Horizon: Zero Dawn

[Fierce_LiNk]

I feel slightly the opposite of you @Blade in terms of the story, as I thought that it started off quite slow and ordinary to begin with. I felt that the story developed really well throughout and I simply loved that final scene:

Spoiler

 

Beautiful scene, imo.

I agree though that the strong points were definitely the battles. I loved all the setting up before a big fight and then just seeing the carnage ensue! Didn't get around to playing the DLC for some reason, but it looked beautiful, so I should get on that.

I thought that there might have been a follow-up to this, but it seems to have gone a bit quiet in that regard. Would love to go back into this world!

[gaggle64]

It was a bit all over the place but Aloy's personal journey and her quest to discover her origins was the stuff that really made a connection, even when some of the lore & world building got a little too thick for my tastes. I'd love for more focus on Aloy and the characters she meets in the next game as a driving force.

I've no doubt they're already making a sequel, it's sold way too well, though it'll take years to put a new big open world game together. Bet you my boots they announce a sequel the same day they announce a PS5.  

[DriftKaiser]

That's me got the platinum trophy today after spent a week playing it. Easily one of the best games for PS4 because I have a great time playing it and the landscapes, settlements etc are drop-dead gorgeous. Meridian is my fave fictional city ever because it got unique architecture and are really huge. I'm little annoyed that Aloy don't have the same override skill as Sylens because I'll love to summon an overriden machine to assist me in a battle or using snapmaw as a boat ride etc. 

Edited May 26, 2019 by DriftKaiser

[drahkon]

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

R.I.P.

Only 46 years old, too. Horrible for his family, children and friends.

[Cube]

I started playing this a few weeks ago, really enjoying it. Exploring is a lot of fun and plenty of sise quests to defeat.

 

Fighting the machines is great, especially with override. I got to watch an epic fight between two Thunderjaws. 

My only downside is that the quest rewards are so... unrewarding. Like completing the Hunters Lodge quests and getting a box of random stuff, nothing meaningful. Some unique weapons or outfits would have been nice.

[LazyBoy]

Hi all. So I've just started playing this, but I'm also recording the whole thing, which I'll put up as both a let's play and a condensed review once finished.

Reason for posting is that I would like to know how the game is now regarded by those who played it a while back. Have you gone back to it since? How has your recollection and opinion of it changed over time? Are there any moments, elements that remain vivid in your memory?

I'm also doing a running comparison with BotW, and I would like to know if anyone has any opinions on this front.

I will credit you by default in the video, so say of you don't want your name in there.

[Ronnie]

It's one of those games that I really enjoyed at the time, maybe even loved, but it just hasn't stuck with me long-term. Once the storyline finally got going it was pretty interesting though and the combat was fantastic. I just didn't really care about exploring the openworld much for whatever reason, it all felt a bit devoid of personality and flavour.

The big difference between the two games for me is Horizon felt like the culmination and refinement of the usual openworld formula we'd all seen, a "Best of" what's come before, whereas Breath of the Wild felt like a ground-breaking evolution of it. In twenty or thirty years people will still be talking about Breath of the Wild the way they talk about Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time, whereas I'm not sure the same will be true of Horizon. I'm looking forward to the sequel though, if Sony are smart/able they'll make it a PS5 launch title.

[LazyBoy]

22 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It's one of those games that I really enjoyed at the time, maybe even loved, but it just hasn't stuck with me long-term. Once the storyline finally got going it was pretty interesting though and the combat was fantastic. I just didn't really care about exploring the openworld much for whatever reason, it all felt a bit devoid of personality and flavour.

The big difference between the two games for me is Horizon felt like the culmination and refinement of the usual openworld formula we'd all seen, a "Best of" what's come before, whereas Breath of the Wild felt like a ground-breaking evolution of it. In twenty or thirty years people will still be talking about Breath of the Wild the way they talk about Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time, whereas I'm not sure the same will be true of Horizon. I'm looking forward to the sequel though, if Sony are smart/able they'll make it a PS5 launch title.

Thanks Ronnie, any objection if I quote you on the video?

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, LazyBoy said:

I'm also doing a running comparison with BotW, and I would like to know if anyone has any opinions on this front.

Don't, unless you can get away from the "this game is better than that game"-discussion.
Compare them for what they are: Very different realizations of open worlds. I'd actually be very interested in something like that.

 

[LazyBoy]

22 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Don't, unless you can get away from the "this game is better than that game"-discussion.
Compare them for what they are: Very different realizations of open worlds. I'd actually be very interested in something like that.

 

That is 100% my goal. At the moment I'm just playing the game, commenting as I go, but already it is emerging as discussion on traditional v experimental (or just new) open world design. 

I am not shying away from including my own personal preference, but if I ever reduce the comparison to X is better than y then you have my permission to shun me.

[Hero-of-Time]

13 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

I am not shying away from including my own personal preference, but if I ever reduce the comparison to X is better than y then you have my permission to shun me.

You love BOTW so I already shun you.  

In all seriousness though, @drahkon is right. Both games play very differently and set out to achieve very different things. The only things that they share in common is that they are both open world games. The whole debate between which of these games is better has been done to death by the games media in an effort for clicks, point scoring and fanning the flames of fanboys, especially during the opening months of their releases. Each of these games offer something very different and it just depends on what you are after in a game as to which you find the better of the two. Want a fully free and open experience? Then BOTW is what you are after. Want a game that has a very strong narrative but sticks to the tried and tested formula of open world games? Then you'll probably enjoy Horizon more. I do believe it's that straight forward.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

You love BOTW so I already shun you.  

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, LazyBoy said:

Thanks Ronnie, any objection if I quote you on the video?

Feel free, just some random thoughts of mine.

They're very different games but they came out within a week of each other and are both bow-wielding openworld action adventures where your goal is to tame the wild. Comparisons were always going to be made. But yeah obviously one emphasises combat and narrative, the other is more about exploration, sandbox systems and puzzle solving. 

I personally think one added a lot more to the industry as a whole, and that's why BOTW is so widely praised, but Horizon definitely presents a polished "traditional" openworld game. I can't wait for the sequel.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Ronnie

[LazyBoy]

53 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

You love BOTW so I already shun you.  

In all seriousness though, @drahkon is right. Both games play very differently and set out to achieve very different things. The only things that they share in common is that they are both open world games. The whole debate between which of these games is better has been done to death by the games media in an effort for clicks, point scoring and fanning the flames of fanboys, especially during the opening months of their releases. Each of these games offer something very different and it just depends on what you are after in a game as to which you find the better of the two. Want a fully free and open experience? Then BOTW is what you are after. Want a game that has a very strong narrative but sticks to the tried and tested formula of open world games? Then you'll probably enjoy Horizon more. I do believe it's that straight forward.

Exactly my reading of the situation as well. The comparison for me is less the type of game, and more its market placement - both attempting to act as system sellers by offering an epic for the players to lose themselves in. That being the case what do both games set out to achieve, and how succesful are they?

Hero, Drakhon, you obviously have a lot of love for the game - what should I be looking out for as I play?

[drahkon]

12 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

what should I be looking out for as I play?

Just enjoy it without looking out for anything. Do as you see fit.

If I had to give you one thing to look out for, it's probably the battles. They are so incredibly dynamic and can be tackled in so many different ways. The combat really shines when you plan ahead. It's something I don't usually do with action games, but Horizon: Zero Dawn actually made me enjoy traps and planning encounters around them. 

[bob]

I really enjoyed Horizon, even going so far as to get the platinum for it, which i rarely do, so it must have done something right. However, i'm only a few hours into BOTW, so I can't really do any truly fair comparisons. However, I agree with @Ronnie that the exploration was never a big part of H:ZD. You might have wandered through an area, and stumbled across something interesting, but it was always as a means to get somewhere else, rather than exploration just for the fun of it. Indeed, other than finding a breeding ground of new fighting robots, there wasn't ever anything that interesting to find. The odd ruined building that you couldn't go in; a rock that you couldn't climb etc. BOTW meanwhile seems to be all about exploration, where you could find something interesting and diverting over every hill.


The combat is where H:ZD really shines. It was a really enjoyable experience taking on the bigger robots, and once you got all the best gear, you could toy with them, taking them apart bit by bit until you chose to finish them off. Timing your slide or jump to dive out of the way of a robot's charge while firing an explosive arrow into it's flank felt like a Michael Bay set piece, and never got old.


Ultimately, the robots are the true stars of H:ZD, as finding new 'species' (models?) and working out how to take them down was the most enjoyable part*. I can't wait for the inevitable sequel, not because I wan't to find out about the story, but because I'm looking forward to all the new types of robot it'll have in it.


Having said that, the story was still pretty good, and the voice acting was top notch (Lt. Daniels!), where watching cut scenes was actually enjoyable. Compare that to BOTW where any story exposition is like watching paint dry with a toddler narrating over the top.


*Excluding glint hawks. Fuck them.

[Hero-of-Time]

18 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

Hero, Drakhon, you obviously have a lot of love for the game - what should I be looking out for as I play?

Nothing really. I'm not in the habit of telling people how to play a game. You play it how you like and what gives you the most enjoyment. 

[Julius]

Well there it is, the long-rumoured remaster of Zero Dawn arrives on PS5 and PC on October 31st, with a $10 upgrade path available for owners of the original game:

 

[Eddage]

Godammit, I've literally just finished playing this for the first time and I'm a sucker for remasters 😆

[S.C.G]

Excellent news, I remember buying the original game on the PS4, playing it on the day of release for two hours before work... and then... not playing the game ever again, I even sold it but I've always wondered about the game since, plus I picked up the second game when I bought a PS5 over a year ago, which I still haven't set up, but I intend to soon.

So understandably, I'm interested in this remaster.

Here's what I originally said about the game six and a half years ago...

On 3/1/2017 at 5:18 PM, S.C.G said:

I got this today, put the disc in my PS4 with the intention of just installing the inevitable huge day 1 patch along with the game data so it would be ready for later, turns out the patch was only a few hundred megabytes for a change.

So I went to install it, turns out the game was ready to go and proceeded to load so I thought it would be rude to not at least play the intro...

...two hours later.

It's a really solid, open-world title which has a decent setup & backstory which shows you just enough as it teaches you the basics and then just lets you get to it even in the starting area, well to an extent... I noticed that if you go toward the boundary area of the map where there's nothing you do get a warning stating "if you don't turn back, your last save will be reloaded" so naturally I didn't feel like testing that much.

Perhaps that limitation will go away upon getting further into the map, it's not a big deal just a slight immersion-killer but aside from that, the gameplay is fluid, nice level of detail - OG PS4 for life - :awesome: and the gathering aspect feels fine at this point oh plus Dynamic HUD is clearly the best option.

When you hear Aloy talking to herself about certain things, reacting to situations etc it actually doesn't bother me as it makes sense in the context of the story - to me anyway - which I won't mention anything about but I just thought I'd belay any fears about this as if anything it just adds to the experience.

You get to save at any available bonfire of which there are a reasonable amount scattered across even the opening area, so don't be afraid to get out there just so long as you're aware where your next save point is.

Stealth is nicely implemented too incorporating the best of games which have similar mechanics, climbing feels more like Uncharted, combat clearly has depth just waiting to be exploited and there are plenty of skills to learn and secrets to find.

I want to play more of it now but I'll resist until later, though I intend to play as much of it as I can before this week is out, I'm also playing on Very Hard difficulty... I haven't died yet in-game but it's early days so we'll see how that pans out. : peace:

Perhaps this time, a console generation later, I'll play through the game properly, plus the DLC... and it's sequel, plus the DLC for that too.

Interestingly, I've just realised that when I was buying PS5 games that I wanted to play, I bought the standard version of Horizon II without the DLC, but there is a complete version with the DLC on the disc, though it is a bit rare now, it would seem, as it was released a year ago.

I wonder if another print run might happen for Horizon II Forbidden West Complete Edition now that this remaster has been announced?

I know the game is £32.99 digitally, and the dlc is only £14.99 but... it would be nice to own it all on two discs.

Edit - I bought the only copy of Horizon II Forbidden West Complete Edition that I could find, it comes with a steelbook case (separate from the sealed game) which also seems to be collectable, so if anyone collects steelbooks and wants the case for £40 including postage (cheapest currently on it's own is £40 plus postage) or a sealed standard edition of Horizon II (PS5) for £33 including postage (it seems to sell for £32 - £35 sealed plus postage) then let me know or PM me, otherwise I'll sell them in the shop or on eBay, but I thought I'd offer them here first.

Edited September 26 by S.C.G

[Hero-of-Time]

Quote

Sony has doubled the price of Horizon Zero Dawn on PS4 in the aftermath of the announcement of the game’s PS5 remaster. It had previously cost $19.99 or less to purchase the Complete Edition of Guerrilla’s open world outing since 2018, but now, with a $9.99 PS5 remaster on the way, the platform holder has bumped the MSRP on the PS Store to $39.99. In the UK, the price has increased from £15.99 to £34.99.

Shameful.

[Hero-of-Time]

Love the box art for the PS5 version. It matches up nicely with the sequel.

Reminds me of TLOU PS5 box arts.

[Happenstance]

Grabbed the £10 upgrade for the remaster on Steam, just waiting for preload to become available so I can start downloading.