Horizon Zero Dawn Spoiler-free Impressions (for real this time)

Damn. Wish I'd ordered from Best Buy instead of Amazon. Have Prime and GCU but opted for the 5% back with my Amazon Visa.

Oh well, I have crap luck so Best Buy probably wouldn't have shipped early for me anyway.
 
Tigress said:
I find lately with a,Avon pre orders say they are going to ship days before but never really go out until the day before (and still get there in time).
Click to expand...

I haven't preordered very many physical games on Amazon, but this has been my experience too. The general pattern seems to be Amazon will list the game as shipping the Friday before release, but then it'll get overnighted on Monday.
 
Completed HRZ.

Obviously a lot of this is unreadable and you shouldn't think to read it if you haven't played it (and you won't as the game isn't out)

The final act and the way the story developed was pretty great. a large part of the last few main quest was flat out just
story telling
but I enjoyed it a lot. Showing just how strong the story is here.

Loved the
return to the sacred lands after the Eclipse invaded. I don't think there's many open world that actually go back in and remodel the landscape so it's all devasted by war
Now that was a class act.

That last
raid on meridian with the oesserum canons versus a whole army of robots was really fun. That stormbird that showed up nearly wrecked my game but they put good checkpoints here.
All I gotta say is make sure you stock up on the healing items as the fights can be tough. Also
that last chapter with everyone you know coming back in to help you finish the figh *ahem* was amazing

I noticed late in the game that Aloy's character model has uneven bottom teeth - i loved this. Its the attention to detail that really makes the game special.

Erend is my favourite NPC. he's this kinda goofy nice guy.

Great game. I don't know if I'll go back in and do all the missing side optional errands/quests as I never do these in any games but OCD gamers will love it as there's lots of things to do still
flowers, banuk things and some other collectible quest

9/10

GOTY contender.
 
Played for hours now. Holy cow is this game awesome. Didn't liked it since the announcement, but it's FarCry X Tomb Raider and very fun to play and sneak around. That, and gorgeous and fluid graphics. So much fun right now, I didn't expect that. And I love the story and scenes this game shows to you.

Could play this the whole night :D
 
Joystick said:
Neil Druckman said at PSX that TLOU2 uses "within Sony's group by far the most advanced character model" and "we could never cut to a close up of eyes before because we couldn't get the fidelity but now we can".

Source and facial mocap:
https://youtu.be/iJgzJZiys-c?t=4h37m27s
Click to expand...

Damn there's a part in this video that really got me. When Troy tells Neil that he's the best Director he's ever worked with, you can feel that Troy gets very emotional when he says this line. That's what makes Naughty Dog so special, when Neil says that the more you do this, the more you realize you don't know what you're doing. I guess with Naughty Dog letting the actors give their ideas and actually test them out, it has to be and feel sooo great for the actors and makes everyone move forward and improve in every possible way.
 
Guys, this game.

I've only been playing for like an hour, but aside from being one of (if not THE) best looking games I've ever graced eyes upon, the story has already piqued my interest...and I've already had a chills moment this early on during one of the cutscenes. I already feel emotionally invested in Aloy and her situation.
 
Accidentally posted this in the review thread, so I'll just cross-post this in the right place

I'm still fairly early in the game, but so far my impressions are very positive

+ Even on my 1440p monitor, which tends to mess with image quality when used with a console, the game looks gorgeous. This is of course, supported with incredible art design. In the 3-4 hours I haven't caught a single frame drop, it has been a steady 30 throughout. This is on a base PS4.

+ Mechanics are very smooth. I feel in complete control of Aloy's actions, without ever having to wrestle with the controls. Imagine modern Tomb Raider with much more precise aiming. Another point for quick scaling

+ I've only completed three side quests so far, and even though they weren't the deepest, they were certainly more enjoyable than the average fetch quest

+ Aloy is already a great character. Ashly does a fine job voicing her, and the rest of the characters are either right there, or serviceable, at the very worst, aside from the infamous "Brom Scene". That's still hysterically bad.

- Some of the dialogue, particularly in the prelude is a bit rough, but it's performed well. Further into the game, it has improved quite a bit.

- Speaking of the prelude, it could've been a cut-scene and would've had the same impact. I didn't find it entirely necessary to "play" though.
 
ixYi said:
One question though, I am about to pre-order from PSN and still undecided weather to go with Standard or Duluxe. So, can you tell me if the costumes (available in Duluxe edition) are attainable later in game If I go with standard edition?
Click to expand...

The deluxe edition outfits aren't in the actual game.



Also with the game coming out soon, this should be renamed the spoiler free OT? Looking forward to reading everyone's impressions of this awesome game. Recommend playing on hard (which was my difficulty level) - felt like a good challenge.
 
So I went to preorder at GameStop today since I had some credit that would pay it all off.

Apparently they're giving the game out at 9pm-10pm Monday night instead of waiting till midnight.

Get hype y'all
 
Bucca said:
So I went to preorder at GameStop today since I had some credit that would pay it all off.

Apparently they're giving the game out at 9pm-10pm Monday night instead of waiting till midnight.

Get hype y'all
Click to expand...

This is the one nice thing GameStop has started doing: 9pm releases. They started it with RE7.

Ain't nobody want to stay up til Midnight if they don't have to. I wish everyone would start adopting this.
 
The Lamp said:
This is the one nice thing GameStop has started doing: 9pm releases. They started it with RE7.

Ain't nobody want to stay up til Midnight if they don't have to. I wish everyone would start adopting this.
Click to expand...

According to the manager I was talking to today, he said something along the lines of the production companies doing this and finding other ways to release the physical games earlier than digital to combat it? Somethig like that.

Take with ass loads of salt.
 
ronaldthump said:
The deluxe edition outfits aren't in the actual game.



Also with the game coming out soon, this should be renamed the spoiler free OT? Looking forward to reading everyone's impressions of this awesome game. Recommend playing on hard (which was my difficulty level) - felt like a good challenge.
Click to expand...

I'm doubtful If this will be changed to OT. Shinobi is already working on official OT which will be available 24h before the game is officially released. This thread will only fade out as we progress further to game release.
 
This thread seemed to get replaced by the review thread. Lets bring it back.

50 hours in now, about 75% complete and I still love playing this non stop. Even though I have fought every robot I am still thrilled when I battle them. There is this unpredictability to some of these fights, especially when you get an odd mix of robots that makes each encounter special. I am more badass than ever so I get a bit more bold taking on bigger groups than ever. Plus some of these later robots, oh man its a boss battle in any other game.

I also have advanced the story quite a bit and it is great. It is full on sci-fi goodness, incredible world building that is very detailed. Now be prepared to read files and listen to audio tapes but its all worth it as the mystery of what occurred is revealed.

The missions themselves might be the weakest aspect of the game, not that they are bad its just they tend to put humans all over the place and they are easily the worst part of the game. When you go from using all your tools while fighting these amazing robots to a stupid guy you can kill with one arrow it is a jarring contrast. Now they mix it up a bit by mixing humans with robots but still its forced. Also most missions take place in more enclosed locations, I prefer the open world. The majority of my time has been spent outside missions and nearly all my favorite moments in the game happened while exploring.

Now this is not to say the story in these missions are bad, I think the side quests are pretty damn great. They clearly went right to the witcher 3 handbook and stole the side quests from that. They take you to off beat locations, usually have some cool story involving interesting new characters. Some put you into battles with robots in the open world which I like more than the main mission sticking me in some enemy base. But best of all you get to see what an amazing character Aloy is. She is just the right amount of sarcastic, heroic, and a pure hearted good hearted character. The voice acting is fantastic across the board, I cant praise the story elements enough.

And now a ton of media which I will link in the next post.
 
MiamiWesker said:
This thread seemed to get replaced by the review thread. Lets bring it back.

50 hours in now, about 75% complete and I still love playing this non stop. Even though I have fought every robot I am still thrilled when I battle them. There is this unpredictability to some of these fights, especially when you get an odd mix of robots that makes each encounter special. I am more badass than ever so I get a bit more bold taking on bigger groups than ever. Plus some of these later robots, oh man its a boss battle in any other game.

I also have advanced the story quite a bit and it is great. It is full on sci-fi goodness, incredible world building that is very detailed. Now be prepared to read files and listen to audio tapes but its all worth it as the mystery of what occurred is revealed.

The missions themselves might be the weakest aspect of the game, not that they are bad its just they tend to put humans all over the place and they are easily the worst part of the game. When you go from using all your tools while fighting these amazing robots to a stupid guy you can kill with one arrow it is a jarring contrast. Now they mix it up a bit by mixing humans with robots but still its forced. Also most missions take place in more enclosed locations, I prefer the open world. The majority of my time has been spent outside missions and nearly all my favorite moments in the game happened while exploring.

Now this is not to say the story in these missions are bad, I think the side quests are pretty damn great. They clearly went right to the witcher 3 handbook and stole the side quests from that. They take you to off beat locations, usually have some cool story involving interesting new characters. Some put you into battles with robots in the open world which I like more than the main mission sticking me in some enemy base. But best of all you get to see what an amazing character Aloy is. She is just the right amount of sarcastic, heroic, and a pure hearted good hearted character. The voice acting is fantastic across the board, I cant praise the story elements enough.

And now a ton of media which I will link in the next post.
Click to expand...

How does the combat with human enemies compare to those in The Witcher 3?
 
MiamiWesker said:
This thread seemed to get replaced by the review thread. Lets bring it back.

50 hours in now, about 75% complete and I still love playing this non stop. Even though I have fought every robot I am still thrilled when I battle them. There is this unpredictability to some of these fights, especially when you get an odd mix of robots that makes each encounter special. I am more badass than ever so I get a bit more bold taking on bigger groups than ever. Plus some of these later robots, oh man its a boss battle in any other game.

I also have advanced the story quite a bit and it is great. It is full on sci-fi goodness, incredible world building that is very detailed. Now be prepared to read files and listen to audio tapes but its all worth it as the mystery of what occurred is revealed.

The missions themselves might be the weakest aspect of the game, not that they are bad its just they tend to put humans all over the place and they are easily the worst part of the game. When you go from using all your tools while fighting these amazing robots to a stupid guy you can kill with one arrow it is a jarring contrast. Now they mix it up a bit by mixing humans with robots but still its forced. Also most missions take place in more enclosed locations, I prefer the open world. The majority of my time has been spent outside missions and nearly all my favorite moments in the game happened while exploring.

Now this is not to say the story in these missions are bad, I think the side quests are pretty damn great. They clearly went right to the witcher 3 handbook and stole the side quests from that. They take you to off beat locations, usually have some cool story involving interesting new characters. Some put you into battles with robots in the open world which I like more than the main mission sticking me in some enemy base. But best of all you get to see what an amazing character Aloy is. She is just the right amount of sarcastic, heroic, and a pure hearted good hearted character. The voice acting is fantastic across the board, I cant praise the story elements enough.

And now a ton of media which I will link in the next post.
Click to expand...

Sorry to bring this up, but I was posting in the preview thread and some posters are under the assumption that a majority of the world of Horizon is scripted. They are basing it off of this post where a user was listening to a podcast of someone who finished Horizon:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=231028265&postcount=1342:

I think I get what they were sort of saying, but I want to see your thoughts.
 
Witcher 3 has better 1 on 1 human combat, it has different melee attacks, defense, blocks, counters. Horizon has none of that, its clearly designed to battle giant robots, fighting humans doesn't feel right. Stealth killing them is fine though.

As for the static world and zelda comparison... the world is alive, there are robots patroling areas all over the place. Now they wont fight each other on their own but if you turn them against each other you can watch all hell break loose. I think what they are getting at is that horizon is focused in what it lets you do. The world is open but you cant really climb anything you are not supposed to. You cant interact with the world itself in any meaningful way, shoot fire at a tree nothing happens, the world is there to be pretty. And its damn pretty, it surpasses Witcher 3 for me as most beautiful open world ever.

Oh a link to a bunch of pics I posted in the spoiler thread, late game areas shown.
 
MiamiWesker said:
Witcher 3 has better 1 on 1 human combat, it has different melee attacks, defense, blocks, counters. Horizon has none of that, its clearly designed to battle giant robots, fighting humans doesn't feel right. Stealth killing them is fine though.

As for the static world and zelda comparison... the world is alive, there are robots patroling areas all over the place. Now they wont fight each other on their own but if you turn them against each other you can watch all hell break loose. I think what they are getting at is that horizon is focused in what it lets you do. The world is open but you cant really climb anything you are not supposed to. You cant interact with the world itself in any meaningful way, shoot fire at a tree nothing happens, the world is there to be pretty. And its damn pretty, it surpasses Witcher 3 for me as most beautiful open world ever.

Oh a link to a bunch of pics I posted in the spoiler thread, late game areas shown.
Click to expand...

All right yeah, that makes sense considering Witcher has those features plus signs and stuff. I imagine you have different weapons at your disposal that can be used against humans and give the fight a different approach but enemies won't offer anything particularly unique.
 
Yeah, My approach with human enemies is to get it over with as fast and stealthily as possible.

also, blasting off the disc launcher from a thunderjaw and then proceeding to use it to kill the thunderjaw is so damn satisfying.
 
MiamiWesker said:
This thread seemed to get replaced by the review thread. Lets bring it back.

50 hours in now, about 75% complete and I still love playing this non stop. Even though I have fought every robot I am still thrilled when I battle them. There is this unpredictability to some of these fights, especially when you get an odd mix of robots that makes each encounter special. I am more badass than ever so I get a bit more bold taking on bigger groups than ever. Plus some of these later robots, oh man its a boss battle in any other game.

I also have advanced the story quite a bit and it is great. It is full on sci-fi goodness, incredible world building that is very detailed. Now be prepared to read files and listen to audio tapes but its all worth it as the mystery of what occurred is revealed.

The missions themselves might be the weakest aspect of the game, not that they are bad its just they tend to put humans all over the place and they are easily the worst part of the game. When you go from using all your tools while fighting these amazing robots to a stupid guy you can kill with one arrow it is a jarring contrast. Now they mix it up a bit by mixing humans with robots but still its forced. Also most missions take place in more enclosed locations, I prefer the open world. The majority of my time has been spent outside missions and nearly all my favorite moments in the game happened while exploring.

Now this is not to say the story in these missions are bad, I think the side quests are pretty damn great. They clearly went right to the witcher 3 handbook and stole the side quests from that. They take you to off beat locations, usually have some cool story involving interesting new characters. Some put you into battles with robots in the open world which I like more than the main mission sticking me in some enemy base. But best of all you get to see what an amazing character Aloy is. She is just the right amount of sarcastic, heroic, and a pure hearted good hearted character. The voice acting is fantastic across the board, I cant praise the story elements enough.

And now a ton of media which I will link in the next post.
Click to expand...

Very disappointed main missions are kinda lame, I'm not one of those guys who like exploring the open world all day, I love doing missions and that's how I spend most of my time in such games, this turns me off a lot what they were thinking with those lame humans when they got such amazing robots around? fuck I think I'm gonna wait for a price drop.
 
The graphics in this game are unreal. Probably the best looking game I've ever played, and I have a high-end PC. Up until this point I thought Rise of the Tomb Raider (with settings cranked up of course) took the crown but this easily surpasses it. The anti-aliasing is really impressive - I wonder what solution they use (I'm using Performance mode so it's not supersampling).
 
Are sidequest starting locations shown on the map like a GTA, do you have to reveal them through the tallnecks, or do you have to walk near them to reveal them?
 
flipswitch said:
Is pop-up a major issue? as you're walking, foliage, rocks, grass etc, appear out of nowhere. Is it distracting?
Click to expand...
Nope.The lack of pop up compared to other open world game, especially because Horizon has 10x more foliage than any other game is really impressive.
The_Hitcher89 said:
Are sidequest starting locations shown on the map like a GTA, do you have to reveal them through the tallnecks, or do you have to walk near them to reveal them?
Click to expand...
You have to walk near them to reveal them. They weren't automatically shown on the map.

As you walk through a settlement or town they start popping up.
 
Psychological Intellect said:
Nope.The lack of pop up compared to other open world game, especially because Horizon has 10x more foliage than any other game is really impressive.

You have to walk near them to reveal them. They weren't automatically shown on the map.

As you walk through a settlement or town they start popping up.
Click to expand...

Cheers

Do you get the impression that any will be easily missed as they're started in the middle of nowhere, with no reason to go neat them? I like it when quests take you to remote locations that you'd never go to otherwise, and start other quests
 
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