Horizon: Zero Dawn

Penn

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!

Some of the side quests are definitely little more than busywork. But some of them have several parts with more fleshed-out side characters (who are part of the overall story). They also do a great job of expanding on how the general civilisation of the game works and the cultures of the different tribes. And in terms of gameplay they can take more liberties in having you go up against different types of enemies than the main quest missions sometimes do.

They're even split in the game menu, as "Side Quests" (ones featuring important characters and multi-arc missions) and "Errands" (general go here and collect something or defeat enemies), so you can choose to ignore the errand ones (or do them as you pass by those locations anyway rather than seek them out) quite easily.

I can't compare to The Witcher 3 having not played it (bar an initial hour or two before abandoning it). But just in terms of what I thought about HZD's story and characters, I really loved it. It's fairly simple and derivative on the surface, and most of the side characters are good but not great. But it does have some great characters, and a story that while simple on the surface, evolves into something genuinely interesting and deep, with some great character moments and interactions. It's a story told extremely well that really drew me in as it went on.

In terms of story and character, it doesn't do anything amazingly groundbreakingly fantastic, but what it does, it does in a very satisfying and competent way and really adds to the game and the world it has created rather than being a generic "I MUST SAVE EVERYONE AND STOP THE BAD GUY" open-world tacked-on story.

Retr0gamer

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?

The story and writing arent any great shakes but it never gets in the way of the game. It's an excuse to kill robot dinosaurs and it does the job.

Retr0gamer

Potential-Monke wrote: »

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.

I think some people have just been spoiled by Zelda ☺

biggebruv

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think some people have just been spoiled by Zelda ☺

I need to play this zelda game I have to go out and buy a cheap wii u to experience it ha

Penn

New update out today I think. Mostly bug fixes, but one thing they've added (obviously they waited until I was finished to bring it in) is ability to buy numerous resources in one go (eg. Buy 50 Blaze with one button rather than having to hold X for a second each time to buy 1 Blaze, which did annoy me a little when I was low and wanted to buy about 100).

Glico Man

Penn wrote: »

New update out today I think. Mostly bug fixes, but one thing they've added (obviously they waited until I was finished to bring it in) is ability to buy numerous resources in one go (eg. Buy 50 Blaze with one button rather than having to hold X for a second each time to buy 1 Blaze, which did annoy me a little when I was low and wanted to buy about 100).

Finally... that was an annoying pain for purchasing Echo Shells for the TearBlast arrows as well as for Blaze like yourself.

Oh that was really annoying having to hold X each time.

Penn

Glico Man wrote: »

Finally... that was an annoying pain for purchasing Echo Shells for the TearBlast arrows as well as for Blaze like yourself.

Never ran too low on anything other than Blaze really, and only towards the end. Used a lot of fire arrows, blast sling ammo and blast tripcasters.

It is one of the things I commend the game on though. Collecting resources never felt like a chore. Even compared to the likes of the last Tomb Raider where you generally had to use Survival Instinct to locate some resources, resources in HZD are generally plentiful, easy to spot and collect and is a lot more passive in its implementation rather than something you have to constantly be thinking of.

Until of course, you do run low on something

Thargor

Andrew76

^
Class.

Thargor

Better one:

Potential-Monke

Don't know if it was mentioned before, but for gathering resources, doing a timed somersault where you finish the somersault at the resource and double tap triangle, it picks up the resource without the animation, but it has to be timed right. Handy when going from one place to another on foot.

I had an epic moment last night, there were 6 elite cultists battling 4 watchers, 2 scrappers, 2 shell walkers and a behemoth. I let them all attack each other (didn't realise the robo-creatures attack each other too) and when i saw one of them nearly dead, stealth arrow to the face! Got some amount of XP and loot! Amazing game!

nevelator

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I had an epic moment last night, there were 6 elite cultists battling 4 watchers, 2 scrappers, 2 shell walkers and a behemoth. I let them all attack each other (didn't realise the robo-creatures attack each other too) and when i saw one of them nearly dead, stealth arrow to the face! Got some amount of XP and loot! Amazing game!

Last night I came across 2 thunderjaws and a bunch of long-legs. Corrupted the 2 thunderjaws and sat back to watch the chaos unfold. It was a laser show.

Retr0gamer

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Don't know if it was mentioned before, but for gathering resources, doing a timed somersault where you finish the somersault at the resource and double tap triangle, it picks up the resource without the animation, but it has to be timed right. Handy when going from one place to another on foot.

That's some speed running tech right there ☺

Paleblood

I'm not sure if this is a bug but it's bloody annoying.

I can't recall the name of the mission I was on, but basically it's the first encounter with a Stormbird. It takes place right beside a hunting ground. The bloody thing started attacking me while I was standing outside the hut so I couldn't draw my weapon. I had to dash down passed it, taking damage all the time, before trying to get my bearings. Not enjoyable. It's such a cool enemy that I'd been looking forward to battling.

Paleblood

Paleblood wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is a bug but it's bloody annoying.

I can't recall the name of the mission I was on, but basically it's the first encounter with a Stormbird. It takes place right beside a hunting ground. The bloody thing started attacking me while I was standing outside the hut so I couldn't draw my weapon. I had to dash down passed it, taking damage all the time, before trying to get my bearings. Not enjoyable. It's such a cool enemy that I'd been looking forward to battling.

Happened me in reverse. Was doing one of the hunting challenges and one was after me bugged out when I went back to the hunt master as there is a no attack / weapon zone there.

Potential-Monke

The only issues i'm experiencing is the disc itself, the PS4 booted up to a black screen with the disc in, everything frozen, had to plug it out and back in again, and i keep getting errors with the disc not being read. I've googled it and it's not the disc... To make sure it doesn't freeze again, i can't leave the HZD disc in while booting (doesn't happen with other discs).

Cina

Potential-Monke wrote: »

The only issues i'm experiencing is the disc itself, the PS4 booted up to a black screen with the disc in, everything frozen, had to plug it out and back in again, and i keep getting errors with the disc not being read. I've googled it and it's not the disc... To make sure it doesn't freeze again, i can't leave the HZD disc in while booting (doesn't happen with other discs).

I'm no expert but it sounds like Console AIDS.

Potential-Monke

Cina wrote: »

I'm no expert but it sounds like Console AIDS.

It's not though, only happens with HZD, no other games giving any issues! Similar reports online also. Should mention it's a relatively new-ish PS4, one of the last models before the Slim/Pro.

gimli2112

I used to have a problem with TLOU and no other disc. I got my brother's disc and that didn't work either. Then one day it did and haven't had any problems since. I see you're sure it's not the disc though.

TheDoc

Keep hearing great things about this. Another title to maybe breathe life in my dust collector known as my PS4 Probably pick this up next month, but seems like anyone I speak to who has played it loves it

SolvableKnave

TheDoc wrote: »

Keep hearing great things about this. Another title to maybe breathe life in my dust collector known as my PS4 Probably pick this up next month, but seems like anyone I speak to who has played it loves it

It really is a great game. It looks fantastic, weapon play is top notch. Just an overall enjoyable experience. Honestly, it's one of the few games actually worth their asking price.

Shiminay

I've seen it in action enough to say it's got all the things that appear in open world action games with a drastically reduced amount of the busy work added to pad it out. Well worth picking up if you have a dust gatherer doing feck all

SolvableKnave

Another way to look at it. Have you played the Titanfall 2 campaign? That is one of the best SP campaigns in the last 5 years. It was just right. Not too short, not dragged out. It's roughly 8 hours long, and general consensus is/was that it was in the Goldilocks zone. IMHO, HZD is in that same place. Resource gathering is not a chore. Side quests are not drowning you. Even just traversing the world is a delight, it looks so good.

Penn

SolvableKnave wrote: »

Another way to look at it. Have you played the Titanfall 2 campaign? That is one of the best SP campaigns in the last 5 years. It was just right. Not too short, not dragged out. It's roughly 8 hours long, and general consensus is/was that it was in the Goldilocks zone. IMHO, HZD is in that same place. Resource gathering is not a chore. Side quests are not drowning you. Even just traversing the world is a delight, it looks so good.

Agreed. The collectibles that are there too aren't too numerous, are pretty easy to find once you get to the location (with easily purchasable maps to locate them), some offer a challenge by being located in areas with tough enemies, and a lot of them (such as vantage points) are tied in with the story and offer more background on the history/lore of the world.

The game does take a lot from the Ubisoft model of open world games, but it breaks it down to the minimum and takes the best of those ideas to strike a great balance between completionism and pointless busywork. The map is never drowning in icons. I used to be a big fan of the Assassin's Creed games, but it took me ages to finally try AC:Unity because I was so burnt out on the formula. When I finally did try it, I played maybe two hours, opened the map, and saw all the icons for everything. The bare amount of interest I'd had in the game just completely evapourated and I never went back to it.

HZD gets the balance right imo. Also helps with how huge the map is so everything isn't crammed together anyway.

Paleblood

I love how the various pieces of side content are broken down into side missions, errands, etc. Little quality of life stuff like that really makes the game more enjoyable.

On the other hand it's a shame you can't tag a 'recipe' in the crafting section and have the missing items highlighted when you're trading with a vendor.

weiland79

Paleblood wrote: »

On the other hand it's a shame you can't tag a 'recipe' in the crafting section and have the missing items highlighted when you're trading with a vendor.

You should tweet Guerilla games your suggestion, you never know it could make it into a future patch.

Birthday tomorrow and the missus has got this for me, can't wait.

Potential-Monke

Paleblood wrote: »

On the other hand it's a shame you can't tag a 'recipe' in the crafting section and have the missing items highlighted when you're trading with a vendor.

I do't know about the vendors showing the needed items, but you can Create a Job for any crafting upgrades.

Temptamperu

Holy Jesus! thunderjaws suck!

_CreeD_

Temptamperu wrote: »

Holy Jesus! thunderjaws suck!

Take off the 2 disc launchers first, they're pretty easy with a Sharpshooter bow (tuned for tear) and tearblast arrows, with max-tear I could one-shot anywhere within about 5 feet or so of a launcher and off it would pop. That's by far it's biggest threat down, use the ropecaster to slow it then pick up the remains of the launchers and shoot it with them. If it's still alive knock off the mid-side armour and aim for the heart (open hole). That combo always worked well for me.
You absolutely have to be tactical with them, pure attrition will fail (or chew up a ton of your resources succeeding).