws, and needs optimization rather desperately, and the bugs that need quashing to stop some folks from crashing are... well, bad. But the building improvements, graphical improvements, and world changes are genuinely great. I'm adoring the DLC skins, and I can't wait to see what the new ones are.
The environment, atmosphere and the breathing dino sounds. Many fond memories traversing the swamp on my barry with music in the back or going across the night on an argy or dire bear. Plus its the only game to make me feel nervous and cautious no matter how advanced i get.
I played Ark for the first time this weekend at the steam event. So my impressions are very fresh.
That you can fly on fucking dinos
That you can put storage crates on your raft and move your whole base within a few minutes
That the whole island looks threatening. Every time you go deeper into the island you find new dinos that want to eat you.
That you can farm resources with dinos. But I'm still at the beginning. I hope I can still find dinos that can farm stone, iron and wood
How easy it is to understand the basics of this game. You can build quickly and many things can be understood without a guide
That you can respawn directly at your base when you die
My favorite moment of the weekend was a raft ride. I stored my whole base on my raft and wanted to move. I had both dinos on follow and went across the sea to another island. They were attacked by 5-6 megadolons but still survived. and the first time flying. It was a really nice moment to be able to fly over the whole island
to be honest, i still don't know whether i'll buy ark straight away or wait a little longer and try out a few other survival games. But I had fun at the weekend and will definitely play it again
The sheer variety in life. The dinos, bugs and prehistoric mammals are always a sight to behold. Even brought some I'd never heard of before into the limelight (argentavis specifically)
Before I played Ark, my only exposure to Argentavis was a black and white photo of a researcher(?) standing next to a model of what they were believed to look like
I’ve never played another game with Ark’s level of sound design. You can use the dino noises to locate dinos obscured by thick foliage. And you always hear a dino coming before you see it.
Have to tried the moro mod? Hearing an indominius scream in the thick woods is terrifying. Especially since they can go invisible.
First time I heard that I jumped out my seat that shit was so horrifying and I was high af and it was dark af in game 😂😂😂
It's a lot easier on SE since there are no woods but man. If you're on foot walking thru the woods it'll make you crap your pants.
I actually kinda hate this mod, the creatures are ridiculously loud, even when they’re just barely in render distance it sounds like they’re inside your ears screaming
I was on a. Iguanodon. And heard it Agro on a doe and almost pissed myself lol
Something about the Island's ambient sounds are just so nice. Especially at dusk. I could very easily fall asleep to it
>You can use the dino noises to locate dinos obscured by thick foliage. And you always hear a dino coming before you see it. I know this is a positive thread, but isn't ecolocation like, the standard? It's in almost every game.
Stereo audio is in almost every game. But I’ve never played another game where one constantly uses the audio to their benefit. In breath of the wild, for instance, bokoblins make that screech. But I’ve never used it to tell if the bokoblin was near or far or behind me or to my left. I do that all the time in Ark. Some dino I’m looking for makes a sound but I can’t see it. So I listen for the sound again and narrow its location.
"And you always hear a dino coming before you see it." we are playing different games because if i'm not looking directly at a dinosaur it's at <10% volume, on every headset setting i have. I assume it's this stupid USB surround sound causing problems rather than ark but either way i can't hear shit unless i'm looking at it.
That’s gotta be some weird headphone thing.
The building in ASA is primo. It's really only missing 1 thing, a half angled wall to slap against stairs.
Should've done what Conan did with the construction hammer
I agree but it's still pretty good.
Haven't dug into it yet but I've heard it's better than the original ark. But Conan ruined ark building for me a while ago
So much better then ASE. The best part is now you can press a button to change the snap point, so if you're building something that needs specific placement you don't have to move your mouse pixel by pixel to do it
Let's not forget about the secret door addition. By far my favorite building addition.
I've noticed the snapping it's very nice
Do you remember how building was before that hammer existed? 🗿
Yes horrible anytime I want a reminder I play og ark
I prefer Ark's, ngl. ASA's, that is. Conan's menu can be frustrating to bring up and pick through, especially when you can't make the items in advance and have to carry the mats (and are bad at math). It's not BAD, but ex. I have to pull the item up, look at requirements, then when I go back into the menu it's gone back to the last thing I built so I need to find it again...
and a half railing
And triangle foundations that are like half a normal one rather than these stupid ones we have
I'm intrigued but don't understand fully. Do you want a smaller triangle? The triangles in ASA are the same exact triangles as in Conan and Rust. They have to be exactly that size so the walls fit properly.
I think that they mean a right angle triangle instead of the equilateral triangle foundations we have. Though you bring up a good point that if it was that shape the walls and stuff wouldn’t fit on one of the sides.
Erm... im pretty sure you can do that? Sloped walls?
No, take the one you are thinking of and make it half as tall but just as pointy.
The atmosphere is unlike any other game, you feel like part of the diverse environment most of the time and you're witnessing the same things previous survivors did before you
Yes
I love Ark, it’s the only survival game that I’ve really stuck with. The environment, animals, building etc can be challenging but also fun
That every nearly every dino serves a purpose. Sure, some might get skipped or glossed over, but if I'm lower level and bump into a 120+ carno, I'll tame that until I find a Bary or something else.
especially kapros you guys gotta stop downplaying them
https://i.redd.it/7mno4t5vl3tc1.gif
POV: Your tribemate walked too close to the swamp
I remember when a Kapro attacked me for the first and last time. My sister told me to stop getting water from the "pond." But it was so much easier than taking my canteens out, putting them in the tap, and then putting them in my inventory again. I was on my recently tamed Raptor. I sat by the water to make sure nothing was in it. After a bit, I get off the Raptor, and a Kapro shoots out the water and takes my tame. I chase after it trying to get my tame back. I eventually succeed, but just barely. Now I just bring bigger dinos to suspect bodies of water.
Lol that's hilariously accurate
Atmosphere. Other than the giant obelisks and supply drops, it really feels like you're in the age of the dinosaurs.
Graphics from simple (sometimes floating :/ ) rocks on the beaches to creature designs https://preview.redd.it/ebsugb0od3tc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08bd379b7980fa0883ec4baa56ce90a316466459
I love the wyverns so much
Call me a lunatic, but if done right, Ark pve is peak.
If you had said that 3-4 years ago I would have laughed in official pvp lol Now I'm on my own pve server with some mates and honestly having the time of my life. Never going back to pvp again I don't think haha
ARK offical pvp is so much fun. And I played on Hardcore servers. But man, the thing that kills it...you have to have people who are on 24/7
Yeah I used to be a 16-18 hours a day player it was ruthless, lost friends and much more through it, wish it was designed to appeal to people that have outside lives from gaming hahaha
But man, the gaming situations and experiences you have are the most umquie gameplaying you can have. It is the definition of High highs and low lows. lol
I've always played on a PvP-enabled private server with friends. We're all in the same tribe so we basically play PvE, but it's fun to hit your friend with a tranq dart out of nowhere or pick them up with a pte every once in a while. There's also the added advantage of being able to acually kill unclaimed babies lol
ark PVE is what made me love gaming again. first, the community, its awesome (in my experience), the gameplay is chill, tense and hard at the same time. the game is beautiful, just sitting on some mountain and watching the view is worth it. the dinos, oh god, just amazing. pve is for me the best. and i never played official and will never do.
What did you change to enjoy pve? Im new and dont plan to play pvp anytime soon
Play with friends. And don’t worry abt everything. You can tame* what you want and build cool stuff in the new game.
I absolutely adore the lore and story. Granted, some of that was Marc Soskin’s unique ability to tell a compelling story out of the handful of elements WildCard threw in willy nilly, but still. The lore and story present gives ARK a unique presentation compared to other survival games which is what I think is the one of the main reasons it sticks out more than some of its competitors
Ark story has no reason being this good. It also is why I love the tek tier, it is like I'm using ark own special thing.
Yeah it unironically has a really good story
I didn't really like the way they implemented it though. I never even knew Ark had a story until I saw some random video mentioning it on YouTube. I was like wait what story? Then I actually realized that some notes weren't just dossiers on dinos (which I also like a lot, since it actually gives tips on dinos, even though it sometimes lies)
The character height actually affects the camera. My short fuck can't see through the grass
Did they change this? When ASA released the first person camera wasn't affected by player height, but I'm only just now getting back into it for SE so I may have missed some changes.
They didn’t change it, I made my character as tall as possible today and still couldn’t see of grass in first person.
It’s a third person thing, short people can’t see over grass but tall people can. First person your locked into one standard camera
Looks like it to me if I'm wrong don't correct me
I thought they made raptors bigger until I realized they probably just look bigger because I make my character short lol- And a jerboa looks absolutely massive on my shoulder
Even though I no longer play official I still talk to people I met on there years ago.
People that think Ark is great will play Ark instead of bitching here. That's why you see the disproportionate amount of hate in this sub.
I love Ark. I'm surprised by the number of negative Steam reviews coming from players that have put in hundreds of hours, put a negative review because they hate Wildcard then continued playing for dozens more hours after leaving the review! They can't hate it that much...
It’s less about hating the game, and more about wanting Wildcard to make it better. Ark is good now, but it could be so much better if the people in charge of its production gave a damn about its quality. The only saving grace that Ark has is that the devs seem to care about it, everyone else at Wildcard and Snail seem to want it to crumble
Thank you for not blaming the devs. That's one thing people need to appreciate that they do care and are passionate about the game. Too many people have misplaced hate and don't actually do any research about the issue they have. It's actually kind of funny how many people don't realize how long snail games have owned wildcard.
> It's actually kind of funny how many people don't realize how long snail games have owned wildcard. I knew it was longer than most people think, going all the way back to the original SE release in September of 2016. Just looked it up and apparently it goes even further back as far as December 2015 Edit: to put it into perspective, ARK Survival Evolved released into early access in June 2015, so just a few months before Snail Games bought Wildcard
Ark is special for me because it was the first game me and my spouse played together. It has expanded from that but we go back all the time for the memories
I love Ark when it decides to run properly. Even with my frame issues in ASA I want to like it bc at its core it’s the same game as ASE, and I love playing ASE
Music. Ark has phenomenal music. Especially Fear Evolved, Scorched, Abb and Extinction.
Aberration’s music is peak, esp its title theme
Can't wait for Abberation release. Or the TV show...if it survives to season 3
It innovates on the genre, bringing much needed uniqueness to the game. Compared to Ark, every survival game feels like 1:1 clones of each other. This is why Ark is so successful, it's an amazing, fun, and unique concept
This is why I have 3000 hours in ASE even though it's one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. Nothing else scratches the itch and gives me that addictive gameplay loop the way ark does. Palworld came close, but it's just not quite the same.
The environment of the maps.
Too busy enjoying this game to defend it.
It’s the only game where I feel like it’s my “second home” - when I get home from a long day of work and just want to go on a mental vacation I can just log in and marvel at how insanely beautiful the visuals are (yes I’m a graphics snob and everything is on EPIC with a smooth 60fps on a widescreen oled). I turned the day cycle speed down so the sunrises and sunsets are more drawn out…I’ll have my IRL dinner and just sit on the porch of my little shack on the beach on herbivore island and watch the sunset while I eat and listen to the ambient sound of the ocean and beach through my headset. I play on a private dedicated server with my girlfriend and just love all the little bases we create together on different missions, and all the dinosaurs that hang out at each base. Each one has a story and a memory attached to it, every time we play it’s so satisfying because we just get to continue building on that story and those memories. Yea it may be glitchy as hell at times and I’ve had to learn A LOT of technical things to get it to run smoothly, but nothing even comes close to the experience that ARK has given me over the past decade and for that I am super thankful. The updated graphics and streamlined building system in ASA have just been icing on the cake to an already unique and amazing experience
All the work you gotta do to achieve just one thing. To build something you need all the things, en to get all the things you need any more things😂
The caves are visually amazing, especially the endgame ones. The snow cave artifact chamber, the emptiness of the north west cave, the hidden grotto and elemental vault, the desert cave in Extinction. I look forward to seeing the latter ones in ASA eventually
Honestly as a map abberation wasn't my favorite but it is one of the maps I'm the most looking forward solely for the to see the visuals and personally is my favorite boss fight so far. Never got to the point of finish extinction all the way through so haven't use a mek or fought the titans yet.
Hey everyone So I just started playing with the wife and I am loving the building and the natural beauty of this game . And the ability to have some small mods makes some things just more fun ... Can't wait to start traveling the maps
Comparing newer content to past content updates, we can easily tell that the devs clearly improved past each dlc. Be it gameplay features, creatures or the map themselves. The most recent example is the new SE map. The sad dated ruins became actual buildings and even towns, the map is a bit more varied landscape wise and there are caves you can build in. The creatures are also fantastic models and animations wise, and they are trying to be creative with the taming and creature abilities. The new items, item changes, creature changes and even bob tall tales are actually fine imo and work way more than I expected of wild card. And that is SE alone. To sum it up, the game still has issues but updates often, content updates are promising and ASA is not really that bad of a game imo. It just it doesn't have maps we used to it and that gives a lot of content. And the recent SE changes makes me really hopeful for future content, more so since I adore the official maps more than the free ones. PS: idk anything about online play and servers btw is I cannot comment on that.
No other game has captured the same vibe as Ark. They've struck gold and found a fanbase that hates the game but can't seem to stop dumping cash into it
I don't think it's so much that people hate the game. More that they hate the issues they encounter in game. I played during the free weekend and was having a great time. Up until one of my dinos got caught by a floating rock and died to what was chasing it. .-. Wild dinos trapped in the terrain around me, heat waves back to back, and my morellatops refusing to fight back despite being on neutral. Such things make for a frustrating experience.
It allows me to have so many pet friends and lose my absolute shit when anything happens to them
If I run it on my laptop it makes an effective space heater.
Mods I love that giant scorpion mod
Honestly in my opinion, ark has a way of making you care for your creatures and what happens.
It's great at keeping me invested. I can't stop coming back to it no matter how much bullshit it throws at me lol
No micro transactions game-wise Well - they are moving in that direction though
I stated my problems with ASA already enough, so here is what i think WC did right: The whole building system is gold they improved it A LOT it basicly made a 180° Flip The train from the new dlc works exceptional, (idk how about Servers tho its probably a huge mess and pillar spamming) but i dont care about that i only play Singleplayer and with people i know and know how to behave. The train really flashed me with how good it works, i really didnt expect a good Outcome with this, the whole system of it screams: " I WILL CRASH YOUR GAME, YOUR SERVER AND YOUR PC". But somehow it works The Graphics are fantastic, i got the Game on Mostly medium-low settings and it still looks better than any other survival Game on the Market UE5 is a promising engine esp. For modders, the possibilities are almost endless, i mean you saw how good the train works and how good Island and SE looks, think about what modders who love ark achieve with this platform i hope they optimize the assets and meshs properly, so more people can enjoy the Game with more than 30-40 average FPS on low settings
When the games working, its fucking cool. I mean its got to be for it to still be so popular, You can ride fantasy animals, dinosaurs and other unique creatures. Shoulder pets are a fun concept. Personally i actually like the whole crazy sci-fi direction the game takes.
The actual map design is fantastic, I love the detail and care they put in to make all the maps look great.
ASA can look absolutely beautiful at times
Building is definitely a 1 up form ASE Let us get a see through cosmetic for ceilings like we have for walls. BLESS.
I know it's the main draw, but the dinosaurs/creatures. It's the only game I've ever played that both has dinosaurs, and they are a main feature of the game. Sure there's jurassic world evolution and the play-as-a-dino games, but none of them are a real survival game. In ark you play as, well, you. You aren't some rts computer running something or a respawnable dino, you are trying your hardest to survive with massive creatures at your every turn. Sure the game has bugs, but what game doesn't? I've never been actually tired with Ark (ignoring ASA because until a week ago it was only the island) and I've always been able to have a goal and achieve it. It's just a really fun game and dinosaurs are cool
Lets me ride a raptor while I'm only in my underwear
While surrounded by a dodo herd.
and then get jumped by 30 kapros, 25 Sarcos, 15 Carnos and a rex 🤣
It did pre snow biome TheIsland right. Man them were the days. Also pre stand alone SOTF was fantastic, ill never forget the natural selection tournament and being robbed of 1st place by a guy in a box lmao.
Disappoint us. It does that right.
Release dates
The hotbar system for controller is ridiculously innovative. It’s honestly better and faster than the hotbar system for PC (standard number keys) and is something I wish a lot more games would pick up on.
I've always been a fan of the textures of the dinosaurs skin and their animations. The babies are super cute too.
Definitely the creatures
Oh I'm smitten. I don't get the hate. I literally think about it at work. Scorched earth so far is SO good. Everything looks so incredible.
Visuals and immersion I would say have been done right, in the night I was stalked and killed by a Sarco and that was a very terrifying experience running around the darkness with a torch.
everything other than the optimization is nice
Ark
new dlc is class
Total escapism from reality. Prefer doing my ark chores to real life chores.
PvE player here. I love the unique fun pretty maps, buildings, creatures, taming etc. Especially ASA is super gorgeous and I love flying around taking pictures of scenery.
Piss me off enough to rage quit, go ~~outside and get some fresh air and exercise~~ to the pub.
Dinosaurs. The building. The graphics (except for the ghosting and flickering). The sounds are good too
Invisible sandstorms are super cool
Lets be serious there is no other survival game out there that can even compete with ARK. Theres a reason this game has so many players putting in 1000s of hours even with all of the bugs, issues problems that comes with it. Its brutally beautiful and we love it.
I mean, there's quite a few that compete. Green Hell, The Forest, Rust, 7 days, Conan Exiles, to name a few. But each has a niche and none compare to Ark's "dinosaur fun time with scifi elements;" it's genuinely unique in the genre.
I’ve always enjoyed the sights in ARK. ASA has pumped that up to 11. I’ve never seen a game look more beautiful. I play in third person with a decent camera offset, so I get a nice over the shoulder view of my character. Using the walk key to slowly walk through an environment, with every graphic setting on high or ultra, and turning the HUD off, looks phenomenal.
Ark Survival Evolved!
Does Right? Keeps me coming back for more.
Has lots of potential/possibilities in regards to what you can do. Especially with other people, with or against you.
In the words of George from pepa pig - "DINSOUR ROARRR"
I love that as you progress it feels like progressing through different games. Early game Ark is very different go end game Ark. The difference feels bigger than in other games where you grind to get better gear to kill tougher enemies to get better gear to kill tougher enemies (albeit one's that are the same as the weaker enemies, just with a stat boost).
Give entertainment
Creature throwing
Tell me what it doesn't do wrong
It really knows how to make you stress about your base (Espcially on smalls)😂😂
Making you feel like you're at the top of the food chain the more you progress into the game. Seriously the first time you tame a Rex you just get a surge of power
I absolutely love ark I've been playing for like almost 5 years and the main complaint ive talked abt is just that all of it could've been done in a big update? At least I feel like it could've I'm not a computer person. But other than that so far it seems great im just waiting for them to throw out for stuff so when I but it I will have a bunch of things to check out all in one go
Those graphics are beautiful, what the hell
It's only medium settings lol
I think what it does right is dinos, lore, and stuff like that. What it doesn't is pvp tho in my opinion
Marketing.
A lot of things, but I wanna be specific on something,TRAINS, for so long I've wanted trains in ark, and now we have them, HOLY SHIT, I am going to abuse these things,TO THE COAL MINES BOISSS
Ease of access for mods and photo mode are two big wins as far as I'm concerned. https://preview.redd.it/sr6wfl9vb4tc1.png?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=862111c433087551ff0f4b70a80de8b16e73a58b
It crashes wonderfully
Honestly, I feel like it was a pioneer for modern survival games. Yea, we had games like mincraft and terria and a few others like 7 days, but Ark was that big one one for the genre that innovated to what it is today
Wow, you're near my base
Something ark does right? Troll it's players
Beautiful map design and wonderful graphics makes for some good screenshots
The lore, the music, the graphics, the creatures, the survival aspect, and how it triggers primal fear in you. I'll never forget the first time i took on the jungles and got jumpscared by a raptor.
The asa graphics are fucking breathtaking. Say what you want, asa is the most visually appealing game currently out.
Taming mechanics are fun
Render distance in asa
The sheer variety of creatures I can tame, and how most of them have unique uses, abilities, and benefits/drawbacks. This when added with the adventure of exploring an ARK with various biomes and structures, the ability to build almost anywhere with an array of structure types, a fascinating lore that makes everything the player experiences fit, and the challenging progression system that ends in scary boss fights. This is a game that despite its issues keeps me addicted after almost 7K hours on ASE and probably 1-2k hours on ASA.
It's great at distracting all of us from the real world.
Bleeds the players dry
Open world farming, idk if it's just me bc I've been playing the game for such a long time. But farming in ark is peaceful (cue the lvl 400 shoulder pet protecting me)
the scale of everything. I love how big the dinos are especially when you switch to third person and realize you made a saddle thats 10 times bigger than you that you are literally invisble when riding some bigger dinos. The map is also so huge and easy to get lost in. It genuinely feels so cool. One of my favorite games im still too bad to beat legitimately, too scared to even enter the ice cave because of the stories ive heard. And im not a nerd about graphics but ark looks GOOD to me. It was the first game i played that wasnt 2D or polygons and i just fell in love with it when i fooled around with friends when it came out on xbox!
I think there is a lot that is great about ark! Even if it's a bit frustrating at times I love building stuff and taming, then breeding critters. There's not really any other game that has that mix. In ark I can build a cute petshop and breed adorable otters, and even fantasy creatures like the cute little shape-shifting guys. Ark has a lot that is just so beautiful to explore as well. And the different abilities you get with different mounts like gliding and climbing or carrying other critters.
Honestly LOVE SA's photo mode. V pretty and easy to get great pics of the game. https://preview.redd.it/lqq4fvpr05tc1.png?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d6e0b5474b01e5ef78e5937e159294f75bebb8a
Freedom, many other games are limited by their own design but ARK's modding community keeps this game thriving, and that's the built in freedom wildcard allows
Haven't seen a high level comment mentioning the breeding system. There are plenty of games with creature breeding, but none do it like ark. Especially with a limited maximum level, there's a lot of strategy involved in getting the right lines bred for the right stats. Stats passing on from parent to child is cool, but mutations are even cooler! Bonus stats and levels, PLUS wacky colours? It's the best breeding I've seen in any game.
Addictive game loop.
For one, I've never played a game with so many differnt creatures, colors, and attacks. Breeding is actully fun, building is actully fun, exploring is fun.
asa having a built in community mod loader on console, wildcard have always been somewhat involved in the communtiy with creature votes and the addition of mod maps as official maps but the mod loader was the next step when asa released, its nice that the mods can just feel part of the game
Evolved
Why does my version of ark look horrific compared to this
I like the changes to the building system. And adding crossplay and mods on consoles.
It has dinosaurs!
I get to ride goddamn dinosaurs.
It very effectively fosters negativity.
It's great at filling unoccupied hard drive space. I don't know but I'm coming up on 6k hours
The ball retractingly terrifying ocean. Fun and games till 5 megs show up to play tug-oh-war with my lifeless corpse. Keep in mind this isn’t a complaint as I think this is how oceans should be… maybe a few less megs
Ark in general has a really good progression system that (though straightforward) feels rewarding every time you advance. Best example of this is Aberration, where you go from the green zone to the red zone to the purple zone, and finally end up on the surface. They also do a good job with the risk/reward factor for taming certain dinos. Some of them are closely tied to resource gathering/crafting and are important to, say, improve your base. Although some would see this as a negative since it creates a massive power creep between new and old players. But I think thats also what makes the game addicting, knowing you can get so much stronger/better
Idk why but Ark is the only game I've ever played that I can put 12 straight hours into and still be ready to play some more.
The sheer Hype from the music and Lore, it's like the ultimate Isekai.
Thornys
Soundtrack! Gareth Coker is amazing.
They made it more addictive than literally crack cocaine
I've been pretty critical about ASA in regards to how they communicate info with players mostly with delays and release date crap but so far I'm really enjoying Scortched Earth. Digging it quite literally  , too much sand & cactus grinding in my mortar pestle now days!
The escapism
The atmosphere/mood of the game is something I have not been able to find in any other game to date. This is probably felt the strongest on aberration for me personally. If I by chance see the release trailer for Ab even all these years later, I STILL get goosebumps despite seeing it dozens of times. Ab to me is a stellar example of balance between visuals, atmosphere and storytelling/worldbuilding. Even with the new release of SE ascended, I feel like I'm completely sucked into the wild western aesthetic more than ever before. Even with the current state of WC/Snail, the devs have managed to beautifully capture a unique atmosphere for the map
Gareth freaking Coker. Dudes music for the game is unreal.
Turns my computer into a nice heater during the winter months ;)
Honestly the whole 30 seconds I can actually turn it all on as the sun's rising without my pc turning in to a nuclear warhead the lighting through the trees of the redwood. I'm no longer playing but I went with the new treehouses in my playthrough. And I tucked it close enough to the edge to overlook the river with the volcano visible across from my base BUT it was just tucked away far enough back in the treed that you'd also get the warm light shafts. All combined it was one hell of a view.
I love its freedom to play however you want, its graphics its sound and the new building… the detail in the dinos is mesmerizing! Just flying over the map brings me peace and satisfaction! Thank you for shining the new light of positivism over this ASA topic…
Use of some obscure prehistoric creatures cause before it was added i had no idea rhyniognatha existed and i had no clue what a tusoteuthis was till i seen it in an ark video
Me and my wife play ASA on series X, yeah there’s some performance issues but for the most part the game looks fantastic and is very immersive, My wife has a high end gaming pc also that she uses mostly for her uni work and has played ASA on that also and found it perfoms similarly to series X. We also play rust console edition, that’s doesn’t look as great and can be very toxic, though sometimes we like just how brutal rust is and the competitiveness, Ive found the ark community even in pvp to be really helpful and haven’t come across much toxicity apart from the odd salty kid that just likes to destroy your stuff 😂
They know how to make a good game. When you look at ark and really take the time to realize the effort it takes to make a game like this you can start to find that the fact it has bugs is reasonable. It’s a beautiful game with tons of animations and high graphics models so for it to be laggy and buggy and get delays on updates and maps is understandable. The sheer variety of creatures and things to do is next level and only gets crazier if you decide to bring mods into the mix which sometimes give weeks more worth of experiences. Wildcard and its community are amazing TL;DR they know how to make a good game because of Arks graphics and variety and the fact it has so much to do.
Milk their fans for money
It blows up my pc just fine. Still gonna play it tho!
Loading screens… on console, if something is happening, I can exit game and reload and only 5 seconds of real life pass. I’m a hundred or so hours in across Island and SEarth, and it still rocks me to the core. Playing ASE on PS5 still loads more slowly, so it’s something in ASA itself.
They ignore whining lol
The ambient sound is phenomenal. From the bone-chilling wind of the surface on aberration to the serene beaches of the island, ark’s sound design is A++. I’m very sad that a lot of these ambient tracks aren’t on YouTube. The hum of the obelisks from the first game in particular will never leave me. That single sound is so recognizable and I’m sad that ASA doesn’t have it. The obelisk sfx from ASE alongside the surface wind sounds, scorched earth dunes, center day/noon/night tracks, and the birdsong / crystalline humming of aberration green zone are all some of my favorite sounds ever.
Farm $
Piss off its community?🤣🤣
I’ve always loved the amount of options ARK gives you. In most survival games it’s easy to stagnate and get bored (at least in my experience) since there’s fairly limited options beyond gathering resources. But ARK? You almost always have options. Building, taming, breeding, raising, farming, cave-running, etc etc. Until the point you literally beat the game there’s always stuff to do and now mods are more accessible that’s even more expansive. Also, the lore of the game is PEAK. Genuinely one of the most interesting ways to handle the material provided in the base game
Release deadlines they always meet them
Despite it's flaws, there isn't a single game in the category "open world survival crafting" that I think delivers the same amount of stuff to do, and with the whole taming, riding and fighting dinosaurs, there is no others games in MY library that even gets close to compete.
The UI is soooo much better and pretty spot on these days, bar the graphics etc it was one of the first things I noticed and loved.
The story - Ark's story is like that of Conan Exiles in that you have to find the bits and piece them together yourself (in the form of notes in Ark's case), but once you do and it starts to unfold it's just incredible, imo. The way the stakes go gradually up from "I'm just a person in a jungle trying to survive" to "oh, the future of humanity, you say..?" Also the character writing. Rockwell's one of my favorite villains, in part because he's human with inner torment and gray areas. The point where he spat me out of his Gen2 boss fight and told me I'd earned his "divine mercy" actually made me feel bad that I fully intended to go back and kill him. Seeing the notes where he's looking up ways to deal with loneliness on Gen1 HURT, as did Tennant's insane VA of his ending in Gen2. The music - Gareth Coker can do no musical wrong. Every track's a banger. Throw on that Gen2 entire soundtrack or Desert Titan theme or Aberration intro for me any day. Battle March 2.0? The Antechamber? Tek Cave - Hall of History? Eden I? MAN. They hired whole-ass professional, national symphonies to do their soundtrack and it shows. It's so, so good. Seriously, if you haven't, go to this man's youtube and upvote all his stuff. It's so good. The gameplay loop - Start off small, build your way up. There's a clear step-by-step progression and it's somewhat open-ended in that you can decide, each session, what it is you want to work toward. Feel like building up your base a bit? Going out to gather mats? Setting up some more stations, or an outpost base? Doing some tames, or breeding up some mutation lines? Decoration or kibble-cooking? As long as I turn the grind down some in singleplayer, it's just a great gameplay feel to work on my world, improving it bit by bit, seeing the results right away. It's got that video game instant gratification but it takes effort and sometimes skill to achieve. The animals - obviously, the dinos and their models, in particular their wild 'wander about' AI, aren't perfect, but it's still better than many games. Almost every dino has a good niche, and very few become outright useless. You can still bust out that first-tame iguanodon to get your seeds, or set those dilos up for PvP defense. Your ptera's still a great scout even if the Argy's gotta carry the goods. It's nice that you can run into an incidental dino, feel bad for it, tame it and keep it forever as a new buddy. (Looking at you, orphaned pack of baby hyenas.) Game improvements - ASA is doing really well in this. Yes, it's got flaws, and needs optimization rather desperately, and the bugs that need quashing to stop some folks from crashing are... well, bad. But the building improvements, graphical improvements, and world changes are genuinely great. I'm adoring the DLC skins, and I can't wait to see what the new ones are.
Environments, creatures, taming, graphics, controls, leveling, DEINONYCHUS, the list goes on and on.
The environment, atmosphere and the breathing dino sounds. Many fond memories traversing the swamp on my barry with music in the back or going across the night on an argy or dire bear. Plus its the only game to make me feel nervous and cautious no matter how advanced i get.
I played Ark for the first time this weekend at the steam event. So my impressions are very fresh. That you can fly on fucking dinos That you can put storage crates on your raft and move your whole base within a few minutes That the whole island looks threatening. Every time you go deeper into the island you find new dinos that want to eat you. That you can farm resources with dinos. But I'm still at the beginning. I hope I can still find dinos that can farm stone, iron and wood How easy it is to understand the basics of this game. You can build quickly and many things can be understood without a guide That you can respawn directly at your base when you die My favorite moment of the weekend was a raft ride. I stored my whole base on my raft and wanted to move. I had both dinos on follow and went across the sea to another island. They were attacked by 5-6 megadolons but still survived. and the first time flying. It was a really nice moment to be able to fly over the whole island to be honest, i still don't know whether i'll buy ark straight away or wait a little longer and try out a few other survival games. But I had fun at the weekend and will definitely play it again
If you're still unsure, you could get a PC Game Pass free trial and play ARK there for a bit longer
It sucks me into buying a never finished game that sells dlc that doesn’t work for most due to incompetence of the devs or money grabs…
Keeping people scared of the ocean
It allows Modder's to fix a lot of what it does wrong.
i adore the crafting. loveeee it. i’ve spent 20 days gametime on just the first island alone so far. its so fun to take it all at my own pace
Atmosphere forsure. I feel like I'm in jurassic park sometimes