Horizon: Zero Dawn

[The JareBear]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

I'm level 29 with like 38 hours played and I finally decided to go past the gates, last night. Holy crap! The game changes completely. THOSE machines are friggin' KILLERS!

Yeah. At around the 40 hour mark I got to a new are just filled with tough machines and my stockpiles of supplies built up over all that time dwindled rapidly, lol

Great stuff

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

I know the comparisons have been made already and I hate to pile on, but considering that The Witcher 3 is essentially my favorite game of all-time comparisons are going to come even on an unconscious level.

So while playing Horizon (which should become the flagship Sony franchise now) and taking in a beautiful world filled with roaming dinosaur robots from various vistas I keep thinking about how these side quests/errands will eventually be altogether forgettable or straight up avoided. I'm still early on, but apart from the first Bandit camp encounter with Nil, who is a fairly interesting guy, the side quests all seem to be "go here, look for this, fight some machines, report back." I understand the gameplay itself can be repetitive. The Witcher 3 didn't reinvent the wheel in that regard, but it went to great lengths to provide key details to minor characters such as motivations and desires that were wholly different from one quest giver to the next. While Horizon's combat, apart from melee, is generally more fluid and robust than The Witcher 3's that shouldn't be the excuse given to make me want to complete these side quests.

TW3 made me and, judging by the posts in its respective game thread, most of its players genuinely interested in the outcome of 90% of the side quests. Sure, you had to go from point A to B, fight some bad guys, and then saunter back for your reward, but when the outcome of a side quest lingers in your brain for the rest of the game you kind of forget about exactly how repetitive that game can be despite being well-balanced. So far my experiences with Horizon have led me to basically the same quest giver - there was a group that got ambushed, the quest giver ran off, they're feeling guilty about running off, but not guilty enough to go back so they task with you finding them or an item they lost. Heck, this even works its way into the story at the start of Act 2.

I'm still early on so everything is still fresh and that new smell is still giving me a gaming high, but I'm hoping that as I continue to play that I won't wind up abandoning this game world like so many other adequate open world games.

With that said the the first act was awesome and I'm digging Aloy so far. Her personality really shines through in her dialogue and her humor is hilarious to watch unfold on those unsuspecting.

[The JareBear]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Very fair post. I agree.

I think I said this before but W3 has side quests (Bloody Baron) and DLC/expansions that are better than main quests of other games

It's just the gold standard in that regard

If we have to compare the two then that's just an area where Horizon falls behind TW3

[PPerfect_CJ]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Yeah. At around the 40 hour mark I got to a new are just filled with tough machines and my stockpiles of supplies built up over all that time dwindled rapidly, lol

Great stuff

The area around the second Tall Neck is where everything turned for me. I was genuinely scared to move out of fear of one of those machines coming after me.

[PPerfect_CJ]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Spoiler

I know the comparisons have been made already and I hate to pile on, but considering that The Witcher 3 is essentially my favorite game of all-time comparisons are going to come even on an unconscious level.

So while playing Horizon (which should become the flagship Sony franchise now) and taking in a beautiful world filled with roaming dinosaur robots from various vistas I keep thinking about how these side quests/errands will eventually be altogether forgettable or straight up avoided. I'm still early on, but apart from the first Bandit camp encounter with Nil, who is a fairly interesting guy, the side quests all seem to be "go here, look for this, fight some machines, report back." I understand the gameplay itself can be repetitive. The Witcher 3 didn't reinvent the wheel in that regard, but it went to great lengths to provide key details to minor characters such as motivations and desires that were wholly different from one quest giver to the next. While Horizon's combat, apart from melee, is generally more fluid and robust than The Witcher 3's that shouldn't be the excuse given to make me want to complete these side quests.

TW3 made me and, judging by the posts in its respective game thread, most of its players genuinely interested in the outcome of 90% of the side quests. Sure, you had to go from point A to B, fight some bad guys, and then saunter back for your reward, but when the outcome of a side quest lingers in your brain for the rest of the game you kind of forget about exactly how repetitive that game can be despite being well-balanced. So far my experiences with Horizon have led me to basically the same quest giver - there was a group that got ambushed, the quest giver ran off, they're feeling guilty about running off, but not guilty enough to go back so they task with you finding them or an item they lost. Heck, this even works its way into the story at the start of Act 2.

I'm still early on so everything is still fresh and that new smell is still giving me a gaming high, but I'm hoping that as I continue to play that I won't wind up abandoning this game world like so many other adequate open world games.

With that said the the first act was awesome and I'm digging Aloy so far. Her personality really shines through in her dialogue and her humor is hilarious to watch unfold on those unsuspecting.

One big thing that sticks out to me is how much more alive the world of TW3 is. There is just so much going on. Everyone is living their lives and it's all very organic. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to enter a house in Horizon and was like, "Oh yeah. You can't do that in this game." I miss having specialized weapons, armour, and goods dealers, too, instead of just buying EVERYTHING from the same vendors. Stuff like that just kind of helps to immerse you in the world. Like I've said before, as great as Horizon is, it's almost not fair to compare the two, because, in my opinion, nothing can hold a candle to TW3. I feel like OS needs to add a GOAT emoji just for that game. Lol!

[PhiPsi1]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

@All -

Are any of you playing this game on a regular PS4? If so...have you encountered any frame rate issues or any other things we should be aware of?

I know this is the flagship game for the Pro...but wondering if regular PS4 owners are having the same overall gameplay experience as the Pro owners...

Thanks fellas!

[The JareBear]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

@All -

Are any of you playing this game on a regular PS4? If so...have you encountered any frame rate issues or any other things we should be aware of?

I know this is the flagship game for the Pro...but wondering if regular PS4 owners are having the same overall gameplay experience as the Pro owners...

Thanks fellas!

I'm at work and can't link it right now but I'm pretty sure DigitalFoundry posted an article and a breakdown video on YouTube explaining that the game is a "technical masterpiece" on both base PS4 and PS4 Pro. I'm pretty sure game is rock solid on both

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

I haven't noticed anything regarding frame-rate. Some texture pop-in issues occasionally that is common among open world games, but everything else is buttery smooth.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

@All -

Are any of you playing this game on a regular PS4? If so...have you encountered any frame rate issues or any other things we should be aware of?

I know this is the flagship game for the Pro...but wondering if regular PS4 owners are having the same overall gameplay experience as the Pro owners...

Thanks fellas!

I am. I haven't noticed anything. However, I also am not really looking for it, and it only bothers me if it's really jarring/frequent.

On a semi-related note - I really dislike when a game doesn't get facial animations right. Especially one where a good chunk of time is spent learning lore from everyone you talk to. I go through every single conversation in games like this, and I've found that there are a lot of syncing problems. Also, their face will just start to twitch uncontrollably sometimes. It's pretty annoying. At this point, I mostly focus on reading the subtitles to avoid it.

It's too bad that little things like that pop up in an otherwise great looking game.

[daniel77733]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Horizon has sold 2.6M copies physically and digitally in two weeks which is honestly no surprise as it's easily 2017's biggest and best new IP along with being a 2017 game of the year candidate. A story expansion is currently being worked on but is definitely a ways off. No other info for it is available.

http://gamingbolt.com/horizon-zero-dawn-sold-2-6-million-units-since-launch

[The JareBear]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Horizon has sold 2.6M copies physically and digitally in two weeks which is honestly no surprise as it's easily 2017's biggest and best new IP along with being a 2017 game of the year candidate. A story expansion is currently being worked on but is definitely a ways off. No other info for it is available.

http://gamingbolt.com/horizon-zero-d...s-since-launch

Glad you posted this. Now I know not to trade it in when I finish.

I'm still holding out hope for a NG+ and/or survivor mode as well

[ezio]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

@All -

Are any of you playing this game on a regular PS4? If so...have you encountered any frame rate issues or any other things we should be aware of?

I know this is the flagship game for the Pro...but wondering if regular PS4 owners are having the same overall gameplay experience as the Pro owners...

Thanks fellas!

I haven't noticed any issues on a regular PS4.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Whelp, ran through my first cauldron and corrupted zones last night. The cauldron core was pissing me off until I discovered a small ledge and I'm not ashamed to admit I cheesed my way through that bellowback.

Corrupted zones are no joke either.

I also went back to the Nora hunting grounds and managed to get the 10 canisters in 41 seconds thanks to the teardrop arrow.

[Mabster]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Found a data point that kinda explains where all the other species of animals disappeared to. That had been bothering me why there wasn't more diversity.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Horizon: Zero Dawn