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

komorebi

Member
Does Aloy still talk to herself constantly and apologize to the poor giant mechs as she hunts them, like in the original E3 footage? I haven't watched any new footage so as to not spoil the game, but this question has been on my mind when I think back to that first reveal.

Top of the page. Lovely.
 
Does Aloy still talk to herself constantly and apologize to the poor giant mechs as she hunts them, like in the original E3 footage? I haven't watched any new footage so as to not spoil the game, but this question has been on my mind when I think back to that first reveal.

Top of the page. Lovely.

Is there really any need for the hyperbole?
 

cheesekao

Member
Does Aloy still talk to herself constantly and apologize to the poor giant mechs as she hunts them, like in the original E3 footage? I haven't watched any new footage so as to not spoil the game, but this question has been on my mind when I think back to that first reveal.

Top of the page. Lovely.
She did it once.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
You upgrade damage types on your weapons, you upgrade personal stats by leveling up (examples
speed of healing, rarity of item pickups, moves
), you upgrade resistances and stealth and protection by getting new clothes and armor, and you can craft new potions.

I haven't seen anything yet about upgrading your actual agility.

Upgrades so far. This is definitely RPG lite. Whenever you level up you get experience points that you can spend on different abilities. Most of them are pretty stand stuff and what you would expect. Also, you will find/enemies will drop different modifications that will give slightly different stats to whatever weapon you decided to equip them to. Also you can buy better weapons and armor the will affect your damage/defense. It's not an RPG like The Witcher 3. This is more of a character action game with some RPG elements mixed in.

Thank you. I asked because I'm deciding on what difficulty to go for. I reckon 'hard' will be fine for me with this system. I usually level up in one area to move on to the next and so clearly I'll not be able to use that here as I would in a game like The Witcher 3. Is there a limit on how much can be upgraded in the first area or are some of the upgrades dependant on exploration, quests and sidequests? I think I know the answer to this but thought I might as well ask.
 
Does very hard seem too hard for a first playthrough? I like the idea of the machines feeling really dangerous, but don't want the game to feel like an impossible slog
 
Also, Ashley Burch does an amazing job as Aloy. I always will pick the smartass dialogue option whenever it is available because her lines are always clever and her delivery is spot on. I can answer some questions if anybody has some. I am typing on mobile so it may take me a little longer.

This game is sounding hella better with every new impression. Release can't come soon enough.
 

cheesekao

Member
Does very hard seem too hard for a first playthrough? I like the idea of the machines feeling really dangerous, but don't want the game to feel like an impossible slog
Haven't played it yet but it's already been confirmed that you can change difficulties on the fly so if it gets too tough, you can always just lower it.
 

The Lamp

Member
Does Aloy still talk to herself constantly and apologize to the poor giant mechs as she hunts them, like in the original E3 footage? I haven't watched any new footage so as to not spoil the game, but this question has been on my mind when I think back to that first reveal.

Top of the page. Lovely.

She doesn't apologize. The game doesn't serve a tone of apology to the machines.

She does talk to herself, but mostly only when approaching objectives to clarify contexts.

To the person who asked, the new weapons feel varied enough (but nothing like Ratchet and Clank level of variation lol) but all of them (so far) are projectile weapons.

Yes there are towns. Plot takes you to these towns. You only interact with valuable NPCs like merchants and plot figures. The rest of the NPCs just greet you with detailed lines relevant to where the plot is. Buildings can't be entered.
 

komorebi

Member
Is there really any need for the hyperbole?

She did it once.

I've been truly put in my place once and for all.

She doesn't apologize. The game doesn't serve a tone of apology to the machines.

She does talk to herself, but mostly only when approaching objectives to clarify contexts.

To the person who asked, the new weapons feel varied enough (but nothing like Ratchet and Clank level of variation lol) but all of them (so far) are projectile weapons.

Thank you. I was being serious by the way. It annoyed me but I got the feeling that it was more of a "here's our new game and here's the premise, tone, etc" and wondered if it would change or how they would handle it in the full game. I hope she's not too vocal. I'm playing the game; I don't need to be told that I'm playing the game. I'm not a fan of this approach but it comes down to the way it's handled and presented.

Just a little pet peeve of mine and I was genuinely curious. Sorry if I offended anyone LOL. Seriously guys, unclench.
 
The first area was beautiful but a little boring personally, but once it opens up it a little more interesting. I should really turn off the way point because I don't think it encourages exploring when you are running from point to point to get to your destination. I looked at the map I have have probably explored 15% of the map and I am 6-7 hours in. I cannot stress how good some of the environments look. Seriously breathtaking at times.
Merci!

You guys, we actually had Justin on our podcast tonight to give some really awesome, spoiler free Horizon impressions. I don't have a timestamp handy, but he comes on near the end at about half an hour left exactly.

https://youtu.be/4du1pM9Kq4s
Thanks, will listen.
 

cheesekao

Member
I've been truly put in my place once and for all.

Just a little pet peeve of mine and I was genuinely curious. Sorry if I offended anyone LOL. Seriously guys, unclench.
You can have whatever opinion you want as long as you are aware of what you're talking about. I simply corrected your misinformation.
 

Skeeter49

Member
I liked her talking to herself in the conference showings, which they've explained before was for demo purposes, since it flowed better than someone like Hulst explaining something new about the game every 20 seconds while it's being played.

Does it say 28% of the story? Or could it be 28% of the map maybe?
 

komorebi

Member
You can have whatever opinion you want as long as you are aware of what you're talking about. I simply corrected your misinformation.

All you did was clarify my hazy memory. I remembered it being cringey as fuck and it stayed with me.

I guess I'll leave you guys to it then.
 

The Lamp

Member
Also the Brom scene is easily the worst voice acting in this game. Everything else has been consistently good to really good/convincing IMO. The facial animation is lacking in basic NPC dialogue which looks weird for how detailed the models are
 

Loudninja

Member
Also the Brom scene is easily the worst voice acting in this game. Everything else has been consistently good to really good/convincing IMO. The facial animation is lacking in basic NPC dialogue which looks weird for how detailed the models are
Even with all the preview footage you can tell that was the case.
 

cheesekao

Member
All you did was clarify my hazy memory. I remembered it being cringey as fuck and it stayed with me.

I guess I'll leave you guys to it then.
Misinformation formed due to said hazy memory. I don't have anything against you or your opinion. If I see misinformation, I'll attempt to correct it. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
Of all the "side quest" that any of you have done, for the one that impressed you the most so far, would it be possible to describe why it's impressive (or not), Hoe it's paced and the overall quality of how the quest are designed and written?

Brom is clearly one of the side quest level activities and while it was fine, I would hope there are better ones writing wise.
 
I have some questions, but feel free to only answer the ones you want:

1) How does the variety/pacing of the game feel? Specifically, does continuous combat become tiresome?

2) I like ROTTR, but I didn't like the abundant amount of crafting the game featured. I also felt it was a but complex to track the crafting materials themselves. How would you say the amount of crafting, and the interface for it compares to ROTTR?

3) Do you like Aloy, and does the dialogue seem OK so far?

4) How is the layout/level design of the open world? Is it generally easy to get to where you want to go (no spoilers please)?

5) How frequent are human enemy encounters? Is there a greater emphasis on melee combat with them?

Thanks for wonderful impressions so far everyone!
 

The Lamp

Member
How many hours have you played? There's still a ton of map space to uncover

Just over 10. But that probably includes a little idle time. So maybe 9.

The game says 10 but I've had my PS4 on with this game for over 10 hours today alone so I don't see how it's counting game time lol
 

cheesekao

Member
Just over 10. But that probably includes a little idle time. So maybe 9.

The game says 10 but I've had my PS4 on with this game for over 10 hours today alone so I don't see how it's counting game time lol
Maybe the timer pauses during load screens or in static menus?
 

Loudninja

Member
Just over 10. But that probably includes a little idle time. So maybe 9.

The game says 10 but I've had my PS4 on with this game for over 10 hours today alone so I don't see how it's counting game time lol
Maybe all the little icon added to it,rather you been their or not?

Also the Tallneck clearing stuff as well ?
 
Does very hard seem too hard for a first playthrough? I like the idea of the machines feeling really dangerous, but don't want the game to feel like an impossible slog

Yeah it's fine. I just fought some super tough enemies. Play smart, roll a lot, you'll be fine.

From my post last page:

Ok I tested difficulty modes with the same save doing the same things. It seems to only change some stats. So on very hard when you gather herbs you get 7% or 14% depending on the roll. On hard it's 9% or 18%, on normal it's 12% or 24%.

Enemies change damage depending on difficulty. So a light melee attack on a scrapper on very hard is 28 damage, on hard it's 32 and on normal its 37. Heavy attack is 68 on v hard, 78 on hard and in the 80s for normal. A scrapper lunge attack on v hard takes two whole bars of life, on hard it's a bar and a half and on normal it's one bar. All attacks scale about the same way. I can't tell this for certain but it seems to me that on normal enemies are less agreesive and don't notice you as much. On hard and v hard I can't really tell the difference on their behavior. They don't seem to stun or lose parts of their bodies any more or less due to difficulty.

There are no changes at all to the amount of enemies, the amount of loot, exp gained, and resource gathering outside the herbs. The requirements to create objects do not change. The difficulty can be switched on the fly and the stats all change accordingly, so I believe it's nothing more than a stat adjustment.

Oh and I tested the robot taking loot thing, once they take itbits gone, they don't carry it. This maybe a scrapper only thing as that's what they are designed for, gathering scraps. A watcher did not take the loot of it's dead partner.
 
I'm having trouble figuring out how much is left of my game. It says I'm "28%" done but look how much of the map I have unlocked. And this is just recently. I feel like I'm just now leaving babby's first horizon area.

http://i.imgur.com/luPdXNah.jpg

3.13% per main mission. I did 3 side and 2 errands and got like 2.5% total from all that, I don't know the breakdown of those yet. So there is probably 20-25 main missions, the rest is side stuff.
 

The Lamp

Member
That makes sense Miami. The one time I tried it, 1 side quest was like 0.46% or something. Multiply by 5 and you get close to your number.

Coffee cups are...
a region where you can find an "ancient vessel," a rare item pick up for trading and upgrading and stuff. I bought a map upgrade to show me where they are. They're actually little coffee mugs and stuff from the distant past. Lol

Maybe all the little icon added to it,rather you been their or not?

Also the Tallneck clearing stuff as well ?

Yes, includes tallneck.

Maybe the game is only counting time where you're not idle. That would be pretty intelligent. In that case I would agree that I've played 10 hours so far.

For those wondering about how good the side quests are, I have an example I just experienced. It was pretty great.

I was on my way to a cauldron when I ran across some bandits. Didn't know they were until they started attacking me. I defeated them and took their heavy weapon and figured I'd need it on the way to the cauldron.

On the way I find some braves who need help fighting machines because their back up brought the wrong ammo supply box. So I decide to help them.

After some intense fights with my heavy weapon, we notice someone from the group disappeared with some valuable supplies. They ask me to go find him.

I track his trail with my focus and find him not too far away. He explains that he's in debt and needs these supplies to save him from his debtors.

As he explains that, his neck is sliced by a new type of machine. It goes invisible and attacks you with remote controlled bombs and moves like a panther. A really thrilling machine I hadn't seen until just then during this Side quest,

I defeat the machine and return the supplies. Now I'm back on my way to the cauldron, but not without being paid handsomely :)
 

reKon

Banned
That makes sense Miami. The one time I tried it, 1 side quest was like 0.46% or something. Multiply by 5 and you get close to your number.

Coffee cups are...
a region where you can find an "ancient vessel," a rare item pick up for trading and upgrading and stuff. I bought a map upgrade to show me where they are. They're actually little coffee mugs and stuff from the distant past. Lol



Yes, includes tallneck.

Maybe the game is only counting time where you're not idle. That would be pretty intelligent. In that case I would agree that I've played 10 hours so far.

For those wondering about how good the side quests are, I have an example I just experienced. It was pretty great.

I was on my way to a cauldron when I ran across some bandits. Didn't know they were until they started attacking me. I defeated them and took their heavy weapon and figured I'd need it on the way to the cauldron.

On the way I find some braves who need help fighting machines because their back up brought the wrong ammo supply box. So I decide to help them.

After some intense fights with my heavy weapon, we notice someone from the group disappeared with some valuable supplies. They ask me to go find him.

I track his trail with my focus and find him not too far away. He explains that he's in debt and needs these supplies to save him from his debtors.

As he explains that, his neck is sliced by a new type of machine. It goes invisible and attacks you with remote controlled bombs and moves like a panther. A really thrilling machine I hadn't seen until just then during this Side quest,

I defeat the machine and return the supplies. Now I'm back on my way to the cauldron, but not without being paid handsomely :)

OK. My goal in the next two weeks is to wrap up the games that I've been playing so I can dive straight into this.
 

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
So uh, does anyone know where as a Canadian, I can pick this game up? I don't think I can make it to release! :(

giphy.gif
 

VanWinkle

Member
That makes sense Miami. The one time I tried it, 1 side quest was like 0.46% or something. Multiply by 5 and you get close to your number.

Coffee cups are...
a region where you can find an "ancient vessel," a rare item pick up for trading and upgrading and stuff. I bought a map upgrade to show me where they are. They're actually little coffee mugs and stuff from the distant past. Lol



Yes, includes tallneck.

Maybe the game is only counting time where you're not idle. That would be pretty intelligent. In that case I would agree that I've played 10 hours so far.

For those wondering about how good the side quests are, I have an example I just experienced. It was pretty great.

I was on my way to a cauldron when I ran across some bandits. Didn't know they were until they started attacking me. I defeated them and took their heavy weapon and figured I'd need it on the way to the cauldron.

On the way I find some braves who need help fighting machines because their back up brought the wrong ammo supply box. So I decide to help them.

After some intense fights with my heavy weapon, we notice someone from the group disappeared with some valuable supplies. They ask me to go find him.

I track his trail with my focus and find him not too far away. He explains that he's in debt and needs these supplies to save him from his debtors.

As he explains that, his neck is sliced by a new type of machine. It goes invisible and attacks you with remote controlled bombs and moves like a panther. A really thrilling machine I hadn't seen until just then during this Side quest,

I defeat the machine and return the supplies. Now I'm back on my way to the cauldron, but not without being paid handsomely :)

That sounds great, man. Very W3-type narrative structure.
 

tmac456

Member
That makes sense Miami. The one time I tried it, 1 side quest was like 0.46% or something. Multiply by 5 and you get close to your number.

Coffee cups are...
a region where you can find an "ancient vessel," a rare item pick up for trading and upgrading and stuff. I bought a map upgrade to show me where they are. They're actually little coffee mugs and stuff from the distant past. Lol



Yes, includes tallneck.

Maybe the game is only counting time where you're not idle. That would be pretty intelligent. In that case I would agree that I've played 10 hours so far.

For those wondering about how good the side quests are, I have an example I just experienced. It was pretty great.

I was on my way to a cauldron when I ran across some bandits. Didn't know they were until they started attacking me. I defeated them and took their heavy weapon and figured I'd need it on the way to the cauldron.

On the way I find some braves who need help fighting machines because their back up brought the wrong ammo supply box. So I decide to help them.

After some intense fights with my heavy weapon, we notice someone from the group disappeared with some valuable supplies. They ask me to go find him.

I track his trail with my focus and find him not too far away. He explains that he's in debt and needs these supplies to save him from his debtors.

As he explains that, his neck is sliced by a new type of machine. It goes invisible and attacks you with remote controlled bombs and moves like a panther. A really thrilling machine I hadn't seen until just then during this Side quest,

I defeat the machine and return the supplies. Now I'm back on my way to the cauldron, but not without being paid handsomely :)

That is fucking awesome. Thank you so much for the impressions and everything you've provided. You also just sold me on a Pro for when I get this game
 

Krakin

Member
That makes sense Miami. The one time I tried it, 1 side quest was like 0.46% or something. Multiply by 5 and you get close to your number.

Coffee cups are...
a region where you can find an "ancient vessel," a rare item pick up for trading and upgrading and stuff. I bought a map upgrade to show me where they are. They're actually little coffee mugs and stuff from the distant past. Lol



Yes, includes tallneck.

Maybe the game is only counting time where you're not idle. That would be pretty intelligent. In that case I would agree that I've played 10 hours so far.

For those wondering about how good the side quests are, I have an example I just experienced. It was pretty great.

I was on my way to a cauldron when I ran across some bandits. Didn't know they were until they started attacking me. I defeated them and took their heavy weapon and figured I'd need it on the way to the cauldron.

On the way I find some braves who need help fighting machines because their back up brought the wrong ammo supply box. So I decide to help them.

After some intense fights with my heavy weapon, we notice someone from the group disappeared with some valuable supplies. They ask me to go find him.

I track his trail with my focus and find him not too far away. He explains that he's in debt and needs these supplies to save him from his debtors.

As he explains that, his neck is sliced by a new type of machine. It goes invisible and attacks you with remote controlled bombs and moves like a panther. A really thrilling machine I hadn't seen until just then during this Side quest,

I defeat the machine and return the supplies. Now I'm back on my way to the cauldron, but not without being paid handsomely :)

So organic. Just like Polygon said.
 

The Lamp

Member
Lamp, that all happened while exploring? Not by going to a marker to activate it? That seems really dynamic in an awesome way

Yeah. The marker I was headed for was a cauldron, and that all suddenly just happened while I was headed over there. The side quests are sometimes like that. You'll sometimes just find people out in the world for their own reasons. And you learn why they're there and it fleshes out the lore and politics.

And sometimes I'll have options on what to do (even between main quests) and the NPC dialogue in the future will reference what I did before even though I could have done it in a different order (I've noticed this once or twice). Lots of thought put into these interactions.
 
Damn. I don't recall side quests just happening like that in an open world/RPG I've played. Was Witcher 3 like that; I remember you'd run into people who you could talk to, but this sounds more integrated than that
 
Haven't read much throughout this thread, but how is the performance on regular PS4? Is there much difference between the two, besides image quality?
 

The Lamp

Member
Damn. I don't recall side quests just happening like that in an open world/RPG I've played. Was Witcher 3 like that; I remember you'd run into people who you could talk to, but this sounds more integrated than that

I don't remember too much detail about TW3 either but here yes you had to talk to the people to be offered the side quest. Sorry if I didn't make this clear.
I just happened to run into a new spot where bandits lie and defeated them to take their weapon, and then I stumbled into NPCs that wanted help. That's when the sidequest began (while I was on my way to the cauldron).
 

zkorejo

Member
How is the loot in this game, are the items randomized, or is everything pre determined? How much variety is there in armor and weapons?

Yeah I am also interested to know this. Can you only buy the weapons from sellers or are there any special high level weapons as loot in the dungeons etc.?
 
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