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

T

Tigress

Member
vivekTO said:
Its not 25 hrs for Main campaign , its 34 hours and that counts to 74% of total completion without side quest. I think this is why you are disappointed or i am getting the tweet wrong.



Lets us know about the ANTS!!
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Yes. That the game is only about 50 hours for everything.
 
P

Primethius

Banned
Crossing Eden said:
I mean compared to halo and F.e.a.r? Nah.
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Halo (pre-4 and FEAR) are the best in the business. But TLOU is still a pretty solid high bar when you consider the vast majority of games.

--

And I hope the game is 25h long if that's an unpadded time. I don't want no TW3 padded levels of story just to hit the 35-40 hr mark.
 
S

SomTervo

Member
MegaSackman said:
As dead as Mordor as a place is, Shadow of Mordor had a pretty dynamic world and I think John Gonzalez was a designer in that game. Make sense that he applies his experience from that game in this one.
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I think i might have thrown that in a previous post. When you get to the second area in Mordor and suddenly there are factions fighting everywhere. Awesome.

Horizons is a very exciting prospect.

I wonder how much faction fighting there actually is, though.
 
S

Simple Soul

Member
I don't think the discussion about what a dynamic open world means is pointless semantics, or that comparing it to TW3 is derailing the thread. If the term is used often but it's unclear what people mean by it, it becomes a bit less clear what kind of open world Horizon has. Comparing to TW3 and WD2 and clarifying through it is really helpful. To me it's been an insightful read so far, much of it thanks to how SomTervo described TW3 and how Horizon is different.

For the record, I do agree that TW3 didn't do that aspect well. It didn't have surprising, unscripted interactions between different units in it. Whether monster-monster, monster-human or human-human.
 
D

DriftingSpirit

Member
The Lamp said:
Yes. There's a couple of extra things you could do, but not too much yet. The urgency is to get you to this point in the story where the game opens up to you. The beginning mostly exists to get you used to the mechanics and traversal.
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I can already see it.

"Man, this game is slowwwww. When does it going?!"
"Uh, I'm not sure what the big deal about this game is. What I've played so far is just so linear and boring."
"I think people just let the hype get to them because this opening area just drags and drags. Where is this supposed "good" stuff?"
 
K

Kenzodielocke

Banned
DriftingSpirit said:
I can already see it.

"Man, this game is slowwwww. When does it going?!"
"Uh, I'm not sure what the big deal about this game is. What I've played so far is just so linear and boring."
"I think people just let the hype get to them because this opening area just drags and drags. Where is this supposed "good" stuff?"
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Eh, White Orchard in TW3 was pretty much this.
 
Rien

Rien

Jelly Belly
Tigress said:
Yes. That the game is only about 50 hours for everything.
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Only? Thats pretty fucking nice if you ask me. 20 hours for everything would be dissapointing. 50 is very good. If it was 100+ filled with fetch quests it would be shit as well. Seems GG can do no good.

Edit: Beaten
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
I think it sounds good, but the masterpiece wil come with Horizon 2. Hopefully just before the end of the gen!
Kenzodielocke said:
Eh, White Orchard in TW3 was pretty much this.
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WO flew by to me. I think it was 3 hours, max.

And again, "breathing, living" is not a thing. Unless the world is literally given artificial life. Stop using that stupid term without a meaning.
 
M

MiamiWesker

Member
SomTervo said:
No, it had (and to-date always had) a very defined context and meaning. It was first coined re Grand Theft Auto - about NPCs that would walk/drive around autonomously, react to one another dynamically, react to world events dynamically. The world was "living, breathing" because of the agents within it who made it come to life. It was only ever applied to open worlds and only ever about how effectively these worlds dynamically and emergently operated. The idea being that the agents in the world do their own thing, making up an impression of an organism/organisms - hence "living, breathing". It's a descriptor of a 'sandbox'.

Most of Horizon's open world sounds and looks "living, breathing". Dinos roaming at will, human hunters occasionally appearing (apparently at random), factions fighting each other, etc. These are dynamic 'sandbox' elements. None of which happened in TW3. This convo started because somebody said TW3 was similar - and it's not: monsters basically stay in confined areas and almost never interact, 99.9% of NPCs in the world are in locked routines walking around confined areas and don't interact with any others, etc.
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This this this this. Witcher 3 has one of the most static open worlds I have ever seen with basically no emergent gameplay. Horizon is not like that at all, creatures are doing their own thing, they will chase you, things dynamically happen.
 
T

Tigress

Member
Edammer said:
Only? Thats pretty fucking nice if you ask me. 20 hours for everything would be dissapointing. 50 is very good. If it was 100+ filled with fetch quests it would be shit as well. Seems GG can do no good.

Edit: Beaten
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I consider 50 hours for everything in an rpg short (and yes I realize it is an action rpg. So is witcher and fallout and both last much longer than 50 hours). 20 hours would be ridiculous and I'd wait for the game to go cheaper.

If I'm ready to be done with a game in 50 hours it was very mediocre at best. If this game only lasts me 50 hours and I like it it will feel like I barely played it and leave me wishing there was more. And I honestly prefer to be tired of a game before I get to that point. I hate the feeling of wishing there was more.
 
S

SlasherJPC

Banned
Bunga said:
So what I'm getting from all this is that this is basically a prettier Far Cry Primal with robots?
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Not quite. First and foremost story presentation and dialog is leagues above the Far Cry games. Far Cry doesn't have platforming to this degree. Yes it has similar ideas with crafting but that's not exclusive to Far Cry. So I mean can you say there is some similarities, sure, but just a pretty Far Cry with robots. I surely don't think so.
 
E

Elandyll

Banned
Tigress said:
Yes. That the game is only about 50 hours for everything.
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Isn't that assuming that the last 25% are linear in terms of completion/ difficulty?
(And far from me the hope that the last 25% of content are made of insane collect a thons/ hardcore dungeons that take hours to finish and tons of backtracking that would push the game duration towards the 80+ hours).
Imo if the game ends up at 50-60h for 100% it'd be near perfect.
 
K

Kenzodielocke

Banned
SlasherJPC said:
Not quite. First and foremost story presentation and dialog is leagues above the Far Cry games. Far Cry doesn't have platforming to this degree. Yes it has similar ideas with crafting but that's not exclusive to Far Cry. So I mean can you say there is some similarities, sure, but just a pretty Far Cry with robots. I surely don't think so.
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You really shouldn't answer to post like these with a serious answer.
 
M

MegaSackman

Member
Tigress said:
I consider 50 hours for everything in an rpg short (and yes I realize it is an action rpg. So is witcher and fallout and both last much longer than 50 hours). 20 hours would be ridiculous and I'd wait for the game to go cheaper.

If I'm ready to be done with a game in 50 hours it was very mediocre at best. If this game only lasts me 50 hours and I like it it will feel like I barely played it and leave me wishing there was more. And I honestly prefer to be tired of a game before I get to that point. I hate the feeling of wishing there was more.
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It all depends on the design, we don't know about it yet because we don't have the game on our hands and are only talking through someone elses experiences. Maybe the game make sense in lasting no more than 50hs.
Took me 225hs to finish most of the more important things The Witcher III has and is not even the best game I've played this generation, on the other hand, some people that praise The Witcher III to heaven have played it way less than me.
It could be that you're right though, maybe you play the game and feel like you needed more but again, we can't know this until we play it.
 
S

Skeeter49

Member
Wonder if they force you to do certain side missions before continuing the main mission. Didn't like that in Witcher 3, if it's required, call it a main mission. Didn't help one of my required side quests was bugged, couldn't continue the game for almost a month waiting for the patch.

34 hours is fine, what matters more is if that was just main story, or main and side stuff.
 
J

JBwB

Member
So it takes around 50 hours to complete everything (100%) correct?

I'll be honest I was expecting it to be longer but 50 is decent enough.
 
O

onemanasylum

Banned
JBwB said:
So it takes around 50 hours to complete everything (100%) correct?

I'll be honest I was expecting it to be longer but 50 is decent enough.
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50 is more then enough, heck 30 would have been. People need to stop worrying about length so much, most 100+ hour games are full of filler and get repetitive. Quality > Quantity.
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
SlasherJPC said:
Not quite. First and foremost story presentation and dialog is leagues above the Far Cry games. Far Cry doesn't have platforming to this degree. Yes it has similar ideas with crafting but that's not exclusive to Far Cry. So I mean can you say there is some similarities, sure, but just a pretty Far Cry with robots. I surely don't think so.
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Thank you for this. The Far Cry/Ubisoft comparisons are getting old. It's like every open world game with even one remotely similar mechanic or similar looking area is automatically slapped with the "Ubi clone" label and everything else that makes a game stand out is completely ignored. Ridiculous.
 
S

SomTervo

Member
nitrowolf2 said:
Been doing a lot of sidequests.

They don't feel samey like a lot of open world games do, all the ones I've done so far have been different and very fun.

It was mentioned in one of the impressions that that particular user doesn't care whats going on. Let me explain this a bit more from my point of view. So far, the story seems Meh. It's there, but I don't feel like I've been given a huge reason to care unless it leads to some silly twist which from the time i've played I might be able to guess what it is. It may open up more, but its a bit hard for me as a tech guy to get into because I'm sitting saying "wow really that's not how that works"

The dialogue option is really nice, and feels Mass Effect, minus the reactions as in so far if you choose this over that it won't play a major role later. The facial animation looks super odd, as characters tend to jerk a bit around and like one of the other user said they look "dopey"

I'll say this about the intro, it was hard for me to get attached to it because of the animation during chat, and i didn't feel there was much syncing between characters going around like there is after the intro.

Game is massive, and possible the best Graphics i've seen to date. Didn't think something could top Uncharted 4, and this might have, thats taking into account that it's also an open world game. IDK what kind of Wizards Sony keeps hiring but my god.

The crafting System - I Love it. You can do it on the fly, and craft things in the middle of combat. Its quick and easy.

Like others have said, the game drastically needs a lock-on feature, and I feel the running speed should be increased along with dodging because that can become annoying during combat.


It feels like a good Mix of Witcher, Far Cry, Uncharted, and Tomb Raider if I'm honest.
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Missed these impressions. Sounding fantastic.
 
S

Skeeter49

Member
Bunga said:
So what I'm getting from all this is that this is basically a prettier Far Cry Primal with robots?
Click to expand...
If you only watched the Pro reveal Horizon footage, nothing else besides that, and frequently visit threads that compare Horizon to Ubisoft games, I could see how you can come to that conclusion.
 
E

Elandyll

Banned
ironcreed said:
Thank you for this. The Far Cry/Ubisoft comparisons are getting old. It's like every open world game with even one remotely similar mechanic or similar looking area is automatically slapped with the "Ubi clone" label and everything else that makes a game stand out is completely ignored. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Well, in a world where Witcher 3 is pretty much like Assassin's Creed, and Skyrim is pretty much like Watch Dogs, they aren't wrong ;)
 
S

SomTervo

Member
Simple Soul said:
I don't think the discussion about what a dynamic open world means is pointless semantics, or that comparing it to TW3 is derailing the thread. If the term is used often but it's unclear what people mean by it, it becomes a bit less clear what kind of open world Horizon has. Comparing to TW3 and WD2 and clarifying through it is really helpful. To me it's been an insightful read so far, much of it thanks to how SomTervo described TW3 and how Horizon is different.

For the record, I do agree that TW3 didn't do that aspect well. It didn't have surprising, unscripted interactions between different units in it. Whether monster-monster, monster-human or human-human.
Click to expand...

Glad I could help!

The fact is that phrases and terms do change meaning over time, but this is a rare case where I feel it was always very clear cut, haha. And it blatantly applies to Horizons but maybe not TW3.

Ahasverus said:
I
And again, "breathing, living" is not a thing. Unless the world is literally given artificial life. Stop using that stupid term without a meaning.
Click to expand...

We're not discussing whether it's a valid term, we're discussing the context the term has literally always been deployed in.

MiamiWesker said:
This this this this. Witcher 3 has one of the most static open worlds I have ever seen with basically no emergent gameplay. Horizon is not like that at all, creatures are doing their own thing, they will chase you, things dynamically happen.
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming what was suggested in multiple impressions!
 
M

MiamiWesker

Member
So I am like 7 hours in and just finished the opening area and story. Basically now is when the real game begins, you are let out into the open world and so many activities and point of interest open up, it's so exciting.

So the opening area doesn't have much to do, it is basically a tutorial area with a few enemy types, and only a few side quests. You can spend time just messing around as I did and do everything but it's not a good approximation of what lies ahead.

Stuff happens that gets you to the open world and it was pretty exciting. The story is no joke, this is a story heavy game with lots of characters and some dialogue choices to make, can't tell you if they change much but it's there. The main missions tied to taht story were exciting and gave me some boss battle like moments with all new enemy types. I learned to override beasts so I got a brand new skill and then was let out into the world.

There were vantage points, areas to clear of enemies and my favorite little timed challenges to do. That's just what I found near me, I have yet to really explore as I had to go to sleep. I look at the completion page and there is so much to find and do, this game will keep me occupied for a long time.

So far I am enjoying very hard mode. I die if I am careless but most of the time I get by fine. I have had some close calls that deplete my health so I do have to gather supplies to restock. I do think dodge is a bit of a super move, I have gotten by with dodging a bunch and laying traps. Dodge, trap, dodge, go in for the stun kill, repeat. Again these are still easier enemies so I bet for the tough ones it won't work but dodge is very effective and has a nice invincibility window.

So any questions?
 
O

onemanasylum

Banned
MiamiWesker said:
So I am like 7 hours in and just finished the opening area and story. Basically now is when the real game begins, you are let out into the open world and so many activities and point of interest open up, it's so exciting.

So the opening area doesn't have much to do, it is basically a tutorial area with a few enemy types, and only a few side quests. You can spend time just messing around as I did and do everything but it's not a good approximation of what lies ahead.

Stuff happens that gets you to the open world and it was pretty exciting. The story is no joke, this is a story heavy game with lots of characters and some dialogue choices to make, can't tell you if they change much but it's there. The main missions tied to taht story were exciting and gave me some boss battle like moments with all new enemy types. I learned to override beasts so I got a brand new skill and then was let out into the world.

There were vantage points, areas to clear of enemies and my favorite little timed challenges to do. That's just what I found near me, I have yet to really explore as I had to go to sleep. I look at the completion page and there is so much to find and do, this game will keep me occupied for a long time.

So far I am enjoying very hard mode. I die if I am careless but most of the time I get by fine. I have had some close calls that deplete my health so I do have to gather supplies to restock. I do think dodge is a bit of a super move, I have gotten by with dodging a bunch and laying traps. Dodge, trap, dodge, go in for the stun kill, repeat. Again these are still easier enemies so I bet for the tough ones it won't work but dodge is very effective and has a nice invincibility window.

So any questions?
Click to expand...

Everyone saying the story is really good.....so hype.
 
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