Horrizon Zero Dawn worth a buy review

Recommended Videos

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

Muse of Fate
Sep 1, 2010
4,691
0
0
Ezekiel said:
He kept shitting on MGS2 in order to make MGS3 look better, using worthless comparisons. When I reviewed Max Payne 3, I didn't disparage the previous games, which I find inferior, because it's not relevant. He wouldn't have done it if those criticisms weren't popular opinion. It's always about popularity with those YouTubers.
I actually watched the MGS3 video for the first time last night as I've never seen it just due to it being one of his longest videos even though I love the MGS series. I just saw him making comparisons with how they were different with regards to stuff like codec messages and how MGS3 ends with a huge setpiece. MGS2 definitely had an over-reliance on codec messages. I think most people that played MGS2 didn't know what the S3 plan really was due to skipping that long ass codec message at the end. And for the few times he did "shit on it", it was more with love than anything. Any MGS fan knows there's flaws (it is Kojima after all) but either loves the games more for them or just sorta hand-waves them away. The one thing I don't like about MGS3 is that the Shagohod makes no sense at all from a physics standpoint.

Neverhoodian said:
If anything, his (admittedly arty-farty pretentious) take on MGS2 as a brilliant post-modern deconstruction of the medium is far more forgiving than your typical review of the game. His comparisons in the MGS3 close-up were to illustrate how different the design philosophies were for the two games (at least, that's how I interpreted it).
MGS2 sorta pulled a Bioshock well before Bioshock, and it did it much better IMO. If anything MGS2 is more poignant now than at release with how much misinformation is out there, especially with regards to politics, and how much the average person believes falsehoods to be fact all due to mainly social media and an overload of information. Even when I originally played MGS2 on release, I was like The Patriots make a damn good point.
 

cleric of the order

New member
Sep 13, 2010
546
0
0
Ezekiel said:
Luke had some bullshit moments too. Like, how they put him in the seat of a military fighter craft that he had never piloted before.
but they did introduce him as having been a fair pilot before, for all we know the x-wing is a space t-34 with a simple system that allows any old person to fly it and given it's a rebellion i lean towards that as an explanation as to why it is the main fighter over the A or B or K wing along with economical reasons.
from what i remember he doesn't actually do anything really all that special in the seat either, aside from the force shit at the end. then again the trench run was pretty skillful.
simply put the suspension of disbelief isn't affected.
We don't know the rules of this, we know he was a pilot, he drives them into town, he knows a bit about starships i remember han barking at him for back seat driving and now far away he's piloting another craft.
one doesn't have to strain.

but people don't just morph psychic powers out of their asses and giving a sense of progression of training and mysticism helps close that gap.
especially when that character is also super good with machines and fighting and can do things as the plot allows it.
you don't see that as much with luke.

In the trilogy, he learns much of his power on his own, like Rey. Obi-Wan never taught him how to force pull objects, yet he pulls a lightsaber out of the snow.
again that's something movie teaching can gloss over, we did have time skips during his early training, also he was super fucking bad with it.
Trying to pull in the light-saber took noticeable stress early on. it wasn't as if he just learned the skill and mastered it moments before, it was very weak and it doesn't break the suspended disbelief membrane

Rey's progression was definitely fast, but it wasn't that absurd.
it was expedient enough for people to hone in on it, luke was stretched out of 3 films, a lot of it happening off screen or summarized quickly but they did devote a fair amount of time showing he was indeed struggling. the key point is logically it was space enough that these leaps made sense.
First episode he's still getting it, most stressful thing he does is learn not to overly rely on his senses - the trench run, the training droid.
then he gets more power, begins to affect the world - lifting shit, understanding his mind
then he ends up becoming the great warrior monk, even then he wasn't all that strong in the vadar fight.

The long and the short of it is that there was enough gaps between the stories that we could fill in the blanks, imagine the personal training that goes by, we aren't there and given seconds to understand that a person is achieving something that it takes years to do if you follow the story cannon.

even little orphan annie himself who was some sort of protege was unable to just pop up with all these fucking force powers because plot, though he did have mild force clairvoyance. Hell a lot of folks thought the character was bullshit myself included. this fella has the ability to build robots and complex machinery, slave job or not the kid is still a kid but it was clearly Lukas writing by convenience and the rest of the movie was bad so it didn't stand out as much. A turd in a latrine is not nearly as noticeable as a turd on a porcelain floor.
come to think of it she reminds me quite a bit of that little stupid shit.


referring to the above post about here trials
I wonder how the first force users learned that they had those abilities, without anyone to teach them.
i suppose because it's space mysticism you had people begin to delve into it, train people and those people will meditate and become better. with a lot of different schools or classes of jedi until a jedi buddha arrives and teaches everyone the best way. it's like what siddharta said himself, the dharma doesn't just leave, people will always learn a way.
It's not that they just learned the stuff or you would have a bunch of untrained superjedi/sith on random worlds and even disney fucking the extended canon you don't see that stuff.
a strong amoral force sensitive can build an empire, they end up in the outrim, just get that knowledge shat on them form on high and you'd have noticeable empires crop up. but you don't really see that,
Hell if it was true and disincline wasn't really necessary it wasn't spirituality and connection to the heart beat of the world then we don't even see that in rey.
she doesn't seems like a mystical character, not enough to fool the portion of the audience who saw her way too powerful without drawbacks.
That bug eyed glare she has on most of the movie doesn't seem calm to me, he actions don't suspend my belief she is some sort of mystic savant it comes off that she just has these powers because she does.
no training
no discplin
no mystic magic mumbojumbo
no real reason.
it doesn't follow that she is this strong to me, just like anni

Might it have been the same as when Rey hears the voice of the storm trooper and then realizes she can manipulate his thoughts? At least her powers have a progression (a very fast progression), beginning with her discovery of the lightsaber and continuing when she meets Kylo Ren, and there are hints, like flashbacks and Obi-Wan speaking to her. It was a bit rough, but I'm hopeful that the sequel will make more sense of it.
people are suggesting she might be little orphan annie back in a new body and that scares me, we don't need more annie.
but yeah, jay jay did a hack-slap dash thing to charge people up for the next one wand disney is handing it to other people. it's clear her characterization and grow was hacked up for plot convenience for what amounts to a low brain action movie.
there is nothing wrong with being aware of that, she comes off as a mary sue, for good reason, they never really did much with her but use her as a vehicle to help advance them to a new set piece for plot and scene efficiency

I think it would have been worse to have another protagonist go through all the same trials that we already watched Luke go through. I'm hoping the sequels come up with new powers.
true but then again they are selling us episode 4...2. it's that sort of thing, rehashing wouldn't be the worst except it doesn't fit JarJar Abrams style. You could have tweaked things before it left the drawing board, Rey didn't even have to start at ground zero she could have been shown practicing this stuff, because a force artifacts' influence or it could have been she was being trained initially, change up her backstory a bit.
but it's clear, she's the daughter of one of the main characters from the last movies, who may or may not be darth vader or some shyamalan tier twist.
and none of it matted anyway because hype.
any criticisms i could levy again will be washed away because well member berries nostiliga and fanboying
 

theevilgenius60

New member
Jun 28, 2011
475
0
0
Hawki said:
Ezekiel said:
I also believe Rey from Star Wars wouldn't have been called a feminist misogynist Mary Sue Marty Stu nearly as much if she was male. There's a long history of overpowered and overly capable male heroes in movies, much like males in games.
I agree with you to an extent, but for instance, Anakin in the prequels is the strongest Jedi around (least by Episode III), but while no-one has an issue with his power, they do have an issue with his personality. Funnily enough, Rey is the opposite for me - I do find her a Mary Sue in as much as her powers become so great so fast, but as a character (e.g. personality), I find her quite likable).

Of course, this is Star Wars, so fans will always find something to complain about.
The reason no one calls Anakin out as a Marty Stu is because we already know his flaw. He's the future Lord Vader, so making him a heads and shoulders above hero makes it sting more. I'm with you on the personality thing though. Like a block of wood
 

Lightspeaker

New member
Dec 31, 2011
934
0
0
American Tanker said:
CritialGaming said:
Dude what even? You don't care, you only play 1st person shooters of the manliest of manly variety. Just let people enjoy things.
Though I have absolutely no interest in either game, I will say that because of this, I'd be far more likely to get Nier: Automata than I would Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mainly because the story of H: ZD is preachy as all hell.
Personally my take-away from that article is that I now want BOTH Horizon:Zero Dawn and Nier:Automata; so I guess it failed in its point to a certain extent.

It'd be highly irresponsible of me to buy both considering my existing backlog...but I might just have to buy both.
 

deadish

New member
Dec 4, 2011
694
0
0
American Tanker said:
CritialGaming said:
Dude what even? You don't care, you only play 1st person shooters of the manliest of manly variety. Just let people enjoy things.
Though I have absolutely no interest in either game, I will say that because of this, I'd be far more likely to get Nier: Automata than I would Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mainly because the story of H: ZD is preachy as all hell.
Based on the reviews and streams I have seen ... story doesn't seem to be it's strong point - at least the presentation of it; dialogue is ... awkward. Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games is not, when it comes to storytelling.

If I get it, I will be getting it for the gameplay and visuals - the latter of which I have to say is top notch in it's genre.
 

Zombie Proof

New member
Nov 28, 2015
359
0
0
Ezekiel said:
Phoenixmgs said:
Ezekiel said:
The last Super Bunnyhop video I watched was the critical close-up of MGS3. He spent so much of the beginning randomly shitting on MGS2 that I stopped caring about the qualities of the game the video was actually about. So I didn't get far into that video. He probably didn't have much to say that I wasn't already aware of.
Huh? There were just a few minor quips about MGS2 in that video. He likes the entire MGS series I believe and did a video about how awesome MGS2 is.
He kept shitting on MGS2 in order to make MGS3 look better, using worthless comparisons. When I reviewed Max Payne 3, I didn't disparage the previous games, which I find inferior, because it's not relevant. He wouldn't have done it if those criticisms weren't popular opinion. It's always about popularity with those YouTubers.
Oh snap, you wrote a review of Max Payne 3? Hook a ninja up with a link. I dig reading your thoughts on shit.
 

Zombie Proof

New member
Nov 28, 2015
359
0
0
Ezekiel said:
hanselthecaretaker said:
Only trying to convey a real world example of how pointless the biased One Angry Gamer article's perceived semantics are. They probably wouldn't have even had an article if Aloy was male. It ties into my earlier point that too much journalism today is marginal filler content churned out to meet quotas more so than presenting original, quality ideas.
I also believe Rey from Star Wars wouldn't have been called a feminist misogynist Mary Sue Marty Stu nearly as much if she was male. There's a long history of overpowered and overly capable male heroes in movies, much like males in games.
[/quote]
Actually, that was my biggest issue with Dr. Strange. The Marty was so strong in that joint I expected his last name to be McFly.
 

Amaror

New member
Apr 15, 2011
1,509
0
0
Ezekiel said:
Yes, I too have argued that the film should have introduced her as already learning the force. But I also appreciate the mystery of the new trilogy, and I wanna see where she's from. Why do you think she's definitely the daughter of one of the previous characters? I don't believe so. She's not a Solo. Her parents would have mentioned it in TFA. She's not Luke's daughter, because that would be super lame and everyone is expecting it. Right now, I'm betting on her parents being Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro's characters. They're both almost fifty years old and the only big new actors in Episode VIII.
Her piloting and fighting skills were never the problem. As you said it made sense that she would know how to do such things.
Her being able to control people with the force without any training whatsoever was a problem. Just as her being able to defeat a trained sith having literally touched a lightsaber for the first time.
 

sXeth

Elite Member
Legacy
Nov 15, 2012
3,301
676
118
deadish said:
American Tanker said:
CritialGaming said:
Dude what even? You don't care, you only play 1st person shooters of the manliest of manly variety. Just let people enjoy things.
Though I have absolutely no interest in either game, I will say that because of this, I'd be far more likely to get Nier: Automata than I would Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mainly because the story of H: ZD is preachy as all hell.
Based on the reviews and streams I have seen ... story doesn't seem to be it's strong point - at least the presentation of it; dialogue is ... awkward. Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games is not, when it comes to storytelling.

If I get it, I will be getting it for the gameplay and visuals - the latter of which I have to say is top notch in it's genre.
There's definitely some weird dialogue bits. The only preachy esque bit I've stumbled across so far was an optional conversation with the Sun Priest, where Aloy just keeps ranting on at him about why there can't be a Sun Queen, only Sun Kings. Which wouldn't be as shoehorned in feeling if Aloy didn't live in (well next to) a society that is completely martriarchal and neither she or the Sun dude notice the gigantic obvious bit of logic.

And its really kind of sloppy with explaining her familiarity/ability with machines (and some other bits there's no real context for, like being able to ride a horse-bot when there's no actual horses and controlling bots was just discovered). You can work out that she's probably learned something from her headset thing she found as a kid, but the game doesn't really highlight it much. She just seems constantly at ease with machines and technical stuff, and knows thats it not some weird magic/demons like everyone else believes in. Though its kind of vague how much anyone in the world knows. All the tribals don't seem particularly confused when a gun shows up, despite only using bows and stuff.
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

New member
Feb 9, 2016
2,102
0
0
stroopwafel said:
Athennesi said:
No clear structure or thorough analysis on sound design/music ( compare it with ACG)
I don't watch many youtubers but ACG is one I regularly watch. He has keen observations on games that are both meticulous and precise but without having that air of pretentiousness that other more informative youtubers have. But even they are still better than all that uninformative fanboy trash.

Espescially ACG's 'walking the walk' in which he goes through the game with a fine comb is one I always really enjoy.

Subscribed. Makes Worth a Buy sound like a casting reject from Idiocracy.
 

IceForce

Is this memes?
Legacy
Dec 11, 2012
2,384
16
13
OP, please stop posting videos by this evangelistic hack. He's a fool.
 

Ishigami

New member
Sep 1, 2011
830
0
0
That's a lot of SW for HZD topic...

Anyway for the review. I'm always sad when people use reality to argue against a video game mechanic.
The "high grass" obviously is the way it is because the player needs to be able to see what he is doing. That does not only include moving about but also aiming. If they designed in a more realistic way, that it would actually cover the entire PC to the point of invisibility, then he would complain that once he aims that he would see nothing but grass.
I give him is that the spotting mechanic is actually kind a broken. Enemies can walk right into your face without spotting you which makes it kind of too easy, same with the lure sound. But then again this is no hard core stealth game.
He also seems to lack understanding of game mechanics or wilfully ignores them. Example? He says higher weapons do more dmg as they have better stats but that's factually wrong. The higher weapons only do more dmg because they have more mod slots and you probably bolstered the stats with mods. The basic stats of the weapon types stay the same the entire game over. Ultra rare just means it has 3 ammo types and/or 3 mod slots. The stats are the same as an uncommon weapon of the same type. This is no RPG, it's an action adventure type of game. It is their way to slowly introduce the player to more complex options which he seems to ignore for the most part...
He complains that humans can take a fire arrow to the face. Yea well the fire arrow is just there to burn targets as the stats clearly show. If you want to do direct dmg he would need to choose e.g. hardpoint arrow and then all but elite humans die with one headshot... what he wanted...
Rolling all over the floor is what you do when you do not know how to actually fight the machines or went into a fight without a plan then get overwhelmed by numbers. However if you know the tactics and invest some time in planning it turns out you don't have to roll all over the place. It's about exploiting the weaknesses. A freezing arrow to a chillwater canister or a fire arrow to a blaze canister and the machines take massive hits. Freezing slows them down and increases direct dmg. If you got something like a Thunderjaw or Ravager etc. you can kick off their heavy weapons with a tear arrow, bind them in place with a ropecaster and blast them to hell with their own weaponry while the support is stuck in some previously laid shock wires. If all fights turn out into rolling about or hiding in grass that's kind of up to you tbh. The game gives you options whether you use or ignore them is up to you.
Facial animations are hit and miss, true.
His apparent dislike of consoles doesn't help his arguments either.

As for the comparison to AC from UbiSoft. I do not agree. The difference is in frequency. In your average AC there are how many towers to climb? 30? In HZD it is 5 Tallnecks and you don't even have climb them if you don't want to. And while the concept stays the same they change up some circumstances e.g. one is inside an enemy base and one is in a lake full of snapmaws. How you approach it is up to you as activating a Tallneck it will send out an energy pulse that kills almost everything stealth is an option. What I'm saying is: Activities in AC overstay their welcome, not so much in HZD.

HZD is IMO a good game. It has its flaws, as every game has. But I think most people should be able to enjoy it.

As for the feminist BS. I don't see it. Aloy is a women... so is Lara, so what?
You encounter some women in the game that ran from their role in their tribe like that Carja women in Hunters Meet (?) that ran from a restricted live as a wife to seek fortune as a barkeeper. But doesn't appear preachy to me. Not to mention the matriarchy the Nora seem to live seems flawed as well e.g. they sing to their goddess instead of actually doing shit...
 

Vigormortis

New member
Nov 21, 2007
4,531
0
0
American Tanker said:
Though I have absolutely no interest in either game, I will say that because of this, I'd be far more likely to get Nier: Automata than I would Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mainly because the story of H: ZD is preachy as all hell.
Holy Christ, that fucking "article"....

That is some fairly blatant bullshit, frankly. The "author" attempts to hide his nonsensical 'anti-SJW/anti-West' pandering behind some pretty heavy thesaurus use but he fails in the end. His arguments essentially boil down to:

* Horizon: Zero Dawn bad because strong, character-rich female lead and it's not a Japanese game.
* Nier: Automata good because generic, character-devoid female lead and it's a Japanese game.

Seriously, I'm not one to stereotype but even I can't help picturing the "author" as a 300 pound neckbeard surrounded by body pillows adorned with anime waifus. I mean, for fuck's sake he actually says this -

"Gamers have an instant fascination with 2B and her willing sidekick 9S. 2B is curt, prompt, professional and dangerous, exactly the way a battle unit should be. 9S, the scanner unit, is inquisitive, curious, ambitious and? somewhat frail. We definitely want to see and learn more about 2B, but she?s very closed off from the audience (and with good reason due to the way the plot eventually unfolds), 9S works as the conduit between the player and 2B, asking the questions most people might ask and making observations most people might make. This approach creates a lot of intrigue around the characters in Nier: Automata."

No, it doesn't. And no, we don't. From the outset both 2B and 9S sound, act, and feel as generic and one-dimensional as one might expect in the most basic of JRPGs. The Doomslayer was more intriguing. Doesn't help that the game's writers seemed to think pointless, vapid, and overly verbose dialog equates to a great narrative.

It doesn't.

That said, I'm really looking forward to buying and playing the hell out of both Horizon and Nier: Automata. Just waiting for a price drop.[footnote]I rarely, if ever, buy games at anything over $40 anymore. Shit's expensive and I have other monetary concerns besides video games.[/footnote] Also, still haven't decided if I'm going to buy Nier on PS4 or Steam.
 

Ishigami

New member
Sep 1, 2011
830
0
0
Vigormortis said:
To be fair you misrepresent his point and you are not all gamers as well.

I haven't finished HZD yet. Haven't met the new Sun King yet either for example.
But he might have a point.

For example:
When you do the coming of age test your main rivals are a juvenile man and woman. The man is a prick with over inflated ego while the women is confident as well she is also fair. The guy is somewhat redeemed in the end but in three out of four scenes he has in the game he is an absolute ass. Not to mention 2 out of 3 competitors for the win in a test of strength, endurance and skill are female. I?m sorry but considering human?s dimorphisms this seems rather unlikely.
You meet an injured man in a valley. He asks you to find his daughter that went after some machine that has her mother's spear in its back. You find the daughter and she tells you that she is displeased with the cowardice of her father and that she wanted to retrieve her late mothers spear. Apparently she was the hunter and crafter in the family due to the man's injury.
The new warmaster (or whatever the position is called) of the Nora is a man. And he is a judgmental asshole (to Aloy anyway) and undeserving of the position (granted by description of the old warmasters son). The old warmaster was a women and she is admired by her peers, capable and only interested in people?s abilities and actions therefore way more accepting of Aloy not to mention she is the one taking actions against the attackers.
The Carja vanguard head is a woman and again, by description of her brother, clever, able and resourceful. Her brother inherits the position only because she uplifted him to her second due to family ties and he is actually a drunk.
In one quest a noble man asks you to liberate a mansion from machines to save his family. Turns out his father cast him out over gambling debts and other character failings and he wanted to kill the entire family in order to inherit the fortune. The sister, which is the only survivor of the attack, was of course an upstanding family member.

Now of coursed these are only some instances.
But consider when you first hear of the new Sun King he actually sounds pretty bad ass. I mean he unites the enemies of the mad king and rises up a rebellion to kill him and take the throne then employs fair rules opening up the boarders for trade and so forth.
Now I haven't met him yet, like I said, but if this "article" is right and he is just a puppet of a strong women pulling the strings then the examples could possibly pile up to support his argument.

Can't say anything about Nier because it's not released yet.

But I have to say I it did not occur preachy to me. It only occurred to me after I read that article that yea males seem to get the shaft in HZD.

As for Aloy she is Mary Sue in the same way Geralt of Rivia is a Marty Stu. As video games may serve as an active power fantasy this kind of works.
Geralt was in fact criticized for the very same functionality: Supposedly an outcast yet no impact on story or gameplay.
 

Specter Von Baren

Annoying Green Gadfly
Legacy
Aug 25, 2013
5,637
2,859
118
I don't know, send help!
Country
USA
Gender
Cuttlefish
CritialGaming said:
Dude what even? You don't care, you only play 1st person shooters of the manliest of manly variety. Just let people enjoy things.
Can you really deny that these forums would be more boring without B-cell making these kinds of threads?
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

New member
Feb 9, 2016
2,102
0
0
Seth Carter said:
deadish said:
American Tanker said:
CritialGaming said:
Dude what even? You don't care, you only play 1st person shooters of the manliest of manly variety. Just let people enjoy things.
Though I have absolutely no interest in either game, I will say that because of this, I'd be far more likely to get Nier: Automata than I would Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mainly because the story of H: ZD is preachy as all hell.
Based on the reviews and streams I have seen ... story doesn't seem to be it's strong point - at least the presentation of it; dialogue is ... awkward. Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games is not, when it comes to storytelling.

If I get it, I will be getting it for the gameplay and visuals - the latter of which I have to say is top notch in it's genre.
There's definitely some weird dialogue bits. The only preachy esque bit I've stumbled across so far was an optional conversation with the Sun Priest, where Aloy just keeps ranting on at him about why there can't be a Sun Queen, only Sun Kings. Which wouldn't be as shoehorned in feeling if Aloy didn't live in (well next to) a society that is completely martriarchal and neither she or the Sun dude notice the gigantic obvious bit of logic.

And its really kind of sloppy with explaining her familiarity/ability with machines (and some other bits there's no real context for, like being able to ride a horse-bot when there's no actual horses and controlling bots was just discovered). You can work out that she's probably learned something from her headset thing she found as a kid, but the game doesn't really highlight it much. She just seems constantly at ease with machines and technical stuff, and knows thats it not some weird magic/demons like everyone else believes in. Though its kind of vague how much anyone in the world knows. All the tribals don't seem particularly confused when a gun shows up, despite only using bows and stuff.


I've only played about half a dozen main missions, but I think it's generally assumed for playability's sake that she's aware they can be ridden, similar to how fast travel works. It would be kind of ludicrous if they built that mechanic into the lore, because it's still just a game. She also isn't completely comfortable with machines either since in my game she keeps talking about needing to learn certain creatures' overrides. She's definitely more aware of the "old ones" than most outside of the matriarch, and of course she's been "training her whole life" for whatever, so maybe that's where her different approach originates from.

Funny story related to this, after I did the mission helping the Nora tribe, all those people were still kinda roaming around all day while I was off doing other stuff. One time I left my strider on the side of a path to go gather some herbs in the woods, and by this time it was pretty dark but I hear someone saying something like, "...separated from the herd....this should be fun." I hear clanking, pounding and the wailing of a machine so I run out to see what's going on, and find them beating the hell out of my strider!! I book it over to them like "wtf are you bastards doing!? Don't you dare hurt him!!" Lol we were able to get away and I was almost ready to kill them all in vengeful retaliation, but didn't want to risk dying so far from my last save. I should've saved the clip of it because it was so random.
 

B-Cell_v1legacy

New member
Feb 9, 2016
2,102
0
0
Ishigami said:
Those points may carry some merit depending on how the game turns out, but oh well. When you think of it, men have been responsible as a whole for a countless amount injustice and suffering over the course of human existance; it's just the ways things are. Also, this would not be the first game series that attempts to paint women in a stronger, more superior role.

Take MGS for a great example: who is revered anywhere close to the legendary status of The Boss? Even Big Boss learned everything he knew from her, but he or any of his clones could never hope to live up to her greatness. Most men in this series are either power drunk or just drunk, while others who do possess some higher intellect are represented as spineless pussies (Otacon). The B&B theme from MGS; seals the deal, where only when 4 women are pushed beyond and reasonable limits of human pain and suffering do they become like anything resembling their male villain counterparts represent. I personally never had a problem with it, or really even gave it a thought until all this gender pandering and slandering took hold of the industry lately.

Strong, mature and independent women should be considered a good thing, whether in a game or reality. The stronger they are the better off the man is as well. Some might be threatened by that but it's only human nature to be so by what cannot be controlled. Having said that, hormones do get in both sexes ways to varying degrees. Humans in general have an exceptional capability for good, evil, and last but not least, stupidity.

Anyways back to Horizon's story, as good as Ally is made out to be, she was still raised by Rost, a man who's actions seemed to be most humble, honorable and respectable in the end.