Re: What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2024?

On Tue, 07 May 2024 11:55:51 +0300, Anssi Saari
<anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
>

Disappointing. I generally enjoyed the first "Horizon" game, even if I
found it to be a bit too formulaic. But it had pleasing visuals and
the central game-loop and mechanics were satisfying enough (the combat
was a bit too melee-focused, and the camera was somewhat uncooperative
but otherwise it was fine).

>
All that's still there and the visuals are still pleasing and in fact,
you can fly. Or rather, there's a mount you can whistle up that
flies. And there's no tedious waiting for it to land and climbing on and
taking off, it swoops in and grabs you and throws you on its back in a
funny animation. Makes sightseeing easy and in fact the end credits show
off some of the sights.
>

But it sounds like the sequel got kitchen-sinked*, with the developers
adding in new ideas willy-nilly without really understanding how it
would affect the overall balance, loop, and atmosphere of the game.

>
Unfortunately yes, I have to agree about the kitchen-sinking. They even
put in races! Still, it's not all bad, like the flying mount above.

Yes! You used the word! ;-)

Also, I didn't much use the other weapons in Zero Dawn either. The one
time I felt the ropecaster would be useful right then to tie down some
big machine, there was this other guy "helping", doing almost no damage
but his ineffectual firing caused the machine to pull loose from the
ropes. Just as I was trying to hit it where it hurts, of course.

I was underwhelmed with the weapon selection in the original Horizon
game too. I mostly just used the standard bow. All the more exotic
weapons - the rope-gun, the trap-gun, etc. - just didn't seem worth
the bother. They seemed to situation specific; it was just easier to
snipe from afar with the arrow appropriate to the monster's weakness,
and running away if things got too hairy. Honestly, most of the time I
just found a ledge where the monsters couldn't reach me (or at least,
couldn't get up to me before I pincushioned them to death). The AI
pathfinding wasn't really that great.

And by the end of the game, my melee weapon was so powerful - and my
character so robust - that I often just waded right up to the monster
and whacked it to death.

Of course, I wasn't playing on the hardest difficulty levels, and
maybe there the other weapons were more necessary as the game gets
harder.

Still, it was never the combat that intrigued me with Horizon. It was
the pretty world, the intriguing - if fairly cliche - setting, and the
platforming that I most enjoyed. I'm a sucker for a good rock-climb.
;-P