Retirement Plan For Mechs (Lightyear Frontier)
Titanfall 2 died so that their retirement plans can leave them to farming. Ok, in a perfect world, if mechs did all the farming, civilization probably would've advanced several decades earlier. Planetary exploring, well that might take a lot longer. So I guess that's why we have farming simulators now.
Lightyear Frontier takes its place as another contender, maybe within the likes of Slime Rancher and such. In early access, and a bit light on content right now, but it was easier to grasp, and get hang of. The map is big, the reach is explore is vast, plus the online co-op option to make things easier, and overall sense of discovery it incorporates. Also, mechs man, mechs.
Some of its concepts lacking depth, despite as fun and trippy it is, the amazing visuals for a game that's light on the spec too. It isn't filled with killer charm, oozing intrigue into its world, and life altering discoveries. I think the devs knew that, and they are seemingly trying. I can see that.
I wake up in a haze, to see my mech crashed and parts separated. All I had to do was take my handy dandy P.I.C.K. Axe, and just magnetically grab them before attaching them back. This basic equipment does the same for breaking resources down to extract.
Now, speaking of equipment, the five main ones are scattered across a small part of the map, these are the Spike Saw, Vacuum Harvester, Sprout Cannon, Seed Shooter, and an Irrigation Cannon. The names pretty much speak for themselves and their use cases. They're easy to access.
But I do wish a tool selection window existed, it would make sense to easily switch there instead of relying on the upper numb keys. It's been a while since I played Counter Strike, I am not good with these anymore. Alright, I did get my stuff, what's next? Well base building. Making a camp for night rests, processing materials to get other resources like oil, clay, power cores, etc.
Hard materials like aluminum is supposed to be mine from gathering areas that gets restored as long as the wildlife surrounding them gets fed. But for the multiple types of oil, I have to gather things like plant fibers which are everywhere, but Polyberries need to be farmed.
As in, growing them in farming plots. Finding seeds, using the vacuum to extract, before planting them. They just need water, sunshine, and occasionally protected from hostile weeds of the planet. They can come from the sky or dry spots from the plot. This is what you would call a chore.
Each of these aspects work hand in hand, feed the animals, collect resources, farm food through making oil, and using that oil to make different variety of snacks for the wild life. Rarer materials like copper, hardwood, and others need to be found in areas in closer vicinity. Of course, my mech has limitations, short booster, easily trips, smaller inventory capacity and water tank, you get it.
Building structures need a heck ton of resources, which are kept in storages that I also have to build. The whole collecting and building is pretty heavy handed too. But I got the gist of the loop, and fundamentals around it. It was easy to get out of this mundane routine.
My mech has limitations at first, but after successfully building an upgrade station, I managed to make my Spike Saw tear down the larger trees. There are like multiple variants of those actually. Hardwood, softwood, just wood, you name it.
Exploration is encouraged, because if I wanted to sprint faster, boost longer and higher, gathering more stuff and farming is essential, I need to find rarer materials around, and keep em in storage before they're used. It's easy to get too busy and keep excessive amounts at storage. That's why the merchant exists, after building a pad for her, I made enough money to even buy decorations.
Yeah, decor, if you fancy into making the area around your cabin or hut look good. It's useful for also helping to get bonuses out of cabins once appeal rating is reached. Like the wildlife that you've fed leaving more goods to take or the environment becoming more lively.
Heck, I've stuck around long enough, random events have happened. The space weeds have noxious pods, these once they have been processed through a grinder, can be used to easily manufacture a power core. As you can see, the demand for the second Spike Saw upgrade.
It takes me 2-3 days for the entire of planted seeds to grow the crops. And using the irrigation gun everyday in tedium helps to grow out as much of these as possible. Seeds either purchased from the merchant or can be found easily in the few zones explored.
Ok, it's not much of sales pitch, then what else could draw you into playing this? Maybe it's cleaning up Noxious muds using the irrigation or pulling out the weeds in other undiscovered places. Basic gameplay tasks to unlock these new places, and ah, ok it's obvious at this point.
I mean, it is a farming simulator. The sense of mystery, and undiscovered places takes time to uncover. In progress, I hear the lady in my radio chatter feeding me information, story related or some anecdotal in ways. But I did a lot of things in 6hrs of playtime, so no complains here.
I did get my upgrades, and man, conveniences help out a lot. It's definitely something to do surpass those limitations earlier. Unfortunately I haven't solved the underwater situation, where if it drowns, it gets reset back to the land. But I really started to find more stuff, and I just know that it might reach that quality if the devs got their time and listen more to feedback.
Oh yeah, I managed to turn my mech into a tractor too. That is insane, and to think if I had a friend or couple playing this, times would be wilding. But for now, I'll manage to solo job, it doesn't seem bad. The big hurdle I only have is crossing the shores to reach the other side of the land.
And in order to do just that, again, the upgrades. Also, might have to carry enough resources over to build a second base. I think there's a possibility of turning my mech into a boat as well. That sounds totally rad, yeah, the tractor thing already blew my mind with the concept.
Visually, it is a stunning looking game. Even for a game, that has a cartoonish art style, it's quite appealing. Unfortunately, it recommended a GTX 1660 and an RX 6600 for parity. That is odd, and my 6700 XT is on 70% usage while running this on high settings at 60FPS. There's even a higher setting option, and it's called "Frame Breaking". That actually sounds serious.
I also like the country vibe, the merchant has a thick southern accent, and the acoustic guitar type OST that soothes into the overall experience. This game is quite something, but in order to reach full potential, the devs need to keep cooking. And I'll probably come back for it.
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I tried the demo not long ago and quite liked what I saw. I didn't know it was already out. Playing the demo, I got the feeling that it would be that typical game that, while lacking depth in certain things as you say, can easily turn into a huge well of hours depending on how fanatical you are about building your own base and farming system haha
Plus, it's on Game Pass. I forgot to mention that part.