So after playing it a but this weekend, I’m not sure what to think.
On one hand, this game checks off a lot of things I’d like: a cool premise, ranged combat, open world. It does remind me of Tomb Raider a lot.
On the other hand, things about these checks rub me the wrong way. I am having a hard time with combat and especially machines where you have to hit them in a certain place to do the most damage. I rarely can hit that spot. I’m at the war chiefs trial quest and I’m struggling with it a little. It’s not so much that it’s hard, but there’s just a lot going on and I am having trouble keeping it all straight.
I’m also a little done with the whole “person is an outcast” story line.
I read somewhere someone mentioning that this is basically “Young Adult novel: A heroine comes into her own” : The Game" and they aren’t wrong - I enjoy it, but I understand if its not your sthick.
It does take a long time to learn the ropes. Honestly that’s why I play games like this on Hard or above difficulty levels b cause once youve solved the combat there’s nothing left to challenge you.
The most useful combat skills are (for me) the ones that left you “assassinate” small monsters in the grass, and the one that slows time when you zoom in with the bow.
Use the focus to ID dinos and look carefully at their weak points. Every Dino has its own approach to fighting it. Once you figure out how to tackle them you can take them all down.
For me though I’m nearly 100% ranged, so there’s lots of running back and forth and almost no melee if I can avoid it.
The storyline is very “80s” in that Euro retro-way (i.e., people who grew up in Europe watching American films) that isn’t oppressively cynical like most American games today, there’s an underlying love of things that’s at the heart of the game. It’s sort of like Willow: The Game. That said there’s only so much heavy lifting environmental storytelling can do.
I spent some time with it today and am getting back into it. I like it better than Shadows of Mordor (I will post my thinkings on that in the SoM thread).
The biggest problem I had is my arrows were missing until I figured out the longer I held down the trigger, the more accurate they were,
I don’t like I have to constantly hunt resources to restock my ammo and the like, but the game is sticking a little better now.
Another point of contention is the save system. I’ve gotten so used to games auto saving that I take it for granted. I keep forgetting I have to save at campfires.
I’m having a ton of fun just running around killing machines and gathering things. I don’t like I have to do it, but yet I find the task enjoyable. I’m still only level 8, but I’m digging the open world and just being able to do what I want.
I am just sucked into this game right now. It’s almost checking off boxes of things I like about MMOs. I’ve got close to 20 hours in, am only level 13 and still working through the first zones. Just did half of the quest to clear the corrupted zones.
I fired this up last week after bouncing off of Breath of the Wild, and boy has it sucked me in. It’s gorgeous, the story is engrossing, I really dig the main character, and the combat is just plain fun. I was initially hoping to just make it through the game before the Giant Bomb GOTY coverage starts, but now I’m really looking forward to doing all of the sidequests and hunting down collectibles.
I had a great moment in the game tonight. I was tracking some bandits and they aggroed some machines. While the two groups were fighting each other I was able to snipe and pick them all off.
I’m impressed the AI did that. I wasn’t sure if it would just treat anything hostile to me as friendly to it, but that wasn’t the case. This kinda feels how I wanted some of the Bethesda games to feel.
The AI has is gamey issues. It’s pretty easy to use the “death brush” technique to pile up the bodies. Still a great game and a bechmark for the open world genre.
I stumbled on this Noclip documentary on Horizon: Zero Dawn on youtube tonight:
Even as someone who doesn’t own a PS4 and has never played the game, it’s been so far (I’m about halfway in) a fascinating look at the transition from Killzone and the genesis of their first open world project.
If you wait until you’re older, it probably won’t look as graphically impressive. But the gameplay should be the same, even if you’re in your 40s when you finally play the game.
Well done video. Shows how a developer if given the chance can really surprise with what their capable of doing. Doubt anyone would have thought the Killzone guys would pull a great game like this off.
Also,the noclip channel has several good docus up including a couple on the CD Projekt team and the Witcher.
You’re actually at a good point to start on the DLC. Do note that the final mission on the main expansion quest line is rated at level 50, so you may end up bouncing back and forth between the expansion and original content before you’re done.
