Hesitant about early access nature of Coral Island

[fathom nimbus]

Hi, everyone! First of all, Coral Island looks so beautiful and my question is really whether I should play now or later - not as to whether I should play at all. I know that the game is in Early Access and I've checked out the Roadmap. What I love most about these types of games is farming, combat, fishing, building and relationships.

I was wondering if anyone could weigh in on whether it would be a good idea to wait a little longer until the relationship features and other gameplay elements are fleshed out a little further. I'm not someone that is likely to play now and then come back in a year when certain features are added. ADHD is a heck of a thing and makes revisiting games I previously played really tough for me. Like, nearly impossible. So I want to play the best version of Coral Island, if that makes sense?

Anywho, thanks to anyone reading this and thanks to the developers for making such a cool looking game!

[vague oak]

If you know you won't come back when there's new features then I recommend you wait for the full experience

[umbral mist]

Looking at what you said you like, it's almost definitely a later.

Combat update is not in yet, and relationships are currently at the 5 heart cap - no dating and marriage until close to full release. Fruit trees are not in yet as well, so I think that's at least half the stuff you like not present in the current iteration.

Probably keep an eye on the update and see when they add stuff on the roadmap that you're really keen on?

[fathom nimbus]

Okay, that makes sense. That is kind of where I was at but I keep coming back to the game because it looks so great and I'm impatient 😅 It's not that I don't ever come back to a game, you know, but it's just difficult for me the older I get. Thank you both for weighing in on this, I really appreciate your feedback.

[vague oak]

Hahahhaha totally get it. Honestly it's better to make sure you enjoy it as much as you can, and I think you will when everything is in. I personally love revisiting when new things are added, feels like a dlc

[umbral mist]

Depending on how you feel about testing things out, you could also dip your toes in by trying the relevant public beta (I'm not sure if that counts as playing the game fully) whenever it next comes out - beta files do not transfer, so if you tried a bit of the beta and feel you'd rather wait, then you can always just leave the game alone and start fresh on the main update you want

[fathom nimbus]

Oh that's a neat idea, I wasn't even aware of the beta branch. I may give the game a shot now, too, just knowing that I might check it out now and come back later for the full experience w/5 heart events and whatnot.

Based on what I've been reading, there is currently quite a lot to do in the game before you run out of Early Access content? Are there any major, major things that you guys feel like it's missing in the current version?

And I don't mean that in a disrespectful way to the game, more like features that will be included but maybe aren't ready just yet.

[vague oak]

The beta branch is not available right now, only the couple weeks prior to a big update

Combat is lacking a loooot (for starters, there's only one weapon right now, this should be updated in the next content update ) and there's a lot of content missing outside of the actual town (for example, there's supposed to be a deep forest and a whole merfolk kingdom, diving is also about half-ish way done ). Crops are pretty much all there, just missing fruit trees and maybe some other crops/plants, so there's plenty to do.
Although you can't get to full friendship (only half the hearts from full release) with npcs there's a lot of story added to them.
I managed to find a lot to do my first year up until winter (which is pretty bare atm, I sped run it just before this current update)
Most festivals are either not there or only half there
There are a few mysterious doors that currently go nowhere, excited to see what they'll do
There's more that is missing but so far those are the things I await the most

[umbral mist]

Yes absolutely - more or less what Tuki said. The bugs and fish are all there in terms of collection wise, but farming and skill wise we have not got access to the full range of skills or crops yet (skill levels are capped at 8.) However, you can definitely get enough to start a decent coop, barn, get a greenhouse etc.

Personally some of the more unique stuff that I look forward to the most is not yet in game - luwaks, durian trees, and most of the diving map.

Regarding beta branch: they will announce it when a public beta opens so keep an eye on the discord, there will likely be one for the next update too