Date played: April 30th
Platform: PS4
I finished Horizon Zero Dawn!
What an incredible experience... I played quite a bit yesterday, starting with a visit to the ruins of GAIA Prime, at the top of the Bitter Climb. This is an area I had recently cleared of enemies to reach a Vantage point, so thankfully, all I had to do was climb. The entire mission was really just a bunch of story, as Aloy attempts to find the Master Override that will be required to destroy HADES.
I learned a lot from the facility since it was the living quarters of Zero Dawn staff, right up to the end. It's a heart-breaking story really, but also a story of hope and strength. Basically, the Zero Dawn staff ran out of time and decided to stay and work instead of leaving for the secure facility that would let them live out their lives in peace. All of the senior staff agreed to stay, with one last ditch effort to save humanity. When the robotic invasion was finally reaching it's climax, the door to the facility broke and wouldn't close properly. As the heads of each system argued about who should go out and fix the door, never to return, Elizabet went out herself and shut the door, only to be left to die outside. At least she saved the group...
It wasn't for very long though. The Faro Industries leader, Ted Faro, had second thoughts about the Apollo system, which holds all of human knowledge, history and culture. In the hopes that the new world born out of Zero Dawn would avoid the mistakes of the old world, Ted decided to shut down the Apollo system! It was a brazen and destructive act, but it wasn't even the worst of it. The fucking guy also decided to kill all the remaining system heads... I don't really understand his reasoning, but it's what caused so many problems with GAIA and her systems. Aloy got the Master Override from a terminal and attached it to her lance.
During the mission, I gathered the last of the fuel cells required to unlock the ancient armor. I went back to the ruins where Aloy first found her Focus and solved a simple puzzle to get the powerful armor. This thing is absolutely ridiculous... It generates a sort of force field that prevents damage, then recharges. The trick is that it has quite a few charges before being depleted, and it charges up really quickly, so it's really overpowered. Turns out, that's not such a bad thing though because the last mission was full of difficult combat encounters.
During the previous mission, Sylens told Aloy a ton about himself and his journey towards knowledge. When GAIA was destroyed, he was the first to investigate the area and soon found Hades. The machine offered to exchange knowledge for information. And so, Sylens became Hades' guide to the new world. Hades would ask all about the world, it's residents, it's machines, etc. In exchange, it would give Sylens tons of information on physics and other important topics.
Eventually, it became clear that Hades was very focused on the Spire, the odd looking construct that towers over the land. Hades was starting to formulate a plan to take over and burn the world to ashes once again. Together with Sylens, they built the Eclipse. Sylens wasn't a really bad guy or anything, he was just really hungry for knowledge, but that led to much violence. Eventually, Sylens found out Hades' plan, but the machine was smart and sent out an order to the Eclipse to kill Sylens as soon as possible. Sylens spent the rest of his life in hiding, using his Focus and workshops to survive and gather information. When he saw that Hades was interested in Aloy, he started getting involved...
From all this and the information we found in the facility, we deduced that Hades and his army of Eclipse soldiers and machines were on the verge of attacking the Spire and Meridian. Aloy inspected the defensive sites and got some rest. Al of her friends were there to help, including Varl, Sona, Erend and even Petra, the Oseram forger.
The first part of the final battle had me fighting some Eclipse soldiers, which I defeated rather easily. The next part was a lot cooler and definitely more fun as I used some of Petra's insane cannons to defend against a swarm of machines, including about 4 Deathbringers, a flock of Longlegs, some Ravagers and even a few Fire Bellowbacks. The Deathbringers were the real problem as they would often destroy my cover and would deal heavy damage, but the canons are very powerful and I took them all down without too much trouble. At the end though, a Stormbird showed up and kind of fucked up my defenses. I still managed to take it down and survive, but it was quite a scramble.
Unfortunately, Hades has a very well prepared attack and the defensive ridge fell to the machines. Aloy was buried under some rubble in the process and was thought to be dead by her friends. When she woke, Aloy headed straight for the Spire, as Hades had already managed to activate it. The destruction of the world was underway...
When I reached the Spire, all my friends were there again, fighting for humanity, fighting for Earth. Needless to say, they were quite happy to see Aloy rejoin their ranks. That's when the final battle started. It was just the one Deathbringer, but it was a much stronger Deathbringer than any other. It had a shit ton of health, powerful weapons and was periodically joined by Ravagers and other machines.
I fought this battle for a long time, and I actually died twice. It's funny though, I didn't die from damage, seeing as my ancient armor is completely stupid powerful. No, I died from being knocked around and fell off a cliff. Twice...
Anyway, I did manage to beat the fucker with lots of dodging, a variety of failed attacks until finally I settled on fire arrows to make it overheat. I was then able to damage it's exposed, overheating parts with my Sharpshooter bow. I took my lance and stuck it deep inside the Hades core, destroying it for good!
Aloy saved the world! There was a lot of exposition here, with many characters making cameo appearances. Everyone was so happy, and there was a real sense of accomplishment and it felt like a great ending. There's a great bit of dialogue in there at one point that says that hope is important, and that individual people CAN make a huge difference in the world. To make the world a better place. It really resonated with me and made me feel happy...
However, Sylens hadn't said his last word... Having left the story after the events at the facility, before the final battle, Sylens is shown. He has a special little container and manages to draw out the last remaining figments of Hades from it's impaled carcass! With a bit of a smirk in his voice, he tells Hades that he's in charge now, and that they'll do great things together. Horizon 2 confirmed?
Horizon Zero Dawn is an absolute masterpiece that will be forever remembered as a classic. Not only is it a marvel of technological achievement, it's also a piece of art, a fun playground to explore, a intriguing and interesting story and a great place to have some fun battles against robot animals. It's also worth noting that Aloy is one of the best video game characters ever, at least in my mind. She's believable, which is a hard thing to do in games. She also has very strong, positive values, a fun attitude, a lot of heart and she's got one hell of a voice actor. It's also very refreshing to have a woman as the main character, and we don't even see a boob crack the whole game. Aloy is one of the few video game heroines that isn't treated as a piece of eye candy for horny perverts...
Platform: PS4
I finished Horizon Zero Dawn!
What an incredible experience... I played quite a bit yesterday, starting with a visit to the ruins of GAIA Prime, at the top of the Bitter Climb. This is an area I had recently cleared of enemies to reach a Vantage point, so thankfully, all I had to do was climb. The entire mission was really just a bunch of story, as Aloy attempts to find the Master Override that will be required to destroy HADES.
I learned a lot from the facility since it was the living quarters of Zero Dawn staff, right up to the end. It's a heart-breaking story really, but also a story of hope and strength. Basically, the Zero Dawn staff ran out of time and decided to stay and work instead of leaving for the secure facility that would let them live out their lives in peace. All of the senior staff agreed to stay, with one last ditch effort to save humanity. When the robotic invasion was finally reaching it's climax, the door to the facility broke and wouldn't close properly. As the heads of each system argued about who should go out and fix the door, never to return, Elizabet went out herself and shut the door, only to be left to die outside. At least she saved the group...
It wasn't for very long though. The Faro Industries leader, Ted Faro, had second thoughts about the Apollo system, which holds all of human knowledge, history and culture. In the hopes that the new world born out of Zero Dawn would avoid the mistakes of the old world, Ted decided to shut down the Apollo system! It was a brazen and destructive act, but it wasn't even the worst of it. The fucking guy also decided to kill all the remaining system heads... I don't really understand his reasoning, but it's what caused so many problems with GAIA and her systems. Aloy got the Master Override from a terminal and attached it to her lance.
During the mission, I gathered the last of the fuel cells required to unlock the ancient armor. I went back to the ruins where Aloy first found her Focus and solved a simple puzzle to get the powerful armor. This thing is absolutely ridiculous... It generates a sort of force field that prevents damage, then recharges. The trick is that it has quite a few charges before being depleted, and it charges up really quickly, so it's really overpowered. Turns out, that's not such a bad thing though because the last mission was full of difficult combat encounters.
During the previous mission, Sylens told Aloy a ton about himself and his journey towards knowledge. When GAIA was destroyed, he was the first to investigate the area and soon found Hades. The machine offered to exchange knowledge for information. And so, Sylens became Hades' guide to the new world. Hades would ask all about the world, it's residents, it's machines, etc. In exchange, it would give Sylens tons of information on physics and other important topics.
Eventually, it became clear that Hades was very focused on the Spire, the odd looking construct that towers over the land. Hades was starting to formulate a plan to take over and burn the world to ashes once again. Together with Sylens, they built the Eclipse. Sylens wasn't a really bad guy or anything, he was just really hungry for knowledge, but that led to much violence. Eventually, Sylens found out Hades' plan, but the machine was smart and sent out an order to the Eclipse to kill Sylens as soon as possible. Sylens spent the rest of his life in hiding, using his Focus and workshops to survive and gather information. When he saw that Hades was interested in Aloy, he started getting involved...
From all this and the information we found in the facility, we deduced that Hades and his army of Eclipse soldiers and machines were on the verge of attacking the Spire and Meridian. Aloy inspected the defensive sites and got some rest. Al of her friends were there to help, including Varl, Sona, Erend and even Petra, the Oseram forger.
The first part of the final battle had me fighting some Eclipse soldiers, which I defeated rather easily. The next part was a lot cooler and definitely more fun as I used some of Petra's insane cannons to defend against a swarm of machines, including about 4 Deathbringers, a flock of Longlegs, some Ravagers and even a few Fire Bellowbacks. The Deathbringers were the real problem as they would often destroy my cover and would deal heavy damage, but the canons are very powerful and I took them all down without too much trouble. At the end though, a Stormbird showed up and kind of fucked up my defenses. I still managed to take it down and survive, but it was quite a scramble.
Unfortunately, Hades has a very well prepared attack and the defensive ridge fell to the machines. Aloy was buried under some rubble in the process and was thought to be dead by her friends. When she woke, Aloy headed straight for the Spire, as Hades had already managed to activate it. The destruction of the world was underway...
When I reached the Spire, all my friends were there again, fighting for humanity, fighting for Earth. Needless to say, they were quite happy to see Aloy rejoin their ranks. That's when the final battle started. It was just the one Deathbringer, but it was a much stronger Deathbringer than any other. It had a shit ton of health, powerful weapons and was periodically joined by Ravagers and other machines.
I fought this battle for a long time, and I actually died twice. It's funny though, I didn't die from damage, seeing as my ancient armor is completely stupid powerful. No, I died from being knocked around and fell off a cliff. Twice...
 |
| The final battle |
Aloy saved the world! There was a lot of exposition here, with many characters making cameo appearances. Everyone was so happy, and there was a real sense of accomplishment and it felt like a great ending. There's a great bit of dialogue in there at one point that says that hope is important, and that individual people CAN make a huge difference in the world. To make the world a better place. It really resonated with me and made me feel happy...
However, Sylens hadn't said his last word... Having left the story after the events at the facility, before the final battle, Sylens is shown. He has a special little container and manages to draw out the last remaining figments of Hades from it's impaled carcass! With a bit of a smirk in his voice, he tells Hades that he's in charge now, and that they'll do great things together. Horizon 2 confirmed?
Horizon Zero Dawn is an absolute masterpiece that will be forever remembered as a classic. Not only is it a marvel of technological achievement, it's also a piece of art, a fun playground to explore, a intriguing and interesting story and a great place to have some fun battles against robot animals. It's also worth noting that Aloy is one of the best video game characters ever, at least in my mind. She's believable, which is a hard thing to do in games. She also has very strong, positive values, a fun attitude, a lot of heart and she's got one hell of a voice actor. It's also very refreshing to have a woman as the main character, and we don't even see a boob crack the whole game. Aloy is one of the few video game heroines that isn't treated as a piece of eye candy for horny perverts...
