Dude… I watched a video of someone playing a first person shooter this morning and every time they hopped off a ledge I was expecting them to do the gliding thing and it was frustrating that they didn't.
A frikkin FPS man.
It's going to take me years to get BotW's gliding and climbing out of my head.
One thing's for sure... the enemies are harder in this game than BotW. At least so far. Ran into a "Bellowback" for the first time yesterday, and boy can they fuck shit up quickly. Three of them, all with AoE Fire attacks? Woof. I was determined to figure them out though, so I lured one of them away, trapped it, and tried to hit weak spots as fast as possible, but at my current level I couldn't do enough damage before it broke free... so then I ran like hell, and sniped it a few more times. The payoff is not at all worth the effort, you can kill a bunch of easy Grazers for the same amount of Blaze. I assume I'll need a Bellowback 'heart' or something for a trade sometime, though.
I'm still figuring the game out, but tearblast arrows are your friends for fucking up Bellowbacks.
You can't go wrong with HZD on sale for $39 at Target, which is a good price considering it's usually over $80.
But the sale starts tomorrow so I had to trick the staff at EB to price match it a day early. I'm glad their head office doesn't seem to circulate a weekly deals memo to keep their staff in the loop
I'm about 6.5 hours in, and I'm already making far too many Zelda comparisons. I've left the opening area and I'm now doing a bit of exploring along the trail to the next main quest, just taking my time. I found the first tallneck, but I was disappointed to see that there are only five more to unlock across the rest of the map. But climbing it is fun, and I love going for a ride on the top to scope out the terrain nearby.
The visuals are lovely, really great art direction. I just wish it was in 60fps, as the complex visuals (as in, more densely foliaged and gritty and detailed than BotW) tend to strain the eyes a bit in 30fps after a while. I'm also missing the wide-open sense of space found in BotW's Hyrule. So far there are no glorious vistas with nothing but distant landmarks and hints of adventure in them; at every turn it seems like there's yet another hill or ruin or village to break up the environment. And pathways everywhere! I guess it's a bit of a curse of open world games, where they have to cram what feels like 250 sq km of content in a landmass that's only 25 sq km, in order to keep the interest up and the memory requirements low.
And I miss the ability to climb everything and glide back down againBut that's really a story for another time.
Aloy kind of annoys me with her forced sincerity and monotone voice, and she'll make useless comments about things just when the music pipes up or a machine calls out so you can't hear it. As for the story and the enticement to progress further, it just hasn't grabbed me yet. That's not to say that it won't, I'm working on it, but the hints toward the storyline of Aloy's parentage haven't got me to care enough about her yet. It's a game I can play for two hours, then turn off to go do something else without hesitation. BotW, on the other hand, I have to keep playing for five hours while I starve, miss my toilet breaks, and almost pee my pants when I realise I really need to go. Horizon reminds me a lot of FarCry 4, which is weird.
Probably the best part of the game so far are the dinosaur-like machines that prowl across the landscape. The design of them is incredible. They're engaging to interact with and very fun to take down with the bow. Best of all I love sneaking up to a watcher and turning it into an ally, then sending it off to cause mayhem within its former herd. I was a wee bit sad when the first one I reprogrammed came to its end. I had a moment with it. Goodbye little guy.
nev-R-4-get
Spoiler:
Last edited by Jason; June 20th, 2017 at 08:57 AM.
Re vistas, RWA, there's some later in the game, a desert area, vs forest/mountains. So while you can see some stuff out in the distance, it's still not like BotW. I think it's the trade off of having more detailed and lush graphics vs a simpler art style. Also, there's a lot more going on in HZD, enemies, ruins, etc around every corner, so I'm sure that doesn't help.
Spoiler:
Yeah, like my comments earlier about smooshing all that open world content into too small a space. One thing that I've seen pointed out a few times in games media is that one of the best things in BotW is its peaceful empty space. It has as much currency as an area full of things to do, and the same is true for Red Dead Redemption. It gives the player a chance to breathe, relax, and enjoy being in that world without having to constantly battle enemies or sneak past with their heart in their mouth. You can stroll along a lump of terrain for half a kilometer and not have any foes or secrets to uncover, and that's just fine.Originally Posted by Jason
I did find that open vista to peruse in quiet contemplation. I decided to ignore the quest and walk west as far as I could but ended up at a line of gates over a snowy mountain and a canyon. Sadly I'm prevented from passing unless I do more missions, and trying to walk off the edge of a steep path gives me the old "You shall not pass." Disappointing, but it looks very pretty.
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