Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 29,094 CMod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 27808
DeadlyByDesign wrote: »Does anyone else miss linear games?
I don't necessarily think there's a major lack of linear games (the AAA sphere maybe excepted but blockbusters have never had so much competition elsewhere). But nor do I think one or the other is inherently superior - all down to approach.
The biggest problem I have with many open world games - and the reviews of Horizon do not fill me with optimism that it overcomes that - is the sheer level of repetition involved in many. The 'Ubisoft model' (for lack of a better phrase) favours a small amount of tasks endlessly recycled with minor or even arbitrary changes - a frustrating approach to '#content' above all else, wasting the players' time in the process. It's an approach that prioritises quantity over quality, and makes games frankly miserable bores to play even if there's some good stuff wedged between the repetitive sub-missions. Some games manage the balance better than others - I do think Rockstar excel in the genre they almost certainly created or at least popularised, even when there's plenty of minor variations in there.
It's not for everyone, but The Witness to me is the most engaging open world of recent years. I played it for 50 hours plus and was still discovering new ideas, secrets and depths at that point. It has a design philosophy that prioritises ideas above mere 'content' and it earned every minute I put into it (although somewhere between 5 and 10 hours were spent tackling the final Challenge
). Would love to see a major open world game with that sort of approach.
Ultimately, my gaming time is finite and I'm trying to teach myself to just drop games that don't sink their hooks in or waste my time (FFXV is perilously close to that point after only around 10 hours). I may give Horizon a gander in the future as I do like the sound of its big mech encounters. But I've heard enough to hold off for now, especially when Nintendo (who have always valued ideas more than any other major developer) are planning to finally throw their green Link cap into the open world ring in ten days time!0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 49994
I'd actually much rather a good well designed linear game than what mostly passes for open world these days. Gta missions might have variety but they pale in comparison to what a well designed linear game can offer. The problem is the developers close off the open world for these missions for fear of some of its randomness getting in and spoiling the story nobody really cares about. Doing the actual missions is no where near as much fun as pissing about the open world.
It's why the only open world games I've truly enjoyed have been Gta 3, crackdown and xenoblade chronicles X. All of those are true sandboxes. GTA3 was before rockstar cared about the open world spilling into its missions. Crackdown left you to your own devices in a massive city and even let you break the game's structure if you felt like it. Xenoblade let you have so much freedom while exploring that often times it felt like you were breaking the game only to be rewarded.
Developers really need to embrace their own open world's they've crafted rather than putting in countless repetitive missions and janky main storyline missions.
0 -
-
Icyseanfitz wrote: »...must wait for acg's review as well...
There is one irrational reason why I can't stand his reviews. At the beginning of each video he quips:
"If you like the video, HEH maybe subscribe."
You need to hear it to understand. I know it's ridiculous but I just find that incredibly annoying!
0 -
Join Date:Posts: 49994
Well I knew the protagonist was called Aloy which is faceplamingly dumb. I didn't realise until the reviews that her mentor is called 'Rost' which is in double facepalm territory. He might as well paint a bullseye on his head. I can see the writer patting themselves on the back for how profound it is. 'It's like alloys are stronger and don't rust dude'
Might just be the worst bit of videogame writing since Halo Reach's 'Noble Team'.
0 -
Advertisement
-
Are you one of those old school gamers who tries to find any beef you possibly can on modern AAA games?Retr0gamer wrote: »Well I knew the protagonist was called Aloy which is faceplamingly dumb. I didn't realise until the reviews that her mentor is called 'Rost' which is in double facepalm territory. He might as well paint a bullseye on his head. I can see the writer patting themselves on the back for how profound it is. 'It's like alloys are stronger and don't rust dude'
Might just be the worst bit of videogame writing since Halo Reach's 'Noble Team'.0 -
Join Date:Posts: 49994
Are you one of those old school gamers who tries to find any beef you possibly can on modern AAA games?
Nope. Sure narrative is the least important part of a game like this so if the game is good why does it matter. Just thought that this part of the story was laughably bad and gave me a good chuckle in the same way Hideo Kojima justifying Quiet's attire, or lack thereof, was laughably bad. It gave me a cringe chuckle.
Unless of course you want to defend how it's a brilliant piece of profound symbolism/foreshadowing?
0 -
-
-
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 49994
A piece of profound symbolism/foreshadowing that you have no idea whether it's actually part of the game/story or not. It's something you've read into it yourself based on their names and are now attributing to the game and calling the story laughably bad as a result.
I think you're patting yourself on the back just as much as you're accusing the writers of doing.
Maybe. But I'd put a lot of money on it down Paddy Powers if I could.
Anyway see if I'm wrong. I might be making assumptions but they are educated assumptions. I'll more than likely be waiting here with an air of righteous smugness looking for an apology.
I've been wrong before, GoW2's story regarding one of the characters looking for his missing wife seemed laughable but actually delivered but I doubt I will be in this case.
0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 49994
In a world overrun by robots and machines, is it so odd that some people's names in small primitive tribes are derivations of terms associated with metal? Either way, what does it matter? There are numerous examples of terrible character names in some of the most popular gaming franchises of all time; Master Chief, Solid Snake, Max Payne, Marshall Law, Claude Speed. Bad names don't make bad games/stories.
As someone that spent the night playing Earth Defence Force ('The government doesn't know if these aliens are friendly or aggressive. They've designated them 'Ravagers' for now') it's not going to affect the game much at all.
Bad writing though is bad writing.
0 -
-
-
-
In fairness with the state of some so called AAA games over the last few months I too have a glass is so half empty rather then half full.
There's having the glass half empty and there's Retr0gamer - always having an empty glass! :pac:
Since the birth of this thread he hasn't had one praise for the game so the bias is obvious.
And this despite Guerilla creating one of the most beautiful environments ever in a game and a great concept.
It's far more beautiful looking than the new Zelda game imo, dare I even say the Zelda game looks dated?
0 -
Join Date:Posts: 49994
There's having the glass half empty and there's Retr0gamer - always having an empty glass! :pac:
Since the birth of this thread he hasn't had one praise for the game so the bias is obvious.
And this despite Guerilla creating one of the most beautiful environments ever in a game and a great concept.
It's far more beautiful looking than the new Zelda game imo, dare I even say the Zelda game looks dated?
It was healthy scepticism, especially since the game was coming from a team that had yet to deliver a good game in my opinion.
Dare I say you have seemed to be the opposite and totally caught up in the hype since the beginning of the thread and yet you still haven't played the game?
I've not said anything about the gameplay yet (except for it sounding a bit too much like a generic ubisoft open world design), I've not played it but from the trailers and information about the game, it seems poorly written to me which is what I've been talking about.
Anyway how about people actually attack the arguments rather than the poster?
I might be skeptical but I've seen two Guerrilla games, kill zone 2 and shadow fall, which were just plain bad in single player get lauded with almost unanimous praise based on technical merot despite being bad games. Horizon could be the same but at leaSt looks far more interesting and varied than kill zone ever was.
0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement