Board 8 > Horizon: Zero Dawn is possibly my favorite game since The Last of Us

(+) Yeah! (+)

This was just fantastic. It had a really fantastic story with so many good twists and a lot of strong emotional moments. The gameplay continued to be dynamic and interesting even after my second run-through, as I kept considering new ways to tackle fighting the difference machines and discovering more effective methods of killing the human enemies. The graphics, outside of some glaring character animation issues, are pretty damn spot on - the game looks fantastic in almost every way. It managed to find a good balance between being difficult and being fair to force you to play smart but not perfect, and even when the difficulty spikes once you start venturing out of the east side of the map, it doesn't feel too hard at any point.

I think I have maybe 3 or 4 complaints with the game and they're all small things that I can overlook given how great the rest of it is:
- Lip-syncing on the characters is bad, and their faces hardly move at all to convey emotion
- The mounts don't control very well
- I like that sometimes you can determine how Aloy responds to a situation but it is entirely inconsequential and doesn't change anything except you can kill one character instead of letting him live. And that character's presence doesn't change much either.

The Last of Us is my favorite game ever and Horizon doesn't threaten to take that off its throne, but it was amazing, and it's easily the best effort that Guerilla Games has put forth. Highly recommend to anyone who was thinking about getting this game to get it.

(As I typed this, I realized Uncharted 4 came out since The Last of Us and that is probably actually my favorite game since TLoU, but we'll ignore that on the premise that it's not a new IP or a dramatic improvement on an IP - I think it's the best Uncharted game but the 2nd and 3rd were also on the same level of quality.)
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It's so good. I propose ashly burch is the lead in every game from now on.
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I am finishing it up right now, and totally agree. It was recently said that "this is not the game that will change your mind on open worlds" and as a hater of open worlds I was ready to be less than all-in on Horizon. But it really is just excellent. Like you, I have no major complaints. More dynamic melee combat would be really cool, but that's basically it.
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It definitely didn't change my mind on open worlds but I've enjoyed it nevertheless. It's helmed by a strong enough lead character that I can look past my issues with the game and enjoy it for what it is. I'm grateful to see a AAA experience with a reasonably strong focus on story and lore.
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Melee combat isn't great, anytime a human character is lying down or injured on the ground or whatever they use the exact same pose, sometimes facial animations are bad (not all the time like you suggest though) and characters stand in place while talking which isn't very natural.

None of these are huge issues though. Melee combat is the worst offender, but ranged combat is so good it makes up for it. Who needs melee when you have blast wire and bombs?
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TLoU is also my favorite game and I just recently bought a PS4 for HZD (and to play TLoU:R).

I'm really excited to hear this. I've only made it through the prologue and just ziplined into the open world.
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This game is so fucking good
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Jeff Zero posted...

It definitely didn't change my mind on open worlds but I've enjoyed it nevertheless.

I wouldn't say it changed my mind on them, but for me it did demonstrate that they don't have to be a problem. I haven't finished an open world game possibly ever, but this one was never in question.
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CeraSeptem posted...

Jeff Zero posted...

It definitely didn't change my mind on open worlds but I've enjoyed it nevertheless.

I wouldn't say it changed my mind on them, but for me it did demonstrate that they don't have to be a problem. I haven't finished an open world game possibly ever, but this one was never in question.

The open world was still a problem for me, personally. It's pretty but it never hooks me in any real way. I got tired of combat roughly a third of the way through the game, too, so that didn't help. Mind you, I understand it's inherently good combat to many players and I can certainly respect its depth, but it wore out its welcome for me and there's just so much of it in the open world or else you're sneaking around gathering herbs the whole time.
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I enjoy playing it the combat is fantastic

nothing about the world motivates me to explore the world though as lot of the places just end up all looking the samey so it more just walking between marks on the map instead of checking every nook and cranny

also just don't care much about any of the characters which I think stems from the realistic art style which just doesn't appeal to me.
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ninkendo posted...

I enjoy playing it the combat is fantastic

nothing about the world motivates me to explore the world though as lot of the places just end up all looking the samey so it more just walking between marks on the map instead of checking every nook and cranny

also just don't care much about any of the characters which I think stems from the realistic art style which just doesn't appeal to me.

Well when youre a robot, it's not surprising that human characters and plot lines don't hook you
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I take it pxlated is Cyclo
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Yeah I didn't find myself exploring for the sake of it but I did collect all the things because damn I wanted the things and that's super rare for me. My open world combat usually consisted of me corrupting something and then running away as it caused a distraction. Very convenient!
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Jeff Zero posted...

I take it pxlated is Cyclo

harsh
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I'd like to play this at some point, but console exclusives for Sony are essentially Never-Nudes for me.
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Jeff Zero posted...

I take it pxlated is Cyclo

If i were, i would be okay with that. His wife is pretty cute
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The Mana Sword posted...

Jeff Zero posted...

I take it pxlated is Cyclo

harsh

For cyclo or for me?
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Yes
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This game actually did change open world games for me, since I didn't like them much before. I felt like it was perfectly organized and the quests were all unique. I got lost in exploring and fighting random machines quite often, something I had never really experienced in a game before this one (didn't play BotW until after Horizon).

My only real gripe with the game is the indoor rain
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It became one of my top 10 games of all time, so yeah I agree with your favorable review
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See I thought the melee combat was shallow but I found it to be pretty effective in certain situations. Level up the skill tree to get the heavy melee hit knockdown on bigger machines, and then you can knock Longlegs and some others down easily. Also, Scrappers/Striders/Watchers got destroyed by heavy melee. Knock them down, whack them with a weak melee or a strong and then critical hit them, they dead every time.

Could've certainly been more interesting but hey, I whooped ass with that spear.
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Yeah its not useless it's just boring. Knock down is broken until you get to ultra hard and it doesnt work.
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