Long time no see

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slugmeister
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Long time no see

Post by slugmeister »

It really has been a long time. I checked, and I have been on this forum since Jun 14, 2009! :o I'm not even in Minnesota anymore, I'm now in South Dakota. I seem to recall playing this game before it was even officially released, although that could be false. It is safe to say I am well acquainted with the transition of TheHunter series over time. I played what is now called Classic for years, and got to see it grow. I still remember when there was only one map, about 3 guns, and everything was yet to be discovered. I remember when I could win whitetail competitions, because I knew a spot on what I called the "south island" of whitehart, before they changed the map. I also remember early on when when animals were scarce, and hunting was tough as nails, then it was changed so animals were everywhere, and back and forth over time.

Well over time I drifted from the game, and no longer had a computer that could do it justice. Eventually Call of the Wild came out, and I was rather impressed by that. I'm not much of a techie, and I like my consoles. I was playing on a PS4. I unfortunately found that COTW was poor from the start. I've always liked my shotguns, well, when COTW first came out, you could get to 10 yards with the O/U, blast both shots into a deer, and watch it run away unharmed. It patterned so crazy, you only got a hit or two on a deer no matter how close you got. I found that birdshot was better than buckshot on deer! :o So I, like many others, grinded for weeks until we could unlock the pump action. For whatever reason, the pump action patterned buckshot extremely well, and you could drop deer on the spot at 50 yards easy with it. It was great... for a few months. Then they tweaked everything again. They made the O/U better, but they also made the pump action worse. Now we were, and still are back to buckshot being pretty useless. When the Africa map was released, I found nothing I unlocked could kill buffalo. That is until I learned that the 357 magnum with hardcast was super penetrating. It could double lung a buffalo at just about any distance. That was cool, for about a month, then they nerfed that gun too. The buckshot has never penetrated. You can get a single lung sometimes, but that is about it. Usually it is a flesh wound. Slugs are ok I guess. The muzzleloader is weak, and it is dumb they are calling the minie ball the upgrade. Obviously the guys who designed this, have never shot a muzzleloader. minie ball is an expedient for war, meant to shoot longer distances than a round ball, yet load easily. They are not, and never have been known for their accuracy. Usually they shoot rather poor. They also are a pointed round, and while a large diameter, would not create that big of a wound. The patched round ball on the other hand has always been the gold standard of accuracy. In real life, I've shot many deer, and a black bear with a 54 caliber rifle and a round ball. The ball passed through every one of them, and turned their lungs to jelly in the process. Here is a non-important pet peeve of mine, in the graphics for the ammo, the handgun "jacketed soft nose" bullets are clearly cast bullets. And the "hard cast" bullets are clearly jacketed soft nose. I've shot a number of deer in real life with a 357 magnum and cast bullets. They zip right through just about anything. Now they have changed it so the 357 can only double lung a deer at extremely close range, and usually only single lung. The 44 magnum with hard cast is better, but still not realistic. One thing really irking to me is that animals either die right there, or run a LONG ways. I've shot my fair share of big game in real life. It is not that common to have them drop on the spot unless you hit the spine. They also rarely run more than 50 yards on a double lung shot. In the game, I'm having to track them for 500 yards or more sometimes. Speaking of spine hits, in the game, I've had multiple times I have hit the spine or even the brain, and had the animal run! Look, I'm not a doctor, but I know if you take out the spine, the animal can not use it's back legs, and can't run. And the brain thing, wow. If you hit the brain, you have instantly killed the animal. Brain hits need to be instantly fatal, every time. Spine hits really should have another animation for downed, but not dead animal.

Long story short, the guns on COTW are ridiculously weak. The bows are way to strong. Bows are more powerful than the guns in the game! I always have been a real life hunter, I've seen with my own eyes what bullets will do on animals, and it is outrageous how useless the guns in COTW are. I try and reason that it is just a game, but every time I make a perfect broadside shot with my muzzleloader, and it only gets the one lung, and doesn't reach the heart, I have to turn it off. The bows and firearms of Call of the Wild is a failure, plain and simple. Someone has to say it. The entire lineup, top to bottom needs to be revamped.

So that is enough criticism of COTW. I would like to get back into classic. I do not have a gaming computer at the moment. As I said, I'm no tech expert. I can read minimum requirements, and that's about all I care to get into it. I realize I can make just about any computer work for me, however, I'm looking for one to serve as a console. I want to use a PS4 controller, and use my TV as the monitor. I obviously want to run TheHunter classic, but I would also like it to be able to run some of the more modern games as well. Can anyone recommend a computer to me? I have no interest in putting one together myself.
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BCKidd
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Re: Long time no see

Post by BCKidd »

Hey, Slugmeister- good to see you poppin' in. Yeah, I have played CoTW too and actually just started playing it again after about a year. I totally agree with your criticism of CoTW. It could be a good game, but for me theHunter Classic plays better. I find CoTW gets boring after about a week or so. I'm not too computer savvy either, so I couldn't offer you any suggestions on a good 'puter to play Classic, nonetheless it is truly awesome to see ol' veterans returning to the Classic, even if they simply pop in and say "hello". ;) Respect,

BCKidd.


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slugmeister
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Re: Long time no see

Post by slugmeister »

I can't believe I forgot the big reason I want to get back into classic, and that is bird hunting. Turkeys were introduced in what is now called classic real early on. It wasn't until much, much later that it is what it is now with decoys and calls and such, but it was always very fun. Pheasants were always great, I think they came with the second map. Ducks and geese were one of the biggest releases in classic that I remember, at least to me. It is so much fun. COTW missed the mark on every count for birds. Turkey hunting is no fun, and duck hunting, wow. COTW duck hunting is horrible. I sometimes play an old PC game called bird hunter wild wings, from 2003, and it has much better animation and realism than COTW.

I can't wait to see what classic has added to bird hunting since I left. I seem to recall I quit playing classic shortly after duck hunting was introduced. I got the gold pump shotgun by guessing the winner of soccer that year. After that, I haven't followed classic very closely.
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HooCairs
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Re: Long time no see

Post by HooCairs »

Welcome back slugmeister! :)

Sounds like you left around 2014, so you have some catching up to do. This may help as an overview:
https://thehunter.fandom.com/wiki/Release_History

At the time CotW released waterfowling I was ready to do some videos for my Youtube channel as I expected great things. Basically all the good things from Classic, but improved. I could not do a single footage of anything worth showing as being fun, or well done, or just remotely realistic. I think this is when I stopped playing really. Watching some vids afterwards on ducks and geese, it seems you better use rifles and handguns on the slow motion flocks. Anyway, I couldn't care less. If you enjoy waterfowling in Classic, after the mallard and canada goose, they added three more duck species in that Rougarou Bayou reserve, and also two more goose species, each in its own reserve. They also added ptarmigans which are again well done and a challenge on their own.

Latest game addition are the daily missions, check them out for some good money, in addition to the regular missions.
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slugmeister
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Re: Long time no see

Post by slugmeister »

2014 looks about right. I remember when the deployable wood tower stands came out, but I don't think I ever used any. More birds, and small game like rabbits and hares. This should be good.

I'm looking at an Acer Nitro 50 now.

Intel I7 processor
16GB ram
256 GB storage
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060

It seems to exceed all the recommended levels for playing well. I'd like to play this with everything maxed out, which I've not done before. Back when I was playing this, I'm fairly sure I had everything set to low.
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mel_o_mel
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Re: Long time no see

Post by mel_o_mel »

That computer should do fine, but 256 GB of Storage is really low.

It sounds like you're going to have tons of fun hunting rabbits, ptarmigan and pheasants with the German Pointer. I do :)
Have a MeLLoW Day 8-)
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Mercious
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Re: Long time no see

Post by Mercious »

I play on an old system I built for fps competitive play back in 2010, runs this game on full settings just fine. I get some sounds problems on occasion, to lazy to dig around and find out why, but that system should run this game with out any problems maxed out. welcome back.

/edit, you should really put one together your self, its really easy and cost effective. or, go to a chop shop and pick out all the parts and have them assemble it for you. you should only buy a brand/store build of its the only thing available to you.
“Even though time on the job is temporary, if I do a good enough job, my work there might last forever.”
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jttoo
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Re: Long time no see

Post by jttoo »

Slugmeister, the Smoking Barrels DLC weapons pack has the M1 Iwaniec .30-06, and it is a really good gun for that game. It is about the only rifle I used in that game, before getting tired of COTW and coming over here to Classic. If you ever go back to COTW pick up that DLC when it goes on sale.

The thing that killed COTW for me was the broken goose hunting. The geese simply stopped spawning, and the way I was able to 'fix' it was to reset my animal population files. Once I did that, it fixed the goose spawn problem but it also spawned a whole new set of mythicals, and that kinda broke the game for me. Plus, I have leveled up almost all the way, and the diamond hunting just didn't spur my interest. I really prefer the leveling mechanism in Classic where you have to work on each species and weapon.

One impressive feature in COTW is the need zone pathing and also the behavior modeling of the varmints like the foxes and coyotes. They are very cunning, and do a good job of hunting YOU when you try and call them in. Hunting those was a nice challenge.

The mechanic where bows are more deadly than guns in both games is simply broken, IMHO. It should perhaps be the other way around. I'm not a hunter IRL (or more accurately, not a 'successful' hunter IRL) so I don't know whether deer, elk, foxes and coyotes can realistically shrug off body shots, and walk around like nothing happened, but from what I know, anything successfully hit with a bullet should eventually bleed out, like the arrows in the game do. I'm sure this has been argued back and forth many times over the past 11 years, but I haven't seen or read anything yet that justifies the body shot insta-healing that happens in the game.
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jttoo
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Re: Long time no see

Post by jttoo »

slugmeister wrote:More birds, and small game like rabbits and hares. This should be good.
If you like hunting rabbit and pheasant, invest in the German Pointer. That dog really makes small game a lot of fun!
slugmeister
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Re: Long time no see

Post by slugmeister »

I have every single weapon pack in COTW, and I too found the M1 about the best rifle in the game. It doesn't hurt that I'm a big time M1 and M14 fan. Still, the 30-06 round in the game is underpowered. Deer is nothing, but once you get to moose size animals, it is usally a one lung tracking job again. I guess now that I think of it, the drilling with 9.3x74r is a great rifle in the game, and is about the only thing I like to hunt the real big animals with. The 10 gauge with slugs is decent too, but wow is that ammo expensive.

So yes, there are ways to make COTW playable, but no, it still fails miserably in weapon realism. You are correct in that a bow should not be dropping animals on the spot. I'm not much of a bow hunter. I simply enjoy shooting muzzleloaders and shotguns more. The thing with bows, is they are nothing but an aimed knife. They cut a 1 1/4" or however wide your broadhead is slit, and that is that. Animals generally react rather gentle verses a bullet. They often jump at the shot, but then just walk or trot off, and die shortly later. It's as though they are spooked by the noise, but can't really feel anything. It isn't unusual for whitetail to trot off 100 yards and bed down before dying after taking an arrow through both lungs. The good thing with arrows, is they are superbly lethal to just about anything. The other good thing is they leave great blood trails. People talk about blood trails with guns, but it's usually nothing compared to what an arrow will do. Bullets on the other hand are not subtle. I'll use whitetail deer again, as most every hunter has shot at least one. With a bullet, if you double lung them, they usually know they are hit, you can see them react, then they run of before falling over. Often they stumble, or maybe even stop before falling right over. They rarely make it more than 50 yards. The downside to firearms is that they don't leave much of a blood trail, however since they don't go as far on a good shot, it rarely matters. The other thing with bullets is caliber matters, unlike a bow, which is not as critical as many believe. A 30# draw bow is no less lethal to a deer than a 70# draw bow. The broadhead and arrow matter more than the bow. Firearms on the other hand do. A 22-250 for example with something like a 55 gr bullet at say 3700 fps (don't quote me), can drop a deer like the hammer of thor if you shoot it behind the shoulder, into the lungs. The hole it leaves can be tremendous, often larger than fist size if it exits. Often you find a bullet, or bullet fragments against the far side skin. That same bullet on lets say an elk, and you shoot it too far forward, it might turn the front shoulder into hamburger, and not even reach the vitals. It would break that leg, and likely allow another shot, but it would not be pretty. I doubt anyone hunts elk with a 22-250. On the other hand a 357 magnum is now only considered a good starting point for deer size animals, at least since the internet made it weaker. With something like a 180 grain cast bullet at 1300 fps, it will penetrate like you wouldn't believe. I've never shot an elk with one, but I have no doubts at all that it would go in one side, and out the other unless you hit major bone. The downside to a round like that, is it only leaves a finger sized hole all the way through. It is not likely to put animals down on the spot unless you hit spine, or shoulders. It doesn't have to though, even with a comparatively small hole, the animals bleed out inside so fast, they again rarely make it more than 50 yards.

Then we could get into the crux of the problem for COTW, and that is penetration. Whitetails are not hard targets. They are frail and weak compared to bullets and arrows. Just about anything will pass clean through them, and everything will at least go through the chest and stop on the skin on the far side. This BS with bullet penetrating to one lung, that does not happen in the real world. Lungs are like thick Jello. You can poke a finger through them. They don't stop bullets or arrows. Bones stop bullets and arrows. Single lung hits are common enough from poor shots, but I've NEVER seen a good broadside shot that stopped in that same lung. For an extreme example. Tim Wells shot a black bear with a BLOWGUN, and went through not just one lung, but also the heart, and killed it. He recorded it, and posted it to Youtube to see yourself. For the record, black bear are comparable to whitetails. They might be even easier to kill, since their ribcage is farther back than a deer. When I hunt black bear, I use a "middle of the middle" hold, which feels like gut shooting if you are not used to it. Both COTW and Classic have it wrong. A black bears heart is a good 4"-6" BEHIND the rear edge of the shoulder.

Back to the computer thing, I've been out of gaming a while. While never a tech junkie, my big gaming era was around 2000-2010. When I worked on my computers, you got something like a 128 GB hard drive, and that's the way it was. Some time in the late 2000's when online/multiplayer gaming really took off it seems things in the computer world really changed. Now with everything in manufacturing going crazy, it seems computers were no different. It seems there is a world wide graphics card shortage, with no relief in the near future. After pricing components, it is currently cheaper to buy a pre-built, than to put one together myself. After a lengthy discussion with my computer literate brother, and who has built every computer he owned, he recommended a particular pre-built. He also recommended I change the hard drive to a 2 TB. Now it seems there are infinite options for hard drives. Tons of capacities, technologies, SSD vs HDD, etc. Everything is watercooled now. Don't even get me started on how different the games themselves have become since my PS1 and PS2 golden age. I'm no fan of the expansive story, online multiplayer platforms that have become the norm.
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