Horizon: Forbidden West - Disassemble all

Easy loot? Sounds good.

Now that there's a stash I need it to automatically loot all instead of making me press 2 buttons to loot.

vypre wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

First impressions are that it's very linear at the start, your guided through a lot of the starting areas that have one way in & one way out. I realize this is for story purposes so I'll judge it more once I'm out in the open world so to speak.

The climbing is still frustratingly linear, here's a single path of yellow markers - after a burst of your focus - that you can climb.

The linear thing - gameplay and climbing - is just the beginning area. It all starts to open up significantly after the opening credits.

I ended up jumping all over a mountain in search of various chests my focus detected and then discovered a cliff side tower. A dive into an early pond produced a similar chase of chests and secrets in an underwater tunnel.

Between that and a few other things, I’m definitely getting various levels of Monster Hunter and Breath of the Wild vibes/influences. Absolutely loving it!

Really glad to hear this, cheers Vypre. That's what I'm most excited to do, get out in the open, forge my own path, make discoveries & find new enemies that can kick my ass. I want to see what mountains in the distance are climbable & find a lost city under the sea :p

I'll be playing more tonight. I'm eager to read more Goodjers initial thoughts on FW so keep them coming.

The fighting feels faster. The HUD and traversial are slick. Honestly I'm loving how this is playing so far. I definitely used a bunch of those suggestions from the 5 settings video. I've been delving into the skill trees - ooh boy there's a lot of them and things to do. But overall I'm loving it.

Yeah, it's good. The Pullcaster and "double X-jump but also hit O right before grabbing to catapult yourself higher" trick are taking a little getting used to, but otherwise I'm loving it.

What are people playing in? Favor Resolution or Performance? Resolution felt sluggish but I restarted the console and haven't tried it yet.

I am in resolution. I switched to performance and it felt odd. I will have to try again. It felt like the soap opera effect which I guess makes sense.

Soap opera mode - a visual effect caused by motion interpolation, a process that high definition televisions use to display content at a higher refresh rate than the original source.

Playing in Resolution. Also another nitpick, so many particles and bugs floating in the air. I guess its dumb to complain when a game looks this good, but I think it makes little things stand out more. Its distracting how much sh*t is floating in the air all the time.

Loving this so much. Just replayed the Zero Dawn on PC before this (now have PS4 hooked up to my PC monitor) so the transition is really smooth. I love how they have merged some of the previous skills you had to acquire into your base abilities.

The facial animations are so good, getting Guardians of the Galaxy vibes there. Voice acting is fantastic across the board so far. I feel like the combat is much better this time and I loved it in HZD. Love that you can "tag" components now that you want to focus on.

So many improvements across the board. Cannot wait to dig in further.

Are the cinematics in video? Weird transition

I was getting weird pop up during the cinematic credits scene after the intro…not sure if I’m running performance or resolution on my PS5. I guess whatever the default is.

The fight with the giant snake robot was very cool.

7 hours in and I just finally made it out into the main area (at least I think I did) past the gates of Barren Light and into the Forbidden West. I can’t wait…

Spoiler:

…to claim my own raptor (I guess they’re called clawstriders) mount!!!

IMAGE(https://www-playstationlifestyle-net.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2022/02/Clawstrider.png)

Also can’t say I’m sorry to see Studious Gasbag go.

You can peruse several (4) delightful HFW gifs on Giphy.

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/euqFXkbq1FyFGP8NpG/giphy-downsized-large.gif)

AcidCat wrote:

Playing in Resolution. Also another nitpick, so many particles and bugs floating in the air. I guess its dumb to complain when a game looks this good, but I think it makes little things stand out more. Its distracting how much sh*t is floating in the air all the time.

Played my first few hours in performance on PS5 but I'm going to try out resolution mode this afternoon. The game is beautiful. If I had a few nitpicks about the visuals so far is sometimes the lighting on characters seems a little weird, like they are outlined in light, and there's moments when the lights on the robots seem too much. Maybe switching modes will effect this?

Good news. No crunch

steinkrug wrote:

The game is beautiful. If I had a few nitpicks about the visuals so far is sometimes the lighting on characters seems a little weird, like they are outlined in light, and there's moments when the lights on the robots seem too much. Maybe switching modes will effect this?

That’s supposedly from Motion Blur. From what I’ve read, turning it off and using performance mode reduces it the most, but for me the game is too pretty and runs well enough not to play in resolution mode (with motion blur off).

Thanks I’ll try turning off motion blur.

I went in thinking I’d try to focus on the main quest but I can’t help but do some of the side stuff.

Playing at Normal + Easy Loot at the moment. It's curious how they spend basically the first 10 hours explicitly spelling out the implications of the details in the first game.

Did I miss something explaining why Aloy decided to run off after saving Meridian and not take any of her upgraded equipment?

On a positive note - the accessibility settings make the game so much more fun. Absolutely loved everything about the first game aside from inventory management (minor gripe) and combat. I’m so bad at the aiming in combat and the additional slow down options are making fun for me.

some other zach wrote:

Did I miss something explaining why Aloy decided to run off after saving Meridian and not take any of her upgraded equipment?

On a positive note - the accessibility settings make the game so much more fun. Absolutely loved everything about the first game aside from inventory management (minor gripe) and combat. I’m so bad at the aiming in combat and the additional slow down options are making fun for me.

She mentions in the intro area that she lost it.

The more I play the more I appreciate what a huge upgrade these cutscenes are, even errands and sidequests, the animations are incredibly naturalistic, with great VA.

I notice some changes from the last game.

For one thing, I turned on Easy Loot, so the machine parts don’t get destroyed if I don’t shoot them off first, which makes a great deal more sense to me than actively trying to attack the part you’re trying to salvage. But with Easy Loot on, the game makes you very rich - rich in parts, and definitely rich in shards since you can sell off parts for shards. I figured I’d just leave it on until the map opens up but I think I’ll just leave it on regardless. Too many parts are getting destroyed and I don’t have to want to shear off everything before I destroy the machine.

On the combat part, the parts are smaller and they’re less exposed. In addition, it’s less strategic. The machine sites are located much, much farther apart from each other, so there’s little chance you’ll drift off and aggro the nearby machines when you’re busy with any particular machine site. No need to set preemptive traps to fence off your area, and the number of traps you can set is extremely, punitively low.

I’m finding the combat quite easy on Normal. I’m not sure whether I should bump it up to Hard. I fear the enemies will get bullet-spongy on Hard and I don’t quite yet have a handle on the elemental and damage type game they’re trying to build.

Sounds like maybe you hadn’t played the start of HZD in a while and have forgotten a thing or two.

1.) You didn’t have very many traps/ammo to start with there either. You had to upgrade your pouches. Same holds true here. On the other hand, there’s a lot more weapons and ammo types than the first game so your entire ammo set is even more diverse… fragmented… what-have-you… than HZD.

2.) Machines in HZD had certain areas they tended to stick to. That’s more or less the same here, with similar spacing, but… I’ve also run into roaming caravans a couple of times. It REALLY sucks when you’re fighting a difficult machine or group of machines and another group of roaming machines pops in.

3) Have you made it past or very far past Barren Light? There’s a TON more machines and machine variants than the first game and some of them will absolutely destroy you if you just run in and button mash.

Side note: I turned on easy loot after starting Barren Light and just a couple hours of it on let me completely upgrade all my weapons and outfit. That was too easy and I ended up turning it off, but now I’m far enough into the game and there are so many weapons and outfits compared to HZD, that I only have enough scrap and shards for one or two items and 98% of my inventory now has only one upgrade or none at all.

TheGameguru wrote:
some other zach wrote:

Did I miss something explaining why Aloy decided to run off after saving Meridian and not take any of her upgraded equipment?

On a positive note - the accessibility settings make the game so much more fun. Absolutely loved everything about the first game aside from inventory management (minor gripe) and combat. I’m so bad at the aiming in combat and the additional slow down options are making fun for me.

She mentions in the intro area that she lost it.

Basically, the usual handwaving excuse in a sequel to start the progression system over again.

I'm impressed so far that even the "Errands" have fun NPC interactions. The game has made me laugh several times already.

steinkrug wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
some other zach wrote:

Did I miss something explaining why Aloy decided to run off after saving Meridian and not take any of her upgraded equipment?

She mentions in the intro area that she lost it.

Basically, the usual handwaving excuse in a sequel to start the progression system over again.

Kind of glad they did that. You knew it was going to happen, might as well not dwell on some forced excuse for it.

But this is nice: if you look at the description of her starting armor, it's meant to be the awesome shield-weaver armor you can get at the end of the previous game... but the battery is dead. LOL.

beeporama wrote:

…if you look at the description of her starting armor, it's meant to be the awesome shield-weaver armor you can get at the end of the previous game... but the battery is dead. LOL.

And you can access a less OP version of its ability as a Valor skill fairly early on.

I'm 4½ hours into FW, finally got to the first true open area around Chainscrape. I'm loving the freedom of running either side of the river, where various machines reside along the path. The world feels alive with different characters out doing their own thing, forging machines, one guy was trapped near a tower by a couple of bigger machines, others in direct combat with another on the other side of the river etc

I got to an abandoned lodge which was a little puzzlebox to work out, figuring out how to get into the building, how to get to the first floor, using your pullcaster in certain instances, eventually getting a code for the locked door that houses a reward. There's still that problem of Aloy not grabbing onto & pulling herself up onto certain objects or structures (as I tested out on broken sets of wooden stairs around the outside of the lodge) but in general she does usually pull herself over the obvious things like the elevated terrain at the side of the river.

I'm generally finding the side quests to be a big improvement, mainly because of how well animated the conversations are between Aloy & the quest givers. Zero Dawn had very static dialogue scenes for its side quests, were mostly characters would just stand there with very wooden facial expressions. This time the facial animations are outstanding, when you talk to Milduf (who is the cook of the bar in Chainscrape) he is cooking away, looking back at Aloy, moving organically throughout the scene, as is Aloy. It's a massive improvement. The writing in general for the side quests seems improved from the original too. It draws you into the world much more & gives you better context on why your helping these people.

The focus is better than ever, you can really see the Death Stranding influence with all the little markers for climbing, marking out points of interest, plants etc in the immediate area. I'm happy the climbing has opened up in the sense that there's more routes up cliff faces & just more things to climb in general. It's still not as freeform as I'd like but I'm happy it's going in the right direction.

Finally the coolest moment so far has been firing an acid arrow at a canister on one of the bigger machines back which then caused this huge explosion of green acid mist, dealing out damage to surrounding enemies & covering them in the acidy green goo. Epic.

I'm loving just exploring all the nooks & crannies near the settlement of Chainscrape. I'm taking my time & drinking in the beautiful world & light atmosphere in-between machine encounters.

Spikeout wrote:

I'm 4½ hours into FW, finally got to the first true open area around Chainscrape.

Just FYI - I thought it had “opened up” when I arrived in the Barren Light / Chainscrape valley and responded to you a couple of posts back. It’s less linear than the tutorial, but it REALLY opens up after you complete the embassy.

It’s all very similar to how in HZD young Aloy was the tutorial and completely linear, and then things opened up a little when she grew up and was training for the Proving, but then the true world opened up even more after that. HZD also had two more “choke points” when initially heading to Meridian and again when heading to the Frozen Wilds in the DLC.

From what I call tell so far, that (choke pointing) probably doesn’t happen here, but it could. Instead, the whole map appears to open after the embassy, but specific locations may be partially or completely blocked off to you until you obtain certain… equipment or abilities.

And just FYI, just a couple tips without any spoilers…

1.) Do EVERYTHING you can before heading to the embassy. You will unlock a lot of useful gear that will be extremely helpful and you may not encounter a vendor version until much later in the game.

1a.) When I say “everything” you will always know when you can’t access something due to equipment or abilities you don’t have. Aloy will straight up start making comments that you can’t find a way through. Listen to her; she’s not making idle conversation. Any locations blocked off in this way won’t show as completed on your map until you access the “gated” areas and accomplish specific goals.

2.) Not too long in the main story after you leave the embassy, you will unlock three quests that can be done in any order - they are leveled 17, 22, and… something a little higher. I would personally recommend heading immediately to the level 22 quest and doing at least the first part of it. Even if you’re a fair amount lower level than that, I promise you’ll be ok and you will know when you get to the part that I’m recommending you finish before running off anywhere else.

Wow I am so glad I havent had any of this story spoiled for me, it is already taking a very interesting turn (just finished Deaths Door)

AcidCat wrote:

Wow I am so glad I havent had any of this story spoiled for me, it is already taking a very interesting turn (just finished Deaths Door)

RIGHT?! I loved the first game, but the lore of them both just keeps digging it’s nails into me deeper and deeper. And the way the side quests and whatnot are laid out, I just feel even more invested in everything.

Still in Easy Loot mode. Feels like I'm going to keep it on until endgame. It does devalue the point of partbreaker Valor surges and skills, but I don't think I'll be grinding until the end of the main story quest.

The grind for parts is real, even with Easy Loot mode on. You don't strain or lack for the rarer parts on Easy Loot mode, but things like Machine Bones are always hard to come by.

Even with Easy Loot on and on Normal, I can't afford to buy everything. But at least I do get to buy the things I want, and I can use my weapons with some degree of freedom. I can't imagine having to scrounge around for parts on default mode, especially since detaching a part just when the machine dies still destroys it.

Still no ropecasters and traps are still limited, so I guess they understood that those things are broken AF and decided to control them aggressively.

It was possible in HZD to buy a basic blast tripcaster en route to Meridian and take out the Thunderjaw quite easily.

Still need a reliable source of Machine Bones. The Boltblaster in HFW is totally legit. The Rattler in HZD required you to be quite close to the machine to be effective, but it was quite excellent at close range against humans. The Boltblaster, in contrast, is usable at medium range, which makes it a legitimately usable weapon.

It's even better on Machineback because you don't have to sit like a sitting duck when reloading.

I do like that they tried to build more differentiation between the weapon classes. Heading into the level 22 key quest (the second of three), and the machine sites are still quite distinctly separated by wide swathes of machine-less environments. You could get ambrushed by a convoy, but those are clearly marked on the map, so if that happens, it's because you didn't check.

For instance, I engaged the machine site north of the solar farm town (Searing Spear?) and it's got two kinds of machines. But even though I did it machineback and fought moving quite quickly in recklessly wide arcs, nothing else got aggro'd.

This is quite distinct from HZD where doing that can easily aggro machines from two or three different sites and you could easily end up fighting off three or more machine types, and something like 8-10 or more machines at once.

There IS a quest that you absolutely have to do machineback, and the races are machineback fighting, of course. Mounted Archery is it's own skill in the game! Knocking off rebel raiders from their machines and finishing them off is a fantastic thrill (and relatively easy). I like how they're actively thinking about machineback combat, but I'm not sure how their use of terrain to basically just void it in many areas is something I like.

Finally, the game area is vast. It's seriously intimidating to think about just going off and trying to explore it all freestyle.