Horizon: Forbidden West Review Thread

[BrawlMan]

While Aloy being a **** to everyone she meets for the most part would likely be more realistic to what would happen in that situation, it wouldn't mkae people like the character. Though I think it would have made Aloy 100% more interesting as a character, and it would be a cool arc to have her gradually become a softer and more understand person with the people she meets over time.

Honestly, it could have worked just fine. Even if it was just the first outing. Ratchet was a jerk when he first started, and they're almost no complaints about that. The complaints were in the super vocal minority. Not everyone has to be "likable" to be a good or interesting written. There are still games today, big budget or little budget, that prove this.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

This has pretty much been my issue with the game. The gameworld itself looks fine, and sometimes it can look quite nice, but there's nothing that breaks it up other than underground caverns. Sure, there are parts that are more grassy, parts that are more wooded, and parts that are more swampy, yet it never really feels visually distinct from one another. This makes me wonder if the typical Souls bleakness was a good fit for an open-world, because it kinda makes the whole setting feel a bit samey, yet it also spreads the atmosphere quite thin. In Dark Souls and especially Bloodborne you could feel the miserable history dripping off of nearly every wall and tree. In Elden Ring you can see the same giant chunk of curved tower wall go by every 10 minutes.

I’ve personally found ER to be FROM’s most visually distinctive and varied yet, so can’t really agree on how it all kinda looks samey. Hell, nearly all of Bloodborne is bluish grey, but its thematic elements make it more forgivable I guess. Overall though ER isn't any different than past games where every main location has its own visual theme. Maybe the other games feel less redundant because everything is tied together more tightly, and there is simply less of every type of area, so in turn there's less room for visual fatigue in a way. However that also makes the world feel less authentic by contrast, because everything is condensed into a smaller conglomerate, so it kinda feels like a theme park in a way.

As impressive as something like Anor Londo was to see, it was really pretty limited as a play space. Mostly hopping around on rooftops while dashing into a castle here and there. Everything around and below it was merely a facade which isn’t the case with ER. In essence its scale feels more legitimately realized.

ER also has the fact that it’s like what, the sixth of basically the same game formula now immediately working against it, even though Bloodborne and Sekiro changed up some of the mechanics. So that can feel a bit draining by now.

I haven't played enough of Forbidden West to see many locations, but speaking again of samey I hope the sequel does more with the underground ruins where you have to lug those power cells around to unlock shit. Or preferably just skips them completely.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I’ve personally found ER to be FROM’s most visually distinctive and varied yet, so can’t really agree on how it all kinda looks samey. Hell, nearly all of Bloodborne is bluish grey, but its thematic elements make it more forgivable I guess. Overall though ER isn't any different than past games where every main location has its own visual theme. Maybe the other games feel less redundant because everything is tied together more tightly, and there is simply less of every type of area, so in turn there's less room for visual fatigue in a way.

Yeah, that's kinda where I stand.

However that also makes the world feel less authentic by contrast, because everything is condensed into a smaller conglomerate, so it kinda feels like a theme park in a way.

I never really found that to be the case. I didn't feel arbitrarily rail-roaded, because the world itself never felt necessarily linear but more like a beehive. I think this type of gameworld is the best of both worlds; you have the more satisfying visual direction of a linear game, but with the scope and push for exploration of an open-world game.

I haven't played enough of Forbidden West to see many locations, but speaking again of samey I hope the sequel does more with the underground ruins where you have to lug those power cells around to unlock shit. Or preferably just skips them completely.

Yeah, those kinda stay as they are. But the game does some nice things with the Tallnecks and cauldrons though.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Jarrito3002]

So I did the thing where you play a game and you get to the end and that is the end. Oh yeah after dill dallying around I did get to beating Horizon FW.

Again I thank Guerilla for breaking me out of my open world embargo and making me fall in love with this style again. The world they have made is crafted to the point where everything feels real in real way. The way forrest go into grass lands and mountains become deserts is just perfect. The introduction of water and underwater areas was the most tense moments in the game cause you have no combat options just dodge, smoke bomb and Mike Phelps your way from the machine literally built for underwater fuckyouuppery. The ruins made for some good puzzles and again not too many and not too little. Melee was improved and once I filled out the melee tree it became a viable option out in the wilds.

Story wise you get introduced to some new characters and I enjoyed how they interact with each other. You can have converations with them in the style of Mass Effect to learn how they felt about the last main mission and the discoveries to the plot as the game progresses. I won't go too much into story I am still digesting it. I am intruiged with the ending as it opens up more possibilites for the sequel but it could of been handled and executed better in the final hour but that was just me.

Combat once again is the best part. Taking off robot parts and working to bring down these beast is always satisfying especially the big ones. You have many ways to tackle these beast and it can be taylored to different play styles depending on your skill tree. They introduced breaking off machine parts before going for the kill blow or else they blow up. This can add some challenge and strategy to your fights and what tools you use and in Guerilla good wisdom they give you the option to easy loot where you can just not have to worry about that what so ever.

The game did had some issues with me. Sometimes so many options can cause combat to bloated and especially in major fights the weapon wheel can be wonky and I have a weapon I was not planning on using. They nerfed the dodge roll to where if you use 3 times Aloy stumbles on the 4th attempt. You can add more with the right armor and I see what Guerilla was going for but this is a problem as machines are relentless and prone to auto tracking your movements. Projectiles with curve and follow you in strange ways and this 50 ton beast will defy gravity and physics by changing direction in mid air to hit you with an AoE attack that you nerfed dodge roll just can not take. While melee was improved your enemies have access to these concepts like parrying, countering and punishing while Aloy can you guess it dodge roll. I hope for the next game GG can give Aloy some better defensive options.

Overall I am glad with time in FW. The best about the game is after beating it instead of taking back before the final boss you are free to do left over mission which I have a lot of. And in some nice attention to detail dialogue will change to reflect events procedeing the mission.

With that in mind I give Horizon FW 4 out 5 and now I have to wait another 5 years or longer to see how this will conclude.

Also Guerilla and Sony make Machine Strike a real game in meat space and adjust the rules so master level play is not turtling on broken boards and abusing one strong piece to bust the mechanics of the game.

 

[dscross]

Just bumping this thread as I've played it now. Just to say that, while it is a good game, it is pretty much exactly the same as Zero Dawn with a few improvements and stuff to do thrown in. Reviewers treated it like it was the second coming because it's a Sony exclusive, but it really is just more of the same.

And that's fine if you liked the 1st one a lot I guess. It's not groundbreaking but I'm having a pretty good time (with breaks as it can get a bit repetitive). 3 out of 5 stars.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Just bumping this thread as I've played it now. Just to say that, while it is a really good game, it is pretty much exactly the same as Zero Dawn with a few improvements and stuff to do thrown in. Reviewers treated it like it was the second coming because it's a Sony exclusive, but it really is just more of the same.

And that's fine if you liked the 1st one a lot I guess. It's not groundbreaking but I'm having a pretty good time (with breaks as it can get a bit repetitive). 3 out of 5 stars.

Honestly, the only thing I can see as an improvement (mechanically) is the items management. Maybe also the special skills being tied to a stamina bar.

Apart from that this game feels like it added way too much cumbersome nonsense. Like, did we really need this many weapons variations? There must be 10+ weapons alone that have a poison ability. And that's just one of the status effects; there's multiple weapons with the glue effect, corruption, fire, ice, water, electricity. By hour 70 I must've had 40 weapons to sort through.

Forbidden West really dropped the ball in tightening up the flaws of the first game.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Hey, Eurogamer didn't heap praise on HZD:FW in their review, it came out as a sort of 7/10 approximation I think.

Horizon Forbidden West review - a gorgeous sequel that continues to borrow more than it adds

Let's get one thing out of the way first: If you've enjoyed Horizon: Zero Dawn and are already looking forward to the s…

www.eurogamer.net

Not shilling for the site, though if they're willing to give me monies...

 

[CriticalGaming]

Just bumping this thread as I've played it now. Just to say that, while it is a good game, it is pretty much exactly the same as Zero Dawn with a few improvements and stuff to do thrown in. Reviewers treated it like it was the second coming because it's a Sony exclusive, but it really is just more of the same.

And that's fine if you liked the 1st one a lot I guess. It's not groundbreaking but I'm having a pretty good time (with breaks as it can get a bit repetitive). 3 out of 5 stars.

This game didn't get nearly the praise Elden Ring did, and neither game is the second coming of anything. Except Aloy...it's literally her second coming, so if we wanna get technical.....

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The game did had some issues with me. Sometimes so many options can cause combat to bloated and especially in major fights the weapon wheel can be wonky and I have a weapon I was not planning on using. They nerfed the dodge roll to where if you use 3 times Aloy stumbles on the 4th attempt. You can add more with the right armor and I see what Guerilla was going for but this is a problem as machines are relentless and prone to auto tracking your movements. Projectiles with curve and follow you in strange ways and this 50 ton beast will defy gravity and physics by changing direction in mid air to hit you with an AoE attack that you nerfed dodge roll just can not take. While melee was improved your enemies have access to these concepts like parrying, countering and punishing while Aloy can you guess it dodge roll. I hope for the next game GG can give Aloy some better defensive options.

Yeah. So glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.
I am somewhere 60-80% through the game and I love it but I dropped the difficulty to Easy for this reason.

It's so weird that this game and Elden Ring are compared- to me, they have the same problem- enemies spam attacks relentlessly, I can't dodge them, and they change direction to hit me no matter what I do and I can't see them coming. The only reason Horizon is better is that it gives me a difficult option to get through this bullshit.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Yeah. So glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.
I am somewhere 60-80% through the game and I love it but I dropped the difficulty to Easy for this reason.

It's so weird that this game and Elden Ring are compared- to me, they have the same problem- enemies spam attacks relentlessly, I can't dodge them, and they change direction to hit me no matter what I do and I can't see them coming. The only reason Horizon is better is that it gives me a difficult option to get through this bullshit.

There are noo i-frames on the dodge I noticed. You have to use the dodge to escape the area of the attack, but it wont protect you like a Soul roll will. This becomes a problem with groups because the attacks can feel relentless, and also the big snake fuckers who are too fast for their size tbh.

Otherwise I never felt the comabt too bloaty, but that's mostly because I just find a set I like and used that the whole game so it was never an issue for me. But I can see it bothering some people.

 

[Ezekiel]

Does the game have any pre-rendered cutscenes featuring Aloy? Or do ALL her scenes appear to be rendered in real time? If it's impossible to tell, did the original have any in the install folder?

 

[CriticalGaming]

Does the game have any pre-rendered cutscenes featuring Aloy? Or do ALL her scenes appear to be rendered in real time? If it's impossible to tell, did the original have any in the install folder?

The original had a couple of pre-rendered cutscenes but not many. I think only 1 or two.

Forbidden West only has one that I've seen, everything else is in-engine.

 

[Ezekiel]

The original had a couple of pre-rendered cutscenes but not many. I think only 1 or two.

Forbidden West only has one that I've seen, everything else is in-engine.

Is she in the one video?

 

[CriticalGaming]

Is she in the one video?

yes?

 

[Ezekiel]

You sound unsure. Well, if I even play it in a couple of years depends on the modders somehow bringing her face over from the first game. Really don't like what they did. So I hope all her scenes are rendered in real time.

 

[Casual Shinji]

You sound unsure. Well, if I even play it in a couple of years depends on the modders somehow bringing her face over from the first game. Really don't like what they did. So I hope all her scenes are rendered in real time.

Maybe stop looking at this one frame. Just look at any footage from this game currently avaiable and you'll see Aloy's face looks pretty damn phenomenal. So do all the faces in this game really. The only character who's face got screwed with is Talanah's, Aloy looks totally fine.


And yes, pretty much all of the cutscenes are rendered in real-time, seeing as most of the cutscenes involve dialoge options. Also, if it was pre rendered they probably wouldn't have had her hair skitter back and forth like that.

 

[CriticalGaming]

You sound unsure. Well, if I even play it in a couple of years depends on the modders somehow bringing her face over from the first game. Really don't like what they did. So I hope all her scenes are rendered in real time.

She doesn't look like this in game. It's nowhere near that detailed.

 

[Ezekiel]

Maybe stop looking at this one frame. Just look at any footage from this game currently avaiable and you'll see Aloy's face looks pretty damn phenomenal. So do all the faces in this game really. The only character who's face got screwed with is Talanah's, Aloy looks totally fine.


And yes, pretty much all of the cutscenes are rendered in real-time, seeing as most of the cutscenes involve dialoge options. Also, if it was pre rendered they probably wouldn't have had her hair skitter back and forth like that.

I can see the intentional downgrade even there. Mostly in the cheekbones. "Pretty much all" isn't totally assuring.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I can see the intentional downgrade even there. Mostly in the cheekbones. "Pretty much all" isn't totally assuring.

I gotta be honest, I lost track of what exactly the complaint is.