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Horizon Zero Dawn Spoiler-free Impressions (for real this time)

SaberEdge

Member
Honestly, I don't want any more games after Witcher 3 that take 150 plus hours. I'm done with that shit for awhile.

Same here. I loved the Witcher 3 and it feels great to get so much play time for your money, but I honestly don't want all games to be that long. It would mean getting to experience fewer games and I'm not down with that. 50 hours for this game is more than enough for me.
 

silva1991

Member
This breaks my heart

I know the cure

Locket.jpg
 
Now I'm seeing RDR comparisons...

Those with the game, if you HAD to compare it to another individual game, which would it be?

If you had to mash two games together to make this one, what would they be?



C'mon February 28th


Rise of Tomb Raider is the closest thing so far. Lots of running around gathering stuff and shooting arrows.

I guess this would be ROTR with Witcher 3 open world and missions.
 

VanWinkle

Member
If the 25 hours 54% was true, it's not proportional.
Maybe it only count main story?

Or maybe the story is only 15-20 hours long. If 15, then finishing the story would put you around 45% complete. I don't know. That would make for such a short game. Hopefully it is the story percentage, like you suggested. Although, THEN, that would put the story at like 30+ hours to beat, which is unlikely too!
 
I never finished it.

I have low patience for long RPGs lol.

But it was cute while it lasted

I just posted major spoilers in the spoiler thread. Damn. I don't wanna go to bed.

I'm thoroughly disgusted. I'm disregarding all your impressions.

somewhat joking
 

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
Or maybe the story is only 15-20 hours long. If 15, then finishing the story would put you around 45% complete. I don't know. That would make for such a short game. Hopefully it is the story percentage, like you suggested. Although, THEN, that would put the story at like 30+ hours to beat, which is unlikely too!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Witcher 3 the odd one out in regards to story lengths for WRPGs? You can blow throw Skyrim's main story missions well short of 20hrs, and the same for ME games if you barely touch the side quests. Dragon Age Inquisition artificially increased the game length due to the war council points requirement, where you had to do non story mission in order to unlock requisite points to further the story.

Personally I don't plan on to power through the main story in Horizon, so I don't know if times for just the main story would be an accurate representation of the time I'd be spending playing the game. Now if just playing the main story come up to between 20-25hrs, then that's 45-50hrs+ of game time for me when the way I play is taken into account. So the length seem around the average for the type of game.
 

Tyaren

Member
Or maybe the story is only 15-20 hours long. If 15, then finishing the story would put you around 45% complete. I don't know. That would make for such a short game. Hopefully it is the story percentage, like you suggested. Although, THEN, that would put the story at like 30+ hours to beat, which is unlikely too!

People will now tell you that they love 15 hours for their RPGs. ;)
Something that I will never understand. RPGs are supposed to be long and winding and epic journeys. You/your character needs some time to grow. I absolutely loved diving into older 60 hours long JRPGs or games like The Witcher 3 with about 200 hours of content.

30 hours for all content would be very meager for a RPG. If it actually turns out to be that short I will consider cancelling my preorder. Then it is not what I am looking for. :/
So I hope that percentage is an indicator of how far you are into the main campaign. 30 hours for that plus maybe another 30 hours for side content would imo be alright.
 
So I'm like 4-5 hours in, all in the first area of the game. I did all side quests and the first main quest. The side quests are definetly witcher inspired which has its pros and cons. The good news is they have a story to go with the mission, usually someone is in trouble and you get a backstory as to why. One quest had the same damn stupid follow the trail crap as witcher, just follow the line to some object and keep following it until you reach the goal. At least here the goal is usually a heard of robots which I find more interesting to fight than witcher enemies.

So far everything is basically pushing the player to get into the loop of fighting robots to get items to increase your gear. Missions push you to hunt for certain gear, learn to use traps and so on. Since I am still in the first section it's been the same three robot types and I'm kind of bored of them already, I've gotten good and dodging and fighting, running back setting a trap and having them rush at me into them.

First thing tomorrow when I play is to advance the story and really start the game.
 
Nah, even some of those "long" rpgs you can still run through quickly. Without getting stuff like knights of the round and going to the gold saucer, not trying to fight any of the weapons, how long is FF7?

Horizon likely doesn't have a whole lot of extras like mini-games, etc...first open world game, they are probably just trying to nail everything that is there.
 
Lamp, related to one of your comments in the spoiler thread, does the map feel dense?

Also any interiors in villages/other places and do village NPCs have routines/different behaviors?

That's high praise coming from The Lamp, who's often on the more critical side of praised RPGs.
Didn't know that, gives his praise more weight
 
So I'm like 4-5 hours in, all in the first area of the game. I did all side quests and the first main quest. The side quests are definetly witcher inspired which has its pros and cons. The good news is they have a story to go with the mission, usually someone is in trouble and you get a backstory as to why. One quest had the same damn stupid follow the trail crap as witcher, just follow the line to some object and keep following it until you reach the goal. At least here the goal is usually a heard of robots which I find more interesting to fight than witcher enemies.

So far everything is basically pushing the player to get into the loop of fighting robots to get items to increase your gear. Missions push you to hunt for certain gear, learn to use traps and so on. Since I am still in the first section it's been the same three robot types and I'm kind of bored of them already, I've gotten good and dodging and fighting, running back setting a trap and having them rush at me into them.

First thing tomorrow when I play is to advance the story and really start the game.
Yeah man why are you playing that way? I always play through the main story until I get to a point where I feel inclined to do some different side quest and stuff. I'm definitely not compelled to clear all Quest in an area, especially early on. I like to come back when I'm leveled up and beast mode stuff too.
 
Nah, even some of those "long" rpgs you can still run through quickly. Without getting stuff like knights of the round and going to the gold saucer, not trying to fight any of the weapons, how long is FF7?

Horizon likely doesn't have a whole lot of extras like mini-games, etc...first open world game, they are probably just trying to nail everything that is there.

I think there's some
dungeons
scattered throughout the world but they haven't confirmed how many.
 
Yeah man why are you playing that way? I always play through the main story until I get to a point where I feel inclined to do some different side quest and stuff. I'm definitely not compelled to clear all Quest in an area, especially early on. I like to come back when I'm leveled up and beast mode stuff too.

That's how I play, I want to do everything.
 

The Lamp

Member
Lamp, related to one of your comments in the spoiler thread, does the map feel dense?

Also any interiors in villages/other places and do village NPCs have routines/different behaviors?


Didn't know that, gives his praise more weight

The map feels big, because I've spent 6 hours and I haven't even left the "initial area." The story just opened up.

As for dense, it's beautiful, there's wildlife and things to collect, landmarks and villages. But I'm just in the initial region. I have the feeling shit is about to get much more dense and involved in a good way, but I'm not certain yet.

I have not been able to visit interiors of buildings. Although yes you can enter villages (once you are able to) and I have not noticed anything like Majora's Mask or intense schedules. NPCs are where you expect them to be and remember previous interactions but I haven't encountered anything yet where they rely on or act upon schedules.
 

Kin5290

Member
Yeah man why are you playing that way? I always play through the main story until I get to a point where I feel inclined to do some different side quest and stuff. I'm definitely not compelled to clear all Quest in an area, especially early on. I like to come back when I'm leveled up and beast mode stuff too.
Yeah, there's no point in getting caught in a Hinterlands trap.

Of course, with DAI, there wasn't much interesting after the Hinterlands either.
 

The Lamp

Member
This RPG removes a lot of the overwhelming convolution or fluff in open world RPGs for me. What I need to collect is usually straightforward and my initiuition tells me where to find it. The objective is clear to me. The map makes sense. There's still hidden secrets and treasures, though.

So far there's no outrageously obscure gem you have to trade with 3 NPCs that you'd never find without a guide. No difficult NPC that you have to track on a schedule. It has very natural and intuitive but unobstructive RPG systems IMO.

The less clumsiness with RPG mechanics, the better, IMO (for a game like this, where there's urgency to progress). I love Dark Souls in spite of its somewhat obscure and convoluted RPG systems because the gameplay is so good. Here the RPG mechanics don't seem very convoluted. They just exist to help the game function as needed.
 

Fredrik

Member
That's how I play, I want to do everything.
You've never played The Witcher 3, have you? And if you have, you really hate it, right?

;)
Just joking, I also like to take it slow and do and collect everything, The Witcher 3 had me stop with that though, it was just too much to do,see,collect. Hated the game at first, loved it when I stopped my usual hoarding.

Really appreciating the impressions in this thread so far, I expected it to be great but it sounds even better! Wouldn't be surprised to see i land at 90-95 on meta-critic.
 

Muninn

Banned
That's how I play, I want to do everything.

Yeah well it's going to get boring. Every single game gets boring to me if I do everything and anything. Witcher 3 has bored the hell out of me at times and I'm 150 hours deep a few quests away from total completion for quests in the MAIN game. I still have two DLCs lol.

I've played the first game on and off for a year or so. Sometimes waiting for a mod to finish.

Waiting has been no problem. Witcher 3 HD is still improving stuff on the mods end.
 
Yeah well it's going to get boring. Every single game gets boring to me if I do everything and anything. Witcher 3 has bored the hell out of me at times and I'm 150 hours deep a few quests away from total completion for quests in the MAIN game. I still have two DLCs lol.

Waiting has been no problem. Witcher 3 HD is still improving stuff on the mods end.
I reached that point 60 hours in with Witcher 3. To put that in perspective, I rarely play games for more than 20 hours.
 

Muninn

Banned
When it comes to open world games/rpgs, I'm the same way. Example: I've beaten Witcher 3 multiple times and every time I do every little thing there is to do. Same with DA:I, AC, etc.

See now that is crazy to me. I could never play Witcher 3 ever again after I beat it. I still have 2 DLCs. I have no want in the world. Even if you paid me I would not go back. One of my favorite games of all time but enough is enough.
 

Brix

Member
These impressions got me hyped. And I'm starting to see Horizon commercials on every channel. Hype thrusters engage!
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I think that causes fatigue especially going thru the same gameplay loop but everyone has their own styles of play.

I usually play like that for a while until the story really starts to grab me, then I power through until I feel the need for better gear/more leveling is needed.
 

Tigress

Member
Same here. I loved the Witcher 3 and it feels great to get so much play time for your money, but I honestly don't want all games to be that long. It would mean getting to experience fewer games and I'm not down with that. 50 hours for this game is more than enough for me.

Heh... it seems I'm in the minority. I want the game to be long. If I like it, I get disappointed if it is short. And I start trying to stave off finishing it and I enjoy it less cause I will start grinding stuff just to avoid the ending if I like the game (I know, counterproductive but it's how I am). On top of that, I guess unlike a lot of people here I don't really get excited by many games a year. This year I think it's two, maybe three (this one, Persona 5, and maybe RDR 2). Which is better than last year honestly (I think No Man's Sky but at least I was one of the few who wasn't disappointed). So the ones I do get excited by I want to last a long time. ANd 60 dollars is a lot to me so I don't want to pay that much for something that seems to disappear real quick (particularly games that are not replayable).

People will now tell you that they love 15 hours for their RPGs. ;)
Something that I will never understand. RPGs are supposed to be long and winding and epic journeys. You/your character needs some time to grow. I absolutely loved diving into older 60 hours long JRPGs or games like The Witcher 3 with about 200 hours of content.

30 hours for all content would be very meager for a RPG. If it actually turns out to be that short I will consider cancelling my preorder. Then it is not what I am looking for. :/
So I hope that percentage is an indicator of how far you are into the main campaign. 30 hours for that plus maybe another 30 hours for side content would imo be alright.

This is how I feel. I really am going to be very disapppointed if it is just 30 hours for *all* content. That's ridiculous imho. I'm hearing more like 50-60 from what I've read of impressions and even that seems like a really short game to me (enough it makes me at least want to cancel my collector's edition). I'm a little disappointed hearing the impressions of how long this game lasts. But yes, I would actually wish I waited until it was cheaper if it is only 30 hours for the whole game (I can deal with the main story being that long... I mean enough side content that could still be a long game. Skyrim has a very short campaign but can last hundred's of hours). The only consolation I have is that I tend to go through games slower than everyone else so hopefully those short hours people are saying will still last me longer.
 
See now that is crazy to me. I could never play Witcher 3 ever again after I beat it. I still have 2 DLCs. I have no want in the world. Even if you paid me I would not go back. One of my favorite games of all time but enough is enough.

That's totally understandable. Idk, some games just sink their teeth into me and never let go.
 

LotusHD

Banned
See now that is crazy to me. I could never play Witcher 3 ever again after I beat it. I still have 2 DLCs. I have no want in the world. Even if you paid me I would not go back. One of my favorite games of all time but enough is enough.

I like long games like Witcher 3, because I actually tend to keep those games. It may be years before I play it, but when I do, I know I have a game where I do things completely different the second time around.

Whereas games like TLOU or Uncharted, those are one-time experiences that I have no qualms of selling off soon after I beat them.
 
People will now tell you that they love 15 hours for their RPGs. ;)
Something that I will never understand. RPGs are supposed to be long and winding and epic journeys. You/your character needs some time to grow. I absolutely loved diving into older 60 hours long JRPGs or games like The Witcher 3 with about 200 hours of content.

30 hours for all content would be very meager for a RPG. If it actually turns out to be that short I will consider cancelling my preorder. Then it is not what I am looking for. :/
So I hope that percentage is an indicator of how far you are into the main campaign. 30 hours for that plus maybe another 30 hours for side content would imo be alright.
I'll take shorter and lean over massive and sprawling. Although that's less because I want short RPGs and more that I never finish long games.

To be fair, this never seemed like it was going to be a traditional RPG. If anything, everything seemed to point towards it being an action game first. Why would you expect Witcher 3 length rather than GTA/Far Cry/Batman length?
 

silva1991

Member
I would never do all or even most sidequests before finishing the main game. that will just make me fatigued.

Infact I didn't the finish the second Witcher 3 DLC, because I decided to do some side content that were almost identical to the ones I did in the base game and it made me fatigued.
 

kyser73

Member
There's a remarkable level of positive consensus going on here.

I'm in Day 1 anyway (or whenever JB get the game mailed to me), but it's good to hear positive impressions shared by all commentators.
 
I'll take shorter and lean over massive and sprawling. Although that's less because I want short RPGs and more that I never finish long games.

To be fair, this never seemed like it was going to be a traditional RPG. If anything, everything seemed to point towards it being an action game first. Why would you expect Witcher 3 length rather than GTA/Far Cry/Batman length?
This is where I'm at.
 
I usually play like that for a while until the story really starts to grab me, then I power through until I feel the need for better gear/more leveling is needed.

I do sidequests if I'm underleveled or to get some new gear, however I'm the wrong person to ask cause I've never platinumed a game.. so I don't have that drive to do everything. I find a nice balance of story and sidequests.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I'll take shorter and lean over massive and sprawling. Although that's less because I want short RPGs and more that I never finish long games.

To be fair, this never seemed like it was going to be a traditional RPG. If anything, everything seemed to point towards it being an action game first. Why would you expect Witcher 3 length rather than GTA/Far Cry/Batman length?

30-40 hours is my sweet spot for RPGs. The Mass Effect games and Chrono Trigger all hit that for me. I think it's the perfect length for it to feel like a lengthy adventure, have a good amount of side content, and not be too padded.
 

Skux

Member
Man I am excited for this, just sold my PS4 and I'll pick up a Pro soon.

So good hearing positive impressions. Launching a new AAA IP is no easy feat.
 

Tigress

Member
I'll take shorter and lean over massive and sprawling. Although that's less because I want short RPGs and more that I never finish long games.

To be fair, this never seemed like it was going to be a traditional RPG. If anything, everything seemed to point towards it being an action game first. Why would you expect Witcher 3 length rather than GTA/Far Cry/Batman length?

And I don't really care if I finish a game honestly. I just want it to be fun and not to be done before I'm done with it. And not be 10-20 hours if I'm going to pay 60 dollars for it (I honestly will not buy linear games until they are cheaper cause of this cause it seems they all are around that short and very rarely replayable, TLOU being the exception).

To be honest I'm a little disappointed that they are not really leaning RPG like. I mean I like that the combat sounds really awesome but I'd love to have good combat and good RPG (I guess Dragon's Dogma is going to be the closest I get to that still but wasn't a fan of the story). And I really don't think the two are exclusive tbh. My perfect RPG would be Obsidian's writing (or failing that CDPR but I honestly prefer Obsidian), Dragon Dogma's combat, Bethesda's engine that allows for a lot more different things and actual skill checks (That aren't just combat oriented stuff). And monster hunter like crafting ;) (but I'm not super picky about crafting, long as it gives me reasons to ahve to go look for stuff... I don't want Witcher's crafting. It was pointless.... find the items once and you can just endlessly make more. But monster hunter type crafting is the best cause it gives me reasons to go have to hunt things ;) ).

I guess I'm glad I can enjoy an open world action game with RPG elements too (hell, Borderlands 2 probably lasted me longer as an FPS cause it was open world with some RPG flavoring). But I prefer RPGs so for me it's a little sad they are going more with weak RPG elements. I guess understandable seeing as the history of games they make. I'm hoping the crafting at least is fun and gives me good reasons to go out to ahve to find stuff. That makes up for a lot of weak RPG (it's way survival mode in Fallout 4 makes up for the fact it's the weakest Fallout for RPG. Survival mode makes crafting more important).
 
So I'm like 4-5 hours in, all in the first area of the game. I did all side quests and the first main quest. The side quests are definetly witcher inspired which has its pros and cons. The good news is they have a story to go with the mission, usually someone is in trouble and you get a backstory as to why. One quest had the same damn stupid follow the trail crap as witcher, just follow the line to some object and keep following it until you reach the goal. At least here the goal is usually a heard of robots which I find more interesting to fight than witcher enemies.

So far everything is basically pushing the player to get into the loop of fighting robots to get items to increase your gear. Missions push you to hunt for certain gear, learn to use traps and so on. Since I am still in the first section it's been the same three robot types and I'm kind of bored of them already, I've gotten good and dodging and fighting, running back setting a trap and having them rush at me into them.

First thing tomorrow when I play is to advance the story and really start the game.

Sounds like your playing the way i play rpgs, glad to
Hear they are witcher like
 
There's a remarkable level of positive consensus going on here.

I'm in Day 1 anyway (or whenever JB get the game mailed to me), but it's good to hear positive impressions shared by all commentators.
People were bringing up The Order and NMS earlier. I might agree with their caution if it wasn't for the super early embargo. Order's embargo lifted 16 hours before release. NMS's lifted the day before release

Horizon's reviews are coming out over a week before release.

They're confident in their game, and if these early impressions are any indication, we know why
 
Yeah well it's going to get boring. Every single game gets boring to me if I do everything and anything. Witcher 3 has bored the hell out of me at times and I'm 150 hours deep a few quests away from total completion for quests in the MAIN game. I still have two DLCs lol.

I've played the first game on and off for a year or so. Sometimes waiting for a mod to finish.

Waiting has been no problem. Witcher 3 HD is still improving stuff on the mods end.

Why on earth are you guys pressuring him to play a certain way? I'm sure he knows his preferred way to play a game
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Man I am excited for this, just sold my PS4 and I'll pick up a Pro soon.

So good hearing positive impressions. Launching a new AAA IP is no easy feat.

If Guerrilla really does pull this off, it will be hugely impressive given the fact that they haven't made a game that's even similar to this before. Even longtime RPG developers still make missteps on occasion.
 

Tyaren

Member
To be fair, this never seemed like it was going to be a traditional RPG. If anything, everything seemed to point towards it being an action game first. Why would you expect Witcher 3 length rather than GTA/Far Cry/Batman length?

I never expected a Witcher 3 length, but about 60 hours for everything I did at least expect. 30 hours for everything would imo be way too short for an open world RPG. Why would they even need such a vast open world for this? They could have just made a linear action-adventure similar to Uncharted or Tomb Raider in that case. Less than 30 hours for games like that is perfectly fine.
 

VanWinkle

Member
30-40 hours is my sweet spot for RPGs. The Mass Effect games and Chrono Trigger all hit that for me. I think it's the perfect length for it to feel like a lengthy adventure, have a good amount of side content, and not be too padded.

That's the sweet spot for me, too, with the caveat that it's 30-40 hours to beat the story and do just a few side quests/random non-story stuff here and there, and NOT 30-40 hours for 100% completion. I want to know that, if I want to try and do everything there is to offer in the game, I can put pretty substantial time into it.
 
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