So I’ve never played HZD, but now I guess I have to, because I want to understand if @tomchick really had some character’s name wrong, or if he was making a joke people really didn’t get. This thread never clarified that for me, and I need answers.
Apollo and Paris in Greek myth. Paris, in fact is a great example for the feminization of archers. The myth is unkind to Paris. He is a coward and weak because he at first refuses to fight Menelaus in hand-to-hand combat, preferring his bow. He similarly refuses to engage Diomedes in melee and shoots at him. In some accounts, he kills Achilles with his bow by shooting him in his weak spot for massive damage.
Throughout he is at turns scorned and ridiculed for his inability or unwillingness to stand in hand combat.
Robin Hood, Legolas, Arrow, Hawkeye, some guy in the Walking Dead (I don’t watch that). A number of them drop to melee when it gets close and personal.
And characters like Legolas.
As far as video games… there aren’t a whole lot. Once you get into the tech level where bows are your default ranged weapons they tend to have characters that wade into melee with swords because it’s more awesome and manly or whatever.
How could you guys forget poor little Kid Icarus.
Oh also Ramsey Bolton! Nice guy.
And what about Link?
Edit: although he ends up being more of a sword and shield guy aswell, now that I think about it. Never mind…
My character in Skyrim was a death-dealing sniper with a bow, but he’s also an unnamed nobody despite being in charge of the Mages Guild, The Brotherhood, and The Companions. Oh, and he keeps losing his sweet roll.
And he had that problem with using his outside voice a lot.
How soon we forget 2012!
I would just like to say that so far the story in Horizon Zero Dawn seems like fairly standard Chosen One/Hero’s Journey stuff. Also Aloy does look like Brave. But I don’t usually get too het up about story in videogames, unless it’s a Telltale game where that’s basically all there is. It’s like the lyrics in a rock song. As long as it’s not egregiously awful, it won’t make the song bad if the music’s good.
Also, I consider ‘setting’ to be a subset of ‘writing,’ else The Lord of the Rings would be about 50 pages long. Substitute ‘plotting’ in the above discussion, I think.
Also, the game looks like a living Roger Dean painting, and that ain’t all bad.
I used to fight 200 teenage girls while wearing full plate armor but then I took an arrow to the knee.
/thread
You may wish to refer to the title of this review!
This is the review thread right? I can’t remember.
I don’t know if it’s even a thread anymore. Maybe a thin one.
It’s a thread so tight and precise that only the strongest women in the world can pull it for over a minute because… we’re weak, or strong… I forget what women wielding bows is supposed to mean again.
I agree. I can’t fathom holding the opinion that Horizon is a mediocre game when the gameplay is as good as it is.
I just finished that a few months ago and enjoyed the colonial setting and the very tense combat that bows and flintlocks provide. It predates it but I found strong similarities to The VVitch.
Unfortunately I think you are right and the game never received much of a following.
I thought the red hair was a nice design touch, and not necessarily a cynical trope harvesting. They made the stealth grass red so you could easily see it in the environment, and her hair to match so it blends in to that nicely.