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Horizon: Forbidden West |OT| Red Head Redemption - II -

sncvsrtoip

Member
Finished after 59h. Best looking game I've ever played so kudos for Guerrilas that they manage to deliver even tough its still crossgen. Didn't enjoy much Horizon 1 but here almost all aspects are improved. Better npc dialogs, world is much richer, side quests tough not usualy very deep enjoyable enough to spent time outside of main quest (very impressive npc dialogs animations in sidequests) . Main strengths of game are very fun fight system and of course beautiful world. Sometimes I just prefered to walk few kilometers instead to use mount just to admire environment. Narration was improved vs h1 but still its not on level of games like rdr2 and lou2 (tough Im also not big fan of scifi). 9/10
 
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Paasei

Member
Thought it was fun addition when I found out about Tilda and her Dutch painting collection. Being Dutch myself, I thought that was kinda cool. Also can anyone tell me how far I am into the story? I keep on getting distracted and do other things.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Finally started my playthrough over the weekend (well, Saturday mainly). Some first impressions:

-Even on PS4, this game is visually arresting. Definitely one of the top three best-looking games on the system IMHO; I will prob carry over later-game to PS5 in the future where it'll look even better (as well as 60 FPS)​
-The customization options for accessibility and difficulty are pretty robust and welcomed; I'm playing on Normal difficulty, but the option to scale specific sections up or down depending on preference (or time constraints) is always appreciated​
-Controls feel pretty smooth, though certain movements aren't seemingly explained when I think they could be done earlier (sprinting for example, comes just a couple sections later than it probably should)​
-I hope the dude partnered with Aloy early on becomes a bit more useful later on; right now he's just kinda "there" for exposition but he's not been that useful in the early combat tbh.​
-The platforming and navigation elements are pretty enjoyable; I don't mind the color-coded too much and I know from some footage showing things later in the game it opens up greatly for freer exploration.​
-As someone with zero experience w/ ZD the early part does a good job briefing the main elements of importance from that story.​
-Lance Riddick 👍

I'm very early into the game FWIW; looking to get a decent bit further through the week tho I won't have too much time until the weekend to play (and even then, I'm still finishing up other games so that's time shared). But so far I've been enjoying what's on offer. Gonna try getting acclimated a bit more with the combat controls in particular; I know you can cheese grinding in these type of games to just go beast mode at the touch of a button, but I'd still like to take the time to learn some battle control options more explicitly.

Welp, don't want to spoil myself too much further so I'm outta here!
Watch this when you have time

 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Thought it was fun addition when I found out about Tilda and her Dutch painting collection. Being Dutch myself, I thought that was kinda cool. Also can anyone tell me how far I am into the story? I keep on getting distracted and do other things.
You are near the end. Maybe 2-3 long story missions left.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Played some of the final arena missions I had trouble completing in the allotted time, and man they really expose all the issues with the game's combat. They force you to use different valor surges, block off weapon Techniques like Braceshot and wont let you use your current equipment. Any weapon you havent leveled up and improved with coils becomes a liability. Traps are pretty much useless. They force you to use boltblasters to apply elemental damage and they take way too long to reload or shoot. So easy to get interrupted. Enemy weakpoints are very hard to hit when they are squirming around like fish out of water. Even bigger enemies like the Apex Dredwing move around way too much in that small arena.

Just goes to show that if you dont have a DPS build with maxed out end game weapons letting you kill everyone in 1-2 hits, the game's combat simply doesnt work.
 

ebevan91

Member
I just killed Regalla and have a feeling I'm near the end so I'm gonna do another sidequest or 2 and wrap this thing up so I can move on to something else. I'll leave some sidequests unfinished but I plan on coming back maybe when they release the first big DLC.
 

Con_Z_ǝdʇ

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
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Fox Mulder

Member
This melee pit combo shit is the worst thing in the entire game.

The combo are explained poorly so you’re flailing around until you get it. I even had to look up a YouTube video for the Power Rush challenge and learned the game is wrong with what it wants you to do and requires one less R1 press.
 
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Allforce

Member
Am I supposed to be buying new bows as I progress? I am just past "The Embassy" and am still using the same original Hunter Bow I started with and have it fully upgraded, I don't see what I'm missing when I run into a weapon dealer with another Hunter Bow for sale, they always seem to just be the same bow with a different name or maybe a slightly different look.

There's something I'm not seeing here right?
 

pratyush

Member
Arena is a joke. Those machines jump around and its hard to hit their weak point. Basically OP weapons is the way to go in Arena. They should have skipped it or made the area way bigger than what is right now.

I think GG needs to calm down the machines from jumping around so much in next game and give them different variety of attack. For a game that want you to hit at precise location, those jumping machines make it frustrating. Either make the target bigger or reduce their movement to make it manageable.

I think Gameplay is great when you have enough space but in tight area it becomes a big issue. Unless you have decent weapon, your only choice is to make it brittle ( or tie it down) and then blast those armors ( or hit elemental targets with proper weapon) and then go for the kill. Bigger machines are okay, but those small jumpy ones need to be toned down.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Am I supposed to be buying new bows as I progress? I am just past "The Embassy" and am still using the same original Hunter Bow I started with and have it fully upgraded, I don't see what I'm missing when I run into a weapon dealer with another Hunter Bow for sale, they always seem to just be the same bow with a different name or maybe a slightly different look.

There's something I'm not seeing here right?
You are still early in the game but yes. The next camp should give you blue weapons which have better stats and more ammo types.

It will take some time to get purple weapons so might as well buy and upgrade the blue weapons. No need to fully max them out though.
 

ebevan91

Member
Arena is a joke. Those machines jump around and its hard to hit their weak point. Basically OP weapons is the way to go in Arena. They should have skipped it or made the area way bigger than what is right now.

I think GG needs to calm down the machines from jumping around so much in next game and give them different variety of attack. For a game that want you to hit at precise location, those jumping machines make it frustrating. Either make the target bigger or reduce their movement to make it manageable.

I think Gameplay is great when you have enough space but in tight area it becomes a big issue. Unless you have decent weapon, your only choice is to make it brittle ( or tie it down) and then blast those armors ( or hit elemental targets with proper weapon) and then go for the kill. Bigger machines are okay, but those small jumpy ones need to be toned down.

The one with the 2 snapmaws and the tideripper pissed me off so much. The tideripper kept body slamming me and it takes AGES for Aloy to get back up so by the time I got back up I was already getting body slammed again. The snapmaws weren't that big of a deal, just freeze them and use the spike thrower to do massive damage.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Yeah I didn’t do arena until the endgame and just rolled through everything. A few challenges where they swap your load out did slow me down.
 

Vick

Gold Member
I'm playing at Very Hard and, despite a few issues at the beginning due to enemies killing in one hit, the game compared to Frozen Wilds at Ultra Hard is a cakewalk. Haven't died in ages and i'm only at blue-tier Armor and Bow. Turning off Adaptive Triggers and Reticle really made a night and day difference, feels like i'm unstoppable now and melee is sooo damn improved Bandit Camps are a slaughter. Maybe things will change with bigger enemies though.

Game is absolutely incredible by the way, mindblowingly good.
And best looking thing i've played by country mile, and i'm on Performance Mode.
 

ebevan91

Member
Alright I just rolled credits.

I still need to finish Frozen Wilds in HZD lmao. It's gonna feel weird going backwards. I know what happens I just never finished it. I was close though.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
You know, it's fucking amazing that fans were able to piece together a very good approximation of what this game's story turned out to be based on the Far Zenith and Odyssey log entries in the first game, all those years ago.




Fans are crazy man.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
I'm loving just hunting. This is an amazing hunting game. Taking down some massive machines is incredibly fun. I think I might break 300 hours in this game before I'm done.
 

pratyush

Member
You know, it's fucking amazing that fans were able to piece together a very good approximation of what this game's story turned out to be based on the Far Zenith and Odyssey log entries in the first game, all those years ago.




Fans are crazy man.

Oh this guy is very good. His breakdown of HZD story made the first game even better. Its a shame he doesn’t do more games because he is quite thorough with his videos. I had better appreciation of HZD after watching few of his videos and then going back and seeing those data points and visual points again
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Oh this guy is very good. His breakdown of HZD story made the first game even better. Its a shame he doesn’t do more games because he is quite thorough with his videos. I had better appreciation of HZD after watching few of his videos and then going back and seeing those data points and visual points again

Yeah I'm actually going through his lore play list right now. And his lore videos are definitely making the lore of the first game feel a lot more expansive and easily digestible than the game itself does.
 

pratyush

Member
Alright I just rolled credits.

I still need to finish Frozen Wilds in HZD lmao. It's gonna feel weird going backwards. I know what happens I just never finished it. I was close though.
I think frozen wild has the best machine design. Those scorchers, fireclaws and frost monster are absolutely fantastic and enjoyable to kill. Its a shame they are used sparingly in HFW
 

pratyush

Member
Yall complaining about arena.

I switched to Story mode and beat that whole shit in 30 minutes.

Got several orange weapons now. Finished it and switched difficulty back to hard. :messenger_sunglasses::messenger_sunglasses:
I dont want to do that but i cant risk it because i might break my TV so i am seriously considering doing the same. Her fall animation is probably the most irritating thing i have witnessed in my gaming life. Bloody hell just get the fuck up😂Really breaks the flow of otherwise fantastic game.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Yall complaining about arena.

I switched to Story mode and beat that whole shit in 30 minutes.

Got several orange weapons now. Finished it and switched difficulty back to hard. :messenger_sunglasses::messenger_sunglasses:

I did that for the melee pit crap. I was only doing it for the trophy and never used these stupid combos the entire 70 hours I’ve played.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
I dont want to do that but i cant risk it because i might break my TV so i am seriously considering doing the same. Her fall animation is probably the most irritating thing i have witnessed in my gaming life. Bloody hell just get the fuck up😂Really breaks the flow of otherwise fantastic game.
Yep. she takes a good 3-5 seconds to get up its HORRIBLE. Needs to be a button to hit as soon as she gets knocked down to spring right back up
 

Fox Mulder

Member
So I got a couple legendary weapons from the arena and don’t like them. That volatile sludge shit for ammo is very rare and limiting when you can only carry 7.

Like I still want to use a maxed purple Sharpshot because ammo is easier to craft.
 
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pratyush

Member
I did that for the melee pit crap. I was only doing it for the trophy and never used these stupid combos the entire 70 hours I’ve played.
Yeah it seemed like they just introduced it because people wanted melee combat. It just doesn’t feel right. Aloy trained to be a hunter and not some melee combat champion and all these combat look out of place. They should have just sticked with first game mechanics and improved it. For shooting its actually better and it feels great and those valor surges look extremely cool. Rest of the melee stuff was just not required.

Overall game is fantastic and i will probably put in 120-150 hour at the rate i am going but GG needs to focus on machine attack tuning next game along with further improvement in shooting
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
So I got a couple legendary weapons from the arena and don’t like them. That volatile sludge shit for ammo is very rare and limiting when you can only carry 7.

Like I still want to use a maxed purple Sharpshot because ammo is easier to craft.


Honestly I just found it best to stick with the Hunter bows. They're accurate at a medium distance, the 3 arrow notch ability adds a good amount of damage using 3 arrows at once and the arrow creation requirements are so low you may as well have infinite ammo.

Warrior Bows are good in theory but they suck at aiming even at close ranges.

Outside of the required challenges, I think I stuck with the old reliable Spear + Hunter bow combo through the game.
 

Rayderism

Member
All I did with weapons is when I was at a shop, I would use the compare option and look for the point damage they do, then buy ones that had higher damage. Simple as that. I didn't pay much attention to their names or types, just the higher damage numbers. Worked for me.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
You know, it's fucking amazing that fans were able to piece together a very good approximation of what this game's story turned out to be based on the Far Zenith and Odyssey log entries in the first game, all those years ago.




Fans are crazy man.

This is what happen when you have ultra precise lore that cover everything and leave nothing unexplained.

I'm impressed by how much i got right before the game was out.
 
New patch. IQ still poor in performance mode and vegetation shimmering very noticeable in the distance but seems less distracting up close.

Plenty of other good fixes and UX improvements though.

 

mitchman

Gold Member
> Fixed an issue with the Elusive Fanghorn salvage contract where the quest would sometimes not complete correctly.

Ah I can finally get rid of this from my active quests. It didn't stop progression, but it was never removed.
 
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saintjules

Gold Member
New patch. IQ still poor in performance mode and vegetation shimmering very noticeable in the distance but seems less distracting up close.

Plenty of other good fixes and UX improvements though.



Funny how they mention spoilers in the patch notes but don't specify where. I guess main quest stuff.

Just be careful if you're reading.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
So I got a couple legendary weapons from the arena and don’t like them. That volatile sludge shit for ammo is very rare and limiting when you can only carry 7.

Like I still want to use a maxed purple Sharpshot because ammo is easier to craft.
If you craft weapons at a workbench, you only need one volatile sludge. Most enemies drop it. I have 200 in my inventory at all times.

Put in a couple of critical hit rate mods on it and a 100% tear component mod and that thing is easily the best weapon in the game.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Fixed an issue in side quest ‘The Second Verse’ where the “Talk to Zo” objective does not update after abandoning the side quest midway

Omg. Maybe I can get the platinum trophy now.
 

GustavoLT

Member
I would like to, at least, read something about 40fps 120hz (favor resolution), even if they say it's impossible to make it work!!!

Insomniac made me believe! Know my hopes are turning off!
 

FeastYoEyes

Member
I was so hype on this game then I hit...

the get three parts of GAIA. I finished the portion with the arena and there was just more and more tribe politics in front of me

IWithout spoiling too much, is there a whole lot more of the more interesting story line with...

the Far Zenith passengers coming back to kill everyone.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
New patch. IQ still poor in performance mode and vegetation shimmering very noticeable in the distance but seems less distracting up close.

Plenty of other good fixes and UX improvements though.


Just tried it out. I think it looks slightly better but the shimmering is still there.

Last night, i was in thornmarsh doing the waterfall mission to clean up the water supply and I dont think i have ever seen a worse looking video game. It was blurry. It was ugly. I was shocked at how poor it looked. Went to that same area and it doesnt look that bad anymore.

The game looks fine in some areas so I think whats happening here is some kind of bug with VRS that is over pixelating some areas in the game. When I am flying around in that area, it looks fine. The trees look gorgeous. Then I touch down in Thornmarsh and im like my eyes! I am not exaggerating when I say it is the worst looking game ive ever seen in some areas. Turn on 30 fps mode and it becomes the best looking game. It's insane.
 
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