Horizon: Forbidden West

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[Nag]

Bumped in to my first Thunderjaw today... noped out of that pretty quickly, there's no way I'm equipped to deal with one of those things at this stage of the game. Also fought my first Shellsnapper (the turtle looking mech from the trailers) who proceeded to murder me around five times before I finally got the better of it, forget Elden Ring... turn up the difficulty on this and watch how quickly you're melted by the machines.

 

Think I hit the WTF story beat that @Maf mentioned too, I really don't know what the fuck to make of that.

 

Pictures.

 

 

[Jimboxy]

Look how over crowded and dense it is...

[Nag]

3 minutes ago, Jimbo Xiii said:

Look how over crowded and dense it is...

 

You literally can't see yourself...😉

[Maf]

Gliding through the air and standing on a mountain top will definitely solve that problem.

[Maf]

I had the worst time yet playing this today. I think if I like Elden Ring it will end my run on this game. I’m struggling to find anything that interests me in it.

 

I really hate the combat in this game. It makes me so mad. Not only am I trying to aim at certain parts of machines for loot, but they’re buckaroo-ing around and it’s so hard to hit the target, and while I’m trying something comes up and clobbers me from behind and it’s like man. Leave me alone. Also a lot of the enemies I fight are weak to shock damage. But I have one crossbow that shoots electric and doesn’t do much damage, and a trip caster which all the enemies jump over anyway. I set 3 traps for a enemy in this game right in front of it. 1, 2, 3. And it jumped all of them. 
 

I also didn’t realise why I was losing so many health packs so fast and it’s because when you press up to quick heal you don’t use one health item, the game automatically used however many to get me to full health. So I’m constantly surprised about why I have no more quick heals now I know why. I think the system is like that to get the player to use the health potions instead. Which fine but I wish it was clear. I’ve only noticed at hour 12 or something. 
 

Maybe I should be concentrated on levelling up armour as well because Aloy basically dies in 2 hits from everything.
 

Sigh.

 

I did just buy a rope thing that ties enemies to the floor. I forgot about this weapon but if I recall right this thing ends the game. I think It did in the last one anyway. Hopefully it’s the same here because I hate fighting in this game. I don’t remember hating the combat in the first one. I remember it being boring and repetitive. This is the same but tiresome as well. 
 

It’s not even hard. If I wanted to straight murder everything I don’t think it would be a problem at all. But I’m trying to get the loot so I can upgrade my guns and armour and some of this shit is so difficult when you just get murdered from behind. If this reads really miserably it’s because the game just made me really miserable.

 

I’ve set up the base and now have the next 3 story missions. This game is sort of like Assassin’s Creed where when they’re all talking sci-fi I’m kind of in to it but when the story revolves around these tribes and there drama I’m just like get me out of here skip, skip, skip. I’ve given up on all the missions I’m just running from main quest to main quest now. Hopefully the game will just give me some thing I can latch on to and really like about it. 
 

I just need an in, game. I’m really trying for you, c’mon. 
 

The other thing I hate about this game is the weapon system. In the game you get multiple versions of the same weapons. I forget what they’re called because the names feel like they fell out of a name generator so they’re like Blazecaster Bow, and then Hunter Sharper bow, and whatever the fuck. Just think of it like fire bow, acid bow, electric bow, etc.

 

But not only are there all these variations, there’s all these variations + rarity. So I had 3 common bows and now got a rare one. I’m trying to compare the stats and none of it makes any sense to me. And to top it off everything can be levelled up using loot and raw materials. Which I pick up everything. I pick up fucking everything. And yet I’ve never got the shit I need to level anything up.

 

And there’s so much to level up. Every fucking weapon can be levelled up a minimum of 3 times. It’s such a bad system designed to waste your time.

 

Hate me all you want but BotW fucking kills this game on how to handle weapons. It has the same idea where there’s loads of types + rarity, except when you’re done with something you get to throw it the fuck away and pick up the better one instead of sitting in menus going hmm I wonder if this one is better than this one. This one has higher numbers but this one has acid rounds and this one has oh my god just throw it the fuck away.

 

And god this game fucking sucks.

 

Sigh

 

I’m giving up with this game, man. When it’s Tomb Raider-y and jumping around facilities, I kind of like it. When solving environmental puzzles and climbing through ruins I kind of like it. Nothing special but fun enough. But that’s like special mission or off-shoot objectives. When having to do any of the main things the game wants me to do. Combat, traversal, menus. I don’t think I’ve got it.

 

Oh the I just remembered the dialogue in this game. Every one talks in pure exposition all the time. Like every conversation is so dry and just a lot of lore or plainly laying out the next objective. And it’s delivered in such a monotone matter. I do enjoy Aloy’s character sometimes like I posted yesterday, but not enough to not skip all this. 

 

I know I sound like I hate it. But I don’t actually hate it. I like what it’s supposed to be. But there are so many things stopping me from liking it. I just kind of think it’s a good idea for a game made in to a bad game

[Nag]

Yeah... sell it.

[Whiskey_chaser]

I'm about fifteen hours into this now and am having a great time with this. I bounced off the first game for some reason, I got pretty far in and then something came up and I didn't go back to it, so I read up on the story before going into this one, as I regret not playing through it all.

Yeah, this game is gob-smackingly gorgeous. Every time you turn a corner there's a 'wow' moment. I'm loving the story and how the side-quests aren't just throw away missions, but link into the story as a whole. I also met the turtle thing Nag mentioned last night and had my arse handed to me a few times before finally killing it. I was also chatting to a mate online at the time and said exactly the same thing, about it being like a souls boss.

And is a sequel recapping the events of the previous game a valid criticism? I'd be happy if more games did this as my memory isn't good enough to remember what I did last week, let alone a complex plot of a game that came out seven years prior.

 

[mfnick]

9 hours ago, Whiskey_chaser said:

And is a sequel recapping the events of the previous game a valid criticism?

Haven’t a lot of criticisms been the opposite? As in it expects you to have a lot of knowledge of the previous game without a good recap. Heard many podcasts recommending YouTube video recaps because the game doesn’t do a good job of it. 

The big criticism I’ve heard similar to what you’re saying is how she constantly recaps everything which is going on at that moment in time. Not the previous game. As in literally repeating cut scene dialogue just after the cut scene ends. Whereas it’s be more useful if she did it just after a break - turning it off and loading a save. Or talking about climbing a cliff 4 times in 1 go.
 

Anyway, just listened to Nextlander do a bit of a spoiler talk. I’m 1000% more interested after hearing where the story goes. It’s crazy & I want to see it! 

[Nag]

9 minutes ago, mfnick said:

As in literally repeating cut scene dialogue just after the cut scene ends

 

Not sure I agree with that, sure, she thinks on stuff out loud but she doesn't literally repeat whole conversations... she isn't Solid Snake.

[mfnick]

Not the whole conversation but it repeats a lot still. Only going off what I’ve heard. 

[mmmark]

On 23/02/2022 at 23:02, Maf said:

god this game fucking sucks.

 

On 23/02/2022 at 23:02, Maf said:

I know I sound like I hate it. But I don’t actually hate it.

 

 

 

Everyone says how beautiful this is. What’s the best way to see for myself? YouTube 4k walkthrough?

 

Random question, can you change her hair?

[Maf]

The core things the game does shoot, loot and story. I don't think the game does very well. And I'm disappointed it isn't better because I like the idea of what this game could be. But I don't hate it. 

[spatular]

this is a mixed bag for me, some parts i'm enjoying and some i'm getting annoyed with. i am mainly going to moan about the bad bits because i seem to remember those more, and maybe i'm in a bad mood? anyway maybe skip this post if you don't want to read about some idiot moaning about a game. i'm not really into open world games, or long games, and i wasn't the biggest fan of the first game, although i did get into it later on. and it doesn't help that i've not been in a gaming mood recently.

 

the visibility problems i was going to say i found mainly in the first area, it's been fine for a while but just been in another area where it can be hard to see stuff, it's not been too bad though/i've probably got used to it mostly.

some bosses though

Spoiler

there's loads of stuff around you can use to help but i only see it when the fight has finished.

 

when the combat goes well it's fun. it doesn't always go well though, i'm rolling to try and dodge and half the time i get hit anyway. scanning a machine can reveal loads of different points to hit, in the heat of a battle i'm not sure which of these i should be hitting, the ones that glow brightest? even in slow-mo the baddies move around so much it's hard to hit specific things sometimes. i guess the answer to this is to scan the dino first and read about all the different points, get the right guns ready etc. it's too much effort/makes the game too slow for me. although i have been using the right gun to match the weaknesses recently and it does seem to help. anyone got any tips for combat?

 

think i've played ~30 hours and it doesn't seem like i'm even half way through it.

 

i'm playing on easy mode so i don't die (well except for accidentally jumping off cliffs).

 

just did a really slow and boring 

Spoiler

swimming section

 

the puzzle sections aren't that bad, the puzzles can be quite good even but i'm still finding some of them annoying as they can require moving really slow moving stuff around. i mean games always do this so this might just be an example of me not being in the mood to play stuff.

 

there is a lot of good stuff in there too though, the game is pretty good at telling you if you can't explore a section because you don't have the right gear yet so you don't waste time on it. the quest system seems pretty well streamlined. it looks amazing. the fighting is sometimes fun.

 

don't get me started on picking stuff up.

 

i've had bugs too got stuck in the world and had to re-load a few times, can't pick stuff up etc.

 

despite all these annoyances i am still enjoying it in parts, last night i wasn't really, but the night before i was really getting into it for a bit, i like some parts of the story. i think one of the big problems for me is how long the game is and most of my annoyances are the game making things take longer than they really need to. and that i'm crap at the combat.

[Maf]

I agree with tonnes of that @spatular It reads like we're pretty much on the same level. 

 

Particularly 

 

7 minutes ago, spatular said:

the visibility problems i was going to say i found mainly in the first area, it's been fine for a while but just been in another area where it can be hard to see stuff, it's not been too bad though/i've probably got used to it mostly

 

Yep

 

9 minutes ago, spatular said:

when the combat goes well it's fun. it doesn't always go well though, i'm rolling to try and dodge and half the time i get hit anyway. scanning a machine can reveal loads of different points to hit, in the heat of a battle i'm not sure which of these i should be hitting, the ones that glow brightest? even in slow-mo the baddies move around so much it's hard to hit specific things sometimes. i guess the answer to this is to scan the dino first and read about all the different points, get the right guns ready etc. it's too much effort/makes the game too slow for me.

 

Yep

 

9 minutes ago, spatular said:

 

the puzzle sections aren't that bad, the puzzles can be quite good

 

Yep

 

11 minutes ago, spatular said:

despite all these annoyances i am still enjoying it in parts, last night i wasn't really, but the night before i was really getting into it for a bit

 

Yep. First time I played it I was like man I dunno. I played it the next night and was like maybe. Then I played it a 3rd time and was like ho, ho, ho. No. 

[Maf]

Who needs Elden Ring when you’ve got your OHKO tracking projectiles right here

 

And then

 

Why won’t the fucking part come off? I swear I’m too underpowered for where I’m meant to be. Even though it’s weak to shock my shock attacks don’t do shit. Or I just don’t get it.

 

Can’t believe last year media was like oooh gotta watch Returnal it’s such a hard game. Returnal ain’t nothing compared to this lol

[Nag]

 

Haha... fuck you ThunderJaw... not even you can stand up to my rubbish chip damage.🤜

[Maf]

I hit 26 hours last night and my game completion is 33% 😲

 

Lot of people are getting the Platinum in this so I doubt it's hard or requires 100% which is good. Because this game is very long and drawn out

 

This is with skipping all dialogue and minor cutscenes. Add them on I'd probably be closer to 30 hours. 

 

I'm getting overwhelmed with the amount of missions, side missions, errands, activities and jobs. I've given up caring what order I do things or what it is. Whatever is the closest diamond quest marker, I go do that.  

 

I think I'm finding more understanding in the combat, but it still kind of sucks/I suck at it. But what I'm learning is you have to embrace what it is. When going up against a robot elephant, go in your inventory and swap your weapons for robot elephant fighting. Don't non-stop shoot and throw shit. Run around and pick your shots. Smoke bomb and stealth out if necessary. These are just parts of the game and as much as they slow it down and I find it hassle, I just want to fight, this is what the game is and trying to ignore or resist it just makes the game shitter. 

 

Having said that I don't know why I can't have loadouts to quick select from. The menu-ing in this game sucks. I don't know why it's so hard to find a good variety of weapons - 26 hours in I still have no good shock weapons. In general some weapons just suck. Tripcastor and disc cutters I'm looking at you. Aloy not being able to scramble/parkour over small objects during dodge rolling sucks. How long it takes to drinks potions sucks. Just in general how fast/sporadic enemies are and how slow and animation heavy Aloy is make me cuss out my TV.

 

Enemies landing on top of the camera and not being able to see shit sucks. General readability of battlefields is not good. Having items put on the rolodex D-pad thing sucks, make it a second weapon wheel. 

 

So I'm learning to embrace and understand it but I still think some of it is just frustrating.

 

The thing that keeps me playing is I want to see these beaches, and just how this game looks. This is easily the best looking video game I've ever seen. The effects, the details, the water, the colours, the different environments. I got to a tall trees, Canadian forest like area yesterday and wow the mood. It's just unbelievable. I can't overstate just how beautiful this game is in every aspect. The only things that stand out are lip syncing isn't convincing, some characters animate cartoonishly in cutscenes, and there's a bit of pop-in. Mostly it's well hidden but I see it here and there. 

 

But apart from that it's jaw dropping. And I still haven't seen these beaches yet. Very excited. 

 

[Nag]

I'm just shy of 30 hours with the game now, level 25 and have no idea what my completion percentage is (the lower the better tbh)... 

 

I reopened the Arena today... and blasted through it on story difficulty. The fact it has time limits and a shard cost put me off attempting the challenges at my normal difficulty. To be fair it was cool being stupidly powerful for a while plus I got three Legendary weapons that do real damage back at hard difficulty before even being levelled up.

 

I'm going to end up well over levelled for certain side quest/story quests at this rate but I'm having such a good time just toddling around seeing what all the question marks are I don't really care. Loving the game still.

[Maf]

What is the Arena? I want super powerful weapons