Preface:
I do not play as many games per year as I would like to. I am a sucker for RPGs but given the copious amounts of time I spend on each game (in general), I tend to burn out after each game. Prior to restarting HZD, I finished TellTale's Batman and prior to that a 153+ hour jog through Persona 5. Suffice it to say, I was apprehensive about starting another long game. I ended playing it for 135+ hours and getting the Platinum trophy.
LTTP (played on Pro + PS Gold HS + 65" X900E):
At long last, last week, I finished the game that I had bought on Day 1, played the first few levels in December 2017 and then dropped it till I restarted it a year hence with the aim to complete it.
What a ride it has been, through the thick and thin. It is far from a perfect game, but as far as first efforts are concerned, it was stellar and very memorable. Furthermore, its DLC proved how much of an improvement the studio can attain in a short span of time.
So, on to the Pros and Cons for the base game first.
Visuals (ran on "Performance mode") Presentation:
Pros:
- Cleanest looking open world game I have played on a 4K screen (perhaps the best implementation of CBR I have witnessed to date).
- Extremely stable performance with effective use of motion blur.
- The world design- containing various types of geographical qualities and the amount of detail imparted to bring them to life is very well done.
- Amazing implementation of HDR that brings the excellent lighting model and sumptuous colours to life.
- The alpha effects in the form of fog and volumetric effects such as god rays in the night shone through the vegetation lent a sense of atmosphere I did not expect from the this game.
- One of the better games I have come across to hide its LoD pop ins well when it comes to vegetation (but that depends on the overall surroundings of Aloy).
- Stunning design of major hub worlds that are uniquely ornate and feel alive with NPCs (with caveats) movement and ambient noises.
- Wonderfully detailed NPCs with distinct designs for each tribe. HZD is in an S-Tier league with regards to this. Presumably they used PBR to great effect.
- No copy-pasted NPC quest giver and each of them is lovingly crafted with unique look, high polycount and beautiful texture work. Truthfully, it has very few equals.
- Beautiful DoF effects, especially during dialogue segments. I think it was upgraded via patch since DigitalFoundry's in-depth overview.
- Lip syncing, barring certain exceptions, consistently range from very good to fantastic.
- Aloy herself is richly detailed, exceptionally well animated (inverse kinematics, animation blending, etc) for any scenario, including her fiery crimson hair. This puts her closer to Sony's other more linear SP games. I have yet to play Spider-man and TW3- two open world games that I have seen thus far to be equally capable in this regard (especially Peter Parker).
- The selection of costumes/armors is also well crafted and none of them overtly sexualize her.
- Good and varied texture quality in nature.
- Very long draw distance whilst preserving good amount of detail in the farthest of objects.
- The dynamic weather effects not only look great and are different in different parts of the game world but have gameplay ramifications.
- The conception, crafting, animation and texturing of each of robot creatures is exceptional and distinct. At times, it felt like some bizarre combination of Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus.
- Poor texture filtering i.e. AF for ground textures. This sticks out given the very good asset quality that is reliant on it.
- Poor and notable LoD Pop-ins for small objects on the ground on barren paths. This along with the previous reasons is why I predominantly walked on grassy surfaces.
- LoD management renders mid-far areas with considerably lower details in some cases which poses a stark contrast against the richness of immediate surroundings. Presumably, this is a resource management issue. It sees some improvements in the DLC.
- Seams between textures could sometimes be visible on character models- between the neck and rest of the body.
- Object clipping during dialogue sequences- This generally affects hair and clothing against other harder geometric objects.
- Bandit camp designs all share the same visual identity, whilst being different in level design. Makes me wonder if the bandits all got together and voted on a common theme. I know it is to ensure readability for the player, however, given it gets marked on the Map, altering designs would not have mattered. Presumably, time constraints were at play.
- Some animation jank in NPCs and Robots can manifest a few times depending on the action they are engaged in.
- Why is it ALWAYS full moon? At one point, I honestly thought it had story ramifications thanks to my history with BB.
Audio Presentation:
Pros:
- Whatcha Playin Ash's Ashly Burch IS Aloy now and forever. To me, they are a couple of inseparable identities. She brings Aloy's no- nonsense, caring, sometimes sarcastic, adventurous and determined character to life. She is to Aloy what Nolan North is to Nathan Drake, what Ashley Johnson is to Ellie, what Michael Ironside is to Sam Fisher, what Steve Downes is to Master Chief…. You get the idea.
- I really like the fact that she speaks to herself from time to time depending on circumstance. It lends believability to her as a character with agency of thought and feelings; furthermore, it is a tool by which the game relays quest and gameplay related information to the player.
- Voice Acting, for most part, is excellent in conveying emotion and information. The consistency is closer to, again, big budget SP games. In some ways, I was reminded of Mass Effect franchise. There is zero melodramatic, cheesy BS even in the recordings Aloy discovers through the world.
- The ambient tracks are fan-freaking-tastic. From region specific tunes to battle themes, they all bring the world and the encounters to life.
- Aloy's theme is truly a memorable one. It is extremely difficult to create distinct character themes that are immediately recognizable. Nate's theme, is the only other character theme, that I can clearly remember in my head.
- The sound design for each of the robots is thoroughly commendable. They are distinct, sometimes eerie and instantly recognizable.
- During encounters, for almost all robots, there are distinct sound cues to inform the player of impending attacks.
- The sound changes with the acoustic properties of the environment.
- Sometimes Aloy spoke to herself with story related information right as I begun listening to audio-tapes. There is a distinct lack of audio separation or prioritization which can muddy the entire segment. While there is an option to Pause the tape at any given time, it would have been nice if there were a few lines of code that would acknowledge the player, through Aloy was actively listening to a tape and wait till it was over to deliver her monologue.
- Repetition of dialogue by NPCs in large cities. It is not an issue relegated just to HZD, but to all games of its ilk due to resource and time constraints. Still, it does not help the case of immersion.
User Interface:
Pros:
- Presents users with ample information about the world and inventory whilst remaining relatively clean.
- Provides visual cues for off-screen attack.
- Customizable for most part with regards to persistence of certain data when Aloy is out of combat.
Wish the entire HUD could be turned off and on like in the latest God of War. (EDIT: It has been brought to my attention, that this is already possible)- Complete information on Modifications are not shown when pillaging machine carcasses.
Menu Interface:
Pros:
- Map is akin to viewing a 3D diorama from top down.
- 60fps transition.
- Ample categories for items.
- Needs to be more streamlined and allow categories for sorting-
- Crafting Menu could allow for movement between different ammo types by pressing R1 and L1 instead of exiting that menu, selecting another type and then going back in.
- Inventory menu could show total number of an item that exceeds its single space allotment. This somewhat becomes a bit of pain when engaging with traders which only shows the amount of something in actual purchase menu.
- Treasures- the only thing you can have an infinite number of. It could stand to show the user the contents of the already opened boxes on the side of the screen instead of the player having to individually inspect them every single time. It becomes an issue when Aloy has accumulated hundreds of treasure boxes and its kin. This aspect hurt the pacing for me.
- Modification inventory, given the said lack of sorting mechanism, does not highlight the most recent acquisitions (barring exceptions). This prevents the player from identifying the most recent acquisitions especially when acquiring higher level purple mods with similar stat values.
Gameplay:
Pros:
- The core combat loop felt exceedingly addictive. The numerous ways to effectively engage, from choice of weapons on the fly to the smoothness of aiming to method of engagement itself, in most scenarios, played a substantial part in the said addiction.
- The areas that allowed for vertical traversal, though notably limited, are journeys in and of itself (especially if the player is going after collectibles). Made me reminiscent of Uncharted games.
- The expansive nature of most encounter areas lent a great sense of freedom and flexibility upon retrials.
- Really admired the weapons and garment Modification options.
- The RPG element for leveling up Aloy allows players to customize encounter approaches. At least, right up until the player has conquered the entire leveling up tree.
- Robot AIs in and out of battle is generally aggressive and efficient, respectively.
- All traders can be sold everything, have identical resources for purchase in addition to special items and items can be bought back with a certain caveat.
- Special mention to Corruption arrows.
- Difficulty could use some rebalancing on Normal settings (felt like I should have played on Hard) for bigger, more powerful robots.
- Areas/options allowing for vertical traversal needs to be substantially expanded without making it like the new AC games where any surface anywhere is climbable.
- Leveling up system needs to be overhauled- After playing SoulsBorne games, leveling up at set points with skill point arbitrarily and all on its own, felt utterly gamey. Same goes for quick crafting but unless a viable alternative is found, presumably they will stick with it. It is about drawing a line in the sand for chasing realism for certain mechanics over ease of use. Given now that I have seen aforementioned games do it in a realistic fashion, going back to HZD system felt utterly out of place. And it is not just a HZD issue.
- Human AI were sub-par and needs an overhaul in the sequel. This was a surprise given how good the AI was in KZ2 and 3.
- Because the vendors never change their position with time or evolution of main story, the world eventually starts to feel rather static.
- Melee combat needs to feel more responsive. It could use a snappier and more impactful set of R1 attacks. Furthermore, the damage taken -> fall down -> recovery period could use fewer frames.
- Stealth enabling foliage needs to be more expansive and more refined. Hiding within tall grass should not guarantee safety (granted there are exceptions) even when Aloy is moving within it as the foes draw near. It is far too forgiving.
Story/Narrative Quest design:
Pros:
- At its core this is a story about self discovery through enduring pain and eventual healing by way of finding a place of belonging and purpose for all the suffering.
- Since the Mass Effect franchise, I can not remember being this awed by the story of a larger than life sci-fi adventure game. It is perhaps one of the darkest symbols of oblivion and the struggle against all odds to leave behind a legacy. Because the journey is juxtaposed against a mostly colourful world scattered with life, it filled me with a sense of pathos.
- The settings felt more normal and yet fantastical all at the same time, akin to discovering new alien races, their idiosyncratic cultures and homes.
- Through its myriad audio tapes, text journals, figurine journals, vantage recordings, collective codes hidden in metallic flowers, holographic recordings and dialogues, there are no notable gaps in logic. The occurrences regarding gaps in the timeline, however, is left to imagination and deduction of the player. This weaves a dense narrative of which Aloy remains an active participant leading to an ending that is bereft of a deus ex machina moment. Instead this game does what many games seldom do well- earns its ending encompassing emotional and story ramifications. To that end-
- The main quests are consistently well designed.
- Side quests are good for most part. Sometimes, they extend beyond what the player is first led to believe and turn out to be rather exceptionally good.
- Errands for most part were okay. They were the purest forms of fetch quests or made for leveling up. That said, on one occasion it was directly connected to a sidequest.
- The hunter challenges, bereft of story ramifications, were exceedingly interesting primarily because they are designed to force the player to strategize prior to a Timed Challenge and alter tactics during it. All of it is done to improve player's combat efficiency.
- Categorizing the action based choices of Aloy into 'toughness', 'logical' and 'emotional' was neat because regardless of the answer, I felt like it is still how Aloy would respond.
- No imbecilic Karma system. Thank goodness!
- The dialogue driven choices amount to simple exposition excavation (mostly). Hopefully, the sequel would increase the complexity of story (if not smaller quests) and expand the scope of the dialogue system to affect quest outcomes.
- Side quests, although good, could use more complexity to make them feel less like fetch quest. Some of them lacked the impetus to justify risking Aloy's life when much bigger stakes did lie ahead.
- The game suffers from an issue most open world games suffer from- The disconnect between what is a stake and what the protagonist needs to do due to infinite amount of time being allotted to the player. It was egregious in retrospect because when starting the final mission, prior to which I had gone off to The Cut (DLC) and completed it over "in-game" days, it essentially came off as if the entire world and ills waited for me alone to give them all my go ahead to start sending the baddies for the final battles. It can really be immersion breaking.
Frozen Wilds – O' Canada…
Bought this before it was released on a special discount promotion that was running at the time of pre-release. I played the game when I was around level 40, prior to the final main mission. I got my arse handed to me, well and truly, by the opening encounter…
In keeping with the existing format, the Pros and Cons will be listed but these will be in addition to what is already posted for the main game.
Visuals Presentation:
Pros:
- Even more vivid colours courtesy of the Banuk's clothing and smaller foliages not overwhelmed by the snow.
- The Banuk tribe's customary clothing designs, physical augmentations and tattoos are expanded with beautiful detail for better appreciation.
- New snow deformation tech not only looks fantastic but has animation ramification for Aloy.
- Dialogue oriented segments now feature far more dynamic character animations, new cinematic angles and consistently great lip syncing. Aside from the improved snow rendering, this was the biggest visual change from the base game.
- Snow fall has even greater effect on gameplay.
- The new robots display distinct looks, care of craftsmanship and animation repertoire.
- None in addition to what has been mentioned.
Audio presentation:
Pros:
- The OST for DLC is sublime.
- None in addition to what has been mentioned.
UI:
- Nothing to add.
Menu Interface:
Pros:
- The addition of a dedicated leveling up tree, which was essentially Quality of Life improvement features. Because I had both installed from the time I restarted playing the game, I did not even know that the DLC had brought its own skill trees to the mix and discovered it at a later date.
- None in addition to what has been mentioned
Gameplay:
Pros:
- The new assortment of weapons brings more strategic opportunities to exploit elemental weaknesses but also have certain drawbacks to avoid unfair exploitation.
- The ability to modify Aloy's spear and a host of new types of modifications are great additions.
- The difficulty level spikes until the player discovers most efficient methods for dealing with the new creatures.
- Human AI remains dull.
Story/Narrative quest design:
Pros:
- It is a beautiful self-contained story that has ramification beyond the borders of The Cut. It explores tenets of previously thought unshakable cultural traditions, mysticism and self-sacrifice. The characters and their beliefs felt genuine and evoke a sense of sincerity. To that end-
- The main set of quests were very well designed.
- Given the compact nature of DLC, the side quests were fewer but were much more elaborate.
- The fetch quests for the DLCs, while not part of any Errands or Side quests, still connected back with the visuals and theme of reemergence of humanity in the shadows of an old world.
- None in addition to what has been mentioned.
Closing points:
- HZD must be one of the most photogenic games I have played to date. I ended up snapping more than 5,100 screenshots.
- Aloy gets a permanent scar on right side of her throat after The Proving incident.
- The parts of the game (dlc and base game) that cover the understanding/perception of 'ignorant' (not meant to deride) folks of the technology was one of the most fascinating aspects of the game. Concepts ranging from deification of technology to fearing what people do not understand to evolution and natural selection are explored. In turn, Arthur C. Clarke's quote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
- It is interesting how the cycle of violence for the sake of religion is explored here. I really liked it.
- The ramification behind the existence of the metallic flower really caught me off guard emotionally. Quite the existential ramification tied to that.
- For an opening act by a studio that had zero experience in this third person action adventure RPG-lite genre, they hired the right people for the job and got a lot right on the first try. More than anything it feels like a labour of love. It also helps that-
- The game does NOT have any MTX at all aside from the cost of the DLC.
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