Horizon: Zero Dawn & Forbidden West

[lowfat]

There are a couple things I don't like about the game.

First I don't like the skill trees much. There are way too many and I don't feel like most add anything to the game. I've taken every skill I will ever benefit from and I STILL have 105 skill points to use. wtf.

And then there is the grind. Upgrading equipment may be the most tedious shit I've seen in a game. The parts to upgrade the items can get completely ridiculous. I've been trying to upgrade one bow for like a week. Needs an 'Apex' version of a boss machine. Except the damn Apex version only appears maybe 1 in 20x it spawns. Another part I need has something like a 16% drop rate on another boss machine. And I need 2. WHY? Forget about the upgrading legendary equipment. It will never happen. I'd have to spend 50 hours loading, running to their areas, hoping an apex spawns. Rinse, repeat.

 

[LaughingCrow]

There are a couple things I don't like about the game.

First I don't like the skill trees much. There are way too many and I don't feel like most add anything to the game. I've taken every skill I will ever benefit from and I STILL have 105 skill points to use. wtf.

And then there is the grind. Upgrading equipment may be the most tedious shit I've seen in a game. The parts to upgrade the items can get completely ridiculous. I've been trying to upgrade one bow for like a week. Needs an 'Apex' version of a boss machine. Except the damn Apex version only appears maybe 1 in 20x it spawns. Another part I need has something like a 16% drop rate on another boss machine. And I need 2. WHY? Forget about the upgrading legendary equipment. It will never happen. I'd have to spend 50 hours loading, running to their areas, hoping an apex spawns. Rinse, repeat.

Been a while, yes, tedious and I pretty much ignored the higher end upgrading as you point out. IIRC the APEX versions come out in specific locations at night - but I could be wrong. PS 5 - but there's probably a mod on the PC.

 

[lowfat]

Finally beat main game + DLC. Put in nearly 200 hours so far.

Visuals 10/10. Game looks ridiculous and it runs so smooth.
Story 6/10. Huge drop over the first game. It isn't terrible it just doesn't come close to ZD. Most of the voice acting is really good. But once again I feel as if Aloy's VA isn't great.
Gameplay 7/10. IMO too many weapons, damage types, and skills. Melee is so convoluted. I am not playing Mortal Kombat, I don't want to learn the dozen damn combos. Skipped the arena, the hunting lodges, and fighting pits because they all forced you to learn the million combos / weapons. There is already enough grind in the game, I don't wan't to spent another couple dozen hours learning stuff I'll never use again lol.
DLC wasn't all that great. 6/10. Frozen Wilds in the first game was unique. This didn't feel that way at all. The 2 new machines are generally pretty tedious.

Started a new game+ on ultra hard and will continue to play for now.

 

[lowfat]

Not sure how I didn't mention this. These games have THE worst journal in likely gaming history. I've never seen something so utterly trash. I always end up just googling what I'm looking for as it is so frustrating trying to deal with the journal. Literally every entry icon is the same.

EDIT: Also load times are simply the best of any game ever. It is unbelievable how fast things load.

 

[lowfat]

Finally finished my NG+ / Ultra Hard run. I ended up doing every mission again. Although I didn't do all the Arena / Fighting Pits as it is just way too tedious.

Ultra Hard makes the game so much harder. It eliminates any auto aim so I end up missing a good 50% of the time. But was still fun. The phantom levels after you reach max level are cool. Ended up @ level 107, which is 57 levels higher than max.

I still think the game looks absolutely incredible. Never seen a game look so crisp. Probably the best looking textures I've ever seen.

 

[lowfat]

Hmm. Want to upgrade to the Remastered version of Zero Dawn. But they've removed the option. I know it was there before. Better be a bug.



EDIT: They fixed the issue. Just over 100GB for install, 30GB larger than the non - remastered version.

 

[LaughingCrow]

Hmm. Want to upgrade to the Remastered version of Zero Dawn. But they've removed the option. I know it was there before. Better be a bug.

EDIT: They fixed the issue. Just over 100GB for install, 30GB larger than the non - remastered version.

It looks like the download time varies around the world.

 

[lowfat]

It looks like the download time varies around the world.

Definitely was a bug. This was 1.5hr after launch. I could buy the game but not the upgrade. Bunch of people were stating same issue on the team community. But nixxes commented fast and had it fixed in 20 minutes.

 

[Lysrin]

I have it on GOG and no remaster upgrade available there. Bummer.

 

[LaughingCrow]

I have it on GOG and no remaster upgrade available there. Bummer.

Same. Will order it for the PS5, since it's been upgraded for the PS5 hardware and controller. Someone on Reddit suggested that it's a SONY thing - DRM. GOG got it 3 months later. So it might still be possible on GOG.