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LTTP: Horizon: Zero Dawn, which leaves a LOT to be desired
- Thread starter Deleted member 17402
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I hadn't been pumped for a triple a game like this in forever. I was really disappointed. If the poor game had not come out in between Zelda and nier, I think I could have at least got into it. But it's been a real struggle to get through it.
It's one of those games that all-around is almost really good. The story and cutscenes are just a little flat. The combat and gameplay are a little messy. It's falls just short all around for me.
It's one of those games that all-around is almost really good. The story and cutscenes are just a little flat. The combat and gameplay are a little messy. It's falls just short all around for me.
Best part of the game for me. You aren't even dealing that much more damage but you learn to exploit weak points, attack patterns and elemental weaknesses.
Nothing more satisfying than coming back and slaying a Stormbird like a master, after all that earlier training paid off.
That's because you can...
I really don't get this thread. Just by learning methods of taking the Dinobots down, and your arsenal expanding with new cool tools the game becomes a piece of cake, even on the hardest difficulties.
As you progress you go from getting stomped by everything bigger than a Glinthawk to taking down Rockbreakers and Thunderjaws with ease.
I mean I can't speak for any other player. But in my multiple playthroughs none of your complaints are issues I had. You never really feel "godlike" but that's just because you're just a smart and very capable young woman. Who learns the weaknesses and tells of her enemies and builds new tools to fight them with.
There is absolutely no way they are on par in terms of enemy variety or combat. At least not in my opinion. Maybe we are not even talking about the same game lol
I mean... for the uninitiated, my most successful runs against a Thunderjaw always have me finding high ground, using the "echo" arrows to slowly chip off the missile launchers on each side, shooting the TJ's laser drones when they appear, and the guns on each side of its head. From there you can just decimate the things.
I'm gonna have to disagree OP. One of my favorite games ever due to great combat, story, and graphics (especially the art style)
I know a lot of people say the world is just window dressing but I disagree. True, it is not very interactive but there's a lot of passive story telling that occurs especially early on in the game when you're trying to figure out how the world became the way it did. I really enjoyed exploring for that reason.
I love the combat because it's greatly skill based. Some battles that can take several minutes the first time you encounter a type of enemy, but can be whittled down to 30 seconds once you learn the best strategy to defeat them. I don't know why people keep complaining about melee. No one complains about the meager melee options in most FPSes.
Some of the voice acting is a little bad but most of it is passable and some of it is really good, especially Aloy and Sylens. The lip syncing is pretty awful in most of the base game though, but the dlc is a huge improvement.
Can't wait for the sequel.
I know a lot of people say the world is just window dressing but I disagree. True, it is not very interactive but there's a lot of passive story telling that occurs especially early on in the game when you're trying to figure out how the world became the way it did. I really enjoyed exploring for that reason.
I love the combat because it's greatly skill based. Some battles that can take several minutes the first time you encounter a type of enemy, but can be whittled down to 30 seconds once you learn the best strategy to defeat them. I don't know why people keep complaining about melee. No one complains about the meager melee options in most FPSes.
Some of the voice acting is a little bad but most of it is passable and some of it is really good, especially Aloy and Sylens. The lip syncing is pretty awful in most of the base game though, but the dlc is a huge improvement.
Can't wait for the sequel.
Definitely the game I regret buying most this year, game was such a disapointment after hearing people praise it for so long. I found it to be a total slog.
OP
OP
That's not true for you but it's a valid truth for how I feel. Not only did I acknowledge that I see why people enjoy this game despite not liking a lot about it myself, but I'm having my opinion invalidated because they don't conform with some of yours. Lol
Yep by the end of the game I got so cocky that I was running up on anything with just skill.
Only got humbled when Frozen Wilds came out. Had to switch up a bit for those Fire/Frostclaws and Scorchers. lol
Sorry, I was only talking combat, I agree that BotW's enemy variety was extremely lacking (one of my biggest cons against the game)
Pretty much my mood. If it's not outclassed by BotW in an area, it's outclassed by NieR Automata. I don't think Horizon is a bad game, it's just really lacking when you consider what was releasing around then. Even though I only recently played it, it just kinda make me miss playing those two games more.
Horizon is a game I spent dozens of hours playing, even Platinumed it, but as soon I was finished and put down the controller for good, it was instantly erased from my mind. I feel as I had been eating air for all those hours: a lot in my plate, but nothing filling about it.
Complete opposite for me. Was playing BotW, dropped it to finish Horizon and it took me a while to come back to BotW which towards the end of the game felt like a chore to me.
Cutscenes and animation (incl lipsync) are improved a bit in The Frozen Wilds. I really wonder what Kojima's team is adding on this front.
I disagreed with everything you said except the melee combat. Yeah that was pretty bad, but I never used it because the actual bow/arrow combat was so excellent and varied. Thought the storytelling, VO, and progression were great. Same lead writer on HZD as the excellent Fallout New Vegas, and it shows.
I feel like some people dont tap into the potential of the gameplay mechanics. I have no other explanation for how ppl can feel like Aloy isnt really progressing.
Then again, I also thought it was widely agreed upon that Horizon had one of the best villains of the generation, yet your impression was the complete opposite.
Then again, I also thought it was widely agreed upon that Horizon had one of the best villains of the generation, yet your impression was the complete opposite.
What? That doesn't make any sense. Your saying they make you stronger and they don't at the same time.
I had a blast with it.
great DLC too.
Great world, amazing visuals, fun combat. some killer robots to fight.
great DLC too.
Great world, amazing visuals, fun combat. some killer robots to fight.
The trials, while absolutely infuriating at times, taught me a lot about how to intelligently use my arsenal of weapons and tools. I enjoyed those quite a bit, although I don't know if that knowledge carried over to the main game, where I tended to just go in haphazardly... and still won pretty easily, which I don't know if that says something about the combat design being flawed or what. That changed with Frozen Wilds though. I got so wrecked at first. Even by the end of it, there were still some struggles, which was a good thing IMO.
It's got some compelling features and rock solid combat, but the rote quest and world design left me wanting more as well. Maybe I'll go back to beat it one day, but I'm not sure. Releasing alongside BoTW did it no favors.
Fireclaws are so damn intimidating at first...
Scorchers I got into a routine quick with. Even Fireclaws are easy to deal with if you stay just outside of range. Lol. Snipe until at least one tank go splodey.
Now that's one thing I hated about endgame. Tight spaces doesn't work with da Fireclaw. Makes a fun hunt terrifying. One hit dead on the highest difficulty.
God this game is awesome. That sense of "I'm just a little human, through wits and luck I managed to win."
Fireclaws are underrated. They can be quick tricky on NG+, but the trick is to blast them with some shock arrows in the power casing on the back. Makes it much easier.
I got to the big city in the middle and lost motivation to continue. The gameplay was a chore. The story wasn't pulling me in. The hipster super serious survivalist tone got old fast. There is zero joy in this world.
I'll be shocked if they don't do a sequel on PS5. I hope they change some key personnel though on the dev staff.
I'll be shocked if they don't do a sequel on PS5. I hope they change some key personnel though on the dev staff.
Having an open world game that was more to the point and didn't have copious amounts of aimless or redundant time wasting filler was a blessing imo. Yes it isn't as comprehensive as many other open world games in certain areas, but that was to its credit. Instead of being a 100+ hour sloth, it was 30-50 hours of tighter narrative, gameplay and pacing. And I enjoyed that a lot, even if it meant it didn't quite have the scope or sheer volume of unlockables, loot, gear etc of other titles.
The combat was also among the very best I've ever experienced in an open world game, which is a rarity. Most similar open world games have fairly poor or merely passable controls and combat.
The combat was also among the very best I've ever experienced in an open world game, which is a rarity. Most similar open world games have fairly poor or merely passable controls and combat.
I'm only about 3 or so hours in and its ok so far but , and I haven't spent enough time with it to be able to put my finger on it, something is holding back my enjoyment. I played for 3 hours straight last weekend and haven't touched it since. It's the sort of game I'd normally get stuck right into but I'm just not feeling it.
OP speaks the truth. Needless, uninspired open world exploration, forgettable side quests, embarrassingly outdated melee combat against human enemies. Couldn't even care about the story. A solid 7/10.
The world and enemy design is super cool with the future-primitive aesthetic and fantastic robot creatures. I'm all about advanced technology in fiction. HZD integrates sci-fi tech in the gameplay and plot really damn well and I thoroughly enjoyed every cool new gimmick and each peak at the pre-apocalypse world.
The combat has good variety with all its weapon types and ammo choices. Lots of different tools if you feel like getting creative. Or you can just cheese everything with ice and sticky bombs or triple arrows.
After 20+ hours I switched the game to easy so I wouldn't get burned out cutting through all the content. I recently picked it up again after a long break and it's still fun.
I don't have much to complain about besides minor annoyances like the too-small inventory, stiff water controls, slow melee combat, and how a full third of your tech tree is devoted to QoL stuff that should cost fewer points, get unlocked automatically through level progression, or be part of the base mechanics from the start.
Like why should I have to pay for the ability to shoot while I'm standing on a wire, or to pick up stuff when I'm mounted? Come on, developers. Let me improve my melee attacks or get new tricks for traversal or manipulating robots or something.
The combat has good variety with all its weapon types and ammo choices. Lots of different tools if you feel like getting creative. Or you can just cheese everything with ice and sticky bombs or triple arrows.
After 20+ hours I switched the game to easy so I wouldn't get burned out cutting through all the content. I recently picked it up again after a long break and it's still fun.
I don't have much to complain about besides minor annoyances like the too-small inventory, stiff water controls, slow melee combat, and how a full third of your tech tree is devoted to QoL stuff that should cost fewer points, get unlocked automatically through level progression, or be part of the base mechanics from the start.
Like why should I have to pay for the ability to shoot while I'm standing on a wire, or to pick up stuff when I'm mounted? Come on, developers. Let me improve my melee attacks or get new tricks for traversal or manipulating robots or something.
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The fact that you don't feel any more powerful after 25 hours makes me think you're not using/optimizing any of your weapons to their full potential, or if you're even using any other weapon besides the main bow. I find people who only spams arrows without fully drawing the bow tend to not like the game...Are you only spamming arrows during combat OP?
I mean there are a number of weapon mod configurations for all of the weapons that makes Aloy virtually unstoppable after the amount of time you've put in. I haven't played the game since Frozen Wilds, but I still remember dealing thousands of points of damage to thunderjaws and taking them down in less than a minute by the end game compared to getting instakilled in the beginning.
Edit: For example-
I mean there are a number of weapon mod configurations for all of the weapons that makes Aloy virtually unstoppable after the amount of time you've put in. I haven't played the game since Frozen Wilds, but I still remember dealing thousands of points of damage to thunderjaws and taking them down in less than a minute by the end game compared to getting instakilled in the beginning.
Edit: For example-
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I stopped after 12 hours. The just didnt click with me, but in general I don't like Guerrilla's games.
Everything felt so 'eh'. I can't explain it, its just not interesting (to me). Plus young Aloy freaks me out.
Everything felt so 'eh'. I can't explain it, its just not interesting (to me). Plus young Aloy freaks me out.
Horizon's combat took a while to "click" for me because I hate aiming with dual analog sticks and had a lot of trouble hitting the weak points, but once I finally got the hang of it, it became really fun. It's very creative and I enjoyed the characters and world. Hopefully the sequel is more ambitious in its storytelling.
Sylens (and possibly Ted Faro) as an antagonist will be far more interesting and have a lot more storytelling potential than "evil generic AI."
Some odd complaints in there OP. I agree about the melee combat sucking, mostly against human enemies. But you'd rather let your character get killed than having to melee ? What ?
Also the skill tree, while nothing really special, is pretty standard and has a bunch of really useful abilities.
Guerilla just need to work on making the open world feel more alive/interactive, make compelling side content and have more interesting characters, and they're golden for the sequel. The foundations are there and they're really strong, especially considering this was their first open-world game.
Also the skill tree, while nothing really special, is pretty standard and has a bunch of really useful abilities.
Guerilla just need to work on making the open world feel more alive/interactive, make compelling side content and have more interesting characters, and they're golden for the sequel. The foundations are there and they're really strong, especially considering this was their first open-world game.
Yea, I was real disappointed as well at launch. Quit around 25-30 hours in also doing as much side content possible and outside of direct machine combat with the various tools and traps, everything else was a wash for me. I honestly was ready to quit around hour 10, but kept going until I just had enough and jumped into Nier.
I did revisit it last month after such a long hiatus to finally wrap it up and get the platinum with renewed vigor. My feeling still stands that the world is visually interesting, but real dull in terms of game design. Sidequests are not well integrated, collectibles are neither interesting and demand zero skill or discovery incentive to use intelligent wit to hunt. The datapads are either all monotone and dreary or entrenched in needless lore such as endless email spam ads(just like we get!)
I did feel the long break helped tremendously improve my overview of the game. I was outright close to hating it back in early 2017 from what I played, but the added 30 hours I played in Oct/Nov this year reminded me how enjoyable the combat really was. Even if strategies were kind of the same, it was always thrilling to rip off armor or daisy chain traps, or use their own cannon against a herd. I wasn't very impressed by the story, world, or lore as much as others, but I can't say I wasn't somewhat engaged to wrap up that plat trophy.
I did revisit it last month after such a long hiatus to finally wrap it up and get the platinum with renewed vigor. My feeling still stands that the world is visually interesting, but real dull in terms of game design. Sidequests are not well integrated, collectibles are neither interesting and demand zero skill or discovery incentive to use intelligent wit to hunt. The datapads are either all monotone and dreary or entrenched in needless lore such as endless email spam ads(just like we get!)
I did feel the long break helped tremendously improve my overview of the game. I was outright close to hating it back in early 2017 from what I played, but the added 30 hours I played in Oct/Nov this year reminded me how enjoyable the combat really was. Even if strategies were kind of the same, it was always thrilling to rip off armor or daisy chain traps, or use their own cannon against a herd. I wasn't very impressed by the story, world, or lore as much as others, but I can't say I wasn't somewhat engaged to wrap up that plat trophy.
I got the game last year, but put it aside for Breath of the Wild. Picked it up again when it was $15 on PSN and I've been playing it non-stop.
I love everything about it. The combat is great, however, it's the story that's really captivated me (and my girlfriend). It's been one of my all time favorite games.
I love everything about it. The combat is great, however, it's the story that's really captivated me (and my girlfriend). It's been one of my all time favorite games.
I finished recently too, great game, just some minor complaints for it be a masterpiece, but I can see why a lot of people loved it so much, when it flows the game is amazing but it can be frustrating at times, human enemies were a waste of time, melee was horrible, hate those stupid ice floor animations, it made me lazy pressing blinding when it magically connects, and then you gained a really bad habit, but what pissed me off is that machines have the same mechanics, so many times I dodged something to then find the machine do 180 degree spin and hit me, almost dropped the game if weren't because of long dodge, I never died but it was just so frustrating before it.
Bow was on point and a lot of ways to play the way you like and get creative.
Machine design was incredible, loved everyone of them with so many details and when you know each one is designed for a very specific purposed it was the cherry on top.
Collectibles for plat were fair and actually fun to gather, thank god Guerrilla wasn't a jerk and didn't add the hundreds of voice clips and text stuff for the trophies.
One of the few open worlds I was never bored to tears while doing traversal, heck this game has the best and most generous fast travel system and yet I actively decided to go on foot to explore and fight on the way, I didn't even used mounts, so that's a great accomplishment to keep someone like me engaged.
Story was meh nothing new nor interesting, with a plain delivery.
Deeper RPG mechanics for sequel would be incredible but it was still good, not that many game changing skills but a lot of fun ones.
Shame my competition will forever sit on 96% because with that ice floor (Don't know how to call it, like contextualized combat or something) nonsense there is no way I'll punish myself going through Ultra Hard.
For some reason I only used elements on Frozen Wilds because I was getting my butt kicked, those can make most encounters trivial, I wonder if plain bow is so satisfying a lot of us forget about Shock / Ice / Fire.
Bow was on point and a lot of ways to play the way you like and get creative.
Machine design was incredible, loved everyone of them with so many details and when you know each one is designed for a very specific purposed it was the cherry on top.
Collectibles for plat were fair and actually fun to gather, thank god Guerrilla wasn't a jerk and didn't add the hundreds of voice clips and text stuff for the trophies.
One of the few open worlds I was never bored to tears while doing traversal, heck this game has the best and most generous fast travel system and yet I actively decided to go on foot to explore and fight on the way, I didn't even used mounts, so that's a great accomplishment to keep someone like me engaged.
Story was meh nothing new nor interesting, with a plain delivery.
Deeper RPG mechanics for sequel would be incredible but it was still good, not that many game changing skills but a lot of fun ones.
Shame my competition will forever sit on 96% because with that ice floor (Don't know how to call it, like contextualized combat or something) nonsense there is no way I'll punish myself going through Ultra Hard.
For some reason I only used elements on Frozen Wilds because I was getting my butt kicked, those can make most encounters trivial, I wonder if plain bow is so satisfying a lot of us forget about Shock / Ice / Fire.
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My take on HZD will forever remain "cosplaying hipsters playing post-apocalypse with special guests Robot Dinosaurs!". Coming to it after BotW, the world and exploration felt extremely limiting (what's that crazy machine squid in the mountains? Oh, the game threatens to reload my last save if I even try to get near it...), and the story was...lacklustre.
Alloy herself would be a great character in the right context. Unfortunately, her character, her arc, and her world were all in conflict with one another. For a woman who grew up in near total isolation, she's sure good at making snarky quips and reacting completely nonplussed at sights you'd think would overwhelm her...
Also, I hate skill trees that gate skills said character really ought to know already. One minute Alloy is disassembling a robot she's never seen before to create a new weapon, the next the game is telling you to invest points to learn how to disassemble machines...
Alloy herself would be a great character in the right context. Unfortunately, her character, her arc, and her world were all in conflict with one another. For a woman who grew up in near total isolation, she's sure good at making snarky quips and reacting completely nonplussed at sights you'd think would overwhelm her...
Also, I hate skill trees that gate skills said character really ought to know already. One minute Alloy is disassembling a robot she's never seen before to create a new weapon, the next the game is telling you to invest points to learn how to disassemble machines...
I loved the game but I mostly agree with you. But you forgot the most important problem, exploration and sense of discovery. Most of the world contains ruins of a whole civilization and it's a bit sad that the game totally lacks the sense of discovery and the joy of finding secrets. Generally the exploration should have being more interesting, what I wanted:
- Except in one or 2 spots in the whole game there are no walls to destroy, no secret to be found behind a bush or a waterfall. No hidden puzzle to be found. All the rare 'puzzles' are clearly labelled from a distance and way too easy.
- Lack of interactivity with the environment. Everything is static.
- Being able to climb the small rocks.
- Except in one or 2 spots in the whole game there are no walls to destroy, no secret to be found behind a bush or a waterfall. No hidden puzzle to be found. All the rare 'puzzles' are clearly labelled from a distance and way too easy.
- Lack of interactivity with the environment. Everything is static.
- Being able to climb the small rocks.
I finished the game, dude. If you're talking about
Sylens
Funny...to me Horizon made me fall in love with videogames all over again.
I have the platinum for it and bought the DLC which i also finished.
Couldn't stop playing it and exploring everything
I have the platinum for it and bought the DLC which i also finished.
Couldn't stop playing it and exploring everything
I am in this camp as well. It is always interesting to me how strongly gamers tastes can differ per game. Nothing drove that home for me more than discussions about Dark Souls 2 or the Uncharted series.
The main antagonist is not even human. And if you beat the game I don't know how you could come to that conclusion.
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Try using the the huge arsenal of skills and equipment you earn next time. You can pretty much be an invincible godess by the end of the game so your statement is actually wrong. I played the game for 100 hours and platinumed it during my first playtrough on very hard. Looks like you barely scartched the surface.