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March 29, 2024, 01:07:25 AM

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Horizon: Zero Dawn [split topic]

Started by Thursday, December 31, 2017, 04:47:31 PM

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C_Larence

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on December 09, 2019, 05:08:49 PM
It's the one with robot dinosaurs.

Right yeah, load of shite. Only thing I remember enjoying was taking down one of those big robot dinosaurs (called something like thundersaurus???) way before I was probably meant to. Enjoyed the way bits fell off it and that.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: The Boston Crab on December 09, 2019, 08:50:54 PM
I wonder whether the DLC is worth playing?
As I recall, it's basically just more of the same, aside from a few new baddies. Perfectly good, but inessential. Also, if you were bored of the snowy mountains in the main game, you won't much care for the setting here.

I did like the snowy mountains, I just found the game a bit aimless until I started mainlining the story and so I basically spent two years on and off (nearly three, just realised) in the same area of the map shooting watchers. It's mad in hindsight given how much variety there is to the world, even if the gameplay doesn't fundamentally develop that much.

I saw the Frozen Wilds on offer at cdkeys so went for it and it is absolutely stunning. Looking forward to getting stuck in but kind of wish I'd started it before I finished the main quest.



Accepts mission from strong powerful female black character.

kittens

i remember being surprised by how much i was dragged in by the story and world. loved meridian. i really liked the game at the time but thinking back it seems really really normal. there must have been something special to it that I'm forgetting.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Possible PC port probable: https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/01/16/sources-horizon-zero-dawn-is-coming-to-pc

I have oddly mixed feelings about this. While brand loyalty is for jive turkies, I feel like a world without exclusives would ultimately lead to the bottom falling out of the console market. "Good" say the filthy, filthy PC nerds, but then what happens to the rest of us - the sexy people? Do we end up having to build our own gaming/media PC's to stick under the telly, or is there some sort of home server setup that you access from telly, tablet, etc.?

Then again, I'm almost certainly getting ahead of myself here.

QRDL

I think some fixed tiered PC configurations would emerge. Like Steam Machines but running Windows. They would then become a target for developers.

Ah, and streaming obviously

... and the current Nintendo console for the creeps.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I'm no expert in the economics of the industry, but I thought consoles have traditionally sold at a loss, which the manufacturers recoup in liscencing fees. Unless people can be convinced to pay more than they're used to for the hardware, shirley there would be no incentive for anyone but Microsoft to make them?

I guess streaming could be a viable option, although it would be blinking annoying to have your games entirely reliant on internet coverage, even more than they already are.

Mister Six

Ragged the everloving fuck out of this baby (and the Frozen Wilds DLC) to the tune of 90 hours of gameplay, which isn't bad for a game that cost $10 on the PS4 store. I think that's the most time I've spent on a game since Dragon Age: Inquisitor, too. And for good reason: it's an absolute 10/10 rip-roaring barnstormer, isn't it? It doesn't really provide anything new in terms of gameplay, but what it replicates from everywhere else it hones to perfection. Combat is fluid, dynamic and fair - once I had a handle on things the only times I died were when I fucked up - the characters and storytelling are almost perfect[nb]Loved it when they established a cunty Draco Malfoy type and some rando friend girl at the training camp towards the start, then just killed them off because nope, this isn't some YA angst-fest about bratty teens arguing with each other.[/nb], there's barely any pop-up or slowdown even when you've got dozens of robobastards leaping about on the screen, and the range of weapons and baddies is fantastically diverse and encourages (indeed, demands) experimentation and varied strategies.

In fact, I think there are only a few areas where the game is noticeably weak: it's weirdly finicky about letting you make critical attacks on some machines, seemingly only giving you the context prompt if you're approaching at a certain angle. And the parkour stuff is a bit shite, especially in the cauldrons - you can basically only follow one route on specific interactive items, so you're either completing a "puzzle" that's about as challenging as join the numbered dots or you're flailing the camera around, trying to find that one grapple-able ledge that's hard to see in the night time.

But the underachievement that surprised me was the graphics. I mean, yeah, they're obviously objectively technically impressive - lots of polygons, lots of shaders and motion blur and particle physics and shit - but outside of the entertainingly impractical clothing (how many Banuk were standing around in -40 weather with bare arms?!) the design is weirdly mediocre. The robo-animals are mostly pretty dull, the uncanny valley faces flit between realistic and weirdly stiff, and the weather/lighting design just makes everything look like it's shot through a bland Instagram filter. Would love to see this engine unleashed on something with a bit more personality.

But other than those wrinkles, it's an incredible game, just one of the most pure fun gameplay experiences I've had in yonks, possibly ever.