Gaming Horizon Series: Zero Dawn (PS4) and Forbidden West (PS4/5)

Hmm, think I'll nick that strategy then!

FatBurt - what's your PSN ID?

 

ID is FatburtFFUK


Some git beat me to my usual moniker

 

Cool, expect to receive a friend request from Obiwomble-Kenobi, sometime later if I can get access to the TV!

 

Are you part of the JCF Community in PSN? If you aren't please send me a message @ JON1277 and I'll hook you up the next time I'm on. Just remind me who you are in the forum.

 

OK, so tried the bandit camp again after last night's rage-quit.

Ye gods, who came up with this? It was an exercise in tedium: Spot grey-black enemies on a grey-black background, with an aim that is at least 1/3 luck no matter what you do - yes, I pulled off a small amount of headshots but no one near what I should given I had the target on their head! Another time I shot a bandit in the head, with a fire arrow no less and it still took two more to kill him. Add in silent strike sequences where as you hit them the enemy is allowed to cry out and you can't do anything about it, arbitrarily removing your stealth while still crouched because Super-Bandit has spotted you. Towards the end, I was searching for the last two and they apparently picked me up while being all the way at the top of a building on the other side of camp!

Despite it feeling like the bandit bastards had access to cloning, I kept killing them, more by silent strike in the grass than arrows, because the latter remains unreliable - also concentration needs to slow down time more, the amount of movement permitted is still a pain in the arse to deal with. So did finally get the camp, but if I compare this to taking out a Bandit Camp in Witcher 3, it's no contest - W3 was far more thrilling.

Oh yeah, Nil - total idiot, I somehow got spotted so went and hid in the grass, what does he do? Stands up and gives away where we are! Bastard. I legged it and left the macho moron there, unfortunately he has Game Immortality perk active.

There needs to be a way to at least recon the camp without being spotted, so you have some idea where the cover grass spots are. Equally a Bandit level, so you've an idea of how many are left.

Still, let's be more positive:

• The opening sections are genius, the idea of playing Aloy as a kid then adult is extremely effective. Even the stealth quest with Teb was quite smart in how it taught you the core aspects of that.
• The world design is incredible - I walked over a river, onto a pair of rusted car frames and then ran up a collapsed wall or stairway. Weather effects are well done, as is the day / night cycle.
• Talking of Witcher 3, you can see the influence of that game to a degree on this.
• The game only went downhill with the fight at the end of the Proving, that entire section was dreadful and that was where my opinion of it went way down - less humans, more robots!

 

There is a gun in the arsenal of weapons you can give Aloy, if you're more comfortable with that against human enemies. I haven't tried it yet; but from what I see in the little in-game demo video; it looks like it's more effective at close range killing multiple enemies at once (kind of like a mini-gun).

 

The rattler is OK. It shoots several arrows at once (I think 7?). It has very short range though and wastes resources imho. Quite frankly I found it to comes in more handy later in the game for certain machines. Don't want to spoil anything though.

You can also pick up bandit's weapons (like you do at the massacre during the proving) as they have a variety of projectile type "guns." Often if you can kill the heavy carrying them, you can pick it up and stand your ground against the rest of the bandits pretty easily and finish off the camp in a matter of seconds.

 

The thing I'm finding really infuriating are invisible walls, stairs I can't walk up, insurmountable waist high fences etc...

 

One of the things I've read is that among the most important skills to learn in the game is the "tinker" skill. Until you get that, you ditch any replaced boost to your gear when you pop in a new one.

 

I found the climbing mechanism murder until, after using a YouTube vid, realised there's only ever one pre-set path up and down.

Kind of a shame really.

 

There's really only so much accessible landscape an open world game like HZD can handle. I wasn't surprised that you can't climb everywhere.

 

True, it's more how it signals the route to the player that I find more difficult and that it plays a bit fast and loose over what Aloy can and can't go up.

 

Tried two of the hunt trials - conclusion of each was I wanted to feed that hunter to his own campfire!

Those trials went and magnified all the flaws of the game - that the 'stealth' is tall grass or nothing, that the 'aim', even with Concentration +, is still a matter of luck - to the degree they should bother supplying a target, just shoot and hope it hits. Strategy is pretty much 'strike from tall grass, don't get detected or and we will randomly remove your crouch status in tall grass as we like'. The logpile one was exasperating due to the aim being so crap and that it took about 3 arrows to loose it! By that time the grazers were gone - it was an exercise in frustration, as was the canisters one - I'd have a good line on 4-6 canisters, I'd be lucky to get two!

Nor does it really feel like an RPG, but more an action game trying to be one - so it has levels and upgrades, but they have little impact, you can't just go and buy better gear as you would in RPGs. Oh it offer other weaponry, but I've found no difference - a sharpshoot bow will still be subject to the same aim flaws as the normal bow so the point is?

There are a load of potentially interesting abilities that might improve it, though after the disappointment that was Concentration +, I'm sceptical I'll grind to get them, as they're so locked away.

And as for the camera, let's aim there, no, there's suddenly a fern in my way. As soon as you attack a robot, the camera goes mad and goes all over the place, anywhere but showing you the enemy you're engaging.

If anything this is starting to make Mass Effect: Andromeda look good and the combat there is rubbish too.

 

Hmm, been going around the net, might have found an explanation of how the aiming actually works. If it does, it's not one the game ever made clear, but could change things for the better.

 

Holy hell, that does make a difference - well, on the robo enemies at least. I managed to have several arrows go exactly where I wanted them to, including learning how to explode blaze canisters - which was awesome.

Also ended taking on and taking another Sawtooth of all enemies, which was also impressive.

Right then, there's this graphic effect that tells you when your bow hits max accuracy but it's quite subtle and easy to miss, especially if you're fighting in a downpour. The good news is that this works far faster than you think, but you still have to train your trigger finder not to fire immediately which is a bit counter-intuitive.

Still, the session just now saw me kill a load of Striders, multiple Grazers via igniting the Blaze canisters, some watchers and that Sawtooth. That was pretty awesome.

Dunno how it'll work on humes but you never know.

 

Alternating between pissed off and happy in taking down Sawtooths: One I managed to do by blowing up its guts - near enough literally as it has a Blaze canister there. The other two were harder and far more irritating, wish the game would draw out a bit more in these battles. On the other hand, the new dodge move I have is quite cool.

Say hello to Lancehorn, Redeye Watcher, Longleg and Stalker - new enemies. The first two are upgraded Grazer and Watcher respectively, another is avian and the last has a stealth field and runs around crapping out proximity mines! Oh yeah, that guy was fun.

Aloy also got ambushed by a pack of Bandits, what followed was not pretty.... For them.

Killing Grazers en masse by blowing up a Blaze canister on one is becoming a guilty pleasure and I really want to do the same to the Lancehorns but I need to get Freeze arrows.

Even after playing a while, the game still has the ability to be jaw-dropping in its graphics.

Currently working out how to use tripwires and traps on Sawtooths, with mixed success. The game is rock hard, so if you remember playing Killzone 2 on 'easy' then yeah, it's like that. Working out the aiming has transformed how I'm playing it too, have been able to be far smarter.

Oh and my Aloy tends to go for cut-you-off-at-the-knees sarcasm in dealing with ********s.

 

One of the things I love about Aloy's character is her wit and sarcastic attitude. It's a carryover from Ashly Burch's roll as Chloe in Life is Strange.

 

Oh, forgot to say: If you are lucky enough to have ignited the blaze canister so as to blow the Sawtooth's guts out and balls off, the boom is quite a bit bigger than that which you get from Grazers. (Did set fire to a Grazer and manage to get far enough away from it before it blew despite it chasing me.)

 

I'm taking my time with the main story and focusing on the side quests and even tutorials. Want to figure out how to knock off multiple machines at once using the Blast sling.

 

Well, you do get some quite good rewards from those quests, which most games would deem minor.

There's also something quite fitting about it being Guerilla that establishes a new graphical standard for PS4, as they did the same on PS3 all those years ago with Killzone 2.

 

I noticed that there's an option in the settings to tweak the graphics up a notch; but since it's not available for my game I assume it's only for the PS Pro.

 

I think that option is indeed Pro-only.

 

Just found this video. I think it certainly makes you appreciate the finer details that were put into the game (that they otherwise didn't have to do at all).

 

Sawtooths, Shell-Walkers and Fire Bellowbacks - oh my!

Wow. Worked out that I actually do have Tearblast arrows, so hit a Sawtooth's belly with one, then evaded them up close - with the pair going through the tall grass I was in - waited for them to go off, went and ignited the blaze canister on the one I hit with a Tearblast arrow, the resulting boom near-killed it and took the other down to 50% health. After that I quickly killed the weak one and went straight at the other one - and somehow won.

Despite misreading the arrow symbol, thought it was Tearblast, it's actually Precision, I did manage to - just about - take out a Fire Bellowback I do not recommend how I did it, certainly not against a pair either! That'd be pretty much a recipe for instant death.

Shell-Walkers - damn I want Freeze arrows, why can't I have them yet? This was an utter scrap from start to finish, no grace or strategy to it - just Aloy pounding the crap out of 'em.

Also found a new Corrupted zone that had a Level 23 Corrupted Fire Bellowback - er, OK, bye bye! Found a ton of campfires. Took out a couple of Corrupted Watchers then some Cultists turned up, then noticed one of them was dumb enough to be wearing a Blaze canister! One BBQ later and his mates turn up, I stay hidden until they turn and kill one from behind while his mates walk off.

By now Aloy is utterly loaded with resources and shards, so crafted a load of Fast Travel packs and warped to Mother's Crown to buy Tearblast arrows.

Also on exploration found I was able to go around adversaries by using mountains and valleys which was a nice touch, especially as there was no cover for taking on a Sawtooth.

One other thing I don't think I've addressed yet is the whole Matriarchal society. Apparently, this aspect has led to much controversy, with some fools seeing it as some sort of assault on their manhood. What it actually is? It does depict a Matriarchal society, but it's not anywhere near a perfect one. You can see why it runs the way it does, the laws it set up, but there's points to be critical of too, it's a surprisingly subtle piece of work, especially for the conceptual minefield it's in.

Finally, some of the shots I'm pulling off now are truly excellent.

EDIT: Talking of shots, forgot to mention one of the very cool aspects. The Focus shows you info on the enemy and weak spots, but it also briefly locks onto those weak spots for you! So, if you do it quick enough, you can line up a perfect shot exactly where it needs to go, via quickly flicking from Focus to lock-on to bow then aim and fire.

 

So, had quite mini-session tonight:

Turns out it takes 3 Precision arrows to blow the crap out of a Fire Bellowback's cargo sac, taking it down to just under 50%, a silent strike and couple of heavy attacks then finishes the job. This is only good for a solo Bellowback, for a pair it'd be better to try and ignite the sacs and use those to kill both.

Had a major hunting run - killing fox, raccoon, turkey and rabbit with a surprising amount of ease using the Focus trick. Result is 4 upgrades are now maxed out and the massive supply of wood I had has gone up in smoke so I can start grabbing everything in sight again.