Remove the Hunger Bar

Suggestions
Remove the Hunger Bar https://forum.arcaneodyssey.dev/uploads/default/optimized/4X/c/d/7/cd7eee5f2cca7e90aa6c6a4dc00be139fef37314_2_1023x575.jpeg
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A remake of a suggestion I made… two years ago!? Didn’t even know I’ve had this account for that long.

Key Points

  • Remove the hunger bar so you cannot starve or get any negative effects from it.
  • Food can still be eaten and the food buff system should still function after this.

Optional:

  • Add a status effect which acts as a cooldown to eating food, kind of like in Terraria.

The Issue

Hunger as a mechanic doesn’t really add anything to the game. It’s slightly annoying and doesn’t make exploration or combat more fun.

I don’t think players should be punished for playing the game with heavy debuffs and then death. The way you avoid starvation is so easy it might as well not exist, therefore I think starvation should not exist (and all hunger-related debuffs, which basically means removing the whole bar).

Sure, it’s not a big issue, but removing it would still improve the game.

My Proposed Solution

Remove the hunger bar and starvation.

Reason: They don’t add anything to this kind of game.

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This may sound a bit extreme at first, but the rest of the food system would function perfectly fine.

Currently, you can only eat a meal if either your hunger is below max or if you don’t have a food buff. Due to the latter rule, there will still be a cooldown on eating food so immersion isn’t broken from people eating a buffet.

(also, due to these rules, you can eat above max hunger without a food buff and it won’t add hunger, you can eat multiple meals until you are full, and you can fully eat a placed meal after one bite iirc)

Optional addition: Add a status effect which prevents you from eating more food (or does nothing). The duration is exactly the same as the buffs provided by the food. This status would be like the Well Fed buff from Terraria, except it’s just a cooldown. (images below)

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What happens to the rest of the food system?

The hunger values could stay and it would be fine. I think they could be left in just for comparison (and so the few quests that deal with cooking don’t have to be changed). It’ll probably be fine.

Maybe also a rework is warranted, but that’s beyond the scope of this suggestion. The food system would work completely fine anyways so no rework or replacement is needed.

(this section was heavily edited if you saw an earlier version)

Extra stuff

  • Base ingredients like apples or mushrooms probably shouldn’t be edible because there’s no point. Either that or they get a use after eating.
  • (Edit) Seawater bottles would lose their joke effect after this change, and that would be fine. Though, if sailor fist needs a nerf (or this specific item needs more immersion), then seawater bottles could slightly drain stamina to mimic the bodily effects of -5 hunger.
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to draw a parallel i feel like it’d be saying to remove hunger from minecraft. minecraft’s a different game loop and hunger is tedious, but to remove struggle from the game would give it less substance. possible alternative is to nerf the amount of hunger given by food so it’s more necessary, but decrease rate of hunger? i haven’t given much thought to it, but i think getting rid of hunger entirely wouldn’t really make sense

5 Likes
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doesnt need to be removed we just need more interesting meal types

3 Likes
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that’s the thing though there’s literally no point in arcane odyssey where hunger is a legitimate worry because you’ll almost always have food on you. Atleast in minecraft hunger is an issue in the early game

2 Likes
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having a ton of food bogs down its importance from an essential focus for survival to an occasional few clicks, but i think getting rid of hunger entirely would be too drastic, especially considering the waste that’d be of food types that don’t give any effects-the most you could really do is look at them

2 Likes
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me with 700+ grapes and like 100+ of most other common foods:

How is hunger an issue

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???

AO is a way different game than Minecraft. To name a few differences, AO is a story-based RPG with PVP elements while Minecraft is a survival sandbox game (sorry if I didn’t get these exactly correct, but cmon you can easily feel the differences in gameplay).

Hunger at least makes sense in Minecraft since it’s a survival game and thus should be realistic. Hunger in AO has no depth (isn’t influenced by anything, hunger in Minecraft affects speed and health) and doesn’t add anything of value to the gameplay loop.

You only have to eat once every 31.25 minutes (time for 75 hunger to drain) minimum. This forced “gameplay” is literally just spam clicking a random food you probably have hundreds of or a meal that instantly fills the bar. Might as well remove it.

Probably should have addressed this in my extra’s section. I think they could get their own recipes. I saw an excellent suggestion once about adding drinks and spirits which would use those ugly “When cooked, it loses some of its flavor” items. That would fix the problem of useless ingredients after this change (not like they are useful currently…).

More meals is cool and good. I’m not advocating to remove cooking, meals, or food buffs at all, I just think that making players take a small nibble every now and then is pointless.

That’s exactly why I think hunger should be removed. Since it’s not an issue past the first hour, why should it exist as an inconvenience?

Sure, it’s just a minor QOL fix, but other QOL changes are being pushed such as inventory searching.

1 Like
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the cooldown for eating is kinda eh, said cooldown already exists for being over satiated, and can only be drained with sea water

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Hunger is in a city where it don’t belong. It serves no purpose other than to be an inconvenience, and even then the player can easily invalidate its sole purpose if they happen to cook something that gives an asinine amount of hunger back (which is pretty easy, especially if you get lucky with a castaway or two).

If AO was a survival game like Minecraft, then removing it would be like taking the legs off a Berserker, or the hands off a Warrior. The thing is that AO is meant to be an action/adventure-style game, and Hunger is out-of-place in it. I think cooking and meals can still exist, since their buffs are more passive compared to Brewing’s immediate effects, it’s just that their main purpose is worthless.

4 Likes
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I can propose a solution to the main big problems I see.

What if they were the out of combat equivalent to potions, their effects don’t work during combat, and each hunger point could give one health point when eaten.

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11

I agree

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It serves no purpose besides forcing the player to pop open their inventory every few minutes to munch on a half dozen bananas.

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13

Nah its easy to eat food? You earn hundred thousands of galleons from marketplace. Just buy full stock from food merchant, cook it and you get food for 2-3 days of playing AO

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thats kinda the reason this suggestion was made if im not mistaken. if its so trivial to deal with food then why does it even exist

3 Likes
15

Well unlike any other animal we actually have to eat in order to survive

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i understand that, that’s why i said it. maybe the analogy was misleading, but the point i was trying to make is the concept of tedium in game design, not to equate the hunger systems. maybe a better parallel would be like weapon ammo in fortnite

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i dont want to eat 3 million bananas or make a 1000 hunger pie in order to not die fr

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But I like food
I like the mechanic of having to nourish your character, to take care of them
It’s one of the only things that doesn’t turn ao into stat blocks you throw at other stat blocks to win

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Without food, the game will feel bland (badum tss), uninteresting
At this point, just remove foods altogether and give the 3 (7) buffs that you get from foods to potions

Invigorating
Energizing
Recovery
Sun protection
Agile
Insanity
Fortified
Why not move all of them to potions at this point?

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because then fishing would be pointless

1 Like