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[Lingitiz]

I agree with those nitpicks, but, in my opinon, the story is very well done. Yes, it's all about discovery but, personally, I was entertained throughout.

I would also not compare this to the Witcher. Horizon is a very focused game, it's world is just big enough, it's enemy variety just sufficient, it's quest just numerous to give a solid 50-60 hour experience. The world in Horizon is a vehicle for quests and story, by itself it's not particularly interesting to explore. GG focused on what it wanted to do best: dino combat, focused story and sacrificed "RPG" elements, such as extensive loot system, world exploration surprises.

To me, it was a huge plus, because I finished the Witcher with a hundred question marks left and it was daunting to think that I didn't see it all. And most of those question marks are yet another bandit camp or a bear, how exciting...

Human combat sucks though, such shame. This is the only thing that took me out of the experience, especially the brutes who just take you hitting them with a stick without bulging. End game spoiler:

Spoiler

That last mission boss fight against the Shadow Carja leader with a huge HP pool was riddiculous and annoying. How come my upgraded spear knocks over dinos in one hit, but only takes 3% off the dude's hp and he is still standing?

To be clear, I am enjoying the game quite a lot. I've gotten further since I wrote that post and I'm liking the main story quite a bit. But I still think those nitpicks still stand. I just got out of a mission with a ton of the little data and audio logs again. The story was actually really compelling but I just felt I was bombarded with too many of them to actually feel interested to read or listen to them all.

As for world and quest design, I think the comparison to the Witcher still stands. They even try to take a similar quest structure to it with the separation between side quests and errands, and more miscellaneous things like trials. The question marks were the least compelling part of the Witcher 3 but it didn't matter because there was an insane amount of high quality side quests that simply dwarfs every other game in the genre. Horizon's sidequest design doesn't quite present the same amount RPG reactivity and choice and consequence that comes most dialogue heavy games. I would love to see actual choices rather than each conversation being an exposition dump. It'd be cool if quests were full of branching and bespoke paths, where content can be missed.

Everything leans on the action. It feels like an open world action game in the guise of very lite RPG systems, and that has been the big adjustment for me in terms of expections. My only wish is that one big pillar of that action (human combat) was a lot better.

 

[Radec]

Welp. I guess I just spoiled myself by checking out the list of weapons on the wiki. Dammit.

Spoiler

Saw something called "Sylens' Lance," so I'm assuming he'll die and I'll get it afterwards or something. At least that answers my question about the spear I saw some players have.

At least I know how to get the

Spoiler

Tearblaster

now.

Keep playing lol

 

[Cre8]

Just got platinum trophy with 98% completion and 110hrs. Enjoyed every minutes of it. Is 100% completion included collecting all the data files?

 

[MegaSackman]

Just got platinum trophy with 98% completion and 110hrs. Enjoyed every minutes of it. Is 100% completion included collecting all the data files?

Nope, just buy every shadow gear.

 

[Falchion]

That's when the story starts pulling you in

Yeah I'm really digging it, can't wait to go to the next.

 

[Cre8]

Nope, just buy every shadow gear.

I got all the shadow gears, hmm I must be missing something....time to investigate more.

 

[AgentP]

This is the game I wanted Witcher 3 to be. A compelling open world RPG with good combat. I'm level 50 and close to the end. One of the best games in a decade.

 

[alexbull_uk]

I got all the shadow gears, hmm I must be missing something....time to investigate more.

Here's my stat screen with 100%. Should be able to compare and tell what you're missing.

http://i.imgur.com/Mt5W1Gl.jpg

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

Sooo anyone know where I can farm geese?

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Sooo anyone know where I can farm geese?

There's a bunch near the north and main gates to the sacred land along the river. Farming raccoons there too.

 

[LastMinuteHero]

There's a bunch near the north and main gates to the sacred land along the river. Farming raccoons there too.

Mother's rise where you met Marea too

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

That would make it easier to take down, not more difficult. I'm playing on Hard on my first playthrough and you can basically tear off the already existing Disc Launchers safely, tie down the Thunderjaw and then wreck it in a minute flat if you know what you're doing.

Yeah, the Disc Launchers make the Thunderjaw a bit easy to deal with. Ideally, they should be a bit harder to tear - say, have to remove a layer of armor first or something. Also, less ammo.

Legendary Thunderjaw doesn't need more weapons, it needs less. Or, make the weapons destructible but not tearable. I guess that would work, but unless they're smaller than his other giant weapons, it'll just give him more weaknesses.

Legendary Thunderjaw could use having shorter charge times/cooldowns for the laser machines guns and the mouth cannon, being able to blanket a larger area with the disc attack and maybe having a leap attack. Better armor to protect vitals would be a bonus.

 

[BumRush]

What machine(s) does everyone want in a sequel?

Somehow, some way, a shark machine needs to be in. Maybe you get gear that allows you to breathe under water so that you can retrieve a key item, you walk along the bottom and a giant shadow looms overhead...

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

There's a bunch near the north and main gates to the sacred land along the river. Farming raccoons there too.

Thanks will check those areas out. Nothing has given me the feeling of despair more than seeing that blue icon on a dead animal only to pick up a gad damn talisman.

 

[FrankWza]

If it isn't for you, it isn't for you. Overrated is a term employed by people who have too high an opinion of their own opinions. Instead of accepting that your subjective tastes are preventing you, personally, from enjoying what HZD offers you're instead insinuating everyone else is simply faking their enjoyment of the game.

It's silly and arrogant. Stop being a Hanzo main.

There is a huge difference between stating "I don't think this is a good game", which is totally fine, and slighting the opinions of others who enjoy a thing you did not by accusing them of misrepresenting their experiences. The latter is really insulting.

You're free to point out what you find arrogant about my post and how you think I'm projecting, Freeman. You're also invited to explain how novelty and "doing something new" is a necessary requirement for a video game to be 1) considered good and 2) enjoyed by many. I would also appreciate you citing where novelty is even being credited as a groundbreaking aspect of the game. I love Horizon to pieces, and I don't think it does anything at all particularly new. It just does a lot of things really, really well.

Like any thread on any video game in this forum, there are plenty of posts in this topic by people who were disappointed by HZD in some fashion. I don't feel the need to reply to them, because everyone is entitled to their opinion and HZD is not my game. I'm not GG and this isn't a product I need to defend or feel it even has to be. The game speaks for itself, I think. But when someone waltzes into the topic and declares that my thoughts on the game are either inaccurate or dishonest, then we're not talking about the game anymore.

So yeah, I find "overrated" is a term employed by people who don't grasp the inherent subjectivity of opinions while attempting to validate their own. It's a stupid word.

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called and theyre running out of you!

Hahaha...no need to name call. Game is rated high. I think its way over what it should be rated. So, overrated. Pretty simple. Any game where you hide in a bush with 4 dead bodies and a destroyed robot that an enemy sees and comments on and still cant find you is not a masterpiece or a 10 out of 10 game. And i wouldn't mind that it isnt groundbreaking if it had 1 excellent aspect to its gameplay. Everything is ok, nothing is great and some are pretty bad. And to be fair, i said it was very overrated not just overrated.

 

[protonion]

Finished!

Incredible! As the credits rolled I held myself from getting up for an applause.

Also...

Spoiler

Sylens

you fucking idiot!!!


Sony has another God tier studio now.

 

[Zackat]

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called and theyre running out of you!

Hahaha...no need to name call. Game is rated high. I think its way over what it should be rated. So, overrated. Pretty simple. Any game where you hide in a bush with 4 dead bodies and a destroyed robot that an enemy sees and comments on and still cant find you is not a masterpiece or a 10 out of 10 game. And i wouldn't mind that it isnt groundbreaking if it had 1 excellent aspect to its gameplay. Everything is ok, nothing is great and some are pretty bad. And to be fair, i said it was very overrated not just overrated.

the machine combat is overrated?

sounds like your gripes are with human AI, which I think everyone shares.

 

[BumRush]

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called and theyre running out of you!

Hahaha...no need to name call. Game is rated high. I think its way over what it should be rated. So, overrated. Pretty simple. Any game where you hide in a bush with 4 dead bodies and a destroyed robot that an enemy sees and comments on and still cant find you is not a masterpiece or a 10 out of 10 game. And i wouldn't mind that it isnt groundbreaking if it had 1 excellent aspect to its gameplay. Everything is ok, nothing is great and some are pretty bad. And to be fair, i said it was very overrated not just overrated.

To be fair, there's not a single game you could mention that people couldn't find faults and claim "overrated". The bolded is your opinion, which isnt shared by most...that doesn't make your opinion any less valid.

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

What machine(s) does everyone want in a sequel?

Somehow, some way, a shark machine needs to be in. Maybe you get gear that allows you to breathe under water so that you can retrieve a key item, you walk along the bottom and a giant shadow looms overhead...

Definitely more aquatic machines. Would also love to see some kind of dragon, imagine a cross between a thunderjaw and stormbird.

 

[BumRush]

Definitely more aquatic machines. Would also love to see some kind of dragon, imagine a cross between a thunderjaw and stormbird.

YES!

 

[MegaSackman]

Definitely more aquatic machines. Would also love to see some kind of dragon, imagine a cross between a thunderjaw and stormbird.

It'd be really difficult to explain a dragon in this world.

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

It'd be really difficult to explain a dragon in this world.

Combat type. Done!

 

[alexbull_uk]

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called and theyre running out of you!

Hahaha...no need to name call. Game is rated high. I think its way over what it should be rated. So, overrated. Pretty simple. Any game where you hide in a bush with 4 dead bodies and a destroyed robot that an enemy sees and comments on and still cant find you is not a masterpiece or a 10 out of 10 game. And i wouldn't mind that it isnt groundbreaking if it had 1 excellent aspect to its gameplay. Everything is ok, nothing is great and some are pretty bad. And to be fair, i said it was very overrated not just overrated.

Just out of curiosity, what game/s do you think are 10/10 masterpieces?

Seems like maybe you don't like this kind of game if you don't even think the machine combat is better than just 'ok'.

Definitely more aquatic machines. Would also love to see some kind of dragon, imagine a cross between a thunderjaw and stormbird.

Yeah I'd love it if they can get water based combat in the sequel. Fighting a huge robo-shark would be ace.

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

What machine(s) does everyone want in a sequel?

- Stealth spiders with trapping abilities and crazy vertical locomotion.
- Turtle/Beetle/Armadillo/Ankylosaurus mix. Amphibious, near-impervious armour with active shields, heavily weaponized.
- Ants. Small, but swarming. Always in groups of dozens.
- Dragonfly/hornet. Fast flying, hovering.
- Centipede/snake.
- Orangutan/Gorilla.

Basically, a bunch of stuff with different mobility/locomotion patterns, so they'd all feel differently in combat and would require different approaches.

Aquatic enemies could be cool, but I can't see how the'd make underwater combat interesting, especially since the game's focus is ranged weapons.

 

[Markoman]

Just finished the game yesterday. Fantastic ride!
Am I crazy, but I think that the game shares a lot of plot points with

Spoiler

Doctor Strange

?

Huuuge spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

- your closest ally will most likely become your enemy in the sequel (cliff-hanger ending)
- a fanatic villain who thinks that mankind's true destiny is to follow a dark force
- the protagonist's curiosity as his driving power
- the power of "dark" knowledge and how dangerous it can become

 

[MegaSackman]

Combat type. Done!

Based in fantasy fauna.

 

[BumRush]

- Stealth spiders with trapping abilities and crazy vertical locomotion.
- Turtle/Beetle/Armadillo/Ankylosaurus mix. Amphibious, near-impervious armour with active shields, heavily weaponized.
- Ants. Small, but swarming. Always in groups of dozens.
- Dragonfly/hornet. Fast flying, hovering.
- Centipede/snake.
- Orangutan.

Basically, a bunch of stuff with different mobility/locomotion patterns, so they'd all feel differently in combat and would require different approaches.

Aquatic enemies could be cool, but I can't see how the'd make underwater combat interesting, especially since the game's focus is ranged weapons.

It's funny...those are all awesome answers. In the end you could almost pick any random animal and tweak it a little to make a crazy machine. Scorpion with a melee tail and ice cannons for claws? Check.

 

[SoulClap]

What machine(s) does everyone want in a sequel

Gorilla, Grizzly Bear and Komodo Dragons would be pretty awesome.

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

Want to see:

Grizzly Bear (will kick your ass anytime. Paws of death. Can be lured with salmon meat.)
Elephant (Friendly, unless corrupted. Tusks act as lunge weapon. Trunk can be used to toss foes)
Rhino (Territorial, massive horn, tiny birds on its back that act as homing missiles)
Hippo (water and land threat. Very heavy armor plating. Mostly charges. Hungry.)
Gorilla. (Stalks, territorial, and protective of troop. Immune to melee.)

 

[Zackat]

Gorilla, Hippopotamus, Mammoths, Pterodactyl, Lemurs


should someone make the OT2?

 

[Kin5290]

Bear - Heavily armored, lumbering, with no exposed frontal vulnerabilities and a charge.

Walrus - Submersible, huge, with two giant tusks that allow it to break through ice and an ice attack

Wolf - Pack machines that communicate and coordinate attack. Highly dangerous if they surround you

 

[Loudninja]

Almost time for OT2 now!

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

I'm fairly certain now that the game changes difficulty on its own.
Pretty sure I started my game on normal. Noticed that it was set to hard at some point and now I checked and saw it was set to very hard.

 

[alexbull_uk]

Almost time for OT2 now!

How many posts before OT2? I've never actually been able to tell before.

 

[Loudninja]

How many posts before OT2? I've never actually been able to tell before.

It has to reach 20,000 posts.

So 65.

 

[Lion Heart]

They should channel sotc and get crazy with it. Make bosses that are "Guardians" and one time battles, nicely woven into the story to enhance the campaign. Make climbing have a hold button like Sotc. So much potential with a sequel!

Only thing is the story in the first has the huge advantage of mystery and discovering the world. I'd be shocked if the story in the sequel comes close to this game.

 

[silva1991]

Want to see:

Grizzly Bear (will kick your ass anytime. Paws of death. Can be lured with salmon meat.)
Elephant (Friendly, unless corrupted. Tusks act as lunge weapon. Trunk can be used to toss foes)
Rhino (Territorial, massive horn, tiny birds on its back that act as homing missiles)
Hippo (water and land threat. Very heavy armor plating. Mostly charges. Hungry.)
Gorilla. (Stalks, territorial, and protective of troop. Immune to melee.)

Um I'm like 99% sure Behemoth is pretty much supposed to be a Rhino.

It's missing the horns, but yeah his is a rhino.

i want a dragon and anaconda dammit.

 

[BumRush]

i want a dragon and anaconda dammit.

A large snake that usually has smaller snakes with it would be intense

 

[N° 2048]

They should channel sotc and get crazy with it. Make bosses that are "Guardians" and one time battles, nicely woven into the story to enhance the campaign. Make climbing have a hold button like Sotc. So much potential with a sequel!

Only thing is the story in the first has the huge advantage of mystery and discovering the world. I'd be shocked if the story in the sequel comes close to this game.

YESSSSS

 

[Applesauce]

A dragon is a must imo. Would be an awesome boss fight if done right.

Also something that can climb

 

[Markoman]

Um I'm like 99% sure Behemoth is pretty much supposed to be a Rhino.

It's missing the horns, but yeah his is a rhino.

i want a dragon and anaconda dammit.

Or a hippo...

Wolves/Hyenas are also already in the game.

WE need Gorillas, Bears, Snakes, Sharks with legs

 

[silva1991]

A large snake that usually has smaller snakes with it would be intense

Bloodborne flashback....

 

[bunkitz]

Holy fuck, just when I thought I couldn't love the combat any more. The

Spoiler

Tearblaster

is so damn awesome! Two or three shots then Critical Hit! This game is just so much fun! I wonder what new weapon types we might get for a sequel. I'm so pleased with the variety we have, and the different ammo types they use. It's but just the generic elements or gun types, etc. Guerrilla really outdid themselves with Horizon.

What machine(s) does everyone want in a sequel?

Aquatic machines would be #1 oh my list for some reason. Not sure how they'd work, what with needing to go underwater and all, but I want them. And it would make sense too, with the lore.

Wait. We need a Megalodon.

 

[BobNewbert31]

It'd be really difficult to explain a dragon in this world.

"Fire Department". Breathes fire, drops frost. Wings blast wind to redirect or extinguish flames. Turns up after fights to put out flames. Player can decide to stick around and fight or hightail it out of there before the dragon arrives.

 

[sobaka770]

To be clear, I am enjoying the game quite a lot. I've gotten further since I wrote that post and I'm liking the main story quite a bit. But I still think those nitpicks still stand. I just got out of a mission with a ton of the little data and audio logs again. The story was actually really compelling but I just felt I was bombarded with too many of them to actually feel interested to read or listen to them all.

As for world and quest design, I think the comparison to the Witcher still stands. They even try to take a similar quest structure to it with the separation between side quests and errands, and more miscellaneous things like trials. The question marks were the least compelling part of the Witcher 3 but it didn't matter because there was an insane amount of high quality side quests that simply dwarfs every other game in the genre. Horizon's sidequest design doesn't quite present the same amount RPG reactivity and choice and consequence that comes most dialogue heavy games. I would love to see actual choices rather than each conversation being an exposition dump. It'd be cool if quests were full of branching and bespoke paths, where content can be missed.

Everything leans on the action. It feels like an open world action game in the guise of very lite RPG systems, and that has been the big adjustment for me in terms of expections. My only wish is that one big pillar of that action (human combat) was a lot better.

Spoiler

No this game doesn't have story-altering choices. I think the comparison to Witcher is not ideal, because it's a story-driven linear action game with RPG mechanics, set in an open-world to give a sense of scope, more than another-way around, where the open-world dictates the story and discovery is important. The focus of the game is totally different. The draw of Horizon is fighting robots and everything else is a support. The fact that the story is actually interesting is a bonus. This gaame could be a linear experience, but to make the story more grounded you do have a small world as a backdrop.

In terms of quests, you do however have choices in certain quests which allow you to "roleplay" and sometimes decide character's fate. It doesn't affect any progression, but you do get to choose Aloy's behaviour. Once again, it's a very minor RPG aspect added to what is mostly an action-game.

Witcher 3 has a much strong storyline but it also RPG-first where a sheer number of quests and minor things is overwhelming. The world, the setting are important and build on the legacy of a successful book franchise and 2 prequesls. (and combat is kinda meh). I love Witcher 3, but it has more in common with Skyrim, while Horizon is closer to MGS5.

As I said in my impressions after I finished the game, the best thing about Horizon, to me, is that it is restrained in terms of content. There's not enough depth to game systems to sustain 100s of hours of questing and the amount of content is good enough to experience everything in the game and not to overstay its welcome to make it's faults stand out.

Case in point while the human combat is pretty shit, it's not a focus of the game. and is usually overshadowed by the fights against machines.

Spoiler

There are only 6 bandit camps which require you to actively seek human combat outside of main storyline

. Same with climbing puzzles, they are linear, but thery are not supposed to be puzzles to solve, rather that alternative means fo traversal to add coolness to Aloy and her skill.

 

[LastMinuteHero]

They should channel sotc and get crazy with it. Make bosses that are "Guardians" and one time battles, nicely woven into the story to enhance the campaign. Make climbing have a hold button like Sotc. So much potential with a sequel!

Only thing is the story in the first has the huge advantage of mystery and discovering the world. I'd be shocked if the story in the sequel comes close to this game.

Mmm that sounds nice

 

[Mathieran]

I'd like to see some creature that is highly arboreal and leaps around from tree to tree, shooting at you, maybe pounces at you every now and then. Something like a fossa maybe.

I highly disagree with everyone wanting underwater combat. It's never good. And one of the best things about Aloy is how well she controls, so I'd hate to have to deal with underwater movement.

 

[Zackat]

I'd like to see some creature that is highly arboreal and leaps around from tree to tree, shooting at you, maybe pounces at you every now and then. Something like a fossa maybe.

I highly disagree with everyone wanting underwater combat. It's never good. And one of the best things about Aloy is how well she controls, so I'd hate to have to deal with underwater movement.

Lemurs

they could even hang by their tails in the trees and do cool shit.

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

There should definitely be a Snake like machine. It would make for a great fight if it's not easily cheeseable.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

I'd like to see some creature that is highly arboreal and leaps around from tree to tree, shooting at you, maybe pounces at you every now and then. Something like a fossa maybe.

I highly disagree with everyone wanting underwater combat. It's never good. And one of the best things about Aloy is how well she controls, so I'd hate to have to deal with underwater movement.

Yeah, swimming/underwater levels are universally terrible.

If we're talking about wishlists for a sequel then I'd want them to lean away from the RPG-lite elements and streamline everything instead of giving us dozens of follow this trail or go fetch me a thunderjaw heart side quests and having to farm animal skins to upgrade carrying capacity. That stuff isn't fun at all and leads to too much boredom in between the really good stuff.

It's a game where the highs are fantastic but there are also way too many lows, which is a shame because it could have been one of the greats of his generation for me but it felt like half of the game was just Guerilla going down a checklist of things that other similar games did and shoved them into the game.

Aloy is a great character but I don't think I want to play as her in the sequel, the way her story ended is absolutely perfect. I'd love to see a sequel set in another part of the world, go to Africa and deal with more Ravager-style big cats, some can be lithe and quick like cheetahs while another one is a giant lion with a great big robot-mane. You could head into the mountains and have to deal with gorillas. All the while Guerilla can flesh out the universe and show us how other parts of the world dealt with the robot plague