Horizon Forbidden West

I use melee as my primary option since it doesn't use any resources and it doesn't matter what elements you're dealing with. The charge-up R2 is incredibly strong. It knocks anything that isn't gigantic down and will allow you to land a critical attack while they're down. It's instantly death for anything except a boss and it's easy to use after dodging almost anything. It also travels a long, long way and tracks enemies as long as you hold in their general direction. Yet the other melee attacks might as well not even be there. There's an entire skill tree I wasted a pile of points into...and it has been a waste. That R2 attack (and one combo where you hit R1 once and then hold R2) = the only ones worth doing. Seems you can't respec your stat points, either.
 
I use melee a ton. I typically end up landing R1 X3 and R2 and it rips off armor pieces priming enemies for a potential shot in the exposed areas.
Charge R2 is quite difficult to land. Will try again.

Mostly I am using the machine gun bolt blaster thing. Point, go in concentrate mode, and it definitely lands some good hits on weak spots. Is a bitch to reload though so I carry 2. :D.

Hit level 30 and going after third routine now. Forbidden dope indeed.
 
98% of the time I am sniping everything from a long way away in stealth mode. I strip everything off with tear arrows that I can get. That usually sets machines up to die in a few hits. Everytime things get hairy and close range, I run and dive to get distance then keep using the bow or explosive javelin mainly with a few occasions to use explosive sling shots bombs. I rarely use traps and for some reason I can't get the rope caster to work like it use to in the first game. I think the whole full draw thing they added to it or it won't go into armored machines made it really a lot harder to use. I have always been bad with melee in this game. It always feels like I am getting beat most of the time, though that could also be because of my armor choice since I prioritize stealth not defense.
 
Haven’t found a good tear bow still. I am sure it is somewhere but the one I have doesn’t do crap. Also cost of tear ammo is insane. I think this is first time in the game that I am thinking about doing some machine farming to get what I need.

Btw can you create multiple jobs yet in this game. I want to create a job for everything so when I get to a place at least it tells me what to expect. Forgot if that was possible in HZD.
 
I am quite enjoying the game, but getting more frustrated as I go further West and the combat. I just hit the jungle areas and the combat is really getting me. WIth all the trees and machines, its really hard to move around, dodge, etc and the machines in this area are no joke. Not sure if I am doing something wrong or just a struggle in general? I am all for fighting strategically, but its just ambush after ambush with hardly any room to move around, dodge, avoid, etc.
 
This one is definitely more rock/paper/scissors with the elemental stuff. Plus, some enemies just seem to be spongy while I'm dying in 2 hits. I haven't figured out if that's the game or if I'm missing something. It's not crushingly hard or anything, but the times I've died have felt very random and sudden. I'll have a giant robot fling itself at me and lose like 50 health, but I'll die instantly from a rock or ball of flame that was thrown from a mile away.
 
JavaLava said:
I am quite enjoying the game, but getting more frustrated as I go further West and the combat. I just hit the jungle areas and the combat is really getting me. WIth all the trees and machines, its really hard to move around, dodge, etc and the machines in this area are no joke. Not sure if I am doing something wrong or just a struggle in general? I am all for fighting strategically, but its just ambush after ambush with hardly any room to move around, dodge, avoid, etc.
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Are you playing on a harder difficulty? I just gained access to the western area (past the DMZ), but I went back into the DMZ to cleanup because I always end up over-powered when I do that. I'm on the default difficulty and they're not joking around; the amount of tail whipping enemies is too damn high. As soon as I spotted those robotic kangaroos I knew those were going to be real jerks. I'm not frustrated yet, but I can see that in my future.
 
djoye said:
Are you playing on a harder difficulty? I just gained access to the western area (past the DMZ), but I went back into the DMZ to cleanup because I always end up over-powered when I do that. I'm on the default difficulty and they're not joking around; the amount of tail whipping enemies is too damn high. As soon as I spotted those robotic kangaroos I knew those were going to be real jerks. I'm not frustrated yet, but I can see that in my future.
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I am playing on normal and don't find it difficult at all. I haven't felt frustrated yet. I am like 20 hours at level 28. My OCD been kicking in and I have to get all the ?.
 
I still find myself using charge-up R2 over and over. I've died a few times here and there, but it's always random stuff fired from long distance and not anything I would have seen. I just hit level 20 and have decided to just roll with the plot instead of hunting down all the ?'s and side stuff. I've started to run into more locations that are locked down, so I'm taking that as a sign that I should do the main missions.
 
djoye said:
Are you playing on a harder difficulty? I just gained access to the western area (past the DMZ), but I went back into the DMZ to cleanup because I always end up over-powered when I do that. I'm on the default difficulty and they're not joking around; the amount of tail whipping enemies is too damn high. As soon as I spotted those robotic kangaroos I knew those were going to be real jerks. I'm not frustrated yet, but I can see that in my future.
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Default difficulty and I'm talking the way way west area's, not just past DMZ and the start of "Forbidden West" lands. I was fine in the desert lands, but the jungles and far west....its a struggle at least for me. I have been reading some articles about enemies are more bullet spongey in this game, etc. The spongey part doesn't bother me as much, my issue is more about the focus on combat, strategy, and how its next to impossible to really play strategically. Its just a onslaught of enemies with hardly any room to move and a barrage of attacks.
 
JavaLava said:
Default difficulty and I'm talking the way way west area's, not just past DMZ and the start of "Forbidden West" lands. I was fine in the desert lands, but the jungles and far west....its a struggle at least for me. I have been reading some articles about enemies are more bullet spongey in this game, etc. The spongey part doesn't bother me as much, my issue is more about the focus on combat, strategy, and how its next to impossible to really play strategically. Its just a onslaught of enemies with hardly any room to move and a barrage of attacks.
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Traps and stealth are OP. Advanced traps are basically cheating.
 
JavaLava said:
Default difficulty and I'm talking the way way west area's, not just past DMZ and the start of "Forbidden West" lands. I was fine in the desert lands, but the jungles and far west....its a struggle at least for me. I have been reading some articles about enemies are more bullet spongey in this game, etc. The spongey part doesn't bother me as much, my issue is more about the focus on combat, strategy, and how its next to impossible to really play strategically. Its just a onslaught of enemies with hardly any room to move and a barrage of attacks.
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I feel the opposite, this game demands you fight strategically all the time. It's detrimental otherwise. I stealth go in, I scan each target and tag all "detachable" parts on each pack of machines. Then start sniping with tear arrows or hunter arrows with high tear ratings. The most important thing is to remove all weapons and/or the parts marked "ability removal" when you scan them. With my play style distance is very important, the longer range the better. Some fights take me 10 minutes before I really engage as I strip off "ability"/"attack" parts stealthy from all nearby machines first.
 
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So I finished the main story quest last night. Amazing game but I have to admit that it was filled with a lot of bugs and janky traversal issues that plagued the first game as well but Guerilla didn't bother to improve here. The climbing and the mount path finding are still really bad. I was also hitting an issue where the game would finish a cut scene then the game would run at like 15 fps until I closed it and relaunched. It happened to me twice so it wasn't a one off fluke. I guess dealing with buggy day one releases is something we have to learn to live with.
 
LurkerLito said:
I feel the opposite, this game demands you fight strategically all the time. It's detrimental otherwise. I stealth go in, I scan each target and tag all "detachable" parts on each pack of machines. Then start sniping with tear arrows or hunter arrows with high tear ratings. The most important thing is to remove all weapons and/or the parts marked "ability removal" when you scan them. With my play style distance is very important, the longer range the better. Some fights take me 10 minutes before I really engage as I strip off "ability"/"attack" parts stealthy from all nearby machines first.
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Probably part of my issue. I usually start off stealth, lay down some traps, wires, etc. Proceed into shooting off some parts, whether they are weapons or key upgrade items. Then I usually like to get up and personal, whether its melee, some bomblasters, arrows, etc. Did this "hybrid" approach in the first game and had a blast. Not about full stealth, distance, etc to be honest.
 
I don't have the patience to pitter pat non-boss enemies. I tend to sneak in and ambush anything that happens to be near tall grass. After 1-2 kills, there's a 90% chance something (or someone) sees me and then it's on. From there it's a bunch of rolling around followed by charged-up R2's and critical attacks after they land. The exact same strategy works wonders in Bloodborne (via the Axe), too. If I get hit, you can heal via berries while you're in the middle of doing literally anything. Hitting enemies with the spear will trigger those glowing blue globes you can shoot for big damage, so I'll fire arrows at those as needed. That's how I've been playing every encounter short of a boss. Most encounters are over pretty quickly. I don't like micromanaging supplies, having to upgrade like 40 weapons, or scanning everything in sight...so I just don't. :D
 
Domingo said:
I don't have the patience to pitter pat non-boss enemies. I tend to sneak in and ambush anything that happens to be near tall grass. After 1-2 kills, there's a 90% chance something (or someone) sees me and then it's on. From there it's a bunch of rolling around followed by charged-up R2's and critical attacks after they land. The exact same strategy works wonders in Bloodborne (via the Axe), too. If I get hit, you can heal via berries while you're in the middle of doing literally anything. Hitting enemies with the spear will trigger those glowing blue globes you can shoot for big damage, so I'll fire arrows at those as needed. That's how I've been playing every encounter short of a boss. Most encounters are over pretty quickly. I don't like micromanaging supplies, having to upgrade like 40 weapons, or scanning everything in sight...so I just don't. :D
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I play exactly the same way aside from using charged R2 attack. But I used it once or twice last night and saw how powerful it is, so it might become more common for me.
 
Horizon Forbidden West– Patch 1.06

A new Horizon Forbidden West update is now live on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, bringing plenty of gameplay, interface, and graphics fixes and improvements...the 1.06 update also introduces a lot of fixes for issues found in main quests and side quests...*some patch notes may contain spoilers*

https://www.reddit.com/r/horizon/comments/t4x320/horizon_forbidden_west_patch_106/
 
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polonyc2 said:
Horizon Forbidden West– Patch 1.06

A new Horizon Forbidden West update is now live on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, bringing plenty of gameplay, interface, and graphics fixes and improvements...the 1.06 update also introduces a lot of fixes for issues found in main quests and side quests...

https://www.reddit.com/r/horizon/comments/t4x320/horizon_forbidden_west_patch_106/
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The mount fix couldn't come soon enough. That was my one serious gripe with the game.
 
Domingo said:
"Aloy will not mention her stash quite as often as before" - the fix we all really wanted ;)
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This is funny and welcomed. I could also do with not being reminded of certain gameplay tips when I'm 20+ hours in. Yes, I know I can swipe up to view the full HUD.
 
I seem to have stumbled upon the first area that is legit really tough. I think I'm finally going to have to start upgrading stuff. Any tips on what I should bother with? I have more weapons at level 23 than I got in the entire first game. Feels like most of them are identical, but with different elements.
 
Domingo said:
I seem to have stumbled upon the first area that is legit really tough. I think I'm finally going to have to start upgrading stuff. Any tips on what I should bother with? I have more weapons at level 23 than I got in the entire first game. Feels like most of them are identical, but with different elements.
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And this is the reason why I put down the first game - all of the weapons you can buy at the first shop all end-up being almost identical. (aim cross-hairs, shoot projectile, create new projectile)

Haven't these future idiots ever heard of a whip?
 
Domingo said:
I seem to have stumbled upon the first area that is legit really tough. I think I'm finally going to have to start upgrading stuff. Any tips on what I should bother with? I have more weapons at level 23 than I got in the entire first game. Feels like most of them are identical, but with different elements.
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I’m not at your level yet, so I’m still using a lot of beginner green and blue tier weapons, but I will say it’s a good idea to look at the skill tree and see which weapon upgrade options interest you. It might determine which weapons you choose to buy.
 
I am level 31 and found several purple weapons that I have upgraded to. Problem is I haven't been able to com across the upgrade items to get them past level 2. Which makes them barely any better the the starter green stuff.
 
Right now I have a pile of green weapons that I don't really care about. I upgraded a few of them, but I think I might just sell all of the greens in favor of upgrading some blues...or hold out for purples. I suppose that's my issue. I don't want to waste resources upgrading gear that's going to be obsolete. My few items that I did upgrade seem worthless already.
 
My suggestion is to just use the green and blue ones as is or if you need a small boost no more than level 1 upgrades. A fully upgraded green is about as strong as a level 1 blue and in blue vs purple, a max blue is about a level 1 purple. Weapon upgrade components aren't hard to come buy if you do a bunch of side missions (especially salvage ones) but you will need at least one hunter bow with high tear values, or sharpshooter bow with tear arrows to make life easier. I highly recommend maxing your ammo pouches though, but that kind of gathering is tedious. Just every time you go to a new area scan for all the wildlife that gets highlighted and shoot them all for a few minutes before you continue on to build up a reserve. You'll use it up relatively quickly as you upgrade, but you'll be able to reduce your actual gathering time by doing it. The biggest pain is are the fish parts to gather. They removed shooting fish, you now have to swim and catch them by hand which I find to be stupid. And while you don't need the underwater gear that you get after a certain main quest mission (I did it without it for 2 of my hunter and sharpshooter ammo pouches), it helps immensely for gathering the deep water fish parts.
 
My PS5 was delivered yesterday afternoon. I've played the first 20 levels on the PS4 Pro. I transferred my save file over and have dropped several hours on the PS5 version. Things that have stood out to me (please allow for some OH SHINEY! bias, too)...
  • Controls are substantively more responsive;
  • Controller itself moves and shakes in strange and unusual ways still getting used to it;
  • Trigger resistance is weird and I'm just now getting over the fact that I don't think I'll break the trigger if it resists... it's just weird;
  • Holy lighting changes batman!!!
  • Higher resolution is way nicer!!!
  • Yay draw distance being mo'better!!!
  • WTF is wrong with that water texture? It's literally ON the trail beyond the water's edge with a clear and conspicuous corner!?
  • Holy lighting changes batman!!!
  • Aloy still sometimes looks off at random things while in conversations...
Did I mention the lighting difference?

Nothing crazy for differences... lighting is the biggest thing.
 
The further I get the more I really dislike the changes they made to the weapons. I feel like the plot is definitely better and more compelling, but the gameplay...not so much. Everything feels tedious. Not challenging necessarily, but everything you want to do is a constant resource drain. I don't feel like I'm getting any more powerful or learning/advancing. I'm just doing the same stuff and there are way too many weapons, ammo types, upgrade materials, weaknesses, etc. to constantly have to monitor. I have a metric boatload of shards, but everything wants a pile of other materials I have to hunt down, too. Nothing is straightforward. It's like the developers wanted to milk the number of hours the game is valued at. At first I was thinking I do all the side stuff and max out my levels/gear. Now (as of level 30) I now want to just motor through the rest of the game and reach the end.
 
Yeah, I'm feeling like weapons and outfit progression is harder or more awkward here than in the first game as well. I also think the skills trees are more convoluted than they need to be and that they could have easily combined a few of them since some of them seem to have overlapping stat boosts. But I'm not having any issues getting by with the blue and purple weapons and outfits I've found so far either.

Another thing that annoys me is that apparently you need to unlock a sunbird override, and therefore beat a cauldron near one of the tallnecks in the dessert. And that cauldron can be entered, but you cannot get past the first area without progressing further into the main quests. I spent like 20 minutes wondering around that cauldron before looking it up and annoyed that there's no indication (that I saw at least) telling you this in the game, and also that this is needed just to see this area of the map that you end up revealing through exploration anyways if the decide to do most of the side quests available there. Just seems like bad design/logic to me here. Not a huge deal, just annoying.

I just reached level 30 doing mostly side quests and am now and to hop back onto the main quests again to find the 3 other subroutines for GAIA.

I mentioned this in the GT7 thread too, with no responses, but to you OLED users, I'm having this HDR issue that this game seems to mostly trigger on my TV. But I made that thread in the display forum too to get some proper help with it. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate some.
 
I feel like the things I really liked in the original (hunting grounds, giant animal battles, different element types) have been dialed way back. They give me all of these weaves that I can't seem to use because all my gear upgrades want parts I never seem to find on anything. All the while I'm just holding R2 or spamming R1, R2 combos all day. I kill everything short of mini-bosses that gets in my way and I run everywhere. Arrows are doing pitter pat damage in spite of whatever ammo/weakness is shown. I've found the first part of Gaia and rather than bother with all of the side stuff I'm just going to go for the next two. If I run into more hunts, arenas, etc. along the way - great. If not, I'm fine with it. The actual core story is pretty enjoyable thus far, so I'm more willing to do those missions as a result.
 
I have a sort of similar reaction as you two, only maybe coming at it from a different direction. While I don’t find anything particularly annoying (combat, weapons, gear grind, story), I find myself just not that excited about the game. I enjoy it when I play but I’m just not that ‘into’ it. I can’t exactly pinpoint why. I typically pick a game and focus on it, playing it and only it to completion, before moving onto the next. I’m considering starting something else (maybe Elden Ring) and popping in and out of HFW as the mood hits.
 
Yeah they geared the drops to be basically unattainable unless you use a bow to remove parts from the machine first before you kill machines. If you are melee-ing everything you aren't going to get the proper drops to upgrade your equipment. Just focus on some machine while hidden then use the left right dpad and you see stuff listed as "detachable" + "is destroyed when killed" and most of your weapon upgrade parts are set that way. The number of weapons is god awful because of the whole upgrade mechanic. The first game was better in that the bow was basically maxed by default then you modified it with extra coil mods. I liked that system much better. I really dislike the I can't use the full power of the bow unless I upgrade it first mechanic that they copied from Tomb Raider. The same applies to the armor. Spending so much time gathering resources sucks, yeah the RNG is at least better than the first game in giving you what you need (from my experience) but the fact I have to spend so much time gathering just sucks. BTW if you do salvage missions you can buy some of those upgrade parts but again not with shards, but basically these parts you salvage for the contracts. Similarly the black boxes scattered around the world can also be used to trade for certain parts in one town.
 
I think the developers went all-in with trying to maximize gameplay hours at the expense of fun. It's still a good/impressive game and probably still a strong B. It's just that the entire system of inventory/upgrades is needlessly tedious. I'm just going to keep moving forward with the blue/purple level 1 and 2 stuff I have. My arrows don't do squat for damage (even if something is supposedly "weak" to them), but my slingshot grenades luckily do. Hopefully that'll be enough to get me to the end, because I don't feel like grinding in this game.
 
Agreed, they definitely went too far maximizing gameplay hours and time sinks.

Like the first game those Slingshot explosives are really good and so are the explosive javelins. The weak to certain elements only applies after you get past the threshold of element build up. The speed of the build up is dependent to the bow upgrade level. So if it's weak to acid, until you shoot enough acid arrows at it for the machine to change color to indicate it's being affected by the element, it's not really doing almost no damage. Once it takes affect everything you hit it with increases damage so you'll have to switch to something with more punch than the element arrow you are using. So a weak acid machine, spam acid arrows or slingshot to build up acid, when it changes color or the indicator shows up that the element is active, switch to explosive or high impact arrows to take it down much faster but depending on the machine you'll have to repeat this more than once.

You should have no problems getting to the end IMHO. I find this game really low stress progress wise. I have grinded a lot to get upgrade parts but I am done now cause I don't want to anymore lol. I think I'll be done today if I stop doing my side/errand quest backlog.
 
I never thought mastering all the melee techniques would end up with me having the privilege to get my ass kicked by Gran Stonewell.

That's what I get for playing the game on increased difficulty. I regret nothing! NOTHING!!!
 
I'm definitely beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of side quests and additional tasks I've accumulated. I'm at a point where I need to head to the coast for the main story, but I want to cleanup side quests, so I'm going to head back east and then sweep to the west because I think I have everything necessary for access. Instead of skipping the extra quests, I might just drop the difficulty if I want to speed up progress.
 
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