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Horizon Forbidden West: Master Aloy’s new abilities (new 25 second clip)

Yeah normal is a joke, but not changing difficulty when you notice that the game is a cakewalk is kinda on you dude, nobody forced you to play roll spam for 30 hours or so, especially when you have 3 other difficulty modes to chose.
Yeah i could have raised the difficulty, but actually it's the developers job to balance the game, not mine. Many open world games fail at it, but Horizon failed badly. I chose to stick to normal, because i wasn't super enthusiastic about the game and just wanted to finish it at some point. A higher difficulty just would have raised the time needed. Took me like 16-17 hours if i remember correctly and that was ok.
 

Varteras

Gold Member
The first Horizon was one of the few games I actually completed from last gen. I loved it. Figuring out what happened and why Aloy was so special was my main drive. The gameplay was solid but I felt that it lacked some things. Climbing sections felt too obvious. Like my hand was always being held while the developers showed me where I could go. Nice to know there will be areas that allow me to freely climb. I enjoyed the combat but I felt that the melee portion was largely relegated to a last resort in most scenarios. So I'm glad it seems the devs are beefing it up a bit. I still anticipate ranged combat to be the bulk of it, though. A grappling hook and glider aren't things I felt the game needed to feel better but they're neat additions. I can see quite a few uses for them. More tools are very welcome to help keep the gameplay from getting stale.

Some of my other concerns haven't been addressed yet. Like the dungeons feeling too short and ending in rather lame arena fights with standard machines posing as bosses. Also felt that the dialogue options could have been more fleshed out. It felt like they were going for a BioWare-style of dialogue but without the many different options to allow me to dig deep into things. Sometimes they were there. Many times they weren't. If they can improve those two things as well, while still delivering a story as good as the first, then this game will easily be one of my all time favorites.
 
Amazing! My only small criticism is that I hope they work on Aloy's footing. I know the game is still being worked on but her feet just kind of float above the sand at the end.

They don't touch the surface when she's walking across the log in the first gameplay reveal as well.
The fact that this clip got the green light without addressing that is a bit odd.
 
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Haggard

Banned
Hopefully the fights against human enemies are a bit more interesting this time.. That and the sometimes rather generic side quest were the only distractions from an otherwise really amazing game for me.
 

fersnake

Member
It looks pretty good but gotta wait to see some reviews first.
Dave Chapelle What GIF
 

Notabueno

Banned
I found Horizon to be boring, redundant and badly designed in terms of gameplay, but still a good game.

This game, is the second actual "next-gen" I can see I've seen so far after Ratchet, there's just no other next-gen games besides these two.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
Better melee + higher quality textures + a proper shader compilation system and dynamic resolution vs the trash they did on PC and I'm golden.

Sony should start bringing chackerboard rendering on the PC ports as well.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
You'll be waiting quite some time. I'd imagine you'd find a PS5 well before then.
Might have to go through PSNow, then. I could have gotten a PS5 on multiple occasions, it's just I'm a primary PC player. I have 2 Steam Decks on reserve, and I'll be hopefully getting a new video card by the end of the year. I'm not sure if it's in the budget to add another system just for a few games.

Still an awesome looking game. Happy for everybody who gets to play it at release.
 
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IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Looks cool, personally could do without all the slow-mo. On a bow it’s fine as an ability but it seemed like every ability had it lol
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Traversal looks really slick I like how it flows into the shooting.

Not sure how I feel about the improved melee combat.

Yeah the melee sucked in the first one but it was clearly a 3rd person shooter. It felt right to take down these giant machines with traps and ranged weapons you shouldn't be able to take down a 10ft metal sabre tooth cat with a spear.

It's gonna feel very silly if I can melee a thunderjaw to death!

Anyone else feel the same
I feel the opposite way. I wanted some more flashier melee moves in the 1st game. This sequel looks to have everything I want so far
 

NewYork214

Member
Game looks super fluid. Can't wait to play this. Let's see how easy it is to pull off. Hype is starting to build for me
 

sendit

Member
Better melee + higher quality textures + a proper shader compilation system and dynamic resolution vs the trash they did on PC and I'm golden.

Sony should start bringing chackerboard rendering on the PC ports as well.
Why? DLSS is the superior upscaling technique.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
This looks more than passable for a cross gen game.

Clearly Guerilla are some technical wizards.
To be honest, if we saw this gameplay and SOP presentation before Sony's announcement that it was a cross-gen game, the majority of us would have been fooled thinking it's a current-gen exclusive game because of how good it looks.

This looks like a true next-gen game (visually) even though it is not. PlayStation Studios are in a league of their own.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Truly next-gen looking. Nothing like this besides Demon's Souls and R&C on consoles.
GotY next year will be a though battle between this and GOW.
Yes! And with God of War, Horizon, Gran Turismo, Forspoken, Sifu, Stray, and possibly Final Fantasy 16 and Little Devil Inside, what a year it would be for PlayStation fans. Not to mention other games that we don't know are releasing next year.
 
They don't touch the surface when she's walking across the log in the first gameplay reveal as well.
The fact that this clip got the green light without addressing that is a bit odd.
Seeing that Sony basically forced to buy Deathloop by harassing me for a year. The fact they havent show much of Horizon, means they are still in full gear trying to finish the game.

Also I see nobody mentioning all the information in the blog post.
 

Whitecrow

Banned
Can any of you point the finger to what makes this look so next-gen?
To me it looks like a PS4 game with high-res textures, nothing more.

Illumination is not making anything special and looks very flat, and the enviroment doesnt look specially alive either.
 
Higher quality gif. Looks incredible. Wow.


Graphics look amazing.

But whats with ability change in middle of combat?

Not sure if I want to see a slo mo shot of Aloy in middle of an intense fight. Breaks immersion and flow of combat big time.

Otherwise you can chain different abilities which seem like a step in right direction.

amazing and its still a crossgen, don't know why Sony Santa Monica didn't manage to bring visible progress in gow ragnarok

This game is much closer to release. So is much more polished. This and FH5 and I have little to no concern regarding cross gen titles.
 

skit_data

Member
Graphics look amazing.

But whats with ability change in middle of combat?

Not sure if I want to see a slo mo shot of Aloy in middle of an intense fight. Breaks immersion and flow of combat big time.

Otherwise you can chain different abilities which seem like a step in right direction.
This.

I hope its possible to either turn it off or that its just once every now and then that it shows the camera closing in. It runs the risk of becoming very repetative if it occurs too often during combat.
 

arvfab

Banned
Can any of you point the finger to what makes this look so next-gen?
To me it looks like a PS4 game with high-res textures, nothing more.

Illumination is not making anything special and looks very flat, and the enviroment doesnt look specially alive either.

Seems like a question only a good eye specialist could answer.
 
Can any of you point the finger to what makes this look so next-gen?
To me it looks like a PS4 game with high-res textures, nothing more.

Illumination is not making anything special and looks very flat, and the enviroment doesnt look specially alive either.
We are just at the beginning, you can't expect jaw-dropping crossgen stuff. Compare 2013 games to 2020 games, there are huge differences, but i also think the leaps become smaller and smaller each gen.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I found Horizon to be boring, redundant and badly designed in terms of gameplay, but still a good game.

This game, is the second actual "next-gen" I can see I've seen so far after Ratchet, there's just no other next-gen games besides these two.
It was one of the most bland games I’ve played in regards to actual gameplay. Looked great and has an interesting story and world, but man was the gameplay a drag. What they are showing here already looks way better though.
 
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skit_data

Member
Can any of you point the finger to what makes this look so next-gen?
To me it looks like a PS4 game with high-res textures, nothing more.

Illumination is not making anything special and looks very flat, and the enviroment doesnt look specially alive either.
I call it PAoTSoS, Pure Amount of Tesseleated Shit on Screen.

Pretty much same thing that make me think Forza Horizon 5 looks awesome.
 

FrankWza

Member
I may be alone here, but that doesn't look fun to me.
I think the HZ games are what you make of them. If you’re willing to be creative and learn the system there’s freedom enough that allows you to tackle areas and enemies in different ways that are awesome. There’s some pretty amazing gifs and videos of HZD action. In HFW, i think the goal is to keep that but also add more variety in the more “shallow” part of combat so that it’s more engaging. But people who really master the system will have the most fun. That’s why the blog post is titled that way I’m guessing
 
I think the HZ games are what you make of them. If you’re willing to be creative and learn the system there’s freedom enough that allows you to tackle areas and enemies in different ways that are awesome. There’s some pretty amazing gifs and videos of HZD action. In HFW, i think the goal is to keep that but also add more variety in the more “shallow” part of combat so that it’s more engaging. But people who really master the system will have the most fun. That’s why the blog post is titled that way I’m guessing

Thats a weird "fine print" you have put on gameplay there.

You can enjoy it only if you .....

When you play a good playing game, say Bloodborne, are there any conditions for when it will become enjoyable?

Most people tend to take path of least resistance. Its there you have to put gameplay chops.
 

FrankWza

Member
You can enjoy it only if you .....
I never said that. You took it that way. The poster I replied to made an observation and I was giving a reason that could lead him to make that observation.
When you play a good playing game, say Bloodborne, are there any conditions for when it will become enjoyable?

Most people tend to take path of least resistance. Its there you have to put gameplay chops.
I wouldn’t compare this game to bloodborne. Maybe more like MGSV. You had different ways and options to complete an area. But even with that game, there were checklists and “structure” in objectives. HZD gives you freedom that yes, being in an open world setting, can cause you to cheese your way through. I made that exact point yesterday somewhere here. I think that’s more of a issue with an open world game though. As a gamer, you’re more inclined to “master” a system when games are more linear. Like Platinum games. So by focusing more on melee, GG is trying to draw us in. At least that’s what it looks like from early info.
 

GymWolf

Member
Yeah i could have raised the difficulty, but actually it's the developers job to balance the game, not mine. Many open world games fail at it, but Horizon failed badly. I chose to stick to normal, because i wasn't super enthusiastic about the game and just wanted to finish it at some point. A higher difficulty just would have raised the time needed. Took me like 16-17 hours if i remember correctly and that was ok.
Many devs don't even have an ultra hard mode and their open world games are cakewalk even on max level of challenge, so at least having the choice of having a really hard mode is better than many in my book tbh.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Yeah i could have raised the difficulty, but actually it's the developers job to balance the game, not mine. Many open world games fail at it, but Horizon failed badly. I chose to stick to normal, because i wasn't super enthusiastic about the game and just wanted to finish it at some point. A higher difficulty just would have raised the time needed. Took me like 16-17 hours if i remember correctly and that was ok.

That is a bizarre take. Complain about the lack of difficulty but then suggest the developer "failed badly" because they gave you the ability to find the "balance" that suited you with levels of difficulty.
 
Graphics look amazing.

But whats with ability change in middle of combat?

Not sure if I want to see a slo mo shot of Aloy in middle of an intense fight. Breaks immersion and flow of combat big time.

Otherwise you can chain different abilities which seem like a step in right direction.



This game is much closer to release. So is much more polished. This and FH5 and I have little to no concern regarding cross gen titles.

Might be a combat feature to slow down time so you can get your shot/aim on target. Similar to when you shoot a bow in Ghost of Tsushima.
 
That is a bizarre take. Complain about the lack of difficulty but then suggest the developer "failed badly" because they gave you the ability to find the "balance" that suited you with levels of difficulty.
Because It's their job to balance. People don't want so spend time finding out which of the six dfficulty settings might suit them. I take any bet most players always choose normal and stick to it anyways. So devs should make it at least a bit of a challenge on normal. Most other open world games are at least for half it's duration well balanced until you skilled up to John Cena level.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Because It's their job to balance. People don't want so spend time finding out which of the six dfficulty settings might suit them. I take any bet most players always choose normal and stick to it anyways. So devs should make it at least a bit of a challenge on normal. Most other open world games are at least for half it's duration well balanced until you skilled up to John Cena level.

What many find to be easy or difficult isn't the same from gamer to gamer. That is why levels exist. Regardless, you said it was too easy never increased the difficulty. That is on you, not the developer.
 

Excess

Member
Honestly...a year ago i was more hyped for Ragnarok than this one but...this looks seriously much more impressive for a cross-gen game.

Guerrilla Games are doing a phenomenal job with this release. That video in the OP is hype as hell.
Sony now has a good team porting games to scale on PC, so there's no reason PS5 should be held back by PS4. I'm playing the first one on PC right now at 4K/60, and it's absolutely stunning. They made a 4 year-old game look like a next-gen game. I mean, it looks better than AC Valhalla.
 
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