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Horizon Zero Dawn |OT2| Red Head Redemption

Sure he is.
He's got self-awareness, and doesn't try to hide what he does under a veil of righteousness. He funnels his dark urges towards ridding the world of bandits, which contribute to the overall good of the world, but he makes no pretense that he himself is a good person. And he's crushing on Aloy, which is kind of cute. He's a very charming character.

Not to mention, when his mission is over and done with and there are no bandits left for him to release on, he tries to get Aloy to kill him. I hope he's around in the sequel, though I doubt he will be.

On the subject of comparing Horizon and Witcher 3, story-wise; I stan for Horizon, but it is no way, shape, or form in the same league as Witcher 3. None. That game might just stand on its own in gaming.
 

Fersis

It is illegal to Tag Fish in Tag Fishing Sanctuaries by law 38.36 of the GAF Wildlife Act
But
there's nothing lovable, or even likeable about Nil. He's a douche sociopath

Nil is honest af.
That's why i like him.

Besides Aloy he's the only character with an interesting personality.
Avad: Dude's nicer than Lassie
Evil Dude: Super evil dude
Rost: Rost's good people.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Yeah, I can see why people may feel compelled to compare Horizon to Witcher 3, but when it comes to story and characters I don't think there's any comparison. The Hearts of Stone expansion on its own features a stronger narrative than most other games.

My girlfriend who isn't a gamer but appreciates them nonetheless says that all the characters in Horizon have "dead eyes," and I tend to agree. I booted up Last of Us after and she was instantly engaged because the characters are expressive and believable. Two different games, obviously, but the facial animations and wooden dialogue aren't doing a narrative-heavy game like Horizon any favors. This isn't to imply that the overarching plot is bad (it's actually quite interesting), but the execution isn't quite there for me.
 
My girlfriend who isn't a gamer but appreciates them nonetheless says that all the characters in Horizon have "dead eyes," and I tend to agree. I booted up Last of Us after and she was instantly engaged because the characters are expressive and believable. Two different games, obviously, but the facial animations and wooden dialogue aren't doing a narrative-heavy game like Horizon any favors. This isn't to imply that the overarching plot is bad (it's actually quite interesting), but the execution isn't quite there for me.

I'm curious; is motion capture more expensive than traditional methods of character animation?
 
Can't wait to dig in further though I'm worried I'm gonna suck at the combat.

As long as you take your sweet time and think your battles through, instead of barging in gun blazing, you'll be fine. HZD isn't hard, but it punishes thoughtlessness.

Also, sucking at combat is but the first step towards being great at combat :D
 

m4st4

Member
This game is something else... purchased PS4 Pro yesterday and after playing Horizon for couple of hours I'm now officially hooked.
 
Yeah, I can see why people may feel compelled to compare Horizon to Witcher 3, but when it comes to story and characters I don't think there's any comparison. The Hearts of Stone expansion on its own features a stronger narrative than most other games.

My girlfriend who isn't a gamer but appreciates them nonetheless says that all the characters in Horizon have "dead eyes," and I tend to agree.

I don't think they are really that far, Hearts of Stone has a stronger narrative than the main game. The Witcher III is a fantastic collection of stories but the main story is quite generic and bland and filled with a lot of things that take you out of the story (find Dandelion and all that stuff).
Animation wise is the best but is still defined by an algorithm since a lot of npc share the same gestures and movesets. Horizon npc looked pretty good and distinctive, they're hit and miss but better than most games of the genre (I'll argue that's second to The Witcher III), look at Vanasha or Petra and tell me they look dead... well, they don't to me.

The Last of Us characters are animated by hand and motion capture every one of them, is a comparison that could never be made.
 
Is crafting every available upgrade a must to get the Platinum trophy?

Nope. I assumed it was so I hunted and did this quite early on and got nothing. Just upgrade the stuff you think you'll find useful (resource carry limit I think was my main priority). I could have done without upgrading traps. And is the thing called a Tripcaster? I ended up almost never using that one after the hunting challenge.
 

SeanR1221

Member
Omg. How did I make it 30 hours without realizing there is a golden fast travel pack.

What other things am I missing now 🙆🏻*♂️🤦🏻*♂️
 

Exquisik

Member
Omg. How did I make it 30 hours without realizing there is a golden fast travel pack.

What other things am I missing now 🙆🏻*♂️🤦🏻*♂️

-You can upgrade your bags to carry more items.
-All plants are useless except medicinal herbs and ridge-wood.
-Plant loots are abundant near water
-With the correct skills upgraded, you can shoot multiple arrows at once
-You can check your play time by doing manual saves
-Campfires are not the only locations you can fast travel to
-You can override multiple machines at once
-You can talk to
Rost's Grave

That's all I can think of on top of my head for now.
 
I just finished the game and I am also proud to say I got my very first platinum trophy. Ever.

This game kept me hooked from the first hour to the total of 60 hours I put into this. It almost took me two months but it was worth every minute.

What an absolute amazing game. I love it. There's hole in my every day schedule now. I never knew Horizon would have grabbed me so hard and wouldn't let go.

Horizon 2 is going to be absolutely amazing.

Guerrilla Games, if you read this.. bloody job well done and as a fellow Dutch guy and born in Amsterdam; Wat zijn jullie een geweldig team!
 

SeanR1221

Member
-You can upgrade your bags to carry more items.
-All plants are useless except medicinal herbs and ridge-wood.
-Plant loots are abundant near water
-With the correct skills upgraded, you can shoot multiple arrows at once
-You can check your play time by doing manual saves
-Campfires are not the only locations you can fast travel to
-You can override multiple machines at once
-You can talk to
Rost's Grave

That's all I can think of on top of my head for now.

I knew all of those except the last!

Wait. What is this?

Unlimited fast travel pack
 

gatti-man

Member
Not to mention, when his mission is over and done with and there are no bandits left for him to release on, he tries to get Aloy to kill him. I hope he's around in the sequel, though I doubt he will be.

On the subject of comparing Horizon and Witcher 3, story-wise; I stan for Horizon, but it is no way, shape, or form in the same league as Witcher 3. None. That game might just stand on its own in gaming.

As a fan of witcher 1&2 witcher 3 bored me to tears and I never finished it. It makes a mistake of having WAY too many side quests and forcing me to care about inconsequential people. All I wanted to do was move forward with the main story line.

Horizon did this way better and allowed me to move forward in the story essentially as much as I wanted at will. I much preferred and finished Horizon to W3. Plus the combat in W3 is hot garbage compared to horizon.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Hey hopefully GG sets the bar high for themselves and we get an adversary half as incredible as Gaunter O'Dimm in the first Horizon DLC.
 
Think we will get a horizon expansion teaser at e3? Nothing showing really anything but just a little something like the last of us 2. I'd be hyped just if its a logo or name but I have a feeling they have been working on something while they crushed bugs surely they know where they are going with an expansion. I wouldn't mind going to the homeland of the shaman that talks about the blue light.
 

AllenShrz

Member
I find it crazy seeing someone coming from Zelda to Horizon saying the combat sucks. I went from Horizon to Zelda and I think the combat in Zelda sucks. Also having a hard time staying interested in Zelda. To each their own, I guess.

Seconded.

On my case I went to ZD for abour 3 hrs then to Zelda and spend like 40hrs finishing it (everyone was saying that be careful with the spoilers, thats why I finished first -realizing there was nothing to spoil, the story on Zelda is meaningless unlike on ZD which is really good) it and then back to ZD, I realized how fantastic was the combat on ZD and boring with Zelda.

I even tired to play Zelda last weekend on a small trip and couldn't, turn it off after 20 min, found it boring to tears "another goblin camp, great".
 

luxarific

Nork unification denier
I'm so sad that I only encountered Nil on two bandit camps and never got any kind of closure with him.

Yeah, I'm confused by all this talk re his greatness. I only met him at the first bandit camp and the last. Can you really meet him more than once? Sad if so.
 

Tahnit

Banned
I just got to the twist on what the zero dawn means in the title of the game.

My mouth went wide and I audibly let out a gasp.

This storytelling is amazing. I never thought it meant that.

Love this game!!
 
Omg. How did I make it 30 hours without realizing there is a golden fast travel pack.

What other things am I missing now 🙆🏻*♂️🤦🏻*♂️

Set a trap with multiple trip wires at once, not just one. Didn't think of this until I saw one of Sunhi's gifs even though it seems so obvious.
 

Tyaren

Member
Yeah, I'm confused by all this talk re his greatness. I only met him at the first bandit camp and the last. Can you really meet him more than once? Sad if so.

I'm so sad that I only encountered Nil on two bandit camps and never got any kind of closure with him.

You both didn't fully complete his quest line then. When all bandit camps are cleared a last quest should appear. You definitely get "closure" with him...
 

Exquisik

Member
Proper wording would then be "You can have multiple machines overridden but you have to do each one individually."

Yes this.

Phew taking out two rock breakers was crazy. I must have died a dozen times before landing on a solid strategy

I love fighting two rockbreakers at once! It's chaotic! My strategy against them is basically to have the Lodge Blast Sling and Shadow Sling equipped. Wait for one of it to come out to land on the ground, shoot freeze blast and then sticky bombs (if it gets away, the sticky bomb will damage it while underground). I also try to aim for the arms as much as possible, but with two attacking it's kind of hard as you have to dodge their attacks a lot. If fighting just one at a time, I tend to freeze them and then use tear arrow at their arms so they can no longer dig into the ground.
 

Q8D3vil

Member
Finished it yesterday. Its by far the best ps4 exclusive for me. Probably only ps4 exclusive i liked.

My only gripe was the melee combat (which isnt that horrible after you unlock some skills) and the human combat (I thought they were pretty bad and uninspiring).

I feel that Aloy story is over and what a journey, i really hope we get a new character in the sequel in a new area.
 

Melchiah

Member
Yeah, I'm confused by all this talk re his greatness. I only met him at the first bandit camp and the last. Can you really meet him more than once? Sad if so.


You both didn't fully complete his quest line then. When all bandit camps are cleared a last quest should appear. You definitely get "closure" with him...

I met him at two camps as well, but still got the end of the quest. I came across with him by accident the second time. In retrospect, I wish I had searched the nearby grounds better, as it seemed like he wasn't always right next to the camps.
 

suracity

Member
Actually the funny thing is HZD showed me how important the overall polish is.

Oftentimes my camera is stuck in a rock or obscured by bushes and grass. It reminded me the heavy critism FFXV received for its bad combat camera.
Then there are soooooo many wooden dialogs and atrocious animations. It reminded me the initial overwhelming backlash MEA received at launch.
There are also checklist objectives that have been frawned upon for all Ubisoft open world games.

But HZD received so much love and praise and even I hate this game, I have to admit the high production value of this game. It's just not for me at all. But I also hated Bioshock infinite at launch so who knows.
 

AndyVirus

Member
All plants are useless except medicinal herbs and ridge-wood.

I did sorta wonder why I still have 6 slots in my resources stacked with roots, guess I'll just sell them and make room for worthwhile items. Haven't used a single resist potion.

Then again, I have an unnecessary 2000 ridge wood -_-

Think we will get a horizon expansion teaser at e3?

It's possible but I feel a little too early and makes for a better trump card at PSX where AAA announcements are rarer to come by.
 

Chuckie

Member
I did sorta wonder why I still have 6 slots in my resources stacked with roots, guess I'll just sell them and make room for worthwhile items. Haven't used a single resist potion.

Ah so that is where all those plants were for hahaha. I was wondering that.



On another note... does anyone know how many copies of HZD are sold so far? I know it had a good start, but I haven't seen any figures since.
 

TsuWave

Member
I feel that Aloy story is over and what a journey, i really hope we get a new character in the sequel in a new area.

giphy.gif


aloy is just getting started. amazing character. many more games with her please
 
On the subject of comparing Horizon and Witcher 3, story-wise; I stan for Horizon, but it is no way, shape, or form in the same league as Witcher 3. None. That game might just stand on its own in gaming.
I don't see how Witcher 3 is it's own league. It does things better than Horizon but on the other side Horizon does things better than The Witcher 3. It all comes down to personal taste and preferences.

I loved the Witcher 3, but I think Horizon is the better overall game. The Witcher 3 has better characters, especially side-characters. Also side-quests and you can actually influence the outcome of quests and the story like in a "real" RPG.

But Horizon easily has the better story for me. The world in The Witcher 3 might be bigger, but Horizon features the better crafted and more varied world. I lost interested in exploring the world in The Witcher 3 when I arrived in Skellige. The game overstood it's welcome for me and I just wanted to finish the story at this point.

And then the biggest advantage of Horizon: combat. It's not even close when it comes down to the action. The Witcher 3 might be better than your average open-world western-rpg but it's still rather janky and clunky. Horizon combat is a blast to play and you have lots of possibilities. Up there with stuff like Dragon's Dogma and Monster Hunter.
 

Pandy

Member
Actually the funny thing is HZD showed me how important the overall polish is.

Oftentimes my camera is stuck in a rock or obscured by bushes and grass. It reminded me the heavy critism FFXV received for its bad combat camera.
Then there are soooooo many wooden dialogs and atrocious animations. It reminded me the initial overwhelming backlash MEA received at launch.
There are also checklist objectives that have been frawned upon for all Ubisoft open world games.

But HZD received so much love and praise and even I hate this game, I have to admit the high production value of this game. It's just not for me at all. But I also hated Bioshock infinite at launch so who knows.

Not what I expected, but the main thing I felt was recorded in my 50 hour playthrough of Horizon was a bunch of awful character animations, particularly facial animations during dialogue. I found it super weird that Mass Effect has complete threads on this subject alone, but Horizon got a some kind of free pass.

Overall I thought the game was okay, but the first 6 hours were really bad, and it never got around to being 'good' at anything.

I will say though, props to Sony for letting Guerilla try something new.
 

Bramble

Member
Not what I expected, but the main thing I felt was recorded in my 50 hour playthrough of Horizon was a bunch of awful character animations, particularly facial animations during dialogue. I found it super weird that Mass Effect has complete threads on this subject alone, but Horizon got a some kind of free pass.

Overall I thought the game was okay, but the first 6 hours were really bad, and it never got around to being 'good' at anything.

I will say though, props to Sony for letting Guerilla try something new.

How is that weird? The dialog in the ME is a core mechanic, which is hardly the case in HZD. Dialog choices do not affect the story at all.

In ME you spend a lot more time talking to people. Kinda makes sense the game get's more criticized on that part.
 
Saint of Killers
Member
(Today, 02:04 AM)

One would think you'd be all about badass motherfuckers like Nil, yo


Psh. Lovable sociopaths are always fun and entertaining characters in fiction. Doesn't mean I'd like them IRL.

If The Saint was similarly fleshed out (i.e. no fleshing out) as Nil then I wouldn't care much for him either. Maybe Nil DLC would sort that out.


:p That's the best one yet!

But
there's nothing lovable, or even likeable about Nil. He's a douche sociopath

That's right, give the fucker the cold shoulder. Just keep on walking.

Didn't do any of the sidequests with him after the first one.

I only completed 'em for the sake of plat trophy. Funny though how the least likeable recurring NPC was attached to the least likeable recurring gameplay. Apt!
 

Jennipeg

Member
Not what I expected, but the main thing I felt was recorded in my 50 hour playthrough of Horizon was a bunch of awful character animations, particularly facial animations during dialogue. I found it super weird that Mass Effect has complete threads on this subject alone, but Horizon got a some kind of free pass.

Overall I thought the game was okay, but the first 6 hours were really bad, and it never got around to being 'good' at anything.

I will say though, props to Sony for letting Guerilla try something new.

I think the animation and character models are considerably better in Horizon, plus it isn't full of other bugs. For a big game I haven't run into many at all.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Nil is honest af.
That's why i like him.

Besides Aloy he's the only character with an interesting personality.
Avad: Dude's nicer than Lassie
Evil Dude: Super evil dude
Rost: Rost's good people.
I think Sylens is also a very good character, as well as Vanasha, Petra and Janeva, among a few others.
 
I'm curious; is motion capture more expensive than traditional methods of character animation?
I think it is (not totally sure though). The main issue though is that it's time consuming. Games like these have so much dialogue that they have to create generic animations that they can mix and match and combine with auto generated lip sync. It's not really feasible to do a custom mo-cap session for every little side quest.

I love fighting two rockbreakers at once! It's chaotic! My strategy against them is basically to have the Lodge Blast Sling and Shadow Sling equipped. Wait for one of it to come out to land on the ground, shoot freeze blast and then sticky bombs (if it gets away, the sticky bomb will damage it while underground). I also try to aim for the arms as much as possible, but with two attacking it's kind of hard as you have to dodge their attacks a lot. If fighting just one at a time, I tend to freeze them and then use tear arrow at their arms so they can no longer dig into the ground.

During a certain late game quest one of the npcs mentions rockbreakers won't notice you if you're quiet. Does anyone know exactly what he's talking about? I tried crouching around one but it still noticed me.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
The Last of Us characters are animated by hand and motion capture every one of them, is a comparison that could never be made.

Not to mention there's far, far more characters to model and animate in a big open-world RPG like Horizon than in a linear, cinematic game like TLoU. It's just a totally unfair comparison.
 
I don't think Sylens
would be the villain in the next game.Yeah the post-credits scene was ominous, but I thought Sylens was going to exact vengeance on HADES, and squeeze any usefulness out of it in the process. He's not going to wake up some more ancient machines after everything that has happened.
 
Actually the funny thing is HZD showed me how important the overall polish is.

Oftentimes my camera is stuck in a rock or obscured by bushes and grass. It reminded me the heavy critism FFXV received for its bad combat camera.
Then there are soooooo many wooden dialogs and atrocious animations. It reminded me the initial overwhelming backlash MEA received at launch.
There are also checklist objectives that have been frawned upon for all Ubisoft open world games.

But HZD received so much love and praise and even I hate this game, I have to admit the high production value of this game. It's just not for me at all. But I also hated Bioshock infinite at launch so who knows.

For as much as I've been enjoying the game (a lot), the bolded is on point. For as much as the animations in Andromeda completely turned me off, I really had to squint through some of the more wooden interactions in this game. Not as bad, to be sure, but the lows get pretty low. There's a weird inconsistency to it.
 
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