LttP: Horizon Zero Dawn

[Paul le Fou]

I just loaded this up a few days ago and have been enjoying bow-hunting robit dinosaurs. I just got out of the starting area and now some of the dinosaurs (I guess really only half-ish of them are dinosaurs... maybe even fewer?) are very big and/or scary D:

I found my first vantage point, and I liked seeing the past version of the area. Although a lot of stuff is like, ruins of the old world, which I totally dig in general, but I'm not entirely sure a "what happened to the old world?" mystery is going to be particularly interesting in this case so I hope it doesn't take too much of the story up. Also hoping that Aloy's mother (or clone source) turns out to be more interesting than "she was from the old world!" because, uh, duh.

Also, it's not technically the first game I've played on my new TV but it's a hell of a way to break it in, because the graphics and detail are gorgeous. (The character animations are a bit stiff and puppet-y though.) Although everything is so sharp and smooth it occasionally gives me a bit of motion sickness (usually in tight quarters like the ruins cave early on).

Anyone else play this and/or happen to be playing it right now?

 

[Adrenaline]

The story of how the world became the way it is ended up being pretty interesting to me, but that does take up a lot of what the entire game is about, so you might end up disappointed. I like open world action games where you help people out and level up a lot, so I enjoyed it.

 

[Paul le Fou]

The story of how the world became the way it is ended up being pretty interesting to me, but that does take up a lot of what the entire game is about, so you might end up disappointed. I like open world action games where you help people out and level up a lot, so I enjoyed it.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess, to clarify, I'm not against finding out what happened to the world or anything, it's more like I just hope they do something interesting and new with it.

 

[Cyrael]

This is one of the best games of the generation, and I personally LOVED the way the story unfolded. HIGHLY anticipating the sequel.

I feel like the Vantage Points were also made specifically for me as someone who grew up in Denver (and saw the Air Force Academy Cathedral a LOT), and then moved to Utah. Every single one of the landmarks was well realized, and the story attached to them was superb.

 

[Patrick]

I burned out about halfway through because I spent a bit too much time on side stuff. But, that half of a game was excellent. And burning out halfway through a big game is my modus operandi these days, so that shouldn’t be taken as a mark against it.

 

[Violentvixen]

I never finished this because I was borrowing a friend's PS4 to play it, and also I sucked at the combat. Really liked how the story/mystery plays out though. I watched a Let's Play of the rest of the game because I wanted to know what happened.

 

[Patrick]

I watched a Let's Play of the rest of the game because I wanted to know what happened.

Hey, that’s a good idea!

 

[Issun]

The story actually floored me a couple of times. Its really good. The combat is good, but the game is long enough and your new abilities eventually don't do enough to change things up so it gets old towards the end. But overall this is a very good game, and Aloy is one of the best video game protagonists period. I would say it's interesting that Ashley Burch has voiced two of my favorite game characters but I think that she's just such a charismatic voice actor and it comes through.

It was also super cool when Lance Reddick showed up. That's always a treat.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I thought that sounded like Ashley Burch! She's so great.

Also I looked at Cyrael's spoiler and, well, got spoiled. Sigh. Why do I do these things to mysellllllf. (Although that does explain why the first vantage looked so familiar - I should have recognized the Air Force Academy when I first saw it.)

 

[Phantoon]

I sucked at the combat.

Yeah, I bounced off it because of that. I need to go back to it and work out how I was supposed to do it some time.

 

[Aleryn]

The combat definitely had a learning curve. I spent... a lot of time getting the hang of it in the beginning area. The other creatures are increasingly complex and harder to take down, but I recall the fundamentals holding through. Weirdly I think this game prepped me for Breath of the Wild in some ways.

I distinctly remember avoiding a skill that would somehow disable the robots, or make them somehow unable to defend themselves. I did that to maintain challenge because I heard so many say that it trivialized the difficulty. I can't recall the name of the ability or its exact function. However, it was also useful for people who had a lot of trouble fighting or wanted to hasten the encounters.

The first chapter of the story where Aloy was doing a lot of personal work in being an outcast [and feeling somehow cursed because her mother dying upon her birth or shortly thereafter?] and trying to get past that is probably my favourite by far. I actually think that thread was lost somewhere. I wanted her to develop past that complex of sorts she had, but it surprised me how -gone- it was after that. This is all very subjective to my experience with her and the game, though.

DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING SPOILER UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE GAME, I'M WARNING YOU.
I was heartbroken when it was revealed the information trove was destroyed in the back quarter of the game. I almost quit playing it bothered me so much. I persevered out of genuine anger, and later a realization that if I was THAT upset then the creators really did well. Plus that ending scene... probably the last AAA game I profoundly enjoyed.

 

[Cyrael]

Paul don't read this: PAUL I SAID DON'T!

I don't think the vantage points is an enjoyment-killer of a spoiler because they ARE meant to be recognized and it is one of the first hints of the overarching mystery. But I am truly sorry if it made it less enjoyable for you.

My other favorite one (and this is definitely more of a spoiler related to @Aleryn above) is that the Nora tribe just being a poorly remembered NORAD, since it's pretty darn clear that the All Mother Mountain is where it was. It is also near Colorado Springs.

I could talk about this game all day - I loved it so much that it was the second game I platinum'd after Bloodborne. The combat was fun but was definitely the weakest point of the game for me - I did have to look up some strategies for the Hunting Lodge Trials. I almost always burn out on open world 'check all the things off' type games (currently in that zone with Dragon Age Inquisition), but this was just perfectly sized and everything felt worth it.

Also the DLC is a must play, I recommend being about level 20ish or so before going there and trying to do the major story quests first.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Paul don't read this: PAUL I SAID DON'T!

I don't think the vantage points is an enjoyment-killer of a spoiler because they ARE meant to be recognized and it is one of the first hints of the overarching mystery. But I am truly sorry if it made it less enjoyable for you.

No, it's cool! Like, as soon as I read that, it clicked that I'd actually recognized the building - I should have put 2 and 2 together before I even read the spoiler, which only "spoiled" something I'd technically discovered anyway. And to add a whole extra layer to "I should have recognized this," I didn't even notice the first time that it tells you what you're looking at in the bottom corner until I got another vantage and my girlfriend pointed out "Oh, it says Colorado Springs right there in the corner" and I said "oh."

then I quoted this post to respond to the top bits (I CHECKED THE FIRST ONE I'M SORRY) (I suspected) and it revealed the other text and I looked away but I caught a glimpse of two words and aaaaaaaaagh. Why did I make this accursed thread?!?

Anyway last night I slaughtered an entire camp of bandits with a whole lot of stealthy headshots (and then a whole lot of angry headshots, and also spears and traps when I remembered I had those things). There's a whole lot of traps and stuff to set up in this game! Between my tripcaster and my several types of traps - all assembled rather haphazardly in my D-pad, with a whole lot to scroll through when I'm desperately trying to find my potion - it feels like every encounter requires a lot of setup (and half the time the enemy wanders away or walks right around my stuff, womp womp. Good thing I got the talent to pick traps back up!). That item inventory thing could be arranged a lot better. Also I don't know if it's the game or me, but I'm scared to put any coils into my weapons or armor for fear of upgrading from blue to purple before too long. (That said, I'm also getting the "change out coils" talent soonish, so I suppose it's not actually that big a deal.) I'm also not super convinced that the armor effects actually do very much anyway... But ah well. I should probably just play Horizon: Fashion Dawn and not worry about it. (Or just wear the damage-reducing one.)

 

[Cyrael]

I should probably just play Horizon: Fashion Dawn and not worry about it. (Or just wear the damage-reducing one.)

I think that if you aren't playing on Hard or higher difficulties, it can just be fashion. I wore the stealth improving armor I bought right after The Proving and put coils on it for specific damage types until really late game and never had any undue difficulty (on Normal). You eventually unlock variations on the base themes.

Also, I don't know how clear it is in the game but the varieties of weapons come in Green/Blue/Purple that add an additional ammo type and it's always worth it to get the highest level one you can at the time.

One last thing about vantage points - the audio file is only half of what you get. Don't forget to look in on the codex area - there is a written portion as well. I didn't notice it at first, but there is a lot of context and information in there that is just phenomenal.

 

[conchobhar]

I played this last year and tracked it on the old board. I had… very mixed feelings, though I think that mostly owed to my own ambivalence about open world games; I think Horizon has a lot going for it, and ultimately I was still engaged enough to see it through to the end.

I really like the setting. Post-apoc civilizations isn't a new idea but I think Horizon does a great job here: they're clearly informed by the old world, but also decidedly their own thing, and by straddling both it gives a lot of character and implied history to the world. I never read any of the datalogs (not my thing), but I think it's plenty engaging in this regard just through environmental storytelling— all those landmarks and costume design.

My other favorite one (and this is definitely more of a spoiler related to @Aleryn above) is that the Nora tribe just being a poorly remembered NORAD, since it's pretty darn clear that the All Mother Mountain is where it was. It is also near Colorado Springs.

Ohhhhhh! I knew about the Colorado setting, but I never put together that Nora = NORAD. That's clever!

 

[Paul le Fou]

Also, I don't know how clear it is in the game but the varieties of weapons come in Green/Blue/Purple that add an additional ammo type and it's always worth it to get the highest level one you can at the time.

Yeah, I did figure this out from looking at the shops. I have four Blue weapons right now, rocking the regular hunter bow with fire arrows, the sharpshooter bow with the armor breakers, the zap/boom tripcaster and the frost/electric sling. A purple sling is available but I don't have the trade-in item for it yet. I'm planning on prioritizing purple weapons over purple armor, although there are a few outfits already available in shops and still just the one weapon. But I'm still poking around in the Nora lands just outside the embrace, I haven't ventured very far afield at all yet.

 

[Aleryn]

Keep an ear out for the soundtrack. I still go back to a handful of that game's themes and whatnot. Aloy's theme alone is incredible.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I'm making progress - I found my way to Carja territory, AKA the Grand Canyon and now I'm wandering the countryside doing sidequests and such. I have a majority of the purple weapons and most of my weapons are purple; I'm about halfway to the purple outfits I want. I have found Thunderjaws and Behemoths but have not gotten up the courage to fight one yet.

A lot of the time I feel like I'm playing this game wrong. I was in the second cauldron I'd found, Rho, and had a fucking delightful fight against two Longlegs and a Ravager. It was infuriating because I was.......well, I was fighting like it was Dark Souls, now that I think about it, rolling around and trying to land hits when I could, but I was getting knocked around like a ball bearing in a pachinko machine. But looking around the room after I FINALLY pushed through, there were 2 levels, a ton of stealth vents, and lord knows I could've done any number of traps... The boss fight of that area, the snapmaw+ravager combo, absolutely pushed in my shit with the... 6-7 traps (including tripwires) I'd laid, but on my second try I laid like 15 traps+wires around the entire room and had very little trouble finishing it off.

Same too with, like, some giant enemy crabs - a couple fights have gone completely to shit, but I can lay enough traps and I barely even have to shoot them. The worst was when I was doing the Hunter challenges SW of Daytower, with the big cow-bois and the awful birds. Two of the challenges I was able to complete, then just give up and die instead of running back to the camp because I was being chased by a million beasts. The one where I had to tie down and crit-hit 3 birds in 2 minutes was fucking bullshit though, with "if you do anything" being the trigger cause for "3-5 birds immediately find and simultaneously attack you." It honestly felt like the challenge had exceeded the mechanics, which was how I felt when I had to fight those 2 longlegs + 1 ravager.

The other thing is that upgrading weapons and such gets you more options, which can be great, but also doesn't actually make your weapons any better - that's all on finding modifications, which appear subject to Loot-drop RNG rules. Even with more slots in the purple weapons, it feels like "oh goodie, another very slight upgrade until I get lucky with a blue or purple drop."

So I guess this is a long way of asking...how do you play this game? Both generally, like what am I missing, but also how do you play this game? How do you address

 

[Issun]

Yeah, playing HZD like a From game isn't going to get you very far. Stealth is important, but more important is getting upgrades that compliment your playstyle, using your chip (I forget what it's called) to find enemy weaknesses, and using tge terrain to your advantage.

The best approximation I can give is third person BioShock.

As for my preffered strategy, anytime I could sneak up and use the stealth attack I would. The damage multiplier on that is bonkers.

 

[4-So]

I've attempted to play through twice but only ever get about 4 or 5 hours in. Having said that, I generally play it like the newer Assassin's Creeds. Stealth when available, then finish the enemy off as quickly as possible.

 

[Paul le Fou]

That said, switching to the Rattler seems to be a pretty useful close-up strategy. A couple shots from that actually staggered the annoying Ravager I mentioned above. Of course, the real best way to kill one of those is tear off its laser machinegun, pick it up and use it against it.

 

[conchobhar]

So I guess this is a long way of asking...how do you play this game? Both generally, like what am I missing, but also how do you play this game?

Well, I think you already have the right idea. You can't play it like Dark Souls; the game is just not designed for it, Aloy is too clumsy and vulnerable for sustained close-quarters combat. You really want to doing as little fighting as possible, by observing the enemies and using your tools to take them out unawares. That means playing it like a stealth or tactics game: scope out the area and have a plan before you engage.

My standard tactics included using stealth takedowns whenever possible; setting lots of triplines before any engagement; using hardpoint and tearblast arrows to remove nasty components (and using them against the robot, if available); using shock arrows or freezebombs to stun foes; using the ropecaster on large and flying foes; and just backing off and hiding if it got to be too much. There's still a bit of acting on your feet (particularly with hardy enemies) but you always want to be keeping a distance and setting up the next move.

(Not a spoiler, just a snarky comment) I really don't have advice for the Cauldrons, though, which I felt were not really designed with the game's mechanics in mind— a frantic showdown against a number of enemies all converging on you, with no escape, is as dull and it is frustrating. And I never found any way to reliably fight Corrupters, either, because they are just too powerful. Both are major failings of the game, I think.

 

[Paul le Fou]

The Corrupters have never posed too big a problem for me, I think, mostly because I just plug them full of fire arrows like I'm an orc who just saw Boromir. They burn pretty quick. But yeah, I need to get better with the ropecaster (it's so slow and clunky to try and use to save my skin when shit hits the fan, but it's great for stealth lockdowns and overrides...)

My favorite thing to do for the last two tallnecks has been to get up on top of them ASAP, then just ride it around and around in a circle sniping all the enemies from its head. Except I did this yesterday for the one northwest of Daytower, in the ring of bandits trying to override it, but when I had one enemy left, I pressed the wrong button, did a strong attack off the edge of the head and died, and ALLLLLLLL of the bodies with their loot were gone. UUUUUUUGH

 

[Paul le Fou]

These hunting trials can eat my whole butt.

Are the weapons I get for them worth it? My completionist itch says I have to do them, but frankly I think I'd rather not. One thing about the game is that the combat doesn't feel quite smooth or granular enough to make really crunchy, really particular trials like these worth struggling with. The "Knock down a bellowback and remove the part on its undercarriage - which it falls right on top of, of course, hope you snipe a pixel-wide space between its legs in time" trial really drove this home to me. While others haven't been AS bad, they certainly haven't been great. The "loot 4 shellback containers" is a neat idea, but the stealth mechanics feel a bit too vague and squishy to me and it ends up turning into a big old clusterfuck. Also, the "Rope down glinthawks and crit hit them" is super fun to try when firing once upon a lone glinthawk immediately seems to summon like 5 more who are all attacking at once as you try to land hits (and hitting flying enemies is already hard enough as it is).

Either I'm not very good at HZD—which is definitely possible!—or the game has a slightly higher opinion of what its systems are capable of than what they actually are. For every one encounter where I successfully lay traps and lure enemies through them, nail weak spots, or snipe-hide-snipe-hide a big beast without ever being seen, I feel like I have 4 that just get really messy.

Unrelated pet peeve - not giving me experience for when a beast I override or corrupt kills another.


Enough griping, now the good stuff: now that I'm taking down some of the really large beasts, it can still be really satisfying to finally get the kill, and I still love exploring this map. I don't know if it's just finding more epic mods, or gitting gud, or a combination, but some fights in general are definitely going easier for me, which does feel nice.

Also, I finally roped myself back to the story and hit Meridian - I love its design and the surrounding areas - and the plot is pretty interesting as well. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with Sun-King Avad - I've been trained to either expect him to be Actually Bad, or for him to die. Wondering how I'll fit into all of this, ultimately - Aloy's been a bit of a cypher since getting out of the sacred lands, just mostly getting involved in other people's affairs. I'm still intrigued about the dribbles of info about the past world that I'm getting, too - the detail they've gone into, and/or the way they've obfuscated most of the big facts about it, have made me interested for more.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I've mainly been following the plot and I'm nearing the end. I just discovered the Project Zero Dawn bunker under Sunfall, got captured, and escaped the Sun Ring. My next story quest is heading back to All-Mother to get into that bunker, but I've elected this time to go do the DLC content. I don't think All-Mother is the last quest in the game or anything—the completion tracker says I'm 83% through, I've done pretty much every side thing (all collectibles, cauldrons, bandit camps, all but one corrupted zone, etc.) and the last bit I did made up about 6% of that, and there are still loose ends with Hades and Helis to tie up. Plus I know there's still that ruin I got dead-ended out of earlier, whichunfortunately I know is related to Gaia because I had to look up why I couldn't go further last time—but I'm nearing level 50 and I might as well get the fancy gear before heading into the last few endgame missions.

I'm enjoying the story a lot, and still liking the combat—I can basically stealth-sprint past any machines I want, and only really need to fight what's right in my way, so I can pick and choose my battles outside the story, so I guess my battles have been fewer but more challenging instead of needing to mow down a bunch of mooks. The human battles are the least interesting—for better or worse, I can one- or two-shot pretty much any mook who crosses my path, including heavies and bosses, and typically never get seen doing it. The most interesting those fights get is "the bandits have more HP now," so...not very interesting. But fighting thunderjaws and behemoths and such is still fun. Stormbirds too, except the camera and control fuckery involved in trying to track a flying creature can make them pretty annoying.

 

[conchobhar]

Sounds like you got a handle on the combat! Once it clicks— and you have the weapons/skills to make it easier— it can be really fun to do (though I got tired of fighting Thunderjaws— there's just so many late-game quests with them).

As a heads up, the DLC is quite a bit more difficult than the base game. The robots in there are aggressive. But it's worth toughing out, I think— the Banuk are a very interesting tribe, and their story is neat and tidy.

 

[Cyrael]

As a heads up, the DLC is quite a bit more difficult than the base game.

This is not a joke. They don't let up at all from the second you actually start it till the end.

Spoiler: Don't read unless you've finished the 'Ancient Armory' quest

I think the way they made this 'ultimate armor' from the base game still viable, but not invincible with the EMP attacks of certain enemies was really smart. I loved using it from when I got it all the way through the DLC, but they actually had some really nice armors from what I remember you could trade in bluegleam for.

Spoiler: Best Part of the DLC

BROUGHT TO YOU BY MONTANA RECREATIONS!​

 

[conchobhar]

Spoiler: Best Part of the DLC

BROUGHT TO YOU BY MONTANA RECREATIONS!​

Undeniably

 

[Paul le Fou]

I still only have 3 power cells for that damn armor. I dunno if I've missed some, or if the other two are still coming up, but ugh it's been taunting me since the beginning of the ding dang game. (Actually I forgot it existed for a good long time.)

 

[Cyrael]

I still only have 3 power cells for that damn armor. I dunno if I've missed some, or if the other two are still coming up, but ugh it's been taunting me since the beginning of the ding dang game. (Actually I forgot it existed for a good long time.)

I know there is one that you CAN grab right away after Aloy wakes up after the proving disaster, but if you miss it you need to wait till she goes back there late game.

Otherwise I am pretty sure all of them are found during 'main story missions' that take you to old ruins. Some of them are out of the critical path of the 'dungeon' but can be seen from a decent range using your focus.