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Horizon: Forbidden West


Maf
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It's interesting reading these thoughts as an 'outsider' so to speak, who hasn't played the game yet but thought the first game just about scraped an 8/10 for me in the end. 

 

So I can only speak for the first game, but combat was easily the best part of it, so innovative and playful, allowing you a variety of different playstyles from using traps, to arrows a load of other stuff I've forgotten about in between. Getting the machine-dino's to fight one another and then slowly chipping away at them. It was just exhilarating and something I hadn't experienced before, it was a huge W in the first game. So it is interesting to read that was your worst part and that you seemingly didn't feel the want or need to experiment much with it, as that is largely what was amazing about the first game for me.

 

It was largely just Aloy and her personality that didn't make me love the first game for quite some time. 

 

I will also say, since release this has gone massively down the pecking order for me in terms of things I want to play. I was going to try to play it before ER, then ER was too big to ignore, then I was gonna play it after GT7 and now it's third in line after I finish GT7. I'm nowhere near as hyped as I was back in February to play it, but may be that's kind of a good thing in a way. We'll find out in June/July.

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^ i can't really remember what Aloy is like in the first one but in this she's, it's hard to describe, maybe a bit smug, while at the same time being nice and helping people. the way she comes across doesn't help the game for me anyway, but it's hard to explain why.

 

i finished it last night, after getting near the end then being distracted by gt7, so the patch that completely breaks gt7 gave me some time to finish this. 

 

i think a lot of people will really like this but in here it's quite negative, so overall i didn't think it was that great but i didn't seem to hate it as much as Maf! but i do agree with a lot of his points, just less strongly i guess.

 

the graphics are amazing. and i like how Aloy says if you can't do an area/puzzle yet to stop you wasting too much time.

 

the story i enjoyed at points but i lost interest by the end, maybe my fault for ditching it for a bit.

 

before the game came out i knew there was gliding and a grapple hook - these are cool features i thought would add a lot to the game, turns out they're both pretty under used and don't add much imo. the grapple is scripted to specific points, and the gliding doesn't really get you very far - more just used to prevent fall damage - although occasionally it is cool to use when you're very high up.

 

and the combat, it's like they wanted to make a transformers film where you can't tell what's going on in a fight, but they can't move the camera around so they move the dino as much as possible instead which makes hitting it in specific places (which the game wants you to do) annoying. but the dinos do look cool and some of their laser attacks look pretty cool too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Played this for an hour or two last night, and it's the first time I've just slowed down and took whatever the game threw at me in my stride.

 

I'm not arguing with ANYTHING maf says up to now, and I know I'm still at the start of the game, but I just played around with a couple of side missions without needing the game to lead me somewhere. I really, really dislike the lack of a lock on for enemies, but I murdered a herd of bulls which got me a literal boomstick. The bow and arrow combat is starting to feel a little more natural, while the hand-to-hand fighting seems to despise the player.

 

For the first time in a while, I've seen flashes of enjoying something without constant irritation, so that can only be a good thing. 

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After hitting 80 hours I finally plowed through to the end today... it's fair to say I enjoyed the game a lot, it's also fair to say that I wasn't quite as impressed with this as I was the first game... that felt like much more of an achievement.

 

I spent around 15 hours at the end just farming materials to upgrade the six different weapons and outfit I'd decided to end game... this ended up upping my damage output considerably, add to that some good upgrade abilities and the end mission was an absolute breeze even on hard difficulty.

 

I enjoyed the new machines they added, although I agree that the bigger machines especially, need slowing down a tad... it was the story that let me down the most I feel, it came dangerously close to jumping the shark for me. After the simplicity of the first games tale I'll be interested in seeing where they take the inevitable third game now given that end reveal.

 

Anyway, great game and I'm hoping we get a meaty expansion and maybe a New Game + update too.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm back on this and I'm enjoying it. I've been mainly focusing on side missions, they have you trapsing over the map a lot, although I'm early enough in that the map is still fairly small, I've only just got the igniter.

 

I saw a mysterious signal that I might go back for, although I suspect I might need something else before I can get that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm honestly not sure how anyone has finished this, it's fucking endless

 

In terms of level, I'm approaching level 40. In terms of story I've quested to fetch a couple of things (I'll be no more specific than that). The next one takes me to another new area of the map. I've a few things to do on the way there though

 

On that note, I've been following the bandit camp side quests. I'm genuinely a bit surprised but it actually leads somewhere, unless the last one I did just incidentally had some story stuff in it? It's a nice change, I'm not just doing things because some ultra worthy earnest soul has asked, there's actually something interesting there, after about 6 of these bandit camps

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just noticed that my trophy completion percentage had dropped on this... they've stealth added a New Game + and Ultra Hard difficulty to the game. That's a good enough reason for another playthrough.😊

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  • 1 month later...

There’s nothing wrong with having options but 120fps. Not sure what the point is here.

 

However a better looking 60fps mode supported by VRR sounds pretty magic. 
 

Of all the shit I’ve talked about this game is still one of the best looking, if not the best looking, game I’ve ever seen even though I was playing at 4K30. If they can get that but at 60fps. Damn I might need to check back in and have a look. This game is just jaw dropping to look at.

 

I wonder if higher FPS will make the aiming better or worse. On the one hand maybe the aiming will feel faster or more responsive (Which it desperately needs but I have a feeling the aiming is built that way on purpose)

 

On the other hand the robots are too fast and jittery already is 60 going to fuck it up further. Because to think the shooting in this game could be any harder/worse would be PAIN 

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So I finally started this over the weekend. Felt super weird to be breaking the shrink-wrap on my Special Edition from all the way back in February :lol: but that was one mad month especially if you include the first week of March as well! 

 

So yeah, here we are in July and I'm finally playing this. Y'know what, it's been pretty good so far, my tits firmly remain on still but it's been a pleasant surprise considering the somewhat negative post-launch commentary and the way it got a bit forgotten about thanks to Elden Ring. 

 

Safe to say I'm not far into it at so far, probably about 8 hours or so at a guess. I finished the pretty lengthy tutorial set just after the events of the first game and have made my way to the first 'proper' area where I've been going off and having an explore whilst trying to reign myself in a bit as I don't want this to take forever to complete.

 

It's been fun so far, I don't think anything much about the open world aspect of the game is particularly unique and feels very much in the Ubi-mould of Open World but as I love that style and design in an open world then this feels like I'm right at home really. I think it's already a better open world than Elden Ring at least, which isn't difficult.

 

The combat has been the standout for me already so far. The intelligence of the enemy machine AI is just a pretty amazing site to behold, knocking off little bits of their armour or nailing a shot to their weakpoint is just as satisfying as I remember the first game being. I'm never quite sure when I should engage them or not when out exploring the world or riding by on my hijacked Charger but it's always nice to be engaged in battle by a lone machine (or a pack) and a fun experience rather than something you dread or actively avoid. 

 

The graphics have been absolutely astounding. Sometimes when you're out exploring the world the textures can still be a little muddy and last-gen at times but most of the time everything is mighty impressive, the draw distance, the vistas and landscapes, it's all just such an impressive spectacle. A special mention must go to the cutscenes though which are probably the best I've ever seen in a game, just genuinely lifelike, it's absolutely crazy how real everything looks.

 

The worst aspect of the game has been the story so far. I probably should've looked up how the last game ended as I don't remember a lot of it (which is on me) but you're thrown into the deep-end right at the beginning, talking with all these important figures you got to know throughout the last title and I was just like 'who the fuck are all these people and why should I care?' scrambling about in my memories to try to piece together the mystery of why these people are important and care about Aloy so much. Since I've got to the first proper area things have picked up a bit as the game has a new impetus, you're meeting largely new characters and exploring new areas rather than revisiting past characters and locales I can barely remember.

 

Just while I remember it, the climbing can be a little clumsy at times as well with Aloy half jumping up structures she's not really meant to climb up but it's already a significant step up from the even clumsier solution the first game had at least.

 

So yeah, so far so good. It's just a nice relaxing game to play that looks bloody astounding. It runs like an absolute dream as well. 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Still plugging away at this. Not an awful lot of progress to report, on PSN it says I've put 31 hours in but I reckon at least 5 of those was me asleep whilst in the pause menu after a few too many gin and lemonades on a Friday night :lol: so I'd say I'm probably about 25 hours in. 

 

For me, I've managed to be relatively restrained in my exploration in this as one of the lessons learnt from my tumultuous time with Elden Ring. As a result, I'm enjoying this a hell of a lot, as I said in my previous post there's nothing truly innovative in there, it's a relatively by-the-numbers open world RPG with a lot of systems, mechanics and options that can be found in countless other games, but it excels in pretty much everything it does and is just an enjoyable, easy going place to explore. I still find it really relaxing to play as well, the music is absolutely phenomenal as well.

 

Graphically, I definitely agree with others here when they said this is possibly the best looking game ever made. Throughout my playthrough I've had moments looking into the distance over crazy high-detailed vistas with light streaming through that literally made my jaw drop, the OLED obviously helps that as well.

 

Still runs like an absolute dream as well, not had one technical issue and the frame rate has been nothing but buttery smooth throughout. 


So yeah, so far so good it's fair to say, if it carries on like this I think it'll exceed the first game for me and possibly even challenge GT7 for my GOTY spot. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Now at about 60 hours in with this and still very much enjoying it.

 

Up until around about the 'base' section of the game I was pretty much doing my usual thing of doing all the side quests I came across but not really engaging with any of the collectibles in the game but since then I've mostly been ignoring anything that isn't tied to trophies and just concentrating on those. Unlike Elden Ring it's not because I've got bored of it or am not enjoying it but mostly because I just don't find many of the side quests too interesting, it's great how they're all voiced and motion captured but I usually find myself on my phone for a few minutes whilst the dialogue scene plays out. 

 

I will say the Base itself is a really neat idea, something akin to the Normandy in Mass Effect or something. You go back to it a lot over time and it gets more populated with key NPCs you meet along the way, with them gradually moving more of their stuff into there so it feels more homely and more attuned to the particular part of the world they come from. Nothing ground-breaking about it and has obviously been done loads before but it's really well executed here.

 

Since then I've made quick progress in a relatively short amount of time and think I'm now up to the 'point of no return' moment in the story so don't have too much longer to go. I do want to finish up the remaining Cauldrons, Tallnecks, hunting ground and one key side quest I have left though for some trophies. Might finish it this weekend, might not, we'll see. 

 

I think what I said a few paragraphs up about the Base can be expanded for the whole game, it's nothing ground-breaking and this kind of open world game has been done many times before but everything is just so well executed and the game is absolutely drop dead gorgeous that it's just a fun relaxing place to be. I can see some of the criticisms with the combat now, I think melee is now slightly overpowered compared to the first game as I don't even bother getting my bow out and wasting arrows on the 'lesser' machines I come across. It's still super fun for me though and probably the only really original part of the game along with the fantastic enemy design.

 

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Finished this in the early hours of Sunday morning.

 

Absolutely loved it throughout, typing this out I can't really think of many issues I have with it, I think it's almost faultless really. Little things like the melee not being so OP and the combat not being quite as impressive this time around due to it being the second title and myself not experimenting as much with the weapons for some reasons (honestly not sure why but I just used my boltcaster and bow for 90% of the game).

 

Graphically, just astounding, absolutely astounding. Especially on my TV some of the vistas and environments you encounter are just absolutely jaw-dropping, some of the cutscenes especially towards the end tricked my brain into thinking they were real people at times (the tiredness of staying up until 4AM probably helped that tbf), all the performances were absolutely fantastic but I've got to give special props to Carrie-Anne Moss' character. 

 

There's one scene towards the end where you just go through an

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Art Gallery that has been preserved from the before times with all these Rembrandt's and Vermeer's in it

and hearing Carrie-Anne Moss' character narrate over these pieces and carefully explain what each of them mean, their context and all that jazz was an incredibly delicate super special scene a bit like the

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Giraffe

moment in TLOU. 

 

Story was pretty simple and easy to follow, there were a few more Sci-Fi moments that left me a bit wide-eyed but nothing I couldn't follow. It's a little on the nose at times I guess and, especially at the beginning, the whole 'I need to save the world from x' shtick is not original whatsoever but the way you go about it is better than I thought it would be if that makes sense. The pacing is perfect and I absolutely love the new addition of the Base which is your home and feels like the Normandy in Mass Effect in as far as you gradually get new folks residing there and it changes over time to become more homely with the personality of its inhabitants on display. 

 

So yeah, still not an original game at all, outside of the combat there's not really anything new or innovative here that hasn't done before but it does everything to an exemplary standard and looks absolutely fucking phenomenal whilst you do it. Better than the first game in my view, Aloy is much more likeable in this, I will say that I prefer the world size of the first game though as this feels a bit bigger than it needs to be. 

 

Can't recommend enough.

 

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I’ve had this since launch and barely touched it. Part of that was because work became extremely stressful, and my sleep tanked, so my time for playing games took a hit.

But another part of that was down to Aloy being exceptionally tedious. I just didn’t like her, and she didn’t seem to much like anyone she bumped into either. The first game was great. Maybe this gets better. But what I played of it, apart from looking magnificent, left me cold.

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In some ways I like that she's a bit of a tit, she is at least her own character and not just a nice harmless wise cracking template character. They lean in to it too, she gets called out on her arrogance a bit

 

The problem is that outside some of her main friends the reset of the world is insufferable and deserves her contempt

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