Horizon: Zero Dawn

Sephiroth_dude

Rope caster is a god send... .. That is all.

AbusesToilets

Finally moved into Carja territory, at lvl 30 lol. Killed the 2 Thunderjaws handily enough, just takes some time knocking their various accoutrements off. Great fun so far.

gimli2112

falling off mountains aside I'm just about indestructible now

Sephiroth_dude

the behemoth you fight when you're captured is one epic fight!

Glico Man

Finished this tonight. That whole closing act is all sorts of epic. What a wonderfully excellent game.

Sephiroth_dude

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

the behemoth you fight when you're captured is one epic fight!

I used the rope caster for the first time in this fight , I didn't bother with it before that , could have saved myself a lot of hassle if I had

gimli2112

I'm still using the Hunter's bow as a primary, the three arrow perk gives it a fair bit of damage and it fires quick. Freeze sling and sticky bombs for the big machines.

Penn

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

I used the rope caster for the first time in this fight , I didn't bother with it before that , could have saved myself a lot of hassle if I had

It's particularly great for Glinthawks and the Stormbird. Can be harder to hit them with it, but pulls them down and allows you to do huge damage with bombs and critical hits.

Plus, some of the Corrupted Zones... it's damn near vital.

EoinMcLovin

Penn wrote: »

It's particularly great for Glinthawks and the Stormbird. Can be harder to hit them with it, but pulls them down and allows you to do huge damage with bombs and critical hits.

Plus, some of the Corrupted Zones... it's damn near vital.

Yeah its really handy for Stormbird along with the tearblaster

Penn

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Yeah its really handy for Stormbird along with the tearblaster

I actually never bothered with the tearblaster at all, or the rattler. Probably should have at least tried them but was just so used to the arrows by that stage.

Frisbee

Picked this up yesterday and put about 8 hours into it. Absolutely loving it. Can only echo what everyone else has said regarding how good this looks. You'd think you were playing on a decent PC rather than a PS4, can only imagine how good it looks on the Pro. Story is surprisingly decent as well, was expecting the usual crap just bolted onto an open world game with loads of collectibles.

Just on Side Quests etc, I haven't really gotten that many of them up until just before I shut off last night. Went to the settlement to talk to Merea and there was 5x side quests, all of which I picked up. Before then I had only found one or two (excluding Hunters Lodge / Bandit Camps & Tallnecks). Does that sound about right? Or have I missed a swathe of them?

gimli2112

I only came across a couple of side quests out in the World. There's a good few in the settlement that you got and in Meridian. Other than that there was the early one to upgrade the spear, a couple in a settlement and one in a castle/keep.
Think I've done all the caves (or whatever they're called so you can take over machines)

EoinMcLovin

Penn wrote: »

I actually never bothered with the tearblaster at all, or the rattler. Probably should have at least tried them but was just so used to the arrows by that stage.

I generally only use the Tearblaster for the Stormbird and Thunderjaw, you need to be close range to get maximum effect. Don't use the Rattler at all.

TitianGerm

Frisbee wrote: »

Picked this up yesterday and put about 8 hours into it. Absolutely loving it. Can only echo what everyone else has said regarding how good this looks. You'd think you were playing on a decent PC rather than a PS4, can only imagine how good it looks on the Pro. Story is surprisingly decent as well, was expecting the usual crap just bolted onto an open world game with loads of collectibles.

Just on Side Quests etc, I haven't really gotten that many of them up until just before I shut off last night. Went to the settlement to talk to Merea and there was 5x side quests, all of which I picked up. Before then I had only found one or two (excluding Hunters Lodge / Bandit Camps & Tallnecks). Does that sound about right? Or have I missed a swathe of them?

I just spoke to Meera yesterday as well but i did a few side quests before that. I'll have a look at the list at lunch and see, but one was to find a child and another was to find some pain killer plant. There was some more as well as far as i remember.

Frisbee

Cheers. Had a quick google and looks like I missed one or two near the start, will head back and do them. Particularly the Spear Upgrade one.

TitianGerm

Frisbee wrote: »

Cheers. Had a quick google and looks like I missed one or two near the start, will head back and do them. Particularly the Spear Upgrade one.

What mission is that? Can't remember if i got a spear upgrade :pac:

gimli2112

emmetkenny wrote: »

What mission is that? Can't remember if i got a spear upgrade :pac:

Her mothers daughter (I think it's called) . You meet a dude lying in a field early on and then have to find his daughter and then find her mother's spear which is guarded by some low level machines. It's laughable how difficult I found it then when now I'd just bash their heads in with the spear.

TitianGerm

gimli2112 wrote: »

Her mothers daughter (I think it's called) . You meet a dude lying in a field early on and then have to find his daughter and then find her mother's spear which is guarded by some low level machines. It's laughable how difficult I found it then when now I'd just bash their heads in with the spear.

Ok did that one

Notorious

Zero Punctuation Review

Thought Zero Punctuation did a fairly solid review of Horizon. The term MLFS (Majestic Landscape Fatigue Syndrome) with regards to gaming is new to me, but I can definitely relate. Started into Horizon after playing the Witcher 3, which was probably a bad idea in retrospect. The Witcher 3 spoiled me, and I can't help but feel that it's tarnishing my view of HZD.

I think I need to take a break from grand, open-world games as I feel I really don't appreciate HZD for what it is. I'm around level 15, gotten through a load of side quests, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the story plays out. So far it's a story that hundreds if sci-fi novels have gone for, and so many have failed in telling it. But not the team behind HZD.

At the same time, I can't help but notice the absence of strong facial animations and the AI is pretty muck (until you're being chased down by a pack of Dino-machines). I jacked up the difficulty to make the gameplay a little more challenging, but that's yet to pay off. I know it's still early in the game and I hope that changes.

So far I'm really enjoying HZD, but I can't help but feel that it's going to become a bit of a repetitive grind. Maybe that's just the pessimist in me?

J. Marston

MLFS. What a stupid term.

SeantheMan

I'm enjoying fighting the monsters, the side quests are rubbish though.
Also, everything is CLEARLY marked on my map as to the EXACT location of people and quest items.
Given that it's open world I think it would have been much better to be shown an area or name of a place. This kind of map-marking has me always just checking my map for the waypoint and wandering that 'optimal route' that is given to me by the game. It should allow for freedom and exploration by giving you the general direction.

A lot of them are just ridiculous too. One that I remeber...only a few hours in...was...get some Deadly flower to ease some guy's pain.
So she sends me off to locations where they possibly are...2 EXACT spots miles apart...in really awkward 'climb this ledge, jump to this ledge' locations to get to.
Then....they're not even there...you go back to her to tell her (mind you....ALL this time...I DON'T CARE about this guy or her...I have been given no reason to care, he doesn't even look in pain....and I'm only doing it for XP..not for my own satisfaction or for the story...which is how it should be). She then marks somewhere else ...EXACT POINT....on my map...even further away.
At that point I audibly say "F*ck off with that, I'll leave him to die" and go off to kill some monsters instead.

I've put it down and went back to Yakuza 0 which is far more enjoyable and the sidequests are more rewarding. Everyone gushes about the graphics in this game, but honestly for me...they are very good...but not the best I've ever seen (for me personally...my opinion)...and without the graphics...it's just an average game.

I'll probably update or change my opinion with time though if it gets better.

Notorious

J. Marston wrote: »

MLFS. What a stupid term.

I don't think it's supposed to stick.

Penn

Jim Sterling featured HZD on this week's Jimquisition about how good it is for the industry in general. Worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv953UzG8FA

Potential-Monke

SeantheMan wrote: »

I'm enjoying fighting the monsters, the side quests are rubbish though.
Also, everything is CLEARLY marked on my map as to the EXACT location of people and quest items.
Given that it's open world I think it would have been much better to be shown an area or name of a place. This kind of map-marking has me always just checking my map for the waypoint and wandering that 'optimal route' that is given to me by the game. It should allow for freedom and exploration by giving you the general direction.

If you go into options, you can turn off the "on the way" markers, and you'll just have the end location showing, but it's up to you how to get there.

DeadlyByDesign

Lads after reading the shambles of Mass Effect Andromeda, I am strongly on the fence about getting it and might be putting my hard earned readies to Horizon. Quick question, how is the writing/characterization and story? Is it engrossing? How does it measure up again Witcher 3?

Sephiroth_dude

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

Lads after reading the shambles of Mass Effect Andromeda, I am strongly on the fence about getting it and might be putting my hard earned readies to Horizon. Quick question, how is the writing/characterization and story? Is it engrossing? How does it measure up again Witcher 3?

I'm very engrossed in it, it doesn't top witcher 3 but it's very close , side quest are of witcher 3 quality, it's a world worth exploring .

DeadlyByDesign

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

I'm very engrossed in it, it doesn't top witcher 3 but it's very close , side quest are of witcher 3 quality, it's a world worth exploring .

Really regarding side quests? A few reviews I read suggested that main arc is brilliant but sides are a bit meh? Either way-SOLD!

Sephiroth_dude

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

Really regarding side quests? A few reviews I read suggested that main arc is brilliant but sides are a bit meh? Either way-SOLD!

Well they wouldn't top witcher 3 quality but I haven't felt there a chore too do or anything.

gimli2112

HZD motivated me to buy the Witcher 3. I only started it yesterday and less than two hours played. HZD is more polished but that's to be expected from a newer title. I also couldn't get the fecking horse to cross a bridge which annoyed the hell out of me. HZD is also a simpler game in terms of quest lines, inventory etc and character movement & control is far better. Think I'm going to enjoy Witcher 3 but they are very different games.
I found some of the side quests really engaging in HZD. Some of them are bland but there's really not that many of them to begin with.

Osmosis Jones

The combat in Horizon for me is what really makes it, I'm not sure I've played an open world game with a more enjoyable combat system.