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RTTP/Opinion: Console Warring has deprived Horizon Zero Dawn, and its graphics, of richly deserved adulation.

Are you prepared to offer the game props for it's achievements?

  • Yes, exceptional game indeed.

  • Nah, I can't squeeze it out.

  • Other (pffff)


Results are only viewable after voting.

Zannegan

Member
From the outset, I've only ever heard its visuals praised. It's whether the rest of the game holds up that people can't seem to agree on (which is why your poll makes no sense, btw). And, honestly, I don't see a problem with that. Different strokes, etc.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
I thought the game was great. Amazing graphics, cool combat against robotic dinosaurs and a fairly engaging plot (it's weakest element though). Expansion was very good too. Even better than the base game I'd say. Did two playthroughs and platinumed it. Looking forward to Forbidden West.
 

Digity

Member
For what it's worth, i failed to get into it like 6 times and only started to really appreciate it when i decided to just entirely ignore side quests unless they really bit me in the face :messenger_grinning_sweat: but it's all good
Same here, game actually became enjoyable once I focused entirely on the story missions. Side missions are generally a waste of time in any game.
 

ZehDon

Member
I think I played the first hour, put it down, and never seemed to get back to it. My wife put in eight or so, and she stopped because she wasn't enjoying it. Didn't really scratch any particular itch, but it certainly wasn't a bad game.
 
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Yeah it’s great. But it’s the Nintendo fans who were downplaying it’s greatness, not Xbox fans, it clashed big time with Zelda Breath of the Wild at launch, generated all kinds of comparisons:

It 100% went both ways. I remember tons of Sony trolls saying Guerrilla deserves the Zelda IP and trashing BotW. Most BotW fans were pretty much happy with the critics, the fan response and the game itself. Certain trolls have been trying to tear down BotW for years and claimed all the praise is just because its a Nintendo game.
 
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Tschumi

Member
From the outset, I've only ever heard its visuals praised. It's whether the rest of the game holds up that people can't seem to agree on (which is why your poll makes no sense, btw). And, honestly, I don't see a problem with that. Different strokes, etc.
Yeah the poll was a rush job
 

Tschumi

Member
It 100% went both ways. I remember tons of Sony trolls saying Guerrilla deserves the Zelda IP and trashing BotW. Most BotW fans were pretty much happy with the critics, the fan response and the game itself. Certain trolls have been trying to tear down BotW for years and claimed all the praise is just because its a Nintendo game.
BOTW, for me, feels like a first time effort, just like HZD, i know people adore BOTW and i can understand it but I guess i loved games inordinately some times, too.

Anyway I'm insane i wrote a whole thread here about how i prefer skyward sword to botw
 

Griffon

Member
Graphics are nice, but I'm not a fan of the ubisoft formula.

It's a shame because I would really have been into it if it was all robot hunting and we didn't have to fight any humans with shitty stealth mechanics.
 

bender

What time is it?
Graphics aren't the least of my concerns with most of Sony's tentpoles. It just feels like in service of their amazing presentations, we don't see boundaries pushed in the game play department. That's not saying those games are bad by any means, but I don't think the core mechanics or systems push any boundaries. Their open world designs feel cut from the same cloth that Ubisoft uses. There third person combat generally feels also-ran. While those games can be fun to play, they also don't feel like the type of games I'd ever want to replay.

All that said, I do think they've had some interesting mechanics in their games but those are sometimes under utilized:

-Tsushima's 1v1 combat was far more entertaining than the rest of the combat which felt very Assassin's Creed. Props for haiku writing and hot springs reflections.
-Days Gone's hordes.
-The rope/cable physics in TLOU2. It was so damned cool and only used two or three times.

Back to the subject at hand, Horizon is probably one of the games I was disappointed most in. It's beautiful and the robot dinosaur designs are fucking cool. And then you play the game with it's unsatisfying bow mechanics, resource gathering for crafting and then Ubisoft open world map. What a drag.
 

Novacain

Member
Nah, but then again I tend to not hold any entertainment medium in such personally high esteem that I end up showering it with "richly deserved adulation".

Horizon has good looking graphics and I'm excited to pick it up when I have time this year, though!
 

Neff

Member
I thought it was more Nintendo than Xbox guys who shat on this game due to its release proximity and superficial resemblance with/to BotW, and the fact that BotW is magnitudes better.

A friend lent me Horizon but I didn't get on with it. I bought it digitally last year for pennies in a sale and will give it another chance at some point. Maybe.
 

Corndog

Banned
Yeah it’s great. But it’s the Nintendo fans who were downplaying it’s greatness, not Xbox fans, it clashed big time with Zelda Breath of the Wild at launch, generated all kinds of comparisons:

Why do games always have all this crap flying around in the forest?
 

Tschumi

Member
Cross Gen support, has deprived Horizon Zero Dawn of its graphics adulation.
Jeff Goldblum What GIF by The Late Late Show with James Corden


You wouldn't by any chance be talking about Forbidden West would ya?
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
As one of the green rats, HZD was one of my favorite games last gen. It was the only PlayStation game I really loved and don't think I could come up with anything negative to say about it. Loved the characters, the gameplay and combat, thought the story was great and it had Lance Reddick. What more could you want.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
The problem is entirely that hte gameplay was pretty middling and therefore despite it looking fantastic graphically, I cannot muster any hype to pay full price for a sequel. It is definitely a deep discount game for me.
 

Tschumi

Member
The problem is entirely that hte gameplay was pretty middling and therefore despite it looking fantastic graphically, I cannot muster any hype to pay full price for a sequel. It is definitely a deep discount game for me.
Can confirm I'll be getting it second hand on day 1. That's the plan anyway, I did it with Metroid Dread and got it for $25 less heh
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
It's a very pretty game with an interesting story (that's the main reason I actually finished it), but I don't think it's all that fun to play. The open world feels static and lifeless, like it's just a pretty backdrop with little substance. It's not very interesting to explore, there were very few things that made me feel "I want to go over there and see what's there" (which is something I think a good open world game needs to do), I mainly just wanted to get through the story. And the side missions are junk.

Some open world games from the same generation I had MUCH more fun with:

The Witcher 3
Breath of the Wild
Ghost of Tsushima

In those games I actually wanted to explore the world and find everything there is to do.
 

Barath

Banned
I’m playing it again on pc. It is a gorgeous pc game and they have patched it enough that it’s a damn good port now.

But can we talk about the pc controls for a minute? They are godamn perfect. Aiming feels natural on the mouse and makes hitting parts on machines very easy. The way that you control Aloy with the mouse is so good. Wsad feels natural. Tab to bring up the weapon wheel and using the mouse to select weapons or craft ammo is very well done. Even using items is great with consumables on f and healing on q.

It’s so well done and I hope more games ported to pc look at how horizon did it right.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Yeah it’s great. But it’s the Nintendo fans who were downplaying it’s greatness, not Xbox fans, it clashed big time with Zelda Breath of the Wild at launch, generated all kinds of comparisons:


Videos like this show exactly what I was talking about in my previous post - there's just way more into games than just polygons and textures. While GG did a great job on the design part, there's really nothing that makes Horizon stand out of the crowd of all the open-world games the past generation was flooded with, it's the exact same "pretty but dead" world. So if anything, it's Zelda that doesn't get enough praise for what it's doing on that small mobile device. And that's why many people see RDR2 as the open-world benchmark, because aside the amazing graphics it also has a ton of those tiny tiny details that make the world so much more interesting, living, details that other devs seem to see as unnecessary.
 

Fredrik

Member
Videos like this show exactly what I was talking about in my previous post - there's just way more into games than just polygons and textures. While GG did a great job on the design part, there's really nothing that makes Horizon stand out of the crowd of all the open-world games the past generation was flooded with, it's the exact same "pretty but dead" world. So if anything, it's Zelda that doesn't get enough praise for what it's doing on that small mobile device. And that's why many people see RDR2 as the open-world benchmark, because aside the amazing graphics it also has a ton of those tiny tiny details that make the world so much more interesting, living, details that other devs seem to see as unnecessary.
I just wanted to clarify that it wasn’t Xbox fans that were downplaying HZD, at least I’ve never seen that. Nintendo fans were doing it though, possibly rightfully so, BOTW did so many things no other game did back then.

I agree on RDR2, I think it’s the peak of open game worlds when it comes to the life aspect, every other game feels incredibly static and dead in comparison.
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
Whoever think that horizon was not one of the highlight of past gen in terms of graphic is a moron, the game still does things that modern games don't have, specifically a level of details for tertiary (or less) character that is comparable to the protagonist (in an open world game) and some of the most detailed enemies ever.

People can shat on every aspect of the game but graphic was never one of them.

Some animations and digital acting on the other hand...
 

Aldric

Member
It's good that Horizon is such a technical masterpiece, with less polygons we might not have realized how butt fucking ugly the protagonist is. Truly the vanguard of the industry.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
a lotta peeps have made this point about it being a ubisoft style game

i don't really share that take... i detest ubisoft games, i've been unable to play more than 30 minutes post-intro sequence on any of their games since farcry 2... that includes Black Flag...

I think the reaons I can get into HZD is because the game is focused more on Aloy, and her story/navigation of the map, rather than being focused on "c'yhea, chuck out how huge our map is brah" a la ubisoft.. Also, navigating the map in ubisoft games is such a doddle, ur fucking usain bolt in odyssey (lot of money i'll never get back), in HZD i do have a sense of threat from some of the bigger dinosaurs roaming the place
Horizon is better than any ubisoft game just for having an actual great combat system and a great story, stories and combat in ubisoft open worlds are utter trash.
 
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Sygma

Member
Zero dawn looks utterly insane maxed out at 4k on pc, it also is a hdr showcase. Highlights being the cauldrons, the desert area and when you finally reach it the whole Frozen Wilds area is nothing short of jaw dropping, particularly a side quest, the cauldron and the quest in the nature reserve. Outside of survival in division 1 theres strictly nothing else nailing snow storms as good
 
Any great Western title is always going to get nitpickers from NeoGaf's historic Nintendo / JAP gaming obsession.

But yes I was watching this again the other day to prime me for Forbidden West and the faces of the characters, in particular, are amazing. Top-quality work.

 

Sygma

Member
Also gameplay wise theres not a lot of open world games letting you style on enemies the way zero dawn enable the player for it. It rewards creativity with the systems at play while being pretty demanding at the highest difficulty which literally zero other open world game manages
 
I'd also add, why the fuck have we got another terrible Resident Evil movie, yet no Horizon Dawn? It's one of the few games where I would welcome the inevitable prequel movie treatment with humanities last stand against the Faro plague.
 
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isoRhythm

Banned
Tschumi Tschumi I had the exact same experience as you. I originally bought the game and got bored in the prologue, didn't touch it for 2+ years. Played it again and the game opened my eyes once you could finally leave the Nora region. Also when I found out each individual piece of the enemy serves a purpose and you could shoot a gun and use it against the robot... that was insane. Once I got the hang of the rope caster, the predator bow, and the explosive sling I had so much fun devising new ways of taking down enemies. Although first time seeing a storm bird scared tf out of me. The human ai combat... that was disgustingly bad.

The graphics are really good but somewhat inconsistent. The Nora region, mountains, snow, and deserts looked beautiful but I hated the forests because it was so generic and flat looking. The water was also really weird-looking and aloy cannot swim for shit. Meridian is also really nice. Frozen wilds looked so much better than the base game.
 
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Tschumi

Member
I really don't get why people liked this game. Sometimes I feel like graphics are all people care about these days.
I dunno man, to each their own but i played an hour earlier today, exploring a cauldron... It was pretty damn fun. I mean, not quite as mind blowing as the crysis scene it ripped off but really fun.. the boss fights feel a bit soulsborn to me, ofc i play it on high difficulty with auto aim off, anyway I'm just saying it's not like it's an Assassin's Creed clone, imo
 
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kyussman

Member
I don't think it's been deprived of anything,lol......the game was a huge success,sold loads and people have talked about how great it looks since it's launch.If some sad Xbox only gamers want to pretend it looks shitty,I don't think that counts as depriving the game of adulation...it has had a lot,and it was well deserved.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I'm going to share a theory here: when shooting giant robot dinosaurs doesn't grab you, then I don't think the problem is with the game.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
This game was not some overlooked graphical gem. It got a lot of praise, be it on the PS4 or the PC.
And tons of people took amazing screenshots and share it through out the internet. Including in this forum.
Exactly. Also, console wars? In 2017 PS4 was the undisputed market leader, and there was simply nothing anyone could put against Horizon tech-wise on the console front. Sunhi was pumping out gif after amazing gif here on GAF. Horizon got the credit it was due.
 

Tschumi

Member
The overall obsession with graphics is strange. This game was so boring and formulaic. It was basically a polished asssins creed game with robot dogs
I'm seeing a pattern here, it seems like somewhere someone said this, but really this is more than those ac formulaic games.. if only because i can actually play this without wanting to puke..

I mean again i have to make it clear that i completely ignore side quests, but it is a huge oversimplification to label this AC... The maps are big, there are icons, but the depth added by things like the variety of robots and strategies for fighting them, the challenge at higher difficulties, the timing required to land certain attacks in time, the narrow dodging windows, the variety of enemy movement and attack, as opposed to the hack'n'slash of AC... It's a different game. It's superior.

In my op i say I'm not saying this is a perfect game, but it's a huge cop out to say it's a Ubisoft clone.

I'm convinced a huge chunk of people judging it only played that first zone, which i also hated and took about 6 attempts to clear.
 

brian0057

Banned
The overall obsession with graphics is strange. This game was so boring and formulaic. It was basically a polished asssins creed game with robot dogs
People were tripping over themselves praising Hellblade 2's "gameplay" (and I use the term extremely loosely) when it was shown at The Game Awards.
If pretty graphics is all it takes to impress people, then the state of current AAA gaming should surprise no one.
 
-I'm ok with map icons particularly when you can select which ones you want to see.
-I'm ok with not being able to climb anytime anywhere. Just because you like a feature doesn't mean it should be in every single type of game aftewards since each game is going for something different.

-What I didn't like were the current tribal politics and stories which paled to the more interesting story of what lead up to the major event.

-Excessive use of "detective vision" to find stuff. It's fine to do in small doses.

-Combat was good but is getting better, so there's that

-Let me override a flying robo dino!
 

Tschumi

Member
-I'm ok with map icons particularly when you can select which ones you want to see.
-I'm ok with not being able to climb anytime anywhere. Just because you like a feature doesn't mean it should be in every single type of game aftewards since each game is going for something different.

-What I didn't like were the current tribal politics and stories which paled to the more interesting story of what lead up to the major event.

-Excessive use of "detective vision" to find stuff. It's fine to do in small doses.

-Combat was good but is getting better, so there's that

-Let me override a flying robo dino!
Haha man i forgot about that, i just saw those in game for the first time and i thought "oh for sure one day I'll be overriding that bish" fml lollll
 

01011001

Banned
it's actually the other way around, fanboyism is the only reason anyone gives a flying fuck about this game.

the entire structure of the game is almost 1 for 1 a Ubisoft open world title from the 2010 to 2013 era of Ubiworld games.

if this game came out and there was an Ubisoft logo on the cover instead of a Sony logo, people wouldn't speak nearly as fondly about it as even many Ubiworld games that came out close to or after it are vastly superior open world games.

Watch_Dogs 2 comes to mind which is a better open world game in almost every way and also has way more innovative gameplay elements + more open ended and dynamic mission/level designs.

the open world in Horizon is ridiculously static and limiting. going as far as literally stopping the game and reloading your last auto save should you jump up the wrong hill and going to what the devs deam to be out of bounds while exploring.

Horizon is ridiculously overrated and doesn't deserve even half of the praise it usually gets, mostly from Sony fanboys. there is nothing special about it. the gameplay is a mix of typically Ubisoft traversal and monster battles that amount to "hit that glowing thing" or "hit that thing that covers the glowing thing"
the only interesting gameplay element in the game is the traps you can set up. that is often super slow and also not really that interesting once you see that the path the machines use is predetermined and even shown to you using detective vision, so even that aspect is dumbed down as much as possible as per usually in modern AAA games.

is it bad? no... is it better than most Ubisoft open world games? also no...

it's as middle of the road as it gets, nothing special and especially feeling outdated and limited in scope due to its very close release to Breath of the Wild which is the exact opposite of limiting and static.
 
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