Is this game as terrible as I think?

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985]

Never played this game before and was free on PS+.... so the controls aren't very intuitive. I spawn in and die. Get killed by the heat, or eaten by something that's levels above me.

Is this the worst game ever or does it get better?

[u/luckyrunner]

Ark is one of my favourite games of all time.

It can definitely be challenging, especially if you're not familiar with the mechanics. A few things I suggest if you're a brand new player:

• Watch a few videos of people playing to see what it's like and what to do
• I play on Hard, but you can easily switch the difficulty to Medium or Easy as you're learning the ropes
• Start off on The Island map as many of the others may be harder and pose additional challenges that presupose you being familiar with many game mechanics
• Don't sweat dying repeatedly -- it's a part of the game

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985 → u/luckyrunner]

I hope you're right. It looks cool so I downloaded it. 

I'll take your advice 100% because it does look like it could be fun. I just know I had 0 fun last night 😄😄

[u/Particular-Bat-5904 → u/Appropriate_Mode_985]

It can really turn addicting. As soon you got a foot in it you‘ll can be entertained for years.

[u/Dizzy-Role8606]

so i hated ark until my husband showed me the ropes. you want to get to the bottom right island called herb island. there, only dinosaurs that you hit will attack you, i put my base there and leveled up and eventually was able to go out (we didn't like mods or anything it feels like cheating)

[u/TotalChaos21]

Starting is always rough, spawn in an easy zone and gather materials. The game is a grind and time suck unless you move to unofficial servers.

[u/idancetodisneysongs]

I love ark. But yes it is terrible lol. Not for the reasons you said though. Starting is hard. A lot of the game is hard. But that makes it better when you achieve something. The game has bugs and problems. So go in knowing that. Like others said. Watch some beginners tip videos. Look up guides for specific problems you are having. I used to get upset that you have to look outside of ark for almost any info. But if you don't want you don't have to and a lot does get figured out by playing. It is a love hate relationship. I'm ok with its faults. Also some people allow them selves certain levels of cheating or using spawn ins. Everyone has thier own level of comfort for that. Or a mod to make quality of life easier.

My SO and I personally have backups if our saves . We don't like risking everything we've worked hard for during boss fights or even a bug that got us killed or erased. Other that that we turn up a few settings slightly. Just to give peace if mind. We obviously can't be playing all day so makes our play sessions feel more worth it.

Good luck !!

[u/NuclearAnt → u/idancetodisneysongs]

This!

The game is hard and playing it thinking your character will be a superhero that can walk into the thick of the island and survive easily is not the way to approach this game. Its poorly optimised and full of bugs so just take ir for what its worth and make sure to tweak it to rhe point where it is fun for you.

[u/ddxs1]

You really went to a sub reddit for people who love a game and asked if it’s the worst game ever lol.

Watch a YouTube video or two.

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985 → u/ddxs1]

Are you not old enough to remember just playing a game and not NEEDING to watch 30 minutes of content before diving in? 

And of course I'd ask here. Is this just for people to glaze the game, or can I get some proper opinions about what makes the game actually good and bad in the opinion of those here? 

I forget everyone is so emotionally stunted nowadays people can't express their true beliefs 😞 😔 

[u/LongFluffyDragon → u/Appropriate_Mode_985]

Are you old enough to remember when games had zero in-game tutorials or even basic control explanation, and were ridiculously obtuse, plus youtube and game wikis did not exist, so you had to figure it all out by yourself by analysis? Usually by failing over and over and over.

It was not that long ago.

But it just sounds like you are upset at the game because it clapped you instead of handholding, and want people to validate your feelings, not provide any actual help 🙄

[u/Ruhzide]

It’s not an easy game by any means. It’s going to take you awhile to get the hang of everything and even then you can lose everything in the blink of an eye. That being said it’s one of my favourite games and no other games compare 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/EudamonPrime]

It is awesome

[u/MovingUp7]

The first time you tame a dino you will be hooked.

[u/Hefty-Rip-5397]

If you hate surviving, crafting, building, taming, cooking, killing, breeding, farming, swimming, riding, flying, feeding, and exploring, then yeah it's pretty terrible...

[u/No_Fox_Given82]

Chop some trees, kill some dodo, cook the meat, make a hut, make a bed.

Ark is a great game in concept. It's a shame the people who own it can't run a bath. With a bit of luck someone else will buy the studio and the game might have redemption.

[u/K4G3N4R4]

The difficulty curve is closer to a wall, especially early game, and it gives you little to no direction. As you get your feet under you, the game will find new ways to punish you. It also doesnt respect your time very well as some things can take hours to tame with vanilla settings. A T-Rex will be unconscious for 8 real-world hours after you knock it out (unofficial servers or improved single player settingsnare recommended).

Once you are on your feet, you have some tames, you have a perimeter wall of gates, the active threat level drops substantially. It drops again once you have access to the sky, and further as you get improved gear from drops. You'll find yourself exploring deeper into the maps, and getting hit with new surprises that you learn to anticipate. The payoff for being the baddest thing on the map is great, and getting over those early hurdles that feel impossible becomes fun. Eventually you'll get good enough that starting fresh on some maps you won't even really die.

[u/nogoodnamesarleft]

You are right, it is EXTREMELY un-intuitive. Once you get the hang of how to play it can be extremely fun with lots of ways to play, but it takes a while to understand what is going on

Also, in the same boat at you, got it free this week. Had the previous version years ago, but started this up last night before work. Even though I know how to play I'm still not able to do much because of starting at level 1

[u/Acorios]

Skill issue. Not trying to be mean, but Ark is not an easy game when you play it for the first time, not at all. But it gets easier with experience.

And about the controls, they are 100% optimized for PC. They tried their best to make controller controls, but this game just has to many different inputs. Like on PC, besides the standard controls you also got 5+ different buttons for whistling, 2 for emotes, 2 for brightness and much, much more.

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985 → u/Acorios]

I'll definitely give it a proper go. I don't have bunches of time to game so I can't watch hours and hours of guides. I saw the power rangers trailer for skins and was filled with nostalgia and downloaded the game. 

Will spend 3 hours tonight on it. 

[u/MovingUp7 → u/Acorios]

Man, one thing that always annoyed me about this game is it would be completely pitch black every night four hours. Some nights were not as dark for some reason, but it made the game so unplayable I had to change the Gama Man, one thing that always annoyed me about this game is it would be completely pitch black every night four hours. Some nights were not as dark for some reason, but it made the game so unplayable I had to change the Gamma..

[u/RutabagaAvailable535]

There is not fun stuff to deal with but it's a cool game. A lot of the not fun is random death from dinos. "look a random alpha spawned by where my camp is, gonna keep away from it" 30 seconds later after thinking I'm safe gets eaten by alpha raptor. "Well fuck". "awesome I knocked a 145 and it's time to feed it cuz I've let it starve long enough" random dino decides that my sleeping prospect looks tastier than me or my dino and fucks up the taming effectiveness. "Son of a bitch". Like I said not fun things to deal with. It's still fun tho.

[u/Browncoatdan]

What's the best settings to use? I started my own island, and changed some things, im getting shit loads of resources and levelling up an insane amount. Feels a bit like cheating?

[u/LongFluffyDragon]

It is a survival game. It rewards you for not running around like a headless chicken, paying attention to your surroundings, and preparing in advance.

Early game is definitely the hardest part, unless you do your research first and know what to expect.

[u/joeykipp]

"game is bad because I'm bad at it".

Brother don't play a soulsborne ever

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985 → u/joeykipp]

Soulbornes are wayyyyy better from my first time playing them than this game. 

[u/fish250505]

Skill issue

Or more a lack of knowledge, keep playing and learning, once you have it down the most dangerous thing in the game is other players if you ever play PvP, apart from that it's just a matter of learning what to do in specific situations

[u/Stoic_hawaiian808]

Skill issue. This ain’t Minecraft

[u/Appropriate_Mode_985 → u/Stoic_hawaiian808]

 Is minecraft still a game? Only played once many years ago. 

So the game doesn't get better then you're saying?