I have a full time job. I am also married and have a teenage daughter. I own my home and do not live in a basement. However I find time to play the game. It can feel grindy at times I will admit but you can go at your pace. Don't want to plant a big garden then don't. Don't want to update all your gear and weapons then don't. Don't want to build a big base then don't. Want to try to go with the minimalist gear then do. Want to sail all day then do. Want to mod it up and make it less grindy then do. You decide how you play. Buy it you wont regret it.

Originally posted by Kalysm:

I have a full time job. I am also married and have a teenage daughter. I own my home and do not live in a basement. However I find time to play the game. It can feel grindy at times I will admit but you can go at your pace. Don't want to plant a big garden then don't. Don't want to update all your gear and weapons then don't. Don't want to build a big base then don't. Want to try to go with the minimalist gear then do. Want to sail all day then do. Want to mod it up and make it less grindy then do. You decide how you play. Buy it you wont regret it.

"don't want to play the game, than don't" xD

I think I'll pass, I hate grindy games, they feel boring, and I have enough boring chores to deal irl already lol

It's a survival game that's grindy if you want to progress. If you just want to chill and build houses, you don't have to do all that much to get there. Advancement comes with new crafting items for making your houses look better. It's one of those "get what you put in" experiences. If you want a good preview for guys like us who aren't really into the survival genre, Jaboody Dubs over on YouTube have a great video about Valheim. They don't try too hard or act like they want to be the best - they're just having fun in the video, and it got me to buy the game.

Originally posted by Hu.ok.Mun:

I love norse mythos and stuff, played some games that go into this type of fiction to death, never touched AC valhalla because it feels cheap and ridiculous (besides it's from ubisoft, and AC has been rubbish since AC3). Now, what I'm really concerned isn't wasting some money to play a game I'll enjoy every now and than even disliking parts of it, what I'm concenrned is if this is just another Grind Simulator like Ark and other "no-life" games that only really work for unemployed basement dwellers and kids. I don't want to grind simulate anything, just play casually.

Comparison to ark is erroneous because Ark's main function is through 1700-ish official servers and 70,000+ unofficial servers where persistent play is the primary way the game goes.

It also has adjustable settings for single player (and server owners) to prevent any amount of grind to cater to a player's wishes.

Valheim is less a server centric game and more a single player one. It is to me, akin to Terraria in that regard since most play in single player and some do servers with their own set ups.

So if you play in single player, you can stop when ever you want. There's no worries of your stuff going poof etc like you see on servers with decay timers in Ark.

If you play the game and feel you're grinding, you can always(just like ark) use admin commands to spawn what ever you wish.

Also there are people who do regular speed runs of valheim beating the game in a very short amount of time.

Thus, pace and enjoyment is entirely up to you.

----

However with all that said though and looking over your game reviews which include AoC and Ark with hundreds of hours in each and even Skyrim with well over 1,100 hours where you do not recommend them or 18 of the total 20 games you reviewed, I would say that there is a very high chance that your game play proclivities would lead you to feeling Valheim to be lacking in your eyes as well.

So if you ground your expectations reasonably and do not become over critical, then the game may be for you. However, if that is something you assess yourself unable to do, then you may wish to make other game considerations.

Originally posted by Hu.ok.Mun:

what I'm concenrned is if this is just another Grind Simulator like Ark and other "no-life" games that only really work for unemployed basement dwellers and kids. I don't want to grind simulate anything, just play casually.

Not every basement dweller is an unmarried unemployed gamer you know? My cousin is married, works and lives out of his basement, and earns a pretty decent living. Metro Vancouver is expensive to live in. $1.5 million-$2 million Cdn for a 2,500-3,200 sq ft house. I was one of the 'lucky ones' to have bought my 655 sq ft 29 year old apartment back in 2017 for $290,000 cash. Then the yearly rising costs of strata, property tax, and utilities... [sigh]

Anyway, so far, I haven't played a single survival game that doesn't have grind. Clocked just a bit above 500 hours on Valheim since September 2021. Spent most of that in the first four months.

However, while certainly not Ark, from the tone of your comment, perhaps something more action based and less exploring/building is up your alley. I would suggest you wait until the game is officially released to reconsider buying it. At least by then, you would get a better picture how it turns out. Might be 2-3 years from now though.

Early on it has a really good, adventuresome feel. I found the mountains and the Plains a little grindy, it has to do with how much of the ores/black metal you need to collect. IMO, of course.

I find I enjoy the building and roaming around to be fun/my main enjoyment. The combat is solid, its biggest drawback is the lack of variability. Bosses are fun, but more for how they look and epic feel, than the difficulty. They crush trees and wreck boulders as you fight them, the fights have a good feel. Same goes for 'sub bosses' like trolls, golems, etc.

That said, this could feel grindy to some. Like some of stuff takes up time that is somewhat bland time, like gathering more items from past biomes, I don't mind it but that and some other stuff could definitely be considered a time waster by some. But, you can console command as much as you want so you can skip anything you don't like. Game is alpha so it is fun but you can tell that it needs more of a variety of things.

its not really a grind simulator... more like a learning curve..if you stay away from wikis... you will struggle to work out how to progress.. but its a fairly logical process of DISCOVERY and death! whereas i see grindy as lack of death and just relentless slow progression.. besdies which every death has a skill cost...so staying alive is priority!! ..beware falling trees! :-)

Originally posted by XarisD:

It's a survival game that's grindy if you want to progress. If you just want to chill and build houses, you don't have to do all that much to get there. Advancement comes with new crafting items for making your houses look better. It's one of those "get what you put in" experiences. If you want a good preview for guys like us who aren't really into the survival genre, Jaboody Dubs over on YouTube have a great video about Valheim. They don't try too hard or act like they want to be the best - they're just having fun in the video, and it got me to buy the game.

k, ty for the input, I'm going check it out right now

Originally posted by Cap'n Bells:

its not really a grind simulator... more like a learning curve..if you stay away from wikis... you will struggle to work out how to progress.. but its a fairly logical process of DISCOVERY and death! whereas i see grindy as lack of death and just relentless slow progression.. besdies which every death has a skill cost...so staying alive is priority!! ..beware falling trees! :-)

sounds grindy to me. virtual complexity doesn't excuse a game from being grindy, if it takes me days to do anything meaningful, than it is grindy.

Originally posted by GinsengSamurai:

However, while certainly not Ark, from the tone of your comment, perhaps something more action based and less exploring/building is up your alley. I would suggest you wait until the game is officially released to reconsider buying it. At least by then, you would get a better picture how it turns out. Might be 2-3 years from now though.

Yeah, generally that's the best way to go about this sort of game.

I'd say it's definitely a no for you. Check out something else.

Originally posted by Hu.ok.Mun:

Originally posted by Kalysm:

I have a full time job. I am also married and have a teenage daughter. I own my home and do not live in a basement. However I find time to play the game. It can feel grindy at times I will admit but you can go at your pace. Don't want to plant a big garden then don't. Don't want to update all your gear and weapons then don't. Don't want to build a big base then don't. Want to try to go with the minimalist gear then do. Want to sail all day then do. Want to mod it up and make it less grindy then do. You decide how you play. Buy it you wont regret it.

"don't want to play the game, than don't" xD

I think I'll pass, I hate grindy games, they feel boring, and I have enough boring chores to deal irl already lol

Just like ARK, it is only a grind fest if you purposely refuse to use the tools available to make it far less grindy. ARK you could turn up rates, Valheim you download V+ and turn up the rates. If too much grind is your only issue, just use V+, me and all my friends do because we have lives and jobs. Otherwise the game is amazing, especially if you appreciate beautiful effects over high resolution graphics.

Y'know I never thought this game to be grindy. It's an expedition imo. You set out to get whatever it is your looking for and then bring it back to base for use. It comes down to the way you go about that business, make it hard for yourself and try do things the game says won't work or plan a more efficient safe way to do so. I'm looking at you cart complaints 😜.

The reward is the haul once returned and all the wonderful things you intend to do with it which then it runs out and you are now off for another expedition whatever that may be, a boss trophy, some plants, building an outpost etc etc the game is very use your own imagination when it comes to what you want to do next, there is literally no hand saying go do this next.

Originally posted by Fzanco:

Y'know I never thought this game to be grindy. It's an expedition imo. You set out to get whatever it is your looking for and then bring it back to base for use. It comes down to the way you go about that business, make it hard for yourself and try do things the game says won't work or plan a more efficient safe way to do so. I'm looking at you cart complaints 😜.

The reward is the haul once returned and all the wonderful things you intend to do with it which then it runs out and you are now off for another expedition whatever that may be, a boss trophy, some plants, building an outpost etc etc the game is very use your own imagination when it comes to what you want to do next, there is literally no hand saying go do this next.

I mean no offense here, but isn't that exactly what "grindy" is?
Going out to collect stuff to make stuff so you can collect stuff to make stuff to collect stuff to make stuff?

I'm not saying it's BAD, and I enjoy it myself, but that's always how "grindy" has been explained to me.

Also, carts suck.

Originally posted by sarteck:

Originally posted by Fzanco:

Y'know I never thought this game to be grindy. It's an expedition imo. You set out to get whatever it is your looking for and then bring it back to base for use. It comes down to the way you go about that business, make it hard for yourself and try do things the game says won't work or plan a more efficient safe way to do so. I'm looking at you cart complaints 😜.

The reward is the haul once returned and all the wonderful things you intend to do with it which then it runs out and you are now off for another expedition whatever that may be, a boss trophy, some plants, building an outpost etc etc the game is very use your own imagination when it comes to what you want to do next, there is literally no hand saying go do this next.

I mean no offense here, but isn't that exactly what "grindy" is?
Going out to collect stuff to make stuff so you can collect stuff to make stuff to collect stuff to make stuff?

I'm not saying it's BAD, and I enjoy it myself, but that's always how "grindy" has been explained to me.

Also, carts suck.

I don't know, I consider grindy to be like wow, that literally is doing the same thing over and over for literally the samish kinda rewards, there's no build up just do get do get. When it comes to this game you dont have to get these materials, its your choice to be fair

well, I'm much rather have a raiding simulator where I just sail to AI controlled settlements, fight the occasional lord's soldiers, collect the tributes from peasants and return home. In fact such a game would be incredible if focused on sea-travel and sailing... Oh boy I miss sailing (grew up doing it)

Originally posted by Hu.ok.Mun:

well, I'm much rather have a raiding simulator where I just sail to AI controlled settlements, fight the occasional lord's soldiers, collect the tributes from peasants and return home. In fact such a game would be incredible if focused on sea-travel and sailing... Oh boy I miss sailing (grew up doing it)

I mean there's nothing stopping you roleplaying that in this game? Build a boat get your choice of weapons and armour, maybe some friends and go raiding

If you like sailing this game is awesome for that