PS4 Horizon: Zero Dawn

[The Big Sauce]

Got distracted by other games but finally putting in a few hours. Reached Meridian. Impressive city.

I'm finding the open world a bit too large for my liking. Every time I complete a mission it seems as though I'm a mile away from any other quest. I know there is fast travel but the fact that you almost need to use it suggests that the world is simply too large and traversal isn't fun enough to warrant exploring it.

Overall though I'm enjoying it. Combat is fun and the story and characters are solid.

Meridian is where the game improved a lot for me.

 

[bourbons]

Got distracted by other games but finally putting in a few hours. Reached Meridian. Impressive city.

I'm finding the open world a bit too large for my liking. Every time I complete a mission it seems as though I'm a mile away from any other quest. I know there is fast travel but the fact that you almost need to use it suggests that the world is simply too large and traversal isn't fun enough to warrant exploring it.

Overall though I'm enjoying it. Combat is fun and the story and characters are solid.

Fair enough, never heard 'too big' as a negative of an open world game

Geez Stormbirds are no joke.

 

[dwwaino]

Stormbirds were the only thing I steered clear of until really late in the game and realised it was derp. I made sure to blow their chests off ASAP then the little boxes under the wings so they couldn't do much more than a hover and couldn't shoot me with that brutal electricity stuff.

The only enemy in the end that had me stuffed was the corrupted rockbreaker worm things but I found a cheese spot where they couldn't get me. It felt cheap but that's how I roll. The regular worms were fine but the corrupted ones, especially two at the same time, are crazy.

 

[aussiedude]

Stormbirds are not too bad. just tie them down and spam them with sticky bombs.

 

[bourbons]

Stormbirds are not too bad. just tie them down and spam them with sticky bombs.

Yeah always forget about the ropecaster. Usually spend time setting up tripwires and bombs for the bigger enemies, no good against flying robots obviously

 

[aussiedude]

Yeah always forget about the ropecaster. Usually spend time setting up tripwires and bombs for the bigger enemies, no good against flying robots obviously

I love the ropecaster on all the big robots. and saves you when in a herd by taking the bigger ones out for 30sec or so till they break free.

Sticky bombs are great because they are on a timer so you can put all 12 on a robot before the ropes break.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

I never used the Ropecaster other than for the Hunting Grounds.

 

[The Big Sauce]

Fair enough, never heard 'too big' as a negative of an open world game

Depends on the world. If there's nothing to do in it and the world is boring then it is a valid concern.

The first Just Cause was a game like that, marketed itself on being a way bigger location than the GTA games of the era. But it was all boring landscape with nothing interesting to do.

I think Horizon has the balance about right, but I started using quick travel a lot towards the end.

 

[drd23]

Sticky bombs? What weapon is that?

 

[aussiedude]

Sticky bombs? What weapon is that?

Slingshot.

I know its on the hunters lodge sling, and there is a normal less powerful version you can get.

 

[Sixpence]

Depends on the world. If there's nothing to do in it and the world is boring then it is a valid concern.

The first Just Cause was a game like that, marketed itself on being a way bigger location than the GTA games of the era. But it was all boring landscape with nothing interesting to do.

I think Horizon has the balance about right, but I started using quick travel a lot towards the end.

Yeh, I think it was just right too. You visit every part of it in quests/errands. I only started using quick travel towards the end. Before that, I was happy to run around, explore, going from one side quest or collectible to the next. It's only the last half of the story missions where you have to jump back and forth all over the place.


Never used the trip caster much. The rope caster was great to ground Glinthawks and Stormbirds.

 

[Sixpence]

The only enemy in the end that had me stuffed was the corrupted rockbreaker worm things but I found a cheese spot where they couldn't get me. It felt cheap but that's how I roll. The regular worms were fine but the corrupted ones, especially two at the same time, are crazy.

Spoiler

I did this after getting the Ancient Armour. Kinda felt like a cheat, it becomes incredibly easy with it. As did the last couple of missions. Never had to move with the Oseram cannon, just stayed put and lobbed grenades at everyone.

 

[dwwaino]

Spoiler

I did this after getting the Ancient Armour. Kinda felt like a cheat, it becomes incredibly easy with it. As did the last couple of missions. Never had to move with the Oseram cannon, just stayed put and lobbed grenades at everyone.

Spoiler

There was a nearby fire that I ran to trying to avoid their rock hurling after dying a few times. Near the fire was a small rocky mound on the slope towards the water than I used for cover and noticed they wouldn't burrow to me, just spew rocks. So I just stood there shooting freezing arrows until they went into an elemental state then smashed them with hardpoints haha. Agree on that armour too, I used it for the final mission and it felt like total cheese.

 

[Sixpence]

So I finally finished it,

Spoiler

Sylens post credits, wow. Reddick suits the character so well, can't wait to see him back. I wonder if this was the first rebuild or if Hades had been initiated previously? Gaia was pretty adamant on stopping Hades though so I guess it was. I'm hoping there are some remnants of Apollo out there still. Also assuming the next game will be putting Gaia back together, trying to take down the Horus class that it looks like Hades will be in and there will be so much more to learn about the Faro plague, Lis, the rest of Alphas and especially Ted after he killed them.

This game is a great example of why Asimov's laws of robotics are so important in the future development of AI. In fact this would have made a great Asimov book.

Not sure if it was obvious to everyone but I read and watch s**t loads of sci-fi so predicted Aloy being an incubator baby sent on a world saving mission pretty early on. I loved the missions in ruins though, I made sure to read every note and listen to every file to learn about what happened.

Spoiler

Just on the Ted comment, that scene didn't quite make sense. When you walk in there's a body in the chair that he gets up from yet he's walking around at the end of the transmission. Does he sit back down and just kill himself? I suppose he does as the doors don't open again post venting until you walk in.

 

[drd23]

Slingshot.

I know its on the hunters lodge sling, and there is a normal less powerful version you can get.

Thanks. Just used it to take down my second Stormbird (I cheesed with the first and used a Ravager cannon I had dragged 100+ steps just to kill it)

 

[aussiedude]

Thanks. Just used it to take down my second Stormbird (I cheesed with the first and used a Ravager cannon I had dragged 100+ steps just to kill it)

I only found out how good and powerful the sticky bombs were because of the tutorial thing that you do to get XP with each new weapon. and after that it was in my weapon wheel.

I had the Bow, Ropecaster, fire Sling and the 4th was switching between the special arrows with the tearblaster and corruption arrows, the Tearblaster shotgun and freeze/shock sling.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Bow, elemental sling and tripcaster for me. The fourth slot was rarely used.

I really liked the tripcaster, particularly in stealth situations and when enemies are charging you. In some of the fights with heaps of enemies it was really helpful to guard your back with a tripwire; and when you're fighting the big enemies that occasionally charge it was also a great safeguard.

I didn't find the others that useful to be perfectly honest, Hardpoint arrows with boosted damage was all I needed in most situations.

 

[aussiedude]

i didnt love the tripcaster. Everytime i would set a bunch of traps the Robots would miss them and go around them or jump over. or they would hit the first one then miss the next 5. the Crocs were the worst, they would just jump over them.

I wasted so many traps before i unlocked the skill to pick them back up.

 

[drd23]

I use the tripcaster in the cauldrons to cause some immediate damage to the main "boss" machine and against Stalkers until I've removed enough components so they can't become invisible again

 

[bourbons]

Awesome how many options this game gives you for combat and how people approach it differently - I've run the majority of the game with 3 bows and blast sling. Liked having the flexibility of fire arrows, precision arrows and shock/freeze/corruption arrows all at once. Once I upgraded the handling and damage of the sharpshot bow + increased concentration time + faster reload time while in concentration, that thing was beastly, precision arrows to vulnerable spots all day long, with the added bonus of reasonable tear to remove enemy weapons after a few shots. Would really only use the tripcaster to setup for big fights then swap it back out. Don't use the ropecaster as much as I probably should.

 

[Charliebrow 16]

I basically just had four bows equipped, but with different modifications on each set.

 

[dwwaino]

Three bows for different damage types and ropecaster for crowd control here, only pulling out trip caster before a fight if I knew I was going to pull heaps of mobs and wanted to cause mass damage and chaos.

 

[Burningleviathan]

Sharpshot bow, reg bow, tripcaster and sling for ice bombs was my regular set up.

 

[LukasTheGreat]

Corruption arrows are the best - shoot them into a bunch of enemies and watch them all fight each other to death.

 

[Sixpence]

Corruption arrows are the best - shoot them into a bunch of enemies and watch them all fight each other to death.

I tried this a few times, it's amusing but it takes a while. Particularly on a herd of Tramplers.

I only finished 2 days ago and am getting withdrawals already. Anyone know if there's any DLC coming to this? I suppose I could start again on Hard, but I'd miss all my perks and weapons.