Horizon: Zero Dawn

[timmy-boy]

Anyone who is a fan of Horizon should watch this:



Pretty impressive stuff there. It amazing they Shadowfall and Horizon in the works at the same time, which means Horizon only had about 3 years and 3 months of full time development. I honestly can see Guerrilla having Horizon 2 ready to show at E3 2019. I found it interesting that Meridian was going to be 4 times the size and be much more integral. It just makes me think the second game will have bigger cities and they probably have a ton of ideas for the sequel. What this video showed is that Guerrilla is an incredibly talented, innovative, open and aware studio. To admit they knew their weakness in story and writing pretty much elevated to Horizon being one of the best games of the gen and the best one in my opinion.

 

[Ricker]

Prototype footage of Horizon.

Lol...looks like a original XBox game,reminds me of Sudeki for some reason

 

[eVo7]

Anyone who is a fan of Horizon should watch this:



Pretty impressive stuff there. It amazing they Shadowfall and Horizon in the works at the same time, which means Horizon only had about 3 years and 3 months of full time development. I honestly can see Guerrilla having Horizon 2 ready to show at E3 2019. I found it interesting that Meridian was going to be 4 times the size and be much more integral. It just makes me think the second game will have bigger cities and they probably have a ton of ideas for the sequel. What this video showed is that Guerrilla is an incredibly talented, innovative, open and aware studio. To admit they knew their weakness in story and writing pretty much elevated to Horizon being one of the best games of the gen and the best one in my opinion.

Sounds like to me that Shadowfall was the one that suffered, that game stunk compared to the last 2 KZ games. Still love Guerilla games tho.

 

[timmy-boy]

Sounds like to me that Shadowfall was the one that suffered, that game stunk compared to the last 2 KZ games. Still love Guerilla games tho.

You could tell Guerrilla were clearly fatigued by Killzone. They felt it whilst doing Killzone 3 but wanted to overcome the PS4 hurdles with a familiar IP and a game they knew how to make.

 

[Ricker]

Kill 5 Fireclaws...? no thanks...they should of ended Frozen Wilds after

Spoiler

the Boss fight in the Cauldron

...its a great expansion but way too hard in some area's and a slog to fight those things...I will watch the ending on Youtube.

 

[Andy]

Just started into the Frozen Wilds today. It's nice to be back in that world, playing as Aloy again. It's been 9 months since I played the base game, so I'm having to re-learn a lot. Even though I'm inept, combat is still a joy, with fluid movement and all the different scenarios that can play out.

I felt strong at the end of the base game, but now I feel weak and vulnerable again. That's okay -- I like that feeling of worrying about getting my ass kicked. Although, I might change my mind about that later -- I'm only 90 minutes in or so. If things get ridiculously hard, I can always turn the difficulty down. And I'll just skip the hunter trials, if they seem like too much trouble.

 

[Andy]

Love this game. I'm back in the groove, remembering what button does what, and it feels good. My game clock says 140 hours, which is kind of absurd but tells you how much I enjoy just being in this world.

I was a little worried that the expansion would be too tough for me, but so far I'm doing fine. I'm enjoying the challenge. I just killed the first Frostclaw without taking any injuries. I won't get cocky, though. I know it gets tougher.

I also was concerned that a land of snow would be less visually appealing than the forests I loved in the base game. But no, it's beautiful, just in a different way. I will stop and just look at the colors on fabrics sometimes, or at the sunlight glancing off the ice and snow. It helps that I'm playing on a 4K/HDR TV now (I played the base game on 1080p). The colors are sharper and more complex, and the image is cleaner and more precise (although it was no slouch on downsampled 1080p).

Aloy is a wonderful character to control and watch, too. Her movements are so athletic and fluid. I really like her as a character. She speaks more often here, and it's my impression that she has a bit more confidence, warmth, and humor this time around, which is good.

 

[Larry]

I've been wanting to get the Complete Edition, but haven't been able to pick it up yet. I never did finish the story before I stopped playing it for 8+ months. I'll probably restart the game after finishing up AC: Origins this week.

 

[HorTyS]

Oh s#it, that just reminded me I haven't finished origins. Rented it from gamefly & it's sitting in its envelope on my entertainment stand. I know I'm close-ish to the end, should prolly finish that thing up soon....

 

[Dibils]

EDIT: wrong thread

 

[Andy]

Insightful interview by Danny O'Dwyer with Horizon's lead writer, John Gonzales. It helped me understand and appreciate the story at a deeper level. Gonzales was the lead writer on Fallout New Vegas. Interesting to note, Guerilla didn't have an in-house writer until Horizon.

He talks about Guerilla's work climate, then the storytelling, starting with Aloy and the beginning of the game. At about 28:00, he begins talking about the end-game revelations. If you're a little confused about it all like me, his discussion helps.


Warning: Big spoilers for the base game

 

[Andy]

I'm about 13 hours in, still enjoying it quite a bit, but I do have two gripes:

1. The game is a little too feminized. It didn't bother me in the main game, but it's becoming more annoying now. Why is every woman a brave warrior or insightful mystic, and every man is a rule-bound bonehead or corrupt in some way? (I'm exaggerating; there are exceptions.) I love Aloy, and she's a great break from the usual stoic tough guy protagonists, but the overall game can get a bit much with all the strong women sometimes. It's like they pushed the pendulum too far in the other direction.

2. This is more about my new Sony TV than Horizon. An update for that TV f*cked it up. Now whenever I shift to HDR content (e.g., boot up Horizon), the TV crashes, and I have to reboot it (at which point it's fine). It's one of those wonderful things about updates -- they screw things up. It's happening for a bunch of people. The solution is to turn off HDR until they come up with a patch to fix their patch. Sucks because I bought this TV mostly so I could enjoy HDR, and I've had to turn that feature off because an update screwed it up. Hopefully they'll fix it within the next month or so. The ironic thing is that, according to others, it isn't happening with the Xbox One, just with the PS4. And this is a Sony TV. [edit: nm, fixed.]

 

[Larry]

I haven't updated my TV in almost a year because of that sort of stuff. I stopped updating mine after they released HDR game modes and stuff. That would piss me off beyond belief to update something so expensive and have that happen.

I don't even pay attention to the story much and have no idea what's really going on other than there's lots of talk about mothers.

 

[Dibils]

In the DLC i just skip all the dialogue tbh... dont really care about this story, give me a waypoint and let me f*** up some robot dinosaurs

 

[Andy]

That would piss me off beyond belief to update something so expensive and have that happen.

Got it fixed now. I'm happy to have HDR back. It really makes a big difference. The world looks more vibrant and feels more alive.

 

[Rollins]

Hmm maybe in the next one..?

 

[JinCA]

Hmm maybe in the next one..?

I never really felt the desire to have someone else join me in that world, part of the reason the game works as well as it does is the fact that she's sort of on her own for most of it IMO.

 

[Larry]

I think it would've been a terrible idea.

 

[Andy]

Yes, they mentioned that in the first documentary. They were considering co-op, early in the design process. You can see a brief glimpse here (cued up):




As they say there, the problem with co-op was that it didn't fit with the kind of game they wanted to make. They wanted a game with dense foliage and detail. Including a second player would have meant cutting the level of detail by half. So they dropped that idea.

Given the increase in console horsepower that will come with next gen, co-op would be do-able for the sequel. Co-op would have the advantage of broadening the game's appeal and extending longevity, which is of course important in this day and age. I'm pretty sure some form of multiplayer will be in the sequel.

They might broaden the story out to include a second main character, too. The first game was focused almost entirely on Aloy's story, and she went it alone the whole way. Now that her story is pretty much told, I could see them giving her some companions in the sequel.

 

[Frozpot]

Interesting that co-op alone would make them lose half the detail... kinda gives me mad respect for games that do have it.

 

[Andy]

I finished the main storyline of the Frozen Wilds. Good stuff. A tough fight at the end. A decent storyline that adds some detail to the main game's story.

I've still got a couple other things I could do, but they are in the form of "challenges for the sake of challenges" (Hunting Grounds, Kill 5 Fireclaws), so I don't know how far I'll go with them ... probably until they bug me.

Whew. All in all, very satisfying.

 

[JinCA]

Interesting that co-op alone would make them lose half the detail... kinda gives me mad respect for games that do have it.

I'm just glad GG didn't go through with trying it, the game was better for not having it IMO and I'm glad they didn't give in to this idea that's been floated around since halfway through last gen that games need some kind of online or connected component.

 

[Larry]

I picked up the Complete Edition this week and finally got to check out the Frozen Wilds and I'm really impressed so far. There's way more variety in it than I thought there would be.

 

[TeKPhaN]

Would luv coop,but...it still should have solo sections in the mix.

 

[Andy]

I'm glad they didn't give in to this idea that's been floated around since halfway through last gen that games need some kind of online or connected component.

They'll give in to that with the sequel. Although Horizon was very successful, especially for a new IP, sales seemed to fall off after six months or so, typical of SP-only titles. I'm sure Guerrilla and Sony will be looking for ways to extend its longevity through some form of multiplayer. It's just inevitable. Of course, it will remain an SP-focused game.

I picked up the Complete Edition this week and finally got to check out the Frozen Wilds and I'm really impressed so far. There's way more variety in it than I thought there would be.

Yeah, it's a big expansion, depending on how you play it. I think most people average about 15 hours. I put in about 25.

 

[Ricker]

I finished the main storyline of the Frozen Wilds. Good stuff. A tough fight at the end. A decent storyline that adds some detail to the main game's story.

I've still got a couple other things I could do, but they are in the form of "challenges for the sake of challenges" (Hunting Grounds, Kill 5 Fireclaws), so I don't know how far I'll go with them ... probably until they bug me.

Whew. All in all, very satisfying.

Grats and believe me,the kill 5 Fireclaws will bug you lol...I dropped it down to the easiest level for that one...as for tHe Hunting Grounds,some where too try/fail rinse and repeat for me,this is the only reason I did not get the Platinum in the OG...

 

[Andy]

All done. I'm hanging up my spear. 172 hrs (that's 30 in the expansion). I did all the quests and errands, got all the collectibles. Took down the 5 Fireclaws -- they aren't that hard if you keep your distance and run away a lot, lol. The only thing I skipped was getting first place in the hunting challenges. Those were too tough for me.

Thoroughly enjoyed the game. As a final gesture, I ran from Song's Edge to Mother's Crade (north to south). Good thing Aloy can sprint for long distances. It was nice to see the beautiful forests and warm my bones a little, after being in the cold for so long. I was hoping to see some familiar faces when I got to Mother's Cradle, but all I saw was burned-out huts. I forgot it got wiped out in the main story. Ha ha, oh well.

Great game and expansion, really enjoyed it. My GOTG, so far.


This is me on Ultra Hard:





No, it's not.

 

[JinCA]

They'll give in to that with the sequel. Although Horizon was very successful, especially for a new IP, sales seemed to fall off after six months or so, typical of SP-only titles. I'm sure Guerrilla and Sony will be looking for ways to extend its longevity through some form of multiplayer. It's just inevitable. Of course, it will remain an SP-focused game.



Yeah, it's a big expansion, depending on how you play it. I think most people average about 15 hours. I put in about 25.

Hopefully the sequel will be on a new gen of hardware so they'll be able to do that and not have to give up on detail.

 

[Larry]

For some reason, the Complete Edition works the fans harder than the standard game in the same exact areas for me. The Frozen Wilds has been much shorter than I was hoping it would be.

 

[Andy]

. The Frozen Wilds has been much shorter than I was hoping it would be.

It should be around 15 hours for normal people. It was 30 for me, but I like to take my time.