Sora_92
Terrarian
What I think is, that the "large castles" most people talk about, are simple wooden prisons quickly built without much care, most of the time. In case of those who actually build large castles that are actually impressive structures, that's obviously not the case, and I agree that punishing them for their decision is bad. (well, punishing those who build lazy prisons is also a bit bad too, since most are probably doing it, because they don't care about the building aspect of the game
(of course, that's all just theories)
but, I do think, it was somewhat the norm, to build one large base at the center, squeeze everyone into it, and that's it. whether it was a prison, or an actual impressive castle, it still was the one favored way of building, because (prior to having access to teleporters - and even then, setting them up is a huge pain - most of the time, making NPCs live anywhere else than the center, made access to them complicated.
However the arrival of pylons changed that. But, it's not just that, but the happiness system practically turned that whole practice upside-down. Now, what used to be the norm, and the most logical solution, is penalized, as if trying to force you to... - how about saying that? - "get out of your comfort zone a bit, and try out some new things"?
again, it wasn't done the best way. - and it won't really apply to new players either, since they're new to the game - but, in the pre 1.4 era, how many of us actually tried to build, or, even, thought about building towns elsewhere than the central area?
And if you did try, you would be facing with the huge inconvinience coming from that, because said NPCs suddenly were half a map away, and it was a pain to reach them, if you wanted to buy their stuff.
Even pre-1.4, some NPCs sold stuff, only if in a certain biome. one of the most noticeable ones is the witch doctor, who has stuff he sells only, when he's in the jungle. Now, if, pre-1.4, you decided to build a house for him in the jungle, that's cool, but then suddenly you were "punished" by having to walk there each time you wanted to talk him for whatever reason.
So, the practical approach pretty much crossed out the likelyhood of building towns anywhere else than the center, except for a few builders who did build them regardless, because they wanted to, but were "penalized" by inconvinience for doing so.
Now that's not how it is anymore, and that's thanks to the pylons.
But I can see people being upset about penalizing them for building the way they want. That's no good. What I think about is, that the faulty happiness system's main purpose is (was?) to teach us a bit about to, rethink that practice of squeezing everyone into a central base, and try out building new towns, in locations we never would thought about as good, prior to 1.4.
Suddenly, the entire island is yours to colonise. Suddenly, lively towns pop up on remote locations no one ever thought about before, they could be a place for a prosperous town.
...However yes, I can see several faults in the system, such as... how "lively" is a town is, with just 3 villagers around?
If I would try to - well, I do have a mod, that does something with NPCs - look for a sort of solution for the issues of the happiness system... hmm... I wonder what would I do?
Well, I'm assuming some mods will pop up very quickly, if they didn't already, that just outright eliminate the whole happiness system, or at least the penalty, and so, most people will be probably content with that, so whatever.
But if you ask me, I don't think the system is completely bad or broken.
I like NPCs and I kinda think, squeezing them all in a lazily built wooden prizon is kind of... not good? But it is up to everyone how they treat them, who am I to force anyone how to play. I do think though, encouraging people to try out new things, I mean, positive new things, isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? I think it's fun to think about building several towns.
(And, I generally think, you would have a more fun adventure in a world where you have something to call home, and, other structures you care about, than just a lazy bunker, and a hero always on the move having no real connection to the place. I guess I like to see lively towns, and to feel, that a certain character is somehow being a resident of that town, or something like that. But then again, it might be just me.)
But if something, I would rather like if NPCs would have much higher tolerance for having more neighbors - which will very likely happen too, since mods offer even more NPCs - and, I would like to see their neighbor detection range to be much bigger, so people won't have live in someone else's bathroom or such.
But what happens if we would abolish the entire happiness system? wouldn't lots of people just go back building lazy wooden prisons? I do think that could happen, and while I'm no one to tell them how to play, I do think, those people miss out on one of the amazing aspects of the game, which is building.
Then again, it's just how I think about the game, but, I do think when someone sees it as just another game where you punch some bosses and that's it, I feel that they would be missing out on several of amazing aspects of the game.
Hmm... I wonder, what would be a good solution, indeed. Forcing people is bad. But what would be a good way, that can show everyone, how fun the game's other aspects can be? Would it really work, if there are only rewards by doing things this way or that, but no penalty?
I can't help but think, that many of the people crying about the penalty, would cry about "the lack of bonuses being akin to a penalty" after, if they wouldn't be penalized anymore. Then again, maybe I'm wrong with assuming that.
Really, what would work?
TL.DR.: for some reason, I ended up blabbering a lot about this topic again. I wonder why? XD
