Horizon: Zero Dawn [split topic]

[Thursday]

Horizon: Zero Dawn

My expectations for this game went on a turbulent journey where I thought the initial trailer looked very good, although I was slightly concerned about it being from the Killzone devs. Then the reviews came out and it was exceeding expectations getting some really high scores and I thought "fuck off, it clearly isn't that good." And Zelda was out at the time, which made it's open world excesses all the more unappealing. I still always intended to get it eventually, but it kept slipping behind other games in my priorities. And I'd been rolling my eyes slightly at people putting down as a GOTY contender, while aware this isn't quite a fair attitude to take with it.

Anyway having finally had the the chance to play it this Christmas, I can say that it's pretty damn good. It does suffer some of the open world problems, and I'm surprised I'd not seen anyone talk about how awkward it is to jump up the sides of mountains, repeatedly jumping in the hopes that you'll clip on the slightly sticky out bit, and this seems to be deliberate design rather than just me taking a shortcut up the wrong route.

But it has much more interesting combat than your average open world combat. A good combination of action and tactics.  While the story and characters aren't up to much, it's an enjoyable world to be in, and telling that I've only used fast travel once so far.

[wooders1978]

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Anyway having finally had the the chance to play it this Christmas, I can say that it's pretty damn good. It does suffer some of the open world problems, and I'm surprised I'd not seen anyone talk about how awkward it is to jump up the sides of mountains, repeatedly jumping in the hopes that you'll clip on the slightly sticky out bit, and this seems to be deliberate design rather than just me taking a shortcut up the wrong route.

But it has much more interesting combat than your average open world combat. A good combination of action and tactics.  While the story and characters aren't up to much, it's an enjoyable world to be in, and telling that I've only used fast travel once so far.

Agree - great game generally but has some heavy flaws, namely the inconsistency in what you can climb is rather frustrating, also when you do want to fast travel you have to craft a fast travel pack before you can do it, a ridiculous idea
I also found it very slow going initially

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

You can buy an infinite fast-travel pack in one of the later cities of Horizon Zero Dawn, but it does just make a mockery of the system before it. I guess they were trying to make traversing the landscape more integral to gameplay, but just ended up with something that was neither one thing, nor the other.

[Shay Chaise]

I've only just got to the open world in HZD so my impressions are understandably limited but I have been considerably more invested in the story than in any of the other open world action games I've dipped my toe into recently, such as Uncharted LL, Assassin's Creed Origins, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dishonored 2. I know they're not all exactly the same genre but it's all the same to me. It's also probably the best looking, though all of these games look absolutely stunning. Lost Legacy does some miraculous things with lighting, it's eerily good. Combat is fluid, decent sense of movement and momentum and impact to everything. Sound design, especially on the machines, is bloody great. I encountered my first really big passive machine creature last night but I heard it and FELT it well before. Very tense, and then I was amazed by the sense of scale when it came into view. A very impressive game and seems like it has plenty of heart.

[mobias]

I still haven't played Horizon. I really should get it. Bet it looks amazing on the Pro.

[Harpo Speaks]

Loved it personally, just a couple of trophies shy of the Platinum. I agree with Aloy's movement sometimes feeling a little clumsy in respect of the climbing, but the combat always felt really fluid. Really enjoy the mechanic of switching up the weapon types in order to exploit particular vulnerabilities and expose weak points.

At the core of it is a really intriguing sci-fi story, that's what was pushing me forward, and it's one of the few games where I actually enjoyed picking up the text and audio logs as I was interested and invested in the world.

It's the opposite of a Bethesda open world game in that regard, the side quests in HZD can feel a little superfluous.

Also Robot Dinosaurs fuck yeah.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I held off getting this all year because I was waiting for the price to come down/January sales. Now though there's the special edition with the DLC included. Is that worth the extra cash, or should I just get the normal version for cheap?

[Thursday]

Couldn't say yet mysekf. After Making that post I suddenly reached a point where I was getting a bit tired of the game. Too many human enemies and herds of smaller robot dinosaurs. I wan't some battles that are just you vs One massive robot dinosaur, there doesn't seem to be as much of that as I'd hoped.

Climbing Tallnecks and doing "Cauldrons" are good, but as for other sidequests and bandit camps. No thanks.

[TrenterPercenter]

Couldn't say yet mysekf. After Making that post I suddenly reached a point where I was getting a bit tired of the game. Too many human enemies and herds of smaller robot dinosaurs. I wan't some battles that are just you vs One massive robot dinosaur, there doesn't seem to be as much of that as I'd hoped.

Climbing Tallnecks and doing "Cauldrons" are good, but as for other sidequests and bandit camps. No thanks.

similar feelings here

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

How far are you into the map? Eventually multiple massive robot battles become regular occurrences.

[kittens]

just started playing those properly today, it's really great. haven't felt this absorbed by a game in a long time

[Thursday]

I've stopped playing halfway through. I might go back to it.

It's me though, not really the game that's the problem.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The Complete Edition just dropped in price enough to put it in impulse buy territory for me. I'm too busy to really get into it at the moment, but a brief go has me feeling pretty positive toward it. It reminds me a bit of Assassins Creed 3, except that this hasn't bored me senseless and the story (what I've seen of it) doesn't make want to punch people. On the contrary, I'm actually quite gripped by the plot already, even if the characters are rather flat.

I must echo the complaints about the climbing. If you could only climb the yellow ropes, it'd still seem a little arbitrary, but nice and clear at least. Similarly, I quite like the colour coding of the red stealth grass, but I can't help thinking is a bit stupid for the world to be full of equally dense foliage that somehow doesn't hide you.

I clearly need more practice with the fighting. I've tried being all tactical, but I inevitably wind up wading in and clobbering things with my whacking stick. Not that I don't like bashing away with my stick, but there's greater satisfaction to be had in successfully executing a carefully laid plan. Like violent dominoes.

[brat-sampson]

I'm playing on Hard to see if it's worth putting the tactics through their paces, and was struggling with one encounter before reading up properly, shooting a Big Dog in his weak point with lightning, upon which he chain lightninged the entire group for massive damage and put them all in stasis for easy pickin's w/ the spear. Felt great!

I haven't touched it in a month while I've been busy and playing more Xenoblade/Celeste, but I might get fully Into this now. It's clearly a very accomplished Open World game, and so long as I don't get too bogged down in the entirely optional busywork I can see myself really liking it.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Despite all the work I should be doing, I played a bit (a lot) more over the past couple of days. I'm getting better, but the only sure fire tactic I've found for taking on the larger robots is to knock them down with an electric shock, wallop them with the spear until they revive, then run away and repeat the process. It's all well and good having the baddies weakpoints glow, but most of them don't seem to be all that weak. For example, I encountered one of the firebreathing ones for the first time so, naturally I shot its fuel tank with a fire arrow. Instead of the expected explosion, all I got was the miffed robot stomping over and incinerating me. Do I need to level up my weapons, or is that just not a viable tactic? Speaking of which, how do you get freeze and electric arrows?

[Penfold]

Despite all the work I should be doing, I played a bit (a lot) more over the past couple of days. I'm getting better, but the only sure fire tactic I've found for taking on the larger robots is to knock them down with an electric shock, wallop them with the spear until they revive, then run away and repeat the process. It's all well and good having the baddies weakpoints glow, but most of them don't seem to be all that weak. For example, I encountered one of the firebreathing ones for the first time so, naturally I shot its fuel tank with a fire arrow. Instead of the expected explosion, all I got was the miffed robot stomping over and incinerating me. Do I need to level up my weapons, or is that just not a viable tactic? Speaking of which, how do you get freeze and electric arrows?

You'll need a War Bow for the freeze and electric attacks.

It's been a while since I played it but my normal technique was stealth. I'd put down some wire traps using the Tripcaster if things went poorly against the bigger machines but normally i'd either whistle them to steal spear attack or launch an arrow at their eye. I think you can get one attack off with stealth without being detected but then have to wait for them to stop searching, I think there is a countdown above them which also indicates if they are stunned or shocked. The big flamethrower machines are annoying, their sacs explode when damaged enough but I can't remember if fire is much more helpful than high damage arrows.

[brat-sampson]

I fought a FireBastard last night and from the log it looks like they're actually fire-resistant. I threw a couple of frost-bombs to slow him down then went ham with the best arrows I had on his massive sack until it blew up. Then a couple of trap-casters and a lot of attempted belly-stabbing and he went down.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It turns out the best place to shoot them is the Blaze canisters on their bellies. One fire arrow in each of those will cause a lot of damage. I was going for the giant tank on their backs, but that seems to be impenetrable.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Yet more work shirkery and I'm well into this. It's reminding me now of Shadow of the Colossus and Bloodborne - but not as boring as the former (shut it, I'm right), or as piss taking as the latter (with the exception of the burrowing robots, who can just burrow their way straight to hell).

Things really started to fall into place when I got some new weapons and started experimenting with the different types of ammunition. At first I thought it was a bit annoying that each bow is limited to using certain arrows, but then I realised that it helps keep things balanced - the elemental arrows can do so much damage that it would be far too easy if you could fire them accurately from half a mile away. What annoys me still is that there are only four spaces on the weapon selection wheel. As with the climbing, it's not a big problem, just a baffling little one.

[kittens]

just completed it. i thought it was great! i'm going to go lie in bed and think about it all

[brat-sampson]

Just made it to Meridian. Damn, this game's a real looker, ain't it. Everything *feels* big and chunky, and it's very good at making me go 'ok, I'll just do this Quest/Longneck/Cauldron/Cup-fetch/Quest, then I'll stop.' about 4-5 times in a row without stopping.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It certainly is spiffy looking. Several times I've felt frustrated by the game's camera, not for the usual gaming reasons, but because the viewing angle isn't wide enough to display the full splendour of some of the environments.

It certainly also is a time sink. Every night this week I've sat down to play it and, next thing I know, it's four hours later. Even though I'm still enjoying the world, I eventually got the infinite fast travel pack, just so I could be a bit more efficient with my time.

[brat-sampson]

I'd heard about that, so as soon as I found someone selling one I went and spent 10m hunting foxes. Completely worth it to not have to worry about fast-travel (not that I particularly was anyway, what with having about 20 of the single-use ones the whole time anyway).

[brat-sampson]

I kinda like cheesing this game. I 'snuck' through a base by overriding a Horsebot and leaving it on their front steps then running in the side and through to the back. You can take out clustered groups of humans with a firebomb. You can whistle/silent strike 75% of a base without anyone giving a fuck. Also it feels like any time there are a large number of different enemies, or enemies at all, your best bet is to try and just hide/run directly to the objective without engaging. It works, it's not that difficult, it's faster and it saves resources. At the same time, when things do get messy, it's still great fun trying to save your ass, running, sliding, maybe panic-firing a tripcaster behind you and hoping it works. Also, I saw my first Thunderclaw yesterday and, man, those fuckers look terrifying.

The story's progressing along at a good nip, and the Longnecks and cauldrons etc are enjoyable without there feeling like there are too many of them. In fact I'd say the game could have supported more. The fact you can highlight every collectible in the game on the map before even leaving the starting area is still a weird choice, but I guess it's optional, and there's no way I'd track them down without that option. Making sure you stay on top of your health pouch and having to go and hunt animals occasionally for specific things is definitely a drag, and I'd happily pay some merchant for those resources if the option was available, just to save myself the effort.

A good game! Onwards!

[The Boston Crab]

Mega bump but having dropped this about a dozen times, it's finally clicked this weekend. I think mainlining the story has helped because it really is well written and has some interesting ideas and satisfying details. Just little things like 'ancient chimes' being a set of keys. The item descriptions and bits of lore are often very good. Bittersweet and imaginative.

Also, and most significantly, this is still one hell of a good looking world. It's oversaturated and unnatural but in a very beautiful and consistent way, and the drab moments are welcome contrast. The lighting and HDR are absolutely marvellous, I'd say this is the best example of HDR I've seen in a game. As incredible as RDR2 looks on the One X, that game has a much more naturalistic intent and while it's often extraordinary, the palette is somewhat restricted by its verisimilitude. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is more in the hyperreal HZD vein and it's also absolutely gorgeous but despite being released a year later, I'd say HZD is still more of a looker.

Another key reason for me getting stuck into it is realising that the opening snowy rocky environment is only about 20% of the map and it's actually much more diverse and beautiful than I'd imagined. I'd been in for the first area for about ten or twenty hours over the last couple of years just fannying around fighting Watchers but there's so much more to this. Reaching Meridian was pretty jaw dropping, and completely unexpected. It again reminded me of AC Odyssey but I almost feel like the structures are more impressive and artful.

In terms of the combat, it gets exponentially better for a good while. Fighting Deathbringers and Corruptors and Rockbreakers and so on is awesome. There's also little as satisfying as pinging the big fuel tank belly of one of those fire spitting things and feeling the bass as it goes PTOOOMMMM. The weapons get way more interesting, too. While I find the tripcaster a bit gimmicky and too situational (or I'm too thick), the slingshots and elemental arrows are great and again, I bloody love that purple Tear arrow thing that does a kind of gravity implosion with the best sound in the whole game, it feels like the sub woofer is going to cave in on itself. Awesome noise. Pop one of them past the crab's shield and watch it crumple and spray components all over the shop. Very satisfying.

The story is also motoring along with some decent set pieces and while searching the FARO building was a bit irritating and difficult to read the map, it's largely been very well paced with some interesting twists and plenty of momentum and a sense of drama and intrigue.

I've slagged this game off in the past for being a generic po-faced cinematic PS4 collectathon, and it kind of is that, but what it does well, it does extremely well. An utterly stunning, often interesting game with fun, satisfying combat. I was wrong.

[C_Larence]

Definitely played this, almost certain i got 100% on it, maybe even this year, but fucked if i can remember a single thing about it.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It's the one with robot dinosaurs.

[The Boston Crab]

Finished it this evening and really thought the story was great for a game. One of my favourites ever, probably. That's not saying much but I think this would make an excellent movie. Some of the environments in the late game got repetitive and the main quest splintered off into some stuff about a dude's sister but I skipped most of that dialogue. The sci-fi bits were really interesting, though. It got a bit gobbledygooky at times talking about data and networks and that but maintained pretty good momentum and some of the later battles were immense. The standoff at Meridian was a particular highlight.

Oh, also, I didn't even know about overriding or cauldrons or mounts until about the final hour or two of the game so I've got that stuff to mop up and play with if I can be arsed.

I wonder whether the DLC is worth playing?

[Spoon of Ploff]

I wonder whether the DLC is worth playing?

It is.

[The Boston Crab]

Cheers. I'll probably wait for another sale because I've seen it for a few quid on PSN at times, just never bothered because I bounced off the main game so often. Probably up there in my top 5 GOTY albeit I started it on release day.