Is this the last book of the series?
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None of that is pragmatic behavior, thatâs just Dillian being an amoral bastard who wanted an excuse to indulge in his depravity, which he got in the form of a zombie apocalypse. Being pragmatic is solving problems with logical and practical solutions.Rachel is a great example of a Pragmatic survivor, when faced with a problem she consistently chooses a practical solution to the problem at hand instead of limiting the # of choices she has by following a set of ideals, that are becoming less likely to work as the apocalypse worsens.
No it isnât far-fetched, Iâm pretty sure it was confirmed that this is exactly the reason why heâs now given himself the responsibility to be the warden of our morality, and while I understand what heâs went through and why heâs doing this. Iâd still like the ability to confront him & tell him that just because he needs a set of ideals to cling onto so he doesnât loose his mind doesnât mean I have to have the same outlook/ morals as him. Or just because, Iâm acknowledging the fact that other people are dangerous and have the sense to not throw strangers a welcoming party to our camp, doesnât mean Iâm becoming evil.
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@JimD Also apologies once again for a semi-off topic post, but can we plllleeeeeeaasssseeee 
have combat gloves/boots (with either kevlar sleeves or shin socks) or something like that for MCâs the fight barehanded? it totally destroys immersion thinking that MC is fighting zombies BAREHANDED(or with simple running shoes lacking protection, or exposed sleeves/shins) with a method of attack thatâll end up doing more damage/pain to the MC after just a couple of hits(not to mention risk of infection from cuts incured while fighting)
Also would it be okay if we got throwing knives as a fighting option too? 
Like we have knife wepons & there was that one time on the treetop hill battle where we got to throw our wepon(even though throwing a trench knife or sword is extremely unrealistic or probable) but this was more flavour text rather than an actual ability we could regularly use as suggested by the skills description page. They could be a semi-limited resource/ammunition like arrows where you can craft more(using metal parts & the like); rather than arrow quivers you could have knife belts/straps as an amunition variable(each belt holding 5-10 knives but since player will prob wear 1-3 this could just be the same number of knives as arrows a quiver would hold)
Sorry if this is coming acrosnegativelyly in any way shape or form, I know that the creation of new variables and items in the story is difficult and that youâve got a ton on your plate - these are just mini suggestions I guess that would help expand the immersion aspect for some readers/players of the story especially if theyâre role playing, projecting their own skills/preferences on the MC, or want to safely fight using martial arts
Thank you for taking the time to read all of this(itâs much appreciated)!
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You could just say that the body armor includes all that already. It would certainly be easier than adding whole other sets of armor for arms and legs.
I would highly advise against the throwing knives as theyre a poor choice of lethal weapon, especially against armored foes. They are extremely unreliable, and really only useful for entertainment. Not only do they not have enough force to drop a foe, you are disarming yourself and potentially arming the enemy. You would also need extreme accuracy for them to hit the vitals of your target. All of this has to be done from mid to close range as youre probably getting shot at. Thats just living opponents. Zombies would be worse as you wouldnât be able to pierce the skull. The only plausible way to kill them is with a perfect throw threw the eyes or mouth into the brain stem. If theyâre wearing protective headgear, youâre knives are useless. Mind you, this really depends how realistic Jim wants to keep the story. It would certainly be fun to have a new stealth weapon.
Regardless, I would highly recommend adding brass knuckles to the game. They would be extremely beneficial to players using fisticuffs. Iâm actually surprised they havenât been mentioned before!
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Thatâs⌠actually a pretty good idea for the armour thing Iâd googled the images of the various armor descriptions weâve been given & none of them matched the theme or contained any leg/arm protection and such so Iâd never been able to picture it fully. I just thought an actual item or at least in game text saying I had combat gloves/sleeves for example would have gone a long way in terms of immersion and role play
I agree with you that the knives are short-mid range but throwing knives are fairly easy to aim accurately after a decent amount of practice(Iâve been doing it for about 4+ years so maybe Iâve got a bias) and they can certainly be thrown with enough force to either mostly destroy the motor cortex + basal ganglia or to pierce the midbrain which would have the same impact as hitting the brain stem(apologies, itâs not often I get to flex my neurosci degree & lord knows itâs useless without a PhD 
).
Also also(apologies this is will be a little long ) most throwing knives would need special gloves or careful handeling to use them(hence why you also need to carry them in specalized belts in this context) or very carefully since theyâre double bladed and each blade is double edged(but this heavily depends on brand and knife types, still even some of the Smallest blades have the capacity to do all Iâve said about the brain above).
For your point on Human enemies this weapon is still very viable, mind you throwing knives is a very Fast attack choice, if practiced, throwing 10-15 knives in a short time span is pretty feasible & even if you donât have perfect accuracy theyâll hit at least somewhere against your opponent; they will deal more damage to humans whoâve been hit if they move or try to take them out + theyâd slow them down (giving you more time to either get up close or throw more accurately).
Some last points:
- If you go with knives that arenât double bladed then youâre also never short of having a melee knife weapon on you - which if you targeted attacks with could maybe over come the weakness of having to worry about enemy armor?
- Theyâre great for stealth gameplay(again weâre also talking about MCâs that have high agility/dexterity)
Anywho sorry again this ended up being so long I just kinda blurted out all that came to mind, but yeah you make really good points!
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No need to apologize. The whole idea of this beta is to bounce ideas off each other, so that we can conclude the best outcome. Its fun!
I certainly donât have years of experience throwing knives, but I went out for a field day with other firearm instructors a few years ago. We would do this every few months to fire off extra ammo or test out some weapons and armor we managed to get our hands on.
This particular time, we managed to acquire some real nice 13 in. throwing knives that weighed about half a pound. We had a ton of fun, but we all noticed the same thing. They simply werenât an effective means to perform lethal harm. Maybe over time from blood loss, but that just allows your target time to alert others or attack you, potentially with the knife you just used on them.
Going for an instant kill (like in games and movies) wasnt feasible either. We tried going for the brain, but they couldnât even penetrate the âskullâ. Due to the curvature nature of the skull and the soft, fluid filled, tissue surrounding it, we found that the knives would skim off the skull whenever we hit it. The only times we managed to get the knives to stick, were when we hit flatter surfaces or softer areas (eyes, mouth, throat and chest).
Honestly, youâre best bet would be to skip the brain and aim for the throat or diaphragm. These would be âeasierâ to hit and lethal. Of course, thats assuming they arenât wearing protective armor. While I have seen knives stick into rock and metal, they didnât go deep. While ballistic vests generally arenât knife proof, they would make penetrating much more difficult. Sadly, none of this would work on zombies.
Looking back historically even, i havenât heard of anybody using throwing knives as a primary lethal weapon. Not even assassins. The Japanese and Arabs had stars and knives, but were only used as distractions. (Ex. Hit the eyes to blind and cause pain) You would literally have better luck killing someone by throwing rocks at them.
You are actually kind of the perfect candidate to test this. You both throw knives and have knowledge of the brain. Maybe you could record a video or take pics? If you manage to penetrate to the brain, you should open up the head and explain where you hit and what damage that would cause. It would be very informative and extremely fun!
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@JimD Iâve long since given up writing down all the typos and have been taking screenshots instead. I plan to go through them and highlight the errors I find. However, it would be a bit much to post them all here in a post. Could I send them to you by another means?
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Ohhh thatâs really cool! yaâknow? Iâve never actually tried attacking a curved (and just beneath the first layer of skull) slippery surface, usually I use boards made of scrap wood or recycled doors & such(nothing armored or resembling a real life skull). Yeah Iâll have to concede then that throwing knives wouldnât be very feasible in a realistic scenario
But thanks for sharing(and for affirming our conversation)! I definitely didnât take the time to consider some of the points youâve made earlier 
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I think having an MC that can use throwing knife to kill enemy is still quite beliveable in this universe, consider the fact that the MC have the potential to:
- Walk up to a raider that is pointing a 50cal machine gun at the MC while wielding nothing, telling him to stand down⌠and succeed
- Scam a duo of con artist
- Kill an army marksman which was armed with a sniper rifle and a scope using some other weapon such as an Arsenal Ak or an unscoped Springfield 1903 from 600 yard away
- Killing hundred of zombies using only their fist and legs
- Throwing a melee weapon at far range through a forest environment to save Tommy (Even more ridiculous if you have a sledgehammer or a katana)
- Sprinting the same distance to save Tommy by kicking the zombie down the hill ( Which the MC said themselves earlier that it is impossible to reach Tommy in time)
- Knowing what other people think with very high empathy
There might be more stuff that i miss, but i think this could get my point across
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No youre absolutely right. As yulekitten mentioned above; ââŚwouldnât be very feasible in a realistic scenario.â BUT this story has plenty of unrealistic scenarios. So having throwing knives that follow movie/video game rules is very feasible (knife to the chest = instakill). It depends how realistic Jim wants to keep certain elements of the story, which i feel like he has so far. More importantly, if he has the time to create a whole other weapon.
I figure if enough people want it, let Jim know. Personally, I wouldnât mind it too much, because then I could make a batman like character who specializes in stealth, hand to hand and throwing weapons.
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Agreed! it would still be a very fun narrative/gameplay option to have(especially with the immersion factor for certain character types/archetypes you want to play around with)
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This is a minor thing, but in all of the challenges, the âHeavy sleeperâ is basically free point for the MC. With the exception of taking a 2 hours nap instead of a hour nap in part 1, day 0. It doesnât affect the gameplay and story in anyway, both passively and actively. I think the challenge may need a âbuffâ to truly be a challenge
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I think the idea behind heavy sleeper is that you sleep through anything, no matter how loud the commotion or how hard someone tries to wake you.
Do you recall any events that might have been skipped due to you sleeping? Maybe a scene that takes place in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning?
If not, I would vote have this happen. You would potentially be missing out on something important or even putting yourself in danger (if zombies attacked while you sleep). Iâd say that would make for a decent handicap.
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There are only 2 times where heavy sleeper is seen taken effect. The first time is the prologue where certain professions will wake up late and be late for their job, but it is only for flavor with no effects whatsoever. The 2nd time happened later in that same day, where the MC have the option to take a nap. If you have heavy sleeper you will sleep 2 hour instead of 1, barely any setback since that is both optionable and can be circumvented with soda or hobby.
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That is the funniest comparison that Iâve read in a long time. Iâm visualising a Bigfoot-sized, ginger Ned Flanders from now on in my playthroughs.
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I was hoping to update the public beta with chapter 11 this weekend but unfortunately had some medical issues. Over the past two and a half weeks, Iâve been in and out of the hospital due to emergency surgery and then complications. Iâm finally feeling better and hoping to get back into the swing of writing full-time. It will probably take a few weeks to catch up to my timeline and will then update the public beta. Thank you for your patience!
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Iâm still real Excited and wait for the release
One Very important thing Stick to your style the Way you write this is awesome you get a Feeling World thatâs what I like most but I still have the feeling that time is still an issue. Of you work on your camp or do Things that are important you canât do your hobbies sometimes. You absolutely donât have to follow this because itâs only my opinion but I like to try everything when I can. If I play the game again (from the start) I tend to follow a curse I set for myself if I want to be a good leader I do everything to be a good leader for my group. If I want to be an a**** well then I choose this way but because of that I think I miss details 
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Throwing knifes have a great benift of you want to wound your enemies. So yeah 1 point for you here. Killing with this knife could be difficult because if your opponent has an automatic rifle or something I donât want to use a throwing knife while he fires 10-20 rounds in my direction.
Another thing I like about throwing knifes? You can still use them to stab your opponents or cut their throat. Yes it sounds brutal but itâs a zombie Apokalypse
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So even though I have Reilly as my only RO, some weird stuff happens like at the beginning of the game, right after we got into Eliâs junkiard,
Spoiler
Here Reilly says his mom would like her own space:
But when I ask him to move in together later on he says this:
I mean should this be happening? Did he changed his mind or somenthing???
And in this katana fight scene, Mc kind of doesnât do anything, although I chose to fight, the scene just continues like Mc is standing there stopped in time, like a glitch I think haha.
And does Reilly always falls in love with Laurel? I was confused abt that because not even minutes ago Reilly said:
And then it happens almost right after
And like with Kevin (I mean when Mc realized Kevin was hiding something when he was asked how many people were in the junkiard Kevin lied saying it was just him and his dad) Mc realized he lied or that he was hiding something (at least mine did) and it ended there, just nothing. Same with Reilly in the way that while Mc noticed his crush he didnât do nor say anything about it.
And guys I get it, itâs the end of times and monogamy is overrated now, but this happens like with no explanation whatsoever? If I had more than one partner, it would at least make my lack of reaction acceptable, but my Mc didnât, so why donât you question it Mc?
With Kevin, at least we have the option of asking him to talk later (even if it doesnât happen even after many days later). This lack of reaction from Mc just makes me feel more like a observer than a real person in that world, like I can chose whatâs gonna happen but my character isnât real he doesnât feel or act real like the others, heâs just there bc âIâ canât be one of the other characters.
Oh and it seems like the Ros donât really react to us flirting with others (even in front of them) which I find even more weird bc thereâs no mention of us even flirting with more than one person (not that Iâve seen at least) and for some characters like Jaime (i guess) I canât even imagine letting it go like that. Almost like they donât even feel that strongly abt us or donât notice it (Iâm not sure if it happens w/all of them bc I just played w/ Jaime and Reilly for now) weâre just there ya know? Weâre no ones lover, nobodyâs friend weâre just this one dimensional character and as much as âmeâ the player care abt those people âmcâ doesnât, at least not until I can sometimes decide to spend time w/them and they seem to act much the same just like with Reilly where one moment he jumps from âin loveâ to âneutralâ in the blink of an eye like those npcâs in games.
I know this isnât a game focused on romance, but relationships in general seem to be lacking, I liked the game, but scenes like the ones I mentioned before took me out of the experience after all if these people donât have a personal connection to Mc nor do they matter to him, why should I, as a player, care what happens to them in the long term?
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Recently fell into the Zombie Exodus hole and Iâm having quite a blast. I canât believe it took me this long to get into this series.
A bug encountered during the prom event
I chose Jaime as my RO (female PC attracted to males only) and I chose to stand at the side during the prom event, but open to dancing if anyone asks. Surely enough, Jaime approaches me, but he somehow⌠Turns into Gina?
If it helps, my relationship with Jaime is 72% and with Gina itâs 58%.
I chose to save at the same time as the screenshot, because I was curious what would happen if I danced with her (it triggered the scene of dancing with her anyway). When I tried to load the save, it said that it couldnât load due to 'âtoo much recursionâ. This may be a Firefox error because a recent WIP had the same problem too, but Iâm not sure what could be the fix.
Reloaded from my first save point, chose not to dance but to hang out with her, and once again the dialogue switches between Gina and Jaime.
Another bug when doing my daily task at the junkyard
Still playing as a female PC, only attracted to males. This time, main RO is Woody and relationship is at 90. Asked him to move in with me in the RV and he agreed.
When I checked out the daily tasks, I was assigned to scavenging. Then, Woody interrupts me as Iâm about to go do the daily task, but it doesnât state that itâs him.
Continuity error when training with dog
Says that dog runs to Brody, but the text shows that Madisonâs the one who reacts, without even mentioning her in the first place.
Sharif 'objectifying' Gina
When I go with Reilly to the convenience store and bring Gina along, this scene pops up during introductions.
Iâm a Muslim woman myself and donât really see how that was objectifying Gina. Then again, it depends on how the siblings were raised - I canât deny that some of the more conservative families would definitely whack their son if they were seen talking so freely to a woman who isnât their wife.
Seeing that this is based in America, I thought that more Muslims there wouldnât have that sort of mindset. Especially not deeming a warm introduction as objectifying.
Something that would make more sense for Ayana to do is to remind Sharif to lower his gaze, a common warning for unmarried men and women who speak to the opposite sex. Not in a literal sense, as in Sharif has to avoid making eye contact with women at all costs - more like respecting the woman and not making her uncomfortable by staring too much at her unnecessarily.
That being said, men and women literally averting their gazes and not making eye contact with each other isnât unheard of in Muslim communities; itâs just rarer these days, especially with the ones who practice more liberally.
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