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Horizon: Zero Dawn.


retroed
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Another 4 hours played earlier, 8 total.

Definitely feel like the game has opened up a lot more now, more of the side activities like the Tallnecks, Bandit Camps and Trials have revealed themselves, the landscape has definitely got more interesting and the graphics continue to astound. What I really didn't expect going into this is how melancholic it can feel at times, especially when it's raining, it's quite a sad predicament humanity is in, feels quite Matrix-esque too, but everywhere you go there's a melancholic beauty to things, especially the wrecked metal towns/cities that have been reclaimed by nature.

I can't help thinking I'm playing a Far Cry game at times though, there was a mission where I had to take out a load of bandit-types and the whole setup to that, along with the sneaking in the tall grass and being able to see where everyone was with the 'focus' was all very Far Cry, the bandit camp too felt like it had been ripped straight from that with an alarm, reinforcements and all the trimmings. The trials were a little different though and I liked that you still managed to pick up a reward even if you only got the 3rd tier down, it's a nice sweeter for people like me that probably won't be arsed to try and try again to get the Gold medal prize or whatever, the trials themselves had plenty of innovation to them and actually taught me a bit more about the combat system which was nice.

The first time I saw a tallneck in one of the abandoned metal cities I was honestly in awe, how elegant and graceful it was, climbing up to it was a little clumsy but reaching the top was another wow moment, was a little surprised it revealed a huge swathe of the map, I guess they're somehow linked to a core or transformer for that region that shows you where everything is, all very Far Cry again but this is at least a more original take on Ubisoft's towers I suppose.

Even though I didn't continue along the main plot an awful lot today it has continued to be excellent, genuinely intriguing and with such an air of mystery and excitement to it that is unusual this early for a game of this scope, cannot wait to do the next one just to see where it goes next.

A few pics below (the photo mode is incredibly addictive):

 

 

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Ah ok cheers @Nag will bear that in mind.

 

 

 

 

Another 4 hours today, 12 total.

 

Didn't really feel that I got an awful lot done today really, mostly pottered about doing a lot of side-quests and errands, fulfilling the goals for one main quest and completing another.


The most interesting part by far was the

 

Spoiler

 

Cauldron quest, just to be able to get there I had to fight a new type of machine (stalker) who could go invisible, it wasn't much trouble though once I got my Ropecaster and pinned it to the floor, just wailed on it until it went down.

 

Entering the Cauldron actually reminded me A LOT of the Remnant ruins/Vaults from Mass Effect Andromeda and The Matrix too, just the way the machine power-lines ran under the ground felt very Matrix-esque to me. I did enjoy the Cauldron quest for the most part, it was very different from the open-world parts of the game and it was incredibly other-worldly compared to the earthy feel of the Nora land, I can't say i enjoyed the boss at the end much though (Bellowback), I didn't have much health when I went into it as a lot of my healing supplies went into the Shell-Walker in one of the previous rooms.

 

The first time I attempted it I got it down to about half-health but didn't feel like I was making much of a dent, this was a bloody hard fight, I'd never fought one of these creatures before so didn't know its weaknesses so was just flailing about trying everything to try to stop it in its tracks whilst it gradually burnt me to death, on the second attempt I used TONS of traps, the Ropecaster and lots of my potion supply and managed to down it thankfully.

 

 

After this I killed some Sawtooths in one of the metal ruins to help out some tribe for a side-quest, then defended a caravan against another Chicken/bird-type machine and finally I decided to continue on with a main quest so made my way north.

 

To my surprise/annoyance there was ANOTHER one of those fucking Bellowback things for me to kill, along with another new enemy type (the 'Charger), another frustrating battle ensued, knew how to defeat the Bellowback a bit better this time and was nowhere near as annoying as the Cauldron fight but the Chargers kept killing me when I was wailing on the Bellowback (after I'd tied it to the floor) so some frustrating deaths ensued and it put me back all the way to the beginning of the fight which was rather annoying too.

 

I prevailed after a while and had to clear out 3 enemy camps to make my way to the 'circle of steel' (which ended up being a stadium of some kind, these kind of areas SO remind me of The Last of Us!) the first 2 camps were no problem at all, very Far Cry/Assassin's Creed, taking out the enemies one by one then neutralising the alarm, no problem at all but the 3rd one I somehow managed to alert all the enemies in the camp and they activated the alarm before I could get to it. Stupidly I thought 'well it just means a few more enemies will arrive' but how wrong I was, a TON more human enemies came plus another couple of new flying bird-type ice machine enemies that I had to kill, they weren't that difficult to put down but it surprised me how the game ramped it up to 10 like that.

 

Finally made it to the stadium, cleared out all the enemies stealthily and then blew a hole in the wall for the rest of the tribe to make it through, a battle scene ensued and another damn Bellowback to put down, after this was all finished I called it a day.

 

By the way folks, should I be selling all the blue/green salvage I'm picking up? I look in the inventory and it says 'sold to merchants for metal shards' but I'm still not sure if I should be hanging onto it or not?

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Ah ok cheers @Nag sold all the items in my inventory that could be sold for metal shards, kept all the crafting and trading materials too. Also managed to spend all of my 2500 shards on a new Shadow Bow, Shadow Tripcaster, Nora Sling, item maps and a Purple Nora Outfit, no idea if that was a good idea relatively early in the game but I felt like I could use that extra damage for my bow and other weapons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, 2 hours was all I had time for today, 14 hours total.

 

I made a beeline for the new area that was covered in cloud West of where I was, cleared a couple of corrupted zones using sneaky sneaky, then made my way to a Tallneck. On the way to the Tallneck I discovered a couple of new enemies, the Snapjaw (Crocodile) and another one but I forget its name, looked like a huge Bull along with a TON more enemies, which I just ran through rather than fought, no way I'm taking all them on! 

 

Reached the Tallneck and unlocked the area, after this I carried on back towards the main quest at the Carja Fort, on the way I got side-tracked by another Bandit-Camp so when in there and decimated all of them before continuing onto the Carja Fort, predictably I had to fight a few enemies to make my way inside, no real trouble at all and I soon made my way in.

 

Love the way this area looked, almost got a Roman feel to it, the armour the Carja wear evokes medieval/ancient Roman/Greek armour too, got that grandiose kind of vibe to it, the more I play of this game the more I think how much it feels like The Witcher 3, just not quite as good, the combat seems very close to The Last of Us and Assassin's Creed too still to me, it's uncanny.

 

Despite playing a lot like some of the games I love the World still isn't drawing me in, the more I play the more I keep thinking it just feels like a paint-by-numbers open-world really, nothing real jumps out at me or evokes many feelings (other than melancholy ocassionally) whilst I play, it feels very much like Velen in The Witcher 3 but without the unique atmosphere, side-quests and incredible feel that game had, I haven't really properly warmed to Aloy yet either, I loved her origin story and how she got in the Tribe (eventually) with the twists and turns along the way but I find myself struggling to pay attention when she speaks in the branching conversations.

 

It's difficult to put my finger on but the world still isn't drawing me in and I feel slightly relieved when I end a session rather than being annoyed I can't play again until tomorrow. I don't want to be unduly negative to it though, I'm still early in at 14 hours in and I'm sure I'll be very impressed with Meridien when I get there if the architecture is going to be like what I think it's going to be like, the story is still very interesting and intriguing too.

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4 hours earlier, 18 total.

 

Had a MUCH better time with it overall today I'm happy to report.

 

Started out the session by overriding another couple of Tallneck's to demist a couple of the areas surrounding Meridien. After this I then discovered a couple of Cauldrons so went and did the one to the South first, much like the first one I did really and the boss(es) at the end seemed a bit easier than the Bellowback in the 1st Cauldron thankfully, love how these feel like dungeons in classic RPGs, also feel a bit like the Tomb's (with less puzzle elements) from Tomb Raider 2013 and the Vaults in Mass Effect Andromeda, they've got a much more unique, other-worldy alien vibe to them in this though. 

 

Next up was the one in the North, unsure whether I should've even been in this area to be honest as all the enemies seemed really dangerous (some I'd not even seen before), discovered a corruption zone and it was Level 32 :o as well so left that. Once I got to this dungeon and dispatched some of the enemies outside, I found it much different than the others, it was WAY shorter, only like 1-2 rooms whereas the others felt like mini-dungeons really, but this was still my favourite one so far thanks to the machine that was waiting for me at the end, the Thunderjaw. I'd heard a lot about this enemy previous to playing the game, it's even on the Box (I think?) so when I saw it in front of me I was just in awe of it, all the different little weak points on it, how it looks like a T-Rex and towers over you when you're on ground level with it, just an intricately designed masterpiece of an enemy. Predictably it absolutely slaughtered me about 5-6 times, I ended up looking up some strategies on the net and used the one where you shoot its disc launchers off with the tearblast arrows, then use the disc launcher yourself to fire at it. Tried this and it went down like a sack of spuds on my first try! Couldn't believe how easy it was using this method, crazy that there's a knack to them that puts it down so easily.

 

Did some side-quests after this, one right back in the opening area of the game where you discover some cool armour tucked away in a Bunker. I had 2 fuses to power up the first 'puzzle' but didn't have the 3 to actually unlock the armour itself so will have to gather them up and return at some point when I've got them all. After this I did one I'd been neglecting awhile to find a missing Carja troupe back in a 'forbidden' village, loved how this played out, following a blood trail to an island TEEMING with Snapmaw's. Snuck in undetected and found one of the soldiers badly injured, insisted I get his bow back before continuing which meant attempting to take down the Snapmaw without his mates finding out, used the override initially but then thought 'wait I've gotta kill him', so just got him into a few fights with hostile machines, then finished him off with the spear/ropecaster combo after.


Wrapped up another really cool main quest

Spoiler

involving a runaway/captured Nora that had gone on for quite some time, managed to find her at this Shadow Carja hide-out after following some tracks but then the twist came after when I found out one of the Carja captain's I'd spoken to to get this girls location had betrayed me and led a group of naughty Carja to come kill me, needless to say that didn't happen, cool twist.

 

On with the main story and I've finally made it to

Spoiler

Meridien,

just an absolutely amazing city to explore, maybe a little smaller than I expected but the level of detail and architecture is just fantastic, reminded me so much of Novigrad in Witcher 3 the way everything was adorned and how shiny everything was. Did a bit of exploring here and found a few side-quests before calling it a day.

 

The only annoyance today was the climbing. It is so weird, it hasn't really bothered me up until now but earlier when I was taking out some bandits in a make-shift camp in the rocky area I kept trying to get up to kill them and get the loot, jumping up to seemingly easy boxes/ledges etc. and I couldn't get up, eventually had to make my way all the way to the end of this wooden structure to find a ramp up, when you're navigating rocks as well it feels like trying to control a horse in Skyrim getting it up and down a mountain, just rather janky and inelegant. It's adequate and it works for the most part but I can't help but feel an Assassin's Creed type (or dare I say Zelda:BotW) climbing system would of been much better than the Uncharted-esque shiny handhold solution the dev's have come up with.

 

A couple of pics:

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Haha that is damn cool and cheeky at the same time @Nag :lol: not sure if I've noticed that yet, the Watchers are mostly 'Redeye Watcher's' now though so maybe they've evolved somehow? Not noticed it on any others yet, but most of the time I run away from enemies really unless I'm forced to fight :blush:

 

 

 

Anyhoo, 7 hours played since my last post, 25 total.

 

Has been a rather magical journey I have to say, I'm rather smitten with it now I have to say. There's just something magical about the West side of the world with Meridien, the Dorne-esque (from Game of Thrones) Spanish vibes of the far West, lush tropical jungles of the South West and deserts and decayed cities of the North West, it just has such a palpable magic to it, difficult to describe but the ebb and flow of everything just feels so natural and the machines and decayed buildings/cities just fit in so well with the aesthetics of the area, how well everything flows together and always manages to place something interesting on the horizon in front of you.

 

Thoroughly explored Meridien and discovered all its nooks and crannies, plenty of useful merchants there which can sell you some really useful gear like Scrapper hearts etc. for buying weapons at another vendor (this is how I got my Shadow War Bow, by buying a Sawtooth heart from one vendor and going straight to the next to buy the bow). The village below is really cool and I love the rich/poor divide they're showcasing, the village has much more of a rough and ready feel to it and less of the opulence of the upper floor.

 

Done tons of side-quests, not many of them particularly memorable (most you have to track someone then kill some machines at some point) but they've all been enjoyable enough and I've met a few colourful characters along the way that have kept things interesting, I particularly liked some of the family infighting/betrayals that I witnessed (and suppressed) and one or two where you had to rescue freedom fighters from camps.

 

Fought a variety of new enemies too since my last post, the Stormbird as the culmination to a side-quest (which I managed to override, got to attack other enemies and then he fucked off), a Rockbreaker which was bloody tough, a few Freeze Bellowback's, Glinthawks, Longlegs, Charger's, all sorts really but yeah so far the Rockbreakers and Stormbirds have given me the most trouble. The Stormbird fight was so great, enter the 'arena' where he's waiting for me and sneak through the tall grass hoping he doesn't spot me (but of course he does), he really reminds me of the Songbird creature in Bioshock Infinite too, just the mechanical nature of it and the slightly unnerving way it moves and shrieks.

 

What I love most is overriding a machine (preferably a strong one) then just watching it fight every other machine in the viscinity, the AI is that good that I can be so entertained just watching a fight between a Snapmaw and Freeze Bellowback whilst giggling to myself in the tall grass, it's just a fantastic sight to behold and so empowering that you can do that kind of thing in the game.

 

Also finished up the last of the Tallneck's and Cauldron's, nothing much to tell with the Tallneck (other than it was teeming with enemies) but the final Cauldron was fantastic yet again. Completely different vibe to the others as when I turned up I'd found it taken over my the Shadow Carja so had to fight my way into it, then once inside it has all collapsed in on itself so there was dirt, enemy structures and overgrowth everywhere giving it such a different aesthetic to the other dungeons. It actually reminded me a lot of the smuggler's caves in AC4: Black Flag, the enemy AI and the way you systematically go about taking everything out was very AC/Far Cry too, even the enemy designs, loved it but the human AI could be a little better. All too easy to whistle them into the tall grass and stealth kill them but I don't mind, still get a kick from it.

 

Only got two more corrupted zones to do as well, carried on with the main story too, one mission

Spoiler

for Erand and one to find Olin (some revelations there)

maybe one more than that, these lead on to other missions in Meridien and the North West of the map which I'll continue tomorrow.

 

Couple more pics:

 

 

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Played another 4 hours yesterday, 29 total.

 

Finished off the last of the side quests I had

Spoiler

which was helping Olin get his family back

still got the Hunting trials stuff to do but I'll probably leave that until after I've finished it now, can't really be arsed with it though so may end up not bothering. 

 

Spoiler

 

So I carried on with the story questline, I like the duality of it, dealing with the issues surrounding Meridien, meeting the Sun King and helping protect the city. It does end up making things feel a bit disjointed though, I guess I maybe should've concentrated on doing the lineage WTF happened quests together and the Meridien quests together to keep more continuity going but I just did them by the lowest level they were really. 

 

It was quite Games of Thrones-esque the Meridien quest-line, eventually finding out Ersa is alive, sneaking into a bandit camp to rescue her and then her dying in Erand's hands. Think that was meant to be a bit of an emotional moment but I didn't really care in the slightest unfortunately. Back to Meridien after this to protect the city from Durkval's (or whatever his name is) forces which I quite enjoyed, I do feel it's a bit rushed and you're just suddenly meant to hate this guy who turns up out of nowhere but the last-stand on the steps of the Sun Palace against the Glinthawk's was a great moment.

 

The other main questline I find exponentially more interesting though. Making my way up to Maker's Mark, suddenly getting spoken to by Lance Reddick's character (SIlence?) through the Focus, thinking 'who the fuck is this guy?' then going through the ruins of the Faro HQ, picking up all the audio/text logs, piecing together what happened with the machines and then the bombshells of the Hologram conversations with Faro and Elizabet at the end (which brings up more questions than answers really) and them mentioning 'Project Zero Dawn' for the first time, just such amazing stuff, was engaged and SO immersed throughout that whole mission, I just loved exploring through that Bunker and finding all these forgotten notes, seeing all these rooms that had previous been lived/worked in, absolutely loved it.

 

 

On my way to Maker's Mark I finished off the last Bandit camp, managed to stealth my way through the entirety of it for the first time, unfortunately no trophy popped afterwards though :( which was a bit annoying, I'm no trophy whore but it was a bit frustrating regardless.

 

So yeah that mission was so damn amazing and really resonated with me, I'm off to another similar sounding Ruin/Bunker next in the main story so I'll hopefully go further down the rabbit hole. Not sure how much longer I've got left now, I feel if I main-line it tomorrow I may get it finished.

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Played 4 hours on Friday, 33 total.

After a few side quests (tracking down a girl who her father had thought committed suicide) and another where some rogue bandits try to ambush you but that didn't go well at all for them. 
 

Spoiler

Really enjoyed the Grave Hoard quest too in some more ruins, interesting stuff learning about Zero Dawn and some really shocking revelations about its real purpose, fascinating.

Then continued on with the next mission to take down Eclipse's Focus network, which involved sneaking into a camp and killing loads of dudes. seeing Hades for the first time before an Uncharted style mad dash escape sequence at the end, another great mission.

After this I went to the Eclipse's lair to investigate another ruin, had a root around here picking up all the voice/written messages I could before calling it a day half-way through.


Found one more bandit camp as well and the trophy popped straight after :) so it was just me being an idiot rather than the game's fault for the lack of trophy pop, enjoyed the showdown with Din after, not sure if it could've been avoided or not, but I wasn't going to say no to a duel ;)


Managed to squeeze almost 3 hours in earlier today, 36 total.

Spoiler

Continued on with the main mission I was in below the Shadow Sun Ring, TONS more exposition here, really interesting stuff learning about the whole Zero Dawn process and everything. Eye opening and not what I expected at all, the 'solution' is all really well explained and actually makes sense, utterly fascinated by these areas still and find myself needing to know more and more about Aloy's past.

After this I cleared out a corruption zone (fought two corrupted behemoths and a few chargers all at the same time), fantastic fight that. Did another side quest which involved taking down a Thunderjaw and another quest-line (which was probably the best side quest line in the game so far) to rescue the Sun King's brother from the Shadow Carja ring and take them to Meridien. This involved fighting a Rockstopper and another thunderjaw along with tons of Shadow Carja and a Priest, absolutely loved it.



Thought I was near the end but seems the game has some legs in it yet.

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Only managed to squeeze in another 2 hours earlier, 38 total.

 

Started out by finishing off the last Corrupted zone I had left on the map, which featured not 1 BUT TWO Rockbreakers, thought this would be a nightmare as they always seem to annoy me more than most of the other machines in the game, but I managed to separate both of them and take them down one by one without too many problems.

 

Nothing else to do in the game now apart from the hunting trials and collectibles so I carried on with the main story,

Spoiler

 

returning to the original Nora ‘sacred’ lands to discover things had got exponentially more apocalyptic. Everything was dark, there was scorched earth, machines and bodies everywhere, quite depressing. 

 

Mostly stealthed my way into where the Tribe were holed up at ‘All Mother’ defeated another Thunderjaw (which was surprisingly easy with the rest of the Tribe to help out) and then entered ‘All Mother’ herself. This was another bunker/ruin with tons of ancient tech, you see the origin of Aloy, why she’s so special, how key she is to everything in the world. How Hades took over Gaia’s protocols and how they created life once again. Another mind-blowing revelation, truly fascinating stuff and it makes me continue to think the Dev’s watched a lot of The Matrix before starting this game and thought ‘what if there was a way for life to continue if the machines did take over?’.

 

Made my way to the next location in Gaia Prime, stealthed past a ton of enemies and taking out a few via overriding them (still get a kick out of seeing them fight one another whilst I crouch in some bushes) before climbing up to reach the Gaia Prime bunker facility,

 

 

Really don’t think I’ve got much longer to go, will probably finish it tomorrow.

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Finished it earlier, took me 40.5 hours in total.


Finished off the mission at

Spoiler

 

Gaia Prime with another shocking revelation at the end, what a cunt Ted Faro is. Quick detour after to access the special armour located in the opening area (now that I had all the power cell). Damn that armour makes things easy! Much more health and a regenerating shield, bloody brilliant! Loved the way it pulses too.

 

Then back to the Palace of the Sun for the final stand against thee machines, was a tiny bit disappointed with this as it just felt like a lot of other finale's in games, especially usually the canon's to ewazilh take down the machines.

 

The final boss was very disappointing too, just another (albeit tougher) Deathstalker and then that was that, liked the post-credits scene with Sylens too, makes me think he could be the villain in the next game.

 

 

Overall it was a pretty good ride, the story, graphics and combat are the standouts for me. The story is incredibly mysterious and intriguing, it reveals more and more information to you as you make your way through the game, like peeling different layers off an orange to eventually reach the juicy core and there's some pretty shocking revelations I really didn't see coming along the way.

 

The combat is fantastic, always feel like you're on the edge of dying, always feel like you've got to be prepared and respect the machines, if you get cocky you'll die. Teaches you to make snap decisions pretty early on too, when a plan to take down a machine doesn't work you've got to improvise on the fly and they make everything so satisfying and like you've actually achieved something significant.

 

Said a lot about the graphics before, but they truly are superb, easily the best looking console graphics I've ever seen. The vistas, draw distance, detail, facial animations and lighting are all absolutely sublime.

 

Something about it just didn't really blow me off my socks though, can't really out my finger on it, the exposition (voice messages primarily) in the tombs did drag the pacing down a bit I guess but that's a very minor complaint. It's a very good game and I'm flabbergasted that Guerrilla made a game this good really, a fantastic first entry in an inevitable franchise.

 

 

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I've been playing this after being in a real gaming slump recently. Just what the doctor ordered though - cracking game. Don't think i need to mention the graphics, but the game world is amazing - full of intrigue. Love the combat, and the character/enemy design is fantastic. Love it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah general feeling I'm getting is it's pot luck if you get a good one or not <_< some say it's fine, others say not.

 

It overheated and cut off. Yeah, it ain't normal :angry:

 

Damn it! It took 9 hours today to transfer data after I swapped HDD, to now take it back :weep:

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 I can only put it down to being on all day transfering data and just sh*t the bed when I asked it to run such a graphics heavy game in HDR/prefer resolution. 

Played a few hours today and it seems to be behaving. Odd occasion it ramps up the fan real loud but generally it's quiet enough *fingers crossed* 

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This game is goigeous! The first pro enhanced game I've played, but still.

I'm liking the combat. Nice n gritty. Especially the machines. Noises the remind of the Transformers films. When shit hits the fan it gets noisy ^_^ I'm enjoying stealthing around tho. I've not come across anything I can't put down relatively easy but I'm guessing that will change. I've not tested much apart from the traditional bow and melee spear. I'm only lv 12 about to enter what I presume is my first Cauldron...

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Spoiler

That's the one. In the Cauldron. He looked confined and I assumed once I'd overridden the three platforms he'd come out. After the first they all dropped and he came charging with his little watcher buddies :blink: Caught me by surprise :angry: 

 

Fool me once though B)

 

I'm keen to crack on. I do enjoy the combat and I've not even begun to experiment with the elements and weapons.

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