Topic: Horizon Forbidden West

Just made it to the Forbidden West.
Good news is characters in this game seem very good.
Also, I'm back on the 30 fps mode - this might change a few more times

It's petty much everything I wanted it to be. I'm going to put a stupid amount of hours into this game.

This game is just insanely beautiful. I wish I was any good with photo mode but this is the best I got…

The Side Quests are very good, trying to do all I can before continuing with main quests. Very interesting for the most part with cool story arcs.

Combat feels much better, however I played God of War right before this, so I find myself hitting L1 trying to parry and getting it handed to me, but at least I'm not trying to dodge using x anymore.

@Splat Even though I'm only a couple of hours into it so far, same here. Not shocking since this was my most anticipated game in a long time, but still, I'm pretty impressed with it already. It's kind of a shame to be playing it in 30 FPS again after playing Zero Dawn in 60 FPS a couple of months ago, but it is a huge leap in graphical quality.

I thought the first area in Zero Dawn was by far the best, due to the more interesting environment and it being a little enclosed slice of the somewhat bloated main game. Whereas the very familiar environments of the opening area in Forbidden West isn’t grabbing me. I wasn’t a big fan of the desert-y areas in the first one but I’m guessing the lovely looking beaches and forests and stuff are going to be available after I finish up this bit.

I think they've somehow managed to make the combat with human enemies even worse. An arrow to the face now only takes a fraction of health away. Whack 'em with a spear and bits of armour fall off them like machines. I know Aloy can do fancy finish moves but you still have to repeatedly whack enemies to build up the charge for them. Those enemy camps are getting done post game.

@nessisonett @ApostateMage I put a few skill points into the "warrior" tree (I think that's what it's called - the one with melee combos and stuff) and did the first melee pit, which is basically a melee tutorial - and I actually don't find it too bad

I’ve found the combat to be good so far. I like that you can now target individual parts of machines and even in resolution mode it’s proving to be really responsive. One thing I’m not sure about is the range you can get on the powered up strike. It’s seems a bit much that you can launch yourself a good 10 metres when something that was next to you when you started to wind it up moves away. Other than that no complaints.

I’m looking forward to getting to the point I did with ZD where I had a bow for each specific elemental damage with maxed out stats. I knew all the gear and it seemed easy to just find the right item in my inventory whereas at the moment I’m having to think about it.

@velio84 Overriding that first tallneck was cool but yeah it does splatter the map with icons all of a sudden 😵‍💫

@nessisonett @Voltan Aye, I've got a few of the combos and extra damage from the warrior skill tree but those meatbags are still very much spear sponges. I reckon it will be more gear/coil dependent than skill set.

Infiltrator/hunter is the way I'm rollin'.

Machine Strike’s alright actually. Maybe a teensy bit too complicated for its own good though. Gwent and Orlog shone in their simplicity, with the collectible pieces/cards just adding a different tactical edge to the game.

@Fragile So no mountains popping into view after Aloy then 😂

@Fragile I did chuckle a little as I thought it was a well written reaction, but in all honestly I think Varl actually looks better in the game with the beard. I guess it doesn't hurt that technically everybody looks better in the game, but you get the idea, I'm sure.

I know there will be better looking games, especially once we get to the point where everything is new gen only, but this is likely the most beautiful game I've ever played. The amount of care that went into everything, including NPCs everywhere and severely upgraded facial animations, really shows.

@nessisonett I was about to try Machine Strike, but had to call it a day. Hopefully I end up being able to wrap my head around it and enjoy it as much as Orlog and Gwent tomorrow.

@velio84 It depends what some of the new enemy types are as if they are like the fireclaws from frozen wilds there might still be some challenges. You are probably right though and that’s when I turned up the difficulty in HZD as on normal it felt a bit too easy.

The Strike board game is a fun idea, but the individual pieces are difficult to recognise. So you have to manually check every piece when you're playing. I wish it was a little more stylised, less detailed board, more focus on the actual pieces. Maybe a little bit of paint or different materials to differentiate them.

@lolwhatno Hi there friend.
I´m loving the game a lot.
I´ve reached the Forbidden West part of the game and got the shieldwing glider and now, every time I go to a high place, I jump and glide, just like I did so many times in Breath of the Wild. Because it´s fun.
No flying mounts yet though, but have faced a new bird machine type.
Don´t know if you have the game or not, but if you like these kind of games or liked the previous one, your gonna love HFW. Well worth it.
Cheers, stay safe and have a good one

@Octane I 100% agree with all that

Funny bug:
I made the mistake of attacking a thunderjaw early
Died and woke up in the middle of a remote rebel camp, with all the enemies aware of my presence (because I basically spawned next to the rebel leader).

That's one less camp to clear later, I guess

@Fragile Cross-gen games aren't being held back. There, I said it even though you said I couldn't.

I'll never play a Souls game as insanely frustrating games aren't my thing, so I can't comment on Demon's Souls. I'll take your word for it though as I've seen nothing but praise for the PS5 version of the game.

@Voltan I guess that was supposed to be your punishment for attacking a Thunderjaw early. Then you went and overachieved and killed all the rebels.