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Horizon Zero Dawn |OT2| Red Head Redemption

Phreak47

Member
Anybody trying new game plus with ultra-hard yet?

Holy crap, I'm a maxed out level 50, but this mode nerfs your weapons (gonna need those new weapons with the 4th mod slot it seems) and the enemy awareness of you is insane... watchers go to yellow caution mode now from 100 yards away easy, and that first ravager that Rost leads you to became a panic attack when I realized I couldn't just toy with him playing ring-around-the-rosie with one of the large rocks... that sumbitch kept circling hard and staying in red alert status. I could not ditch him and did some panicky lunge-running while he nearly killed me a few times. I finally cheesed it by climbing a small rock he couldn't reach me at and getting the fire arrow shots I needed.

I am not entirely sure I want the countless beatings that probably lie ahead of me, but we will see. I am curious about the three new abilities to unlock, and the weapons. But damn, does this mode look punishing from what I've seen so far.
 

Phreak47

Member
40 hours.

Level 42.

At the last mission, almost the point of no return (where the game sets you back to after the end of the game).

Trying to decide if I really care about getting all the trophies, all side/errand quests or doing all the of he open world collectathons.

I've had fun, but maybe I should wrap it up and move on. Don't want to get fatigued on it while I'm still high on it. Go out on a high note.

I often make that same decision but I had fun getting 100% completion with the strategy of working towards the shield weaver armor (the one "cheat" i did was to read about the power cell locations so I wouldn't miss it), complete the story, then go back and do all the side missions with the shield weaver armor, which makes the whole affair less tedious and more fun because you aren't running around collecting more herbs so often.

Plus, New Game + lets you carry over most of what you have earned into it.
 

shiba5

Member
Anybody trying new game plus with ultra-hard yet?

Holy crap, I'm a maxed out level 50, but this mode nerfs your weapons (gonna need those new weapons with the 4th mod slot it seems) and the enemy awareness of you is insane... watchers go to yellow caution mode now from 100 yards away easy, and that first ravager that Rost leads you to became a panic attack when I realized I couldn't just toy with him playing ring-around-the-rosie with one of the large rocks... that sumbitch kept circling hard and staying in red alert status. I could not ditch him and did some panicky lunge-running while he nearly killed me a few times. I finally cheesed it by climbing a small rock he couldn't reach me at and getting the fire arrow shots I needed.

I am not entirely sure I want the countless beatings that probably lie ahead of me, but we will see. I am curious about the three new abilities to unlock, and the weapons. But damn, does this mode look punishing from what I've seen so far.

It's not too bad if you're careful. You won't be able to go running around carelessly because, like you've seen, the machines are super aggro. I only did the main quests and the cauldrons on ultra hard and the only time I had some trouble was with
the end fight with Helis. He's like one hit and you're done even with Shieldweaver.
I did the cauldrons so I could just avoid some of the fights
like the scripted Stormbird near the end
- tie them down and override them.
Also, the Tripcaster and triple arrows were my best friends on this mode. Just plan ahead and you can still control most situations.
 

Phreak47

Member
It's not too bad if you're careful. You won't be able to go running around carelessly because, like you've seen, the machines are super aggro. I only did the main quests and the cauldrons on ultra hard and the only time I had some trouble was with
the end fight with Helis. He's like one hit and you're done even with Shieldweaver.
I did the cauldrons so I could just avoid some of the fights
like the scripted Stormbird near the end
- tie them down and override them.
Also, the Tripcaster and triple arrows were my best friends on this mode. Just plan ahead and you can still control most situations.

Haha regarding your second spoiler tagged thing,
the first time I encountered that I hid under some wreckage and was it was a standoff for a while, until suddenly he flew up higher and became totally unaware of me and I ran away unseen.

I'll probably stick with it for main quests + cauldrons like you did (since they make you earn those override abilities all over again, and besides, those areas are spectacular to see) but no way am I chasing down every errand, sidequest, and hunting ground blazing sun again.

I was also glad to see that early mission that had you going to buy a tripcaster was easily bypassed by already having it. That streamlines the experience a bit.

Edit: I assume the three new skills are unlocked during the normal course of the main quest? Hopefully most of what was added stays on the main quest path.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
Ok. I'm at the point where I'm going to try and get a refund on this game.
It is so buggy.
Music apbruptly cuts out or doesn't play at all during cutscenes
, dialogue audio occasionally doesn't play or will be delayed by 5+ seconds and/or the same character will cut themselves off with their next dialogue line,
random bugs in the terrain causing me to die because I didn't go the way the game wanted me to during a specifically linear section
,
jarring transitions into cutscenes
,
character's tattoos loading late and popping in during conversations
, and the list goes on and on.

I really see something completely distracting and broken every couple minutes while playing.

I didn't hear anything about bugs before getting into this game, but I really don't want to play it if I'm going to be missing music during important cutscenes. This game is giving Mass Effect Andromeda a run for it's money in the bug department.
 

Phreak47

Member
dialogue audio occasionally doesn't play or will be delayed by 5+ seconds and/or the same character will cut themselves off with their next dialogue line,

Are you sure you weren't hitting X at all during that?

Though some pop-in was common, I don't think your experience is everyone else's. Certainly not mine.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
Are you sure you weren't hitting X at all during that?

Though some pop-in was common, I don't think your experience is everyone else's. Certainly not mine.

I took video captures of a lot of the stuff that happened the last time I played. I'll edit my post with them once I have a chance to trim and upload the videos.

I honestly feel like my PS4 pro is broken or something, but it's the only game having issues.
 

JoeNut

Member
Ok. I'm at the point where I'm going to try and get a refund on this game.
It is so buggy. Music apbruptly cuts out or doesn't play at all during cutscenes, dialogue audio occasionally doesn't play or will be delayed by 5+ seconds and/or the same character will cut themselves off with their next dialogue line, random bugs in the terrain causing me to die because I didn't go the way the game wanted me to during a specifically linear section, jarring transitions into cutscenes, character's tattoos loading late and popping in during conversations, and the list goes on and on.

I really see something completely distracting and broken every couple minutes while playing.

I didn't hear anything about bugs before getting into this game, but I really don't want to play it if I'm going to be missing music during important cutscenes. This game is giving Mass Effect Andromeda a run for it's money in the bug department.

Is your ps4 not updated or something like that? you are the only person i have ever seen complain about this game being buggy. i've never had any of these issues.
 

Garlador

Member
Ok. I'm at the point where I'm going to try and get a refund on this game.
It is so buggy. Music apbruptly cuts out or doesn't play at all during cutscenes, dialogue audio occasionally doesn't play or will be delayed by 5+ seconds and/or the same character will cut themselves off with their next dialogue line, random bugs in the terrain causing me to die because I didn't go the way the game wanted me to during a specifically linear section, jarring transitions into cutscenes, character's tattoos loading late and popping in during conversations, and the list goes on and on.

I really see something completely distracting and broken every couple minutes while playing.

I didn't hear anything about bugs before getting into this game, but I really don't want to play it if I'm going to be missing music during important cutscenes. This game is giving Mass Effect Andromeda a run for it's money in the bug department.
Given the game's praise for its polish, I would check to see if there might be something else wrong, like a PS4 hardware issue. Your experience is not typical of, well, practically anyone else.
 

shiba5

Member
Only bug I've encountered in 150+ hours is the one I posted about the Adept Tripcaster not working for the Blast Wire hunting trial and I woke up to find a patch for it this morning:

Patch 1.31:

GENERAL FIXES
• Fixed an issue where for certain players hitting an armour plate with a bomb while the machine is frozen would cause more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where for some players the statistics of the Tearblaster were incorrectly displayed in the weapon wheel.
• Fixed an issue where for certain players heavy melee damage was the same on different difficulty levels.
• Fixed an issue in “The Looming Shadow” where for some players two guards would disappear after Blameless Marad speaks to them.
• Fixed an issue where for some players the auto save at the start of “Mother’s Heart” would not display the name of the quest and the player’s level indicator.

NEW GAME+ AND ULTRA HARD MODE FIXES
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ “The Point of the Spear” where for some players loading an auto save after speaking to Rost at his home would start from Karst’s location rather than near Rost.
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ “A Seeker at the Gates” where for certain players the objective ‘Override a Strider’ would remain on screen when using the Call Mount skill.
• Fixed an issue in New Game + where certain players were not able to enter or fast travel to Sunfall with the Adept Shadow Stalwart armour equipped.
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ where some players with the Adept Blast Sling were granted access to the Shock Trial in the Valleymeet Hunting Grounds, despite not having Shock ammo.
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ where some players with the Adept Blast Sling were granted access to the Freeze Trial in the Valleymeet Hunting Grounds, despite not having Freeze ammo.
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ where for some players kills with the Adept Tripcaster were not counted towards the Blast Wire Trial in the Nora Hunting Grounds.
• Fixed an issue in New Game+ where certain players were able to carry over heavy weapons from their normal game to their New Game+ loadout.
• Fixed an issue when playing on Ultra Hard mode where for some players shard values in player created errands are not updated when switching to a lower difficulty.

PROGRESSION ISSUE FIXES
• Fixed an issue in “Deep Secrets of the Earth” where certain players would become trapped in a room if they solved the Power Puzzle while leaving the enemies guarding it alive. This fix requires a reload in order for it to work.

OTHER
• Various crash fixes
• Various text fixes
 

X-Frame

Member
Anybody trying new game plus with ultra-hard yet?

Holy crap, I'm a maxed out level 50, but this mode nerfs your weapons (gonna need those new weapons with the 4th mod slot it seems) and the enemy awareness of you is insane... watchers go to yellow caution mode now from 100 yards away easy, and that first ravager that Rost leads you to became a panic attack when I realized I couldn't just toy with him playing ring-around-the-rosie with one of the large rocks... that sumbitch kept circling hard and staying in red alert status. I could not ditch him and did some panicky lunge-running while he nearly killed me a few times. I finally cheesed it by climbing a small rock he couldn't reach me at and getting the fire arrow shots I needed.

I am not entirely sure I want the countless beatings that probably lie ahead of me, but we will see. I am curious about the three new abilities to unlock, and the weapons. But damn, does this mode look punishing from what I've seen so far.

I am and I am loving it. I found Very Hard in the first playthrough quite easy one I hit Meridian and had a full armory of weapons. Now, enemies are certainly much more challenging, but not broken or unfair. A Stormbird or Thunderjaw should be quite terrifying and difficult unless you have a great strategy.

A couple tips, use your Stealth Armor as much as possible when not expecting all out fights. It was the first Adept purchase of mine. The extra slots or another Stealth mod helps negate the reduction in Stealth affectiveness in Ultra Hard.

In addition, I put away my Tearblast Arrows and instead am using the Tearblaster (Shotgun) for all my Tear needs. It one-shots a Thunderjaw disc launcher whereas it requires 4-5 full Tear Tearblast Arrows to take down. That is a huge difference in resources. Tie down/immobilize/freeze an enemy and then blast all their components off right in their faces.

Corruption Arrows still help with creating chaos, but Overriding is ideal. Corruption seems to wear off a lot sooner, same with all other status effects. I also beelined Cauldrons as quickly as I could to help my fights.

Exploiting weak points is even more crucial now. If an enemy has a component that explodes to deal AoE damage it's a primary target. Like the Bellowback throats sacks, or any Blaze/Shock/Chill containers. They're very important now because applying Freeze or Fire or Shock when enemies are not weak to them take much much longer now (especially larger Zeta machines). But a Freeze explosion can apply 85% status effect of Freeze in 1 explosion.

I also need to start surveying battlefields and applying Tripwires down a lot more. I don't bother with Traps, but Tripwires with full Damage can do serious damage.

I also not even bothering with the Shield Weaver armor. If I am fighting 1v1 it can be strong, but against groups it's pretty crappy. On UH it gets taken down very easily and then you have no protection at all to their attacks. Stealth armor, Melee armor, Ranged armor are all great staples.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Platinum #24 achieved. 35~ hours.

One of the most fun platinums to achieve for sure, and didn't include a collectathon.

Last trophy I got was for tidying up the final Blazing Suns (ravager control was tricky at first).


How TF did you do everything in 35 hours? I finished the game at around 50 hours, but I didn't even bother with the Trials or all the collection trophies because they are just seem menial....
 

shiba5

Member
I take it back. I found another bug albeit a funny one. I was curious what happened to Grata
after the Eclipse attack the Embrace. I get up there and there she is praying at her camp, but Aloy says, "No sign of Grata. Hopefully she's hiding." Um... she's literally right there.
 

roytheone

Member
Well, pretty sure I done everything in this game now except getting all the blazing sun because holy shit some of those times are insanely hard. Having the shield outfit helps a ton since I can just ignore getting hit and don't need to heal, but still.....
 

Cornbread78

Member
Well, pretty sure I done everything in this game now except getting all the blazing sun because holy shit some of those times are insanely hard. Having the shield outfit helps a ton since I can just ignore getting hit and don't need to heal, but still.....

Yeah, that is exactly why I didn't bother with the trials past the story related ones...
 

roytheone

Member
Yeah, that is exactly why I didn't bother with the trials past the story related ones...

I actually managed to get all full suns without too much trouble with a pretty much maxed out set of gear, but some of the blazing sun times are just insane. It feels you need to be super lucky in addition to being skilful.
 

shiba5

Member
Well, pretty sure I done everything in this game now except getting all the blazing sun because holy shit some of those times are insanely hard. Having the shield outfit helps a ton since I can just ignore getting hit and don't need to heal, but still.....

You can decrease the difficulty to Easy. Makes most of them trivial.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
Ok. I'm at the point where I'm going to try and get a refund on this game.
It is so buggy.
Music apbruptly cuts out or doesn't play at all during cutscenes
, dialogue audio occasionally doesn't play or will be delayed by 5+ seconds and/or the same character will cut themselves off with their next dialogue line,
random bugs in the terrain causing me to die because I didn't go the way the game wanted me to during a specifically linear section
,
jarring transitions into cutscenes
,
character's tattoos loading late and popping in during conversations
, and the list goes on and on.

I really see something completely distracting and broken every couple minutes while playing.

I didn't hear anything about bugs before getting into this game, but I really don't want to play it if I'm going to be missing music during important cutscenes. This game is giving Mass Effect Andromeda a run for it's money in the bug department.

I've updated my post with video links. I guess I didn't get the one with the dialogue being late.
 

shiba5

Member
I've updated my post with video links. I guess I didn't get the one with the dialogue being late.

random bugs in the terrain causing me to die because I didn't go the way the game wanted me to during a specifically linear section.

That one is not a bug. You are never supposed to get on the same trail as the others so the game is resetting you.
I can't really comment on the others because I've never had anything like that happen. Have you tried rebooting your PS4 completely? I've had some wonky stuff happen in other games and restarting my PS4 fixed them.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
That one is not a bug. You are never supposed to get on the same trail as the others so the game is resetting you.
I can't really comment on the others because I've never had anything like that happen. Have you tried rebooting your PS4 completely? I've had some wonky stuff happen in other games and restarting my PS4 fixed them.
Yes. So far I've tried restarting my ps4, deleting and re-downloading the game, disabling boost mode, deleting the game profile save, and turning the ps4 video recording to 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes as the game always stutters in the recordings at the part where the audio drops out.
When I get home today I'm going to transfer the game to my external HDD.
Next step is deleting my save I guess.
 

shiba5

Member
Yes. So far I've tried restarting my ps4, deleting and re-downloading the game, disabling boost mode, deleting the game profile save, and turning the ps4 video recording to 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes as the game always stutters in the recordings at the part where the audio drops out.
When I get home today I'm going to transfer the game to my external HDD.
Next step is deleting my save I guess.

Wow, sorry. I don't know what to say. Honestly this has been one of the least buggy games I've ever played.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
Wow, sorry. I don't know what to say. Honestly this has been one of the least buggy games I've ever played.
Yeah I'm really bummed out because even early on the story is really interesting. Hopefully I can figure out what's going on. I tweeted @guerrilla but I'm not sure if they're the type to respond.

Edit: put the game on my external HDD and I think it's fixed!
Here's a couple screenshots in celebration
ps_messages_20170717_8wkoo.jpg

ps_messages_20170717_ebkwc.jpg
 
When does this pick up? I got to the mountain at the begininf and caught that big fuck who broke that barrier wall. The game looks great but nothing has hooked me yet. Does it pick up?
 

shiba5

Member
Yeah I'm really bummed out because even early on the story is really interesting. Hopefully I can figure out what's going on. I tweeted @guerrilla but I'm not sure if they're the type to respond.

Edit: put the game on my external HDD and I think it's fixed!
Here's a couple screenshots in celebration
ps_messages_20170717_8wkoo.jpg

ps_messages_20170717_ebkwc.jpg

Glad you got it fixed. Great pics! I spend a ton of time in the photo mode. I took 20 minutes to get this one because he kept going invisible.

 
When does this pick up? I got to the mountain at the begininf and caught that big fuck who broke that barrier wall. The game looks great but nothing has hooked me yet. Does it pick up?


I don't quite remember which part you're at, but yes...it definitely does pick up. The mobs you fight outside the starting village are a whole new ball game.
 
So I'm on the hunt of the murderers with Rona or something and the game is so boring so far. Is it going to pick up or at this point is it just not for me?
 
I've updated my post with video links. I guess I didn't get the one with the dialogue being late.
Sounds like an issue with your internal HDD being stressed, or not reading correctly. Is it custom? If not, might want to keep an eye on it as these problems you're describing sound like HDD failure.

EDIT - Except for the one where you obviously go the wrong way xD
 

X-Frame

Member
So I'm on the hunt of the murderers with Rona or something and the game is so boring so far. Is it going to pick up or at this point is it just not for me?

Personally I was quite immersed from the beginning, but I can say that like the poster a bit earlier above, the game really opens up once you leave the Nora lands and progress further into the story. The other 3/5ths of the map is quite different compared to the starting regions. You unlock better weapons and armor, bigger and more deadly machines prowl, and the story ramps up significantly towards the later half.
 
Personally I was quite immersed from the beginning, but I can say that like the poster a bit earlier above, the game really opens up once you leave the Nora lands and progress further into the story. The other 3/5ths of the map is quite different compared to the starting regions. You unlock better weapons and armor, bigger and more deadly machines prowl, and the story ramps up significantly towards the later half.

Okay thanks I'll stick with it.

I got an annoying glitch where I can't pick up anymore wire because it says I'm maxed out but then I can't craft because it says I'm empty. Any of you experience this?
 

zoodoo

Member
Enjoying the game so far. There is so much to do, I am 35 hours in and half way through the world map. I encountered a huge bird in the desert area that wrecked me. Nothing seemed to work on it and its life bar is super long.

One thing that bothers me is the save system. You cannot rely on autosave as it only happens when doing major missions, not even sidequests. So I constantly have to go back to a campfire. But they are never too far. Also why does the screen fade to black when saving? That effect annoys me. i dont see the point.
 

X-Frame

Member
Okay thanks I'll stick with it.

I got an annoying glitch where I can't pick up anymore wire because it says I'm maxed out but then I can't craft because it says I'm empty. Any of you experience this?

The first is probably because your Resource capacity is limiting you picking up more Wire. Check the Crafting screen and you can expand the carrying capacities of almost everything from your bow quiver's on specific bows, modifications, and resources.

The second problem I don't really know about unless you can't craft because you are missing another item in order to craft those particle arrows? Like tree branches.
 

shiba5

Member
Enjoying the game so far. There is so much to do, I am 35 hours in and half way through the world map. I encountered a huge bird in the desert area that wrecked me. Nothing seemed to work on it and its life bar is super long.

One thing that bothers me is the save system. You cannot rely on autosave as it only happens when doing major missions, not even sidequests. So I constantly have to go back to a campfire. But they are never too far. Also why does the screen fade to black when saving? That effect annoys me. i dont see the point.

When you get the Shadow Ropecaster, you can tie that bastard down and strip him of parts.
 

shiba5

Member
I never once through my entire playthrough got the ropecaster or the tripcaster to work,,,,

The Tripcaster is, IMO, the best weapon in the game and makes even Ultra Hard mode fairly easy.
The Ropecaster with all handling mods makes it so the Stormbird can't ever get off the ground again. You didn't put Tear mods in it, did you? They make the ropes tear pieces off, but the ropes themselves won't stick.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Really? They're pretty straight forward and easy to use. Hell I beat a lot of the hunting lodge challenges by cheesing those.

The Tripcaster is, IMO, the best weapon in the game and makes even Ultra Hard mode fairly easy.
The Ropecaster with all handling mods makes it so the Stormbird can't ever get off the ground again. You didn't put Tear mods in it, did you? They make the ropes tear pieces off, but the ropes themselves won't stick.

Yeah, epic fail on my side; I just couldn't get it to work, so I just constantly cheesed fire arrows....
 

Zackat

Member
my brother started a game on my account and I had forgot to back up my save. T_T RIP


just gonna have to get all the stuff on his once he is done
 

Melchiah

Member
The Tripcaster is, IMO, the best weapon in the game and makes even Ultra Hard mode fairly easy.
The Ropecaster with all handling mods makes it so the Stormbird can't ever get off the ground again. You didn't put Tear mods in it, did you? They make the ropes tear pieces off, but the ropes themselves won't stick.

Huh?! I'll have to try handling mods for the weapon. Are there any other weapons that benefit greatly from them?
 

JoeNut

Member
One thing that bothers me is the save system. You cannot rely on autosave as it only happens when doing major missions, not even sidequests. So I constantly have to go back to a campfire. But they are never too far. Also why does the screen fade to black when saving? That effect annoys me. i dont see the point.
not sure about the fade effect but the point of campfires is so that you can't just rely on autosave all the time, othrwise you wouldn't care if you died.




I never once through my entire playthrough got the ropecaster or the tripcaster to work,,,,
Man playing without the tripcaster must've been hard as hell
 
Huh?! I'll have to try handling mods for the weapon. Are there any other weapons that benefit greatly from them?

In my first playthrough I used handling mods in one of my Sharpshot bows, since by default they're extremely slow. Ended up using that bow more than the damage modded one.
 

X-Frame

Member
Huh?! I'll have to try handling mods for the weapon. Are there any other weapons that benefit greatly from them?

I never use it, but apparently the Rattler can benefit from a few Handling mods too since it'll fire faster and therefore apply the status effects quicker.
 
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