Horizon Zero Dawn (Official Discussion Thread)

Was wondering what the general consensus on this game was, you all talked me into it!

It's pretty fantastic. One of the better open-world action games I can recall. It offers a great mix of pure finesse combat (a la Dark Souls) and strategy.
 
I wonder if Sony will be generous again and release it on PC...
I'd bet it probably will be, after a very healthy amount of time of it being exclusive on PS5. I'm hoping HZD and Death Stranding successfully demonstrated sales potential for putting the games on PC- although it really was across the spectrum, HZD needed a lot of TLC while Death Stranding was in better shape upon release.
 
I'd bet it probably will be, after a very healthy amount of time of it being exclusive on PS5. I'm hoping HZD and Death Stranding successfully demonstrated sales potential for putting the games on PC- although it really was across the spectrum, HZD needed a lot of TLC while Death Stranding was in better shape upon release.

I don't think Sony needed those games as proof that their games would be successful on PC...they have to know that Last of Us, Bloodborne, God of War, Spider Man etc would do amazing sales on PC...they are just choosing to keep them as PS exclusives
 
I don't think Sony needed those games as proof that their games would be successful on PC...they have to know that Last of Us, Bloodborne, God of War, Spider Man etc would do amazing sales on PC...they are just choosing to keep them as PS exclusives

With Microsoft buying up huge studios I see Sony scaling back porting plans. Most people were choosing Playstation because it had good exclusives. Now they have competition. Hopefully they continue with their PC release plans.
 
With Microsoft buying up huge studios I see Sony scaling back porting plans. Most people were choosing Playstation because it had good exclusives. Now they have competition. Hopefully they continue with their PC release plans.

I'm a PC gamer but if I'm Sony I would keep those big titles as PS exclusives...it forces people to buy a PS5 to play them...you get more $$ from people buying the consoles then you would from the PC sales of those games...
 
I'm a PC gamer but if I'm Sony I would keep those big titles as PS exclusives...it forces people to buy a PS5 to play them...you get more $$ from people buying the consoles then you would from the PC sales of those games...
The only reason I own a PS5 - so many great exclusives. I won’t wait to play Forbidden West on PC, I’m too impatient.
 
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The only reason I own a PS5 - so many great exclusives. I won’t wait to play Forbidden West on PC, I’m too impatient.

Def same here. If anything they'll get my money twice again like they did with HZD on PS4 and PC. I'll bet I'm far from the only one to have done that too. But if the PS5 version of Forbidden West runs at a dynamic 4k or 1440p/60, as I expect it too since most current gen games now either support or targeting 60 FPS, then I may be less inclined to buy it again on PC. I'm kinda interested in how well they'll support the Dual Sense on it too and kinda dig the adaptive triggers and advanced haptics. I still played the game with controller on PC too and prefer controllers for most non-FPS games.
 
I'd rather play Forbidden West on the PC, but if the PS5 version has a 60fps mode, I'll happily play it there instead. I'm generally more sensitive to framerate, so as long as the consoles can push 60fps at least in 1080p - that's fine by me. Especially if it means I can play now instead of waiting for a hopeful/eventual PC release.
 
I'm not going to buy a console regardless. Was thinking of a PS4 but kept missing the black Friday deals. By the time it had enough good games it was pretty dated. Probably won't even bother trying for a PS5. Don't really have the space or want to deal with a console.
 
With how important hitting "weak points" is in this game, many of them small moving targets, there's no way I'm gonna play this franchise on console without kb/m accuracy. I'll wait till the sequel it hits PC, if it doesn't I'll skip it. Accuracy/aiming on a controller is too frustrating.
 
With how important hitting "weak points" is in this game, many of them small moving targets, there's no way I'm gonna play this franchise on console without kb/m accuracy. I'll wait till the sequel it hits PC, if it doesn't I'll skip it. Accuracy/aiming on a controller is too frustrating.
This is one of the easiest games to aim with on a console.
 
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yeah, the aim assist is very forgiving. I actually found it more difficult on KB/M than the PS4.
Can't agree with that, but the aim assist is very good. I turned it off on KB/M because it was making my shots curve in a weird way.
 
I beat the entire game with mouse/keyboard without aim assist and didn't realize that I was handicapping myself. I felt like certain weak points required a crazy level of precision and thought that was the default.

Glad to see that it's not, tbh.

I thought it made the game really challenging and I could never have made those with dual stick. If the autoaim is really good that makes a hell of a lot more sense.
 
I beat the entire game with mouse/keyboard without aim assist and didn't realize that I was handicapping myself. I felt like certain weak points required a crazy level of precision and thought that was the default.

Glad to see that it's not, tbh.

I thought it made the game really challenging and I could never have made those with dual stick. If the autoaim is really good that makes a hell of a lot more sense.
I typically stick to using gamepad on games that were designed for it (originally console titles). I used a PS4 gamepad and the arrows curved to hit the spot that I was aiming at on the target. Not sure if that is how it also behaves with KB/M, but that's the level of aim assist I experienced. I can't remember if it was enabled or just automatically used with the gamepad, I typically use it when using a gamepad.
 
I typically stick to using gamepad on games that were designed for it (originally console titles). I used a PS4 gamepad and the arrows curved to hit the spot that I was aiming at on the target. Not sure if that is how it also behaves with KB/M, but that's the level of aim assist I experienced. I can't remember if it was enabled or just automatically used with the gamepad, I typically use it when using a gamepad.
It does NOT behave that way.
 
I beat the entire game with mouse/keyboard without aim assist and didn't realize that I was handicapping myself. I felt like certain weak points required a crazy level of precision and thought that was the default.

Glad to see that it's not, tbh.

I thought it made the game really challenging and I could never have made those with dual stick. If the autoaim is really good that makes a hell of a lot more sense.
The aim-assist on controller is pretty good, but I will admit I was never quite as accurate as I wanted to be on PS4 playing this game on a controller. KB/M feels a lot better for the level of precision you need, especially without aim-assist.

Apparently Ultra Hard turns off auto-aim entirely, so if you want to shoot for doing a run in that difficulty, you have to get used to it without.

I think the main purpose of the aim-assist is to make it so you don't have to lead the target as accurately if they are moving, so the arrow curves to compensate.
 
Have put a solid 10-12 hours into this since I got it over the weekend. It's a lot of fun and runs smoothly on pc, mouse and keyboard feel good to me. Looks great at 1440p maxed out on graphics.

Have found some good challenging fights and the battles are interesting so far.
 
Difficulty-wise, it's one of the few games where you don't out-level the game. In a lot of open world/open-ended games you end up fighting the same enemies while you keep getting more powerful gear and stats. Horizon does a good job of keeping the fights challenging even as you get better/stronger. The Frozen Wilds in particular is downright hard at times. The final hunter's lodge challenge is beastly and managing to kill all of the fireclaws is potentially even tougher. You can use a little cheese along the way, so the game does give you some options if you're ultra-patient.
 
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Bought it on sale from steam late last week and am loving every minute of play so far. This is a great game no doubt about it.
 
Yeah, finally had some time to pick it up, and am enjoying the first chapter.

I just transitioned to full adult after a one-minute training montage



Show a lot of things happening at once,

Remind everyone of what’s going on (what’s going on)

And with every shot, show a little improvement

To show it all would take to long

That’s called a montage (montage)

Girl we want montage (montage)
 
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Yeah, finally had some time to pick it up, and am enjoying the first chapter.

I just transitioned to full adult after a one-minute training montage



Show a lot of things happening at once,

Remind everyone of what’s going on (what’s going on)

And with every shot, show a little improvement

To show it all would take to long

That’s called a montage (montage)

Girl we want montage (montage)

Just wait until Aloy gets the "all people are dicks, pussies, and assholes" epiphany half way through the game, right before she gets kicked out of the bar and violently vomits an impossible amount onto the ground before passing out into said puddle of vomit.
 
I played through it on my PC with a PS 4 controller, absolutely brilliant game. The voice acting could be a bit mediocre at times, but Sylens, Rost, and Aloy were all excellent. The actual sci-far part of the story was a fairly unique development I haven't experienced in a movie or game before (some similar themes but there was unique enough of a twist I found it really engaging). I don't know, one of the most unique AAA titles I've played in a very, very long time. My one complaint is that the other weapons weren't really necessary, and I didn't really use them until I was like half way through the game. I felt they could've had some more introduction with some of the other weapons / made them more useful. I mostly just used the bow and trip caster the whole game.
 
I played through it on my PC with a PS 4 controller, absolutely brilliant game. The voice acting could be a bit mediocre at times, but Sylens, Rost, and Aloy were all excellent. The actual sci-far part of the story was a fairly unique development I haven't experienced in a movie or game before (some similar themes but there was unique enough of a twist I found it really engaging). I don't know, one of the most unique AAA titles I've played in a very, very long time. My one complaint is that the other weapons weren't really necessary, and I didn't really use them until I was like half way through the game. I felt they could've had some more introduction with some of the other weapons / made them more useful. I mostly just used the bow and trip caster the whole game.
Have you played the DLC yet?
 
Have you played the DLC yet?
No I haven't I decided to take a break and come back to it later when I had a hankering for more. I kind of over played the game a bit and burned out. (I'm playing Gears 5 Hive Busters at the moment, way better than the regular game so far.)
 
Ok so this is a great game, no doubt about it. But... I guess I just suck at it? I’m level 20 or so, playing on normal, and I’m having plenty of trouble on level ~15 or so stuff. I refuse to play a lower difficulty. Almost gave up on the second cauldron I entered (snapmaw and sawtooth I believe), had to take me 10 tries to beat, loads and loads of trip wires.

I have purple bows with purple/blue mods, try my damndest to shoot canisters and whatnot, just feel like it takes waaaay too many shots, hunter bow feels useless on anything above a watcher. I’m enjoying the challenge though and am trying to get better. Anyone have any tips?
 
Ok so this is a great game, no doubt about it. But... I guess I just suck at it? I’m level 20 or so, playing on normal, and I’m having plenty of trouble on level ~15 or so stuff. I refuse to play a lower difficulty. Almost gave up on the second cauldron I entered (snapmaw and sawtooth I believe), had to take me 10 tries to beat, loads and loads of trip wires.

I have purple bows with purple/blue mods, try my damndest to shoot canisters and whatnot, just feel like it takes waaaay too many shots, hunter bow feels useless on anything above a watcher. I’m enjoying the challenge though and am trying to get better. Anyone have any tips?
I played on hard and it can be pretty tough at times and some of the dinos can take a ton of arrows. Best option is to shoot the weapons off of the dinos and use them against them if available. Otherwise look at the beastiary and see what elements they're weak to and use that on their weak points. Also use tear arrows to knock shit off of them. Stun them and run up to assassinate or assimilate them.

I used the melee spear and Predator bow almost exclusively. Except for hard battles (like in the cauldrons) where I'd pepper the area in triplines and traps first.
 
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Anyone have any tips?
Correct elemental damage type vs enemy type.

Even though you have weapon upgrades that are the mods you slot into them, the biggest "upgrade" is your knowledge/experience of the enemies, and proper usage of elemental damage, elemental combos and proper placement of damage on enemy weakspots.

Regularly pull up the in game menu which shows the enemy weakpoints and enemy elemental weaknesses, and get the practice of applying them. So make sure you have a variety of weapons that can apply whatever element you want, ice, fire, shock, explosive, physical etc.
 
I feel like I’m doing all this already lol. Guess I just need to keep at it, hopefully something will click eventually.

Granted I’m playing on a laptop and I feel like my aim isn’t great, can’t decide whether I prefer aim assist on or off.
 
That does look good. The setting of the first game was great, liked the Utah area and the like. But this change of setting looks good to. Hoping they bring it to PC, but it will probably be 1-2 years after PS5 if they do...

Also interesting to see the Golden Gate in a tropic environment.
 
I think more. No one cn get there bloody hands on recent graphics units, mate! Who would play? 10 people who got rtx 3080? Or 3070 or 3060 or 20xxwhatever..

Taco think it's time to put a cork on pc ports for now.

Eh. That won't last forever. In a couple years there will be some more major factories online and producing parts and that will help supply across several industries. If more countries start heavily regulating crypto it will start to make it far less profitable for mining farms, which will mean they will demand cards less. Combine that with Nvidia now doing LHR cards that will be far less attractive to miners. All three factors together will make it not terribly worth the effort for scalpers, which means even more supply going to consumers. Of course, this also ignores the elephant in the room, Intel and their upcoming GPUs (if they end up being worth a damn).

Considering Guerilla Games said they don't have a release date to announce for HFW right now, I'd say there's a good chance we won't be seeing it this year. Possibly an early-mid 2022 title. With Flopper's 1-2 years hope that puts us in 2023-2024, plenty of time for things to stabilize on the hardware side.
 
I think more. No one cn get there bloody hands on recent graphics units, mate! Who would play? 10 people who got rtx 3080? Or 3070 or 3060 or 20xxwhatever..

Taco think it's time to put a cork on pc ports for now.

It probably won't run much worse than Zero Dawn, which ran well on my 2070. Plenty of people will be able to play it as is. Not a reason to delay the game. But it rests on when Sony feels like they want to port it, if ever.
 
You can always turn down the settings.

This benchmark has a modest system (Ryzen 3600, GTX 1070) and still gets 60 frame rates average on ultra settings at 1920x1080.



I don't think people are going to give up on gaming just because they can't buy the latest GPU or console. The market is actually doing very good as of late.
 
You can always turn down the settings.

This benchmark has a modest system (Ryzen 3600, GTX 1070) and still gets 60 frame rates average on ultra settings at 1920x1080.



I don't think people are going to give up on gaming just because they can't buy the latest GPU or console. The market is actually doing very good as of late.

How much lower can it go? 1060 or 570/470 ?

That would be in the range of upcoming Navi 24 (= half Navi 23) & also future 6nm apus such as Rembrandt (same as Navi 24 minus InfinityCache plus ddr5)

The 4gb limit of Navi 24 should dissuade miners from hoarding it.
 
If ever. If it ever runs good on gtx 960, taco all in!! Steam survey: 1060, 1050ti, 1650, 2060, 1050, 1070, 1660ti, 1660 super, 2070 super. YES!! the true reality is majority is very modest systems. Am afraid for future. They want beauty everywhere, but most cnt see it. Who will enjoy?

Hzd is a beautiful game, but if everyone is limited to low 800x600, how cn this be a success?
I played HZD at 1080p medium m on my 960 2GB (gets AROUND 30-FPS, EVEN THOUGH THEY SAY I'm OUT OF VRAM)

The game plays smoother on my 1060, but doesn't really look any better! That card should be able TO MAX-OUT THE SEQUEL (AT 30 FPS)

I expect it will be a few years before they port the latest (so you will have some time post-covid to buy a mining-restricted card at msrp!
 
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