Aaronology
Member
Best attack in the game. So beautiful to witness, especially at night.Here
I like how Aloy is like "Imma stand over here..." in those gifs.
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Horizon Zero Dawn |OT| The Land After Time
- Thread starter shinobi602
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I like how Aloy is like "Imma stand over here..." in those gifs.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
Yep, Hardpoint + Tear mods is incredible. Combine that with concentration and you can nullify an enemies deadliest weapons before the fight even gets started.
Ruthless_Barbarian
Member
Did anyone who took part in the pre-launch contest get their free PSN Avatars yet? They were supposed to be sent out a week after launch.
Sad that EU store gets them for free and others have to wait
Sad that EU store gets them for free and others have to wait
Hmm. Might have to switch up and see. But with tear mods don't you lose fire mods? Do you just leave standard fire damage or have another hunter bow with fire mods on?
I could perhaps see starting out with the tearblast arrow and then switching to the hardpoints - rate of fire for the first shot isnt an issue from cover at least.
Are there any stats on rate of fire of the different bows?
The core aspects of this game fantastic, you can easily see which areas Guerrilla really focused on during development and made sure were top notch. Unfortunately it has resulted in several minor flaws that begin to add up. While they by no means make it a bad game, they do keep Horizon from being a classic for me. Elaborate nitpicking coming up:
- Aloy is a wonderful main character. She controls and animates flawlessly, and personality wise she's incredibly likeable. They did a great job with her design, it's logical and attractive at the same time. Aside from Aloy, I would struggle to name a single other character in Horizon that was interesting or memorable. I honestly don't care about anyone in this game outside of the main character. They're obviously high fidelity but there's something robotic about all of them, like they're devoid of any genuine personality.
- It's rare these days that an open world game has an engaging and fleshed out story like Horizon. They managed to produce a narrative full of intrigue and wonder despite being largely full of bland characters on both sides. For the purposes of carrying you through an open world and giving it context, it does very well. The side missions are a different story. While they're definitely a step above your usual fetch quests, they're still very mediocre. They are basically designed exactly like Witcher 3's minus the well written characters and entertaining subplots.
- I genuinely think the dinobot combat is the best in class and easily competes with pure action games as well. The dinobot design is well thought out and varied. The way they managed to tie in the scavenging aspect with the weak points was genius. Every weapon is useful depending on the encounter. Every time you encounter a new type of dinobot it feels fresh, there's really never a dull moment. On the other hand, where do I start with how awful the human combat is? I'm not exaggerating when I say it's probably the worst I've ever seen in a modern game. They can't see, they can't hear, they can't do much of anything except shoot or run straight at you. The stealth is laughably broken since you can basically walk around in broad daylight undetected and slaughter an entire settlement undetected. The dynamic combat they produced with the dinobots is completely absent. To make matters worse it seems that almost half the main missions consist of dreadfully tedious human encounters. It's obvious that GG spent all their time on the dinobots which is understandable to an extent. They should have cut the human fights by half with how little effort they put into them.
- Obviously the graphics are the main selling point, and it's clear to see. There's almost an Uncharted like attention to detail and fidelity that they've somehow managed to extrapolate into a fairly elaborate open world. The foliage quality is out of this world, especially in 4K. As good as the overall presentation is though, there are definitely issues. The world feels a bit static, everything from the NPCs, the trees and the water. The water in particular is the weakest part, even the actual texture looks poor half the time. The settlements aren't particular striking or memorable either, they're just there to house merchants and quest givers. Meridian looks great from afar, but again the interior is lacking and quite frankly, bland. The time of day and weather transitioning is another major weakness. It's abrupt and doesn't occur naturally which really hurts immersion. The atmosphere can go from green to orange to clear in the space of 5 minutes. No thunderstorms is also disappointing, the overall variability between weather types could have been better.
- Sound design ranges from incredible to slightly above average. Guess which part sounds incredible? Yeah, the dinobots. They sound suitably aggressive and the mechanical creaking is really convincing. There's an appropriate sense of dread whenever you hear a Rockbreaker or Snapmaw approaching in the distance. Again, the audio for everything else is a step down. The ambience in the open world is decent, but it's nowhere near as immersive as RDR or Witcher 3. It certainly doesn't marry as well to visuals. Set pieces also sound a bit lacklustre, they're not as bombastic or detailed as I'd like. Even the soundtrack is at its best in epic dinobot fights and largely forgettable everywhere else. Horizon is still a great sounding game, but it's not consistent like the visuals are. The Killzone games also sound great but inconsistent, so essentially they've kept their standard but failed to improve.
- The UI design is really bad in its default state. I can't understand why so many developers create incredible looking games and then slap an ugly and intrusive UI over everything. Playing Horizon with the complete UI on at all times is a travesty. Even if you turn everything off you're still stuck with the harvesting icons, and there's no may to get rid of the quest marker unless you disable mission tracking altogether.
- All the armour looks ugly.
Horizon nails the most important parts - the visuals, story, main character and combat are all close to being as good as it gets realistically. There's just a whole bunch of minor flaws and nitpicks that can get in the way.
- Aloy is a wonderful main character. She controls and animates flawlessly, and personality wise she's incredibly likeable. They did a great job with her design, it's logical and attractive at the same time. Aside from Aloy, I would struggle to name a single other character in Horizon that was interesting or memorable. I honestly don't care about anyone in this game outside of the main character. They're obviously high fidelity but there's something robotic about all of them, like they're devoid of any genuine personality.
- It's rare these days that an open world game has an engaging and fleshed out story like Horizon. They managed to produce a narrative full of intrigue and wonder despite being largely full of bland characters on both sides. For the purposes of carrying you through an open world and giving it context, it does very well. The side missions are a different story. While they're definitely a step above your usual fetch quests, they're still very mediocre. They are basically designed exactly like Witcher 3's minus the well written characters and entertaining subplots.
- I genuinely think the dinobot combat is the best in class and easily competes with pure action games as well. The dinobot design is well thought out and varied. The way they managed to tie in the scavenging aspect with the weak points was genius. Every weapon is useful depending on the encounter. Every time you encounter a new type of dinobot it feels fresh, there's really never a dull moment. On the other hand, where do I start with how awful the human combat is? I'm not exaggerating when I say it's probably the worst I've ever seen in a modern game. They can't see, they can't hear, they can't do much of anything except shoot or run straight at you. The stealth is laughably broken since you can basically walk around in broad daylight undetected and slaughter an entire settlement undetected. The dynamic combat they produced with the dinobots is completely absent. To make matters worse it seems that almost half the main missions consist of dreadfully tedious human encounters. It's obvious that GG spent all their time on the dinobots which is understandable to an extent. They should have cut the human fights by half with how little effort they put into them.
- Obviously the graphics are the main selling point, and it's clear to see. There's almost an Uncharted like attention to detail and fidelity that they've somehow managed to extrapolate into a fairly elaborate open world. The foliage quality is out of this world, especially in 4K. As good as the overall presentation is though, there are definitely issues. The world feels a bit static, everything from the NPCs, the trees and the water. The water in particular is the weakest part, even the actual texture looks poor half the time. The settlements aren't particular striking or memorable either, they're just there to house merchants and quest givers. Meridian looks great from afar, but again the interior is lacking and quite frankly, bland. The time of day and weather transitioning is another major weakness. It's abrupt and doesn't occur naturally which really hurts immersion. The atmosphere can go from green to orange to clear in the space of 5 minutes. No thunderstorms is also disappointing, the overall variability between weather types could have been better.
- Sound design ranges from incredible to slightly above average. Guess which part sounds incredible? Yeah, the dinobots. They sound suitably aggressive and the mechanical creaking is really convincing. There's an appropriate sense of dread whenever you hear a Rockbreaker or Snapmaw approaching in the distance. Again, the audio for everything else is a step down. The ambience in the open world is decent, but it's nowhere near as immersive as RDR or Witcher 3. It certainly doesn't marry as well to visuals. Set pieces also sound a bit lacklustre, they're not as bombastic or detailed as I'd like. Even the soundtrack is at its best in epic dinobot fights and largely forgettable everywhere else. Horizon is still a great sounding game, but it's not consistent like the visuals are. The Killzone games also sound great but inconsistent, so essentially they've kept their standard but failed to improve.
- The UI design is really bad in its default state. I can't understand why so many developers create incredible looking games and then slap an ugly and intrusive UI over everything. Playing Horizon with the complete UI on at all times is a travesty. Even if you turn everything off you're still stuck with the harvesting icons, and there's no may to get rid of the quest marker unless you disable mission tracking altogether.
- All the armour looks ugly.
Horizon nails the most important parts - the visuals, story, main character and combat are all close to being as good as it gets realistically. There's just a whole bunch of minor flaws and nitpicks that can get in the way.
Aaronology
Member
"Just saying"? Dude. Really. My post are literally right above yours. This seriously isn't a big deal but now I'm annoyed that falsehood. For review:
Note that I never mentioned how easy or hard they were, just that they were annoying.
Let's move on.
An right, okay. Thanks for the answers.
Ruthless_Barbarian
Member
I have another hunter bow with +3 fire mods.
Handling determines RoF.
You can use tearblast arrows for tear and stack damage on hard point arrows, I just find hard points way more efficient.
I just choose one of the tutorial quests that you get with a new weapon as my active quest. That eliminates any quest icon because there is no specific location to do those quests.
It does suck that there are not more options to truly eliminate the HUD elements.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
I think, but I'm not sure, that higher handling = faster rate of fire. Hunter bow has better handling than the Sharpshooter Bow so the rate of fire is much better.
And seeing as everyone is whinging about glinthawks, the real twats are those fucking tramplers who keep sticking their nose in when you're trying to use the ropecaster on the glinthawks for the hunting trial. Bastards, the lot of them.
Ruthless_Barbarian
Member
They have already reduced the disc launcher ammo from 12 down to 8.
Try using 3 +handling mods on the ropecaster and then talk about Rof
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
They have already reduced the disc launcher ammo from 12 down to 8.
Try using 3 +handling mods on the ropecaster and then talk about Rof
Yeah, I had put a tear mod on my ropecaster because the ropes had a tear value associated with them but I realised that was useless so I'm going to go pure handling when I finally buy the shadow ropecaster.
I would go Shadow Hunter Bow next, because the Hardpoint arrows are more useful than the harvesting arrows you get with the shadow sharpshooter bow.
I like the shadow tripcaster because you get both the flame tripewire as well as the blast one
Get the highest ropecaster you can buy.
FalsettoVibe
Member
Good to know.
Aaronology
Member
Completely agree on the town complaints. HZD takes many cues from TW3 but this is one area where it falls very, very short. Settlements in The Witcher 3 feel like living, breathing locations and more than just a stage with set pieces and props.
There's nothing on this scale in Horizon, sadly. That said, I actually became quite fond of the NPCs in the game despite my initial impressions mirroring yours. I didn't find them as lacking personality as you by the time I got to Meridian. Nil, Varl, his sister (despite her very brief role), Blameless Marad, Avad all stuck out to me thanks to excellent voice actors. Their writing is not quite as strong as TW3's amazing NPCs, but then not many games come as close.
They are linked. I think some can call for help further than others, like the Long Legs one.
MaKTaiL
Member
Well... They are all robots. Having a network to link them all together is expected.
TheExecutive
Member
It's not even close to one of the easiest.
FalsettoVibe
Member
Hope it's this easy for me when I run across it.
TheExecutive
Member
One tearblast+fire arrows and its game over. Incredibly easy to defeat.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
Tearblast arrows still have their uses because the AOE effect from the blast will knock off extra bits of armour where the hardpoint arrows need to hit the part you want to knock off.
The advantage of the hardpoint arrows is they're cheaper to craft and much faster to aim, works out to be more efficient over the long run especially given they do regular damage as well as the tear effect.
Horizon does the combat options really well, where every weapon/ammo type is viable in its own way and you really benefit from experimenting with all the toys.
Of the bigger dinos, I think it is. Stormbirds, Rockbreakers and Behemoths are way more intimidating. Bellowbacks might be easier though.
Lys Skygge
Member
Unpopular opinion:
I enjoy fighting Glinthawks
Freezasaurus
Member
I was looking at the IGN quest list of quests you need to complete to get the best ending. The one puzzling me is
Is this a proper quest I need to activate or do I just show up to a certain place? If it's a proper quest, how do I begin it?
Sunstone Rock.
Screw stats for the most part on armor. I've gone back to the Nora Brave armor. The second armor you get in the game I believe. Stiched by Teb. It's a perfect blend of the first armor with a bit of protection. Love all the detail put into it tbh. It fits Aloy character the most to me. I started the game on hard, it was quite a challenge but now that I'm almost level 40 I find the health pads out most of the dmg anyway. Resistance pots are cool to use and add another layer to preparing for a fight. I used the first stealth suit for about 25 hours. Made the upgrade to the next one and found it just breaks the stealth to the point where its not much of a challenge to even be stealthy anymore. If you have the low profile ability and over 30 in the stealth stat it becomes too easy. I've settled with the Nora Brave armor + a 20 stealth mod. Best of both worlds. Fashion zero dawn.
TheExecutive
Member
Well, I still need to actually face some of those dinos you are mentioning...
Cow Goes Moo
Member
maybe it's because they're isolated when i fought them but fighting storm birds weren't so bad
it's probably the only robo i found i had to tie down at least once
it's probably the only robo i found i had to tie down at least once
Twilight Gap
Member
Referring to them as "dinobot" makes me a bit sad that most of them do not even resemble dinosaurs. I posted this scene from the E3 demo yesterday which highlights the Tallnecks - arguably the most dinosaur-like machine - walking about like any other machine. But these moments are missing from the game. While it wasnever explicitly implied that the machines were dinosaurs, it was certainly part of the initial impression - at least to those of us who only saw these trailers.
I also feel like a third of them are too similar to one another. The Scrapper, Stalker, Ravager and Sawtooth all have different abilities, but in the end they're all feline like. A Sabertooth is one thing, but having so many looks silly juxtaposed with the other machines.
I wish they would have gone further down the prehistoric animal route with the machines.
I also feel like a third of them are too similar to one another. The Scrapper, Stalker, Ravager and Sawtooth all have different abilities, but in the end they're all feline like. A Sabertooth is one thing, but having so many looks silly juxtaposed with the other machines.
I wish they would have gone further down the prehistoric animal route with the machines.
MegaSackman
Member
Oh look, a side quest I've never seen!
In order to get some characters you need to do some errands for them first, when I reached the end I lacked Petra and had to do some busy work for her.
Acquired Taste, machine canibalism!
In order to get some characters you need to do some errands for them first, when I reached the end I lacked Petra and had to do some busy work for her.
I don't mind the Sunfall armour actually. The metal creaking clanking sound it makes when you move is satisfying as well.
Moon Presence
Member
Yeah, I found that one to be particularly challenging. Loved it.
Twilight Gap
Member
When senpai doesn't notice you
Can we talk about the lack of a headdress toggle though
Can we talk about the lack of a headdress toggle though
farmerboy
Member
After watching me fight through the proving my 7yo daughter disappeared and came back dressed as Aloy. Replete with toy bow, a quiver attached to her shorts and she even fashioned herself her own focus device out of cardboard.
When I overrided a Strider, she even went to get a toy tricycle to pretend she was on a Strider.
Guerilla done something very right with Aloys character. I've never seen my daughter connect with one of my games like this before, and anyone arguing we don't need gender diversity in games is wrong.
Though I was not happy when she pinged me in the side of the head with one of her arrows.
Great game so far, really intriguing. Bring on OT2!
When I overrided a Strider, she even went to get a toy tricycle to pretend she was on a Strider.
Guerilla done something very right with Aloys character. I've never seen my daughter connect with one of my games like this before, and anyone arguing we don't need gender diversity in games is wrong.
Though I was not happy when she pinged me in the side of the head with one of her arrows.
Great game so far, really intriguing. Bring on OT2!
whatever6352
Member
Haha that's so awesome!
I'm at 2/3 of the game, I guess, and I totally agree with you.
Minus the armour: I like a couple of them.
Came in just to post similar sentiments. I'm at the Lone Light settlement, and while I think the design of the settlement is beautiful and love the detail put into the buildings and furnishing, the town feels lifeless and absolutely pointless. They could've just put a merchant standing next to a tree and it would've served the same functional purpose as the town (I understand they want to show that there are people and established settlements).
There is no interaction aside from a merchant. There is no point of exploring as all you will come across is a supply crate or two containing a dozen shards and maybe a chillwater. It's like, why am I even wasting my time here? If the town at least felt alive and further built upon game immersion and atmosphere that'd be fine, but it just feels lifeless. I think I've been spoiled by CDPR with how full of life the cities felt. Just running around Novigrad the everyday hustle and bustle of the NPCs felt realistic.
From a graphical perspective they did a stunning job. From a gameplay perspective they did absolutely nothing. (only talking about the Lone Light settlement, not the game!)
Darryl M R
Member
When senpai doesn't notice you
Can we talk about the lack of a headdress toggle though
Amazing screenshot.
And I wore blue armor because I hated the headdress.
Ravage_Hydra
Member
Need help Doing
?
Edit Nevermind figured it out
The Deep Secrets of the earth and i'm stuck on the second Color puzzle the one with the FARO upside down.From which end do i start with left or right
Edit Nevermind figured it out
DriftingSpirit
Member
lolWhen senpai doesn't notice you
Can we talk about the lack of a headdress toggle though
I tried to overlap the Horizon map with the real world: Link
The Horizon map has a slight abstract scale (I believe it should have gone a tiny bit more south, maybe west, if it was to map 1:1 with real world).
And obviously those distances can't be reached by 30 minutes on horseback in the real world.
The Horizon map has a slight abstract scale (I believe it should have gone a tiny bit more south, maybe west, if it was to map 1:1 with real world).
And obviously those distances can't be reached by 30 minutes on horseback in the real world.
Stormbirds are pretty easy, shoot off their chest gun and they can't really do much of anything
Ruthless_Barbarian
Member
MegaSackman
Member
Just fought one just with Freeze Arrows and Sticky Bombs, drained its life real quick. It's beautiful to stick bombs to a crashed robot.
whatever6352
Member
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...zero-dawn-makes-for-an-amazing-road-trip.aspx
Article from game informer with the same intention as yours. Pretty cool to see on a real map.
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