Horizon Zero Dawn (The Frozen Wilds launches Nov. 7)

[HardcoreRetro]

Sounds good. Basically like The Witcher 3 DLC.

Of the Ubisoft-styled sandbox games, this is my favourite one.

[Raist]

• New robots, plural. Not sure how many.

3 apparently. Pretty sure we've only seen one.

[chronovore]

The first time I fought Thundercock or whatever that massive dragon is, it seemed to glitch and get stuck or be unable to reach me. I had to reload my quiver several times, but basically it was just staying in one spot and plinking it to death.

Today I fought the thing again, and REALLY had to dance around and choose my shots, keep out of range. The thing's got a concealed heart that is only exposed after Tearing various pieces from it, and the heart's only accessible on one side of the thing. It's a super satisfying fight.

Part of me wonders if this is what Monster Hunter is like.

[HardcoreRetro]

Part of me wonders if this is what Monster Hunter is like.

The monster battles are like that fight, but the gameplay itself is a whole different genre. It's more 3rd person action/rpg akin to the Souls series. Then there's also loads of underlying systems for which you basically need the wiki.

[Let's Cyber]

3 apparently. Pretty sure we've only seen one.

They showed off one the new machines on the playstation blog yesterday.


I hope we get a new mount type too.

[Raist]

Was in the trailer already. I hope they don't show off the other 2.

[Let's Cyber]

Are you sure the one in the trailer wasn't bigger? I thought it looked more like a bear instead of a wolf.

Anyway, you can look up the new machine names in the trophies. It appears the Scorcher is the easiest one as you need to kill 15 to pop the trophy. The other 2 are less than that.

Slight spoilers for anyone who cares

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The other two machines are called Frostclaw and Fireclaw. There is also a new ability to heal your mount or any controlled machine.

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[Raist]

Check at 0:24. Same wolfie.



So I guess the other 2 are actually just variations like the bellowbacks Oh well.

[Let's Cyber]

Sorry, I meant the e3 trailer. The big machine with red eyes swiping at the dudes running toward the camera.

Also there is a full walkthrough of one of the new quests on youtube with the developers. Not gonna watch something like that this close to release though. 

[chronovore]

Played a few more hours yesterday, raided my 2nd cauldron. The first one was super great, just trying to avoid machines throughout the crawl, it meandered all over - very evocative! But this 2nd one was already found by cultists, who had set up their own dig. It was easily as long as the first though — and there were several stealth-camo'd Stalkers at the end of it, so it was tough! So I was disappointed that it only unlocked one new robot for Override.

Also had to take down another Thunderjaw on the heels of taking one down "for fun," as part of the Hunters' Lodge mission. Those things are fun, and a serious amount of work to take down. I'm far from flawless as a player, so I have to replenish my Health Potions and Medicinal Pouch after each time — that's a little anticlimactic.

I like the story, particularly the side quests. Anyone else sick of dialog trees as a conversation interface?

[Let's Cyber]

Played a few more hours yesterday, raided my 2nd cauldron. The first one was super great, just trying to avoid machines throughout the crawl, it meandered all over - very evocative! But this 2nd one was already found by cultists, who had set up their own dig. It was easily as long as the first though — and there were several stealth-camo'd Stalkers at the end of it, so it was tough! So I was disappointed that it only unlocked one new robot for Override.

That cauldron should unlock 5 new overrides.

[chronovore]

Played a few more hours yesterday, raided my 2nd cauldron. The first one was super great, just trying to avoid machines throughout the crawl, it meandered all over - very evocative! But this 2nd one was already found by cultists, who had set up their own dig. It was easily as long as the first though — and there were several stealth-camo'd Stalkers at the end of it, so it was tough! So I was disappointed that it only unlocked one new robot for Override.

That cauldron should unlock 5 new overrides.

Weird, I could have sworn it only unlocked the big cat one. I had Watchers, the horsey guys, the broad-horned yak things, and one of the deer-like robots. After the cauldron, it seemed like only the Very Big Kitty was newly unlocked. I'll have another look today.

[Let's Cyber]

You might not have seen all the types it unlocks yet, but yeah. 2 types of Bellowback (the spinosaurus looking one that spits fire or ice), glinthawk, stalker and the behemoth.

Also The Frozen Wilds preload is up, around 8.5gigs.

[Let's Cyber]

Based on reviews, the new area is indeed "end game" in terms of difficulty. New weapons are supposedly very strong as well.

There is even a new mechanic that even makes old machines more powerful. 

My NG+ Ultra Hard file is ready to gooooooo

[chronovore]

You might not have seen all the types it unlocks yet, but yeah. 2 types of Bellowback (the spinosaurus looking one that spits fire or ice), glinthawk, stalker and the behemoth.

Also The Frozen Wilds preload is up, around 8.5gigs.

In the Cauldron I'd finished, they gave me one of those big cats right after overriding the core. I'm sure the expectation was that I'd override it and it would take out the other enemies for me, but I was standing in the open like a jackass and hadn't spotted an area into which I could stealth.

I am ACHING for a chance to turn a Bellowback on the surrounding cultists.

[Let's Cyber]

I am ACHING for a chance to turn a Bellowback on the surrounding cultists.

Having the big machines fight for you is glorious.

[Let's Cyber]

Only put an hour or so into Frozen Wilds before I had to leave this morning but the first new enemy, fire wolf from the trailer, on Ultra Hard took me 7 attempts. That is with maxed out damage explosive tripwires (he took 8 of them) and max damage shadow bow with hardpoint arrows. If I had to guess, it probably has 1.5-2x as much health as a ravager.

 

[archie4208]

mfw I learn Daniels from The Wire has a voice role in this game. 

[Let's Cyber]

Finished the expansion.

If you enjoy the main game, you'll like this. It has a little piece of each of the core components of the main game: new area to explore, a central story with old ruin exploration, hunting trial, a few beefier side quests, errands, collectables, tailneck, bandit camp, etc.  The new weapons (also new powered up versions of the 3 different bow types) and outfits are the best in the game. This is also the most difficult content in the game without a doubt.

The lip sync and character movement during conversations is waaaaaay better. The characters move more naturally and a lot of the jank is gone. Also the snow, whether it is falling from the sky or deforming under your footsteps, looks amazing. 

So I'd recommend it, unless you were totally burned out on the main game. This isn't a reinvention, just more on top.

[demi]

You can buy this on Amazon instead of shitty PSN

http://amzn.to/2ie583w

[chronovore]

You can buy this on Amazon instead of shitty PSN

http://amzn.to/2ie583w

Yeah, but it's $19.99 there, but PSN is $14.99 if you have PS Plus.

[demi]

Thats one avenue yes...

[Brehvolution]

I'm mad at myself for missing the the BB deal. 

[Great Rumbler]

I'm between games at the moment, so I decided to jump back into Horizon [I finished the prologue earlier this year, but stopped there]. I really like the hunting aspect of the game, feels like a little bit of Monster Hunter inserted into a traditional open-world RPG, which I have no problems with. The strategy of using various weapons, traps, and stealth is all pretty cool, even I generally just fall back on brute force in most instances. Played about 2 hours or so today, enough to get through the Proving and start my epic quest for real.

[chronovore]

Yeah, I haven't played a whole lot of MonHun, so I am not on solid ground, but it at least feels like what I imagine the big-level fights to be like in it. I'm pretty good at using my Focus to scope out the details, and then knocking the hell out of its element-vulnerable components. Sometimes I feel like I've destroyed all the components but it hasn't done as much damage as I'd expected or hoped.

So I'm at the point where the main mission is at Sunfall, and the sub-instruction says "Climb down" - Sylens said something like "Make sure you do everything you intend to, make peace with your gods, do any other stuff you want before committing…" Is it safe to assume this is the final mission and there's no wander-around-afterward mode?

[Raist]

Is it safe to assume this is the final mission and there's no wander-around-afterward mode?

It's not. Like not even close.

[chronovore]

Is it safe to assume this is the final mission and there's no wander-around-afterward mode?

It's not. Like not even close.

Oh, man. That’s a relief. I felt like things were just getting rolling.

[eleuin]

they make it pretty explicit when its the final mission, like "hey this is it"

[Raist]

I think that "warning" before that mission is because you can't exit the area. Bit confusing though.

Chrono, get ready for some story megatons.

[Raist]

Who's the ginger yo. For research, And I don't mean Aloy

spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Photomode Artist" Sunhilegend doxxed?

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