Horizon: Forbidden West

Finished it last night. 109 hours to Platinum it with all Machine overrides unlocked. Beautiful game

KjGarly wrote:Finished it last night. 109 hours to Platinum it with all Machine overrides unlocked. Beautiful game

gg on gaining the Platinum trophy, Kj. I've yet to try the first game in this series. How would you rate your experience of the newer game compared to the original?

Is Aloy supposed to be a wholloping arsehole. I really hate her as a character. Everything she says has this horrible breathy earnestness to it. She comes across as having a superiority complex in every interaction.

Captain Kinopio wrote:Is Aloy supposed to be a wholloping arsehole. I really hate her as a character. Everything she says has this horrible breathy earnestness to it. She comes across as having a superiority complex in every interaction.

They really botched it up didnt they? They meant to build her as this character that was in a race against time to fight the ultimate evil that is going to destroy the whole earth so all her dialogue (especially initially) made her sound like her quest was the only thing that matters.

In an open world game where one of the most common things to do is to take your time to explore every corner and go on random side quests it makes her character very unlikeable.

Big new game update available now:

PushSquare wrote:First and foremost, this big update adds New Game + mode, allowing you to play the game from the beginning using all your endgame gear from your first playthrough. However, that's just the start. This patch also improves the visual fidelity of the game's Performance mode, adds in the ability to transmog outfits, introduces the option to redistribute your Skill Points, and throws in Extra Hard mode for good measure. The cherry on top is new weapons to find as well as a handful of new Trophies to unlock.

jawa_ wrote:Big new game update available now:

PushSquare wrote:First and foremost, this big update adds New Game + mode, allowing you to play the game from the beginning using all your endgame gear from your first playthrough. However, that's just the start. This patch also improves the visual fidelity of the game's Performance mode, adds in the ability to transmog outfits, introduces the option to redistribute your Skill Points, and throws in Extra Hard mode for good measure. The cherry on top is new weapons to find as well as a handful of new Trophies to unlock.

Digital Foundry have undertaken some tech analysis and it looks to be a nice refresh.

Made some progress in this over the past week.. I am just past the part where Got to admit, I'm really not enjoying the story that much in this.

I really like the landscapes and the graphics in this, and its the thing that is keeping me going so far.... I started Ghost of Tsushima since it was free on premium, and I must say this one looks really superior graphics wise, I was impressed.

I've started playing this today and I'm currently at Meridian. The first two hours was like a bit tutorial and the graphics are lovely.

Will play some more this week.

I started it 3 days ago. Slow start and story is a bit…. boring and Star Wars Episode 1 like, but the side quests seem really good and the combat is excellent like the first game. Some good variety in mission structure also.

I really enjoyed this but felt Zero Dawn had a much more compelling story. It felt like the mystery was gone, they explained too much and took away ambiguity.


So yes I really enjoyed and felt gameplay improvements were excellent, but felt ZD was better narratively.

That has certainly been my feeling so far. But the world design still feels fantastic.

I think I might have to try and stay on the main quest path to keep my interest levels up over such a large adventure, but by the same token the side quests have been excellent. Maybe I will just ignore the bandit camps, as the one I tried yesterday was a bit frustrating.

I’m playing on hard and the challenge has felt pretty much spot on. Have kept the standard looting mechanics as they feel kind of integral to the game, but have enabled the quick pick up animation. Also using the guided mode but only for the waypoints, as there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to find a work bench or quest giver in a city. For the actual quests I have it set to explorer as I think that is one of the most rewarding parts of the game.

Great to see such comprehensive accessibility features. It’s a shame the gyro aim never feels quite right to me though.

Finally finished it on Sunday. The game world was stunning and flying over it in the Sunwing was pretty incredible. Guerrilla really know how to nail a good sunset. I spent most of my time tarting around the ruins of San Francisco but the mission in Vegas was just

Blimey, time just melts away playing this. 4 hours gone earlier in what felt like a flash.

Is it worth finishing the first before going into this? I had FW with the PS5 deal I've got but always wanted to play the first. I keep playing a few hours then dropping it, partly due to open world fatigue I think. I don't know whether to just give up on the first and go for the second.

The plot of the second won't make much sense without at least reading a plot summary of the first game.

Tomous wrote:Is it worth finishing the first before going into this? I had FW with the PS5 deal I've got but always wanted to play the first. I keep playing a few hours then dropping it, partly due to open world fatigue I think. I don't know whether to just give up on the first and go for the second.

I'm not sure you will power through Forbidden West if you are suffering form open world fatigue. There are markers and quest givers absolutely everywhere. I certainly don't think I could play them within a year of each other (also known as "The Rule of Yakuza").

Jesus this story is boring. It's such a shame - the sense of adventure is really rather good compared to recent open world stuff I have played (GoT, Days Gone). It's just I am so completely uninvested in any of the characters. Which is made all the more tragic because it does some of the best fleshing out of characters via post side quest dialogue I have seen (since Witcher 3 anyway).

Also there are too many weapons and I am forever having to check if I have picked up a better coil or weave than I currently have equipped, which slows things down. I feel like Richie in Guest House Paradiso trying to decide which identical white shirt to put on.

The Cauldrons have been really good though, offering a proper puzzle that is not immediately solved for you by the protagonist (though she will mutter some useful advice if you are stuck for about 10 minutes I have noticed). It seems like this stuff has been dramatically improved since launch. And the combat is awesome. Tearing a heavy weapon off of a massive robot and then using it to send shards of armour flying everywhere is always exhilarating.

Drej wrote:

Captain Kinopio wrote:Is Aloy supposed to be a wholloping arsehole. I really hate her as a character. Everything she says has this horrible breathy earnestness to it. She comes across as having a superiority complex in every interaction.

They really botched it up didnt they? They meant to build her as this character that was in a race against time to fight the ultimate evil that is going to destroy the whole earth so all her dialogue (especially initially) made her sound like her quest was the only thing that matters.

In an open world game where one of the most common things to do is to take your time to explore every corner and go on random side quests it makes her character very unlikeable.

Did Alloys personality take a turn in a worse direction in the second game? Haven't played the second game but completed the first one and I can't say I noticed a problem with her in the first game.

Barnsy! wrote:

Drej wrote:

Captain Kinopio wrote:Is Aloy supposed to be a wholloping arsehole. I really hate her as a character. Everything she says has this horrible breathy earnestness to it. She comes across as having a superiority complex in every interaction.

They really botched it up didnt they? They meant to build her as this character that was in a race against time to fight the ultimate evil that is going to destroy the whole earth so all her dialogue (especially initially) made her sound like her quest was the only thing that matters.

In an open world game where one of the most common things to do is to take your time to explore every corner and go on random side quests it makes her character very unlikeable.

Did Alloys personality take a turn in a worse direction in the second game? Haven't played the second game but completed the first one and I can't say I noticed a problem with her in the first game.

In the opening part of the second game, I felt that the developers were trying to push hard to create a certain sense of urgency (not going into much detail so I won't spoiler any story parts) so most of the dialogue with people you meet again with from the first game felt like Aloy saw them as a nuisance I felt like it made her look like she and her quest was the only thing that mattered and was always dismissive of them.

I feel that this type of approach doesn't work that well in an open-world game of 45+ hours where part of the fun is exploring parts of the map for the sake of it.

I think gradually things got better, as the dialogue also gave importance to character sidequests and it encouraged me to go out of my way to help my buddies on their personal questlines. Also that sense of urgency made much more sense at the end of the game

Barnsy! wrote:

Drej wrote:

Captain Kinopio wrote:Is Aloy supposed to be a wholloping arsehole. I really hate her as a character. Everything she says has this horrible breathy earnestness to it. She comes across as having a superiority complex in every interaction.

They really botched it up didnt they? They meant to build her as this character that was in a race against time to fight the ultimate evil that is going to destroy the whole earth so all her dialogue (especially initially) made her sound like her quest was the only thing that matters.

In an open world game where one of the most common things to do is to take your time to explore every corner and go on random side quests it makes her character very unlikeable.

Did Alloys personality take a turn in a worse direction in the second game? Haven't played the second game but completed the first one and I can't say I noticed a problem with her in the first game.

Drej has explained this well above (though I am only 20 hours in), but I found her a lot more likeable in the first game. That's not really the problem for me though, and I understand the justification for the way she acts as a lone wolf, its more the actual plot developments so far have been very dull. Its basically Star Wars Phantom Menace bureaucracy for the first 10 hours or so and then chase the mcguffin for the next 10. And it shows no sign of letting up.

But again - great gameplay.