Horizon: Zero Dawn

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TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Okay so I finished the game and here's what I've pieced together about Homeboy Ted Faro.
  1. Creates Chariot Line
  2. Before his meeting with Elisabet he had already retooled his production lines to analog human-controlled weapons. Fuzzy on the dates here exactly but the wording premises that this was intentional, not to fight the swarm but for the company's direction.
  3. Meets with Elisabet and discovers the true gravity of the situation. Here Ted says the glitch wasn't a glitch but doesn't explain further.
  4. Some other data points seem to indicate that the Chariot Line and its "controlled" self replication and biomass conversion features was meant to create a "threat" that required governments to buy more products from him to combat. Like an endless war against a kinda of self-sustaining enemy. The Murderbot Peacekeepers. Dolla dolla bills yo.
That's what I've got out of it. When Elisabet formulates Zero Dawn as the only way to save humanity from extinction he is in shock. I really like the banality of Ted's evil. He isn't someone who wants to destroy the world or kill people... more than a robotic arms dealer generally would. Just looking for another angle to make a buck and along the way overlooked every single moral and ethical imperative in fucking existence. Resulting in the creation of the uncontrollable Murderbot swarm.

The next part is what takes the cake though. When you find out about GAIA and its subsystems and their purposes you come to learn that APOLLO was our key to retaking our foothold. Why did Ted have access to do what he wanted to the system? End of the world derangement or was he so vain that he couldn't bear the thought of future humanity knowing what he had done? Now about the Hades system.
  1. It took GAIA 50 years to crack the murderbot swarm's code and render them inoperative to a degree.
  2. HADES was meant to re-strip the earth of the terraforming project had some kind of horrendous error they needed another clean slate (the designer of HADES was a whackjob though).
  3. HADES receives a rogue signal of unknown origin that frees it from the constraints it has. Leading to the current situation.
  4. Project: Far Zenith, some kind of ark sent into deep space claims to have blown up (I find this highly unlikely and probably a lie to keep the staff working on GAIA to work harder)
  5. Far Zenith has some kind of alpha build of Apollo on it with absolutely no constraints, just an AI with unfettered access to the sum of all human knowledge and no parameters on what to give out or not. So its like the internet incarnate!
They can really go anywhere with this IP and I love it. I am not sure what to think about the Sylens cutscene at the end there. But I am thinking he can't just be a random seeker who found some shit in the ruins. Far Zenith likely to return and cause some shenanigans.... It is truly nice to have such a fresh and high quality IP out like this. My major wish for the sequel like I have mentioned before is a full expansion on the Hunter's Lodge and hunting superbeasts like Redmaw and such. Maybe with an online component. Just a high quality Monster Hunter thing.

I give a deep nod to the creation of Ted Faro. He is just a really good villain of sorts. Aloy is also an awesome character. She really grew on me. The last female character I remember really liking was Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Not sure if this is number 1 GOTY for me just yet but it is definitely top 5.
 
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Hekotat

Hekotat

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Man, this game is good. I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I couldn't stop thinking about it.
 
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TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Its not perfect but it is by far the best new IP I've played in over 5 years,
 
E

Elidroth

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So I've just uncovered the Faro issue.. Still not sure what Project: Zero Dawn is yet.. I'm guessing soon that will be revealed. Good stuff so far..
 
Hekotat

Hekotat

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TJT said:
Its not perfect but it is by far the best new IP I've played in over 5 years,
Click to expand...

I agree, I just like the challenging combat. Especially since I'm a console nub, I feel like I have downs when trying to shoot things.
 
Dandai

Dandai

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Ritley said:
Been playing for a few hours now, so far so good but some things still bother me.

For all the shit that Zelda got for frame rate issues this is much worse on OG PS4. Also the fall 5 feet and lose half your life bullshit they seemed to have lifted out of Witcher needs to go. And the not being able to run over 6 inch rocks
Click to expand...
Granted, I haven't played in several days now (been binging on Zelda), but I don't recall ANY framedrops on my OG PS4 (except during Focus depending on what's around me). Zelda seems to run at a perpetual 15-20 FPS interspersed with even more dramatic frame drops during visually intense moments. To me, Zelda is way more noticeable and way worse.

That being said, I've gotten used to the low frame rate and am enjoying Zelda in spite of the performance issues. Why did these games release in the same week? -.-
 
Qhue

Qhue

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After being off side questing for quite a while (including some of my own making...i.e. "get a goddamn trampler heart for a shadow war bow") I went back to the main plot and I am thoroughly engaged with this to a degree I haven't been in years.

I actually don't think Sony is even aware of what they have with this title. I was expecting a BIG presence of Horizon at PAX East as part of a victory-lap and you could have been forgiven for not knowing it even existed. I visited the PlayStation booth and when I mentioned the lack of Horizon anything to the Sony hipster bros they seemed very "meh" about it. Yeah such shows are usually about what is coming up rather than what just got released but it still felt strange.
 
TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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I think some of the side quests are a bit lame. They are sorta world building establishing the laws/customs of the Carja, for example. But when you have an entire ancient world to explore and the secrets of the Old Ones to discover they do lose a bit of appeal. The main story just grips you something fierce.

Some are cool. But there have been several where I've been all yeah... don't care. I don't really platinum games but I'll finish quite a fair amount.

I agree with you Qhue Qhue . Sony has no idea the potential they have with this IP. Its really fresh, engaging, fun and interesting. The story and characters are quite good in most cases and the world can be expanded in about thirty different directions and it wouldn't be retarded at all.

Top of my head:
  1. Sylens obviously.
  2. Fate of the Odyssey (unknown signal that activated HADES).
  3. More conflict with the tribes that we know of and they can invent all kinds of crazy ass ones too (Nora, Carja, Oseram and the creepier ones like Telkarth the techno cannibals... and so on).

Is anyone confused as fuck about the map in general? Because the Nora Sacred Land is basically located around Denver. But the Wesst of the Map gets to
Salt Lake City
somehow supposedly and IDK where Carja is supposed to be. But the high desert mesas and stuff make it seem like its Arizona or New Mexico? Scale seems way off.
 
E

Elidroth

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I haven't had any frame rate issues on my original PS4.. I keep wondering if buying a Pro is worth it or not.. I probably will though at some point..

Apparently some DLC for this game was just announced?
 
Chysamere

Chysamere

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TJT said:
I think some of the side quests are a bit lame. They are sorta world building establishing the laws/customs of the Carja, for example. But when you have an entire ancient world to explore and the secrets of the Old Ones to discover they do lose a bit of appeal. The main story just grips you something fierce.

Some are cool. But there have been several where I've been all yeah... don't care. I don't really platinum games but I'll finish quite a fair amount.

I agree with you Qhue Qhue . Sony has no idea the potential they have with this IP. Its really fresh, engaging, fun and interesting. The story and characters are quite good in most cases and the world can be expanded in about thirty different directions and it wouldn't be retarded at all.

Top of my head:
  1. Sylens obviously.
  2. Fate of the Odyssey (unknown signal that activated HADES).
  3. More conflict with the tribes that we know of and they can invent all kinds of crazy ass ones too (Nora, Carja, Oseram and the creepier ones like Telkarth the techno cannibals... and so on).

Is anyone confused as fuck about the map in general? Because the Nora Sacred Land is basically located around Denver. But the Wesst of the Map gets to
Salt Lake City
somehow supposedly and IDK where Carja is supposed to be. But the high desert mesas and stuff make it seem like its Arizona or New Mexico? Scale seems way off.
Click to expand...


xW82EMs.jpg

EXwSzdt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EXwSzdt.jpg
Any discrepancies can be chalked up to...
http://i.imgur.com/EXwSzdt.jpg
When Gaia rebuilt things, stuff got tweaked a little
 
Springbok

Springbok

Karen
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Elidroth said:
I haven't had any frame rate issues on my original PS4.. I keep wondering if buying a Pro is worth it or not.. I probably will though at some point..

Apparently some DLC for this game was just announced?
Click to expand...

I thought the same, but had zero issues on my og PS4 and it looked gorgeous on that system to boot. If DLC is coming I might not trade this in just yet. Finally got all the camps done and hunting lodge stuff finished, superb game.
 
Ritley

Ritley

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Dandai said:
Granted, I haven't played in several days now (been binging on Zelda), but I don't recall ANY framedrops on my OG PS4 (except during Focus depending on what's around me). Zelda seems to run at a perpetual 15-20 FPS interspersed with even more dramatic frame drops during visually intense moments. To me, Zelda is way more noticeable and way worse.

That being said, I've gotten used to the low frame rate and am enjoying Zelda in spite of the performance issues. Why did these games release in the same week? -.-
Click to expand...
Judging by the other comments where no one else has problems maybe something is just going on with my ps4. It's pretty evident especially right after exiting the menu and trying to pan the camera.

I still stand by the falling damage being retarded though
 
Vorph

Vorph

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Can't speak to the fps because I have a pro, but I can't ever remember taking fall damage on anything less than what looked like about a 25-30 foot drop. Even then it was only a few pixels of health. There were many times I just jumped down the side of a mountain rather than go around, and took no damage.
 
Last edited:
Mizake

Mizake

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TJT said:
Okay so I finished the game and here's what I've pieced together about Homeboy Ted Faro.
  1. Creates Chariot Line
  2. Before his meeting with Elisabet he had already retooled his production lines to analog human-controlled weapons. Fuzzy on the dates here exactly but the wording premises that this was intentional, not to fight the swarm but for the company's direction.
  3. Meets with Elisabet and discovers the true gravity of the situation. Here Ted says the glitch wasn't a glitch but doesn't explain further.
  4. Some other data points seem to indicate that the Chariot Line and its "controlled" self replication and biomass conversion features was meant to create a "threat" that required governments to buy more products from him to combat. Like an endless war against a kinda of self-sustaining enemy. The Murderbot Peacekeepers. Dolla dolla bills yo.
That's what I've got out of it. When Elisabet formulates Zero Dawn as the only way to save humanity from extinction he is in shock. I really like the banality of Ted's evil. He isn't someone who wants to destroy the world or kill people... more than a robotic arms dealer generally would. Just looking for another angle to make a buck and along the way overlooked every single moral and ethical imperative in fucking existence. Resulting in the creation of the uncontrollable Murderbot swarm.

The next part is what takes the cake though. When you find out about GAIA and its subsystems and their purposes you come to learn that APOLLO was our key to retaking our foothold. Why did Ted have access to do what he wanted to the system? End of the world derangement or was he so vain that he couldn't bear the thought of future humanity knowing what he had done? Now about the Hades system.
  1. It took GAIA 50 years to crack the murderbot swarm's code and render them inoperative to a degree.
  2. HADES was meant to re-strip the earth of the terraforming project had some kind of horrendous error they needed another clean slate (the designer of HADES was a whackjob though).
  3. HADES receives a rogue signal of unknown origin that frees it from the constraints it has. Leading to the current situation.
  4. Project: Far Zenith, some kind of ark sent into deep space claims to have blown up (I find this highly unlikely and probably a lie to keep the staff working on GAIA to work harder)
  5. Far Zenith has some kind of alpha build of Apollo on it with absolutely no constraints, just an AI with unfettered access to the sum of all human knowledge and no parameters on what to give out or not. So its like the internet incarnate!
They can really go anywhere with this IP and I love it. I am not sure what to think about the Sylens cutscene at the end there. But I am thinking he can't just be a random seeker who found some shit in the ruins. Far Zenith likely to return and cause some shenanigans.... It is truly nice to have such a fresh and high quality IP out like this. My major wish for the sequel like I have mentioned before is a full expansion on the Hunter's Lodge and hunting superbeasts like Redmaw and such. Maybe with an online component. Just a high quality Monster Hunter thing.

I give a deep nod to the creation of Ted Faro. He is just a really good villain of sorts. Aloy is also an awesome character. She really grew on me. The last female character I remember really liking was Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Not sure if this is number 1 GOTY for me just yet but it is definitely top 5.
Click to expand...

One of the best storylines in any game I've played.....until near the end, when I think the story becomes a letdown.

MAJOR SPOILERS INSIDE, DON'T CLICK ON LINK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT:

It's obvious that the whole apocalypse is because Faro decided to start creating war-machines at Faro Industries instead of the "peaceful" machines Elisabet was making, and she was the creative genius behind the company anyways. Turns out making self-replicating, bio-mass feeding killing machines isn't such a great idea, who woulda thunk it.

Once Faro figures out that his big mistake is going to bring about the end of the world, Elisabet comes back, offers to come up with a solution, as long as Faro bankrolls it. So far so good.

So Elisabet comes up with the Zero Dawn project. Perfect, and great scripting and voice acting if you listen to all the audiologs of the Alphas involved.

Then comes the part that makes ZERO SENSE. So Ted goes crazy, has some sorta revelation that humans should never have access to the knowledge they have otherwise history might repeat itself, and decides to sabotage the Zero Dawn project, which is plausible. The part that isn't? HE HAS ACCESS TO THE ZERO DAWN SYSTEMS AND ENDS UP KILLING ALL THE ALPHAS REMOTELY. Seriously, what the fuck? Elisabet would have been smart enough to know not to have Ted come around anywhere near the systems. The systems were of original design, and had to be smart enough and secure enough to withstand an attack from a evil robotic-supercomputer, let alone a human being like Ted who had no real computer skills. Realistically he would have been tried by the government and imprisoned or at least isolated. The GAIA main base would have been completely isolated from the outside world. Even if somehow he broke in (like when Elisabet sacrificed herself, maybe somehow he got through)......this guy was not the programming genius, he was the marketing genius. Elisabet was the brains. An analogy would be that Ted Faro was Steve Jobs to Elisabet who was Steve Wosniak. So you think if Wozniak developed some sort of complex computer system that Steve Jobs would have been able to develop a computer virus to circumvent Wozniak? Zero chance, because Jobs was a marketing genius, not a programming one. Same thing here. Elisabet was the smartest mind in her generation, and no way a hack like Faro figures out how to infiltrate GAIA, let alone take over the ventilation systems, etc.

Sorry for the rant, but once I reached that part of the game (it's obviously close to the end), the game just went down a few notches for me, because the two biggest assets this game has is graphics and storyline, and storyline took a major hit with me.
 
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TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
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Mizake said:
One of the best storylines in any game I've played.....until near the end, when I think the story becomes a letdown.

MAJOR SPOILERS INSIDE, DON'T CLICK ON LINK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT:

It's obvious that the whole apocalypse is because Faro decided to start creating war-machines at Faro Industries instead of the "peaceful" machines Elisabet was making, and she was the creative genius behind the company anyways. Turns out making self-replicating, bio-mass feeding killing machines isn't such a great idea, who woulda thunk it.

Once Faro figures out that his big mistake is going to bring about the end of the world, Elisabet comes back, offers to come up with a solution, as long as Faro bankrolls it. So far so good.

So Elisabet comes up with the Zero Dawn project. Perfect, and great scripting and voice acting if you listen to all the audiologs of the Alphas involved.

Then comes the part that makes ZERO SENSE. So Ted goes crazy, has some sorta revelation that humans should never have access to the knowledge they have otherwise history might repeat itself, and decides to sabotage the Zero Dawn project, which is plausible. The part that isn't? HE HAS ACCESS TO THE ZERO DAWN SYSTEMS AND ENDS UP KILLING ALL THE ALPHAS REMOTELY. Seriously, what the fuck? Elisabet would have been smart enough to know not to have Ted come around anywhere near the systems. The systems were of original design, and had to be smart enough and secure enough to withstand an attack from a evil robotic-supercomputer, let alone a human being like Ted who had no real computer skills. Realistically he would have been tried by the government and imprisoned or at least isolated. The GAIA main base would have been completely isolated from the outside world. Even if somehow he broke in (like when Elisabet sacrificed herself, maybe somehow he got through)......this guy was not the programming genius, he was the marketing genius. Elisabet was the brains. An analogy would be that Ted Faro was Steve Jobs to Elisabet who was Steve Wosniak. So you think if Wozniak developed some sort of complex computer system that Steve Jobs would have been able to develop a computer virus to circumvent Wozniak? Zero chance, because Jobs was a marketing genius, not a programming one. Same thing here. Elisabet was the smartest mind in her generation, and no way a hack like Faro figures out how to infiltrate GAIA, let alone take over the ventilation systems, etc.

Sorry for the rant, but once I reached that part of the game (it's obviously close to the end), the game just went down a few notches for me, because the two biggest assets this game has is graphics and storyline, and storyline took a major hit with me.
Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't get that either. Sobek's journal said Ted was in his private super bunker in Italy somewhere. The Fortune 5 of the world also created their own super bunker Fallout Vaults in order to try and survive the apocalypse. But anyway, GAIA itself agreed that an Omega Override Killswitch should exist. Sobek's journal said it was installed at his insistence.

That being said. Why the fuck did Ted have access to the switch at all and Omega Override capabilities from his bunker in Italy? The only reasoning I can think of is that he was the one footing the bill for it all. But at the same time during literal apocalypse the government would have zero issues seizing all of his shit. They kidnapped most of the scientists for fuck's sake. Ted would have been totally isolated from the project outside of status updates and footing the bill in any realistic scenario.

It mostly had to just be for emotional impact. God damn did it do that too. Like I said, its Ted's banality that makes you really hate him and it's why he's such a good character. He's no Ramsay Bolton or even a Roose Bolton. Just a fucking asshole who wanted to make tons of money despite being a trillionaire. He really is just an arrogant Steve Jobs type.

Really, when he talks to the Alphas it isn't some sinister thing. He even says. "please, just listen okay?" He became deranged and wracked with guilt and such. I hope we see more of him in the sequel somehow.
 
Mizake

Mizake

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TJT said:
Yeah I didn't get that either. Sobek's journal said Ted was in his private super bunker in Italy somewhere. The Fortune 5 of the world also created their own super bunker Fallout Vaults in order to try and survive the apocalypse. But anyway, GAIA itself agreed that an Omega Override Killswitch should exist. Sobek's journal said it was installed at his insistence.

That being said. Why the fuck did Ted have access to the switch at all and Omega Override capabilities from his bunker in Italy? The only reasoning I can think of is that he was the one footing the bill for it all. But at the same time during literal apocalypse the government would have zero issues seizing all of his shit. They kidnapped most of the scientists for fuck's sake. Ted would have been totally isolated from the project outside of status updates and footing the bill in any realistic scenario.

It mostly had to just be for emotional impact. God damn did it do that too. Like I said, its Ted's banality that makes you really hate him and it's why he's such a good character. He's no Ramsay Bolton or even a Roose Bolton. Just a fucking asshole who wanted to make tons of money despite being a trillionaire. He really is just an arrogant Steve Jobs type.

Really, when he talks to the Alphas it isn't some sinister thing. He even says. "please, just listen okay?" He became deranged and wracked with guilt and such. I hope we see more of him in the sequel somehow.
Click to expand...

STILL MAJOR SPOILERS:

As the story progressed I thought the hill-billy hacker guy (Travis Tate) was the one that was gonna screw things up. He was a narcissist, and he seemed to have that anarchist mentality. They made mention of the fact once Elisabet died no one was left to "manage" him and he was getting crazier and crazier. That would have made more sense, since he was in the bunker and could have realistically sabatoged the project from the inside. Plus, he was in charge of the HADES portion of the project, so it makes sense he might have created some crazy back-door which is what he was an expert at anyways. Ted Faro killing the alphas remotely from Italy is one of the least likely scenarios possible. Too bad, because until that point it was one of the best storylines out there.
 
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TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Mizake said:
STILL MAJOR SPOILERS:

As the story progressed I thought the hill-billy hacker guy (Travis Tate) was the one that was gonna screw things up. He was a narcissist, and he seemed to have that anarchist mentality. They made mention of the fact once Elisabet died no one was left to "manage" him and he was getting crazier and crazier. That would have made more sense, since he was in the bunker and could have realistically sabatoged the project from the inside. Plus, he was in charge of the HADES portion of the project, so it makes sense he might have created some crazy back-door which is what he was an expert at anyways. Ted Faro killing the alphas remotely from Italy is one of the least likely scenarios possible. Too bad, because until that point it was one of the best storylines out there.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Nevermind that a 10MM crack in the door was enough to get the swarms attention but Ted was able to send his signals from Italy to Denver and as far as we know the swarm was none the wiser. Tate was super nuts and I thought he was going to do some shit too. It just got kind of wonky on that plot point.
 
Vorph

Vorph

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So it was 300,000 days from Gaia going online to Aloy being created, but when did the actual repopulation begin? I remember the part where the kids were kicked out into the wild because the bunker was out of food, but it wasn't clear to me when exactly that was.
 
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