It was now time to make a big push into Caldera. I’d end up spending more time in that region than the rest of the game combined. A lot of things would end up coming down to RNG.
At this point, I was hoping I had enough silver worth of assets to be able to afford rebuilding a future town. All I knew was I'd be given over a hundred in-game days per quest. I had no idea just how expensive and under-prepared I'd end up being.
I did however suspect I did not have enough samples. Those samples as it turns out were going to be quite hard to find. Like many things in Caldera, there are rotations and time restrictions in place.
The samples on the surface and in the dungeons rotated between quite a few different combinations. On top of that each rotation could have up to a dozen different possible locations for each of the three sample types. With it only being at one of those locations per rotation.
There also seemed to be some kind of time limit as well. I just assumed once I realized what was going on. That was more than likely within the standard seven-day reset cycle as the rest of the game.
I for one never need an excess to go out and run dungeons. Realizing just how much of a pain in the backside trying to work out where different samples could be located on the surface. Running a bunch of smaller dungeons where I know I searched everywhere just made more sense.
As far as why I need these samples. There are some rare materials that I'd have a chance of getting out of each sample. They however have a low rate. On top of that, they can also have in them building resources I'd be needing for the future town I had not even started building yet.
The dungeons however proved to be more of a challenge than expected. It seems a few of them have some kind of rotation as well. Some of them have a moving entrance. Others have certain sections that can only be run depending on that dungeon's current rotation.
This led me to run into quite a few locked gates. In some dungeons, I'd discover a way to unlock those gates. Other times I'd have to enter into the dungeon elsewhere on the map and find a way to unlock the gate.
Even just randomly while I was exploring the surface of the region. I’d come across a random lever out of nowhere. More times than not I'd pull the lever and have no idea if or what it had even done. I’d just hope at some point it did something to help me progress forward in quite a few different dungeons in this region.
Quite a few days in the region were spent just being lost. I started to learn some of the landmarks over time. The biggest issue was heading to what looked like a landmark and not being able to enter it to confirm it was the dungeon I thought it was. As not all of them were active at the same time.
Not to mention this region is filled with mountains, lava, lakes, and other things limiting how you can get around. Sometimes I'd take what I thought was a shortcut to only find out it ended up curving around in the direction I was not looking to go or was a dead-end.
Other times I'd get close to a location to confirm it was the spot I thought I was at. Just to get killed by something in the area. Then find myself waking up after days have passed far from that location.
A lot of creatures in this region are quite ruthless. It was also quite hot here. My character would sometimes collapse from the heat making it a struggle to get around by day. At night I was stuck wandering around barely being able to see things just hoping when it was daylight again, I was at least remotely close to where I was trying to get to.
After filling my inventory up once again with samples and loot. I headed back into the forest to the city of Berg. After offloading and selling I headed to the inn. I felt at this point there was only so much preparation I could do.
I had little idea if I was over or under-prepared. I decided it was just time to get on with the main storyline. I even went around and did another fishing trip around the lake in the forest.
Then it was time to head back into the Caldera and find the old city. Once I got there, I did not get the kind of welcome I was expecting. It turns out the leaders of the city were run out of town.
It took some convincing that I was not acting on their behavior. Thankfully I did not go swimming in the lava. The people that were now running things were all too happy to take the Blue Collectives gift of 150 days' worth of food. After all, they were starving.
Once the whole we are going to push you into a pit of lava was over. They started talking about relocating those who remained and rebuilding elsewhere in the region. They also agreed to allow me to help build and lead the efforts.
While this new area was better than the one, they were at. It was still quite a rough place. It also became clear I was not going to be able to build everything in one location. Instead, there were about four or so different areas that could fit different kinds of buildings.
Final Thoughts
I was told there was 150 days' worth of food. After that many would be leaving for a better life elsewhere. I was now on the clock. From here on out each quest from what little I understood would lead into another time one and then another one.
There would be moments where I'd be spending large amounts of day sleeping away to speed things up. There would also be days I'm rushing to try and far what little resources I could to try and keep everything going.
I’m at least thankful there was a stash in the town. I hate to think how many trips I'd have to make to go back to the forest region to sell. There was even a decent amount of silver on vendors to offload items to raise further funds. Only time will tell if I am ready to move forward.
Information
Outward Definitive Edition.Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about
You do seem to spend a lot of time on this game , I only play on consoles.. and its a digital only for the PS5. I might give it a try... the reviews are not so good and call it janky, but I like janky.
It is a bit janky with a learning curve. Many get their butts kicked and give up.
I like the graphics and the gameplay is like the one that I played. When I was a kid it is called "prototype"
Interesting. It does have a bit of wold world charm to it