Horizon Horizon: Zero Dawn

[MagnarTheGreat]

Did you get it yet?

Yes.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Ah! How is it?

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Ah! How is it?

Just doing the tutorials at the beginning. First area gave me Bioshock series vibes. It's easily the best looking game I've seen on PS4, though the hair clipping through her scarf is a small gripe! But I'm not really all that far into it so I'll update later on.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

my coworker might let me borrow this...

 

[rashad]

Just doing the tutorials at the beginning. First area gave me Bioshock series vibes. It's easily the best looking game I've seen on PS4, though the hair clipping through her scarf is a small gripe! But I'm not really all that far into it so I'll update later on.

Quite stunning.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1348006

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I'm about 4 hours in now about to do the

Spoiler

'Proving' where Aloy is trying to not to be an outcast anymore and join the tribe

. I've done a couple of sidequests too. My playstyle has been mostly stealth, mixed with some melee. I find it hard to take groups of robots with the bow and haven't put the points in for slowing down time skills yet; though I could also use traps when dealing with groups. It's quite a bit of fun so far and people can probably have their own preferences for how to proceed quickly (if you you're a great shot with the bow) or more slowly (stealth). You can also change the game's difficulty at any time in the menu.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I'm about the same spot as you. I'm loving the game so far. It looks great and everything is just so damn smooth. As for groups of robots, check out what weapons are available at a vendor. There's some cool stuff there.

Edit: So I've played a couple hours now and the story/world has opened up. For those saying the game would suffer from an "Ubisoft" approach, I can safely say that this is not the case in the slightest. The game is very much its own thing, but if I had to say it's like anything, I would say it takes its cues from The Witcher. Each side quest I've played (half a dozen so far) has been relatively short and sweet, but they are story driven with full cut scenes and dialogue options. There (so far) doesn't appear to be a massive amount of side quests and things to do, which is honestly fine for me. Quality over quantity. There is definitely stuff to do and discover outside of the main story, but its not an oppressive amount like The Witcher or Skyrim. It's an easily accessible open world game in that regard.

One small, but really nice touch is the games version of the "Witcher Sense". One thing I really hated about the Witcher's use of this mechanic was that you had to keep activating the feature in order to follow tracks and other clues. Horizon gives you the option to "tag" tracks and clues, making them appear on screen without having to stay in the "Witcher Sense" mode. It's a small detail, but a really nice user friendly touch.

Combat is a blast; you have a lot of options for taking out the variety of robots. The game sort of stumbles a little bit with human combat if you are expecting something more focused along the lines of The Witcher or Assassins Creed; but the basic combat mechanics are enough to give you flexibility to take on humans how you want (I personally like rolling around cover and sniping, then sneaking around to flank the stragglers for stealth/close quarter kills), but there are some surprises with the humans that force you to adjust tactics at times.

I have also yet to come across any "kill x this many times to get or upgrade x" stuff; your weapons and outfits are bought and upgraded with currency and looted items; you can get the good gear pretty much as soon as you want, assuming you've spent the time to get the credits. And the map and POI are unlocked as you explore (so far); there are no climb this tower and "synchronize" to unlock stuff requirements that I have come across. (Note that I am aware there's about 6 "long neck" robots that have a similar feel, but from what I read, they're more bosses than AC towers.)

All in all, I'm really liking the game. The graphics are often times stunning (especially in 4K!!!), the writing is pretty good as well and each character is memorable. The world building is great but not overwhelming with lore, and there are plenty of mysteries and hints of things to uncover. It's a must buy, IMO.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I'm (re)exploring ancient ruins now. Found some item/collectible there that needs to be used somewhere else on the map, and another lore text datalog.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I'm loving it quite a bit so far. My main grid right now is I hate how you have to have an item to do fast travel.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I'm loving it quite a bit so far. My main grid right now is I hate how you have to have an item to do fast travel.

I don't mind that, honestly. You come across quite a bit of those items and the world is pretty enough that I enjoy running around.

One thing I forgot to mention before is that I love Aloy's animations. It's a ton of fun watching the character run and jump over stuff, and the climbing is an especially dynamic set of animations, such that even though climbing is largely automatic, it's still fun to do.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I didn't get any of the fast travel packs at all for awhile. It was super annoying. Eventually you get an infinite pack, so that helped.

 

[Iceman]

Just doing the tutorials at the beginning. First area gave me Bioshock series vibes. It's easily the best looking game I've seen on PS4, though the hair clipping through her scarf is a small gripe! But I'm not really all that far into it so I'll update later on.

Ah great to hear.

Edit: Sounds like you were telling the truth!

Quite stunning.

Awesome shots

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I Batman-ed my way through a baddie hole in the ground yesterday. I play Aloy like I'm Batman most of the time.

I like this game way more than Arkham Knight. No ****ty Batmobile here is a plus.

 

[Iceman]

How is the heroine character?

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

She's great. Despite growing up closed off from the world, she's chatty and not cold-hearted. You get more of her backstory fairly early on. I like the all the animations (including various idle animations in the rain or coming out of the water after swimming) they've given the character or that she comments on the world when you're going through it. Sometimes she randomly says 'ouch' when going down a mountain or rockside and other comments.

At some points you can make choices whether to answer in the dialogue wheels in three types of categories: fists, brain, or heart. And I've seen some of these answers affect later conversations you have. It's not very often, but it exists.

 

[Spider-Who?]

After playing all week, here's a couple things I wish they had done differently, or at least change in the invevitable (and already bought, far as I'm concerned!) sequel:

1) improved stealth mechanics. As it is, the only time stealth works is if you are in tall grass. Even if you're hiding behind a giant pile of rocks, all enemies can see you as if you were standing out in the open.

2) improved close quarter combat with humans. It's not terrible, but being able to lock onto an enemy and have a focused collection of offensive/defensive moves with the spear would be great.

3) I'd also wish they messed with clothing. Right now, there's a ton of armor sets (so far I see about five different armors with light, medium, and heavy variants). Most of the armor is kind of ugly though some do look really cool. I'd prefer if they separated the parts so that we could mix and match armor pieces to offer some visual and strategic flexibility.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I wish they had more customization for the controls: being able to invert both the x and y axis, being able to adjust camera sensitivity, etc.

 

[Marvolo]

After playing all week, here's a couple things I wish they had done differently, or at least change in the invevitable (and already bought, far as I'm concerned!) sequel:

1) improved stealth mechanics. As it is, the only time stealth works is if you are in tall grass. Even if you're hiding behind a giant pile of rocks, all enemies can see you as if you were standing out in the open.

2) improved close quarter combat with humans. It's not terrible, but being able to lock onto an enemy and have a focused collection of offensive/defensive moves with the spear would be great.

3) I'd also wish they messed with clothing. Right now, there's a ton of armor sets (so far I see about five different armors with light, medium, and heavy variants). Most of the armor is kind of ugly though some do look really cool. I'd prefer if they separated the parts so that we could mix and match armor pieces to offer some visual and strategic flexibility.

Basically what Witcher 3 did.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I know; I was just trying to avoid saying "copy witcher 3!" Lol

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

How is the heroine character?

Aloy at the very least I hear she's very well voice acted

 

[Iceman]

Aloy at the very least I hear she's very well voice acted

Good to know. (I give a **** about that stuff)

 

[First Avenger]

This game is amazing. My God are Sony exclusives good. Played Second Son, Bloodborne, Ratchet and Clank,Uncharted 4 and now Horizon and love all of them. Can't wait for Spider-Man, God of War etc

 

[Broseph44]

This game is amazing. My God are Sony exclusives good. Played Second Son, Bloodborne, Ratchet and Clank,Uncharted 4 and now Horizon and love all of them. Can't wait for Spider-Man, God of War etc

PlayStation always has the best exclusives

 

[Havok83]

My tv comes in this Saturday so I'll finally get a chance to get started on this

 

[Tron Bonne]

I finished the main story today. All in all it was very good, very well paced. I got a lot of side stuff but I have Nier and Zelda so it'll have to hit the backburner for now. Great game, though.