Horizon 2 - Forbidden West State of play

hanselthecaretaker

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Is Sony actually going to E3 this year? Last I read they were skipping again, because they have their own shows now.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Another thing I recall from the original I hope they tweak in FW is the resources for crafting. Different animal parts like a specific type of "bone" or "skin" are pretty universal materials that, well, all of them should have, but that wasn't always the case for drop rates. If there was a "damaged, can't use" condition at play it wasn't made clear.
FW should refine this system a bit, to where you can scan different animals for their resources to make sure they have what you need, and use an appropriate weapon to kill/harvest their materials without damaging the needed items.

Also, it would be nice if you could turn off the hints Aloy constantly dropped out loud via options or maybe she could be more tight lipped on higher difficulties (ie anything above Normal).
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Smaller webm that fits hosting file size limits -

I like how this vegetation is so bold and vibrant looking, while also reacting to Aloy's footsteps. Hopefully all vegetation does this as there were other areas that didn't.
 

Chimpzy

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Smaller webm that fits hosting file size limits -

I like how this vegetation is so bold and vibrant looking, while also reacting to Aloy's footsteps. Hopefully all vegetation does this as there were other areas that didn't.
I remember FakeSympathy comment in this thread that it doesn't look like a PS5 game, but I'm seeing character and geography details is fairly obviously higher. Better effects, shadows and way better fluid simulation. Better lighting, of course, tho there is this kind of weird thing going on with Aloy, where it looks like her head and only her head is being lit from above by a neutral white spotlight, no matter what the light conditions are, but that's just a nitpick.

Maybe not a giant leap in fidelity, but overal a significant improvement, and beyond what PS4 can do, or even the pc version of Zero Dawn.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I remember FakeSympathy comment in this thread that it doesn't look like a PS5 game, but I'm seeing character and geography details is fairly obviously higher. Better effects, shadows and way better fluid simulation. Better lighting, of course, tho there is this kind of weird thing going on with Aloy, where it looks like her head and only her head is being lit from above by a neutral white spotlight, no matter what the light conditions are, but that's just a nitpick.

Maybe not a giant leap in fidelity, but overal a significant improvement, and beyond what PS4 can do, or even the pc version of Zero Dawn.
If anything it goes to show how strong the original was, but if they can significantly top it I’ll prepare to be wowed again. We also haven’t even seen what GoW: Ragnarok will look like. Hopefully soon.
 

CriticalGaming

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I remember FakeSympathy comment in this thread that it doesn't look like a PS5 game, but I'm seeing character and geography details is fairly obviously higher. Better effects, shadows and way better fluid simulation. Better lighting, of course, tho there is this kind of weird thing going on with Aloy, where it looks like her head and only her head is being lit from above by a neutral white spotlight, no matter what the light conditions are, but that's just a nitpick.

Maybe not a giant leap in fidelity, but overal a significant improvement, and beyond what PS4 can do, or even the pc version of Zero Dawn.
I agree.

People ragging on the graphics are just being jaded imo. The PS5 is more than higher graphical fidelity, it is also damn near instant load times and haptic feedback with your controller.

While undoubted the Ps4 version will likely simply turn down optional settings like shadows, partical effect, bloom, vegetation motion, it will still be a great looking game on either system.

But the gameplay shown is a noticeable step up from 4 years ago.
 

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I finally got the time to check out the video. Not that I really care much about graphics, but at least the characters models look the same as the PS4 ones. I'm not sure if the environments look better or not because they looked great on Horizon to begin with. The other minor negative I have is why would smoke bombs work against machines? Anyway, the game looks pretty good (the 1st game is one of my favorites), the elephant fight looked very much like a Horizon machine fight. The most important part of the video happened at 10:01 showing that DAT SLIDE is still in the game. I hope Guerilla stays as reserved about employing "standard open world elements" like they did in the original where the biggest collectible in amount was 30 metal flowers and they didn't have a pointless loot system, I'm hoping you don't have to re-unlock the same type of skills from the 1st game acting like Aloy is a "level 1 character". Keeping the design as tight as the 1st game will probably be key in whether the game is a true successor to the original or becomes just another open world game with crafting and stealth elements and unneeded junk.
 
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Gergar12

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A game where a troll CEO screws the world doesn't seen that far off from reality except here it's multiple troll CEO, and some have good PR and marketing companies
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I finally got the time to check out the video. Not that I really care much about graphics, but at least the characters models look the same as the PS4 ones. I'm not sure if the environments look better or not because they looked great on Horizon to begin with. The other minor negative I have is why would smoke bombs work against machines? Anyway, the game looks pretty good (the 1st game is one of my favorites), the elephant fight looked very much like a Horizon machine fight. The most important part of the video happened at 10:01 showing that DAT SLIDE is still in the game. I hope Guerilla stays as reserved about employing "standard open world elements" like they did in the original where the biggest collectible in amount was 30 metal flowers and they didn't have a pointless loot system, I'm hoping you don't have to re-unlock the same type of skills from the 1st game acting like Aloy is a "level 1 character". Keeping the design as tight as the 1st game will probably be key in whether the game is a true successor to the original or becomes just another open world game with crafting and stealth elements and unneeded junk.
Well prepare for some disappointment there -

Along with new ammo types like adhesive grenades, you'll now find workbenches at settlements where you can upgrade your weapons and outfits. De Jonge says that this is part of Guerrilla's desire to really dial into the core RPG and action elements of the game's mechanics – more than the original game did – but also to heighten your attachment to specific loadouts.

I do like how it sounds like they made platforming and traversal more free form though. It’s one of those things I’ve been hoping for more of from this gen.


Horizon Forbidden West will also make the landscape a bigger part of combat too, by opening up the world with free traversal. Gone are the hand-placed climbing ledges, with Aloy instead able to move freely and use her Pullcaster grapple hook and Shield Wing glider to aid that exploration even more.

"The climbing tools for the first Horizon were a little bit limited and restricted," admits de Jonge, "so we really just wanted to open that up and give players the freedom to climb anywhere they like in these open worlds."
 
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CriticalGaming

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The first game did a lot of this as well. Not the best at it, but I found the lore rewards for things like vista's and artifact hunting quite nice. Horizon really blew me away with it's lore, because it was a very interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic world imo. I felt like they had put much more thought into why and how the world got fucked up and why it had robot animals than most other game do.

If the sequel makes the exploration even better, then I'm all for it. Though I'm curious to see how the story will evolve, considering the mystery of how and why were solved in the first game.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I finally got the time to check out the video. Not that I really care much about graphics, but at least the characters models look the same as the PS4 ones. I'm not sure if the environments look better or not because they looked great on Horizon to begin with. The other minor negative I have is why would smoke bombs work against machines? Anyway, the game looks pretty good (the 1st game is one of my favorites), the elephant fight looked very much like a Horizon machine fight. The most important part of the video happened at 10:01 showing that DAT SLIDE is still in the game. I hope Guerilla stays as reserved about employing "standard open world elements" like they did in the original where the biggest collectible in amount was 30 metal flowers and they didn't have a pointless loot system, I'm hoping you don't have to re-unlock the same type of skills from the 1st game acting like Aloy is a "level 1 character". Keeping the design as tight as the 1st game will probably be key in whether the game is a true successor to the original or becomes just another open world game with crafting and stealth elements and unneeded junk.
Well prepare for some possible disappointment there -

Along with new ammo types like adhesive grenades, you'll now find workbenches at settlements where you can upgrade your weapons and outfits. De Jonge says that this is part of Guerrilla's desire to really dial into the core RPG and action elements of the game's mechanics – more than the original game did – but also to heighten your attachment to specific loadouts.

I do like how it sounds like they’re expanding on traversal mechanics though, which is something I’ve been hoping for from this gen.


Horizon Forbidden West will also make the landscape a bigger part of combat too, by opening up the world with free traversal. Gone are the hand-placed climbing ledges, with Aloy instead able to move freely and use her Pullcaster grapple hook and Shield Wing glider to aid that exploration even more.

"The climbing tools for the first Horizon were a little bit limited and restricted," admits de Jonge, "so we really just wanted to open that up and give players the freedom to climb anywhere they like in these open worlds."



The first game did a lot of this as well. Not the best at it, but I found the lore rewards for things like vista's and artifact hunting quite nice. Horizon really blew me away with it's lore, because it was a very interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic world imo. I felt like they had put much more thought into why and how the world got fucked up and why it had robot animals than most other game do.

If the sequel makes the exploration even better, then I'm all for it. Though I'm curious to see how the story will evolve, considering the mystery of how and why were solved in the first game.
Yeah when the revelation came about through the story it was like “Whoa…that’s pretty neat.” after you as the player were slowly piecing the peripheral elements together through exploration. This is a good look into the story -



Another thing is just, the Decima engine itself is pretty badass. Curious to see the improvements made on an already strong foundation.


 

Phoenixmgs

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Well prepare for some disappointment there -

Along with new ammo types like adhesive grenades, you'll now find workbenches at settlements where you can upgrade your weapons and outfits. De Jonge says that this is part of Guerrilla's desire to really dial into the core RPG and action elements of the game's mechanics – more than the original game did – but also to heighten your attachment to specific loadouts.

I do like how it sounds like they made platforming and traversal more free form though. It’s one of those things I’ve been hoping for more of from this gen.


Horizon Forbidden West will also make the landscape a bigger part of combat too, by opening up the world with free traversal. Gone are the hand-placed climbing ledges, with Aloy instead able to move freely and use her Pullcaster grapple hook and Shield Wing glider to aid that exploration even more.

"The climbing tools for the first Horizon were a little bit limited and restricted," admits de Jonge, "so we really just wanted to open that up and give players the freedom to climb anywhere they like in these open worlds."
Hopefully you just upgrade your stuff vs buying new stuff which you did in the 1st game and the upgrades are basically the new versions of weapons. Getting a new element on your bow added function to it vs just DPS. If you're upgrading your stuff just to get 10 more DPS on your bow or 10 more armor, then it's really not needed as the 1st game already proved.

The transversal stuff can be interesting like tricking a machine to run into a wall (which I believe the gameplay video showed) or just grappling up and then gliding to get over a machine weak spot on it's top. Or just for fun like shooting off the machine's gun and unloading on it from the air.