Horizon Forbidden West (PS4/5) & Burning Shores DLC Out Now! Complete Edition - 10/6, PC - Feb 2024

[CoolinInTheCut]

think this is the first open world game I’ve ever platted lol



Can’t wait to jump back in when the DLC comes out

Play the game on ultra hard now. It's a whole different game.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Play the game on ultra hard now. It's a whole different game.

When you start new game + does it start a new save file? I dont want to start it and not be at end game for the inevitable expansion

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

When you start new game + does it start a new save file? I dont want to start it and not be at end game for the inevitable expansion

Preserves your existing save and creates a new save file. I think it says it right before you start it (you gotta do it thru the base, it won't be in the main menu).

You might want to get some legendary gear before starting it. Doing all the salvage contracts gets you a good legendary armor. Arena gets you some good legendary bows but it's tough (if you dont use your exploding spikes - i had a legendary spike thrower around the time i tackled this).

 

[MidniteJay]

Preserves your existing save and creates a new save file. I think it says it right before you start it (you gotta do it thru the base, it won't be in the main menu).

You might want to get some legendary gear before starting it. Doing all the salvage contracts gets you a good legendary armor. Arena gets you some good legendary bows but it's tough (if you dont use your exploding spikes - i had a legendary spike thrower around the time i tackled this).

He should also do a resource hunt and hoard as much material as possible for his legendary gear.

The struggle was real by the end of my ultra hard playthrough.

 

[Jmare007]

The struggle was real by the end of my ultra hard playthrough.

Ultra Hard is the real game

 

[-DMP-]

The enduring just highlights how much more the combat needs to improve.

Chick canceling, blocking and parrying attacks and you can’t even lock on, let alone side step.

Hope I can do some of that next game.

 

[42 Monks]

Ultra Hard is the real game

nah

Ultra Hard in HFW is fine until around mid-game. Then it becomes obvious they didn't give a fraction of the fukk towards balancing and what made ultra hard in HZD so great.

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

The enduring just highlights how much more the combat needs to improve.

Chick canceling, blocking and parrying attacks and you can’t even lock on, let alone side step.

Hope I can do some of that next game.

It kinda makes no sense to me why they even advertised all these melee improvements, when its still pretty clunky like the first game.

I did all the melee pits for the platinum, but for the last few challenges, I was just button mashing cause I couldnt figure out what I was doing wrong.

You're constantly stuck in these animations when you do the combos that you cant cancel yourself out of.

nah

Ultra Hard in HFW is fine until around mid-game. Then it becomes obvious they didn't give a fraction of the fukk towards balancing and what made ultra hard in HZD so great.

Why is it bad in HFW? I remember HZD ultra hard mode was ridiculous with how resource taxing every battle was. I only got half way through that game on Ultra Hard cause I got tired of looting for resources for 10-15 minutes after every encounter.

 

[-DMP-]

It kinda makes no sense to me why they even advertised all these melee improvements, when its still pretty clunky like the first game.

I did all the melee pits for the platinum, but for the last few challenges, I was just button mashing cause I couldnt figure out what I was doing wrong.

Yea I just finished them all. I just found one combo I could remember and cheesed it.

All them r1s and r2 shyts run together.

 

[42 Monks]

It kinda makes no sense to me why they even advertised all these melee improvements, when its still pretty clunky like the first game.

I did all the melee pits for the platinum, but for the last few challenges, I was just button mashing cause I couldnt figure out what I was doing wrong.



Why is it bad in HFW? I remember HZD ultra hard mode was ridiculous with how resource taxing every battle was. I only got half way through that game on Ultra Hard cause I got tired of looting for resources for 10-15 minutes after every encounter.

Because the resource tax is even worse due to traps being watered down, enemies basically juggling you, and flat damage/hp scaling instead of anything that made sense lol

I was honestly okay accepting the grind of Ultra Hard in HFW until I got to Arena - then it immediately became clear that the devs simply didn't put any thought into that difficulty at all this time around.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

It kinda makes no sense to me why they even advertised all these melee improvements, when its still pretty clunky like the first game.

I did all the melee pits for the platinum, but for the last few challenges, I was just button mashing cause I couldnt figure out what I was doing wrong.

You're constantly stuck in these animations when you do the combos that you cant cancel yourself out of.

To be fair melee in the first game was absolutely atrocious so this being just barely serviceable is a huge step up. I see what they tried to do in this game, where they didn’t make melee great enough on its own, but they made it more serviceable for the ranged combat. They still want you to transition into shooting as its the strongest aspect of the game. At the end of the day this is a 3rd person shooter and everything is kind of in service to those mechanics.

I would love a complete overhaul to the core combat in the next game. Proper parrying and blocking, (we literally have a shield) and not just roll dodging over and over only to be stun locked into ground animation that you can still take damage in.

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

Because the resource tax is even worse due to traps being watered down, enemies basically juggling you, and flat damage/hp scaling instead of anything that made sense lol

I was honestly okay accepting the grind of Ultra Hard in HFW until I got to Arena - then it immediately became clear that the devs simply didn't put any thought into that difficulty at all this time around.

Traps are nerfed in ultra hard mode?

I seen someone take down that Apex Slaughterspine on that beach with just traps on youtube. Traps always felt over powered in this game in regular difficulty.

Yea I just finished them all. I just found one combo I could remember and cheesed it.

All them r1s and r2 shyts run together.

The melee pits were easily the most frustrating part of the otherwise really easy (too easy) platinum. Its crazy how they stuffed so much into just two buttons.

To be fair melee in the first game was absolutely atrocious so this being just barely serviceable is a huge step up. I see what they tried to do in this game, where they didn’t make melee great enough on its own, but they made it more serviceable for the ranged combat. They still want you to transition into shooting as its the strongest aspect of the game. At the end of the day this is a 3rd person shooter and everything is kind of in service to those mechanics.

I would love a complete overhaul to the core combat in the next game. Proper parrying and blocking, (we literally have a shield) and not just roll dodging over and over only to be stun locked into ground animation that you can still take damage in.

I know everyone said the melee in HZD was terrible, but it was only terrible because it was too simple and broken (with how powerful critical strikes were).

Honestly, the janky combo system they put in this game is arguably worse. Great ideas but its all just poorly executed with how it feels so janky, and likewise with the melee pits (probably the worst side activity in the game).

And the fact that they brought over their own version of a Doom Eternal marauder only makes shyt more annoying lol. Whenever I seen one of those guys, I would just use concentration and shoot them in the head when I had an opening. I didnt wanna deal with any melee in this game unless it was squeezing in a critical hit when someones knocked down.

I'm just nit picking things though. The Horizon games easily have the best gameplay in the entire open world genre.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Traps are nerfed in ultra hard mode?

I seen someone take down that Apex Slaughterspine on that beach with just traps on youtube. Traps always felt over powered in this game in regular difficulty.



The melee pits were easily the most frustrating part of the otherwise really easy (too easy) platinum. Its crazy how they stuffed so much into just two buttons.



I know everyone said the melee in HZD was terrible, but it was only terrible because it was too simple and broken (with how powerful critical strikes were).

Honestly, the janky combo system they put in this game is arguably worse. Great ideas but its all just poorly executed with how it feels so janky, and likewise with the melee pits (probably the worst side activity in the game).

And the fact that they brought over their own version of a Doom Eternal marauder only makes shyt more annoying lol. Whenever I seen one of those guys, I would just use concentration and shoot them in the head when I had an opening. I didnt wanna deal with any melee in this game unless it was squeezing in a critical hit when someones knocked down.

I'm just nit picking things though. The Horizon games easily have the best gameplay in the entire open world genre.

Yeah, i don’t really like fighting the rebel champions, i just stealth them

 

[42 Monks]

Traps are nerfed in ultra hard mode?

I seen someone take down that Apex Slaughterspine on that beach with just traps on youtube. Traps always felt over powered in this game in regular difficulty.



The melee pits were easily the most frustrating part of the otherwise really easy (too easy) platinum. Its crazy how they stuffed so much into just two buttons.



I know everyone said the melee in HZD was terrible, but it was only terrible because it was too simple and broken (with how powerful critical strikes were).

Honestly, the janky combo system they put in this game is arguably worse. Great ideas but its all just poorly executed with how it feels so janky, and likewise with the melee pits (probably the worst side activity in the game).

And the fact that they brought over their own version of a Doom Eternal marauder only makes shyt more annoying lol. Whenever I seen one of those guys, I would just use concentration and shoot them in the head when I had an opening. I didnt wanna deal with any melee in this game unless it was squeezing in a critical hit when someones knocked down.

I'm just nit picking things though. The Horizon games easily have the best gameplay in the entire open world genre.

The elemental build up ceilings. First game there were very few instances where you'd set traps and fail to trigger interactions. They were the primary way to *save* resources because leaning heavily into that would make the game way easier and more diverse instead of just lobbing arrows endlessly.

In HFW its dramatically more difficult to get over those thresholds in a reasonable way. By the end of the game, you could drop 3 or more traps only to have a robot turn around and yeet you into the sunset.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

thers a lot to nitpick with this game but if every playstation studio game sequel got the same level of care and upgrades this game got I’d be veeeery happy.

Ghost of Tsushima, Ragnarok, Spider-man, etc. There was a significant jump with this game, the fact that Ghost and Spider-man are next gen, i really expect significant improvements as well