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Just got this game 10 weeks ago and now I love 100%ing it (or almost, some challenges are difficult) over and over again. Or watching others come close to doing it. I will be watching, SP. Enjoy! Personal Fan Beliefs- The device our heroine finds and uses is some sort of future smartphone (though if they get this far with technology in the time frame the game uses, I will be very surprised) per the developers. It's probably solar powered and self-recharging, maintained by a smart but not self-aware AI- otherwise how would it survive all these centuries? Lucky the last user died in a spot that gets some good sun! I also think the last user was a police officer (look closely, their clothing is a blue uniform), hence the tactical and forensic apps we make use of in the game. And this device is the reason our heroine can read and think critically so well compared to a lot of other people around her- consider that she developed this by her own volition through her childhood and you learn a lot about her determination! The game also gets kudos for creating choices where it's worthwhile to go back and see alternate actions- all have effects in the future game. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 08:09 on May 28, 2020 |
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May 28, 2020 07:22
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The game gets points for realistic side quests that also accomplish world building better than a lot of similar games I've seen. It really hit me how much the world has changed in this game when I saw that wild pigs no longer behave aggressively and now flee in fear at any threat.
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May 30, 2020 02:38
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You’re welcome, SP. As I told you via pm, I’m only going to post such paths when we get to the point where spoilers no longer apply. It’s a very fine line and I trust you to smack me down if I step off it. Thus I have nothing specific to the game to post right now and may not for a while. It will all be reactive to posts from our LPer, and considering how far reaching some of the dialogue choices are in this game, it may be a bit before we see anything. I’m also posting in text summary- making videos is beyond my current skills. And I may miss something too- I’ve only done a couple playthroughs of HZD and watched a few other LPs online. If others want to add something- well, I hope you follow the same line I do and I’ll let SP grant permission or not. As for the question from Outofsight, I don’t know if SP plans on doing fist Aloy or not (not all fist responses can be called renegade). I’m letting her make that call. I’ll just summarize the alternative dialogues when we get to the point of no spoilers as best I can judge. If I am wrong in this, I’ll err on the side of caution and accept punishment if necessary. I have seen others do specific recurring response runs online, and many have just gone with what sounds most appropriate too. I hope I’ve seen enough of the game to do the alternative routes justice. Oh, you weren’t asking me? Sorry. Just had to publicly lay out my plans.
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May 31, 2020 21:33
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Ok, I reviewed the first two videos and decided I can say a few things as far as alternative paths. The opening tutorial missions really don’t have any other way they can proceed. There is a decision point on how to deal with the bully throwing rocks at you, but I’ll address that later. You can probably guess why. As far as Odd Grata’s quest, there is some alternate dialogue. You can approach her with meat already in your inventory as SP did or without it. If you don’t have any meat, fyi it takes 5 pieces to complete the quest. It doesn’t all have to come from rabbits, though the dialogue says it does. It doesn’t all have to be the same type either. There are 4 types of meat the game can give you, all come from hunting wildlife. The game has boars, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, rats, geese, turkeys, and fish you can hunt. The DLC area adds goats, badgers, owls, squirrels, and possibly some other species I haven’t noticed. All these animals provide meat when slain. They can also provide bones & skins (like meat, used for crafting or selling) and occasionally talismans (sell for shards only) as rare drops. All enemy loot in the game is like this. I won’t bother listing all the types of loot the game provides but as SP said, it’s all good for selling and most is good for crafting too. Machines are the Buffalo to Nora’s tribe. Getting back to Grata, there are other fetch quests in the game where you automatically turn in the item if you have them already when accepting the quest. The game sometimes doesn’t give you a choice to do so- be ready. I don’t think you can find the prayer beads before Grata asks for them but I’ve never tried. Kinda hard to find specific items in the game without a waypoint sometimes. There are more fetch quests in our future. We can also go back and check on Grata throughout most of the game if we like- she’ll still be praying up on her hill. Most of the game quest givers are still hanging out where you find them after their quests and you can reminisce on the quest if you chat with a few of them. And yes, we are in the post-apocalypse USA. Specifically the western Colorado, southeastern Utah, northwestern Arizona tristate area. I used to live in that area, so this game had some special meaning for me when I recognized certain landmarks later on. No spoilers on that right now, we haven’t seen them yet. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jun 1, 2020 |
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Jun 1, 2020 21:04
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As long as the story is coherent enough to follow, it's ok if our combat skills are inconsistent. God knows cutscenes create such a discrepancy from gameplay all the time. Alternate Paths- Not too many to talk about yet. The first side quest covered in update #3 is very linear. Find the father (Thok), find the hysterical daughter (Arana) and save her from the Watcher pack, track the Scrapper with the spear, kill the Scrapper, get the spear, return it to Thok & Arana where you first picked up the quest. You can visit Thok in between steps- he'll remind you what you still need to do. It's just a basic rescue and fetch mission. The other side quest available this early, The Forgotten, is also linear in its path. You do have some differing dialogue depending on how you choose to counsel Brom, though. SP showed off the most unique way to do it, with compassion. Both "get a hold of yourself" and "come closer so I don't have to shout" also get him to pay attention, but for both these choices he just says how his sister always told him to pay attention to the speakers he can see more than those he can't, thus he should listen to you. Then his sister shows up and you gotta pick how it ends. If you choose to emphasize Brom being a danger to others, Olara sighs and says you're probably right, people always said her brother had a weak mind, she's taken care of him since she was six, but now it's best he go away, at least she's getting to say goodbye. Brom supports this idea, leaves, and then Olara wants to be alone. Saying "he needs you" and letting her visit him even though he remains in the wilderness, as SP chose to do in the video, feels far more satisfying in my opinion. And there is a follow up to either path, but we won't see that for a very long time. The reward of a random loot box is the same either way. Like SP, I generally go for letting family stay together. I only know about the other path from other people's youtube LPS where it was picked. Seeing a case like Brom's- obvious mental illness causing trouble- makes one doubt that the Nora's shunning system is really a good way to treat people, deserving or not. Ditto for what happened with our introductory merchant, Karst- his only crime was curiosity and wandering into the wrong place. Brom did manslaughter, but Karst didn't. Their punishment was the same. Aloy has lived as an outcast her whole life not knowing why- it's no wonder she's constantly talking to herself and feeling alone. At least she's not schizophrenic, I guess. I don't have much experience with shunning in real life, I know some fanatical religions practice it but this story is my first experience watching its effects on screen. I wonder if it's a realistic depiction. I also wonder- with all the Nora's talk about respecting mothers and how "motherless" is their big insult, what's their policy on orphans? If a woman dies in childbirth, do they put the baby up for adoption or does the child end up like Aloy- if they survive? I know, videogames don't usually answer this sort of question, but still, I gotta wonder. On a lighter note, the Scrapper is a type of enemy I've not seen much in other games. It's a scavenger, befitting its design as a robot hyena. They actually seek out machine corpses and cut them up with their lasers and mouth saw blades for recycling. You can get the game to spawn packs of Scrappers by killing lots of other machines. Let them eat the corpses and you can then kill the Scrappers for loot types you can't easily get other ways. But of course this also costs you loot from any machine corpses the Scrappers eat before you search them. It's a strange system. Quite a unique way to make a memorable video game enemy. Flair- I wouldn't make too many bold predictions yet. All we know right now is that past civilization ended some time ago and lots of humans died off by mass suicide. The reasons why that seemed a valid choice, what happened to the ruined cities we see all around us, where these robot animals came from, how long ago the apocalypse happened and what happened exactly- we don't know any of that yet. Your bold predictions could be very wrong. But make them if you feel you should. The game may vindicate or surprise you. 
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Jun 2, 2020 15:18
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I imagine the matriarchs got milk to Aloy somehow. I’ve seen fanfics where they appoint a nursemaid until she can be weaned (the woman doesn’t speak or look at Rost or the baby, just does her task). Or perhaps Rost somehow obtains milk from the wild. Female pigs and raccoons... this might actually explain a lot about Aloy’s personality. Try not to think about it too much. Oh and for those who don’t know, the thread title references another role of Aloy’s voice actress Ashley Burch- Tiny Tina in the Borderlands games. I need to play more of those personally.
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Jun 3, 2020 19:41
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Did you cut out your commentary track in this video for some reason? It seemed a lot different from the previous ones. I think I prefer commentary to lack thereof, but you do what you think best. If this is how the LP will proceed now, that's fine. Rost's final lesson to Aloy was that you shouldn't just get good at hunting down dangerous machines to serve yourself but to help others- protect them from said dangerous machines. I agree the game doesn't really put forth the lesson well. The Nora tribe has not done a lot to help Aloy grow up, why should she care about them? It might be an easier lesson if the Nora had more of an established duty for their Outcasts- in India and Japan such people are the ones who do dirty jobs like butchering, tanning, garbage collection, and mortuary operation. Maybe in the Nora world they could be the ones who take on the more dangerous hunts- there have to be some conservative Nora who think the Sawtooth, a new dangerous monster, is All-Mother's judgement upon them. Killing it would be rejecting that judgement. Then again, if an Outcast fights it and they die, no big deal. And if the Outcast wins, maybe this too can be All-Mother's judgement. Is there no way to atone for being an Outcast other than serving out your sentence or the Proving? Maybe they should have thought about things more. A lot of it is just Rost's personality. An outcast hero mentor isn't the best source of inspiration. The way he sets up the lesson also makes it seem more like a test of skill against a dangerous machine than a test of purpose. Maybe if we had actually visibly saved a life in taking the Sawtooth down the way we saved Teb as a kid? Or maybe they wanted us to develop the psychology of a hero as we played through the game. I like the worldbuilding in the game a lot. You really feel like the different tribes are people living their lives. I'm also glad they didn't go all Evil Empire with the Carja- that would have been real easy but a good king trying to overcome the sins of the last bad one makes for a more interesting different story. Am I the only fan who would have been down for an RPG playing out the rebellion of said good king in the HZD world? Having no Romance Options in the game was different but I agree it's nice not to have to worry about that sort of awkwardness. Doesn't stop fanfic writers though- plenty of ship fics out there for Aloy and various other characters if you know where to look. Erend is a good character IMO, if less endearing on repeat playthrus. The big guy, noble drunk type. Every fantasy story needs at least one of these. Alternate Paths- How you say goodbye to Rost is different based on your choice of response obviously. I personally like the fist best- Aloy gets mad, says good riddance, drops the necklace and then picks it up again as soon as the confused Rost walks away. Very moody teenager. The heart shows more compassion and understanding than I think Aloy has developed yet. Saying I'll track and find you is a good middle ground, I guess. Glad you didn't miss the Nora Mother's creation myth during your village exploration. Such stories are great world building and as you might guess this one is very important to the game plot. There are also a few fun village details- some local bands and the drunk guy climbing on a house. I actually thought the latter was a quest when I first saw it. Teb is a good character, the nice guy of the Nora tribe. He's also a good intro to outfit shopping, though you gotta wonder how he knew Aloy's measurements. Anyone else notice the Predator alien homage in the Silent Hunter outfit?
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Jun 4, 2020 07:03
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Do machines see all humans that way? No wonder they think they can take us. Let us know when the video’s fixed. I may have more comments in response to your comments.
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Jun 4, 2020 16:42
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Yes, the video is much nicer now.  Can’t Wait for the next. I’ll have more comments then.
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Jun 4, 2020 18:14
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Megillah Gorilla posted:So it occurred to me today that flirty mohawk guy said the 'derangement' started about 15 - 20 years ago. Isn't Aloy about that age, too? The game is full of plot walls. Examples- the gate Rost leads you through to fight the Sawtooth only opens in that cutscene where you walk through and then again permanently later in the game. Outside these moments, it's closed, no way to get through. Also, once you enter Mother's Heart, you can't get out until you proceed with the plot. Before the cutscene that gets you in and telling Rost you're ready, you can't get into town either. Nor can you get into Mother's Watch, the other gated village in the Embrace, which surrounds the entrance to the Nora's sacred mountain. And if you go too far off the edge of the map, the game warns you and then reloads your last save. So yeah, you got some plot walls. You can go into the third Embrace village- Mother's Cradle- any time you want. If you do it before the Proving plot events, Aloy is still an outcast and no one will talk to her. You can try to greet people (any non-plot-prominent NPC has a prompt called "Greet So-and-So" on them, but they don't say much)- however they're all just like- "The law says I can't talk to this outcast." "The outcast doesn't respect our laws." "All-Mother, make her go away." and so on. Even the children are like this. It's very sad. Only named NPCs- Rost, the questgivers we met, merchant Karst- are different at this point. Of course, as the game plot progresses, things may change.
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Jun 7, 2020 22:14
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Megillah- I think our Nora guards were a bit distracted watching the Proving and the official Carja ambassadors, and thus they missed Crispin Freeman (I'll refer to the big psycho by his voice actor until we get his name) and his thugs invading. Said thugs are also very good at sneaking around, were previously hiding in places most Nora don't visit, or both. Plus, you know, they got plot on their side. That can cover a lot of things. This game is actually my first exposure to Ashly Burch's sass, and I like it. "Are you going to shut your mouth? That would surprise me." :rofl: Alternate Dialogue- As we saw, Aloy will reference the rock throwing incident in her confrontation with Bast. The exact dialogue depends on what you did to counter his attack. If you knocked the rock from his hand, the bully is understandably shocked. Aloy mentions the look on his face when she did it as the part Bast leaves out of his "cherished memory". If you chose to drop your rock (canon response, btw, as New Game Plus automatically skips your childhood training and always references this option), Bast will laugh and get ready to throw again before another kid stops him. Aloy tells him twelve years later- "that was the day the other kids learned you were a monster. You leave that part out of your memory, I'm sure." Gotta say seeing Bast's reaction to Crispin Freeman's goons attacking was a great comeuppance for his character. He expects to be the number one Brave of his class, and he can't even be brave. Pathetic. Glad we had Aloy and Vala to step up. You can treat Teersa & Vala different in their dialogue, but the conversation pretty much plays out the same. Bast too, far as “you’re afraid” vs other alternatives. If you choose to honor Aloy’s mother with the lantern, she will remind us we still have no idea who that woman is. I agree it makes sense to honor Rost. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Jun 10, 2020 |
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Jun 10, 2020 11:50
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In some fanfic where they survive, they are! No, I’m not posting links. It’s just amusing to me that after the game works so hard to subvert typical ya tropes, someone edits them back in. People...
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Jun 10, 2020 19:12
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azren posted:I really like Crispin Freeman, so I'm certainly hoping that character turns out to be more interesting than "big murder dickhead" in the long run. Don’t worry. Thx for posting that trailer. Game looks awesome. I will be playing it 4 sure!
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Jun 12, 2020 00:46
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And now we know the possible origin of the tribe name Nora- they came out of the former NORAD HQ bunker in the Colorado Rockies. This is never confirmed in game, but you'd expect such a structure to be a Fallout vault in this sort of universe, so it's become a common fan theory. Aloy's birth- Yeah, restricting your sacred mountain temple to only women who have probably gone through menopause (as we learned last episode, Matriarchs have to be grandmothers or great grandmothers) kinda precludes some woman just having a baby in there and abandoning her. Or is it a huge Nora taboo for a woman to abandon a baby? Again, what is the tribe policy on orphans or unclaimed kids? Has this situation never come up before? And, seriously, has nobody ever tried to open that special door before Aloy? You gotta admire Teersa thinking up an explanation for it not opening that makes sense with Nora religion, though. I also like her moral stance- "if things don't make sense to me, it must be beyond my understanding and that's ok". Resh- My theory on him is he's the head of the guards at Mother's Watch and thus his main job is to keep outcasts and apostates out of the secret sacred bunker. Thus he doesn't see much combat and can foster his jerk power trip persona. If he was head of the sacred mountain guards when Aloy was found, he probably assured Lansra nobody got past his men to abandon her inside the mountain and being reminded someone did the opposite of what he said thus grates on him every time he sees Aloy. BTW, it's good SP got the Power Cell in the sacred mountain now- Resh puts up a plot wall if you try to get back inside the village after fighting the first Corrupter. It lasts for a significant portion of the game and this has frustrated a lot of players. The dialogue if you try and breach it is- "Sorry, Resh ordered the gate kept closed to Outcasts!" "But I'm a Seeker now! I go where I want!" "Resh doesn't care!" SP's dismissal of our lookalike as "some middle aged lady with a crappy sweater" is quite amusing to me for some reason. LOL. Missed Dialogue- If you try to exit the mountain instead of following Teersa, a guard stops you and says you can only leave with Teersa as escort. Thus you can't miss her exposition- unless you're far away from it like SP was at times. The war party was defeated because the enemy can somehow corrupt machines and convert them to their side, and this was not expected. We didn't miss much else far as the exposition goes. You can also try to get back into the mountain after exiting, but a guard stops you and says the exception that permitted your entry is over now. If you're wearing the outfit Teb made for you when you talk to him in Mother's Watch, he will comment on it. You can speed up the dialogue with Resh by telling him you're a Seeker right off. You can also remind him you fought beside the young Braves that died at the Proving (heart) or challenge him to a duel (fist), but it all amounts to the same outcome. The Corrupter interrupts your confrontation. After you get far enough away from Mother's Watch, the plot wall goes up.Sorry to correct you, SP, but I think you need to buy the Mounted Pickup Skill (only available once the game's DLC came out and not in the original game) to pick up stuff while mounted. That and having to constantly press X to move quickly while riding kept me off horseback much of the game. 
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Jun 13, 2020 02:08
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AltaBrown posted:Seriously, who keeps all those candles lit? Probably whatever Matriarch has upset Lansra lately has candle-lighting duty. More incredibly, Aloy just naturally has Horseback Archery- a skill that allowed Mongol hordes to conquer much of Eurasia back in the day. The machine probably contributes, keeping her naturally balanced. But she'd need a seriously trained horse to pull that off were the horse not a machine. My hope is in Horizon 2 we'll get some more mounted moves- jousting charge maneuver with a spear, automated circle strafe, that sort of thing. Horse to horse assassination moves like in Assassin's Creed 2 might also be cool, but seems like a stretch.
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Jun 13, 2020 03:42
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Scalding Coffee- All you gotta do to get a machine's name and technical readouts including what you can harvest from it and its weakpoints is scan it with your Focus. It's pretty cool. As far as destructible environments, yes, they will come up again. You'll see how as we continue through the game. It takes a big machine to do environmental damage (the only ones we've seen so far capable of it are the Corrupter and the Sawtooth) but it can play a role in fights for sure.
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Jun 13, 2020 06:00
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Flair is right. We gotta give the characters other than Aloy some stake in this too. If she was the only one in danger at the Proving, the Nora could all be like Resh and just kick Aloy out, chosen one or not. But she wasn’t the only one in danger there, and she wants to help avenge those lucky enough to escape. Let’s not forget that she also has the skill to do that- she took down the guy with the mini gun and a lot of other jerks before Crispin Freeman showed up. And she won the Proving, which serves to get her to the village when it’s in danger and put her next to the other victims of the killers. Having Aloy go out to avenge the friends she just made (and the foes too, she may not care about Bast but she’s still after his killers) fits with the game’s larger theme put forward in Rost’s final lesson. You need to serve a purpose larger than yourself. You need to do good for the tribe, he says, and Aloy expands that to the world. We will see this theme again.
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Jun 13, 2020 16:40
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A lot of characters in the game could be Threshold Guardians. Rost intended the Sawtooth he pitted Aloy against to be one, didn’t exactly work out that way but it still counts. Bast makes a good Distraction or Starter Villain as someone Aloy needs to overcome, Lansra too. The Corrupter is a machine none of the Nora has ever seen or fought before, and it can slave other machines to its will. Aloy can see it’s weak to fire and she defeats one. And of course there’s Crispin Freeman knocking aside arrows with his bracers and killing our mentor while being too tough for us to beat and yet too dumb to finish us off once he has us down. Perhaps the best heroes have a threshold they continually adjust behind guardians they need to defeat.
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Jun 13, 2020 21:12
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10 Tallnecks? I haven't counted, but I didn't think there were that many in the game. Still a lot, though, and all are very cool. I don't like Nil as much as some people do. He's interesting, though, for a messed up dude. Alternate Paths- Meeting Varl is a plot wall. There are two other gates to get out of the Embrace, but they are closed until you meet the young warrior. His dialogue changes slightly if you approach him on foot instead of riding a Strider. There's actually a lot of random background dialogue that changes based on that too. You can explore the Embrace a bit before you leave and get a lot of cool moments. There's an awesome monologue Aloy delivers at Rost's Grave if you visit there that references your attitude when you told him goodbye outside Mother's Heart before the Proving. You can actually Fast Travel back to the Grave throughout the game and get one of these after every Main Quest Mission. I highly recommend searching them out on YouTube or in the game yourself if SP does not include them in the future. They're too cool to transcribe the words. You can start the side quests in the Embrace now too, if you haven't done them already. Ourea and Thok will both reference that you are a Seeker in their dialogue too, rather than Outcast. You can help Odd Grata too, but it has less meaning since it's done after the Proving and Aloy has already won, so you get no prayer from Grata to win. But you will fill Grata in on Rost's passing and Aloy's new status as Seeker instead. You may be able to do this by continuing to visit Grata after her quest is complete as the game progresses- I have not been able to confirm it. If you do wait till later on the game to help Grata, she will also lament that she is starving despite her faith in All-Mother remaining strong. Aloy really needs to help this poor woman!If you visit Mother's Heart, it's very empty now because most of the Nora are either dead, out with the War Party, or gathered up on the Mountain to pray with the Matriarchs. There's also a new side quest- a woman named Enara in Mother's Heart who's old enough to be a Matriarch but isn't since she has no children (she will lament this fact) will direct Aloy to visit her niece in a village outside the Embrace and gather some healing herbs on the way. I'm not sure if SP is going to do this quest later, so I'll say no more specifics about it for now. It's also possible to get the quest from the niece later on. Both niece and aunt are Nora Healers helping Braves wounded in the War Party Massacre. If you talk to Karst in Mother's Cradle before you go, he can still sell you stuff. There's some collectible maps that are very helpful (you can get these from most any merchant now). Aloy also expresses surprise Karst isn't with the Nora who are praying. He says he's not religious. Aloy then reminds him there might be buyers among the pilgrims and he is interested in that, so he considers the idea. Nil's dialogue in the game when you see him later changes depending on when you meet the guy. It is actually possible (and quite funny) to go through the entire game and not meet him until the end of his questline. Not saying any more about that right now. Most players will probably help find Sona at this point- complete story quests as they come up and screw Resh, as SP said. I'll cover the changes if you wait to do it at a later point. The quest does eventually become mandatory. I like Aloy's Horse Archery too, though there needs to be more shots on the move. I'm hoping in the sequel they add that- also maybe a way to set a mount's path and have it follow that path automatically while you fire. Give a whole new meaning to rail shooters and circle strafing! The Brave at the Massacre Site has the same character model as a jerk guard outside Mother's Heart. Probably not the same guy, though. Aloy will never meet that jerk guard or Teb's father again far as I know- some jerks do escape her sass revenge. You can start finding data points outside the Embrace that hint at the state of the world before the apocalypse. You have to fill in a lot of the blanks yourself, but it has changed a lot and not for the better. Climate change, increasing automation, dystopia in many ways. I'll post specifics after SP makes more of a decision on how she wants to show off data points- I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion of the state of the world as the game reveals it. You naturally can't learn that much yet. The big events will be shown off later in the game. Cool details about Tallnecks- you can't hurt them. Try and Aloy comments that it's impossible for her to take one down. They do kill a lot of wildlife, though. My first playthrough I needed a Raccoon Skin for an upgrade, had lots of trouble finding a raccoon never mind killing it for this random drop, and then a Tallneck EMP fried several for me! LOL Tallnecks can also step on wildlife and kill them. You are vulnerable to this too. Critical Hit is another skill you have to buy from the upgrade menu. It can be upgraded also. It is very useful. Some more inept LPers I've watched have gotten through a good chunk of the game not having it! Sona is indeed a badass and Aloy will- eventually- earn her respect.
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Jun 18, 2020 02:40
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SIGSEGV posted:On the one hand I accept that the premise of the game implies a post apocalypse, post racial society in which new prejudice has come to help stop the bleeding caused by the gaping hole of missing prejudice, but I'm still a tiny bit miffed by our main character, a brave from a tribe in Northern America being, well, white as hell. I don't want to get into the whole Social Justice thing, but this game has helped teach me that prejudice is unfortunately always going to be a huge problem in the world. Even in a future where people were not segregated by skin shade, they segregate themselves by tribe and prejudge each other in awful ways. The scene where a peace-preaching Carja priest is bombarded by tomatoes is proof of this, so is Resh and other characters' treatment of outcasts (I highly doubt all the High Matriarchs would want their shunning system to work out like that) and other things we'll see later. Kudos to Aloy for standing against such judgements whenever she encounters them- we'll see a lot of this. But even she can't end them forever, just like in real life. Interviews I've read about the game's development have mentioned how they went through a lot of designs for Aloy, including some with different hair color and darker skin. Eventually it was decided that she needed to have red hair to stand out- probably why she and her middle-aged doppelganger are the only ginger people in the game, which along with the setting in Colorado gives me some South Park crossover vibes (Aloy vs Corrupted Mecha Streisand?). Then the conversation director was home sick, saw Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra on TV, and her image just clicked as Aloy's face. Not sure if they had the voice cast before or after that. Never played Dawn of Man. I may need to check out that LP.
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Jun 18, 2020 14:55
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The burst of blue from the Tallneck is indeed EMP. It prevents you from landing in a field of hostile machines after rappelling down. Sadly, it does not prevent the Tallneck itself from stepping on you once you land. It was a Scrapper (hyena type scavenger machine) that used a radar burst earlier. That will find Aloy in tall grass if she’s not still. Scrappers aren’t the only machines to use it either.
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Jun 18, 2020 17:54
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The War Chief's Trail- I wish you had cleared the camp stealthily, SP. It would be the first time I saw such a feat accomplished in an LP. I have tried but failed to do it myself. I don't think it changes the subsequent dialogue any, please let me know if I'm wrong. It's implied but never explained directly by the game that the Corrupted Residue enemy Corrupted machines leave behind is Nanomachines (son). The machines produce this residue after contact with a Corrupter, it strengthens and controls them, and it can hurt organic life, but it does not survive long outside a mechanical body. Kill the machine spreading it, wait a few seconds, and it dissolves. This is the first area in the game to point out how Blaze barrels explode if shot with a fire arrow. It did take me a bit to connect the dots and start killing enemies carrying such barrels using them (they're called Dredgers, if anyone cares). Bandit Camps- As previously mentioned, Nil's dialogue does change if you missed him on the road and first meet him here. Not much other than starting out with "Be careful, bandit camp ahead!" Aloy asks what a non-Nora is doing in the Nora's outer provinces, and he says he's hunting bandits, then introduces himself and the dialogue picks up as shown in the video. If you decline his help in clearing the camp, he shrugs and says he will enjoy watching you do it alone. There are several bandit camps in the game, however Nil only shows up at three of them. You also have to speak to him before finishing the mission, or he won't join you to help out. If a green exclamation point (side quest marker) appears on the map near a camp, that's probably him. Nil gives you more of his story as you interact with him, I'll address it after future camps. I hope SP will be clearing out more of them as the game goes on. Scalding Coffee- The game has the camp full of bandits when it first appears, and then full of generic villagers after you clear out the bandits. That scene with Jom the Outcast after the first camp is to explain how one becomes the other. No cleared bandit camp village in the main game has any interesting scenes unfortunately (the one in the DLC does), but they are good sources of loot. The bandits' bodies remain where slain until you save and reload, and their supply crates remain unlooted until Aloy finds them. Said supplies often include healing potions and ancient objects you can sell for lots of shards. Some of the latter may be recognizable as common household objects in the modern day. There are many tactics you can use to clear bandit camps. One I like but haven't seen a lot of in LPs is abandoning a Strider where bandits patrol (but staying in stealth yourself) and watching how many kills your robo-horse gets once they start going after it. Alternate Paths- Not much to say this time around, other than what was said above. The game has a lot of distractions and side stories, I suspect we'll see more of them in the next video. Two of these in particular I'm looking forward to commenting on. Oh, and for the curious, the area we're in, Devil's Thirst, was once the city of Colorado Springs. It also includes the church graveyard from the game's opening cutscenes. That statue of the two men riding horses is there- it's called "The Pikes Peak Range Riders" and promotes a local charity horse riding association of the same name. Aloy can wander past the statue in general gameplay, it does not appear in any specific mission. One has to wonder, though, what the Nora make of such a statue and whether it gave Aloy the idea to ride Striders. There are no similar statues in the Embrace and she may or may not have been outside that area since her naming day, but perhaps she still has memories.
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Jun 21, 2020 02:42
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Alternate Dialogue- Aloy can express being disturbed by Nil's attitude and say it's wrong, but this doesn't change her future with him. We'll see that dude again down the line. Not surprised Cren got run over by a Strider, he's so accident-prone. I was wondering about when you'd do the Hunters' Lodge stuff. I look forward to seeing it when you're ready. The other side quest I want to see you do is the Vantage Points- I'll just mention that name for now and see what you do with it in the future. I personally thought the first Cauldron was cool, not creepy, but I can understand how it might be seen otherwise. BTW, you don't just have to come across Cauldrons in the wilderness, at least not the first one (the game has several, Sigma is the first). There's a Nora huntress you can meet in the nearby village of Mother's Crown. If you approach her, Aloy notices she's injured and asks about it. The huntress (name is Dral) explains she got knocked down by a Watcher that snuck up on her while she was chasing a Grazer. She considers the injury a lesson because she got close to a Cauldron, a mysterious doorway that machines come out of- maybe they're made in there, nobody is sure? Aloy is intrigued of course. The huntress discourages Aloy from going to such an obviously cursed place, then gives in to "describe the place I should avoid" and gives Aloy directions. Later Cauldrons you'll have to find on your own. There are multiple side quests to pick up in Mother's Crown and another nearby village called Mother's Rise. Hope you'll go there at some point. Good luck!
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Jun 25, 2020 05:30
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You mean Aloy isn’t killing bandits for fun? I’m playing Aloy and that’s why I kill bandits! SP- I couldn’t have said it better myself.
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Jun 25, 2020 19:11
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The Vantage points was the side quest I hoped you’d show off. The images of the past world it shows off are pretty cool. It confirms the game setting in modern times and tells an interesting story, though you need to read the text for each one to get the full effect. I hope SP will keep showing off the Vantage points, including the ones that require backtracking. They’re my favorite collectible in the game. The caravan side quest is easy to stumble onto, being right near Sona and all. If you miss it somehow, the boss of the group is in a town a bit west called Hunters’ Gathering. He can alert you to his team’s plight if you meet him. This does make the quest longer, though, since you may need to let him know everything is ok after completing things if he gives you the quest. The new machines we met won’t be seen again for a while, but this is our introduction to them. Both Longlegs and Stalkers are really annoying or fun to fight depending on your mood.
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Jul 1, 2020 04:41
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AnAnonymousIdiot posted:So all this takes place around the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs? Not all of it, and the area’s had a lot of geographical changes made because it’s a post post apocalyptic video game, but yeah. We’ve been to Colorado Springs already, that bandit camp we cleared was in the ruins of the Pioneers Museum according to another Vantage we missed. The Proving took place on Pikes Peak (as proven by the coordinates Crispin Freeman gave his goons to find and terminate Aloy- gotta wonder how they’re still using that system in the game now that I think about it). We should see the Ring of Metal once Aloy catches up with Sona. I wonder if anyone can guess what it’s going to be.
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Jul 1, 2020 20:35
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Kibayasu posted:When are we going to get to the blaze factory? Dude, we've encountered several such factories already. We've even destroyed several of them. The game calls them Striders and Grazers- these machines make Blaze from the grass they consume. Haven't you been paying attention?
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Jul 3, 2020 07:10
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Scalding Coffee posted:Can you lay tripmines next to each other and stack the damage? Yes, although status effects like paralysis from the Shock Wires (which do no damage, just status effect) do not stack. Better to place those where the enemy can hit one, get shocked and you can shoot it a while, then when it gets up and walks a short distance it will get shocked again. If possible. Damage tripmines like Blast Wires from the blue Tripcaster and Sticky Bombs from the blue Blast Sling do stack.
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Jul 3, 2020 17:10
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I just watched a video of the caravan side quest which started in Hunter’s Gathering and confirmed you don’t need to check in with the quest giver after the quest (though you probably can optionally- it’s possible with other quest givers). It’s the caravan master who rewards you for your work, not the guy at Hunter’s Gathering. Although that guy does provide more information about the caravan- it was going north to Ban’ur and he thought that their explosive arrowheads had been left behind, not knowing a saboteur did it on purpose. Aloy is given these arrowheads to return, but they make no difference in the rest of the quest. It’s unclear what type of ammo they were or what exactly the caravan was transporting. Song cores sounds like machine hearts perhaps. The guy at Hunter’s Gathering also hints you might be facing a new machine that strikes unseen- the Stalker, obviously.
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Jul 3, 2020 22:57
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Subponticate Poster posted:After much loving about we finally meet up with Sona and the war party. The bad guys are holed up in "the ring of metal." On the way we have 3 camps to deal with. They're kinda like bandit camps but much smaller and with some corrupted machines patrolling around, but nothing we can't handle. Showing a serious need for upgraded equipment, here. Taking 4-5 non-headshots to kill a person is really crappy. Alternate Paths- You can clear out some or all of the three preliminary camps before you start the "Revenge of the Nora" mission. Exploring the Devil's Grief area (Denver), you can easily come across them. Killing all enemy forces in each isn't too difficult solo. Varl will be impressed with your prep work, while Sona grumbles (maybe on behalf of Braves who wanted to be part of the action). You can't enter the Ring of Metal until this mission starts, though- you need Varl's boost to enter the stadium itself. Devil's Grief is a weird area- you can always find enemy Cultists and Corrupted Machines prowling around it, even after all the missions involving the location. If you look around the lake on the eastern edge, you can even find some Corrupted Machines that appear nowhere else in the game (and types we haven't seen yet in the LP, so no specifics). I like to think that if Aloy explores the ruins enough, maybe she could find an Easter egg for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. Kojima was a big fan of Horizon Zero Dawn during development, and MGRR had a good bit of its plot set in Denver. Enough for a crossover to work, though I'm not sure how to write it. Have to wonder if Aloy or Blade Wolf would be heavier on the sass. Some of the enemy lines while they fight you in this game are quite funny. I particularly like "By the Sun, go down!" achtungnight fucked around with this message at 08:43 on Jul 9, 2020 |
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Jul 9, 2020 02:24
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I share SP’s play style and really hope they make the melee cooler in the sequel. I also like the slingshot.
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Jul 9, 2020 14:04
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There are at least two Skills you can buy that improve spear technique. One strips enemy armor faster with more precise light attacks and the other improves the heavy attacks’ knockdown ability for medium size machines like Sawtooths. Both these Skills are available in the base game. Lone Badger is thinking of Spear Damage Upgrade Modifications, which do indeed require a DLC quest to apply. You can visit the DLC area anytime, though, not just postgame. I’ll say no more about it until the LP gets there though.
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Jul 11, 2020 12:31
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I knew that the quests make it so rare drops always drop from enemies if you need them for quest completion, but I did not think about using this one to farm Boar Skins. That is a nice exploit. I may use it in future playthroughs. Glad you're going back and grabbing the missed Vantage Points and also visiting Rost's Grave. I don't like that you're completing "non-exciting" quests off camera, but at least you're honest about doing so. Maybe I've watched too many other Let's Plays that complete all quests on camera regardless of the excitement level. Or too many Let's Plays of this game in general. The first explains my offense, the latter my forgiveness. Heh. I also did not pick up that Delicate Arch is now the Gatelands from that mug collectible. Probably since I never knew the rock formation existed before this game. Alternate Dialogue- The people referring to Aloy as the "Hero of Devil's Grief" is a result of completing the "Revenge of the Nora" main mission before visiting said people for the first time. It is possible to meet Marea, for example, before doing that. In that case, she is still eager to meet Aloy as "the Outcast who won the Proving, now a Seeker". Other important people, like quest givers, express similar praise for Aloy in their dialogue. So we have a heroic reputation either way. Marea's dialogue about Sona is also a result of finishing the "Revenge of the Nora" quest. It comes up because Sona is residing in Mother's Crown after that mission (as we saw, she has a sidequest for Aloy if you find her too). This is an important plot device- it explains why Sona doesn't immediately go back and order Resh to open up Mother's Watch to Aloy as some players might expect for finding her. Guess we can presume Sona is content to let Resh manage the defenses there at his own volition while she concentrates on those at Mother's Crown, which is the Nora settlement nearest the Carja border and thus a big point of the tribe's overall defense, the Carja being a formerly hostile tribe and all. This situation will continue for a while as we progress the game plot. I presume it is possible to clear 2 Corrupted Zones before Marea gives you the quest to do so and possibly change her dialogue, but I have not done that myself. Something to consider for my next playthrough. I do know from one Lets Play I watched that the gate at Daytower does not open until you clear the Corrupted Zones- perhaps it is possible for the guards there to give you the quest to do so even though the main quest mandates meeting Marea. Again, something to check out on a future playthrough, I guess. It is possible to give Sona your collected Chillwater for her quest upon picking that quest up, as SP showed off. I presume it is also possible to give her a Lancehorn Lens upon quest pickup, but have not done it. The Signal Arrows delivery is the part of the quest you can't do without meeting Sona first. This is similar to the "Odd Grata" quest earlier- you can give her the meat she wants upon your first meeting if you have it already, but need her request to pick up the Prayer Beads unique quest item. A similar trick is in play with the quest "Luck of the Hunt"- you can turn in the Boar Skins upon quest pickup if you have them but need to pick up the quest to find the hunter's lucky ring. Of course, doing it like this prevents the Boar Skin exploit SP pointed out to me, and Skins are rare drops, so... The first bit of Rost's Grave dialogue does change in response to how you said goodbye to Rost, as you might expect. If you expressed anger and said good riddance to him, Aloy will apologize for that. Not sure how it plays out if you chose "I understand" (the heart choice). Anyone who knows is welcome to say. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Jul 17, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 02:07
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That’s fine. Just give some indication in video or post that you’re not showing off the rest of the quest and I will summarize relevant details when they are no longer spoiler-ish. These two quests do not have long term results, as you mention. I’ll see if you show off the completion dialogue next video, if not I’ll summarize it and that will be the end. There are a couple other side quests in a village we passed up earlier that do have long term results, but you may be waiting on those for one reason or another, and their results do not show for a while, so for now I will say I hope you do them later and leave it at that.
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Jul 17, 2020 14:02
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New special dialogue discovered today. If you clear the first Bandit Camp alone, refusing Nil's aid, and manage to stealth kill everybody, Nil is particularly impressed and recounts how he pricked his finger with an arrow every time he watched you killed someone just to feel part of it. Nil is seriously messed up.
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Jul 20, 2020 22:25
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The Horizon thread on the SA Games board calls Tearblast Arrows Honk Arrows. I like the name. Snapmaws are probably my favorite machine in the game. Shortly after meeting them for the first time, I told my roommate I was spending my day off hunting giant robot alligators for fun and profit. I think I meleed the entire bunch to death at the lake before meeting Lakhir first time I completed the "In Foreign Lands" sidequest- got his bow early doing so, by the way. Slightly altered dialogue for completing the quest that way. "A Snapmaw ate my bow." "That explains what I found when I killed that Snapmaw."The first Cauldron and the ruins Aloy fell into as a child are both good places to find lots of rats. Riding a sparking mechanical cow can't be healthy, but it sure looks cool. Missed Dialogue- That village of mixed tribes sitting around rough tents is called Hunter's Gathering. The Oseram woman who runs the place will give you a quest later, but if you talk to her before visiting Daytower, she has some bonus dialogue. It's mostly world-building that fleshes out her tribe and the Carja more. I'll go further into it later- spoilers. The shirtless guy in Daytower, Ohtur, is one of three people who can tell us about the DLC and probably the most interesting of the trio. The other two people won't appear since we talked to Ohtur first. IIRC, they're a female Banuk wanderer near the actual DLC area and a Carja noble wannabe hunter in Meridian. Both will direct you to the DLC area and tell you about the troubles there. The noble guy laments being unable to hunt in the area because it's too dangerous, the wanderer is worried about her fellow Banuk who live there. Either way, Aloy agrees to go check things out and picks up the quest. Still hoping you go back for missed sidequests at some point. Maybe when you finish the game, I'll do a roundup post if you have any left. This is a good place for a summary of all the Data Points we can find east of Daytower. I won't go into specifics, but they describe much of the Metal World through news transcripts and advertisements. The world they describe is that of the 2030s through the 2050s, apparently the time right before whatever apocalyptic event happened (still no detail on what that event was). Some things are still the same- apartments are expensive, right wing radio hosts are obnoxious jerks, dating sucks and so does reality tv. But climate change has gone out of control, burying parts of Southeast Asia and New Zealand under water. Corporations are more politically powerful, able to openly sponsor legislators and restrict free speech on their internet message boards with legal repercussions. Said internet is now called the Holo Net and can presumably be experienced through a Focus device in a lot more visual detail. This is not the only technological advance. Lots of stuff is more automated- deliveries, sports teams, even police SWAT teams. The Vantage Point at the stadium talks about both security and EMT robots on call, neither very efficient but still present instead of humans doing those jobs. Lots of humans are out of work thanks to increasing automation, including veterans. Universal Basic Income is now official policy in part to alleviate this, but of course the cost of living is going way up. That Reiker Building ad from this latest video is particularly telling. Everyone who lives in the building has a complimentary robot servant to make their lives easier- and presumably more expensive. It sounds very much like the Metal World that Nora storyteller described with humans expecting machines to do everything for them. Makes one wonder what went wrong. In Daytower, you can start finding Glyphs, a different type of Data Point that talks about the present of Horizon Zero Dawn, its tribes, and their history and perception by the Carja. Glyphs is what the Carja call writing, apparently. I'll talk more about these when we find more. SP showed off the one about The Derangement- I too wondered what a Thunderjaw was when I first read it. Ravager also. Stalker and Sawtooth we've seen. As for large lakes in the game and Salt Lake City, I'll discuss that at a later time too.
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Jul 22, 2020 22:30
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Yeah, the difficulty spike is cool, but a sudden shock to the system when it first hit. Having to run away from the big machines here was terrifying. Then it was oh so satisfying when I came back later and was able to take them down. The area we're in is Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Meridian is built in what used to be known as Monument Valley. If you've seen any John Ford directed Western movies starring John Wayne, you're probably familiar with this area- it's featured it in many of those films. I have to admit watching Aloy explore it is a lot cooler than seeing John Wayne do the same. John Wayne would probably have not responded too well if he had to face Tramplers or a Stormbird. And I doubt he'd be as adept at taking down the thread title machine as Aloy is. You have to first enter Meridian through the main gate. There is an elevator up from the village at the southeast foot of the mesa, but it's not open to you until after you enter the gate and play out the plot. Just like the northern entrance to the Carja Sundom through the Dawn's Sentinel fort north of Daytower- you have to first enter the western half of the map through Daytower and then this entrance is automatically open to you. At least the cutscenes on the railroad path are amusing. Alternate Dialogue- Consoling Erend does not go well no matter how you try it. If you're angry, he actually calls Aloy cold. Saying it gets easier doesn't help either because (as he says) it doesn't feel easy at the moment. Grief takes time to get through. You can also skip consoling him entirely by cutting right to why you're here and then moving right on to Olin's place. If it's not obvious (it wasn't to me the first play through, at least not till after I thought about all the dialogue and plot I'd seen up to this point- I had missed a bit of it too), not all the Carja are on the side of Sun King Avad. A lot are still wanting to continue the bloodshed and terror campaign he intended to stop by overthrowing his father Jiran- these are the Shadow Carja. They're opposed to the Sun Carja, who are allied with Avad. At least we're not taking on the whole tribe as an enemy. Seeing an empire in civil war and helping one side overcome the other is an interesting take on an RPG trope I had not seen much before this game. It's usually "all the Empire is evil!" Erend said not to break anything except the door. He didn't say which door. LOL It will be interesting to see what happens when Aloy finally meets Olin again- was my reaction when I first played through the scenes in this video. It still seems appropriate now. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Jul 27, 2020 |
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Jul 27, 2020 23:30
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Megillah Gorilla posted:That run-up to Daytower was just stunning. I loved all the little oases you could see at the bottom of the valley. My theory on this is as follows- - He's drunk and Aloy doesn't like that but is unsure how to comment on such an issue properly. - She's close to Olin, finally, after making a journey that would take months IRL, even on mech-horseback and another sidequest means another delay. God knows how long before her current lead will disappear, she has to find Olin now. - The Carja civil war isn't her war, far as she knows. She doesn't want to get involved.
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Jul 29, 2020 21:16
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For the record, I would like the collectible merchants better if they shut up once you gave them all their items. But they keep on trying to get your attention regardless. SP missed a few things in Meridian. First, there's the Temple of the Sun in one corner of the lower level, I forget where exactly. There are a bunch of Sun Priests chanting there and off to the side is the first Sun Priest we met in the game, Reverent Irit. You may remember him from Mother's Heart, he almost got bombarded by tomatoes. His conversation isn't nearly as amusing here, but he will identify the Priests' Sun Ceremony for Aloy. She says it's beautiful even if she can't participate. Irit will also direct Aloy to find Mournful Naman, the Priest who has a side quest for us, if we haven't met him already. Two of the pilgrims Naman wants us to help are standing near him- the Banuk and the Utaru. We can talk to them for more information on their backstories and their tribes. The Utaru is actually the only representative of her tribe in the game- maybe we'll see more in the sequel. They're big into agriculture and pacifism, not much more to say about them really. I read somewhere that Meridian was originally the opening area of the game and only later did they move things to the east to start out. Good move, I think. Looking forward to when we actually visit the Hunter's Lodge.
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Aug 6, 2020 01:22
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Tallnecks are great for stomping or EMPing animals and getting them to drop their skins and bones. I’ve gotten numerous parts that way when hunting failed. Alternate Dialogue- If you turned down Nil’s help clearing the first Bandit Camp, he will insist on helping you clear the others where you meet him nearby. Of course it’s still possible to solo them- just don’t talk to Nil first. The first time I cleared the camp in the video I didn’t know he was nearby and never found him before or after. It messed up some continuity later but I’ll talk about that when & if we hopefully visit a place he mentioned. Can’t say I ever dealt with that many Shellwalkers at once. Glad you got some good loot out of it.
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Aug 10, 2020 21:26
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