Valheim’s mountains are probably the best realization of the theme I have ever seen in a game, period. I live next to some of the most famous mountains on earth, so I think I should know. The entire biome IS basically one big climb between different levels of high altitude with peaks in between. The terrain is often treacherous and descent can be tricky. Some parts are so steep you literally feel like a mountain climber, hopping from ledge to ledge with stamina breaks in between. Then there’s the weather, the fantastic snow storms and high fog that blind you. And the beautiful light around the campfire at night.
The mountains are deadly at first until you get that wolf cape sorted and don’t have to rely on frost resistance potions. The golems hit very hard and the fenrings make your blood freeze when first you face them. But everything gets much easier once you’ve tracked down that elusive silver for better gear.
Silver is very hard and heavy to transport which was annoying until we figured out this neat trick: pack your bags as full as you can and just relog to another seed where your character has logged out in a safe hub standing besides a couple of chests. Unload there and return to raiding the mountain. Rinse and repeat. Once you feel you’ve collected enough resources, get home to your main base where your storage and smelter stand. Do the relog game one more time and transfer the silver from chest to chest. May feel a little cheaty but not really. Traveling between worlds is an intentional Valheim feature.
If I have one complaint it’s that the mountains, unlike the previous biomes, don’t really feel like a full zone. Going there feels like a trip with the primary purpose of finding silver. Maybe it’s the whole climbing aspect and the lack of crypt-like content that shortens the experience somewhat. That’s not to say that the design and atmosphere aren’t great but there’s not much else to explore after you find Moder’s marker which is the stage we’re at now. I’ve not read much about Valheim’s fourth boss but I look forward to a fun dragon fight!
The whole swapping between worlds aspect of Valheim is bizarre. I can’t see how it can possibly match up with the survival aspects of the game or the way the devs have taken the trouble to make ore not go through portals.
Iron Gate don’t seem to know what they want their game to be. They just patched a fix for the exploit of putting a fire on a spawn point and thereby generating an infinite flow of resources from the dying mobs and yet in the same patch they formalize the use of console controls which you can use for exactly the same purpose.
It’s down to house rules as far as players are concerned. I wouldn’t use the map swap trick because it would make the whole thing seem pointless to me. Why even bother going to the mountains at all if you aren’t going to go through the process of bringing the ore back? Just use the console controls and make all the ore you want at the forge.
That’s a big problem with Valheim, I think. It requires a greater than usual capacity for self-deception to enjoy. Even knowing you *could* take these short-cuts undermines the satisfaction in doing things the longwinded way. I’d prefer they separated the options into modes or challenge setting you could set at world creation, which would then be irreversible. That way you’d only have to make one choice at the beginning, not constantly have to have debates with yourself over what is or isn’t “cheating”.
Agreed, there seems to be a level of contradiction in what they allow currently! I do personally like that your character is persistent across realms – it’s a feature I also liked about Portal Knights.
Everyone has to make their own mind up about how they enjoy playing a game most. We decided early on that we weren’t gonna use the admin commands in Valheim because the game has a great difficulty balance I wouldnt mess with. Whatever quality of life improvements we can find within the current constraints of the game however, we will test and use. The silver trick feels fine for me, other things probably wouldnt. You spent ingame days avoiding to really fight a boss. Potato potato 😀
I don’t begrudge anyone playing games their own way, but it can hardly be said that the world swapping trick was “intended.” If you are going through those steps to quickly transport ore, you may as well mod the game to just allow ore through portals and cut out the middleman. What else is the point of the ore restriction in the first place?
The most likely explanation is that the devs wanted players to easily play with each other without having to start completely over, but putting in restrictions like “you can’t load into a new world if you are carrying ore” would be absurd to code. Honestly, they SHOULD make it so you appear naked in the new world, but oh well.
Hmm could be they might very well change it in the future! It seems intended to me because surely they debated this feature a lot when they created the game – it’s rather rare in survival games. I was quite surprised to encounter it in Valheim. That said, you have a point about the portal restriction, it is quite contradictory.
If they change it, I dont have an issue with it either. The game is fun enough to start over, I would say – although keeping your skills at least I wouldnt mind.
I live next to some of the most famous mountains on earth, so I think I should know.
Oh sure, rub it in, why don’t ya!
(My name changed a bit because I created a WordPress account and “Redbeard” was already taken.)
LOL ok, welcome to wordpress, Red! 😀
Hey now, I’ve seen photos of those mountains. The view outside my window, by comparison, is a bland piece of the US Midwest.