Horizon: Forbidden West (Horizon Zero Dawn Sequel) PS5

Yeah it only became a minor issue towards the end, I needed a goose feather for an upgrade. Just created a job for it and fast traveled to where it marked it on the map. Defeated machines that were there and kept scanning around for geese, three geese only had meat, couldn't find geese, moved out of the area, enemy machines respawned when I came back.... Just felt like an unnecessary pain.

I'd say if you can, just try to make sure you have different ammo types across your weapons. So a bow with acid and freeze would be worth buying if you don't have any. Likewise Shock is a good one to have as it'll always affect most enemies. I wouldn't go too nuts though until you start finding vendors with purple weapons.

Can't fully remember. I think if you can find one to buy, buy it. I never really compared stats of weapons or anything, just focused on trying to get different types of ammo, so even if you do get a different/better fire hunter bow in a quest later, it'll still have been worth buying one before if you can. From what I remember I definitely bought bows that had tear ammo-types without waiting to get one in a quest. But different ammo types only become available as you advance in the game, so if they're not for sale at Plainsong, they might be available at the next settlement you go to.

In the Quests page of the menu, quest rewards should be noted at the side, so it's always worth picking up side quests even if you don't plan on doing them immediately, then you can check the rewards and see if they're worth doing. Though be warned some side quests have multiple parts and you might not get the reward until the full chain is completed, and some weapon names might not make it clear what element it is (so for example I have a Frost Hunter Bow so it shoots freeze arrows, but it also fires Acid arrows, or some weapons from quests might just be called 'Characters Sharpshot Bow').

Not sure how far im in but i've made it to the coast an im loving it. No idea how long i've left to play and thats a great feeling.

I do like doing the Relic Ruins.

They are great puzzle sections. Really enjoy doing one before bed. Kinda like my wordle 🤣

I cheesed that one early on aswell but from the Rock outcrop it circles :).

BTW if you're nearing the end of the game and kind've into grind mode on some of the more exotic upgrades for Legendaries you can also basically force the game back to HZ-D's loot system (where if any key component wasn't shot off it's in the main carcass loot pool and not destroyed). Just set your difficulty to custom and change the loot setting to Easy Loot Mode. Now don't judge :), I've 60+ hours into this now and nearing the last few missions I want to spend some time upgrading my legendaries that require components from enemies that are very rare, so missing a component or 2 has a time costs for respawn. I don't need to do this as my character is OP now already, it's more curiosity on how high they can really go. I could also grind this out by passing time at Huts and waiting for those respawns but that's just a time-suck imho and gains/proves nothing either. I would absolutely not recommend doing this earlier as that tactical component side is a lot of fun in itself, just eventually not for end-game grind.

I think the biggest problem this one had is it's gear system. There was too much overlap between different weapons to where it felt like my wheel/ammo-choice was overloaded and half of it was redundant. I preferred the simpler original where yes there were different sub-types of weapons but with little overlap and for the most part they had unique properties that didn't require having 4 different bows, half of which have fire arrows etc. If each weapon had unique singular effects fair enough but with most here having 3 the standard RPG gear diversity just didn't fit well. Near the end it was so easy to select the wrong ammo type mid fight.

Overall I loved it but:

Edit: I shouldn't try to cram in a post mid-meeting, apparently I lose the ability to speak English...

My go-to's for this one were Ice, Acid, Tear-Blast and then plain old advanced hunter arrows. The Damage buff for attacks against brittle/frozen enemies was much larger than HZD I think and fire which had been my go to there much weaker this time around. You get an excellent legendary elemental hunter bow for completing all 6 Rebel camps which is not hard to do once you've opened up the map areas.

Finished this a couple weeks back and revisited a few times to scratch an itch.

A good game bordering great. Enjoyed the story, even though I think it was trying to juggle too many subplots at once in places - though gut punch this time (as compared to last when I relaised what Zero Dawn actually was). The themes (you don't need t do everything yourself and nature vs nurture) are handled well if not exactly subtle.

Combat is great, though like most games with a large arsenal I tended to stick to a small group (bows and bomb launchers). melee is still a bit underwhelming, the added combos add a bit, but never has the same satisfaction as archery.

Exploration is a joy and the world is beautiful and begging to be explored.

Some extra quality of life options would be nice - auto looting and a verbose / laconic toggle for Aloy.

...

I think this is a fair review. I thought the story ran out of steam and got a bit naff. Probably should have done more side quests and turned it up to hard. I remember struggling at times on normal in the first game but this a bit easier.

I think an issue is that I could just about believe in the sticks and stones breaking machines in the first one but it's starting to push the bounds with the enemies introduced in this.

Still really enjoyed it and there are some great themes explored again. Would have liked a couple more bigger settlements like the first game and the world felt more empty due to the lack of them.