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[MadYarpen]

This is my first LTTP thread, though due to my backlog anything I'm playing deserves one...

But with this game I'd like to share my views and tbh I am a little sad I missed the time when everyone here was playing it. I am currently

Spoiler

without a weapon facing a corrupted behemoth on the arena following the part where the Zero Dawn project was explained

Well, one thing I'd like to begin with - the game is great. Not GOAT material, but great anyway, and I want to stress it because it is possible my post can be a little negative. But I am simply interested what are you thinking about the stuff that bothers me.

I love the visuals, but what I don't like are the characters - their skin looks unnatural, and why the hell almost everyone looks so young and model - like? I mean, this is a dangerous world, I expected them to have more character... What doesn't help is that I can't really remember an interesting dialogue...

As regards the visuals I also don't understand how could they be satisfied with their cloudy skybox. Almost everything else is so damn perfect and clouds look blurry and outdated.

The story has its ups and downs. After the

Spoiler

first cauldron

I was super excited, as it looked like a proper Sci-Fi, then I was dissapointed when it turned out it

Spoiler

all caused an AI going wild

, which I think is a bit cliche, and does not live up to the hype I developed until that moment... And last night I couldn't stop playing when I was discovering what Zero Dawn is. Now I am excited once again because the story became very interesting, for me at least.

So... Yeah, a great game with some flaws. Surely the combat is fantastic and I don't think there is anything I would change about it!

Oh, a thing that really disappoints are the dialogues and the world - or rather the cities and their residents. I guess The Witcher set the bar very high, and even there the cities, while making a great impression of living, breathing places, at a closer look are only a static background for Geralt's story. The dialogues... Well, I don't want to go into a discussion if this is an RPG. But writing could use some improvement regardless of that. I also feel there could be more big sidequests, but again, they would require better writing, better dialogues, and more interesting characters. So maybe it is for the best that the game is more focused.

That's all for now I guess.

 

[Armorian]

I think it's the second best game released this gen (Witcher is no. 1), GG jumped to completly new level. As for the clouds, they're rendered in real time (volumetric) and looks amazing IMO, try going to highest mountain in the game - with godrays reacting with them sky looks like Anor Londo, only in real time! Water is shit...

 

[llien]

I have only tried it shortly at friends, non-PRO PS4 + OLED looks stunning (game uses HDR mode).
Also checked out Uncharted: Thiefs End (which doesn't use HDR mode, I guess it needs pro).

Now, it's hard to say how much of it is HDR, but HZD looks like a major step up from U4.
At times, I'd stop and just stare at the screen, it was that stunning.

 

[cr0w]

Beautiful game, a technical masterpiece. It just also happens to be ball-achingly dull, in my opinion. I just finished the final mission last week after putting it off since launch and I disliked the gameplay and the tedious nature of the world enough that I traded it in without getting past the first cutscene in the DLC. I just found it relentlessly boring, and I can't really explain exactly why. I can see how others enjoyed it so much, but it just didn't click with me.

 

[nowhat]

As regards the visuals I also don't understand how could they be satisfied with their cloudy skybox. Almost everything else is so damn perfect and clouds look blurry and outdated.

Spend a little time looking at them. You'll notice it's far from a static skybox - in fact, it's actually a simulation*) of how clouds work, and they directly affect what kind of weather there can exist (in combination with the terrain you're in). One person basically spent the whole development time just working on the cloud simulation. You can argue it should be higher resolution, but they already take a non-insignificant part of the rendering budget.

*) a very crude simulation for sure, proper weather simulations run on supercomputers

 

[nowhat]

Also checked out Uncharted: Thiefs End (which doesn't use HDR mode, I guess it needs pro).

Huh? Nope, but you'll have to turn it on manually from the settings. In the summer I helped my brother setup his 4K TV and UC4 is the game we tested HDR with (using a regular PS4).

 

[MadYarpen]

Spend a little time looking at them. You'll notice it's far from a static skybox - in fact, it's actually a simulation*) of how clouds work, and they directly affect what kind of weather there can exist (in combination with the terrain you're in). One person basically spent the whole development time just working on the cloud simulation. You can argue it should be higher resolution, but they already take a non-insignificant part of the rendering budget.

*) a very crude simulation for sure, proper weather simulations run on supercomputers

That's interesting, thanks. I'll appreciate it more now

As regards the weather I am also a bit confused sometimes, because it is changing so quickly.

And is it normal that when it is raining or gets dark, the colours are so washed out, almost black/white? I think the effect is a bit to strong and annoying...

 

[Aintitcool]

Im playing the game now and disagree with you, the game starts off very strong and original and the dialog is good because it keeps you in the world. Usually, dialog in a game makes you cringe or want to skip it. But in horizon, it just works. I find the skin textures and skybox to be more than fine. Graphics are the best still, even after god of war.

 

[GMAK2442]

I think it's the game I moving in after I will finish Uncharted 4.

 

[JORMBO]

This is my favorite game of this generation. It really took me by surprise. The DLC is really well done and has a lot of content also.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Got this for my birthday back in January and kinda picking up up and putting it down again. Hasn't really hooked me yet, have just got the ability to

Spoiler

ride the robot animal things

 

[JMZ555]

I played this for few hours and although beautiful to look at found it a snooze fest sadly. Gave up and forced my self to watch a movie cut scene version on youtube in case a sequal comes out and i want to dive in back in. Story and characters just found uninteresting.

 

[MadYarpen]

Im playing the game now and disagree with you, the game starts off very strong and original and the dialog is good because it keeps you in the world. Usually, dialog in a game makes you cringe or want to skip it. But in horizon, it just works. I find the skin textures and skybox to be more than fine. Graphics are the best still, even after god of war.

Well, I didn't change my mind, but Frozen Wilds DLC is quite big improvement in this regard.

Better written, with more interesting characters. IMO of course.

 

[Baskin Robbins]

I have yet to try Frozen Wilds. I started Horizon on the hardest difficulty and I heard they revamped it. so that's going to get another play through soon, because of that.

The AI can be down right moronic making fights against human enemies, mainly, way too easy. The better you are at the game the easier things get and for the AI to be that easily stomped is kind of off putting.

Revamped difficulty better be worth my time!

 

[MadYarpen]

I have yet to try Frozen Wilds. I started Horizon on the hardest difficulty and I heard they revamped it. so that's going to get another play through soon, because of that.

The AI can be down right moronic making fights against human enemies, mainly, way too easy. The better you are at the game the easier things get and for the AI to be that easily stomped is kind of off putting.

Revamped difficulty better be worth my time!

You should try it, I thought it is better than the main game. And it is more difficult in my opinion.

I absolutely love how they made winter look in game. I like winter myself, and for some years we didn't have any (proper winter) in Poland, and they really, really nailed it. Running through deep snow in forest at night, with snow falling down is just perfect.

Even comments Alloy is making during the game are improved, like she had some sense of humour after all. I liked Frozen Wilds' Alloy better

Other characters look better, and have more interesting things to say as well. As I said, for me it was improvement in almost every area which I didn't like that much in the vanilla game.

 

[Baskin Robbins]

You should try it, I thought it is better than the main game. And it is more difficult in my opinion.

I absolutely love how they made winter look in game. I like winter myself, and for some years we didn't have any (proper winter) in Poland, and they really, really nailed it. Running through deep snow in forest at night, with snow falling down is just perfect.

Even comments Alloy is making during the game are improved, like she had some sense of humour after all. I liked Frozen Wilds' Alloy better

Other characters look better, and have more interesting things to say as well. As I said, for me it was improvement in almost every area which I didn't like that much in the vanilla game.

I get what you mean about sense of humour. Aloy can be pretty wooden at times, but boy do I like checking her out! I check her out even during big fights with multiple huge dinos.
I'm pretty good at the game, I mean I don't mean to brag or anything *shines nails against collar and looks*

 

[Roni]

I lost my save 60 hours into the game and have been playing again after a while. I have fallen in love with this game all over again.

Open world games are at their best when the world and the progression is unblocked by the narrative. Other than the start of the game, you can engage the story at your own pace at the end game if you want.

I immerse myself in it and go hunting for meat, parts and stuff and I get lost in it. A great game.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Just finished the main game and had 60 something hours in it, so I like that it was pretty meaty. I haven't started the dlc yet.

The combat was great and fluid, you had a number of tactics to use or not, like I barely ever used traps or the rope gun to tie down machines.

Thr story was interesting enough, but I thought the human enemy AI is trash. I hated how characters gave cliche last breath lines of dialog and immediately went ragdoll dead over and over and over again. It looked dumb every time.

 

[NahaNago]

It was pretty good but I kept wanting just simply more from it. Better sidequests, better villager interaction, better designed people, and the world just seemed small to me. I think most likely it is just because the team is too small to create what I would have liked.

 

[AgentP]

Bloodborne
God of War
Horizon Zero Dawn

Top three games this gen.

 

[nowhat]

Just finished the main game and had 60 something hours in it, so I like that it was pretty meaty. I haven't started the dlc yet.

The combat was great and fluid, you had a number of tactics to use or not, like I barely ever used traps or the rope gun to tie down machines.

Frozen Wilds is definitely end-game DLC. I think the recommended level of 30 is very much an understatement - after finishing the main game I felt pretty much immortal. It turned out I was very much mistaken.

So just as a tip, Ropecaster, the Shadow Carja variant (or Adept, if playing on NG+ - basically, the best version you can get). Learn how to use it. There are some new enemies in the DLC that almost require it, especially on harder difficulties.

 

[MadYarpen]

Frozen Wilds is definitely end-game DLC. I think the recommended level of 30 is very much an understatement - after finishing the main game I felt pretty much immortal. It turned out I was very much mistaken.

Which is kind of shame, I finished the DLC after the main game, and while this was appropriate as regards the level (even then there were difficult times), I felt a little dissappointed from story perspective - it was designed to fit before the end of the main game

Just finished the main game and had 60 something hours in it, so I like that it was pretty meaty. I haven't started the dlc yet.

The combat was great and fluid, you had a number of tactics to use or not, like I barely ever used traps or the rope gun to tie down machines.

Thr story was interesting enough, but I thought the human enemy AI is trash. I hated how characters gave cliche last breath lines of dialog and immediately went ragdoll dead over and over and over again. It looked dumb every time.

I know what you mean, and my first thought was similar. I felt dissappointed, but I don't know what I expected. Maybe aliens haha.

But later on I loved how it developed, I mean the whole story what humans made back then and what lead to the state of the world in the game. I thought it was more than just cliche scifi shit.

Oh, and as I said the writing is better in the DLC. IMO of course. give it a go. And this winter, I liked it sooo much.

 

[Toe-Knee]

Frozen Wilds is definitely end-game DLC. I think the recommended level of 30 is very much an understatement - after finishing the main game I felt pretty much immortal. It turned out I was very much mistaken.

So just as a tip, Ropecaster, the Shadow Carja variant (or Adept, if playing on NG+ - basically, the best version you can get). Learn how to use it. There are some new enemies in the DLC that almost require it, especially on harder difficulties.

It is. However I do like how the ending of the main campaign changes if you have finished the frozen wilds.

 

[7he Talon]

Is is it worth picking up? I was either going to reply the Witcher 3 or this.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I'm pretty sure the complete edition recently got a permanent price drop to $20.

 

[MadYarpen]

Is is it worth picking up? I was either going to reply the Witcher 3 or this.

It definitely is. Maybe not a masterpiece, but a fantastic game nonetheless.

 

[Darak]

It's a great game, a technical masterpiece with decent combat and good writing. The writing in particular was nothing special in my opinion, but still way above average considering what you usually get in videogames.

By the way, games need to stop having voice logs. They make absolutely no sense, normal people just won't go around recording a voice diary. It's something that could work for a special case (one character in a journey decides to record and drop those along the way, or someone is trapped in some place with no exit) but it falls flat when absolutely everybody is doing it and the game world is just infested with those logs.

 

[MadYarpen]

Yeah, the most annoying it is when it cuts into a dialogue.

 

[kinjx11]

for me this game beats GOW in every aspect except story


the best PS4 exclusive title to this very day

 

[Fox Mulder]

Logs are just an easy tropey way to dump lore on the people that care.

 

[Mochilador]

Logs are just an easy tropey way to dump lore on the people that care.

I think it's a nice way to solve "narrative problems".
There are people that don't care about the story and just want to play the game.

 

[nowhat]

Logs are just an easy tropey way to dump lore on the people that care.

This is the reason I think. For a particular subset of people, who are interested in the lore (not the majority of players by any means), it's a way of giving more context to the story and the events surrounding it. So while not ideal by any means, I think it (the audio logs) is far better than having pure text-only logs to scroll through. The latter requires constant attention, while an audio log can just play in the background while the player does something else.

This is an interesting issue though. Logs (be they text/audio/video/something completely different) are basically a way for more exposition to be served to those who'd like to learn more. And while this is definitely tropey, in what way could it be done differently?

 

[KingHenrik30]

I gotta agree with some of the sentiments on here that the game is good, but not as fantastic as its been made out to be sometimes, and also kinda dull. I'm kinda just plowing through the game to get to the end as fast as I can. There really isn't much exploring to do and I feel like that's a shame in an open world type of game like this.

 

[JCK75]

Oh, this thread made me remember that I bought it about a month ago cheaply and forgot to actually play it.

 

[Fbh]

It's a great game, a technical masterpiece with decent combat and good writing. The writing in particular was nothing special in my opinion, but still way above average considering what you usually get in videogames.

By the way, games need to stop having voice logs. They make absolutely no sense, normal people just won't go around recording a voice diary. It's something that could work for a special case (one character in a journey decides to record and drop those along the way, or someone is trapped in some place with no exit) but it falls flat when absolutely everybody is doing it and the game world is just infested with those logs.

I can suspend my disbelief for logs. I prefer them to text logs since at least I can explore the area or do something else in the game while I listen to them. I don't like having to constantly stop to read letters and diary entries, and emails.
Specially when it's relevant info, it's what killed Quantum Break for me, it was like they expected me to spend 20 minutes reading email in every other room I entered

 

[n0razi]

I liked it more than Zelda BoTW because it had an actual story and good voice acting that pushed you to continue playing

 

[Valonquar]

This game, a PS4 Pro, and a 75" 4k set with HDR is something else man. This and God of War are the first things I show off with when peeps come over.

 

[Lastyou1]

I am currently playing it, I'm still at early stage. Maybe it is my fault, I mean, I did every side quest until now, but to be honest...This game is boring, and is really burn me out.

The game is AMAZING technically, although facial animations are so-so imo, but the rest:



-Combat: I don't dig it, it is extremely complicated. Not difficult, complicated: the game really lacks a simple weapon with status altering effect. I want to electrocute my enemy? I need a specific weapon. I want to set them on fire? Use THAT weapon, and so on and on. Maybe I'm too early in the game and still have to unlock better weapons/mods, but combat to me is too slow and frustrating.

-upgrades: ok, the wsapon-tier system.is great on paper, but horrible in execution. And why the hell my staff has just three attacks?

-mission structure: this is my main concern on the game. EVERY MISSION I'VE PLAYED SO FAR follows the same pattern/formula: 1- reach a far and away place 2- talk to NPC 3- go to new far and away area 4- kill horde/boss 5- examination/investigation of the area with minimal interaction with object 6- follow a trail of blood or footsteps 7- report back to the previous far and away area 8- another dialogue, cutscenes 9- another Boss Fight/Horde 10- Rinse and repeat.


I mean, give me sometjing unique, like the trial to become an hunter or the tutorial.



OPEN WORLD: the world feels empty and underdeveloped. Yes, there are a couple of great landscapes here and there, and yes, I know it is a post-apocalyptic game, but damn, the world is just a waste land.


FORCED STEALTH: why they didn't go full action at this point? I love stealth games, but only when thry are designed as such or with stealth elements in mind. Clearly This game wasn't supposed to have stealth, if not at a later developement stage. The amount of red grasses is almost offensive to common sense, as welk the A.I. is very lackluster.


HUMAN ENEMIES: While the monsters/robots design is extremely great, the Human enemies are...meh.
I defeated a boss with a single stealth takedown, and I was killed by a common archer after svoring a perfect headshot.
No matter what kind of protection they are wearing, humans immune to headshots really ruin my immersion in the game.


Overall it is a solid game, but is also the second weakest SONY exclusive, imo.
Guerilla really fucked this gen for me, with ShadowFall and H:ZD.

Don't get me wrong, I will finish the game, maybe I still have to see the best parts of the game, but I expected a better combat system.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Just started the dlc and it already feels like an improved sequel or something.

The cutscenes and framed shots with NPC interactions alone are directed better than in the base game. The dialogue is better with side characters that have personality, the snowy weather is amazing.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I liked it more than Zelda BoTW because it had an actual story and good voice acting that pushed you to continue playing

I got both games on release and it took me a long, long time before I was able to go back to Horizon's, comparitively, extremely limited gameplay and little to no exploration.

Still, great game and well worth anybody's time.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

I got both games on release and it took me a long, long time before I was able to go back to Horizon's, comparitively, extremely limited gameplay and little to no exploration.

Still, great game and well worth anybody's time.

I played it for 1 hour before I shelved it forever. AAA games aren't for me I guess.

 

[mcz117chief]

Game looked interesting but the hair killed it for me. Talk about uncanny valley.

 

[Rodolink]

To me it was super boring, the environments felt dead and was a hassle to traverse, since the wolrd is full of enemies its hard to take your time and breath, didn't like it overall. I think they did a pretty good job with the main character though in terms of design

 

[llien]

for me this game beats GOW in every aspect except story

If you mean God of War, my mind is blown, unless you mean PS4 Dad of War, which I haven't played yet.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I played it for 1 hour before I shelved it forever. AAA games aren't for me I guess.

If you are able to decide how good an open world game is by playing only the opening hour, I'd say you overestimate your ability to do just that.

 

[JimmyRustler]

I looooved this game to bits. The only thing that dragged it down for me was the combat against humans. They really need to work on this for the sequel.

What surprised me most were story and lore and, how good they were and how much thought GG actually put into it.

And btw. this game is probably the biggest draw for HDR. Not even GoW comes close to this. Multiple times I found myself just standing there and wondering at these graphics in awe. Once you see and play this game in 4k+HDR on OLED there is no way back.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

If you are able to decide how good an open world game is by playing only the opening hour, I'd say you overestimate your ability to do just that.

Pretty game but hated how I moved and fighting robot dinos was boring to me. :/

 

[phyrlord]

I really liked the game, 100%'ed the in game completion. If I had one major critique, it's that I wish it had a shield system, taking all the little hits while trying to focus on extremely fast big robots that knocked you down constantly was extremely annoying. A shield system would of helped a lot.

You do get one if you find/unlcok the special armor, but it's SUPER OP.

 

[kinjx11]

If you mean God of War, my mind is blown, unless you mean PS4 Dad of War, which I haven't played yet.

yeah i meant DOW

 

[nowhat]

I really liked the game, 100%'ed the in game completion. If I had one major critique, it's that I wish it had a shield system, taking all the little hits while trying to focus on extremely fast big robots that knocked you down constantly was extremely annoying. A shield system would of helped a lot.

I've been thinking about this, something like an energy shield would be cool (that would stop projectile/elemental attacks), but it shouldn't still block physical attacks. If a machine gets close enough, it should be able to smack you around. But yeah, this is something I'd like to see in the sequel.

You do get one if you find/unlcok the special armor, but it's SUPER OP.

...up until you play Frozen Wilds.