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Horizon Zero Dawn discussion

Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
The game does look quite amazing. Totally worth buying for PS4 fans.

I did watch the review of it, the IGN one here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrxIRk3q-ck

My comments/thoughts on this review are as follows:

Things taken right out of Breath of the Wild
  • Steakth kills
  • Killing machines
  • Reaching the top of towers to show more of the map
  • Slowed down arrow time
  • Post apocolyptic world
This is not a bad thing at all. As many games take inspiration from other games. Makes them less original but often the trade off here is a good one. A little less originality for a better overall game experience (ie learning from what past games did well and integrating them into your game). BotW takes it's inspiration from Skyrim heavily so same deal there.

Also she does mention things like
  • Corny dialogue
  • Pop in
  • Stutter
  • Combat with humans being not as interesting as with the robots
  • Regular fetch quest patterns
  • Wanted more originality from the quests
All points glossed over by the reviewer that in other games would be mercilessly criticised.

Also the combat with the robots is just "find the glowing weak point and focus on it." Not that diverse at all.

Overall it looks like a very well polished game with some of the mechanics (questing, battle etc) being too repetative and there being a little pop in and stutter which is never a good thing.

My score would be easily 8/10.
That's totally fair and what it deserves based in this review. This is a good review but just got the score wrong.
Her review is not glowing praise on the game like it should be for games that get 9+.

************************

Another more balanced video about the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mSAAjaufu0
Goes through the good and bad points of the game.
 
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Joined
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Milwaukee WI
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half centaur
I highly doubt this game modeled anything after Breath of the Wild, if anything it modeled itself after the countless other games that had all those features you mentioned before, as did BotW. Zelda isn't even out yet, most of those features have probably been in design long before much was revealed.
 
Im playing HZD right now. Its probably the first open world game Ive liked since Skyrim given that I couldnt get along with Witcher 3 and i didnt like XCX.

HZD looks stunning. It doesnt have much pop in and when it does its barely noticable. Im not a stickler for framerate drops, unless its something major where it feels like youre playing in the Matrix, i often dont notice.
That being said i'm still quite near the beginning and havent come across any 'big' machines yet, so i may notice more pop ins and slow downs then but as of now, very nifty.

For as good as it looks im surprised there arent more severe pop ins and slow downs, so presentation will get top marks from me, it really does look absolutely stunning.

Gameplay is fun, its simple which i like. For all it looks like a Monster Hunter clone, I'd say its actually got more in common with Uncharted and new Tomb Raider. Its fast, Aloy is responsive and doesnt feel heavy or clunky.

Everything else... i dont care. Story, characters, the terrain, the lore... it all feels dull and generic. The robots have pretty cool designs and style but thats it.
Its all very standard tribal/post apocalyptic society guff. The NPCs are dull and one dimensional, theyre uninteresting to a fault. I know NPCs in most games arent too interesting but the ones here... i just dont want to help them.

In fact, it feels like exactly how i felt playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, actually playing the game was fine but i didnt care at all about any character or what was going on. That game was tribal based too with camps and the such and a bigger mystery to uncover but *sigh*...

As well, with Tomb Raider the controls are simple. HZD seems to appear deeper than it actually is. Ive played about 4 hours now and i dont see much else being given to me that will elevate HZD beyond its simplistic, almost arcade-like, feel. Its a simple game to play that looks as if it may have Witcher 3 style depth with tactics and menus etc, but it doesnt.

Play Rise of the Tomb Raider and youll have a very good idea of how this game plays.

It feels pretentious too, but the genericism of it all wins out.

Right now its a time killer until i get to play Zelda and it will probably remain a time killer between other games. Its a game to put on that is high quality enough to be fun in small doses, but i dont think the world's lore and history are gonna be the elements that pull me back.

I dont like giving scores so i'll let you weigh up the pros and cons of what i mentioned so you can decide if it sounds like something you may enjoy.

'Go now, may the Forgotten leave you be and the All Mother bless you. I will see you again, before the Proving within the Embrace at Mother's Cradle'

Word. Salad. :/


(Many people have been wondering if this and Zelda are rivals. Ive not played BoTW yet but aside from them being open world i dont think its right to compare them. But we'll see.)
 
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Castle

Ch!ld0fV!si0n
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Oct 24, 2012
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Crisis? What Crisis?
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Pan-decepticon-transdeliberate-selfidentifying-sodiumbased-extraexistential-temporal anomaly
Also the combat with the robots is just "find the glowing weak point and focus on it." Not that diverse at all.

That's just not true. There are a multitude of attack points anywhere on any machine's body, the more crucial ones inflict some sort of detrimental effect on the machine when destroyed.

Central cores do the most amount of damage to a machine. Some of these you have to blast through armor to reveal, others reveal themselves in time or under certain conditions. Sometimes you can force those conditions.
You can destroy a machine's legs to limit it's mobility or prevent it from moving entirely.
You can destroy any of a machine's weaponry to prevent it from using that weapon. Some weapons are blown off when destroyed. You can then pick up those weapons and fire them back for as long as they have ammo.
A few enemies have sensors that can detect you in tall grass. Destroying the sensor will disable that ability.
Pop one of the Striders lungs and they can no longer use their airborne AOE against you.
Destroy a flying machine's wings to force it to the ground....

Anyone's who's played Monster Hunter or Dragon's Dogma should be familiar with the wide variety of attack approaches that allow you to get creative in every battle.

On a side note Jim is 110% a nob 100% of the time but he is also occasionally 110% right, such as in the video DoomDash posted.
 
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