Horizon: Forbidden West - Disassemble all

LarryC wrote:

As an example, here is ONE of the ways for how to take out a Stormbird. Don't worry. It's not fast or anything so it's not like I'm giving away the farm.

And the great thing about this combat system, is you don't need to worry about anything you listed and can just brute force the encounter. It's as granular as you want to make it.

Still making my way west taking my time and the amount of environmental variety on display is incredibly impressive. By far the most I've ever used photo mode in a game because there is constantly something new to see, multiplied by time of day, it's unreal.

farley3k wrote:

I am thinking i need to move on from the first area after the embassy. It feels like a desert setting that I played a lot of in the first one. I am excited to see the new beach looking areas from the previews. But then I am afraid of missing important loot or being underleveled.

In my limited experience thus far, the "main quest" missions seem to be a little easier or more forgiving than optional ones at similar level recommendations. The main quests also unlock goodies that are nice to have; so, missing out on gear swings both ways with the main versus side quests.

One thing I love free fast travel from the fires. I was an annoying chore to go back to places in the first game - or at least it got to be that way - but this system makes it pleasant.

The first game does give you the Golden Travel Pack at a very doable price so past midgame it’s just Fast Travel everywhere permanently. That was a little too forgiving. But the Travel Packs felt too punishing as well. The setup of free Fast Travel from fires means it’s not too onerous to just go to a Campfire to Fast Travel, but it’s also not too expensive to make Fast Travel Packs and use those as much as you need.

Agent 86 wrote:

I love Aloy, there have been a couple of cut scenes, she gives these heavy sorts of sighs where you know she's thinking "f*ck, I gotta stop getting involved in local politics".

There's one side quest where she interrupts the guy talking and says "Just tell me what parts I need to go collect"

^ I spent a number of years working as a professional temp, going from job to job. I remember once when someone tried to drag me into office politics I told them "Look, if you need the temp on your side, you've already lost."

So, uh. Well into the endgame I’ve finally found a way to farm Metal Bones. Metal Bones are a key resource component for Boltblaster and Spike ammo, both weapons I favor heavily. It turns out Tremortusk Ammo Drums contain Metal Bones and you don’t need to actually kill the Tremortusk to get them. Just don some stealth armor (I believe the Nora Tracker gives you +2 Low Profile, get Low Profile on the skill tree to stack on it, and just shoot off the Ammo Drums from long range with a Sharpshot Bow. Then swoop in and pick up the drums once the Tremortusk has moved on.

Of course, Sharpshot Tear Arrows require a fair amount of Echo Shells, but those are easy to farm from Longlegs.

As as FYI, the Cleaving Sharpshot Bow at a relatively easy Blue Rarity, easy to acquire and upgrade, is still the only Tearblast-firing bow I have at extreme endgame. None of the rarer Sharpshot bows I’ve seen even have that ammo, so if you can find it you should just get it and upgrade it straight off, if you are at all interested in Tearblast ammo.

So. Endgame insight for the day.

Upgrade your favorite purple armors. At least until level 3. If you like the armor, it will serve you well, and particularly if it has an unlocked skill on a weave, you can migrate that skill into the weave slot of any other armor you may unlock or discover.

A lot of players apparently are finding the machines unnaturally aggressive. That's likely because they didn't put any points into Low Profile. It really matters.

Endgame insight of the day:

My daughter wanted to try the Shredder Gauntlets about halfway into the game and she enjoyed it a lot, but the game doesn’t actually teach you how to use it, and I hear folks have been bouncing off the weapon and don’t understand how it works.

Firstly, I think all the Shredder Ammo have boosted Tear statistics and go through components like no other weapon. A major aspect of how it works is that it tears off components and damages machines that way, since removing components also tends to remove health from machine health pools. You want to aim it at areas of machines that have lots of things to shear off.

Secondly, the boomerang aspect of the disc works best at long ranges, and is challenging at medium range. It’s basically impossible within 20 paces. Once you throw the disc and it spins off the machine, it’ll spin straight left or right and then only curve back to where you are after a fair distance. If you’re at a good range, it’s an easy task to see where it’s going and just jog over and catch the disc. No button input is necessary. You don’t need to be exactly where the disc comes back - so long as you intercept the flight path, you’ll catch it even if you exceed your lunge a little bit. The damage it does escalates after each catch, so catching it at least once or twice is necessary to make full use of its features. On the fourth throw it will explode, so mind what you target with it, since you don’t want to destroy key components.

Switching weapons or ammo resets the charge on the disc - this is useful for when you want to conserve ammo or don’t want to explode things. But it does mean you don’t want to switch ammo on the second and third throws, at least, to maximize damage and tear performance.

The weapon pairs extremely well with the Nora Tracker outfit and the Low Profile Infiltrator skill. Playing catch with a machine is most enjoyable when there aren’t a ton of other machines complicating your catching task. If you pick your angle carefully and target only one machine at a time, you can strip it from a distance while its guardians just walk along, oblivious to your attacks.

LarryC wrote:

Endgame insight of the day:

My daughter wanted to try the Shredder Gauntlets about halfway into the game and she enjoyed it a lot, but the game doesn’t actually teach you how to use it, and I hear folks have been bouncing off the weapon and don’t understand how it works.

Hunting Grounds are HZD/HFW’s pseudo-tutorial for weapon skills. For the gauntlets, you need to go to the Sheerside Mountains Hunting Ground.

https://techraptor.net/gaming/guides...

When I first picked up the Shredder Gauntlet I read the description that pops up explaining the weapon type, and then I just went hunting on my own to learn how to use it. Before I found a sharpshot boy that had tearblast ammo, I figured the shredder gauntlet would be a good replacement. Now I alternate using both to conserve ammo depending on the machine.

Dominic Knight wrote:

When I first picked up the Shredder Gauntlet I read the description that pops up explaining the weapon type, and then I just went hunting on my own to learn how to use it. Before I found a sharpshot boy that had tearblast ammo, I figured the shredder gauntlet would be a good replacement. Now I alternate using both to conserve ammo depending on the machine.

I honestly find the Shredder Gauntlet a better option than the Sharpshot Bow in a number of situations. Farming Plowhorns for Vigorstems (to make Medium Potions) is a lot more entertaining and a lot easier with the Shredder Gauntlet than the Bow, for me. I find the Thunderbolt Shredder Gauntlet excellent at dealing with Longlegs and Leaplashers, too.

I find it quite funny how much reprogramming computers requires grunting and physical effort in this game.
If it required as much in real life I would be extremely buff

Endgame insight today:

The game makes powerful weapons and armor available very early, but they pair with specific skills on the skill tree and the armor.

Opening the Maw Arena and doing Hunting Grounds for medals to acquire a Very Rare weapon from the Tenakth armory is very much worth doing.

You can also just head straight to Thornmarsh to get access to the vendors there and then track down purchase and upgrade requirements for the outfits and armor on sale. As with Meridian in the first game, you can do this early, and it's not that dangerous if you stick to the roads and avoid dangerous new machines.

Many of the best coils in the game are only available through purchase from vendors so do check out the coils and weaves on sale.

Finally, DON'T SELL YOUR WEAVES. Specifically, don't sell the blue color weaves you get from unlocking armor upgrade levels. That's the only way to get those weaves and they are very, very good.

farley3k wrote:

I find it quite funny how much reprogramming computers requires grunting and physical effort in this game.
If it required as much in real life I would be extremely buff

Yes! This is the real power fantasy of the Horizon games. The ability to solve any tech problem by sticking a spear in it, or saying your name followed by "alpha prime".

ComfortZone wrote:
farley3k wrote:

I find it quite funny how much reprogramming computers requires grunting and physical effort in this game.
If it required as much in real life I would be extremely buff

Yes! This is the real power fantasy of the Horizon games. The ability to solve any tech problem by sticking a spear in it, or saying your name followed by "alpha prime".

NGL. There have been many times when I wanted to fix my PC by sticking a glowy spear into it and mumbling magic words.

Endgame insight today.

Horizon Forbidden West is a LOT more of an RPG than Zero Dawn was, and it pays to mind your skills, your gear, and your Valor Surge. Of particular interest to many players may be that you can be Batman in Forbidden West. Well, not literally Batman, but close enough and you can do this very early.

The components for this build are as follows:

1. Stealth Ranged +. You want this at level 4, so you want to purchase the Utaru Harvester Outfit from Plainsong and upgrade it fully. It is possible to do this without taking on endgame machines. You’ll also want to take the levels in the Infiltrator Tree.

2. Low Profile +. You need to be in Stealth for this, and Low Profile at level 4 is a must. You’ll need two from your skill tree and two from the Utaru Harvester fully upgraded armor.

3. Braced Shot - the Sharpshot skill also in the Infiltrator Tree.

4. Stealth Stalker Valor Surge - you’re going to want this at level 3 for the beefy, beefy +200% Damage from Stealth. You won’t need this for normal farming and cheap machine targets, but it’s handy for dealing with toughies.

5. Hardweave Sharpshot Bow - a Rare Utaru bow purchasable, also in Plainsong. It’s relatively easy to upgrade this fully for that chonky +40% Long Range Damage, and the extra coil slot.

6. Stealth +25% Coils - one of the more expensive parts of this build, this can be purchased from the Hunter at Scalding Spear, which is probably the first Tenakth settlement you’ll see.

7. Smoke Bombs.

And that’s it.

You basically snipe everything from far away using Braced Shot and run away to hide every time your attacks break Stealth. And if Stealth fails you and you’re getting swarmed, you Smoke Bomb out, engage Stealth Stalker and go to town with Braced Shots anyway at close range.

It’s very helpful to get Weapon Stamina+ and a high level of Stamina Regen to help out with all the Weapon Technique use you’ll be doing here, but you could just down a lot of Stamina potions if you haven’t got that part down yet.

And that’s it. You can take on a Thunderjaw with this.

It is notable that you’re going to destroy a heckuvalot of loot with all the explosives you’re shooting around, so it might be helpful to get a Cleaving Sharpshot Bow and trick that out for parts farming now and again.

Spoiler:

Checking in with folks at the base...

is giving me ME2 vibes. I really like it.

Endgame insight today:

Horizon’s UI customization is extremely robust. The default settings are familiar to anyone who’s playing AC and similar titles and I suppose it’s like that to be familiar. But you can turn all of it off. ALL of it. The game still works because it seems to be designed to have all of the UI icons to be optional. You can turn off Pathing. You can turn off Quest Icons. You can turn off world icons. You can even turn off enemy damage numbers, health bars, and status symbols. You can turn all of it off!

And it still works because all of that information is still onscreen. Enemies in Corroded States are noticeably green. Enemies on fire are, well, on fire. Brittle enemies are caked in ice. Armor is graphically represented, and machines noticeably flinch from effective and powerful attacks. You can tell if a machine is nearly destroyed based on its walking animation changes and the state of its parts.

You can even turn off the Compass because time of day accurately shows where the sun and the moon are so you can orient yourself using the sky, and of course the map always shows your facing and the various locations in real-time.

ER seems to show some liking for play that is less guided. HFW gives that to you if that’s what you want.

But LarryC, don't you see? Elden Ring doesn't allow you to make it easier, so it's a superior game and Elden Ring players are better people than everyone else.

Thanks for the shredder explanation LarryC. My whole loadout and approach has changed now that I understand this weapon.

Stood on a hillside and decimated two Plowhorns and two Bellowbacks without them every even figuring out where I was.

My minor endgame insights:

The main quest includes fabulous unlocks for exploration. As much as the open world encourages just checking out "?"'s everywhere, I recommend not getting too distracted until you're pretty far along. There will many places that are difficult or impossible to open until then.

They've made it very easy to hit level 50 (the level cap) before what I expect is the final main story mission. There are still piles of open quests. I've felt no need to grind for experience or skill points.

However, even with "easy loot" on, I constantly want more machine parts to upgrade gear. Even just generic small & medium machine cores are a bottleneck for upgrades.

When you're kind of crap at this game, the "Toughened" Valor Surge is awesome. The others might be situationally better, but if you're bad enough that you're always getting knocked around in every tough fight, it's useful pretty much every time. I suppose I could drop the difficulty level, but my pride won't let me go below Normal!

Machine Strike doesn't seem to have any rewards other than skill points (which are easy enough to get) and Machine Strike pieces. I don't think there is a trophy for it. So it's completely optional if you don't like it. Actually, it's surprising how many things there aren't trophies for; I think you could platinum this and still have a lot of unplayed game.

mwdowns wrote:

But LarryC, don't you see? Elden Ring doesn't allow you to make it easier, so it's a superior game and Elden Ring players are better people than everyone else.

Haha. Well. I do think it’s more immersive to minimize the iconography and UI on the screen so I usually play with “Focus Only” interactive icon elements, but after fiddling around, I found out you can also remove leveling and XP bars (which I never needed), minimize the item selection menu to Dynamic, and even remove the compass and quest trackers. Removing the trackers and the compass allows me to navigate via landmarks, which is how I navigate anyway, so it’s less clutter on the screen and it also makes it easier for me to recognize the things I actually use.

I’ve heard that the newest patch fixes pop in and draw distance so that should help me even more.

beeporama wrote:

My minor endgame insights:

The main quest includes fabulous unlocks for exploration. As much as the open world encourages just checking out "?"'s everywhere, I recommend not getting too distracted until you're pretty far along. There will many places that are difficult or impossible to open until then.

They've made it very easy to hit level 50 (the level cap) before what I expect is the final main story mission. There are still piles of open quests. I've felt no need to grind for experience or skill points.

However, even with "easy loot" on, I constantly want more machine parts to upgrade gear. Even just generic small & medium machine cores are a bottleneck for upgrades.

When you're kind of crap at this game, the "Toughened" Valor Surge is awesome. The others might be situationally better, but if you're bad enough that you're always getting knocked around in every tough fight, it's useful pretty much every time. I suppose I could drop the difficulty level, but my pride won't let me go below Normal!

Machine Strike doesn't seem to have any rewards other than skill points (which are easy enough to get) and Machine Strike pieces. I don't think there is a trophy for it. So it's completely optional if you don't like it. Actually, it's surprising how many things there aren't trophies for; I think you could platinum this and still have a lot of unplayed game.

Toughened is a fantastic choice for that tank sort of playstyle! My daughter loves both that and the Overshield Valor Surge in the same Survivor Tree. Don’t sleep on Potions and Potion Proficiency! Food is good as well. You can “overstock” on potions by picking up berries and shooting and looting whatever small animal happens to be in front of you. No need to go out of your way. Small Potions are 1 Wild Meat + 2 Berries and they give you Overheal for a nice chunk of extra health.

I do also want to call out Smoke Bomb use, which appears to be criminally underused in all playthroughs I’ve watched. Smoke Bomb is an item, so your item carry is the main limitation of its use, and it’s basically insta-Stealth for escapes or high damage strikes on command.

Weakening machines and enemies with traps before engaging is also remarkably effective. Those things don’t mess around. There are key pickups and equipment you can acquire and upgrade to enable easy parts farming (with Easy Loot on) that I can recommend depending on where you are in the game. No spoilers.

For endgame, farming SpikeSnouts, Bristlebacks and Plowhorns with Braced Shot sneak attacks every time you’re near the Desert areas are easy pickups. There are also very specific strategies for farming the more delicate pickups. No aimskill required.

Well, I return to the thread since I finished the game last night. Overall excellent sequel that exceeded my expectations and my hopes. Massive lead for my GotY and it's hard to imagine it losing that spot. I find Aloy to be a fantastic and enjoyable protagonist in an extremely fun and compelling world.

My experience with loot appears to be the opposite of the thread. I never turned on easy loot, played on hard, and am overflowing with loot. I primarily relied on the Marshal Hunter Bow's Advanced Arrows, and shredding shock and corrosion ammo. That's all extremely effective and resource cheap ammo. Those advanced arrows only take wood and shards, while doing anywhere from 200-500 damage per shot.

Unsolicited advice. If you're going to upgrade any of the legendary gear, I highly recommend the Nora Thunder Armor. While it does not look as awesome as the blue-tier Nora armor, I found the skills and defenses make the late/end game a lot easier.

LarryC, there is a purple sharpshot bow with tearblast ammo. It's my go-to for making literally everything fly off the more densely packed monsters and it never leaves my bottom spot. I found a mostly stable loadout of 6 pieces of equipment that allowed me to utilize every element and do lots of damage. It only consists of hunter bows, sharpshot bows, and shredder gauntlets though.

Most frustrating enemy is easily the shellsnapper. Those things are literal tanks. I had to fight them a lot of times to upgrade some of the best gear. Being forced to shoot off the bolts ended up being a *big* hint on how to best handle them.

I don't plan to be done any time soon. Still need to finish all the races, machine strike opponents, and remove all the fog from the map. By then, hopefully NG+ or the expansion will be announced.

peanut3141 wrote:

Well, I return to the thread since I finished the game last night. Overall excellent sequel that exceeded my expectations and my hopes. Massive lead for my GotY and it's hard to imagine it losing that spot. I find Aloy to be a fantastic and enjoyable protagonist in an extremely fun and compelling world.

My experience with loot appears to be the opposite of the thread. I never turned on easy loot, played on hard, and am overflowing with loot. I primarily relied on the Marshal Hunter Bow's Advanced Arrows, and shredding shock and corrosion ammo. That's all extremely effective and resource cheap ammo. Those advanced arrows only take wood and shards, while doing anywhere from 200-500 damage per shot.

Unsolicited advice. If you're going to upgrade any of the legendary gear, I highly recommend the Nora Thunder Armor. While it does not look as awesome as the blue-tier Nora armor, I found the skills and defenses make the late/end game a lot easier.

LarryC, there is a purple sharpshot bow with tearblast ammo. It's my go-to for making literally everything fly off the more densely packed monsters and it never leaves my bottom spot. I found a mostly stable loadout of 6 pieces of equipment that allowed me to utilize every element and do lots of damage. It only consists of hunter bows, sharpshot bows, and shredder gauntlets though.

Most frustrating enemy is easily the shellsnapper. Those things are literal tanks. I had to fight them a lot of times to upgrade some of the best gear. Being forced to shoot off the bolts ended up being a *big* hint on how to best handle them.

I don't plan to be done any time soon. Still need to finish all the races, machine strike opponents, and remove all the fog from the map. By then, hopefully NG+ or the expansion will be announced.

Yes. The Glowblast Sharpshot Bow is a Plasma Sharpshot Bow with Tearblast Arrows, the only other Sharpshot Bow with that ammo that I have. I put off upgrading it for a very long time because it requires Greenshine to upgrade, and I wasn’t sure whether to dedicate it to that or to the Sunshot Bow. Eventually, I upgraded the Sharpshot Bow.

I still haven’t gotten the Nora Thunder Warrior armor, actually, since everyone and their mother recommends it and I find my innate desire to be contrarian made that less appealing. I really should just get it and try it out at some point. Bonuses to Concentration and Weapon Stamina are things I like.

I’m playing on Hard now since endgame legendaries are just that OP. I tried turning off Easy Loot but found that I got annoyed farming Earthgrinders and Storm Cannons. The Mining Claws on Rockbreakers are a particular sore point, as the Apex Rockbreaker Mining Claws appear to be broken and just disappear even if you removed them fair and square.

I did also lose something like 35k Shards from the Mount Repair bug, so I’m not feeling particularly guilty about the Easy Loot option.

I’m looking forward to diving into this game now I have a PS5. I’ll have to work my way through ‘the lands between’ first though and that’s gonna take a loooooooong time by the sounds of it (I’m loving every second of it.)

Endgame Insight:

The Rebel Camps and Outposts concept here reimagines the human outpost idea.

The Outposts are just that - small strong locations where Rebels can annoy you when you’re traveling from place to place. You get rid of them to remove this barrier and sometimes you get a Workbench or a Campfire for your troubles.

The Camps are an entire emergent side quest line of their own and that side quest line leads to a pretty juicy payoff so you might want to pursue that sooner rather than later. Camps can be found by exploring the wilds or listening to rumors at various settlements.

Interesting bit about the "the Apex Rockbreaker Mining Claws appear to be broken and just disappear even if you removed them fair and square", LarryC. I wonder if this more widespread too cause I was fighting a Thunderjaw yesterday and I'm sure I blasted off it's tail, but it wasn't on the field when I finished and started to collect.