Horizon Horizon Forbidden West

[Teelie]

I've been playing this most of my free time the past week. It's so nice to play something this truly open world and varied without feeling like it's a grind.

 

[Drizzle]

I've been taking my time with it too (at least until I get the urge to marathon it before Lego Star Wars comes out, lol). I'm more than halfway through the campaign. My only real complaint is, like the first game, it gets a little too dialogue-heavy at times but that's a small price to pay for how immersive it is.

 

[Snow Queen]

I really like the last photo mode patch they did. Expanding the radius you can move away from Aloy, a very improved set of focal lengths, and reducing the minimum focal distance really are fantastic touches.

 

[Teelie]

I ****ing hate what they did with Thebes.

Spoiler

I've been looking forward to finding out the fate of Ted and finding his pyramid since it was first mentioned in Zero Dawn.

Everything about the experience was a disappointment. The pyramid turning out to be a skyscraper. The leader of the Quen expedition, who is a Ted Fanboy and called the Ceo, tagging along and barking orders and making the dumbest assumptions about things in Thebes. Lack of good exploration and only a few data points. It seemed it might at least be leading to a cool boss fight when it was revealed that Ted had mutated into a monster because of life extending experiments and had tied his body into a powerplant so he could live forever and "greet" Liz's children. But we dont even get that. Instead we just get to hear his beastly guttural grunts and then the Ceo orders everything destroyed to hide the truth about Ted and Alloy has to escape the pyramid. We dont even get to kill the Ceo. His death is literally played as slapstick. Its all rushed and bad.

Wtf were they thinking?

I made it to this point earlier today and I definitely agree on the missed oppurtunity.

Spoiler

Faro is alive but we don't actually see him let alone have a boss fight? That area did feel particularly rushed, like they decided they needed to do something with Faro but then didn't want to put in the effort for any kind of fight.

I'm going to 100% this game so it's taken me a long time to get through where a lot of people probably already finished.

I did like the new Slaughterspine though. Not as tough as a Thunderjaw but it's a fun fight.

 

[Marvolo]

The new machine designs were really cool and usually put a grin on my face. I cant decide if the Shellsnapper or Slitherfang is my new favorite design. But the Burrower wins the award for cuteness. Im a sucker for otters.

 

[spiderman2]

At about 38.5% after like 41 hours. The climbing is way better than first game has its way less limited and works great dont get the hate on climbing at all. Game is likely 100 hours to do everthing. Face animations such a big upgrade from the first game. The first game is like around my 13/14 game of all time think this game may make it into top 10. One thing we really need is a way to switch weapons without having to take weapons in and out like how you can in ratchet and clank games with the weapons wheel instead of like only being able to have 6 weapons at a time has its annoying having to switch weapons in and out and also with having to pause the game and switch stuff out all the time you dont know how much ammo you have left from the pause menu. The first game I think was the best sony game ever made and I think this is even better.

 

[spiderman2]

Still got like 1/3 of the map I have not unlocked/been to yet.

 

[spiderman2]

The new machine designs were really cool and usually put a grin on my face. I cant decide if the Shellsnapper or Slitherfang is my new favorite design. But the Burrower wins the award for cuteness. Im a sucker for otters.

I love otters but I was thinking of that machine has more of a parry dog.

 

[spiderman2]

Have seen 34 of the 43 machines so far.

 

[Teelie]

I'm 90% done. Right now I have the last quest and Machine Strike to do and see what other achievements I have left, if any.

 

[Jick]

I've also been taking my time with this game and only have the final mission to complete to beat it, but I'll do all of the side quests and other stuff before I finish it. Regardless of what the end is, this has been a great sequel in all aspects.

 

[Drizzle]

I finished the story mode just now. Just like with the first game, I loved the combat and gameplay, especially

Spoiler

flying around on the sunwings, definitely felt very Avatar-esque in that regard

. But in terms of the story, I'm just not as engrossed in this world as I am with other Playstation mainstays like Uncharted, God of War or The Last of Us. It's not bad, just not my personal cup of tea at times, although I'm definitely going to come back for a third one.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

So I finished this finally. For the last few days, the game had been vexing me. I just wanted to finish it and be done with it. And I was wondering to myself why, and then it hit me like a truck during the finale. This is crappy Mass Effect 2, down to the squad building and constant "returning to your ship" to talk to your crew. As one who enjoyed Mass Effect 2 well enough a decade ago, it has not aged well. And this didn't even have that games quality of writing. Well actually it did in one aspect. Terrible, bland villains that have limited screen time.

So what did I like? The gameplay is fine. Not great, but good. A better take on the first game. There are a few characters I like. Namely Aloy, Beta, Kotallo, and Hekarro. It also has some really decent story moments. But did I feel like this was a good game when it ended? Eh. It felt like a game trying to be other, better games, and failing at it repeatedly.

Forbidden West is extremely basic in terms of story. It's got maybe 10 hours of story, stretched over a 100+ hour game. This game has this weird vibe where it's trying to go for God of War 2018 at points, but doing it through the Ubisoft and Bioware formulas. And it feels ancient because of it.

Perhaps my favorite moment in the game is when you talk to Beta and it plays out as a cutscene. And the drama and character work is good. And how do you theoretically get more this? By blandly talking to her and other characters like they are your squadmates on your ship in Mass Effect. This causes a game, which is suppose to be an open world Monster Hunter style game, to just stand still repeatedly. Compare that to God of War. Where it delivers the story to you as you move. Even the exposition is delivered like that, through Mirmir. Forbidden West is determined to force you to stop playing it.

That's not storytelling. It's a dating sim, except you can't date anyone in this game. So the little investment you get from the Bioware glory days is gone. Instead you spend hours standing around talking to uninteresting people for honestly no reason. And if you don't do that, you go about running around the world doing fetch quests.

I feel like Horizon is a series that would be better suited to not being open world. Because it doesn't do anything with it. It fills up the sandbox with classic AC style quests, not Witcher 3 level stuff. Which makes the complaints about Elden Ring side quest extremely ironic.

I spent over 300 hours playing the Witcher 3. Never got bored or felt like the side quest were "added content" to extend the runtime. And it's because the writing and design is great. Whether it was helping Kiera, finding Letho, choosing between Triss or Yen, or helping a pig get home, it was all memorable. This is game is mostly a bunch of fetch quests or low rent Monster Hunter missions, with the same basic premise and outcome, without the magic and charm that comes from the TW3 writing. The only two side quests I can remember properly digging were the one with the young man who climbed the mountain on his own (the dude at the base of the mountain was awesome, wanted more) and the one where you are looking for supplies for a group staying in the desert. In a 100+ hour game, that's just not enough. Especially when you build your game around people doing the "open world" stuff.

Before I played this, I played Elden Ring. And within the first ten minutes of both games, it became clear which game understood design and pacing, and which one was Forbidden West. Both games are "open world", and yet Forbidden West sticks you in a corridor for what felt like 2 hours while explaining a bunch of game mechanics you are honestly rarely if ever going to use. What does Elden Ring do? It let's you play the game. It trust you as a player, to understand and explore.

I feel like the studio got super high off their own supply, thinking their hand holding design was so accessible and thus "superior" that they totally forgot that games need to be fun. Having a thousand things to do on your map doesn't matter, if none of it is unique or fun. It just becomes a checklist of things to do.

This game was such a disappointment to me, especially after so many said it "fixed" the issues of the first game. A game I enjoyed, but found pretty overrated. It didn't do that imo, it doubled down. There is something weird about these first party Playstation games. Whether it Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, or this one. They feel like mimics of better games. Which while enjoyable and even very good in places, don't know how to tell a story or fill up an open world. I remember complaints about God of War being "too short". But what God of War did, wasn't fill it's world with a bunch of random stuff so there was more to do. I wish some of these other games understood that. Then they could spend time making the content in the game legit special.

This game has gotten very little oxygen and it sales numbers haven't exactly wowed. Some put that down to Elden Ring existing. I don't think that's it. This is a game where nothing is achieved. Not in terms of creating lasting characters, moments, or stories. Beating it does not give a great sense of accomplishment whether it's through challenge or journey. It's just sort of there. Trying to be everything and in the end being very little because of it.

 

[Teelie]

Valid points but for me I never played Mass Effect 2 or the Assassins Creed games and I don't mind the story telling even though I agree there was at times too much exposition and cut scenes to get through. And the villians were too thin. So for the most part I didn't feel the retreads others might have.

It's a weird balance they tried but did not quite successfully achieve but I am more lenient with them than I would be with some other titles with established history and canon to look to (Star Wars stands out). I did like everything in the game seperately but not necessarily how it was put together.

The mini game Machine Strike was not enjoyable. Nor was some of the decisions made on direction of the story. It feels very much Halloween Kills in that regard. Quite distinctly a middle piece of a trilogy where they want to get you from A to C but the B portion is lacking and they can't give you a real resolution to the story because there is an already planned third entry.

 

[Dave McFly]

I am kinda bummed I was told this game and Gran Turismo 7 were part of the bundle for PS5 I was gonna get today but when I picked up said bundle it had GT7 and some Madden game oh well I do have gift card so I can at least get it for cheap silver lining and all that.

 

[spiderman2]

Having just beat the game last night after 92 hours and 80% over all completion my top 10 all time video game list has changed a little.

1. Zelda botw
2. Zelda Oot
3. Batman Arkham knight
4. Zelda TP
5. Batman Arkham city
6. Tony hawk 4
7. Tony hawk underground 2
8. DKCTF
9. Tony hawk 3
10. Horizon forbidden west

 

[DarthSkywalker]

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Performance mode looks absolutely fantastic after the new update, definitely getting the itch to start new game plus.

 

[Teelie]

Two things disappoint me: One, you are not Aloy, two it is VR.

 

[psylockolussus]

Vr is an instant skip for me.

 

[Jick]

I agree that the game had too much exposition, too much dialog where we just stop playing for a period of time that feels too long. The game should keep you in constant movement, but it stalls you too often.

I missed more memorable characters too. I feel like it just gave you more comrades to have a chat everytime you return to the base, but we can't even take them on missions.
Kotallo is a character I really liked and he was so underutilized. From the trailers, I thought Erand woulbe be a bigger part of the journey but we didn't get much from that either.

There are so many side quests and that should have been the opportunity where we can choose someone to tag along or have more missions where they develop their relationship.

By the time I finished it, I was feeling kinda burnt. I loved the first game's story so much and knew there was no way the second could top that. The mystery about Earth had already been solved. I have even less expectations about the third one. My anticipation for Nemesis is 0.

I really wanted a sequel for the first and that's it for me. I'm satisfied. I don't feel there's any need for a third game and I don't feel like I'll be on the hype train for that.
Games are so big nowadays (sometimes, unneeded and with content just unnecessarily padding it) that I feel like two games is enough to tell a complete story and be done with it.
God of War is doing that. Let's hope it succeeds.

 

[Gee]

DLC incoming.


New Horizon Forbidden West DLC "Burning Shores" Announcement Imminent - Insider Gaming

Popular leaker “The Snitch” has teased yet another announcement that will be made in the near future. On Twitter, The Snitch posted an image of San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. The image is seemingly a nod to the Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores DLC taking place in these locations.

Insider Gaming understands that the new Horizon Forbidden West DLC “Burning Shores” will release in April 2023.

 

[Iceman]

DLC incoming.


New Horizon Forbidden West DLC "Burning Shores" Announcement Imminent - Insider Gaming

Yes! Was hoping for this asap. Need to finish GoW first but that will be next on the list when it’s out.

 

[Snow Queen]

DLC incoming.


New Horizon Forbidden West DLC "Burning Shores" Announcement Imminent - Insider Gaming

 

[Teelie]

Just glad this is not more VR stuff I have zero interest in.