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Horizon: What Happened
3 years ago
When I finished Zero Dawn, and saw that it was left open, I was genuinely buzzed about the prospect of getting a sequel. When Forbidden West was released, I was excited and eager to sink my teeth into the gameplay and the story.
Right off the bat, I could see Horizon: Forbidden West was going to have more; more things to do, more places to do, more weapons to pick from, and so on and so forth. Just more. Great! Awesome! Nothing wrong with adding more and building further. The idea of underwater exploration was especially exciting to think about. The story is still great and after a certain event, it just makes me want to dig in and find out where things go.
And then you get into combat...
Combat, in Zero Dawn, was always (until late game, and even then) dangerous. Especially if you were reckless. But I'd be hard pressed to say it was ever unfair. I'm by no means a skilled gamer; I'd say I'm average, at best. And after learning how each machine acted, and remembering to keep a tactical approach in mind, even a "sloppy" fight could be overcome. Tying down additional machines, aiming for key parts to eliminate certain attacks, and, of course, laying traps should the opportunity arise. And few were the times that Zero Dawn gave you little to no time to prepare for an imminent fight.
But, things are different, in Forbidden West. And I can't help but be left wandering... what the fuck happened?!
I get that a new game calls for new machines, and even greater challenges. Cool! You don't want to just print out the same stuff people have already conquered, in the last game, the players would get bored quickly. New machines to fight means new tactics to learn, and new challenges to overcome. But, there's a point where the challenge stops being a challenge and just becomes a chore.
Never in Zero Dawn did I shy away from combat. Never did I find myself thinking "I really don't want to fight that. What can I do to not fight it?" Even against a Thunderjaw, or a Stormbird, I was happy to face the challenge head on, to find a way to defeat it. Even the strongest enemies could be overcome with calm, tactical fighting.
But tactics, in Forbidden West, seems to account for nothing. The machines move erratically, making it cumbersome at best to even aim for a weak spot/component, let alone hit it. Their attacks are devastating and constant, forcing you to spend more time dodging than anything else, and chugging medicine berries after almost every hit. Combat in Zero Dawn was invigorating and challenging. Combat in Forbidden West is... debilitating.
I've found myself avoiding combat, in the wild, at virtually every chance I get. And when I do need to fight (usually to farm machine parts for upgrading gear), I do my damnest to stay on the edge of the machine's "leash" (that area where they won't chase you beyond). And on missions, especially the main one, the game seems intent on throwing you head first into the middle of some absolute clusterfuck of a fight, with next to no time to even scan the machines, let alone prepare traps. Twice I've stumbled my way through a major fight only to find some heavy weapon laying behind a rock, or a bunch of ammo my ally has thrown to me, that I didn't know was there because I just didn't have the chance to even look around.
You aren't faced with a challenge, in Forbidden West, you're buffeted with an onslaught of continuous shit that you barely have time to acknowledge before you're knocked on your ass.
The machines barely pause for more than a second before twisting and twirling like a worm on a hook, to launch their next attack. If you think they're going one way, they go the other. If you get knocked down, you're left vulnerable for almost a full 3-4 seconds before Aloy gets up, leaving you praying another attack doesn't come crashing down on you before you can get up and dodge again. And most attacks hit for a solid 40-80% of your health. On top of that, new gear you might happen to pick up often requires machine parts from further ahead, to fully upgrade.
And this is on Normal difficulty.
The combat, in Forbidden West, isn't difficult; it's bullshit. And I'm finding myself not having fun, which makes me really, really sad, because I want to enjoy this game. I want to explore the world and follow the story. But, the combat is making it very difficult to do so.
Right off the bat, I could see Horizon: Forbidden West was going to have more; more things to do, more places to do, more weapons to pick from, and so on and so forth. Just more. Great! Awesome! Nothing wrong with adding more and building further. The idea of underwater exploration was especially exciting to think about. The story is still great and after a certain event, it just makes me want to dig in and find out where things go.
And then you get into combat...
Combat, in Zero Dawn, was always (until late game, and even then) dangerous. Especially if you were reckless. But I'd be hard pressed to say it was ever unfair. I'm by no means a skilled gamer; I'd say I'm average, at best. And after learning how each machine acted, and remembering to keep a tactical approach in mind, even a "sloppy" fight could be overcome. Tying down additional machines, aiming for key parts to eliminate certain attacks, and, of course, laying traps should the opportunity arise. And few were the times that Zero Dawn gave you little to no time to prepare for an imminent fight.
But, things are different, in Forbidden West. And I can't help but be left wandering... what the fuck happened?!
I get that a new game calls for new machines, and even greater challenges. Cool! You don't want to just print out the same stuff people have already conquered, in the last game, the players would get bored quickly. New machines to fight means new tactics to learn, and new challenges to overcome. But, there's a point where the challenge stops being a challenge and just becomes a chore.
Never in Zero Dawn did I shy away from combat. Never did I find myself thinking "I really don't want to fight that. What can I do to not fight it?" Even against a Thunderjaw, or a Stormbird, I was happy to face the challenge head on, to find a way to defeat it. Even the strongest enemies could be overcome with calm, tactical fighting.
But tactics, in Forbidden West, seems to account for nothing. The machines move erratically, making it cumbersome at best to even aim for a weak spot/component, let alone hit it. Their attacks are devastating and constant, forcing you to spend more time dodging than anything else, and chugging medicine berries after almost every hit. Combat in Zero Dawn was invigorating and challenging. Combat in Forbidden West is... debilitating.
I've found myself avoiding combat, in the wild, at virtually every chance I get. And when I do need to fight (usually to farm machine parts for upgrading gear), I do my damnest to stay on the edge of the machine's "leash" (that area where they won't chase you beyond). And on missions, especially the main one, the game seems intent on throwing you head first into the middle of some absolute clusterfuck of a fight, with next to no time to even scan the machines, let alone prepare traps. Twice I've stumbled my way through a major fight only to find some heavy weapon laying behind a rock, or a bunch of ammo my ally has thrown to me, that I didn't know was there because I just didn't have the chance to even look around.
You aren't faced with a challenge, in Forbidden West, you're buffeted with an onslaught of continuous shit that you barely have time to acknowledge before you're knocked on your ass.
The machines barely pause for more than a second before twisting and twirling like a worm on a hook, to launch their next attack. If you think they're going one way, they go the other. If you get knocked down, you're left vulnerable for almost a full 3-4 seconds before Aloy gets up, leaving you praying another attack doesn't come crashing down on you before you can get up and dodge again. And most attacks hit for a solid 40-80% of your health. On top of that, new gear you might happen to pick up often requires machine parts from further ahead, to fully upgrade.
And this is on Normal difficulty.
The combat, in Forbidden West, isn't difficult; it's bullshit. And I'm finding myself not having fun, which makes me really, really sad, because I want to enjoy this game. I want to explore the world and follow the story. But, the combat is making it very difficult to do so.
predalien76
~predalien76
-pat pats-
