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Horizon Zero Dawn has sold well over 10 million copies worldwide (2 year anniversary update)
- Thread starter ArmGunar
- Start date
No. Relationships in video games tend to always be nonsensical garbage that are set up by silly dialogue trees. If you honestly closely examine the shit in bioware games (they are usually praised for it) it's hilariously bad. Seems more like people only want it to set up their own sexual fantasies which you allude to by the claim "live vicariously through". As a black men there are very few games I pretend to live vicariously through. That's just me though. Has nothing to do with the gender of the main character.
Now, my reservations of a romantic arc stem from my skepticism of them getting it right. Same reason I would be skeptical of voice acting being added to a japanese rpgs in general. If they got it right, well what could I say about that. But It's much more likely they get scared and throw the options wheel at you. Which sort of just lends itself to laughable interactions
Keep that relationship nonsense.
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I do agree (as already mentioned in my previous post). Nuances and the feeling of genuine love arising out of bonding over time, shared activities and circumstances has so far never really come together in player choice driven projects. As you alluded to, it all comes off as "gamified". Personally, the best bonding in VG I have seen, where it feels earned due to the highs and lows such an intimate relationship, was in Uncharted series- a franchise comprising 4 (main series) entries and where the relationship utilized both time on and off the screen to the evolve into something that eventually felt genuine and grounded.
As such, I do feel (and I will be the first to admit if I am wrong) that there is a greater chance that Aloy's romantic quest, if left in the hands of the player by way of selecting "proper" responses and doing side quests together, over the course of one entry, may come off as a Friends with Benefits situation than genuine romantic relation.
Some very good points. GG really needs some cultural advisors as they continue borrowing from indigenous cultures. It's a big budget game so there really is no excuse for them or Sony. Sure, all the different tribes are shown to be racially diverse but that doesn't protect them from criticism. On another note, all of the settlements didn't feel like proper towns, even Meridian.
I'd be interested to know what you do for a living and what sales insights you might be able to bring?
Yeah, that would be awesome. Like you have to enter a hostile enemy camp, and you have the option to sneak in and speak to the chief, or kill a robo that has been terrorising to give as a peace offering, or fight your way in and get what you need by force (with different perks/armour/builds to make each tactic viable).
I think it was 8.7 when we last had a sales update? I would guess that it's in the 12-14 million range by now.
Yeah, I agree. I think it's been good to at least introduce the idea to him. Normally he likes physically strong male characters like Hulk or Thor or whatever, but I know he likes Aloy too. I've also been emphasising how awesome Hornet is in Hollow Knight and how I'm looking forward to her being playable in the sequel.
Absolutely. I find this particularly delicious at a time when Anthem has come out and is a fucking mess. EA should realise that there is still a huge market for quality single player games, and BioWare's time would be better spent making a new Dragon Age or Mass Effect.
And this, too. Female protagonists are great, and have little to do with whether a game sells well or poorly.
All open world games have boundaries. Horizon's are just more noticeable than Zelda's. I will agree though that sometimes you'll be climbing a mountain which clearly she cannot scale and that message pops up before she reaches an impassable wall. They should have just boxed her in and not needed any such message.
Yeah, the controls are so smooth and responsive which is a huge part of the reason why I prefer it to The Witcher 3, for instance.
When they've finished fully expanding they will certainly be up there. I think Naughty Dog is over 400 people, but that includes the ICE Team too. I don't know what size Japan Studio is, but they were certainly a few hundred several years ago. I think most other WWS devs are considerably smaller than this.
Yeah, I agree with this. I would like a couple of big cities in the next game, and hopefully more to do in them and for them to feel more alive. Meridian looked amazing but it was pretty hollow overall.
Okay, fair enough. I did look at the link but as it was all in Dutch I couldn't read it.
I reckon they'll be looking at a 2021 launch and make the game the best it possible can be. Getting a good product out should take precedence over getting it out early in the generation, and if they play this right Horizon will undoubtedly be one of their key franchises. EDIT - I also think that if they are prepping a multiplayer game for early in the PS5's life (whether it's Killzone or otherwise) then that will probably impact the development of Horizon 2, in which case I'd expect a small delay.
I'm not sure that's quite true. I remember reading a long time ago that Halo 4 had a huge launch and was on track to be the fastest-selling in the series, although from a quick Google I can't back that up with a link. We know that Halo 5 had done about "5 million" within 3 months, so if we assume that to be sales and we assume Halo 4 had done at least as well if not significantly better then the two games together are well above 10 million sold, and likely to be >15 million copies sold by now.
The racing genre isn't as big as it once was, there's a lot more competition from other high-quality games and the GT series spent many years lagging behind in some regards (I don't know if that is now reversed with GT Sport). I certainly don't think Sony & Polyphony handled it the best way they could have during the PS3 era.
I wouldn't be surprised if Sony has them making a multiplayer game for the PS5 launch. They're possibly Sony's best studio for it, and it is a segment in which they have been lagging behind this gen in particular. Many of their MP games last gen were excellent, but they just didn't have the audience to sustain it.
Gorgeous photo. What is she holding to make it look like that? Reminds me of one of those metal album cover artworks from the 70s or 80s.
Since we're sharing shots, here's a few from my romp in the frozen wilds... makes me want to go back looking at these shots
These are wonderful too. I loved the look and feel of the environment in The Frozen Wilds compared to the main game.
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Well deserved. What an absolutely fantastic game! It truly was something special and I loved the scifi story being told bit by bit. Fascinating.
Holy shit that looks amazing! I love the colours and the silhouette.
Hey mods - I know bumping old topics is generally frowned upon, but I was thinking of HZD and reading over this topic, and I wanted to discuss the relationship aspect of the sequel, so bumping this and quoting a bunch of old comments seemed like the best way of having this discussion. Hope this is okay!
Yeah, Varl was great, and from a representation angle it would be really good to see a white female protagonist hook up with a well-written black man. I bet Sona could make a really fun mother-in-law figure as well!
I legit had a bit of a crush on Petra, to be honest (as much as you can for videogame characters I'M NOT WEIRD HONEST!)
If it's written well with one or two potential love interests then I don't mind, provided they flesh out the relationship and little and it's not just sex and then return to the status quo the following day.
If they're going to go with more than one love interest it would be interesting to let the player choose between one man and one woman - I think a lot of people would like the option to choose if their Aloy is gay.
Nil is great, but he doesn't strike me as boyfriend material. You'd want to settle down for a cuddle by the fire only to find out he has written a note in blood saying he's tracking a group of bandits he wants to murder and he'll be back in a week or two.
Yeah, I fully agree with this. I usually find relationships in these games horribly written, so I would prefer it be a proper questline with decent writing and something that is consistent for the rest of the game thereafter. Like, if you do settle down with Varl then you have a house together in the Nora region and you can go back there and meet him - maybe for conversations like she would have with Rost's grave where she talks a bit about what has happened, and so on. And then sometimes you go back there and he's not there because he's out hunting or protecting the Nora region borders. But please, don't fridge him for character motivations or anything like that!
On the other hand I fully expect Horizon 2 to take place in another area altogether, so it could be that the supporting cast will be entirely new. Except maybe Nils - him showing up in a new region would make sense for his character!
Yeah, Varl was great, and from a representation angle it would be really good to see a white female protagonist hook up with a well-written black man. I bet Sona could make a really fun mother-in-law figure as well!
I legit had a bit of a crush on Petra, to be honest (as much as you can for videogame characters I'M NOT WEIRD HONEST!)
If it's written well with one or two potential love interests then I don't mind, provided they flesh out the relationship and little and it's not just sex and then return to the status quo the following day.
If they're going to go with more than one love interest it would be interesting to let the player choose between one man and one woman - I think a lot of people would like the option to choose if their Aloy is gay.
Nil is great, but he doesn't strike me as boyfriend material. You'd want to settle down for a cuddle by the fire only to find out he has written a note in blood saying he's tracking a group of bandits he wants to murder and he'll be back in a week or two.
Yeah, I fully agree with this. I usually find relationships in these games horribly written, so I would prefer it be a proper questline with decent writing and something that is consistent for the rest of the game thereafter. Like, if you do settle down with Varl then you have a house together in the Nora region and you can go back there and meet him - maybe for conversations like she would have with Rost's grave where she talks a bit about what has happened, and so on. And then sometimes you go back there and he's not there because he's out hunting or protecting the Nora region borders. But please, don't fridge him for character motivations or anything like that!
On the other hand I fully expect Horizon 2 to take place in another area altogether, so it could be that the supporting cast will be entirely new. Except maybe Nils - him showing up in a new region would make sense for his character!
I know a lot value choice, but I agree with the sentiment above. Have a choice between two (1male 1female) romantic interests and go all in on them, all the content that would be spread across multiple instead focused on just them, and integrate your choice into the main story and flesh it out. Would be so good, and while I love a few of the HZD1 characters I think it would be better to have these two be totally new that you meet in the next stage of Aloys journey.
I hope for a lot of new characters in the sequel and i would like at bit of romances if the player chooses to. From the first game there are of course Vanasha Varl Petra etc. (and i would looove Vanasha) However, one that i also would really love is in my opinion the most likely (from the old characters).
And that would be Ikrie from the Frozen Wilds. I really liked the dynamic between her and Aloy. She is Aloys age is banned by her Clan and said that she wants go far away which would make her someone perfect to accompany Aloy when she is leaving and travels to the Forbidden West.
And that would be Ikrie from the Frozen Wilds. I really liked the dynamic between her and Aloy. She is Aloys age is banned by her Clan and said that she wants go far away which would make her someone perfect to accompany Aloy when she is leaving and travels to the Forbidden West.
Fantastic and well-deserved! Played up to that raid on the enemy base that you do with allied forces (friend's house) and the game is great.
Bought the complete edition on BF and going to give it another go. Started it two times and dropped off after about 5-10 hours. Couldn't get in to it, but it was mostly because i was expecting an RPG and it really is just a stealth/action game with some RPG elements. Maybe this time going into it with the right mindset helps.
You would have to imagine a sequel is not very far away given how quickly Death Stranding was built on the same engine.
I wouldn't be shocked if we saw Horizon 2 as a launch title for the PS5 or in the very least within it's first year.
EDIT: lol I forgot I already posted in this thread
I'll actually be jumping back into the game since I finally got the Frozen Wilds dlc. took it long enough to go back on sale
Vanasha is better.
I'll actually be jumping back into the game since I finally got the Frozen Wilds dlc. took it long enough to go back on sale
Vanasha is better.
Right into my veins
These people are stupid since they drop it before the game even opens up.
Even so, that's gotta be good for, what, at least another half million units? More, maybe?
Can you guys imagine tho
What the sequel to this on PS5 will look like?
Those visuals are gonna melt faces, it's gonna be glorious
What the sequel to this on PS5 will look like?
Those visuals are gonna melt faces, it's gonna be glorious
I really hope Guerilla adopts the facial capture techniques that KojiPro used for Death Stranding.
I didn't like playing this game very much and visually it's not for me at all, but its popularity makes sense I guess. Marvel movies also make a lot of money.
To me it still looks better than death stranding even with a downgraded version of decima engine...Can you guys imagine tho
What the sequel to this on PS5 will look like?
Those visuals are gonna melt faces, it's gonna be glorious
Also the sale price is $10 now, I'm sure they're getting lots of impulse buys.
Amazing game. I didn't finish everything but I finished a lot, just loved the world and the story. Can't wait for the sequal although I'm a little worried the plot won't hold up as well without the original mystery to uncover. But I'll trust in GG!
Relationships... Eh no thanks honestly, agreed with folks above that it's usually just cringe, and it honestly adds nothing to the game for me. Leave it for the fanarts. I liked how they sort of set it up with Varl and then there was no way to say yes lol.
I mean you can get it for really cheap. Like sub $10. I unfortunately was one of those people that dropped it. Just didn't grab me
Indeed that would be great, especially for the side quests. The animation wasn't bad, but could be better
Death Stranding went for desaturated realism. Horizon went for color bombast, both are great looking games, but Horizon is a bit more in your face with how gorgeous it is.
Yeah I was never put off by the facial captures, but others were. Any improvement on that would be great.
I think its a difference in art direction, Horizon was going for that super gorgeous NatGeo style look, which I prefer
I've owned it for ages and was about to start playing...but with that (albeit unlikely) PC rumour, I think I'll just wait till Feb and see...
Because they choose a spring settings with a lot of warm colors.
Death Standing is all about cold / blend colors.