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RTTP/Opinion: Console Warring has deprived Horizon Zero Dawn, and its graphics, of richly deserved adulation.
Mr Hyde
Member
I thought the game was great. Amazing graphics, cool combat against robotic dinosaurs and a fairly engaging plot (it's weakest element though). Expansion was very good too. Even better than the base game I'd say. Did two playthroughs and platinumed it. Looking forward to Forbidden West.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Bought it, played for a few hours and then shelved it forever.
Game looked incredible, but didn't play so well imo.
Game looked incredible, but didn't play so well imo.
Digity
Member
Same here, game actually became enjoyable once I focused entirely on the story missions. Side missions are generally a waste of time in any game.For what it's worth, i failed to get into it like 6 times and only started to really appreciate it when i decided to just entirely ignore side quests unless they really bit me in the facebut it's all good
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
It 100% went both ways. I remember tons of Sony trolls saying Guerrilla deserves the Zelda IP and trashing BotW. Most BotW fans were pretty much happy with the critics, the fan response and the game itself. Certain trolls have been trying to tear down BotW for years and claimed all the praise is just because its a Nintendo game.
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Tschumi
Member
Yeah the poll was a rush job
Tschumi
Member
BOTW, for me, feels like a first time effort, just like HZD, i know people adore BOTW and i can understand it but I guess i loved games inordinately some times, too.
Anyway I'm insane i wrote a whole thread here about how i prefer skyward sword to botw
bender
What time is it?
Graphics aren't the least of my concerns with most of Sony's tentpoles. It just feels like in service of their amazing presentations, we don't see boundaries pushed in the game play department. That's not saying those games are bad by any means, but I don't think the core mechanics or systems push any boundaries. Their open world designs feel cut from the same cloth that Ubisoft uses. There third person combat generally feels also-ran. While those games can be fun to play, they also don't feel like the type of games I'd ever want to replay.
All that said, I do think they've had some interesting mechanics in their games but those are sometimes under utilized:
-Tsushima's 1v1 combat was far more entertaining than the rest of the combat which felt very Assassin's Creed. Props for haiku writing and hot springs reflections.
-Days Gone's hordes.
-The rope/cable physics in TLOU2. It was so damned cool and only used two or three times.
Back to the subject at hand, Horizon is probably one of the games I was disappointed most in. It's beautiful and the robot dinosaur designs are fucking cool. And then you play the game with it's unsatisfying bow mechanics, resource gathering for crafting and then Ubisoft open world map. What a drag.
All that said, I do think they've had some interesting mechanics in their games but those are sometimes under utilized:
-Tsushima's 1v1 combat was far more entertaining than the rest of the combat which felt very Assassin's Creed. Props for haiku writing and hot springs reflections.
-Days Gone's hordes.
-The rope/cable physics in TLOU2. It was so damned cool and only used two or three times.
Back to the subject at hand, Horizon is probably one of the games I was disappointed most in. It's beautiful and the robot dinosaur designs are fucking cool. And then you play the game with it's unsatisfying bow mechanics, resource gathering for crafting and then Ubisoft open world map. What a drag.
Neff
Member
I thought it was more Nintendo than Xbox guys who shat on this game due to its release proximity and superficial resemblance with/to BotW, and the fact that BotW is magnitudes better.
A friend lent me Horizon but I didn't get on with it. I bought it digitally last year for pennies in a sale and will give it another chance at some point. Maybe.
A friend lent me Horizon but I didn't get on with it. I bought it digitally last year for pennies in a sale and will give it another chance at some point. Maybe.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Cross Gen support, has deprived Horizon Zero Dawn of its graphics adulation.
Why do games always have all this crap flying around in the forest?
Tschumi
Member
CatLady
Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
As one of the green rats, HZD was one of my favorite games last gen. It was the only PlayStation game I really loved and don't think I could come up with anything negative to say about it. Loved the characters, the gameplay and combat, thought the story was great and it had Lance Reddick. What more could you want.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Yes was sarcasm (they both are gorgeous)
You wouldn't by any chance be talking about Forbidden West would ya?
Hari Seldon
Member
The problem is entirely that hte gameplay was pretty middling and therefore despite it looking fantastic graphically, I cannot muster any hype to pay full price for a sequel. It is definitely a deep discount game for me.
Tschumi
Member
Can confirm I'll be getting it second hand on day 1. That's the plan anyway, I did it with Metroid Dread and got it for $25 less heh
RoadHazard
Gold Member
It's a very pretty game with an interesting story (that's the main reason I actually finished it), but I don't think it's all that fun to play. The open world feels static and lifeless, like it's just a pretty backdrop with little substance. It's not very interesting to explore, there were very few things that made me feel "I want to go over there and see what's there" (which is something I think a good open world game needs to do), I mainly just wanted to get through the story. And the side missions are junk.
Some open world games from the same generation I had MUCH more fun with:
The Witcher 3
Breath of the Wild
Ghost of Tsushima
In those games I actually wanted to explore the world and find everything there is to do.
Some open world games from the same generation I had MUCH more fun with:
The Witcher 3
Breath of the Wild
Ghost of Tsushima
In those games I actually wanted to explore the world and find everything there is to do.
I’m playing it again on pc. It is a gorgeous pc game and they have patched it enough that it’s a damn good port now.
But can we talk about the pc controls for a minute? They are godamn perfect. Aiming feels natural on the mouse and makes hitting parts on machines very easy. The way that you control Aloy with the mouse is so good. Wsad feels natural. Tab to bring up the weapon wheel and using the mouse to select weapons or craft ammo is very well done. Even using items is great with consumables on f and healing on q.
It’s so well done and I hope more games ported to pc look at how horizon did it right.
But can we talk about the pc controls for a minute? They are godamn perfect. Aiming feels natural on the mouse and makes hitting parts on machines very easy. The way that you control Aloy with the mouse is so good. Wsad feels natural. Tab to bring up the weapon wheel and using the mouse to select weapons or craft ammo is very well done. Even using items is great with consumables on f and healing on q.
It’s so well done and I hope more games ported to pc look at how horizon did it right.
ZywyPL
Banned
Videos like this show exactly what I was talking about in my previous post - there's just way more into games than just polygons and textures. While GG did a great job on the design part, there's really nothing that makes Horizon stand out of the crowd of all the open-world games the past generation was flooded with, it's the exact same "pretty but dead" world. So if anything, it's Zelda that doesn't get enough praise for what it's doing on that small mobile device. And that's why many people see RDR2 as the open-world benchmark, because aside the amazing graphics it also has a ton of those tiny tiny details that make the world so much more interesting, living, details that other devs seem to see as unnecessary.
Fess
Member
I just wanted to clarify that it wasn’t Xbox fans that were downplaying HZD, at least I’ve never seen that. Nintendo fans were doing it though, possibly rightfully so, BOTW did so many things no other game did back then.
I agree on RDR2, I think it’s the peak of open game worlds when it comes to the life aspect, every other game feels incredibly static and dead in comparison.
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GymWolf
Member
Whoever think that horizon was not one of the highlight of past gen in terms of graphic is a moron, the game still does things that modern games don't have, specifically a level of details for tertiary (or less) character that is comparable to the protagonist (in an open world game) and some of the most detailed enemies ever.
People can shat on every aspect of the game but graphic was never one of them.
Some animations and digital acting on the other hand...
People can shat on every aspect of the game but graphic was never one of them.
Some animations and digital acting on the other hand...
GymWolf
Member
Horizon is better than any ubisoft game just for having an actual great combat system and a great story, stories and combat in ubisoft open worlds are utter trash.
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Sygma
Member
Zero dawn looks utterly insane maxed out at 4k on pc, it also is a hdr showcase. Highlights being the cauldrons, the desert area and when you finally reach it the whole Frozen Wilds area is nothing short of jaw dropping, particularly a side quest, the cauldron and the quest in the nature reserve. Outside of survival in division 1 theres strictly nothing else nailing snow storms as good
Cockles & Whelks
Banned
Any great Western title is always going to get nitpickers from NeoGaf's historic Nintendo / JAP gaming obsession.
But yes I was watching this again the other day to prime me for Forbidden West and the faces of the characters, in particular, are amazing. Top-quality work.
But yes I was watching this again the other day to prime me for Forbidden West and the faces of the characters, in particular, are amazing. Top-quality work.
Cockles & Whelks
Banned
I'd also add, why the fuck have we got another terrible Resident Evil movie, yet no Horizon Dawn? It's one of the few games where I would welcome the inevitable prequel movie treatment with humanities last stand against the Faro plague.
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Tschumi
I had the exact same experience as you. I originally bought the game and got bored in the prologue, didn't touch it for 2+ years. Played it again and the game opened my eyes once you could finally leave the Nora region. Also when I found out each individual piece of the enemy serves a purpose and you could shoot a gun and use it against the robot... that was insane. Once I got the hang of the rope caster, the predator bow, and the explosive sling I had so much fun devising new ways of taking down enemies. Although first time seeing a storm bird scared tf out of me. The human ai combat... that was disgustingly bad.The graphics are really good but somewhat inconsistent. The Nora region, mountains, snow, and deserts looked beautiful but I hated the forests because it was so generic and flat looking. The water was also really weird-looking and aloy cannot swim for shit. Meridian is also really nice. Frozen wilds looked so much better than the base game.
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Hendrick's
If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I really don't get why people liked this game. Sometimes I feel like graphics are all people care about these days.
rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Shooting the robots can be fun...
Tschumi
Member
I dunno man, to each their own but i played an hour earlier today, exploring a cauldron... It was pretty damn fun. I mean, not quite as mind blowing as the crysis scene it ripped off but really fun.. the boss fights feel a bit soulsborn to me, ofc i play it on high difficulty with auto aim off, anyway I'm just saying it's not like it's an Assassin's Creed clone, imo
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kyussman
Member
I don't think it's been deprived of anything,lol......the game was a huge success,sold loads and people have talked about how great it looks since it's launch.If some sad Xbox only gamers want to pretend it looks shitty,I don't think that counts as depriving the game of adulation...it has had a lot,and it was well deserved.
JackMcGunns
Member
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Exactly. Also, console wars? In 2017 PS4 was the undisputed market leader, and there was simply nothing anyone could put against Horizon tech-wise on the console front. Sunhi was pumping out gif after amazing gif here on GAF. Horizon got the credit it was due.
ZywyPL
Banned
That's only a part of the game, which is easily it's highest, selling point, but it's everything else that's lacking.
Max Payne’s Baretta
Banned
The overall obsession with graphics is strange. This game was so boring and formulaic. It was basically a polished asssins creed game with robot dogs
Tschumi
Member
I'm seeing a pattern here, it seems like somewhere someone said this, but really this is more than those ac formulaic games.. if only because i can actually play this without wanting to puke..
I mean again i have to make it clear that i completely ignore side quests, but it is a huge oversimplification to label this AC... The maps are big, there are icons, but the depth added by things like the variety of robots and strategies for fighting them, the challenge at higher difficulties, the timing required to land certain attacks in time, the narrow dodging windows, the variety of enemy movement and attack, as opposed to the hack'n'slash of AC... It's a different game. It's superior.
In my op i say I'm not saying this is a perfect game, but it's a huge cop out to say it's a Ubisoft clone.
I'm convinced a huge chunk of people judging it only played that first zone, which i also hated and took about 6 attempts to clear.
brian0057
Banned
People were tripping over themselves praising Hellblade 2's "gameplay" (and I use the term extremely loosely) when it was shown at The Game Awards.
If pretty graphics is all it takes to impress people, then the state of current AAA gaming should surprise no one.
tommib
Banned
lughnasadh123
Member
-I'm ok with map icons particularly when you can select which ones you want to see.
-I'm ok with not being able to climb anytime anywhere. Just because you like a feature doesn't mean it should be in every single type of game aftewards since each game is going for something different.
-What I didn't like were the current tribal politics and stories which paled to the more interesting story of what lead up to the major event.
-Excessive use of "detective vision" to find stuff. It's fine to do in small doses.
-Combat was good but is getting better, so there's that
-Let me override a flying robo dino!
-I'm ok with not being able to climb anytime anywhere. Just because you like a feature doesn't mean it should be in every single type of game aftewards since each game is going for something different.
-What I didn't like were the current tribal politics and stories which paled to the more interesting story of what lead up to the major event.
-Excessive use of "detective vision" to find stuff. It's fine to do in small doses.
-Combat was good but is getting better, so there's that
-Let me override a flying robo dino!
Tschumi
Member
Haha man i forgot about that, i just saw those in game for the first time and i thought "oh for sure one day I'll be overriding that bish" fml lollll
01011001
Banned
it's actually the other way around, fanboyism is the only reason anyone gives a flying fuck about this game.
the entire structure of the game is almost 1 for 1 a Ubisoft open world title from the 2010 to 2013 era of Ubiworld games.
if this game came out and there was an Ubisoft logo on the cover instead of a Sony logo, people wouldn't speak nearly as fondly about it as even many Ubiworld games that came out close to or after it are vastly superior open world games.
Watch_Dogs 2 comes to mind which is a better open world game in almost every way and also has way more innovative gameplay elements + more open ended and dynamic mission/level designs.
the open world in Horizon is ridiculously static and limiting. going as far as literally stopping the game and reloading your last auto save should you jump up the wrong hill and going to what the devs deam to be out of bounds while exploring.
Horizon is ridiculously overrated and doesn't deserve even half of the praise it usually gets, mostly from Sony fanboys. there is nothing special about it. the gameplay is a mix of typically Ubisoft traversal and monster battles that amount to "hit that glowing thing" or "hit that thing that covers the glowing thing"
the only interesting gameplay element in the game is the traps you can set up. that is often super slow and also not really that interesting once you see that the path the machines use is predetermined and even shown to you using detective vision, so even that aspect is dumbed down as much as possible as per usually in modern AAA games.
is it bad? no... is it better than most Ubisoft open world games? also no...
it's as middle of the road as it gets, nothing special and especially feeling outdated and limited in scope due to its very close release to Breath of the Wild which is the exact opposite of limiting and static.
the entire structure of the game is almost 1 for 1 a Ubisoft open world title from the 2010 to 2013 era of Ubiworld games.
if this game came out and there was an Ubisoft logo on the cover instead of a Sony logo, people wouldn't speak nearly as fondly about it as even many Ubiworld games that came out close to or after it are vastly superior open world games.
Watch_Dogs 2 comes to mind which is a better open world game in almost every way and also has way more innovative gameplay elements + more open ended and dynamic mission/level designs.
the open world in Horizon is ridiculously static and limiting. going as far as literally stopping the game and reloading your last auto save should you jump up the wrong hill and going to what the devs deam to be out of bounds while exploring.
Horizon is ridiculously overrated and doesn't deserve even half of the praise it usually gets, mostly from Sony fanboys. there is nothing special about it. the gameplay is a mix of typically Ubisoft traversal and monster battles that amount to "hit that glowing thing" or "hit that thing that covers the glowing thing"
the only interesting gameplay element in the game is the traps you can set up. that is often super slow and also not really that interesting once you see that the path the machines use is predetermined and even shown to you using detective vision, so even that aspect is dumbed down as much as possible as per usually in modern AAA games.
is it bad? no... is it better than most Ubisoft open world games? also no...
it's as middle of the road as it gets, nothing special and especially feeling outdated and limited in scope due to its very close release to Breath of the Wild which is the exact opposite of limiting and static.
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