Horizon Zero Dawn

[vsonix]

TheGroover said:

Doofus said:

Thank you for that. I have difficulty on normal rather than easy, because I'm not a girl I can and do craft more ammo on the fly, but eventually, I run out of resources. That ticks me off too, because I don't know what resources I need to make arrows, apart from wood, and I've got half a forest load of that, but often, I still can't make any arrows. Then all of a sudden, I can, and I have no idea what it was that I picked up to make that happen.

I sailed through the first few hours (I'm about level 14 or 15, I think) without too much trouple, and then all of a sudden the difficulty ramped up really steeply, and I got stuck. I suspect that I should have learned more stuff earlier on, and that may be due to my trait of rarely playing side missions - in any game, not just this one. Those might be where I could have gained armour, experience and skills.

I also find it really tedious talking to people, so I rarely bother. Why can't they just tell you what they're going to tell you, rather than have you choose in which order you will ask the questons (which are never the questions I want to ask)?. I don't really know what I need to buy from merchants, so I don't do much of that either.

I'm my own worst enemy, I know. I think I need to find a map with the cauldrons on it, and go and do some of those, just to give me a bit of enjoyment again, because I'm not enjoying the main game at the moment. If I can't complete the cauldrons either, then I'll just give up. Like I did with The Last Of Us. Although that wasn't difficult to give up because it scared the crap out of me...

If you go into the crafting menu it shows you what resources you need to craft anything.
Talking to people is how you get the side missions, it's not really avoidable if you want to do them, and they really are worth doing if only for the skill points, XP and\or rewards you get.
What to buy from merchants really depends on what you're after. Other than the obvious weapons and armour as an example I wanted to buy a Shadow Warbow, for which I needed a trampler heart. I killed a bagful of them, but never got a heart drop so ended up buying one from a specialist merchant in Meridian.
Some of the cauldrons are quite tricky so you're going to need to work out what to use when, it's part of the fun of this game!

I think you're right about the main problem in this game being with the dialogue. It's not punchy or edgy enough to totally engross, so ends up being skipped. And the options you select don't appear to have any major bearing on anything, as far as I can tell you don't miss out on any quests or items if you don't select the various options...

[chris watton]

I have the Witcher 3 for PS4 but never really got past the first half hour. Would it be worth giving it another go, as I have noticed there are a lot of comparisons to that and Zero Dawn?

[Durzel]

chris watton said:

I have the Witcher 3 for PS4 but never really got past the first half hour. Would it be worth giving it another go, as I have noticed there are a lot of comparisons to that and Zero Dawn?

I've started playing Witcher 3 after platinum'ing HZD and it's a very different kettle of fish.

It really depends on how much you enjoy the RPG aspect of HZD (e.g. finding materials for crafting, etc) because TW3 is a full fat RPG in that respect. I am also finding navigating around the world in TW3 to be a lot more clunkier than HZD. HZD felt very fluid whether you were running up and down hills, climbing, etc whereas TW3 feels last gen by comparison. It did come out in 2015 though, so I guess that's a little unfair.

From what I've been able to glean so far though there is a ridiculous about of dialogue and side quests in TW3. The side quests have in some cases been very expansive and engaging from a storytelling point of view. There's definitely more "game" in TW3.

Basically The Witcher 3 is to Horizon Zero Dawn as Arma 3 is to Battlefield.

[chris watton]

Durzel said:

I've started playing Witcher 3 after platinum'ing HZD and it's a very different kettle of fish.

It really depends on how much you enjoy the RPG aspect of HZD (e.g. finding materials for crafting, etc) because TW3 is a full fat RPG in that respect. I am also finding navigating around the world in TW3 to be a lot more clunkier than HZD. HZD felt very fluid whether you were running up and down hills, climbing, etc whereas TW3 feels last gen by comparison. It did come out in 2015 though, so I guess that's a little unfair.

From what I've been able to glean so far though there is a ridiculous about of dialogue and side quests in TW3. The side quests have in some cases been very expansive and engaging from a storytelling point of view. There's definitely more "game" in TW3.

Basically The Witcher 3 is to Horizon Zero Dawn as Arma 3 is to Battlefield.

Thanks for that. I didn't mind at all the 'grinding' aspects in HZD (In fact, I am playing it through again, I enjoyed it so much). Funny you should mention 'clunky', as that's what it felt like when controlling the character in TW3. I may have to give it another go, though, but fear that HZD has spoilt me...

[Speckle]

I had wondered the same thing as I'm approaching the end of the game. Luckily, I remembered I still have RIse of the Tomb raider to get through

I ran through the grazer dummy medal this morning which was trickier than it should have been! When I got to what I thought was the last one, it turned out I had missed one somewhere and had to retrace my steps to every location (because, obviously it turned out to be at the starting location and I'd walked right past it !)

Won't be long now. I have a handful of errands and side missions to finish and then just the remainder of the collectables and the final mission. Hopefully I'll find time this weekend...

[chris watton]

I love the original Tomb raider games from the PS1 era. So much so that I still have my PS3 under the PS4 just so that I can still play them.

I really was excited about the new era TR games, but I found them a little too 'on rails' where gameplay is concerned, that and the stupid QTE situations, I have no clue as to why developers thought this QTE thing thought this was a great idea!

I never finished them. I guess this is why I was a little apprehensive about spending yet another £50 on a PS4 game (HZD), but I was very pleased I did.

[vsonix]

chris watton said:

I have the Witcher 3 for PS4 but never really got past the first half hour. Would it be worth giving it another go, as I have noticed there are a lot of comparisons to that and Zero Dawn?

I really didn't gel with The Witcher at all - but I do enjoy HZD. If you will like HZD or not depends on what you didn't like about The Witcher, and if you like action/RPG games in general. Witcher is very Gobliny-Elfy-Dwarfy fantasy type world whereas HZD is has more sci-fi elements in the mix. It also has strong influences from the last couple of Far Cry games with the hunting and crafting aspects, and a dose of Tomb Raider for good measure. To be fair the game does borrow quite heavily from lots of the others like it, it's just that so far it manages to do it quite well.

[ajprice]

Its £39.99 on the PSN store this weekend, with some prepaid cards from cdkeys and the 5% discount code on their Facebook page, I've got it for £35 and a few pence

[Speckle]

I'm at about 93% complete now and still having fun.

This morning I killed a Thunderjaw with a Thunderjaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQh10g9kmxY

[Mannginger]

That was cool AF!

/me resolves to progress faster than I am!

[chris watton]

I never had the right bow for Corruption arrows the first time round, but last night, I tried them out for the first time. What fun! Watching the mechs start to fight each other, and with just an arrow or two to finish the victor off and pick up the spoils!

[TheGroover]

Speckle said:

I'm at about 93% complete now and still having fun.

This morning I killed a Thunderjaw with a Thunderjaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQh10g9kmxY

Brilliant isn't it. I've done that, in the same place - great way to harvest high value modifications.

[SimianWonder]

Speckle said:

I'm at about 93% complete now and still having fun.

This morning I killed a Thunderjaw with a Thunderjaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQh10g9kmxY

That was a lot of fun to watch. You're clearly way further into the game than I am now.

[ajprice]

Started it lastnight, just got as far as tge jump from a kid to a grown up. It looks great on my original PS4 at 1080, so the Pro 4k hdr gubbins must be very lovely to look at. I don't think I'm getting close to the difference watching the YouTube graphics comparison videos . Found the photo mode, can pictures from that be saved or downloaded from the PS4? (like Forza Motorsport photo mode pictures can be downloaded from the website)

[joefraser]

Has this game stood the test of time? Looking for something to play with Mrs Joefraser as an alternative to Lego or GTA.

It's still holding its price well at the pre owned stores and having watched a few videos on YouTube it still appeals, just want to confirm it's got a "worthwhile" story and game play.

Cheers

[TheGroover]

joefraser said:

Has this game stood the test of time? Looking for something to play with Mrs Joefraser as an alternative to Lego or GTA.

It's still holding its price well at the pre owned stores and having watched a few videos on YouTube it still appeals, just want to confirm it's got a "worthwhile" story and game play.

Cheers

Has it stood the test of time? It came out 2 months ago...
But anyway. The story is very good, there is plenty to go at with all the side quests to do (which I would recommend doing, they are excellent for leveling up before you move on with the main mission) and it looks amazing.
It is very much a single player game though, so playing it with someone will be 1 person playing and the other watching.

[Speckle]

Well, I think I've done everything now apart from the final mission - I'm at 96.15% complete (I think, might be slightly more) so, with any luck platinum will pop as I finish the story.

Part of me really doesn't want it to end but, other than just roaming the land, killing machines randomly, there is literally nothing left to do...

[chris watton]

Speckle said:

Well, I think I've done everything now apart from the final mission - I'm at 96.15% complete (I think, might be slightly more) so, with any luck platinum will pop as I finish the story.

Part of me really doesn't want it to end but, other than just roaming the land, killing machines randomly, there is literally nothing left to do...

I hope there's some DLC for this soon!

[Speckle]

Got my platinum trophy this morning, just as I completed the final mission
First one on any playstation game EVER!

Then I checked my in game progress, and it was only at 97.5%

Found a couple of side missions I hadn't picked up and did those, now at 99.5%

There is an errand out there somewhere that I haven't done yet and, my OCD doesn't like it!! Hopefully, I'll find it tonight for total completion!

What a thoroughly satisfying journey it has been, I'm certain I'll play through this again in the not too distant future.

[Mikeyjae]

Speckle said:

Got my platinum trophy this morning, just as I completed the final mission
First one on any playstation game EVER!

Then I checked my in game progress, and it was only at 97.5%

Found a couple of side missions I hadn't picked up and did those, now at 99.5%

There is an errand out there somewhere that I haven't done yet and, my OCD doesn't like it!! Hopefully, I'll find it tonight for total completion!

What a thoroughly satisfying journey it has been, I'm certain I'll play through this again in the not too distant future.

Only the second Platinum for me. Its good when a game makes you want to finish it. So did you use the armor in the final mission?