Topic: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4,SIE)

[OsirisMVZ]

Yeah same, I had a couple of hours on it last night and its a really beautiful game. Got its dark moments already, like the audio clips you can find during the intro.

[Upinsmoke]

I was worried there wasn't gonna be a way to travel faster aside from foot, there is and its cool af 

I love the way they've mixed future technology with a post apocalyptic landscape

I really like Aloy too, in terms of adult female protagonists I can only think of Lara Croft in terms of action adventure and Aloy is well better

[PhilV]

I am LOVING this game so far.


I had the day off yesterday and put about 8 hours into it, 5 straight haha (sad I know but I love it) and it is great.

Ther game really picks up and lets you go at it after a while, as you approach tougher enemies or different packs you really have to plan your attacks which I like in a world where you are the minority and have to survive, the health system is great, the graphics are pure nuts too!


Just really loving it right now, very impressed

[stoa]

For those who haven't played yet, the first thing I learnt was that when you are a lower level it's best if you take your time to take out the machines. I thought as it was the beginning of the game that the first few machines you come across would be dead easy to take down but that's not the case. If you run in all Arrows blazing and swinging your spear you're going to be killed easily.

The game really does reward the stealthier player and encourages you to literally hunt the machines. There's nothing more satisfying than crouching in the tall grass and stealth killing the machines with one hit.

It really does and it is quite a challenge to change your way of thinking. I think I have it down when fighting with machines, but I was ambushed by some humans and went all out on them only to die. Had a rush of adrenaline and got excited. Therefore, I only realised with two or three enemies left that I can also just hide in the grass for a while and take them out on by one moving from cover to cover.

I'd say for fights there are two important things. Stealth is one, but once you're out in the open it is also vital that you just keep moving. Fire some shots of, move away from your position and shoot again, repeat.

First time I died in the game was when I decided to take a shortcut down a hill/mountain through a small river. Then there was some kind of small drop, I jumped down and had three machines right in front of me. They basically tore me to bits...

All in all, it just seems like a very polished game. Like people have said the health system is good, the fighting is fun, graphics are great and it runs very well.
I'd agree that the kids in the game do really look awkward. Even Aloy doesn't look really likeable when she's a child...

[Schmidt]

I'd agree that the kids in the game do really look awkward. Even Aloy doesn't look really likeable when she's a child...

Young Aloy's animations are amazing though, her stumbling run, the way she looks at Rost, it all just felt very polished.

Have played this for about four hours and it is really a very, very good game. I did the main quest up until what I'd imagine is the start of the "real" open world and the end of being taken by the hand to learn the various mechanics and to get to know the main character and her surroundings. I hope I also did all of the side-quests in the first area as I don't think I could still do them, if I had missed one (if that's even possible).

Spoiler

For one, I feel that the relationship between Aloy and Rost is a bit cold. I get that he doesn't want to get too attached to her, but in a way he is like a father to her and she never really says that she's loves him. I was kind of waiting for something like that, but it never came, which I found a bit odd, as she clearly likes him a lot and is thankful that he has looked after her all those years. Then again, I like the small little thing they did in the dialogue when he teaches her to hunt. I like his strict "Follow" and that in the end Aloy uses it herself to make Rost follow her. That was quite sweet.

Also didn't get how she was so "attached" to Vela or whatever the name of the girl in the Proving is. She knew her for half a day and even though she was nicer than Bast she was still kind of bitchy. And Aloy kind of switches from being that tough girl that has learned how to survive in the wild to being the nice girl next-door. Like when the figher guy from Meridian hits on her. She basically goes along with it instead of telling the ponce to fuck off. That bothered me a bit... Overall, I do like the characters so far and I also like how overall they've portrayed the relationship between Aloy and Rost.

I also kind of find it funny to listen to Teersa or whatever her name is and the other people from the clan. When Aloy gets scanned in front of the door and Teersa then tells the others that All-Mother spoke to Aloy and talked about the corruption in the world, when it was saying that some files were corrupted. I like that naivety.

[close]

Spoiler

I thought her attachment to Vela was fine, she's been shunned her whole life and this is the first time she's spent time with a girl her own age, it's only natural she'd very quickly become attached.

[close]

Also which sidequests are you talking about? I'm still very early in the game too and I don't think I've missed much but it'd be nice to know.

Spoiler

I helped the woman find her missing brother and completed some hunting lodge challenges (I haven't finished it yet as the guy I have to speak to is miles away), and I helped Sona get revenge which is sort of a main quest but felt a bit like a side thing, that's it I think.

[close]

The map is huge too, I've played it for a few hours now and it feels like I've barely retrodden any ground. I keep checking the map worrying I'm exploring too quickly and I'm nowhere near the other side of it yet.

[stoa]

Young Aloy's animations are amazing though, her stumbling run, the way she looks at Rost, it all just felt very polished.

Yes, I forgot about the animations. It's great that they even took those little details into account.

Also which sidequests are you talking about? I'm still very early in the game too and I don't think I've missed much but it'd be nice to know.

Spoiler

I helped the woman find her missing brother and completed some hunting lodge challenges (I haven't finished it yet as the guy I have to speak to is miles away), and I helped Sona get revenge which is sort of a main quest but felt a bit like a side thing, that's it I think.

[close]

Spoiler

Yes, the missing brother is one of those side quests. I have had to more. One with a guy who wants you to find his daughter and the one where you have to get some stuff for some old lady who doesn't say thank you. Rost tells Aloy about her when he asks her to get the stuff they need and to meet him in the evening...

[close]

[iSmiff]

yeah i've played it as far as just before the proving, it's a fantastic game, it oozes quality

[Upinsmoke]

Using photo mode

[Broad Spectrum]

Using photo mode

That on the pro or normal PS?

[Upinsmoke]

That on the pro or normal PS?

Pro, but that's just downsampled to a 1080 image. Imagine the checkerboard 4k looks even better.

[stoa]

Found two more (miniscule) things that bother me. I think the camera is in a slightly weird position. Can't put my finger on it, but it seems just a wee bit too close to the character to me. The other thing is what the game does when you quick save. The fade to black and then the return at a slightly different angle are really annoying...

[Teapot]

Really debating whether to pick up a new ps4 pro to play this.  looks unreal.  I'll be buying a new ps4 pro regardless when days gone/the last of us 2/death stranding are released, just whether to buy a machine now..... decisions!

[Upinsmoke]

Really debating whether to pick up a new ps4 pro to play this.  looks unreal.  I'll be buying a new ps4 pro regardless when days gone/the last of us 2/death stranding are released, just whether to buy a machine now..... decisions!

New God Of War reboot too If your into that

[PhilV]

Really debating whether to pick up a new ps4 pro to play this.  looks unreal.  I'll be buying a new ps4 pro regardless when days gone/the last of us 2/death stranding are released, just whether to buy a machine now..... decisions!

The Division is also fully 4K now for the Pro.


Anyway, back on HZD - I have no figured out where the game takes place!

Spoiler

So one of the merchant sells some maps which show you where vantage points are and banuk figures and stuff, so I been hunting them down on the side of the Daytower that belongs to the Nora. One of the vantage points shows that you are basically in Colorado Springs area which is cool, amazingly done too because when you see the Focus picture and then disable it at the map it actually corresponds to where some builds beams and stuff are, very well done by the devs

[close]

[pezzzer]

It's worth picking up a pro now more than ever (if u can find one) as there selling like hot whores due to the imminent next firmware upgrade that adds a 'pro mode' in the PS4 settings menu which adds all the extra horse power to all PS4 game titles with some amazing results.
My misses son tried to get one last weekend and we had to go to 3 Game shops as they were sold out mate.

[Upinsmoke]

Really enjoying all the notebooks and logs, gives a intriguing insight into how this world might of came about.

Aloy keeps hinting that I need to find out how to override robot animals but not really explaining how? Is it just a case of keep following the missions and I'll end up unlocking more overrides?

[Upinsmoke]

Just took down a level 27 thunderjaw, good job I got lots of resources spare to keep my ammo topped up. Must of went on for a good 20 minutes that fight, I'm only lvl 16

[stoa]

Aloy keeps hinting that I need to find out how to override robot animals but not really explaining how? Is it just a case of keep following the missions and I'll end up unlocking more overrides?

Yes, it's a certain kind of side activity (i.e. not the main quests) that unlocks more and more machines to override.

[Teapot]

Ordered a pro last night! Pretty much sold out every where i checked, decided to have a quick look on shopto before bed and bingo, they literally got stock in.  Ordered horizon, TLOU and white wireless 2.0 headset.  Should be here monday.  Ill order some more games later this month when i check whats out there.  May buy nioh and nier.  Anyway, back to horizon! 

[pezzzer]

Nioh is Absaloutly rock hard mate, maybe I'm getting old but fuck me I died so many times lol. Titan fall 2 is exceptionally good in singe player and online

[Teapot]

Nioh is Absaloutly rock hard mate, maybe I'm getting old but fuck me I died so many times lol. Titan fall 2 is exceptionally good in singe player and online

It looks great, certainly going to buy it.  It cant be as hard as dark souls, i died many many times on that, i still get nightmares!  I have titanfall 2 on xbox, must finish it now you mention it. thanks man

I must stop watching videos on zero dawn, cant help myself. roll on monday!

[J-Mc-]

Nioh is basically what would happen if Dark Souls and Onimusha had a child.

It's the deformed demon child of Satan.

...or so i've heard.

[stoa]

I feel one trick they've missed with this game is the hunt for loot. I'm a few hours in and I miss the excitement of finding out what loot I get. At the moment, I'm just picking up all the stuff without really looking at what it is. I think that's a shame. Add to that that the inventory and the vendor screens are just awful. Same goes for the mechanic to upgrade your pouches. You need shitloads of different stuff, but there is no way to find out what you're missing except for looking at the crafting screen. Why not give me the possibility of picking an upgrade and showing me in-game what parts I still need. Or have a pop-up when you loot stuff that says "You now have everything to upgrade your quiver" or whatever...

[Schmidt]

I feel one trick they've missed with this game is the hunt for loot. I'm a few hours in and I miss the excitement of finding out what loot I get. At the moment, I'm just picking up all the stuff without really looking at what it is. I think that's a shame. Add to that that the inventory and the vendor screens are just awful. Same goes for the mechanic to upgrade your pouches. You need shitloads of different stuff, but there is no way to find out what you're missing except for looking at the crafting screen. Why not give me the possibility of picking an upgrade and showing me in-game what parts I still need. Or have a pop-up when you loot stuff that says "You now have everything to upgrade your quiver" or whatever...

When you have the items needed for an upgrade the item gets marked with a '!' in the crafting menu, I glance at it now and then just in case that happens.

Also when you're looking at an item you want to buy and you don't have the right parts you can press Square I think (PS4) to make a quest out of the missing parts which is quite cool, not sure if you can do the same for parts you need to craft something, but the very least it does tell you what bits you need to craft each item/upgrade.

I enjoy the hunt for loot myself, whenever I see a machine go down and the loot marker shows up with a colour instead of plain white I get excited to see what I've got. Having the tinker skill was a big help as it means I can attach/remove mods to weapons at will, so I can move things around a lot more.

Speaking of hunting for loot, I keep getting twatted by a Thunderjaw at the moment, I managed to kill one after a bunch of Carja archers intervened but this second one just always catches me sooner or later.

[iSmiff]

note to self, you have over 1000 piece of wood

stop looting wood

[stoa]

note to self, you have over 1000 piece of wood

stop looting wood

No can do...

[CrasherKid79]

I've only played an hour or so but can tell it's a special game. Everything oozes class and I'm already attached to Aloy and Rost like I was a certain father/daughter like duo in a zombie game not long ago.

[iSmiff]

Aloy is dead inside

[stoa]

I love her. Was in a fight with some guys against some machines (well I did all the work) and when it was finished one of the others commented on the fight. I was thinking "what the fuck is he talking about?!" and two seconds later Aloy basically said the same (with some more polite words)...

[Rattleduser]

 menus are a little poor, or it might be me getting used to them

boss game so far, hope it doesn't become repetitive

[Upinsmoke]

Prefer taking out the robot animals compared to the humans. So many good ways to fuck them up, love setting traps.

For me the main downsides are probably the way you use your resources in regards to crafting, I usually loot everything but just take stuff for the sake of it because I'm not sure if I need it or not. The medicinal stuff works well when you pick it because you see the direct effect it has and the same for the ridgewood but some of the modifications I just take because I don't know if I need them. I was the same with the Witcher 3 and potion making, it was too much hassle but it's fundamental to the game and if you do auto potion it felt like your cheating the game somehow.

And secondly the characters including Aloy herself are just a little wooden, the models look great and the dialogue is fine, it's just the way it's presented, such a far cry from games like tlou, there just a bit emotionless for me. It's not a huge issue and its no worse than alot of other AAA games, but short of the likes of Uncharted and TLOU, lacks that human edge which ND has nailed with there characters and CDProjekt Red

But that's the only thing I can fault. Graphics brilliant, Combat mechanics are great, huge open world, different enemies and loads of ways to approach them, to use the environment, to use different weapons on them. Really intrigued by the story and how this land came to be

[iSmiff]

when you kill a fox it makes a chicken noise

[ThePeetmix]

menus are a little poor, or it might be me getting used to them

boss game so far, hope it doesn't become repetitive

the menu's are my big gripe really with this game. just really annoying to navigate around quickly.

Everything else though is just god damn fantastic. The combat is just so much fun and that just helps keep away the over-bearing feeling that open-world games can have. That and they actually do a really good job of giving NPCs some character rather than the generic ones you get in Fallout games for example. The story so far is really interesting and i find it difficult not to rush ahead with the story at the times haha.

Also, could anyone agree that this might be the best looking game ever? At least on Pro anyway. It seems nuts to me that an open-world game that looks THIS good, can have such a stable framerate and quick loading times when they're needed. At the very least, this game is a technical marvel.

The fact that Death Stranding will be on this engine excites me even more for that game.

when you kill a fox it makes a chicken noise

Damn the scorn of the metal devils.

[PhilV]

Just took down a level 27 thunderjaw, good job I got lots of resources spare to keep my ammo topped up. Must of went on for a good 20 minutes that fight, I'm only lvl 16

I have a good technique with the ropecaster to take down a thunderjaw for people who are still low level, check it out on my youtube channel (link via my twitter in my signature, can't access youtube via work PC)

I found the Stormbird to be tougher than Thunderjaws to be honest, they are a royal pain in the backside!! For me they have been the trickiest enemies.

Now for some spoilers and see how people feel about the story, I am at the part where the "Enemy" name is revealed and...

Spoiler

You go to the FSA HQ and battle the Deathbringer there and stuff, as you go around the building reading all those logs and eventually go to the mountain and read the logs of the dead soldiers... wow, it sounds grim, to be honest it's a bit Terminator like the story isn't it??? Almost a hybrid between terminator and the matrix as the machines consume biomass as fuel so I guess that includes people? I still have not found out what project zero dawn is but with all the bunkers around and stuff I am imagining it wasn't a weapon at all but an Ark or sorts, maybe cryosleep it out!?!? Still cray though that its nearly a millenia ago! All of it because of greed/money, sounds about right for the way the world is going!

[close]

[Schmidt]

note to self, you have over 1000 piece of wood

stop looting wood

Don't do it, after hunting a couple of Thunderjaws and a Stormbird with a Sharpshot bow my 1000+ supply of sticks was completely wiped out, ditto for Echo Shells which I now need to go spend some time replenishing.

I'm loving the override ability, sneaking into a herd of machines you want to take down and overriding one to cause havoc while you pick the rest off is pretty awesome. I just wish you could ride all of the machines into battle.

[Garlicbread]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-06-horizon-zero-dawn-is-sonys-biggest-ps4-franchise-debut

• Biggest Sony new franchise(so Uncharted doesn't count) on PS4 in terms of sales*
• Outsold Zelda*

* = in the UK

[Schmidt]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-06-horizon-zero-dawn-is-sonys-biggest-ps4-franchise-debut

• Biggest Sony new franchise(so Uncharted doesn't count) on PS4 in terms of sales*
• Outsold Zelda*

* = in the UK

Outselling Zelda isn't a big shock considering it was released on two platforms that no one seems especially interested in buying, one of which only came out a few days ago.

[Macphisto80]

Outselling Zelda isn't a big shock considering it was released on two platforms that no one seems especially interested in buying, one of which only came out a few days ago.

Switch has sold 80k units in the UK alone since Friday. Not bad for a system that just has one game on it, apparently.

I agree, though, saying "sold more than Zelda" is a bit of a daft thing to mention if you're to go by a numbers game. I mean, the PS4 only has an install base of a couple of million more over the platforms BoTW is on. What it does show is that people do want more varied and interesting titles on their system other than another Activision, EA or Ubisoft snoozefest.

[Garlicbread]

Switch has sold 80k units in the UK alone since Friday. Not bad for a system that just has one game on it, apparently.

I agree, though, saying "sold more than Zelda" is a bit of a daft thing to mention if you're to go by a numbers game. I mean, the PS4 only has an install base of a couple of million more over the platforms BoTW is on. What it does show is that people do want more varied and interesting titles on their system other than another Activision, EA or Ubisoft snoozefest.

I agree its daft with the comparisons. But it was always gonna be comparisons, 2 big open world games, each exclusive to one platform and releasing around the same time.

[ThePeetmix]

I agree its daft with the comparisons. But it was always gonna be comparisons, 2 big open world games, each exclusive to one platform and releasing around the same time.

BOTW will sell a lot more in the long run. as soon as people pick up a switch, they'll buy Zelda with it.

It does show that two games, both with big open-worlds, shows that if you do it right, people can enjoy the genre again. Not the unpolished, drab and lacking in character worlds the likes of Ubi have put out the last 5 years or so.

Be interesting to how Mass Effect shapes up against them.