Horizon Zero Dawn. I'm Impressed.

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

I love Horizon Zero Dawn so far,( I haven't beaten the story yet. I'm just about to do "The Mountain that fell" or something like that). I'd say my only very very small nitpick with the game is that Aloy seems way to smart for an outcast with no education. How the hell did she reason that the earth is round? I mean, she explained it, but how did she come to that conclusion. What in the world made her question the flat earth theory? I do love the fact that she's basically an Atheist. Every time she says "fuck your gods" I giggle with glee.

Other than that, I don't really have a problem with the game. Glinthawks are incredibly easy to fight. No, the real monster in this game is the fucking Rockbreaker. Screw the guy who designed this mole monster from hell. Thunderjaws and Stormbirds have nothing on that jackass.

Why ever use Harvest arrows?

Harvest arrows are actually very useful for getting more resources. Granted, the game does give resources left and right without giving a damn, I always find myself running out of blaze. The easy thing to do is to take down a machine, leave the blaze canister intact and on it, then shoot it off with the Harvest arrow. Thus, a canister that would only give me 1-3 blaze gives me 6-9.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

I love Horizon Zero Dawn so far,( I haven't beaten the story yet. I'm just about to do "The Mountain that fell" or something like that). I'd say my only very very small nitpick with the game is that Aloy seems way to smart for an outcast with no education. How the hell did she reason that the earth is round? I mean, she explained it, but how did she come to that conclusion. What in the world made her question the flat earth theory? I do love the fact that she's basically an Atheist. Every time she says "fuck your gods" I giggle with glee.

Other than that, I don't really have a problem with the game. Glinthawks are incredibly easy to fight. No, the real monster in this game is the fucking Rockbreaker. Screw the guy who designed this mole monster from hell. Thunderjaws and Stormbirds have nothing on that jackass.

Why ever use Harvest arrows?

Harvest arrows are actually very useful for getting more resources. Granted, the game does give resources left and right without giving a damn, I always find myself running out of blaze. The easy thing to do is to take down a machine, leave the blaze canister intact and on it, then shoot it off with the Harvest arrow. Thus, a canister that would only give me 1-3 blaze gives me 6-9.

Huh, didn't know they worked on dead machines. Actually makes more sense then, since they did such piddly amounts of damage and tear on living enemies.

 

[Zhukov]

Huh, didn't know they worked on dead machines. Actually makes more sense then, since they did such piddly amounts of damage and tear on living enemies.

Yeah, dead machines retain their weak point interactivity.

You can still blow off their heavy weapons to use and detonate blaze/sparker/chillwater canisters.

Surprised me too, but it does make sense.

 

[stroopwafel]

Story was fun and interesting(espescially for an open-world game), graphics are exceptionally beautiful and the gameplay terrific; what's not to like here? Horizon really sets a new standard for these kind of games I think despite still having traces of Ubisoft's DNA in it's design and structure. Nothing is really new but with an interesting premise and near flawless implementation of existing concepts it just outshines the competition. The game is in a word, incredibly fun. It also amazes me that a relative small Dutch studio can make a better game than, say, Bethesda and their butt ugly garbage collector simulator mixed with minecraft.

 

[Weaver]

I'm genuinely amazed Zhukov liked a game

 

[Zhukov]

I'm genuinely amazed Zhukov liked a game

Aw man, why do people keep saying that? I like tons of games.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm genuinely amazed Zhukov liked a game

Aw man, why do people keep saying that? I like tons of games.

Clearly the moral of this is that there aren't enough threads about Mirror's Edge.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

I've not bought it yet because it looks like another shallow open world game that people are just dazzled by currently. I'll see if people are still hyping in a month from now but I certainly don't want another game where the first 2 hours are the same as the next 20.

 

[Zhukov]

I've not bought it yet because it looks like another shallow open world game that people are just dazzled by currently.

Well, it kind of is. It's very similar to the Ubisoft formula. Just in a prettier, more interesting world, with less busywork bullshit (note: less, not none) decent gameplay and a half decent story. It's the game that Far Cry Primal wishes it could be when it grows up.

I've come to detest open worlds, but this game almost managed to make me stop hating them for a bit. Almost.

I wouldn't recommend it to you anyway. It would trigger the shit out of you.

 

[skywolfblue]

I've not bought it yet because it looks like another shallow open world game that people are just dazzled by currently. I'll see if people are still hyping in a month from now but I certainly don't want another game where the first 2 hours are the same as the next 20.

This game is very very different from Skyrim/Fallout, which are a mile wide but an inch deep. Skyrim/Fallout combat is dull and shallow.

Horizon's combat on the other hand is very rich. Each robot type has different weakpoints to target, each responds in a different way, and you have wildly different weapon types you can use in creative ways to bring them down. If you've ever played any of the Dead Space Series, the combat bears some similarity to that.

I haven't completed the main story yet, but I'm really impressed with it so far.

Horizon's sidequests are all voiced out, and each are unique, not "collect 50 bear asses". There are fewer sidequests as a result, which is a good thing IMO, they went for quality over quantity.

Don't make a snap judgement about HZD being shallow just because it's open world. This is deeper then any open world game I've played by a country mile. Hell, it's deeper then ANY game I've played.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

I've not bought it yet because it looks like another shallow open world game that people are just dazzled by currently. I'll see if people are still hyping in a month from now but I certainly don't want another game where the first 2 hours are the same as the next 20.

This game is very very different from Skyrim/Fallout, which are a mile wide but an inch deep. Skyrim/Fallout combat is dull and shallow.

Horizon's combat on the other hand is very rich. Each robot type has different weakpoints to target, each responds in a different way, and you have wildly different weapon types you can use in creative ways to bring them down. If you've ever played any of the Dead Space Series, the combat bears some similarity to that.

I haven't completed the main story yet, but I'm really impressed with it so far.

Horizon's sidequests are all voiced out, and each are unique, not "collect 50 bear asses". There are fewer sidequests as a result, which is a good thing IMO, they went for quality over quantity.

Don't make a snap judgement about HZD being shallow just because it's open world. This is deeper then any open world game I've played by a country mile. Hell, it's deeper then ANY game I've played.

This is what I mean by people being dazzled.

Here's what I read from what you said:
- each enemy boils down to "shoot the weak point for massive damage" which is a method of combat I hate because it dictates how you approach a fight

- few side quests means they didn't bother. You didn't specify what the content of the side quests are. They aren't collection quests according to you so I imagine they're more in the "go to location, kill/talk to X"

- the fact that you claim that it's deeper than any game you've ever played makes me assume you're still being bedazzled by it or you just haven't played many games.

@Zhukov thats all I needed to hear. The first part, I dunno what you mean about the triggered part. I hate the Ubisoft method. The last time I played it was Shadow Of Mordor and I got about 5 hours into that before the cracks appeared and that was generally considered one of the better games they released recently.

 

[Irwin126]

I'm genuinely amazed Zhukov liked a game

Aw man, why do people keep saying that? I like tons of games.

Clearly the moral of this is that there aren't enough threads about Mirror's Edge.

I liked it, But Ea doesn't have much trust in it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Here's what I read from what you said:
- each enemy boils down to "shoot the weak point for massive damage" which is a method of combat I hate because it dictates how you approach a fight.

To be honest, you can boil down any enemy encounter in any game to 'cause damage in order to defeat it'.

Horizon is in many ways no different from other open-world games, except that in this game you're fighting giant monsters. And that sort of makes all the difference (that and that it looks really, really, REALLY pretty). And these monster fights scratch an itch that few other games do. The only other title I can think of that comes close is Dragon's Dogma, which had the same exhilarating choas and organic feel to the big monster battles.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Here's what I read from what you said:
- each enemy boils down to "shoot the weak point for massive damage" which is a method of combat I hate because it dictates how you approach a fight.

To be honest, you can boil down any enemy encounter in any game to 'cause damage in order to defeat it'.

Horizon is in many ways no different from other open-world games, except that in this game you're fighting giant monsters. And that sort of makes all the difference (that and that it looks really, really, REALLY pretty). And these monster fights scratch an itch that few other games do. The only other title I can think of that comes close is Dragon's Dogma, which had the same exhilarating choas and organic feel to the big monster battles.

No, there's a difference between having to specifically hit weak points and an actal fight.

If you look at your own example, Dragon's Dogma it doesn't limit you to JUST hitting a cyclop's eye. The fight is absolutly winnable by hacking at his ankles if that's how you want to do it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

No, there's a difference between having to specifically hit weak points and an actal fight.

If you look at your own example, Dragon's Dogma it doesn't limit you to JUST hitting a cyclop's eye. The fight is absolutly winnable by hacking at his ankles if that's how you want to do it.

Well guess what, neither does Horizon. It doesn't limit you, it in fact provides options a plenty. Some options are simply more efficient than others. You could hack at a cyclops' ankles and win a fight, but going for the eyeball is the more efficient way of taking it down. Same goes for Horizon. You can fire arrow after arrow at a Thunderjaw and take it down, but the better strategy is laying down some tripwires, roping it down, aiming for its weak spots, and using weaponry that you've managed to dislodge.

You can also just haphazardly unload your gun into a zombie in Resident Evil 4 and take it down, but the game gives you the option to tackle things more effeciently by going for the head or legs and then kicking them to the ground. Having options doesn't really mean much if they all do the exact same amount of damage all the time. I mean, what would be the point in performing a headshot if shooting someone in the hand has the same result?

 

[Zhukov]

This is what I mean by people being dazzled.

Here's what I read from what you said:
- each enemy boils down to "shoot the weak point for massive damage" which is a method of combat I hate because it dictates how you approach a fight

If you look at your own example, Dragon's Dogma it doesn't limit you to JUST hitting a cyclop's eye. The fight is absolutly winnable by hacking at his ankles if that's how you want to do it.

Your Dragon's Dogma example indicates you have the wrong idea.

Enemies have weak points that can indeed be shot for massive damage. But there's a bit more to it than that. Many weak points don't result in much damage but instead disable a particular attack or ability, knock off a heavy weapon that you can then pick up and use or trigger an elemental AoE explosion.

For example, this was my go-to method of killing thunderjaws, one of the high tier machines.

1. Open by shooting the rocket launchers on it's back with tearblast arrows, knocking them off.

2. Hit him with a volley of freeze arrows/bombs. The frozen status drastically increases damage inflicted from follow up attacks.

3. Pin him down with the ropecaster (basically a harpoon gun).

4. While he's pinned, pick up the the rocket launchers that were dislodged at the beginning and use them on him, focusing on the armour that covers his heart.

5. By this point he should be at about 40% health. Finish by harpooning him again then put a triple-loaded precision arrow into his heart.

I mean, to mirror your example with the Dragon's Dogma cyclops, you could just run around shooting him with fire arrows with no thought to precision. It'll kill him eventually, if you stay alive long enough. It won't be anywhere near as effective or efficient though.

I have no idea what Mr Deepest Game Ever has been smoking, but there's at least a little more depth than you seem to be imagining. Comparable to Dragon's Dogma, just without a fucking stamina meter and some NPC yelling about how wolves hunt in packs for the thousandth time.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

snip

My tactic for taking down Thunderjaws is similar to yours.

1. Tear off Disc Launchers using Tear Blast Arrows

2. Use freeze bombs (2 for effect 4 for the entire fight)

3. Wail on it with Hardpoint Arrows with Damage mods.

I can beat a Thunderjaw in about 2 minutes like this. Stormbirds and Rockbreakers are... a little more complicated.
[hr]
Rost's death didn't bother me as much as the deaths of Vala and Bast. It felt like they were going to be like companions or rivals, discovering the secrets of the machines and overcoming obstacles on their journey together. I was extremely disappointed when they were gunned down.

As for a possible sequel, I'd definitely like a new character. I like the idea of chasing the previous protagonist's shadow.