Mastering Misery - Part 1: Every Decision Matters

[@anavnaj]

I love the fact that Zak plays Misery with about the same urgency I play Interloper. For years, I've admired his ability to take Interloper easy and sometimes make suboptimal choices for educational purposes, but it seems there will be no place for that in Misery. At least not in the beginning.

[@20985229147]

28:52 he wakes up and then, without pausing the game, talks for 10 real time minutes about what his plan is, wasting two hours of daylight in-game in the process. Zack is incorrigible

[@thespacecowboy420]

Turns down the car visors too lol

[@rockylafrombois4918]

At 1:02:10 he literally is being growled at by a wolf and stops to drink a coffee. I would have panicked and used the flair

[@beefsandvvich]

1:02:08 I love the visual of a survivor reaching into their bag and just downing a coffee in reaction to a wolf in order to run away.

[@Zaknafein]

Haha yeah. "Hold on, wolf!" *rummages* "Aah that's the stuff! Okay where were we?"

[@everythingsalright1121]

"I'm ready, how bout you!?"

[@earthmombooks]

I think Misery is the dev's taking out their passive aggression on the players :D :D

[@8out242]

And thats a good thing surprisingly

[@KarlOlofsson]

Too bad the players enjoy being punished and always ask for more 😂

[@dragonbornhk]

1:10:20 minus 100 degrees Celsius!!!?!?! Thats insane! Cause the lowest natural tempture on earth had been minus 89.2 degrees Celsius and that was on south pole. The long dark is truly a apocalyps

[@Emmanuel-wo8ox]

Next level extraloper surviving on pluto with -190°C

[@Aranak777]

the -89.2 degree was at foot level in cold pocket in north pole at head level its was almost 20degree highter

[@amberblyledge7859]

Check out Casual Earth's "A hole where you freeze to death". The coldest spots on the planet are so freaking neat.

[@amberblyledge7859]

@@Emmanuel-wo8ox Hell yea, sounds awesome!

[@IngieKerr]

that's my fear response too; to drop my guts and hide.

[@crn_burcuu]

Lol😂

[@AGuy-vq9qp]

based and sea cucumber coded

[@everythingsalright1121]

@@AGuy-vq9qp sea cucumber coded lmao thats a good one

[@notloopers1110]

@AGuy-vq9qp lmfao sea cucumber coded is a new one

[@brennanperry8001]

I tried misery mode, and actually got surprisingly far considering that I'm by no means an expert in the game. I got seven days in, and what's funny is that I was in a discord call with my friends, and I got the second affliction, and I said something like "I kind of want to die so I can look up what the new afflictions are." Because I wanted to see how far I'd get, and have the one misery run be a surprise. As I was saying that, a wolf came out of nowhere, I tried lighting a torch to scare it off but it was too windy, and then I died.

[@Rafaelforte-hs4bv]

Nice, discord calls are the source of your power

[@j.s.c.4355]

The timed nature of the afflictions has led Zak to assume he won’t survive long enough to conserve matches or need a bow. I wish these afflictions had physical triggers, like normal afflictions. For instance, if you got Diminished Form by going below 50% health, Sour stomach by eating bad food, arthritis from sprains, and others by letting your meters go into the red. That would encourage top tier interloper players to keep their meters high, and thus make their runs more challenging without feeling like Hinterland was determined to kill them on a schedule.

[@XytaVuramee]

Sounds like an amazing idea

[@alexkingsley2364]

That is a good idea, but killing the player is what this mode is SUPOSSED to do. It's meant as a ticking time bomb on your health, and it's meant to kill you before you get too far. However, your idea could be implemented to increase the speed of which the player gains the afflictions, so it's still a great idea!

[@KingofGermanic]

@@alexkingsley2364 I don't really see the point of it compared to Custom runs. The afflictions are something I like the idea of, but I dislike the idea of negative debufs being applied at random, a reason I didn't like the cougar because it's a case of the game master fucking you over versus something you've done. They can keep it as is, but I like @j.s.c.4355's idea for applying it to mode like Interloper or Stalker

[@ChocolateTeapot93]

This new game mode is a good idea. I won't play it but when games are in early access for a long time veteran players want the difficulty to increase which can make the game inaccessible to new players. This keeps the game from being too difficult for new players and satisfies the people who have played for years. Plus it makes good content for KZbin.

[@Layrel]

Even Misery with Zak is a joy ❤

[@Craig161-c2r]

Me and my son love this game and love your videos! So thank you dude.

[@abdulkadiryldz533]

Stage 6 happened a day ago, and my health doesn't regenerate when I sleep. I've been surviving for 48 days and I'm about to die. I lit a fire in the barrel in front of the trailer in Milton. The stars are out, it's a clear night- a beautiful night to die. Even if you have Level 5 cooking, there's still a risk of parasites when eating predator meat. Don't bother hunting bears; you might survive an extra week if you go and gather plenty of mushrooms. Lmao

[@piercewhitley964]

From your comments about the negligibility of clothing-from what I understand, misery starts at max temperature scaling, equivalent to day 50 of interloper, so if you end up getting fully geared up with bear coats and whatnot, the temperature late-game in misery will be very similar to interloper, aside from the frigid bones affliction. So it's definitely worth going for those as fast as possible, and definitely before broken body.

[@Red-ej6he]

Also more clothing in general helps stay warm when going into some buildings.

[@LordKai1102]

@1:35:00 Daaamn heard that storm for a few secs. Best weather to play TLD actually. I love opening the window in winter (is cold but bearable in Germany) and playing TLD. Just together with a little candle and in the night. It just ups the immersion the game gives me already.

[@sirmagnus99]

I only play in winter time. Love this game to death and the added ambiance of cold weather adds to the immersion.

[@trevorslinkard31]

We played stalker and didn’t find ourselves challenged. We played Interloper and didn’t find ourselves challenged. And now we have Misery. Don’t say we didn’t ask for it

[@Red-ej6he]

Cant say the developers did listen😊

[@legokyky4547]

Hype!! Can't wait to see where this series goes!!!

[@derelictgasstation]

He gonna die

[@istvancsap3513]

Thanks for the walkthrough series, Zak!

[@realglutenfree]

@@derelictgasstation For sure. I cant even fathom how you could avoid getting cold at all while cabin fever and the cougar exist.

[@derelictgasstation]

@@realglutenfree cougar was removed by the devs

[@realglutenfree]

@@derelictgasstation But not in the long run, right?

[@Danwell86]

Finally. The misery stream we've all been waiting for.

[@MatteoSessa-q1d]

I’ll be using this as a sort of guide. Thanks Zak! So much effort drops absolutely fantastic videos

[@zioming]

I recall hearing somewhere that the way sprain affliction when walking on uneven ground works is that the risk goes up the longer you stay on uneven ground (there's a red triangle above your sprint meter to indicate that), so, if possible, you want to move from one piece of even ground to another, when, let's say, scaling down from the summit, or you can use sprint to run up a hill to mitigate the risk.

[@yarro1965]

You know, when Misery was first announced I figured it would be like Interloper. It would be hard, but eventually there would be "500 days Misery" playlists popping up. After hearing about broken body? Well....I'm gonna be shocked to see the first person reach 100 days!

[@Zaknafein]

One person reached Day 100 a couple days ago

[@yarro1965]

@@Zaknafein woah! Who!? (How????)

[@fractalgem]

​@@yarro1965i assume they had practice playing nogoa, aka interloper with healing disabled except stims. Early game misery is arguably easier than nogoa, as you can still heal, even if once you hit the 40 day mark even stins don't work anymore.

[@marlinaruf9096]

1:41:24 I noticed on my interloper runs those ptarmigan always disappear as you enter and exit the hut. However if you go all the way to the rope and head back, they will be there again. Can't wait for the next episode, great stuff.

[@ayochill9716]

Bro you are a master! You got blessed with pretty good weather conditions but it’s just crazy how knowledgeable you are about the game and optimal routing for so many things!

[@zioming]

It's always funny how toilet water is perfectly safe to drink in this world, but melted snow you have to boil first just to be safe.

[@andreichihaia8509]

Technically speaking, water from toilet it's same source like watter from sink. And a toilet seat has less germs than your phone(or mine). Snow I use to eat snow as a child, and it tastes really weird 😁

[@zioming]

@@andreichihaia8509 Still, I wouldn't call it potable. Not to mention, given how we have multiple ways of sterilising water in the game, it would make more sense to have it be unsterilised. It would still cut the time and fuel it takes to make potable water, while giving some use to the water purification tablets which I don't think I've ever used in all my hours playing this game. Plus, you could still drink it straight up when desperate enough.

[@ilovebirds3157]

Good idea​@@zioming

[@everythingsalright1121]

@@andreichihaia8509 youre not drinking the water in the bowl. Youre taking it from the tank

[@demoniack81]

@@everythingsalright1121 The tank that has had water sitting stagnant in it for weeks/months since the disaster and is not at all airtight.

[@windkissed9468]

Just FYI - you missed a prybar in front of the truck tire in the Outbuildings barn (visible at @11:33). We have been watching this whole series, and know that at least as of Episode 11, you hadn't found another one, so we thought we'd mention it, in case you come back to PV at some point. Best of luck with your run! Enjoying the content, as always!

[@teenriot-de]

First time watching you: I'm impressed by your ability to explain in a short but comprehensible way.

[@beckmichael9659]

As an emphasis. On weapon safety, I would like to add a new mechanic to the game player.Must unload rifle before cleaning. Failing to unload a gun before cleaning results in a 50 percent chance of shooting yourself.

[@annie_1718]

I’ve always always wanted this. Every time I accidentally fire the pistol while trying to pick up a stick I pretend I’ve just shot myself in the foot. (But I don’t think they could actually add this to the game)

[@ianorr1388]

IT’S RECIEVER 2 ALL OVER AGAIN

[@physicsunderstander4958]

FYI, CO2 deposits out of the air into dry ice at -78°C, so -100°C is absolutely wild.

[@aaronberg221]

For the ptarmigans going away the only mistake that was made was going inside. I've found that going inside a building can trigger weather changes, ptarmigans moving, and other changes in misc dynamic behaviors. On the plus side you will probably run into the ptarmigans again on top of the plateau after the rope climbs.

[@dariogonzalez553]

So many decisions I wouldn't have taken! Going through the birch forest, skipping the farm on the way to Barn, skipping the plane crash after sleeping at preppers cache. That goes to show I'm probably playing this the wrong way 😅

[@manbearpig342]

I wouldn't say you are playing wrong. Everyone has their own style of playing, and each style comes with it's own risks and rewards. The most important thing is to have fun. If it becomes more like a job or stressful, then why play at all?

[@dariogonzalez553]

@manbearpig342 oh I'm having fun alright! It's just that Zak is one of the most experienced players, so it's always a reference on what to do.

[@SamusV4]

I left my bedroll on top of Timberwolf Mountain during my last interloper run, and I managed to score the technical backpack and three mackinaw jackets as well as the crampons. I was so on the verge of taking a break after a wolf killed me on the way back to the camp office, but the lure of Great Bear pulled me back in yet again. Can't wait to see how this goes for you, Zak! I'm not even TOUCHING Misery yet.

[@noin350]

prey leaving when going "quickly inside to make a fire" happened to me so many times that i started just making a pit stop fire outside instead

[@scurbdubdub2555]

Funny thing about this mode, man made tools can still spawn. Was playing it yesterday and I found a hunting knife in the tool container going into the mines to Desolation Point. Pretty sure that is likely a glitch however, doesn’t seem like that should be possible.

[@Zaknafein]

Its a common content launch bug

[@jeremygonzal8603]

One thing I've realized after playing misery. The few extra degrees of warmth that better clothing provides is nothing to be dismissive about, especially in this mode. When you run out of warmth, it's 1% condition per minute right? If better clothing provides, say, just an extra 5 minutes of not taking cold damage, that doesn't sound like much, right? Well, that is so wrong. This would apply every single time you're outside and start taking condition damage. On day 1, you lost an extra 5 percent of condition. On day 2, you lost another extra 5, and started losing condition several times after warming up today, so that's already 15 percent of your total condition that could have been prevented if you had just better clothing and had that extra five minutes of not taking damage every single time. Keep warm, boyz.

[@roflcoppter117]

i just started watching your channel, and the comparison between Misery and Loper are good as they show me the mechanics of both and how each play, helping me to plan out my first proper Loper run.

[@grayadnap]

Just found a HATCHET in the large red toolcase the barn stim spawns under! (It was invisible so likely bugged, but what a treat!)

[@Arthaius]

- Pretty sure things like Guns, manufactured tools like Hatchet and knife, certain special clothing items like mountaineer jacket and food like Military grade MRE will not spawn in interloper ever, and would assume the same is the case with Misery as well so if you were playing on either of those settings and found a hatchet then I think definitely a bug, because from my understanding they aren't supposed to spawn at all in those two settings.

[@callmekrismael7023]

YAY! I absolutely LOVE the intro music! So atmospheric! Thank you for putting so many videos out surrounding these updates, Zak! It must be a lot of extra work and I appreciate the content!

[@LeateqOfficial]

fav long dark youtuber ! keep it up :)

[@kraze1982]

Zak's only real challenge would be not being able to go over weight

[@hayleyscott8009]

Yay I love this so far Zak you are the best at explaining this game!!!

[@lokimansurvival5463]

Dude I have always just watched his tips but watching this is amazing and has taught me so much so maybe I can finally at least survive interloper with this. Ty Zak for such amazing videos!!

[@mh060168]

Thanks as always. I have mentioned in the comments of previous videos, I have never seen you in any video check the cabinets above the sink in the kitchen of the Community Centre in Thompsons Crossing.

[@Zaknafein]

May have forgotten them here but they are usually checked

[@Lesgofggi]

Great start for the series. Loved the way you explained everything new🙏

[@jowilson5581]

man, PV is so beautiful. what a zone

[@Lolo-malolo]

Ooohhh finally it’s here! I’ve checked your channel every day since the update! I’m so glad to see the misery play through :3

[@b0kken]

1:41:20 I have noticed that the Ptarmigan will "disappear" when going into the Homesteader's Respite upon exiting. If you walk all the way over to the rope and back they respawn. I don't know why this happens, but i have performed this trick multiple times.

[@abagoffrozenspinach]

been excited to see you cover this new game mode since I learned it was coming out!! can't wait to see more from you.

[@Reallategaming]

Yes! Ash canyon was in my plan too also for matches on the bridges.

[@Bobywan75]

Can you really get matches near the rope bridges in interloper/misery ? Still you get some in angler's den, foreman retreat, and the gold mine I think.

[@Reallategaming]

@@Bobywan75 I’m hoping for at least one pack🤞🏿 usually in stalker u get a lot I’m talking like 4-5 packs sometimes if u hit all the bridges, I believe in looper u get a couple.

[@fknutz4400]

​@Reallategaming there are no paper matches in interloper, my friend. You need to plan for something else

[@Reallategaming]

@@fknutz4400 no prob still gotta get the back pack, those matches wud have just been extra. I kno of 3 guaranteed match spawns on the way

[@Zaknafein]

You can but they are rare

[@zioming]

1:02:00 When you stop to drink a coffee during a wolf's attack, because the latter on itself is no longer enough to raise your blood pressure...

[@WanderingChord]

Worth noting that recipes can be made with ruined food to bring it back to a 100% condition meal, so saving the carrots might be worth it long term!

[@chriswarburtonbrown1566]

Thanks Zak! The route for goating up to Homesteaders was a fantastic tip. I just arrived there on day 4 in Misery mode, curious to see how far i can get...

[@gaylefailing7032]

My Sunday companion with lunch. Thank you Zak. 💚

[@indoctrinationtheory1468]

Great video as always Zak! Really interesting and helpful to see your approach to the mode, especially as compared to Interloper and NOGOA.

[@PRC533]

writing this as you are discussing weather and temperatures. The thing about arctic climate is that in the winter time, sunny days are actually the coldest because there is no thermal insulation from the clouds. Standing in the direct sun gives no real warmth. Up here in Alaska, if I look outside and see blue skies in the winter I know to bundle up.

[@addcted842]

1:41:30 I noticed the ptarmigans need a little bit of time to spawn in when you leave a building. I could study that on the ones outside of Camp Office. So it's better to hunt one before going inside (in that case you needed to start a fire and estinguish your torch before approaching them or drop the torch from inventory to use the no noise bug !).

[@manbearpig342]

I noticed what I believe is also a change in wolf behavior. In the past if a wolf spotted you and was walking towards you but not within attack range you could hip shot the revolver and it would scare the wolf away. Since the update every time I do the same thing the wolf charges me even though it's a hip shot. I normally play interloper so not sure if I am miss remembering or not.

[@calvinkerr2198]

I noticed this in a lower difficulty too (its the second one i dont remember what its called). If you hip fire again and hit them in the tiny snow explosion that happens when the bullet impacts the snow they will run away. Same thing happens with aurora timberwolves. Idk if they will run away on the first shot if they get hit by the snow explosion or not or if hitting them directly with a hip fire will make them run away either.

[@Sef_Era]

You know what I would love to see? A challenge run where pulling torches out of fires is disabled, and all match boxes only spawn with a single match.

[@Zaknafein]

This is a great idea!

[@justinheister7949]

Let’s go Zak! Love your content buddy keep the grind up.

[@AmplifyChris]

15:47 I agree, making the bear coat or similar things, for me makes no sense, because you are cold anyways. But on the upside, you don’t need to be greedy with the matches, because it’s definitively an finite run.

[@mrwalter7205]

Running from a wolf really should trigger a chase response

[@Laki555_1]

Good Luck Zak, with mastering Misery Difficulty

[@draconiansquid1570]

Seeing you shouted out on the end trailer for the new stuff after ive been gone for a long time Bro thats so awesome !!!!!!!

[@circleviii1801]

I have about an equal split in time between stalker and interloper play in this game and with misery it's nice that my stalker knowledge of the additional wolves actually comes really in handy lol

[@OrangeRauy]

Really looking foward to this series! I don't know if I'd ever try it myself, but I imagine you're totally in your element with this thing. ;-) It does definitely feel less like a grind than NOGOA, since you got the time to prepare for it at the beginning. I don't get why they made the fixed Pleaseant Valley spawn, though. If it's for comparable starting conditions, like for competing or something, they could still have the spawn selectable if you want. But requiring a fixed spawn doesn't seem to make sense, especially when much of the rest of the game is random anyway. Figuring out how to do it from various spawns would be more interesting (and ultimately challenging) than always knowing where to go immediately.

[@ballooncoast848]

This the first episode I watched where I couldn’t feel sleepy from it being relaxing because it was intense.

[@sporedoutofmymind]

Ah man, I'd have called the series Misery Business Love the video

[@JonathanRossRogers]

1:06:08 I really think it's worth it to only craft wound dressings when needed because a dressing weighs more than three times as much as the lichen to craft it. I've done this many times and never gotten an Infection because I couldn't craft dressings quickly enough.

[@kevlarpaul]

Thanks for testing this Zak. Was gonna start a run, but fixes and shit. Looking forward to your input about cougar removal

[@aristizle8797]

Been at that Timberwolf Mountain hunter's lodge for the last ~60 in game days. Saw you find the mag lens under the bed. Opened up my game to look under the bed. ... but no luck.

[@user-et7uf7jc8p]

I don’t know any other TLD player better than you seriously!!

[@fernandoullaguari9073]

Misery mode , that’s my every day life.

[@jamall7003]

Now every playthrough for the next few years will be on misery only

[@Howlin000]

Been waiting for this one, love this!

[@t.b.cont.]

I spent like 6 attempts in a row dying to the same mistake I could not learn from in misery. I’m so used to playing on modes like stalker, I underestimate how much damage I take from the most mundane amounts of exposure in misery every time

[@donjorgestoico1631]

Being a Stalker player and having a medium frequency of Interloper to play, it is very tough between life and death, and to survive 10 days in a real match, now I would say that you always fight for the cold and the health bar. Even if you have all kinds of resources, in the long term playing, you need to always make good decisions.

[@IzBirch]

Was waiting for this playthrough.

[@ForgebreakerGaming]

Just a note on the wolves: It's the same in Stalker, and they will attack back to back, but not at the same time.

[@alexwise3001]

Your a humble man mr zak🤙 I would consider you one the greats🎊👌

[@TheSasudomi]

There were matches at Skeeter's ridge when I have tried this on my first try. On the shelf.

[@Zaknafein]

They are random. Sometimes there, sometimes not.

[@Chris-td9rp]

Oh, I'm really looking forward to this video. I've been watching the series „Road to 500 days“ every day for a few weeks. I'm now on episode 46. But this video will be a little change from the series marathon.😂

[@nannakurzhaar]

I binged watched it until the the newest episode, it is great 🙂

[@alexpowell1184]

mountaineer's hut my beloved. i've spent many a level 5 fishing entirely within the small region around the lake

[@kevinwetherell1748]

A full night's sleep will diminish your thirst completely, which would cause condition loss. That means you can't sleep more than like 9 hours at a time

[@Zaknafein]

That won't be an issue. You will see why later in the run (it's affliction related)

[@bombidil3]

Kathy Dark and John Dark, the conquerors of The Long Dark

[@BenJoe1644]

I was literally waiting for this video!

[@taylordoebler1209]

Day 14 for myself. Went to the farmhouse first and then to the barn next door and found a hacksaw and heavy hammer and a stim and flare gun inside the red barn. Birch bark nearby should be grabbed as well. Watch out for Mr. Bear 🐻

[@DefinitelyNotAnAddict]

Bro you misspelled birch

[@taylordoebler1209]

@@DefinitelyNotAnAddict thank you 🙏 😬

[@willhopkins8839]

Good video as usual! I found it funny that on your survival stats you pointed out that it said you survived 70 days on misery, but it also said you spent 77 days in pleasant valley

[@Zaknafein]

Haha weird bug. Also someone just managed 100 days in Misery so 70 isnt that insane

[@willhopkins8839]

That is absolutely wild!

[@gabrielneves6602]

3:07 oh yes, the birch bark theory 😂😂

[@saeedTHEgreat]

In my Misery run, I also found the hacksaw and hammer pretty quickly in PV. I went to DP to forge and piled up on coals and stims along the way. I eventually made it to day 50 with my base at CH garage, but the game gets so punishing that I probably stop playing it soon and go back to the comfort of interloper. I never went to summit or AC in my run, but I managed to make the moose satchel.

[@AmplifyChris]

Interesting, I startet my run yesterday, didn’t know about the hacksaw thing, and decided to go to the plane crash first. Now on day 4 and it works pretty fine till yet… depends on the next affliction, I think. From my first impression watching the first 20 minutes, going to the plane crash first was the right thing to do, because I found enough clothing to be warm indoors.

[@kirksteven4316]

Thank you Zak, been looking forward to hearing your psychology based point of view on how these new afflictions work and the real world mental issue this type of situation would effect someone, I would assume fight or flight would be in the mix of who would survive and who might not. I look forward to giving this a try, I hoping my Deadworld experience will give me some help with some of the issues you discussed. Thanks for the video.

[@jeremygonzal8603]

Heavy hammer and hacksaw day 1?? That doesn't sound miserable at all!!

[@jamandcracks8875]

Hell yeah. This last update has me fired up

[@Cheldeo]

in this misery mode, I guess you could say every single person is your enemy

[@Arcturus187]

What we have all been waiting for!

[@tommywenis]

1:24:36 I'd personally rather spend the time looking for tea than heating up the tea :)

[@b0kken]

I started a Misery run the other day without watching anyone else. I ended up choosing to go Plane > Prepper's Cache>Farmhouse> Signal Hill>Barn>Thomson's Crossing and was lucky enough to get enough clothing to not freeze indoors but i missed any hacksaws and hammers and had to cheat to find matches in the store otherwise i would have died and i used the stim on the way to Thomson's Crossing.

[@scheurbuiker]

Heating up all your drinks might take more time than finding the hot drink in your inventory.

[@Zaknafein]

Hehe yes but its time you are by a warm fire vs time when you are freezing

[@AmaraJordanMusic]

I love the non-vegan granola bar reference. 😂

[@BertVerhelst]

36:10 i thought i was drunk and my video was paused twice 😆

[@jacobkotschi7372]

All my roleplaying gameplay has paid off lol, I try to always have and eat fresh food, I try play realistically without meta gaming. Setting my own restrictions. This feels like this will be the ultimate challenge.

[@BCGandyman]

I found the Thermos once at the ice fishing hut in PV as well, it may be there if you pass by later

[@sunfis]

4:33 you never explained this later, but is it just because he’s louder after the first affliction with the diminished carry capacity?

[@Zaknafein]

Yeah forgot to explain it, sorry. But yes, he grunts a lot

[@sunfis]

@@Zaknafein i thought so, thanks !!