I’ve had two bugs so far. Once I somehow ended up in a small hole next to a stream and couldn’t get it. It was a weird glitch - had to fast travel to escape.
And I fast traveled to one of the early walled villages but couldn’t leave because the gates were both shut.
Oh, and I also came across a bizarre levitating grazer corpse. Will post a screen when I’m home.
I think unless you get the skills that let you shoot 2 or 3 arrows or the +crit and sneak attack skills ( I don’t have these yet), you’re almost entirely dependent on getting good enhancements and “getting gud” by being able to exploit those elemental weaknesses. I find setting up kill zones before I start a battle is a huge help. I set up a bunch of traps and tripwires around an area and then do my opening salvo then run them through my gauntlet, taking potshots with the appropriate type of arrow as I go. Plus don’t forget that frozen enemies are supposed to take more damage from other sources.
While we are talking about mods, don’t neglect your wardrobe. I’ve bought them all, and with proper mods they make a load of difference. For instance terrifying dino freezer birds are much less terrifying if their cold breath barely touches you!
One of the things I really love about this game is that I have strategies for killing many of the Dinos now (lvl 37), and they are all different! Each dino I approach in a different manner, and really each scenario. I won’t go into details here (maybe in the spoilery thread?) but the varying ways to take out robots is just great.
I agree, I still don’t have all the outfits but as I can afford them I’m buying them and slotting them up to boost their main defense. My main set is the one that gives a little defense against each elemental type, but then I swap out as needed for specific enemies or the stealth suit for human bases/herd stalking.
I try to do this as well, and the dino’s rarely walk into my traps! I’m sure there’s a trick to that. Also, Aloy can’t reclaim unspent traps without a perk, which I don’t have yet, so I tend to not use them much. Maybe it’s from playing so much Fallout 4, I hate walking away and leaving all those expensive traps behind. :)
Ok, so I guess it’s safe to talk about here.
Each “upgrade” to a weapon just adds a source of damage as an option, but all stats stay the same. For example my basic bow does 14 or so damage on a normal shot even if it is a purple bow. So my issue is I’m running into meaner critters that, while weak to fire, my fire arrow and fire bombs even if properly aimed do very low, sad damage numbers (until a component explodes). I feel like at times I might as well use the sharp shooter bow and stack arrows on slow mode than deal with my 50 damage fire sling bomb.
And maybe that just is the way it is. The (in spoiler free terms) mid game version of watchers are theoretically weak in the eye and to fire, but a fire arrow to the eye is laughable whereas on a normal watcher with a basic shot to the eye it is an instant kill. I am trying to get descent mods that increase a given element to the right weapons, but mods seem iffy (RNG so far I think).
Although I was not aware that freezing increased all damage. Is that frozen, or just the frozen timer debuff?
And, what actually is “handling”? Aim? Redraw speed?
Handling is Reload Speed and Aim I believe yes.
And you are right in that new blue and purple weapons add more attack types, while the modifications will bolster said damage types. It pays to have stack a single damage type on a weapon, instead of trying to make it fit all situations, and you can own multiple version of each weapon, so you could have a bolstered “freezy” sling, and a “Zappy” sling by stacking the mods on the weapon.
EDIT: There is also a skill that lets you take mods back off and reuse them I believe, though I do not have this one yet.
There is one weapon set which this isn’t true.
Well, some things here…
The main way that elemental things add damage, is that when a target is suffering from an elemental effect (such as being frozen), all damage to them is boosted (It’ll have a little green up arrow). So that’s one thing.
The other, bigger, effect is hitting an elemental component with the correct arrow type. Note, this is only possible with arrows, as far as I know. So if someone has a blaze canister, and you hit it with a fire-arrow, it’ll explode. This does huge damage to the creature and everything else near it (including you). Same goes for power packs, etc. This is what I’ve found is the way to really jack up your damage later on… because like you said, the weapon damage itself doesn’t really go up much.
It’s when the creature is fully frozen (covered with frost, with the timer ticking down), all damage is boosted I believe.
I think this actually is also the case with other elemental effects.
Handling is reload/draw speed, I believe.
Well, if you note, their BODY is weak to fire. Their eye is not. Their eye is weak to damage, and hitting it does extra damage to them.
There are a number of specific parts like this on various entities… A part will say something like, “hitting this part does increased damage to the creature”. Like the top of a Thunderjaw’s head, or its heart, or the watcher’s eye.
Hitting a watcher in the eye with a fire arrow is a waste, because a fire arrow doesn’t really do much damage.
Oh, derp derp. Your focus will show a specific weakness. I didn’t notice it changed depending on what body part the reticle was pointing at.
Now I can leave a grazer with a sliver of health from one shot with my new sharpshooter that adds armor break. They just stumble around until I come and put them out of their misery, dropping parts as they struggle to flee. Kind of disturbing really.
Yeah, one thing to note as well is that once you see a creature, you can look at your notebook for a detailed breakdown. This not only makes it easy to see each individual parts (although sometimes it’s harder to actually SEE on the notebook… they really should have put in a rotatable 3d model), but it will also give you extra info, like “this part becomes exposed when the creature is on fire”.
Honestly, the whole way creatures with is a good deal deeper than I realized initially, and you only really learn it through doing weapon tutorials, or happening to notice stuff, it the tops that pop up during loading.
Agree that the notebook should be able to rotate the creature models. One thing that is helpful is you can tag the creatures once you’ve used focus on them and their weak points will remain visible once you go out of focus mode.
The sharpshooter bows are more damaging if you are looking for more one hit kills.
I’ve only had a single glitch. Got stuck where I landed the first time I repelled from a tallkneck. Had to fast travel to escape.
I’m loving so many of the characters I meet in this game. Nils is awesome.
The characters really are cool and memorable. Even that jackass hunters lodge guy. Plus I’d include the world and its bits of lore or design as a cool character. There have been so many cool vistas and creepy exploration moments.
I am now close to 30 hours in (thanks cold) and going strong. And I’m not usually a single player or open world guy. I usually move on long before this to some new shiny. Heck, Zelda is still untouched as H:ZD has my full attention (and I’m awaiting a Switch screen protector).
Oh, I did massively spike my damage today. I sort of gave up on aiming once the fighting starts and just spam modded up fire arrows. It works really well at this point. That mod removal talent is actually a huge source of damage as you can tinker and save mods at will; I’m glad I grabbed it. Also I have the light armor knock off skill and I think if you shoot a place that lacks armor you get a bonus. Need to experiment more though now that I have a new toy.
The hunting in this game is pretty cool. So many options and it really suits the setting.
After completing some epic battle in this game near the end, you get rewarded with the obligatory cutscene. Ok, is normal. But then you ask different npc’s around, and where normally in other games you would get voice lines, here you get more cutscenes and points that advance your character motivation!.
Ok, that guy that did not like you in the beginning may still not like you, but acknowledge that you are a hero now. And you get to like more the characters you already liked. Everything is masterfully done, and when you don’t need a cutscene you get some voice lines, so each interaction feel purposeful and unique.
At some point you expect Alloy to say “He, I am not Lara Croft, I am a real person!”. Pretty often she says what the player thinks without going meta or genre-aware.
I am sorry if I continue saying this super-positive things of this game, but It continue surprising me in ways I never expected. I can’t say is a masterpiece, and I hope to play a better game this year, but what I am finding is really good, is really well made.
Damage dealing: the biggerst damage is managing to hit a critical part with the opposite element, I think, then it explode and eats all the armour and almost all life, if not straight kill the robot.
Second is stacking 3 arrows of the right type (sharpshooters?) and hitting one of the critical parts.
Then simply shooting with the element the robot is weak to (like fire).
Finally the slingshot is more like a grenade launcher and do a lot of raw damage anywhere it hits, but you will run out of ammo very quick this way.
So the better way to do it seems to shoot 3 of arrows to the critical parts, because thats high damage and spammable.
Generally, you want to hit a section with the same element, not the opposite.
Blaze canisters blow up with fire, power packs blue up with shock, etc.
I maxed out the Concentration skill last night and it’s a beautiful thing. Increased slow-time duration and faster bow reloading. Took down a certain dino aiming fire arrows at multiple canisters. The resulting fireworks display was quite enjoyable.
Sort of. I saw a particularly large, nasty looking dino last night. What Aloy says: “That one has a lot of armor, better go around”.
What I said: “Holy mother @#$%(!, what the @#()$ !%#$* is that!??!”
Just wait a few more levels and what you will be thinking is “Parts!!!”
I had a great “shit my pants” moment this morning I made a GIF out of!
LoL I love that, the watcher is like " Surprise motherf***er!" All the other watchers must be so proud that one of their own finally got the drop on someone.
What scared me was I didn’t know he was even around. I tagged everyone, or so I thought, but re-watching he was behind that massive rock you see on the right, and I never noticed his “signature”, so his arrival was extra spicy! :)