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[ABrokenToy]

I definitely prefer the look of the State of Play version more. Lighting took a huge downgrade.

Maybe they can patch the underwater lighting back in. The final version looks murky AF.

 

[Mossybrew]

I feel like I've put at least 30 hours in it and it seems like I'm just getting started.

Yeah I'm right about 25 hours in and have yet to make any main story progress past the point where you are given three options for where to go next. Keep getting distracted with side quests and stuff.

 

[Dr Bass]

It's HOW the story is told told that sucks. The words are unecessarily complicated to make it sound sci fi and there isn't much sense of why you should care. You just think: send me the next machine to beat and don't make the traversal to get to it too nonsensical. Beautiful game though.

To each their own. I'm not saying the story is genius at all, but 99% of game stories just exist to move the player through the game. "The words are unnecessarily complicated" is certainly a new complaint to me though.

So, if you were playing a game and someone had a heart attack and a character says "we need a defibrillator in here, now!" is that unnecessarily complicated wording? You would prefer them to say "We need to get hearty starty going!"

 

[SlimySnake]

I definitely prefer the look of the State of Play version more. Lighting took a huge downgrade.

The lighting downgrade is depressing because it was obvious the PS5 was capable of running it at native 4k 30 fps, but they most likely couldnt get the lighting working on the PS4 version without heavy hits to performance so they left it out of both versions. The underwater lighting especially took a big hit. The light simply doesnt penetrate like it did in the original reveal let alone the gameplay reveal.

This is why cross gen is bad.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

On the main screen, go to your profile icon on the top right. Click on it and select Profile. Then go over to Games. Find your game. Hours played will be on the right under trophy completion percentage.

41 hours. And I only collected 1 subroutine.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Exactly my thoughts on the game. I think all the hoopla over graphics issues are distracting from the fact that this game's combat and systems are a step back from the first game.

I remember how you basically got purple weapons as soon as you got to Merdian. If you had enough shards, you could buy them. The purple hunter bow required just a watcher heart. The percision bow required a sawtooth heart. The first real fight in the game. Here, they have locked them behind enemies that dont even spawn yet. I went to several Tideripper locations and its not there. The quest simply says machine not found yet. Upgrading weapons is a pain in the ass too. Why do i need to hunt for different parts all the time? It's a blue weapon. I am going to be discarding it anyway.

The changes to overriding enemies makes no sense either. So I get the ability to override something by completing cauldrons and then i have to go hunting for parts again? it was fine the way it was in the first game. Whats up with them adding all these additional roadblocks for you to be having fun?

In the first game, the first trex was a big gate check. Took me an hour to figure out how to beat it, but when I did he was a great source of legendary coils that automatically upgraded my weapons. The game rewarded you for taking on stormbirds, thunderjaws, rockbreakers and behemoths by giving you up to three legendary coils. Here, you are lucky to get one and even that coil could be basically useless if you arent a stealth or melee build.

Scanning by holding down R3 mid battle makes no sense. I have no idea what they were thinking with this change especially since body damage is no longer a thing now. You HAVE to hit weakpoints or see 1-3 damage pop up on screen, but thats fine. It is a design choice, but then why did they remove the ability to highlight all the weakpoints by simply tapping R3?

EDIT: I looked at the wiki for Weapon acquisition details and only the Adept (NG+ weapons) and Ultra Hard Difficulty settings require hearts of hard to kill dinobots as well as massively increasing their shard cost. I brought up enemy aggression earlier, and it seems the game is basically balanced as an Ultra Hard on not just enemy aggressiveness but also ingame economy. The first legendary bow in the game is 1500 shards (3x more than it was in the first game) and requires parts of robots who havent been introduced in the story yet. This is why im not a fan of this whole choose your difficulty accessibility options in Sony games. Devs dont even bother to design games around normal difficulty anymore.

Lmao

We have a game for you

It’s called Wii Sports

 

[SlimySnake]

Lmao

We have a game for you

It’s called Wii Sports

Mark my words. In a few weeks, if not a few days, people will be talking about how the combat in this game is a step back.

I am just early like I was with the graphics issues. Now everyone on youtube is talking about them.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Mark my words. In a few weeks, if not a few days, people will be talking about how the combat in this game is a step back.

I am just early like I was with the graphics issues. Now everyone on youtube is talking about them.

So far I haven’t really had any of the issues, combat is better than the first to me

Better machines to fight with more aggressive routines and AI

The weapons are maybe slightly more needlessly complicated but it’s just a minor gripe at worst

 

[RGB'D]

Game is starting to pick up. A pretty solid 7-8/10 so far from me. Some things are super polished and some are not at all. Climbing can be incredibly cumbersome. Story is pretty okay so far. World is starting to open up. Hopefully it has a more enjoyable map than the first game. Looks like some improvements and looks great but some things are still lacking. Having fun though!! Sounds like it's going to get even better as I progress further.

 

[nowhat]

Mark my words. In a few weeks, if not a few days, people will be talking about how the combat in this game is a step back

I marked your words with the quote function, and completely disagree. The combat has been great so far. Better than HZD (and the combat there was already awesome).

 

[Woggleman]

Combat is better than the first one. Those spike weapons alone put it above and combat against humans while not the best ever is improved. I enjoy taking out rebel camps.

 

[Topher]

Just got to the "holy shit" moment folks are alluring to. All I can say is...

 

[DForce]

Mark my words. In a few weeks, if not a few days, people will be talking about how the combat in this game is a step back.

I am just early like I was with the graphics issues. Now everyone on youtube is talking about them.

You're the first person I've seen say the combat is a step back compared to the first game.

Personally, it feels much improved compared to the first game.

 

[G-Bus]

Did the "death's door" quest last night and I'm liking where this is going even though I don't have a clue. Really mixed things up.

Think I'll keep the main story where it's at and do all the side stuff in the area. Finished up in the Daunt already.

Been so long since I played ZD I forgot how the weapons and arrow system works. Been rolling with regular and acid arrows only for a bit now. Need to fix that Missing my tear arrows .

 

[SlimySnake]

You're the first person I've seen say the combat is a step back compared to the first game.

Personally, it feels much improved compared to the first game.

Well, the guy I quoted said the same thing. So i should be the second.

Era thread is also full of people saying the same thing.

 

[RafterXL]

Well, the guy I quoted said the same thing. So i should be the second.

Era thread is also full of people saying the same thing.

So is Reddit, and everywhere else. People see what they want to see.

I also love that people insult you and tell you to play Wii Sports when you are comparing this game to the fucking game that is the reason this game exists. People are so ridiculous in their defense that they are telling people who loved the first game all sorts of dumb shit like this.

Fanboys gonna fanboy.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Mark my words. In a few weeks, if not a few days, people will be talking about how the combat in this game is a step back.

I am just early like I was with the graphics issues. Now everyone on youtube is talking about them.

I can tell ya exactly what is wrong with the combat.
Stuff is in the way. And the machines are more aggressive.
The playfield is more littered with trees and rocks and elevation changes. You can’t roll around as much as the first game.
The machines spot you and follow you and also flank you around all that stuff. And they don’t let go making the battle music last too long after you leave any fight. More adds from stuff you missed in the scans you forget to do when you Leeroy Jenkins into A group of machines. Maybe that last part is just me.
Bit out in the open like the desert areas the battles feel more like the first game.

 

[Nikana]

Well, the guy I quoted said the same thing. So i should be the second.

Era thread is also full of people saying the same thing.

I am with you mostly but I would say the combat is largely the same in terms of what the player does to achieve its goal. Its still addicting and fun like the first game.
However, the combat hasn't changed which makes the other changes surrounding the combat, like the addition of new robots and more aggressive AI, make the combat feel unbalanced at times.

Anytime I am in an open area I tend to do OK. There are several instances with elevations and things in the way, like water that triggers the game to not allow combat and rocks that you get stuck on when trying to roll, that cause moments of total loss of the combat loop. There were several times I got caught on something that caused me to get hit or even stuck which resulted in a robot just standing on top of me. Its jarring.

However, those instances were far more rare than common.

 

[DForce]

Well, the guy I quoted said the same thing. So i should be the second.

Era thread is also full of people saying the same thing.

So is Reddit, and everywhere else. People see what they want to see.

I also love that people insult you and tell you to play Wii Sports when you are comparing this game to the fucking game that is the reason this game exists. People are so ridiculous in their defense that they are telling people who loved the first game all sorts of dumb shit like this.

Fanboys gonna fanboy.

Me being a fanboy?

No. lol

I just read look at more than 20 pages on Restera and the complaints are how the game is balanced.

- AI is too strong.
- Elemental weapons are harder to find or have little effect on enemies.
- Some weapons are stronger than the others, rendering some weapons useless.

A lot of complaints don't equate to the combat being "worse" than the first one. The combat mechanics in the game would remain nearly the same if the damage was balanced.

 

[TrebleShot]

Me being a fanboy?

No. lol

I just read look at more than 20 pages on Restera and the complaints are how the game is balanced.

- AI is too strong.
- Elemental weapons are harder to find or have little effect on enemies.
- Some weapons are stronger than the others, rendering some weapons useless.

A lot of complaints don't equate to the combat being "worse" than the first one. The combat mechanics in the game would remain nearly the same if the damage was balanced.

All of this amounts to : your early in the game.
The elemental items have more effect later on you can one shot some beasts.

 

[SlimySnake]

I can tell ya exactly what is wrong with the combat.
Stuff is in the way. And the machines are more aggressive.
The playfield is more littered with trees and rocks and elevation changes. You can’t roll around as much as the first game.
The machines spot you and follow you and also flank you around all that stuff. And they don’t let go making the battle music last too long after you leave any fight. More adds from stuff you missed in the scans you forget to do when you Leeroy Jenkins into A group of machines. Maybe that last part is just me.
Bit out in the open like the desert areas the battles feel more like the first game.

Yeah, thats one thing. i get stuck all the time on trees and rocks now, and I never really had that issue in HZD.

Whats weird is that I got stuck twice in the first thunderjaw fight and there are no trees or large rocks. It's a flat plain with only small pebbles and tiny elevation changes. I just got stuck at a weird small rock and aloy just wouldnt move. This happened twice in two different places in a span of 45 minutes.

I think the game just wasnt play tested enough. It's missing those 2nd and 3rd passes. It's polished compared to say Ubisoft and EA games, but slightly misses the mark when it comes to Sony's trademark polish.

I think I may be locked out of the rest of the game:



I literally cannot get past this fucking open door

The bugs/environment are really grating and I literally keep getting caught on shit I shouldn't be. Not too much of an issue in settlements but in the wild then you're fucking dead in seconds. Stuff like this:

These issues, the first 30 seconds of that video, The death door platforming sections wouldve never passed QA of any Sony studio under Shu. Almost everyone has issues with that particular death door mission.

So is Reddit, and everywhere else. People see what they want to see.

I also love that people insult you and tell you to play Wii Sports when you are comparing this game to the fucking game that is the reason this game exists. People are so ridiculous in their defense that they are telling people who loved the first game all sorts of dumb shit like this.

Fanboys gonna fanboy.

James is alright. lol. He's just kidding. I think.

 

[Dr Bass]

Yeah, thats one thing. i get stuck all the time on trees and rocks now, and I never really had that issue in HZD.

Whats weird is that I got stuck twice in the first thunderjaw fight and there are no trees or large rocks. It's a flat plain with only small pebbles and tiny elevation changes. I just got stuck at a weird small rock and aloy just wouldnt move. This happened twice in two different places in a span of 45 minutes.

I think the game just wasnt play tested enough. It's missing those 2nd and 3rd passes. It's polished compared to say Ubisoft and EA games, but slightly misses the mark when it comes to Sony's trademark polish.







These issues, the first 30 seconds of that video, The death door platforming sections wouldve never passed QA of any Sony studio under Shu. Almost everyone has issues with that particular death door mission.

James is alright. lol. He's just kidding. I think.

Huh? Why? I just did this last night and it was a breeze. What issues are there with the platforming?

 

[Reave]

This games storytelling is pure gobbledygook.

Venture off to Whispering Stone to honor the land-gods of the Sunfire sea before the Korruutimus ritual of the sky begins before you can enter the elden chamber of the old ones to reach the infinite light of sweet Mother’s stars of new moon.

 

[isoRhythm]

People complaining about difficulty.. just turn the difficulty down and turn on some accessibility options. No shame in that, that's the whole reason they provided the options without impacting game progress/trophies.

Reminds me of the Sifu thread

This games storytelling is pure gobbledygook.

Yeah bro, I was hoping the game could take some time away from the whole robo animal & AI terraforming systems and have a side quest where Aloy does her taxes.

 

[SlimySnake]

Me being a fanboy?

No. lol

I just read look at more than 20 pages on Restera and the complaints are how the game is balanced.

- AI is too strong.
- Elemental weapons are harder to find or have little effect on enemies.
- Some weapons are stronger than the others, rendering some weapons useless.

A lot of complaints don't equate to the combat being "worse" than the first one. The combat mechanics in the game would remain nearly the same if the damage was balanced.

I think thats why I purposefully mentioned combat along with 'systems'.

that this game's combat and systems are a step back from the first game.

I have also mentioned albeit a couple of days ago how the enemies are too aggressive, and have very little recovery time between attacks. I even listed the wiki details of the Ultra Hard difficulty enemy aggression they had patched in specifically for that difficulty. The weapons were more expensive and required harder boss hearts in that difficulty. I am seeing the same thing here on Normal. The only difference is that I am no longer decked out with NG+ weapons and upgrades. So every fight even with fucking scrappers takes forever because they jump around too much and body damage does literally 1 damage per shot.

I am sure the game will let me one shot enemies after ive maxed out all skill trees and weapon upgrades just like in the first game or in any other RPG, but the journey also matters and the combat simply doesnt feel as satisfying anymore. The rush is still there. They are still frantic. The challenge is still there. it's still better than 99% of the open world games out there. It's just the underlying systems make it far less methodical and fun than before.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Yeah bro, I was hoping the game could take some time away from the whole robo animal & AI terraforming systems and have a side quest where Aloy does her taxes.

Avad would let Aloy put her shards in a tax haven somewhere in the Cut.
Errend would however be cracking heads as Meridian's Tax collector.

 

[Urban]

Am i the only one who only uses the standard bow from the beginning? I only got the glider now and until now i`ve only played with the standard bow(maxed out till lvl 3) and it one shots the weakspots from the enemys away lol. Im playing on normal difficulty

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I think thats why I purposefully mentioned combat along with 'systems'.



I have also mentioned albeit a couple of days ago how the enemies are too aggressive, and have very little recovery time between attacks. I even listed the wiki details of the Ultra Hard difficulty enemy aggression they had patched in specifically for that difficulty. The weapons were more expensive and required harder boss hearts in that difficulty. I am seeing the same thing here on Normal. The only difference is that I am no longer decked out with NG+ weapons and upgrades. So every fight even with fucking scrappers takes forever because they jump around too much and body damage does literally 1 damage per shot.

I am sure the game will let me one shot enemies after ive maxed out all skill trees and weapon upgrades just like in the first game or in any other RPG, but the journey also matters and the combat simply doesnt feel as satisfying anymore. The rush is still there. They are still frantic. The challenge is still there. it's still better than 99% of the open world games out there. It's just the underlying systems make it far less methodical and fun than before.

I find it far more methodical and fun

To each their own

 

[Mossybrew]

Yeah agreed with some of the comments about getting caught up on rocks and trees and stuff when dodging, the game clearly has more complex geometry, it can be a bit annoying but just kind of forces you to have better situational awareness of the terrain. Also yeah I don't know if its my imagination but the machines overall seem more spastic than before. Overall the effect is combat can be more chaotic, but that's kind of a good thing? I have no complaints about combat, it's fun and just challenging enough.

 

[Edgelord79]

10 hours in.

Combat is fun.
Visuals are very good.
Mechanical animals are awesome.
Story isn't very cohesive.
Side quests are awful and bloated.
Horrendous weapon system.

Glitz is wearing off for me. Hope it gets better as I really want to like this.

 

[Topher]

So is Reddit, and everywhere else. People see what they want to see.

I also love that people insult you and tell you to play Wii Sports when you are comparing this game to the fucking game that is the reason this game exists. People are so ridiculous in their defense that they are telling people who loved the first game all sorts of dumb shit like this.

Fanboys gonna fanboy.

Defense? Why does the fact that some are having fun with the game and not getting so worked up about its flaws need a "defense"? To me, the game play is just as fun as it ever has been. The story is taking the game to a new level. The open world looks looks massive and I'm taking my time exploring and thoroughly enjoying it. That's all positives. Yes, the graphical issues need to be ironed out. The movement around obstacles can be annoying. That's about it for me in criticism but overall I have more positives than negatives. So what? Does it make someone a fanboy because they don't think the negatives are as bad as others do?

But when it came to the negative things people were saying on reddit regarding Halo Infinite you agreed with those who said they were just being "whiny".

Of course they are. The same fuckers whining about the same shit, over and over, throwing their hourly temper tantrums or long screes whenever the name Halo pops up. It's calculated as fuck.

We have a few of the clowns here, one of which was dumb enough to link his Reddit account, which *shockingly* is just him bitching and moaning about Halo ad nauseam like a little brat.

Like I said in the other thread, Infinite being universally praised, both multiplayer and now singleplayer, has broken these fools.

Dramatic change in attitude about criticism from reddit and elsewhere with HFW. Just sayin'

 

[John Marston]

Random thoughts on PS5.

Good Lord are those facial animations just delicious. Did I just witness an NPC using his actual tongue while speaking?
I can almost turn off the sound and lip read the lip synch it's so spot on.

I spent 15 minutes just walking around the tavern in the first village just observing people.

NPCs are animated like real people, subtle, not exaggerated hand gestures flailing about.

Usually only 2 or 3 main characters get the "High Def" treatment but here love is given equally to every single NPC.

EDIT: If you want to sheathe your weapon just press L1 and click R3. I found that out totally by coïncidence

 

[G-Bus]

Am i the only one who only uses the standard bow from the beginning? I only got the glider now and until now i`ve only played with the standard bow(maxed out till lvl 3) and it one shots the weakspots from the enemys away lol. Im playing on normal difficulty

Did the exact same thing up to that point as well. Have since picked up some other weapons.

 

[SLB1904]

 

[rofif]

Omg Alva is the worst and generally the wokeness is a bit too strong…
Some of these characters are super unrealistic and just annoying.
Old characters are cool, the Chief was cool and the Kutalo is amazingly acted too.
But still - 75% of characters are women and that’s fine but the worst thing is that women characters have no flaws while men characters are either idiots, fools or have some other issues.

I am overgeneralising of course. There are plenty of great characters. Maybe it’s just the Alva who got me tilted
God…. I’ve not encountered such a punchable character for a long time

Edit: the characters are all very similar and safe. Feels kinda family friendly. Everyone is good or either have reason why they do bad things. Feels like ratchet in places

Edit2: anyone else noticed that everything Aloy says is done on breathing out? The acting is fine but it never changes. She always sound dramatic, a bit quiet and finishes on exhale

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Definitely beat the story before going all in on the open world. You want the story only upgrades.

Trust me.

 

[Topher]

I am overgeneralising of course. There are plenty of great characters. Maybe it’s just the Alva who got me tilted
God…. I’ve not encountered such a punchable character for a long time

I was laughing at this, btw. Funny shit.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Wow little quest to look for a little lost kid led to me dying A few times.

Spoiler: Fight

kid was trapped my a thunder jaw and during the fight a Storm bird joined in. First time Ive ever taken on both the big guys from the first game at the same time.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Is the golden gate bridge not in this? Was looking around the edge of San Fran and couldn't spot it. (Didn't look very long)

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Is the golden gate bridge not in this? Was looking around the edge of San Fran and couldn't spot it. (Didn't look very long)

It’s there

 

[ANDS]

Jesus Christ. Well this is a fucking left turn in the story. How the hell did they keep that under wraps?

 

[Bayo3GOTY]

I think peoples egos are being hurt by the game being hard in the first half after being gods at the end of the first game. Thinking you could just roll up to a thunderjaw at level 2 in this game and not have to play smart

 

[Badlucktroll]

Holy crap i think i just made it to almost the end. I shouldn't have blown through this.

 

[ANDS]

I think peoples egos are being hurt by the game being hard in the first half after being gods at the end of the first game. Thinking you could just roll up to a thunderjaw at level 2 in this game and not have to play smart

I'm playing on VERY HARD and using all resources available. The game doesn't feel particularly well balanced. They've made changes that swung the pendulum hard in the other direction from the first game I feel.

 

[TGO]

People complaining about enemies being harder.
I love that they're testing my skill!
I was like

But I can understand people that aren't that good to begin with.
Yeah probably not as fun

 

[Salz01]

The lighting downgrade is depressing because it was obvious the PS5 was capable of running it at native 4k 30 fps, but they most likely couldnt get the lighting working on the PS4 version without heavy hits to performance so they left it out of both versions. The underwater lighting especially took a big hit. The light simply doesnt penetrate like it did in the original reveal let alone the gameplay reveal.

This is why cross gen is bad.

I agree. The underwater lighting looks worse than the SOP. I really hope they make it better with a future patch.

 

[Topher]

People complaining about enemies being harder.
I love that they're testing my skill!
I was like

But I can understand people that aren't that good to begin with.
Yeah probably not as fun

If only Neo could downgrade difficulty as easily as one can with HFW.

 

[Sosokrates]

I hope people now dont fall for initial gameplay showings of sony games.

While the end results still look best in class, its still pretty dishonest to have there initial gameplay showings significantly different.

I understand why sony and devs do this, its great marketing and blind fans will gush over them no matter how many times they do it.

Its comendable that other devs show more representative gameplay or in some cases things are actually upgraded.

 

[Sosokrates]

Just got to the "holy shit" moment folks are alluring to. All I can say is...

What is it? Could you post a video or description with spoiler cover. Thanks.

 

[Topher]

What is it? Could you post a video or description with spoiler cover. Thanks.

Nope. Play the game.