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Horizon Zero Dawn |OT| The Land After Time

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I have problems with open world games specially on the narrative style, they often bore me a lot because you lose your way on the story with so many things going on. My favourites are Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher III, and now Horizon Zero Dawn. RDR is the one that bore me the most of the three but I still love it.
I'd say Horizon is the most focused and tightly designed of the three and the narrative is almost always in front of everything. That been said there are moments where you feel this confusion, mainly on the first half of the second act.

So, consider a story of three acts, the first half of the second act is where you'll be free from the story and is up to you to speed things up or lose yourself in the world.

First act is pure narrative, second half of second act and third act has a lot of narrative going on but you could mix them with other actitivities. Either way It's never overwhelming.

All of your guys thoughts have been very interesting. yes I traditionally don't like open world games, but some of them are great.

Yes, I don't know why RDR bores me, but I love it, lol. Well I am just going to get it, but I feel like just downloading it right now and playing but I know it would be much smarter to get a retail copy I can use to trade in later on.

Well, lets give this a shot. Heard its got cool bosses and shit, so that should be cool. A none of you have said much bad about it. Usually when everyone says something is good its because it is, well at least when gaffer types and nerds all say it. And it has a good narrative? Well lets see, that would definitely be the cherry on top, but its quite rare in AAA games.
 

RDreamer

Member
Just beat it a few minutes ago and the game's freaking amazing. Top 2 or 3 of this generation and one of my all time favorite pieces of post apocalyptic fiction. It's also one of those works where it's magnificently done and yet you can see where they can improve to make it even better with the next one. We're in for quite a ride if they do.
 

witness

Member
Just finished this, what a fantastic game with an incredible story. My wife was in tears when
Aloy found Elisabet's body and the voice over was playing over what she would want her daughter to be like. We've been trying to have a child for 6 years now so that really spoke to her.
What a fantastic experience. This will stay in my collection for good, just an unforgettable experience from start to finish.
 

Applesauce

Boom! Bitch-slapped!
klNvecZ.gif

Holy shit man
 

MaKTaiL

Member
Finished this earlier today. Took me 29 hours with some side quests but mostly just main story missions. Gets a bit too overwhelming and annoying near the end missions with all the audio clips and video clips and memo notes to read I just skipped everything lol
That's a shame...
 

Gaz_RB

Member
After finishing Nier Automata, I am back into Horizon.
Level 42, 45 hours playtime,and i just arrived at Meridian in the story, lol. That's not that far into the story, right?
Just finished the last hunting trial and got every blazing sun.

Anyone else playing like this? Finishing all the side missions and mostly ignoring the story for now?

That's probably the best way to do it. That sense of urgency builds soon and then it feels weird to go off and do side quests. You've got the right idea.
 

carlsojo

Member
I honestly can't think of a better female protagonist in gaming than Aloy. I'm hard pressed to think of many male protagonists that are better at the moment either.
 

Xeteh

Member
I honestly can't think of a better female protagonist in gaming than Aloy. I'm hard pressed to think of many male protagonists that are better at the moment either.

Ellie from TLOU has to be up there imo but yeah, Aloy is great. I love her as a character.
 
Aloy is Dylan.

i_spit_hot_fire.jpg
I cracked up when she snapped at those two idiots XD
Hmm...how do I know which weapons are worth it?^^
The first merchant sells some weapons but do I need them?
No harm in getting the sling and tripwire first. You can wait for the upgraded war bow later in the game
That
super armor
can let you take some serious fall damage
SOMEONE EXPLAIN HOW GUERRILLA WENT FROM KILLZONE TO THIS

I WANT ANSWERS
Don't click if you've never read Berserk:
 
All of your guys thoughts have been very interesting. yes I traditionally don't like open world games, but some of them are great.

Yes, I don't know why RDR bores me, but I love it, lol. Well I am just going to get it, but I feel like just downloading it right now and playing but I know it would be much smarter to get a retail copy I can use to trade in later on.

Well, lets give this a shot. Heard its got cool bosses and shit, so that should be cool. A none of you have said much bad about it. Usually when everyone says something is good its because it is, well at least when gaffer types and nerds all say it. And it has a good narrative? Well lets see, that would definitely be the cherry on top, but its quite rare in AAA games.

I've made this thread that might help you even if it doesn't add much of what I've already said. And yes, the game has a really good narrative and is plot heavy althought it remains to be seen if you'll like the way it's told.
 

MaKTaiL

Member
I cracked up when she snapped at those two idiots XD

No harm in getting the sling and tripwire first. You can wait for the upgraded war bow later in the game

That
super armor
can let you take some serious fall damage

Don't click if you've never read Berserk:
Just a heads up, spoiler tags do not work on pictures if you are browsing on mobile.
 
I feel like I'm the only one who isn't impressed by the soundtrack. An impressive soundtrack to me is a start to finish listen where every song is as good as the last., but a good third of Horizon's is repetitive orchestral ambiance.

Nah I agree. I've stated the same thing several times actually. The soundtrack is just okay to me. It has a couple high points, but it's mostly samey ambient tracks.
 

SlickVic

Member
Visiting my parents and hooked up the PS4 to a plasma TV over here. I thought the game looked fantastic on my LED LCD at home, but something about the colors really pop out here, especially in daylight on the western desert areas of the map. Makes me glad I didn't finish the game before coming over here.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Finally beat it tonight at about 34 hours. And I should have known that
Sylens would show up after the credits as a villain. I never did trust that bastard.

Anyway, that was one hell of a ride. Especially that last stretch
with the machines marching on Meridian and the Spire.
Overall, this one is sitting comfortably as my GOTY so far.
 
Nah I agree. I've stated the same thing several times actually. The soundtrack is just okay to me. It has a couple high points, but it's mostly samey ambient tracks.

Maybe I'm just accustomed to games where each level has its own unique track, which lets the composer write melodies for each area of the game. Whereas a game that is a bit more cinematic is scored as such.

Or maybe that's just an excuse, because there are plenty of cinematic scores that integrate melodies throughout, like Star Wars. Horizon I feel is missing that, and some of the melodies the score does have aren't particularly flexible. I'll elaborate on it a bit when I get around to writing a bit more of a review. But like any other area of the game, there is enough of a foundation there to build upon.
 
Anyway I have a separate question. Do the Carja Storm Ranger and Banuk Trailblazer armor sets from the preorder bonuses come with Uncommon, Rare and Very Rare sets, or is it just one piece each?
 

ZeroX03

Banned
Been playing a bit more of this since beating Zelda.

It's fun, but I'm already skipping story cutscenes. It just doesn't grab me at all. I really don't care about anything going on in this world. Just want to get through the story so I can have better gear and free reign.
 
Just finished this, what a fantastic game with an incredible story. My wife was in tears when
Aloy found Elisabet's body and the voice over was playing over what she would want her daughter to be like. We've been trying to have a child for 6 years now so that really spoke to her.
What a fantastic experience. This will stay in my collection for good, just an unforgettable experience from start to finish.

Damn, I can't imagine how that felt like...good luck mate.
 
Just finished this, what a fantastic game with an incredible story. My wife was in tears when
Aloy found Elisabet's body and the voice over was playing over what she would want her daughter to be like. We've been trying to have a child for 6 years now so that really spoke to her.
What a fantastic experience. This will stay in my collection for good, just an unforgettable experience from start to finish.

That last scene really is trully powerful. So glad to see video games putting a lot of care in their endings lately. Sad that it hits you so close tho.
 

Zocano

Member
Man I wish the stealth suit + stealth mods didn't feel like it just broke the game. Feeling discouraged from using it at all.
 

Blackthorn

"hello?" "this is vagina"
Completed and got the platinum, 66 hours.

Up there with Witcher 3 and Bloodborne for my favourite game this gen. Incredible achievement and so much better than I expected. Teared up at the end.

Off to the spoiler thread!
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Man I wish the stealth suit + stealth mods didn't feel like it just broke the game. Feeling discouraged from using it at all.

I'm 20 hours in and haven't purchased any stealth mods for this reason. Still wearing the first outfit given to you with no mods. Just gonna keep playing like this. Combat is too satisfying to be enticed by OP stealth (which is too common in many other games).
 
Time for bed but had a great day. Knocked out 2 more cauldrons (2 more to go), got the last few shadow weapons I needed and all pouch upgrades done except the last rattler one (damn goose skin, lol). Knocked out all the misc. errands in my log and enjoyed some more of the story as well as explored a lot more spots on the map I hadn't been to yet. Ended the night at level 44 at about 45 hrs gameplay time and currently sitting at the
Looming Shadow" story mission
. Also got my last power cell and the ancient armor, which is god like :)

Tomorrow, will probably knock out all of the sidequests in my log and finish off the story and then begin clearing out the map and other misc. things I haven't done yet (hunting grounds, etc.)

This game just won't let me out of it's grip. So good.
 

BumRush

Member
Holy shit, the road to Meridian was tough! First time in the game seeing
snapmaws, storm birds, thunderjaws, tramplers
and others and they destroy me. Hopefully they get a little easier.
 
Holy shit, the road to Meridian was tough! First time in the game seeing
snapmaws, storm birds, thunderjaws, tramplers
and others and they destroy me. Hopefully they get a little easier.

With the right tools, gear, and at a higher level, everything becomes manageable. Not easy on the higher difficulty levels mind you, but manageable.
 
Holy shit, the road to Meridian was tough! First time in the game seeing
snapmaws, storm birds, thunderjaws, tramplers
and others and they destroy me. Hopefully they get a little easier.
They'll get easier. Perhaps even trivially easy once you become familiar with their weakness.
 
Credits are rolling. HOLY SHIT! What a great game. The final mission was so damn good. I'm in awe of this game, one of the most impressive new IP's of the decade, and for it to come from a studio completely out of their comfort zone is mind blowing. On a first attempt raised the bar of story telling, graphics, and combat for open world games.

The story was the most shocking thing for me, I was SO into it. Shocked at how good it was, it could have been a totally throwaway thing just to give you an excuse to play in this awesome world. But they really went all out with it.

Amazing game, not perfect, but a lot of easy fixes for a sequel, I can't wait!

Bravo GG, Bravo.
 

Venture

Member
Man I wish the stealth suit + stealth mods didn't feel like it just broke the game. Feeling discouraged from using it at all.
Stealth is definitely OP vs. humans. I think it's pretty fair against machines though considering how powerful they are. Could be wrong but it might be tied to the difficulty level. I just switched from Hard to Very Hard and it seems like stealth is noticeably less effective.
 

Gator86

Member
After finishing Nier Automata, I am back into Horizon.
Level 42, 45 hours playtime,and i just arrived at Meridian in the story, lol. That's not that far into the story, right?
Just finished the last hunting trial and got every blazing sun.

Anyone else playing like this? Finishing all the side missions and mostly ignoring the story for now?

I finished every single non-mandatory game component before finishing even half the main story missions. I just wanted to go out and explore/hunt stuff.
 
This game...

giphy.gif


No spoilers but got to a certain point in the story that reveals a big plot point. Reaction pretty much on point with Wee bey right here. This game's lore and story is on another level.
 
beat the game and then join us in the spoiler thread :D
Oh I definitely plan on it.

This is the first game I have ever played where I am engrossed in the extra written story stuff. I have been reading all the data points, listening to all the audio files, etc. It is so well written and the voice acting behind the audio stuff is top notch. I just want more of it and I can't wait to play more.
 

Zackat

Member
Oh I definitely plan on it.

This is the first game I have ever played that I have been reading all the data points, listening to all the audio files, etc. It is so well written and the voice acting behind the audio stuff is top notch. I just want more of it and I can't wait to play more.
I know that feeling

DLC/Expansion pack is pretty much confirmed. E3 is gonna be very interesting.
 
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