Date played: March 6th
Platform: PS4
I've played an unreasonable amount of Horizon Zero Dawn...
To be fair, I am on vacation this week, so it's forgivable, at least that's what I tell myself! Either way, the game just keeps getting better and better every minute. After lots of hunting and fucking around to gather materials and currency, I bought myself a couple of new weapons. I have a sling that launches little elemental bombs such as freezing and fire. It's a nice way to open a big battle. I also have the Tripcaster, which attaches an electrified rope that stuns anything that walks into it. Finally, I got myself a sharpshooter's bow, my favorite weapon so far. This thing is insanely accurate and powerful, but the arrows require many components to craft.
Rost took me to the gates of the Embrace and gave me a special training task. I had to defeat a new type of robot, a Sawtooth. This large quadruped is very intimidating and has a lot of health. I set up some tripcaster traps around it's route, then attacked it's weak points from a distance when he was immobilized. I repeated this a few times until it was destroyed.
The story got real crazy real fast... Aloy met up with Rost at Mother's Cradle, the Nora tribe's main village, to say goodbye before the Proving. It was a good moment, and Rost made it clear that he wouldn't be around after Aloy joined the tribe, but the girl wasn't convinced, she vowed to find him. Inside the village, I met a lot of people, including a man named Orlin. Orlin wears a Focus just like Aloy, that's the device she picked up in the ruins. He seems hesitant to talk about it though, only revealing that he found it near Meridian, another village that stands outside the Embrace.
The Proving is actually a kind of race, where young Braves fight a few robots and navigate a dangerous path. It was a really cool moment, and it was pretty exciting. As you could expect, Aloy won! She is now officially part of the tribe, no longer an outcast.
There's some crazy stuff that I don't want to spoil here, but the bottom line is that another tribe attacks the Nora at the end of the proving. Many, many Nora died in the battle... Aloy put up a good fight against the evil humans though, sneaking up behind some of them, even stealing some of their heavy weapons on occasion.
Still, it wasn't enough. Aloy was defeated and fell unconscious, left for dead. The enemy tribe was driven away by the tribe's war party. Aloy woke up in an odd room, stripped of her weapons, armor and items. It was soon clear that she was inside the womb of the All Mother, which is really just some high tech relic from the past. One of the matriarchs, Teersa, decided that Aloy needed to be healed by the All Mother, against the wishes of most residents.
She explains a shit ton of story stuff here, which I don't want to get into too much. Let's just say that it was revealed that the enemy tribe attacked the Nora to find Aloy due to her DNA. Things seem to indicate they were looking for her mother, but that's still quite unclear. It's also revealed that they found her by tapping into Orlin's Focus.
After these events, the matriarchs agree to make Aloy a Seeker, a special position in the Nora tribe. The Seeker must leave the Embrace and follow the will of the All Mother. It's basically a plot device that kind of says "Go out there and do what you want!", but framed within the story. This means that the whole world is now open to me. My first main objective is to reach Meridian.
I should point out that this game has a lot more dialogue and story than I expected. It actually feels a lot like Mass Effect during these segments, with big dialogue trees and many people to speak with. The voice acting is absolutely wonderful, making each character much more believable. The amazing detail in the character's faces also helps quite a bit.
Before leaving the village, I discovered that the robots out in the wild are becoming more dangerous every year. It seems the machines are sometimes "corrupted" by other machines, turning passive robots into aggressive ones. In fact, the Nora war chief was recently lost in the world after the war party was attacked by some robots. At the gates of the village, a new robot appeared and busted through the gates, attacking violently. The Corruptor is a large robot with many legs that can corrupt other robots. It's armed with incredible weapons, making this the hardest fight in the game so far. I actually had to use a bunch of potions to even survive, but I was scrambling and wasn't using my abilities well.
After looting the Corruptor, I learned how to subvert some robots by using a special device. I used it on a Strider, which is like a horse sorta, and was able to mount it! A robotic horse mount is about as cool as it gets.
The world is open now, so I went out there and did a couple of side missions, trying out my new weapons and getting used to the bigger world. Combat is getting better and better as I learn new skills and get familiar with all the enemy types. I'm heading to a place where an old hermit offers free training now. I also picked up a few side quests along the way. I really fucking love this game, particularly the bow combat.
Platform: PS4
I've played an unreasonable amount of Horizon Zero Dawn...
To be fair, I am on vacation this week, so it's forgivable, at least that's what I tell myself! Either way, the game just keeps getting better and better every minute. After lots of hunting and fucking around to gather materials and currency, I bought myself a couple of new weapons. I have a sling that launches little elemental bombs such as freezing and fire. It's a nice way to open a big battle. I also have the Tripcaster, which attaches an electrified rope that stuns anything that walks into it. Finally, I got myself a sharpshooter's bow, my favorite weapon so far. This thing is insanely accurate and powerful, but the arrows require many components to craft.
Rost took me to the gates of the Embrace and gave me a special training task. I had to defeat a new type of robot, a Sawtooth. This large quadruped is very intimidating and has a lot of health. I set up some tripcaster traps around it's route, then attacked it's weak points from a distance when he was immobilized. I repeated this a few times until it was destroyed.
 |
| This Watcher is about to get stabbed |
The Proving is actually a kind of race, where young Braves fight a few robots and navigate a dangerous path. It was a really cool moment, and it was pretty exciting. As you could expect, Aloy won! She is now officially part of the tribe, no longer an outcast.
There's some crazy stuff that I don't want to spoil here, but the bottom line is that another tribe attacks the Nora at the end of the proving. Many, many Nora died in the battle... Aloy put up a good fight against the evil humans though, sneaking up behind some of them, even stealing some of their heavy weapons on occasion.
Still, it wasn't enough. Aloy was defeated and fell unconscious, left for dead. The enemy tribe was driven away by the tribe's war party. Aloy woke up in an odd room, stripped of her weapons, armor and items. It was soon clear that she was inside the womb of the All Mother, which is really just some high tech relic from the past. One of the matriarchs, Teersa, decided that Aloy needed to be healed by the All Mother, against the wishes of most residents.
She explains a shit ton of story stuff here, which I don't want to get into too much. Let's just say that it was revealed that the enemy tribe attacked the Nora to find Aloy due to her DNA. Things seem to indicate they were looking for her mother, but that's still quite unclear. It's also revealed that they found her by tapping into Orlin's Focus.
After these events, the matriarchs agree to make Aloy a Seeker, a special position in the Nora tribe. The Seeker must leave the Embrace and follow the will of the All Mother. It's basically a plot device that kind of says "Go out there and do what you want!", but framed within the story. This means that the whole world is now open to me. My first main objective is to reach Meridian.
I should point out that this game has a lot more dialogue and story than I expected. It actually feels a lot like Mass Effect during these segments, with big dialogue trees and many people to speak with. The voice acting is absolutely wonderful, making each character much more believable. The amazing detail in the character's faces also helps quite a bit.
Before leaving the village, I discovered that the robots out in the wild are becoming more dangerous every year. It seems the machines are sometimes "corrupted" by other machines, turning passive robots into aggressive ones. In fact, the Nora war chief was recently lost in the world after the war party was attacked by some robots. At the gates of the village, a new robot appeared and busted through the gates, attacking violently. The Corruptor is a large robot with many legs that can corrupt other robots. It's armed with incredible weapons, making this the hardest fight in the game so far. I actually had to use a bunch of potions to even survive, but I was scrambling and wasn't using my abilities well.
After looting the Corruptor, I learned how to subvert some robots by using a special device. I used it on a Strider, which is like a horse sorta, and was able to mount it! A robotic horse mount is about as cool as it gets.
The world is open now, so I went out there and did a couple of side missions, trying out my new weapons and getting used to the bigger world. Combat is getting better and better as I learn new skills and get familiar with all the enemy types. I'm heading to a place where an old hermit offers free training now. I also picked up a few side quests along the way. I really fucking love this game, particularly the bow combat.
