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For those who are playing Horizon and Zelda, which world do you enjoy exploring more?

ShinAmano

Member
Bought a pro for horizon...bought a switch for zelda.

Initial thought were horizon is crazy awesome...look at those graphics...not much has changed here. Can't wait to dig in.

Zelda thoughts...this breakable weapon stuff is bullshit...these graphics suck.

Now...

I haven't played horizon in two weeks...still really want to.

Zelda is awesome (despite Bullshit breakable weapons) ... graphics are OK for what they were going for...don't even think about them anymore...just need more spirit orbs in my veins now!

Playtime 90% zelda 10% horizon.

Kind of pissed they were so close together.
 

RootCause

Member
I'll agree on this as well. The combat against the machines in horizon is ridiculously satisfying. My only grip with it is the melee combat is not great and I wish there was a it more variety in weapons.
The melee combat is one of the things they should work on for the sequel. But not at the expense of range fighting. I feel it's part of her identity. imo ofc
 

JustenP88

I earned 100 Gamerscore™ for collecting 300 widgets and thereby created Trump's America
Exploration and the sense of wonder/discovery is next-level in Zelda. Horizon is gorgeous, but I don't feel like it really tempts me off the beaten path like Zelda. Get me to the next waypoint. Let me do my thing. Like 99% of open-world games. Actually, to be fair to Horizon, it's better than that 99% of open-world games. Zelda just does the "you're a hero on an adventure" thing better than just about any game I've played.

Horizon feels like Aloy's journey but Zelda: BotW feels like mine.
whatever the fuck that means...
 

Alex

Member
Horizon does not have a well made world, IMO. It's something I hope improves a lot next go'round.
 

DMONKUMA

Junior Member
The melee combat is one of the things they should work on for the sequel. But not at the expense of range fighting. I feel it's part of her identity. imo ofc

Yeah they could balance it out. I also say that Horizon should take notes from the climbing mechanics in BOTW since it will not only be good for crossing/climbing terrain but for going on top of the machines in a Monster Hunter-like style.
 
Both.
Zelda for the feeling of an adventure/trek across the world.
Horizon for the feeling of a sightseeing adventure, constantly stopping to take beautiful pictures and admiring the wildlife.
 
In Horizon you have this narrow field of view of whatever's in front of you, and it's peppered with these stupid UI collectible markers, and you can't really interact with the environment much, and barely vertically at all.

You'll have to elaborate because literally all of this is wrong.
 
Zelda, but mostly because of all the crazy things that I can try there like
Roasting a bird with a fire arrow or using troll science on the rafts
 
Was playing Horizon while playing BoTW. I had to stop playing Zelda in order to finish Horizon because the world was consuming me.

Zelda for me.

I picked up Horizon first and was in love, but felt I should dabble in Zelda cause I bought it... over the weekend I found myself rushing through Horizon so I could play Zelda. So I made the decision to put Horizon to the side of Zelda cause that's all I can think of. Horizon is amazing and I didn't think Zelda was better when I seen the reviews, no way it could be better. It's better, it's what open worlds should be, full of exploration and discovery. Not constantly checking map and following waypoint markers.
 
I prefer Zelda but the comparison really is unfair in my opinion when both games have different goals. GG's first open-world action RPG ever where 90% of the world is connected to the story. In Zelda, you're giving a whole lot of freedom from the get go to just fool around and do almost anything you want. The world is massive. So, I just find the comparison unfair.
 
In before the lock when this turns ugly :) , but I enjoyed Horizon's world more. It had more densely packed and varied environments that didn't take an inordinate amount of time to get to. I never felt the need to mount up, as I loved just running from stunning locale to stunning locale. Sure, there were several collectibles that I skipped, but that was more because I wanted to keep progressing in the story (post meridian). It was utterly gripping. Fighting thunderjaws and rock breakers remains some of the best gaming that I've done in years. It has its low points, too - shit quest rewards from side quests, lame "follow the trail" x30 quests, fairly meaningless skill points, and a side story in the main progression that takes forever to pick up steam. But bolstering those lows is one of the best combat systems I've played in any third person action game, let alone an open world one.

Zelda... It's cool, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the magic has faded now that I'm over 20 hours in. The melee combat is not good, but it's augmented by the ability to use physics and the tools they give you to craft your own fighting scenarios. It offers more combat freedom beyond its limited melee options than I've seen for any game. The wildlife, though sparse, is amazingly animated, and it feels like you're in a living, breathing world. The total creative freedom in getting from point A to B is beyond any other game I've played. All of that said, however... I'm tired of entering the same looking shrine for the fiftieth time. Maybe one in three puzzles is fun. I'm tired of the shitty combat trials. I'm tired of how damn far away everything is. I'm tired of climbing a mountain and having a rainstorm reset my progress. I'm tired of thunderstorms knocking that thing I'm carrying into the lake. I'm still enjoying the game overall, but open world fatigue must finally be hitting me. I have no sense of urgency to do the main mission. I'm tired of breaking all my good weapons on a Lynel, pausing the game myriad times to switch weapons during the fight. This is partially alleviated by the master sword, but still. The first several areas made me hate the durability system. And before I upgraded my stamina, I hated the stamina system, too lol.

Zelda definitely is more content rich than Horizon, and has a much larger and more interactive world. It definitely feels more epic in scale, and I can definitely see why so many people love it. I just don't enjoy most of that content as much as I enjoyed the relatively more limited content in Horizon. It offers me too much freedom to the point where none of it feels necessary, and wastes my time with a huge world map that is simultaneously too sparse of meaningful encounters and too cluttered with minigames and cut and paste korok puzzles.

It mostly boils down to my affinity for more dense, story driven games.
 

Blunoise

Member
I told ganon to wait. Because I'm still trying to explore everything and complete theses side quest. 70hrs in, and I'm still not bored
 

HowZatOZ

Banned
I know your OP specifically asks for those with both but I just wanted.ted to throw an opinion on Horizon's world.

It is very much a stunning world, beautifully crafted with extravagant landmarks and stories littered throughout to discover. However, this is also a downfall, in that it exists without giving the player much to play with. Enemy camps respawn, villagers don't respond much to what you've done besides in key moments of the main quest line. It all feels very static, despite having loving elements in that world place.

Again, I haven't played Zelda yet but from my limited view on it the world does look crafted and loved in however more accessible to the player's changes.

Horizon is no doubt an amazing game and I've still yet to actually finish the main story, but it does lack reason to go back to places. I can discover icons of the old, but then that area has become useless. Machine camps are really pointless as well outside of a key few quests. They almost feel like they are just "there" because of the maps size.
 

gdt

Member
Nooooo more collectibles in Horizon. I thought that was fine. But make it more interesting to actually get them. A puzzle, combat gate (Horizon had a couple of these around collectibles). And actually make the collectibles do something. The rewards for collecting all that shit in Horizon where shit. Green mods basically. 1 unique weapon though, iirc.
 

drotahorror

Member
but I personally prefer the style of having waypoints that tell you where things are, so I'd give Horizon the edge.

If BotW showed me on the map where the korok seeds were I would hate that so much.


In Horizon, I got bored of the side quests and tracking down the collectibles around the 15-20 hour mark. Which honestly is pretty good, but at that point I was hating the game so much and it was becoming a chore. I decided to start focusing on the Story quests and I ended up having a great time with the game as a whole.

In Zelda, I'm about 70 hours in. Still exploring, still doing side quests, upgrading armor, still having fun. But sometimes I do get bored of it and not play for a day or two. Then I pop it on and say I'm only gonna do a couple shrines, and next thing I know it's 2 or 3 hours later and I'm exploring random crap.

I give it to Zelda.
 

RootCause

Member
Yeah they could balance it out. I also say that Horizon should take notes from the climbing mechanics in BOTW since it will not only be good for crossing/climbing terrain but for going on top of the machines in a Monster Hunter-like style.
The climbing mechanics are something else. I feel like every open world action rpg should implement some sort of climbing, it does wonders for exploration, and improvisation.

I think both games should take some notes from rockstar. Their gta games do a great job at selling a world that's operating on its own, and you're just part of it.
 

DMONKUMA

Junior Member
The climbing mechanics are something else. I feel like every open world action rpg should implement some sort of climbing, it does wonders for exploration, and improvisation.

I think both games should take some notes from rockstar. Their gta games do a great job at selling a world that's operating on its own, and you're just part of it.

It's definitely gonna be interesting to see what RDR2 brings to the table.


Edit: Both games actually have me excited for an open world Monster Hunter if Capcom ever decides to do one.
 
While I'm really enjoying Horizon, Zelda wins here and it's really because I feel like I can go anywhere at any point and I don't have to worry about my travels being slowed to a crawl by dialogue wheels when talking to NPCs.
 

Mik2121

Member
World exploration...?
If for the visuals, definitely Horizon. The visuals are out of this world, the views you get from certain locations are just incredible.

For world exploration regarding finding interesting things or having fun moving around, that will be Zelda. It has so many things hidden around, every corner is a surprise, not visual quality-wise perhaps, but in a gameplay aspect. There are things laying around everywhere, small areas to enter and puzzles to solve, and things to collect that don't feel like a chore.

If Horizon had the gameplay content of Zelda, or if Zelda had the visual (both technical and artistic) quality of Horizon, that'd be some mindblowing game. Not that both at their current state aren't amazing anyway!


In other aspects Horizon beats Zelda (combat, enemy AI, animations, etc..) but Zelda also beats Horizon at many things. We got some really good two games at the same time. I hope other titles copy the "Chemistry Engine" (ala Physics engine) of Zelda.
 
I didn't play a lot of Horizon, but to lose oneself in Zelda's world is so amazing that i don't think any game can top this right now.

I am pretty confident that we won't see something like that before a very long time. I really hope that Ubisoft learn from it. The next assassin's creed cannot pretend that BOTW and the Witcher 3 didn't exist.
It's so refreshing after years and years of exploring uninteresting worlds filled with craps, with the notable exception of Witcher 3, even i never felt the need of not doing quick travel in this game.
 

RedFury

Member
Visually Horizon. Gameplay wise Zelda easily. It's hard to top Hitman with Zelda skin (physics based open ended gamplay).
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I prefer the moment to moment gameplay of Horizon than I do Zelda surprisingly enough. I just have an absolute blast playing against the robots. Yeah the human's aren't anything to write home about but damn if I haven't had some amazing strings of battles where machine after machine after machine just keeps getting involved and its chaos for 10 or 15 minutes straight where I'm left with a sliver of health, barely any ammo or health items and even my crafting supplies running dangerously low when the last machine finally tumbles over dead. Its gotten my heart racing like the best of the Souls games lets put it that way.

The overall world and the exploration and discovery is better in Zelda but I'm not going to lie and say that the climbing being so open is incredible but the actual climbing mechanic isn't interesting to me at all. Though fighting enemies in Zelda is a great time as well, I just love depth of taking on the machines and tearing them apart piece by piece, how it all looks, even sounds and Aloy is a dream to control during all this. Its up there with some character action games in terms of feeling like an absolute bad ass and looking like one too.
 

anddo0

Member
Zelda no doubt. The world is more dynamic, the creatures aren't the only danger. I have to worry about my fire and bomb arrows, these things are hard to find, and expensive to buy. In Horizon I could craft an infinite amount of arrows as long as I farmed the mats.

It's just more fun to explore, hunt and scale.. The mini dungeons are better than any of the 5 (or 6?) cauldrons in Horizon.

That being said, the games are very different.. I like narrative and Horizon has that in spades over Zelda.
 

VanWinkle

Member
I initially thought it was Zelda, and maybe it still is. But because I don't enjoy a lot of the gameplay mechanics of Zelda, I didn't enjoy exploring its world as much as I should have. Its graphical fidelity also made it less visually interesting. Horizon is smaller and doesn't have as many interesting landmarks that reward you for having checked it out, but its beauty as well as the joy of its movement and gameplay mechanics make me enjoy its world more. After 15 hours in Zelda, I just can't be bothered to play it anymore. Horizon I've put in over 40 hours, which is crazy for me.

I wish Zelda had the amazing combat mechanics and feeling of combat that Horizon does, but I wish Horizon had the climbing and paragliding mechanics that Zelda does.
 

Griss

Member
You'll have to elaborate because literally all of this is wrong.

I'm literally playing the game right now with my laptop open, on my way to
Meridian.

How is the world interactive? Beyond certain 'Uncharted-esque' climbing points, you don't do anything with the world itself but shoot at stuff and run over UI markers to get wood / medicine / roots etc. There are invisible walls all over the place, and Aloy is not good with ledges at all. Best example is the old stadium area early on where you have to kill the raiding party.
 
The Zelda world is simply more magical. I feel a bit bad for Horizon. Many years it would be a game of the year contender, but being released right next to Zelda is a tough one. It's Nintendo on top of their game, with both polish and ambition.
 

everyer

Member
I love good story telling and that makes THE RPG.

For me, Zelda is at the Witness level. You want to explore and do puzzles because the physical systems puzzles are interesting.

My vote for Horizon.The NPCs in that games sometimes make me feel they have life. The lore, the battle, the past and the history...the data, the more I found the more I want to know about the story. That... for me, is the RPG should go with.

I am a fan of story, not puzzles.
 
I haven't played horizon yet but I'm loving zelda a ton. The sense of exploration and all the random shit I find in botw is what makes me enjoy it. From what I've seen of horizon the combat seem really well done. Botw has a fun combat system especially considering how you can tackle combat scenarios in so many bizarre ways. As an open world adventure game it's one of the best I have ever played in terms of combat but it's made me sort of want even more out of the combat in terms of having it more streamlined and difficult. I feel like to balance something like that in the standard botw sandbox is hard without making some combat options pointless and it would lose the breath of options to use in the wild.
 
If BotW showed me on the map where the korok seeds were I would hate that so much.


In Horizon, I got bored of the side quests and tracking down the collectibles around the 15-20 hour mark. Which honestly is pretty good, but at that point I was hating the game so much and it was becoming a chore. I decided to start focusing on the Story quests and I ended up having a great time with the game as a whole.

In Zelda, I'm about 70 hours in. Still exploring, still doing side quests, upgrading armor, still having fun. But sometimes I do get bored of it and not play for a day or two. Then I pop it on and say I'm only gonna do a couple shrines, and next thing I know it's 2 or 3 hours later and I'm exploring random crap.

I give it to Zelda.
I mean, I don't think having waypoints or preset markers works the way Zelda is designed, since it's all about exploring and finding things, which is fine. But, personally, while I do enjoy Zelda, it's in spite of that design rather than because of it, and I'd prefer the world be smaller. I wouldn't have minded, for example, if placing your Sheikah Slate into a tower would show shrine locations, but I know that's not how the game is intended to be experienced.

But like I said, I haven't played enough of Horizon to really understand its open world style, either. In my mind, the comparison is more between Zelda and FFXV, where you can automate it so much that Ignis can flat out drive you to quest locations. I like that, even if most other people prefer it the Zelda way.
 
I'm literally playing the game right now with my laptop open, on my way to
Meridian.

How is the world interactive? Beyond certain 'Uncharted-esque' climbing points, you don't do anything with the world itself but shoot at stuff and run over UI markers to get wood / medicine / roots etc. There are invisible walls all over the place, and Aloy is not good with ledges at all. Best example is the old stadium area early on where you have to kill the raiding party.

You haven't even experienced the best part about the game if you're now just headed to
Meridian.
The game really opens up from there.
 
Would it make sense if my answer is that I love the Horizon Dawn world much more, and yet have much more fun exploring BotW's world? That's kind of how I feel.
 
Horizon. I keep shelfing Zelda to play it. Every corner is a treat, but its world is more my jam. But I also haven't immersed myself into Zelda yet (left the plateau startin area and have collected a few shrine things).

I also feel these games aren't comparable in a lot of ways. They hit the same bullet points but in such different ways I kind of loathe these type of comparisons.

It's like comparing a mango to an apple, sure, they're both fruits ...
 

RootCause

Member
Horizon. I keep shelfing Zelda to play it. Every corner is a treat, but its world is more my jam.

I also feel these games aren't comparable in a lot of ways. They hit the same bullet points but in such different ways I kind of loathe these type of comparisons.

It's like comparing a mango to an apple, sure, they're both fruits ...
Dat mango though! 🤤

But yeah, both games are focusing on different things.
Witcher 3, seems like a better comparison for Horizon.
 
Horizon. I keep shelfing Zelda to play it. Every corner is a treat, but its world is more my jam. But I also haven't immersed myself into Zelda yet (left the plateau startin area and have collected a few shrine things).

I also feel these games aren't comparable in a lot of ways. They hit the same bullet points but in such different ways I kind of loathe these type of comparisons.

It's like comparing a mango to an apple, sure, they're both fruits ...

Yea, in a lot of ways, even the world design comparison is flawed because they both serve different purposes. And part of that all begins with the combat encounters the developers intend to populate the world with.
 

anddo0

Member
What percentage of people posting have honestly played both games?

Platinumed Horizon

Currently ignoring the story in Zelda, just shrine hunting and exploring. I was shocked when I returned to the main quest line and was greeted to a dodging tutorial 20 hours in, lol.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
I don't see why they need to be compared, as they both merit acclaim. But hey, dis neogafs bread and butter. Very market researchy type of questions, maybe a touch of circle-j

Ahhh, a bit of thread-whining with a sprinkle of "I'm better than all you guys" seasonings on top, who wouldn't love that.
 

molnizzle

Member
I was really enjoying my time with Horizon before Zelda came out.

110 hours later and I still don't want to do anything but continue exploring Hyrule.

I'll get back to Horizon, some day...
 
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