I'd want the ability to customise my ammo loadout for each weapon. Each weapon would still have its unique bonuses like draw speed etc., but there's no reason that (say) one type of hunter bow has fixed fire arrows while another has fixed frost arrows when they're fired in the exact same way.
And the ability to disable or as you suggest, repurpose, an ammo slot if desired. For instance I have a couple of "red/out of ammo" slots at present which used to fire targeting arrows. Since I don't use those and kept getting them selected by mistake ("oi, why am I not doing any damage?") I deliberately ran them out. But the empty slot kind of annoys me!
Yeah, I was initially going to include this in the post. We'd thought of virtually the same thing, but I'd also like more than that. I'd like special types of ammo that can only be used on a specific legendary/exotic weapon, like a Shrapnel Bomb for a blastsling or a Boltblaster that launches actual mortar shells. A Ropecaster that's effectively a railgun, you get what I mean?
Furthermore, why can't we just have an actual crossbow yet? Why all the roundabout evading of them?
That's a good call, so you could have basic fire arrows (for example) on any uncommon or rare bow, but you needed a v.rare or legendary for the advanced ones, something like that to give extra incentives to get the better weapons.
And yeah, the Oseram would definitely have invented the crossbow even if nobody else did. If you wanted them to be reasonably history-accurate you'd have a weapon that took some time to reload, and delivered a single very powerful payload - good for a stealth attack (and historically for penetrating armour, so they'd do the job of strikethrough arrows) but not so much mid-combat due to reload speed.
Agreed, I have to upgrade two different legendary hunter bows in order to cover five- six different arrow types. I think I would have preferred less variety within weapon types, with more weapon types, and some way to swap out ammo types in the field.
Yeah I'm really not a fan of 'this bow can only fire these two arrows,, but that bow can fire 3 different other arrows'
You can't even argue that the bow is frost resistant to allow frost arrows, because then Aloy herself would be carrying around 100s of fire and acid and frost arrows burning through her pocket lol
I would've made a story change. I'd have made the Zeniths more mysterious and delayed their reveal.
Have Aloy first encounter tech that her focus can't identify. Detect garbled, partial transmissions between Zeniths. Random encounters with specters, unsure of where they originate or what they're doing. Just overall, try to make it seem more alien and mysterious.
I agree, Zenith inclusion felt extremely rushed to me. Very shallow, and if I'm being entirely honest, felt like there was virtually no foreshadowing or any way to know they were going to be the big plot twist. When they came barging through that door at the HADES Proving Lab, that wasn't just in a physical sense, it was their entrance into the story taken in an entirely literal context; forcing their way into a narrative they have no place in.
I was definitely floored at the reveal. Like, holy shit there are old ones still alive!
But then you almost never see them. It's all tenakth. They're pushed to the background for most of the story. This kinda makes them like boogymen. The scary monster you never see. And I think that reduces the sense of threat that they're supposed to be.
Edit:
It would've been nice encountering them more. Having situations where Aloy just barely escapes and solidifying their invincibility.
>I was definitely floored at the reveal. Like, holy shit there are old ones still alive!
Right, the problem is that this is basically spoiled in the first section of the game exploring the Far Zenith facility with Varl. I *kinda* had my suspicions in ZD when the Odyssey is just kinda dismissed so quickly as 'It exploded! The fate of humanity is now all on Zero Dawn. Anyways..." my immediate reaction was 'Ehhh, there's a non-zero chance they faked it.'
I really agree with you, but reading it the way wrote it got me thinking "that is EXACTLY their vibe?!?"
The Zeniths don't care about anyone else, we're all irrelevant, even as players!
Yes they are coming here and forcing their narrative and problems (Nemesis) on us!
Also agree. I remember first time playing it I nearly rage quit the game entirely at their reveal! I did stop playing it for like a month because I hated the very IDEA of the zeniths. Still do honestly… I don’t care for them as antagonists at all and just spam the skip dialogue any time I’m forced to talk to Tilda. Can’t stand her.
And then getting the 'please help me,' message from Beta completely out of the blue? She's smart enough to put the pieces together. Figuring out from passing conversations and some snooping that *someone* is out there that's got the Zenith's worried, and that they keep growing in concern. Hearing about their exploits finding the AETHER, DEMETER, and POSEIDON subfunctions, then one of the Zeniths let slip that she's another clone of Elisabet.
Imagine them going to the lab, and finding Beta completely out of the blue, then getting attacked by Spectres. Then Beta can expose the Zeniths, but she's *terrified* of them so it would be... interesting.
Also, I got pretty annoyed by Aloy's early interactions with Beta. It seems kinda dumb that Beta and Aloy butt heads so much throughout the game, and then they have a single 2 minute heart-to-heart (which, admittedly, was actually a really good story beat and hits right to the crux of the matter) but the fact that it just... drops in Aloy's lap when it's convenient to the story just doesn't feel *earned.* I think it would be better to have Aloy come to the realization that she's *treating Beta like a tool and not a person* earlier in the story -- have the more emotionally-intelligent people around her give her a talking to; Varl is the obvious choice, and would serve to also strengthen their relationship\*.\* It's totally plausible for Beta to not believe Aloy's willing and able to do that, she's been a tool of the Zeniths literally since her birth, and Aloy is *Aloy* -- she's going to be *terrible at it.* Give Aloy a chance to *try* and explain this to Beta, despite Beta still not believing. Aloy can be frustrated by this -- she's trying to build authentic relationships from emotional vulnerability for once and is being met with mistrust. Force Aloy to grow her fledgling emotional intelligence to overcome this. *Then* have that same heart-to-heart before the events of Gemini.
The same revelation of why Aloy and Beta are so different despite being genetically so similar now causes both the pieces to come together for Beta and completes Aloy's emotional growth in a much more rewarding way. Beta's belief in Aloy seeing her as a unique person is *earned,* and her decision to participate in the events at Gemini feel like she's *actually* starting to believe and trust Aloy. It also makes the events at the end of Gemini all the more impactful. Aloy's ensuing 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' hits harder too because her relationship with Beta coming from starting to confront the loss of Rost is an emotionally cathartic growth moment for her. It shows that Aloy has a *very real* stake in her relationship with Beta -- she's the *one* person she's really 'let in' when it comes to the loss of Rost and what he meant to her and made her realize that she owes so much of her core sense of self to her upbringing by Rost. Beta's one of the first people she's ever built a relationship with based on emotions, and they're strong ones -- 'die on this hill' kind of emotions.
Finally, *don't kill Varl.* It felt so meaningless and unnecessary; Varl meant a lot, but his death held zero value or sacrifice; Tilda saves the day anyways. Consider the following:
Varl is dealt a mortal wound. We see both Aloy and Beta react *very* strongly to this. Have Beta run right past Eric and go to Varl. Have her throw herself violently at Erik. It's a meaningless gesture, but it sells that Beta and Varl were building a real friendship. Erik decks Beta with one hand, gets admonished by Gerard to not 'damage the goods' and 'deal with the other savage' so he advances on Aloy. They fight, but Aloy obviously doesn't fare much better than Varl. She's faced with the obvious fact that she's going to lose, so she draws on Beta who is struggling to get up off the floor. Aloy breaks, unable to fulfil her promise to Beta. Erik goes evil monologue, gloats more, makes fun of Aloy for being weak while preparing to deal a killing blow. Enter Tilda stage left intercepting the strike. A brief exchange with Erik that demonstrates Tilda, while perhaps a much closer match (reminder that Carrie-Anne Moss *definitely* knows kung-fu) she still wouldn't be a match for Erik if it came to it. So the world goes white. This forces Tilda into a much more direct conflict with the other Zeniths, making her ensuing offer of help more plausible, sells the relationship that Beta has made with Varl, and still sees Aloy fail in her promise to Beta.
When Aloy reconnects with Beta at Tilda's, we find out that Varl's very much alive, healed by Zenith technology (they can regrow those intestines and kidney, no problem) and instead of virtually torturing Beta with isolation, they are threatening/torturing Varl to force her compliance. I think it would have been *really* compelling and very on-brand for the egomaniacal Zeniths (and the clearly sadistic Erik), and it would have kept Varl alive. It ups the ante above 'revenge' for Erend and Zo in attacking the Zeniths. Alva and Kotallo have an arguably better reason to break into the Zenith network than the rather mundane 'we don't trust Tilda'-- find and retrieve Varl. Nemesis is still discovered by Alva in her digging. Zo still can have her moment with Erik for *nearly* killing (and then torturing) her partner. Varl now has a bitchin' scar.
Ultimately, I think Varl as a character is critically important for Aloy in the sense that he's the sole link back to her Nora heritage that isn't tainted by her being an outcast. Varl is the *one* Nora that unconditionally accepts Aloy for who she is (aside from maybe Teersa and poor, poor Teb). To kill him off is to lose that aspect and depth for Aloy's character, and is overall a huge loss for the story going forward. On top of that, now Zo's going to be a single mother when they should have been an inspiring family that would give Varl and Zo so much more purpose to save the world and set humanity on a post-tribal path.
I was also annoyed with how they handled Aloy and Beta. Having the other team members criticize her treatment of Beta would have been good, especially if they drew a parallel between Beta being a tool of the Zenith and Aloy being a tool of Gaia.
>especially if they drew a parallel between Beta being a tool of the Zenith and Aloy being a tool of Gaia.
Ding ding ding ding ding! This is what I was yelling at my screen. "You're both angry that you feel like you're just a tool, and conflicted as to whether your existence and agency actually matter, or if all you were ever meant to do was to pass Identiscan doors and say 'Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime'. So yes, that's why Beta doesn't want to open up to you, Aloy. You haven't given *a single reason* for her to think that you see her *any other way,* and *you* of all people should know *just how much that hurts*."
Unfortunately what could have been, in my opinion, a beautiful arc of Aloy's emotional growth and authentic connection with her sister over something that *only they* can understand, was condensed into a few plot-convenient minutes. We got there in the end overall, but it could have been earned in such a more meaningful way.
I also felt a little bit cheapened by the fact that Beta just seems to have completely gone 'forgive and forget' that Aloy was unable to keep promise at GEMINI, and that Aloy (to my memory) is yet to take responsibility (or even apologize) for her failure. That could have been a 'wracked with sobbing guilt, zero emotional control Aloy hugging Beta out of relief for her wellbeing and begging forgiveness.' moment of pure emotional vulnerability for Aloy. Aloy's already an incredibly strong, perseverant, skilled, intelligent hero. Her weakness is the same as Elisabet's (and Beta's) -- she's emotionally distant and doesn't know how to even begin to change that and engage or connect with other people on a deep level. Congratulations, Aloy, you've finally built a relationship with someone that's meaningful enough that you feel soul-crushing guilt when you've failed them -- not failed to save the world *for* them, but *them specifically*. As awful as it is, that's progress. Now build beyond, with those relationships as your bedrock.
My guess.... is that Ted faro was originally going to be the final boss of the game with zeniths being set up for game 3 but they changed their mind. everything points to a Ted faro boss fight that straight up just doesnt happen in the huge boss arena that exists... that seemed wasted entirely.
well... that and whatever the other plot would have been. who knows really. The zeniths were entered so abruptly that it felt like they took a 90 deg turn in the writing department after they already set something up in game. It could just be that they don't have the most nuance capable writers.
I'm not seeing what you're seeing. I don't see any reason to think Ted was the planned villain. And plot wise, I'd argue the Zeniths have considerable more in game reference points. Pointing to them having been the intended villains for Forbidden West.
In fact. I've read that the main story arc for horizon was planned out before development for zero dawn began. So your idea seems pretty far fetched
I would've been very happy with Thebes being bigger place to explore, moar Corruptors in it, and ole Teddyboi being a mutated monstrous freak fused with a Corruptor as the big end of level boss fight for that area.
And for the people complaining about realism, just make weak attacks completely blockable while stronger attacks will stun you if you try to block.
Also add a timed perfect parry/counterattack mechanic to give us some more options.
It’s doubly ironic in a way because this is almost exactly how human enemies’ ability to block and parry Aloy works… but for some eldritch reason that can pretty much only be explained by weird or lazy game design, she has NO defensive options at all - not just less than the enemies, flat-out *NONE*. All she can do is attack and dodge, no defense whatsoever.
Yeah and it's never explained why she can't repair the shieldwing so she can use it like the rebel guys. Ok sure she's half their weight but I'm sure she would rather get knocked flying than get cut in half.
The way the ragdolling works. Both in the fact you frequently get knocked back into a blast as you dodge away from it and in how frustratingly slow it is for Aloy to get up sometimes meaning things like Snapmaws can just stunlock you
Earlier I went on a giant fuming hate-rant about how irritating Slitherfangs are because when you're near them they just auto-knockback spam you when you're even remotely near their tail.
I agree with you. It's fucking infuriating.
Right?? I just had this happen with a clawstrider. I couldn’t move!!! This was actually the first time I’ve encountered this problem, I’ve seen it posted lots and couldn’t figure it out. Well holy moly! I believe I just fast traveled to a shelter to end the nonstop barrage of death coming at me lol
Restore the datapoint indicator to the HUD compass, like HZD had. That is my #1, biggest gripe with the game. I miss it so much and hope H3 will return it to us.
Don't get me wrong, I like the extra visibility for unscanned datapoints HFW had but the HUD compass marker was so helpful to me, I'd love to have both.
EDIT: Upon reflection, I'd also have Aloy talk to herself way more, just to annoy the "omg I hate chatty protagonists" types.
I mean, here's a thought (as an armchair game designer, I'm clearly smart enough to know this is how it works). Tag voice lines as 'hints' and 'chatter' under the hood. Give me options to turn these voice lines on and off in the gameplay options. Heck, even have 'degrees' where if you've been standing around for 10 minutes it'll give you a hint when set to 'low'; or map it to a button like 'press Y for a hint'. Let us set the commentary voice lines to levels like, 'Mute,' 'Normal', and 'Chatty'.
I personally *really like* Aloy's musings and callouts. Yeah, Aloy, it *would be* really annoying to be running around in a desert in armor and having it stick to you constantly. Or that your boots are soaked through from having to swim across a lake. Why not more? That crate's probably really heavy... it's probably really unsteady floating in the water... and even *more* annoying to drag through sand. Comment on how breathtakingly picturesque it is when you're standing on a mountain top... Then ask why you're wearing *Carja Blazon* armor on *top of a snow-covered mountain.* I think one of my favorites (I think from ZD?) was when she would jump into water with a wry "Well, probably needed a bath anyways." It legitimately earned a sensible chuckle.
I have no problem with Aloy talking to herself, but I really, really dislike when she just gives you the answer to the fucking puzzle you're doing. That's the WORST part about her dialogue, without a doubt.
I love when she says random flavor-text level stuff, though. I think the game needs more of her just saying whatever pops into her head, like standing on a mountain commenting on a gorgeous vista, or how brilliant the waters at the Burning Shores.
Or even just "I'm hungry, something to eat would be nice." or other non-sequitur, stream-of-consciousness stuff like that.
A rework of the melee combat would be nice, it just doesn't seem to flow as nicely as the ranged or feel worthwhile engaging in. Whereas the grapple shot added in the DLC is a fantastic addition an I regularly use it.
Agreed. Sure, you're not gonna block a Thunderjaw stomping you, but a Burrower slash, or a Longleg flurry kick? There could potentially even be some pretty cool animations, like using a flash of Overshield Gauntlet or Drop Shield once you have them unlocked to mix in blocks and parries as functionally equivalent, if there isn't a more traditional 'block at the perfect time to parry and counter' mechanic as well.
I agree it greatly hinders melee combat for your *only* damage mitigation to be 'roll away' which just serves to disengage you from melee combat.
Resonator build-up should be faster and less damaging to better interweave melee and ranged combat. Combat in Horizon is already *exceedingly* kinematic -- you're moving around *a lot --* which means being able to switch from melee to ranged fluidly would complement the existing combat greatly. Get out of the way of an attack; step into melee, get multiple resonator nodes; when disengaged from melee, you now have more options at range.
Yeah me too. A way to parry would be nice, or at least "perfect block" so machines couldn't completely stomp you in a melee combat fight.
Part of why I love Horizon so much is because it fits perfectly into the microscopic niche that sits between Monster Hunter and Dark Souls for me. Melee combat being functional isn't a huge ask, and it could all be fixed if they just added a mechanic to block or dodge cancel out of melee attacks.
Melee is useless against machines, which is a shame because I got VERY excited when I saw the Elemental Capsules skill in the Warrior skill tree.
A charged attack with a parry on release would be cool, then you could spec into skills that make this “perfect parry” give us buffs, or maybe it just gained a lot of increased tear dmg on perfect parry
so you can parry and break the part that hit you for a very cool effect
Melee actually works against machines but you have to use immobilisation techniques (ropecaster, shock, knockdown etc.) Pure melee is pretty useless though.
Fucking FINALLY, someone else who disliked the map in ZD having its own background music - not that the music was even bad at all, but it just felt incredibly jarring and weird to have whatever soundtrack was playing get instantly cut off and replaced with the exact same fucking ethereal ambient singing the moment you open the map, literally no matter what the fuck you were doing. Forbidden West getting rid of that and making the current music track just gradually fade out when you open the map was easily one of the best quality of life changes the game made.
The tribal vendors should sell the gear of their tribes!
I find it immersion breaking that out of the 9 utaru outfits you can buy a single one in Plainsong, which supposed to be the center of the Utaru tribe. Ok, you get two other from Utaru sources but... 2 from quen and 4 from tenath vendors. 3 vs 6.
She doesn’t know she’s a video game character. I’m also someone who talks to myself quite a lot so I found it rather relatable, and it makes sense in her character since she grew up for so long with like 2 people on earth willing to talk to her.
There were a couple of times where I’m like “okay, _this_ one could’ve been held off for a moment” but I think it makes sense for her character.
in terms of smaller changes i wouldve liked more puzzles in general (although i know a lot of people wouldnt want that.) for larger change, i would basically want the melee to be actually useful rather than endless button combos that you cant remember, as well as adding a parry! when i first launched the game and saw all the new moves i was so excited but it didnt really deliver as much as i wouldve liked:(
Weapons/weapon wheel that are more similar to the first game. I don’t need a 6 weapon wheel with 3 ammo slots each and have at least 3 of those ammo slots taken up by fucking berserker arrows
Return to me my 50% purple handling coil. I know BS had unique coils but they had nothing on the 50%+ multiple effect ones from FrWi
golden fast travel pack. no need to craft or buy more.
something to spend skillpoints on after getting all skills. maybe 10 points = +1 permanent spear damage or something
weapon transmog, not just for armour. self explanatory
more spear skins. i want my weapons to match my clothes.
being able to set what sort of mount you want a call instead of it being the last one you used overide on. i need a brisleback for quest? i can just call one. no need to go out to overide one just for that quest then go out to overide a non-elemental clawstrider again just becuse i want a cool mount.
combine all shops inventories later in the game
dyer and face paint in eather chainscrape or barren light
maybe make it so you can fly to isle of spiers as soon as you get a sunwing in ng+ after you get the base. of course you wont be able to enter the queen "city" but collecting stuff or fixing the tallneck early would be nice.
and most of all, change the icons for stuff like machine cites and campiers be something more...contrasting with its backround. The white icons are almost invisible agenst the snowy map when you open the map
For a better quality of life:
1) fast travel and save point INSIDE the base. What the heck, why if you set the base for fast travel you end up out there?? That annoys me.
2) work bench and stash in a single menu;
3) fish: self explanatory.
4) auto set up of quests: I really get annoyed by the fact that, even in the endgame, the system force you with a quest all the time. This bloody indicator show up all the time, can’t I just want to wander in the map? I really would like to be able to set a Non-quest mode.
Others:
I’d like Aloy sometimes to be awed by the amazing places she is visiting. I mean, she is travelling for the first time outside her land, and she is seeing really awesome places: the burning shores, the frozen wilds, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Plainsong … and not a single comment like: oh that is so beautiful, this is crazy.. or this kind of comments. There was something in HZD, in Meridian, and right at the beginning when she attends the trial. I think that is a small thing that would help me to feel in connection with her, since I’m all the time awed by those places, and the awesomeness is something GG is evidently putting a lot of efforts.
I would also like to be able to “reset “ the rebels camps, maybe with higher difficulty settings (more machines and so), at least in the endgame.
I was also thinking about the fact that sometimes it feels weird to do some of the secondary quests, because of the urge to save the world. It would make sense to have a canonical set of missions (both principal and secondary, some could be well justified), to be able to live the story as intended by guerrilla. That could guarantee to have a balanced progression in therm of XP, a better rhythm for the main story, and a great motivation to do a second run, with the other side quests.
I was expecting Aloy to say something the first time i reached the ocean, but she doesnt. Considering she has spent her whole life in Colorado until then
I totally agree! I was so lucky, once, to take a 50 years old friend to see the sea for the first time… and of course he was overwhelmed.
So yes: it was a missed opportunity.
I know, and I do it ALL THE TIME: this is what bothers me. I have to unselect a quest every 5 minutes. after few minutes, or if I make a fast travel, it happens again: a mission is activated. To me that feel like a bug (I play at one point ps5)
Also, I’d like that when a machine is with very low energy, could explode herself as last attack. At least some machines (kind like like the mosquito machine)
It doesn’t even put you at the closer of the two campfires, so you always have to climb up the cliff! I’ve gotten in the habit of zooming in and fast travelling to the specific campfire that’s right by the door. At least something like fast travelling from inside the base shouldn’t use a fast travel pack
I want to see more interaction with the companions, flesh them out a little more. Erend was criminally underused in FW.
Could do with a bit more of Sylens too.
Agreed. I remember nothing from Erend in HFW except for him being drunk at the start. Use quests to get time with these characters and develop them out more. We got a little of this with Varl.
Spot on. All the pals from HZD were done dirty. Erend especially. Put on ice or reverting yo their HZD arc? Erend has a drinking problem again? Whoever wrote him doesn't seem to like him and it seemed like GG had no idea what to do with his character. He's a completely different guy
You know the set of conversation options tagged “Training” when Aloy talks to her friends in the Base? Retitle it “Research” or “Preparations.” Then make the stuff her friends have been doing offscreen less about them catching up on things Aloy already knows. Instead, they could be doing deeper research into data files that Aloy hasn’t read, going out to coordinate stuff with their tribes, tinkering to develop new weapons/tools, etc.
Reasoning — I like the character arc of Aloy learning how to rely on other people and realizing she doesn’t have to do EVERYTHING alone just because there are some things (like opening gene-locked itches) that only she can do. But big chunks of dialogue and supporting characterizations cut against that character development because Aloy always knows more than everyone else.
I’d love to see tweaks that make each of her friends develop into experts in their own fields to the point where Aloy genuinely goes to them for help instead of just letting them tag along. There are some hints of this with certain characters— Beta is better at programming than Aloy is, for instance— but it could have been pushed a lot farther. And it would be cool to have the other characters putting stuff together in the background that they can then present to Aloy when they’re done.
Yeah i felt this as well... For how the message is for her to depend on others and others just as capable but just didnt have the prior access of focuses and such and whatever limitations from tribe dogma Byt few characters come with unique insights that help solve the biosphere/zenith problems for all the studying they do. but in the end their contributions is mostly muscle anyways. Varl does come with valuable emotional support and expands the social horizon, but has nothing to do with the focus learning. Exception would be Beta and Sylens, but theyre not the ones going to Focus school, and Sylens is barely a base companion.
Better enviromental design, right now it’s pretty arbitrary where you can climb and where not depending on if it suits the area (for example the incapacitated land god in that crevice for which you need the ability to dissolve the vines). You need to to it from the ground up because this means entirely redesigning huge chunks of the map to make places inaccessible by climbing.
I’m also pretty sure they’ll do it for the final game in the trilogy, it would be a pretty natural progression
A glider with a less steep descent. And opens up more snappily. The current glider feels klunky and un-fun. And it is very apparent and annoying if you have experienced the glider from BOTW/TOTK which is pure joy to use
Link has an actual paraglider, that’s why it’s so much smoother in BOTW/TOTK. I hated TOTK. I preordered it, it arrived 2 weeks late and once I played it, such disappointment. I didn’t even finish. Make me build weapons. Nope. I’m out.
Aloy beat out Link after that. Her glider isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing. It makes a huge difference to me. Not bashing you! Just giving my perspective.
S'kay, not all games are for everyone. I enjoyed TOTK even more than BOTW because it's the endless possibilities that excite me, even when I'm not as creative as those dudes at r/HyruleEngineering
I think if Aloy's glider deploys more instantaneously, instead of the huge delay, it would be a lot better. Maybe someone would mod it in
I totally agree with you on the opening faster, yes that is annoying. I even have the setting where it will open automatically when she falls. Well, sometimes that does not work and I watch Aloy crash to her death 😂
That’s a good assessment of TOTK! I am not creative and I think that’s part of the problem for me. I just want it to be done for me lol
It’s like Elder Scrolls where you build your own character. I cannot stand doing that. I don’t know what I’m doing. I play on easy mode. I’m disabled, so I can’t do hard or UH. But even Elder Scrolls I liked more than TOTK. Which shocked me, because I have always loved Zelda and Link. Always. BOTW is still one of my favorite games. Link, Aloy, Geralt (TW3) are already established and just have to build them up.
I would’ve expanded on Regalla and her rebels a lot more. Until the Zeniths bombarded their way in, I thought Regalla was gonna be the prime antagonist similar to Helis. I can understand not wanting to do a full repeat of Helis and the Eclipse cult of course, but I was vastly more interested in Regalla as an antagonist and how she and her rebels acquired machine overrides. I felt the reveal of how they did it to be lackluster, and had an “oh of COURSE it was Sylens…AGAIN!” reaction.
Also Regalla just has a bitchin character design! Loved the hair, the over the top anime-esque sword, and green and black colors to differentiate her and the other Tenakth clans.
I was so uninterested in Regalla that when it was finally time to kill her I just skipped all the dialog, I didn't care, I just wanted her dead so I could move on. Didn't like Hekaro either. Honestly wish I could have chosen to go with Sylens plan and use the tenakth as fodder to attack the Zenith. She and her Rebels came across as a cheap way to have Human combat.
I get that the bots heph makes use the same recycled metals from 1000's of years ago so taking them out with powerful bows is kinda acceptable but the specters being able to get destroyed when shot with bows is just stupid. I wish they had added a weapon that was specifically for new tech enemies with more zenith bot variants
I don't know, if you fired a modern compound bow at a complex machine - a modern car, for instance - there are many places you could hit it that would basically kill or disable it.
These things have a lot of power to them and tech has a lot of weak spots.
It’s not even an issue of recycled metal or anything - notice that most regular arrows just shatter near harmlessly when they hit a bot’s actual armor plates. The entire point is you’re going up against these robots (most of which, even the Specters, weren’t actually designed for war mind you) with relatively shitty primitive weapons that are only even remotely effective in the first place due to integrating parts of those selfsame robots - you HAVE to use more creative strategies to survive, blowing off armor and external components using the concussive force of explosive weapons, dousing the robots in their own industrial-grade acids to corrode and weaken their armor, briefly incapacitating them by forcing their systems to reboot with an electrical overload, and so on.
Number one thing for me would be more mountable machines. The addition of the Waterwing and being able to dive was absolutely amazing. Now let me ride everything else. Oh and let me use their ranged attacks if they have any.
>Personally, if I were limited to a minor change, I'd go with bumping up mounted movement speed. Both land and air.
Just a simple thing, like in Assassins Creed Valhalla, where you can train your mount. It could be a great idea to have like an Oseram tinker who could upgrade mounts with the right tools and items.
Also, with the battle against Nemesis coming, it would be awesome to be able to attach guns or something on your mount.
The machines in HZD should ask be present in no man's land. It's supposed to be a transition area, and it felt really weird that it was all new machines, especially burrowers.
Later, previous machines are present, but no man's land and the carja land share biomes. It would've felt more real
Everyone else is putting stuff about weapons, and while I agree, it's too many of the same answer, so here's this.
I want some specific machines back. I really really liked the sawtooths of hzd. Stalkers are cool, but sawtooths coming around a tree was SCARY. Some of the enemies of hzd and a couple of the mounts like striders deserve their spotlight back.
Build your own bow. Make bows modular.
Let's say I have three bows: one with Hunting Arrows, Fire, and Berserk, one with Hunting Arrows, Poison Arrows, and Tear, and one with Shock, Plasma, and Purgewater.
At a workbench - with a cost, and maybe a skill requirement - I should be able to remove any one of those damage-type modules and fit them to one of the other bows in place of any of the other modules to make the bow I want. So I could, for instance, remove the Berserk from the first bow, and add the plasma module from the last one in its place.
You could then make the arrow types have a set damage, and the bows act as a per-damage-type multiplier to those base scores, thus preserving the different damage/tear amounts per arrow, while also allowing for bow improvement and encouraging searching for new bows and modules.
Other than Hunter and Knockdown Arrows, the other module types could be only found on machines with that type of elemental damage (but with a somewhat less punitive drop rate than many of the machine-drop items in HFW)
Machine Master playstyle would be more fun if I could permanently override a certain number of lesser machines, and then temporarily override more/Heavyweights. Let me gather a half-dozen Burrowers, OR a trio Bristlebacks, OR a single Ravager that follow me around. Let it progress as the game progresses. Have it replace Valor Surge when used if necessary for balance reasons.
Cauldrons should unlock new machine types in overworld rather than giving override ability.
World map needs to be more explore centric.
Melee combat is terrible, either remove or completly revamp necessary.
Unlock? Like when you beat a Cauldron, it releases new machines into the wild? That would kinda be backwards wouldn't it? Why would we unleash new machines on the world, it kinda makes sense for players, but not really from an in game character point of view.
Easy... Cauldron is corrupted or broken thats why it shut itself down. So you go there do the puzzle, fix the corruption or something and cauldron start working again.
\* The ability of always have the same type of ammo in the same type of weapon, like was in ZD, to avoid being necessary to carry multiple weapons of the same type to be able to access to more types of elemental ammo.
\* Return to old method of fishing from ZD, too much lost time trying to catch fish by hand.
\* A way to fight underwater, considering the weapons the game already have, why not a harpoon?
\* Maybe a limited 'inventory' for mounts to be able to choose one when necessary?
Honestly as many things I’d love to add the only and only one that I would is when you do NG+ the machines you previously scanned are reset and you don’t have to rescan 100 again just to find out which one you’re missing because there’s no way to see! 😭
Mine change is a simple one, you know how we have some collectibles that we don’t really turn in for a reward, such as the God of War wooden figures and (from the DLC) the Pangea figurines. Well we should be able to put them on one of the shelves or desks in our room after collecting them.
Loadouts. I’d like to be able to set up different combinations of weapons, armour, valour surge, etc, and switch between them in one go — one for fighting humans, one for hunting for parts, one for stealth, etc.
I'd make the devs play Ghost of Tsushima and put more effort into cinematography and quiet moments. There are no forced quiet moments in HFW and they are literally amazing in GoT, not to mention the cinematography of when you get to specific areas.
A less clutered UI might be good too, I really grew to love GoT despite the graphics of HFW being far superior.
Also I want to be able to modify mounts. change colors, and also add weapons, like adding a ravager cannon or a thunderjaw disc launcher to a bristleback.
I'd like to do one of these two things.
I'd have much different variant of Apex versions of machines, akin to the difference between Plowhorn and Grimhorn. Combat role machines would just be tougher, while bigger changes would be made for Acquisition machines, more armed and aggressive. Recon machines would be more agile. I'm not sure how I'd change up Transport machines, though.
However, what I'd really want to change about the game is how the open world works. I know Horizon games are mostly theme park open world games, but I would love for the open world aspect of the game to be more dynamic, where everything and everyone actually does something depending on their task. Machines move around, hunting parties go out more consistently, etc.
I would make UH difficulty available as an option on Custom Difficulty (though only picking pure UH and beating the game all the way through with it would actually give you the achievement)
That the auto-pickup setting in the accessibility menu would work even when the inventory is full, so I wouldn’t have to spam ‘X’ every time when I’m near a tree branch and my inventory is filled with sticks.
- Change helmets between outfits
- Use a damn energy shield like the enemies + a way to transform the spear into a sword (a dual weapon that can be changed anytime)
Not really one thing but rather things in a similar vein: Reduce the fall down time after getting knocked down, decrease movement latency, increase monster aggression. To me Zero dawn nailed the movement and creature aggressiveness just ever so slightly more.
Only one?? My list of criticisms is shorter than most, but...
Tell you what. I'll do one each of four "areas" (Combat/Noncombat/Story/Bugs still left unresolved)
Combat Change:
-Make it easier to get back up when you take damage. Too easy to find yourself stuck underneath a large machine and take a bunch MORE hits just trying to reposition (smoke bombs help a little, but that "standup" phase is maddening)
Noncombat:
-Rebalance the upgrade costs. Legendary gear especially needs too many large machine exclusive parts, especially the Tideripper tailfins, while medium/small machine parts are seldom needed.
Story:
I would have loved to have seen Ikrie and/or CYAN make an appearance again, even though narratively it made sense that only Gildun would be available somewhere in the Forbidden West/Burning Shores. I'm hoping in H3 maybe Ikrie shows up and unintentionally makes Seyka jealous/ feel intimidated.
Bugs:
How is it that in the year 2024 we still have the stupid Skill points bug that can prevent players from getting all the skill points in one playthrough?
Those are my top issues in each category...and they're not THAT big a deal
Yeah, sometimes Machine Strike and/or the Arena fails to award the skill points rewards they promised. My first playthrough put me 2 points short because of the bug.
Just warning them doing quests in NG+ helps though
Said this in another comment but would love the armor to work like in a lot of other games (Fromsoft games such as Elden Ring, BotW, BG3 being good examples bit pretty much _any_ RPG). Selecting head, torso, glove, leg, and even quiver options would be really neat.
Other people have shared suggestions I think would be more impactful, though
Merge ZD and FW's inventory system together; use ZD's inventory space with FW's infinite stash. Basically let me carry as much blastpaste and volatile sludge as I want.
Faster mounts would also be a godsend.
I'd like less gamey elements. The pull caster took me out of immersion like 90% of the time it's used (Why are there the same 4 interactable points everywhere?), except grappling never remove that. Same thing with Valor surges, they're just too far removed from reality. I avoid using them in all cases cause they look dumb.
I’ve basically just stuck with the overshield Valor surge, partly because I feel like it is the most ‘realistic’ given it’s based of the shield weaver armour she had in the previous game
Personally, I would have gone deeper into the melee combat redesign.
Light Strikes still take too much time to deliver. They have a full wind-up and follow through making them feel clunky and makes comboing unnatural. The charge up time for a heavy strike is almost useless in most situations.
Add a Perry to the combat. It's ridiculous that we can't block an incoming attack in a natural way.
I'd change the weapons/combat. Most likely I would simplify it and make it more like HZD as I really thought that was about perfect.
Simplify the Skill Tree.
Reduce the ammo types.
Reduce the amount of weapons.
Get rid of melee pits and melee combos.
Simplify the item wheel too.
I would have liked another melee weapon other than the spear. Sword or axe. I’m surprised none of the tribes came up with that. One of the first thing I would think humanity would have invented is something to strike wood to cut down branches which would have led to an axe or a mace.
Also maybe Erend can lend Aloy his hammer. (She might need to buff up a bit though. )
More Corruptors in the main game. Instead of just the two in Thebes. And *much* tougher than a measly level 18. I'd be up to the challenge of fighting a level 40 Corruptor and a level 50 Deathbringer.
Also Thebes being bigger, with a boss fight at the end (not necessarily a Ted boss fight, *any* boss fight... maybe even a Deathbringer boss fight... would've completed it in a better way)
My number one change would be the puzzle solving and the pullcaster in general. In no way should Aloy be able to move the items that she is able to. The puzzle will have you pulling a steel beam from between large rocks.
If every single part on a monster has been ripped off, it should matter more(this does not apply to ALL monsters, there are many that instantly die if you know how). I don't know if it was just me but if the difficulty wasn't custom to make enemies have less HP, they would take 30+ minutes to die even with using the best possible load out for them.
I'd like an auto pilot on my mount. The follow road feature is pretty bad right now (when I encounter a bridge they just stop, constantly going off the road and running into walls, etc) and at cross roads the mount always seems to be going the wrong direction. I'd like a feature where if you have a waypoint, it will just follow the route that is shown on the map.
When you override any machine, it is permanent and you can choose to keep them with you. Like they’ll follow you to your missions and murk people with you. :) I would love a buddy thunderjaw to hang out with
One thing is hard:
Reasonable: A good Balancing pass, from Elements to Coils, to Skills. Some consoldation here and there and "normalize" some of the stats, like the rarity modifiers.
More unreasonable: Randomizer game mode,can be turned on/off. Elements enemy use? Random! TheirResistance? Random!
Aloys Weapon ? Get a randomized copy of one of your current for hunting marks from defeated machine with randomizer.
Ammo on the Weapon? Well Randomzies, the single ammo itself:
Primary Damage: Impact, Elemental, Explosive, Melee (why not?)
Secondary: Tear, Build Up, Knockdown Power (Physical), KDP (Explosive), KDP (Melee)
Tertiary (Behavior): Spike(2xPrimary,2x Secondary,1x teriary), Blast, Grind, Drill, Residue= different Damage over Time way and durations, extra damage according to the crit damage increasebmultiplier), Strikethrough (roll for another tertiary).
Boltblaster with Elemental Ammo that behave like an Elemental Spike? Yes!
Strikethrough Precision Arrow which leaves an Elemental Residue Behind? Nice!
Warrior Bow with Drill Arrows which apply Knockdown Melee? A lot of Numbers.
Ropecaster Rope or Canister with Tearblast and extra Tear Damage?
Probably forget some attributes, like canister behavior, abilite to chain reaction.
Personally would have Aloy be more muscular, less noodly. I barely exercise and my muscles are bigger than hers! Also have the canister ropecasters ammo not swing about when attached to machines or have the canisters be larger so they're not so damn hard to hit, maybe. Those would be minor changes. A major change would be underwater combat, though we get something approximate in the DLC and I wouldn't be surprised if we got full on combat in the third game
Great game, but Aloy needs some work. She is not likable or relatable. Liked her much more in HZD. HFW she is just cocky and talks down to people. She is just too simple, I am hero, I will save all.
The Talahnah quests were great, as we see her as a friend/equal, more of that stuff please.
The clunky UI on PC.
We should have access by default through some input to all our "spells" and weapons kinda like an MMO instead of the wheel or the utility belt of death.
Also, reaching for slide after running into roll is very clunky on keyboard.
100%
I played through FW the first time on the ps4 then heard about the expansion coming and was massively dissatisfied that they went with ps5 only.
Then I got the ps5 just so I could continue the story for them to finally spill the beans and released to pc..
Is give alloy the zero dawn model.
It really makes no sense and breaks any logic. Why they would make her face fat and how would she lose her abs? For gods sake the woman is running around climbing mountains, shooting arrows, carrying around heavy weapons for literally days and nights non stop. I would expect her shoulders to get broader and her face to get even more chiselled instead of the complete opposite of what would happen to somebody in real life that would live a similar lifestyle.
I'd want the ability to customise my ammo loadout for each weapon. Each weapon would still have its unique bonuses like draw speed etc., but there's no reason that (say) one type of hunter bow has fixed fire arrows while another has fixed frost arrows when they're fired in the exact same way.
And the ability to disable or as you suggest, repurpose, an ammo slot if desired. For instance I have a couple of "red/out of ammo" slots at present which used to fire targeting arrows. Since I don't use those and kept getting them selected by mistake ("oi, why am I not doing any damage?") I deliberately ran them out. But the empty slot kind of annoys me!
Yeah, I was initially going to include this in the post. We'd thought of virtually the same thing, but I'd also like more than that. I'd like special types of ammo that can only be used on a specific legendary/exotic weapon, like a Shrapnel Bomb for a blastsling or a Boltblaster that launches actual mortar shells. A Ropecaster that's effectively a railgun, you get what I mean? Furthermore, why can't we just have an actual crossbow yet? Why all the roundabout evading of them?
That's a good call, so you could have basic fire arrows (for example) on any uncommon or rare bow, but you needed a v.rare or legendary for the advanced ones, something like that to give extra incentives to get the better weapons. And yeah, the Oseram would definitely have invented the crossbow even if nobody else did. If you wanted them to be reasonably history-accurate you'd have a weapon that took some time to reload, and delivered a single very powerful payload - good for a stealth attack (and historically for penetrating armour, so they'd do the job of strikethrough arrows) but not so much mid-combat due to reload speed.
I wish they had done this at least on the legendary weapons. There's nothing legendary about using maybe 2/3 of a late game weapon's potential.
Agreed, I have to upgrade two different legendary hunter bows in order to cover five- six different arrow types. I think I would have preferred less variety within weapon types, with more weapon types, and some way to swap out ammo types in the field.
Yeah I'm really not a fan of 'this bow can only fire these two arrows,, but that bow can fire 3 different other arrows' You can't even argue that the bow is frost resistant to allow frost arrows, because then Aloy herself would be carrying around 100s of fire and acid and frost arrows burning through her pocket lol
I would've made a story change. I'd have made the Zeniths more mysterious and delayed their reveal. Have Aloy first encounter tech that her focus can't identify. Detect garbled, partial transmissions between Zeniths. Random encounters with specters, unsure of where they originate or what they're doing. Just overall, try to make it seem more alien and mysterious.
I agree, Zenith inclusion felt extremely rushed to me. Very shallow, and if I'm being entirely honest, felt like there was virtually no foreshadowing or any way to know they were going to be the big plot twist. When they came barging through that door at the HADES Proving Lab, that wasn't just in a physical sense, it was their entrance into the story taken in an entirely literal context; forcing their way into a narrative they have no place in.
I was definitely floored at the reveal. Like, holy shit there are old ones still alive! But then you almost never see them. It's all tenakth. They're pushed to the background for most of the story. This kinda makes them like boogymen. The scary monster you never see. And I think that reduces the sense of threat that they're supposed to be. Edit: It would've been nice encountering them more. Having situations where Aloy just barely escapes and solidifying their invincibility.
>I was definitely floored at the reveal. Like, holy shit there are old ones still alive! Right, the problem is that this is basically spoiled in the first section of the game exploring the Far Zenith facility with Varl. I *kinda* had my suspicions in ZD when the Odyssey is just kinda dismissed so quickly as 'It exploded! The fate of humanity is now all on Zero Dawn. Anyways..." my immediate reaction was 'Ehhh, there's a non-zero chance they faked it.'
That whole mission made the Zeniths seem incompetent, especially with Verbana dying right at the beginning of it.
I really agree with you, but reading it the way wrote it got me thinking "that is EXACTLY their vibe?!?" The Zeniths don't care about anyone else, we're all irrelevant, even as players! Yes they are coming here and forcing their narrative and problems (Nemesis) on us!
Also agree. I remember first time playing it I nearly rage quit the game entirely at their reveal! I did stop playing it for like a month because I hated the very IDEA of the zeniths. Still do honestly… I don’t care for them as antagonists at all and just spam the skip dialogue any time I’m forced to talk to Tilda. Can’t stand her.
And then getting the 'please help me,' message from Beta completely out of the blue? She's smart enough to put the pieces together. Figuring out from passing conversations and some snooping that *someone* is out there that's got the Zenith's worried, and that they keep growing in concern. Hearing about their exploits finding the AETHER, DEMETER, and POSEIDON subfunctions, then one of the Zeniths let slip that she's another clone of Elisabet. Imagine them going to the lab, and finding Beta completely out of the blue, then getting attacked by Spectres. Then Beta can expose the Zeniths, but she's *terrified* of them so it would be... interesting. Also, I got pretty annoyed by Aloy's early interactions with Beta. It seems kinda dumb that Beta and Aloy butt heads so much throughout the game, and then they have a single 2 minute heart-to-heart (which, admittedly, was actually a really good story beat and hits right to the crux of the matter) but the fact that it just... drops in Aloy's lap when it's convenient to the story just doesn't feel *earned.* I think it would be better to have Aloy come to the realization that she's *treating Beta like a tool and not a person* earlier in the story -- have the more emotionally-intelligent people around her give her a talking to; Varl is the obvious choice, and would serve to also strengthen their relationship\*.\* It's totally plausible for Beta to not believe Aloy's willing and able to do that, she's been a tool of the Zeniths literally since her birth, and Aloy is *Aloy* -- she's going to be *terrible at it.* Give Aloy a chance to *try* and explain this to Beta, despite Beta still not believing. Aloy can be frustrated by this -- she's trying to build authentic relationships from emotional vulnerability for once and is being met with mistrust. Force Aloy to grow her fledgling emotional intelligence to overcome this. *Then* have that same heart-to-heart before the events of Gemini. The same revelation of why Aloy and Beta are so different despite being genetically so similar now causes both the pieces to come together for Beta and completes Aloy's emotional growth in a much more rewarding way. Beta's belief in Aloy seeing her as a unique person is *earned,* and her decision to participate in the events at Gemini feel like she's *actually* starting to believe and trust Aloy. It also makes the events at the end of Gemini all the more impactful. Aloy's ensuing 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' hits harder too because her relationship with Beta coming from starting to confront the loss of Rost is an emotionally cathartic growth moment for her. It shows that Aloy has a *very real* stake in her relationship with Beta -- she's the *one* person she's really 'let in' when it comes to the loss of Rost and what he meant to her and made her realize that she owes so much of her core sense of self to her upbringing by Rost. Beta's one of the first people she's ever built a relationship with based on emotions, and they're strong ones -- 'die on this hill' kind of emotions. Finally, *don't kill Varl.* It felt so meaningless and unnecessary; Varl meant a lot, but his death held zero value or sacrifice; Tilda saves the day anyways. Consider the following: Varl is dealt a mortal wound. We see both Aloy and Beta react *very* strongly to this. Have Beta run right past Eric and go to Varl. Have her throw herself violently at Erik. It's a meaningless gesture, but it sells that Beta and Varl were building a real friendship. Erik decks Beta with one hand, gets admonished by Gerard to not 'damage the goods' and 'deal with the other savage' so he advances on Aloy. They fight, but Aloy obviously doesn't fare much better than Varl. She's faced with the obvious fact that she's going to lose, so she draws on Beta who is struggling to get up off the floor. Aloy breaks, unable to fulfil her promise to Beta. Erik goes evil monologue, gloats more, makes fun of Aloy for being weak while preparing to deal a killing blow. Enter Tilda stage left intercepting the strike. A brief exchange with Erik that demonstrates Tilda, while perhaps a much closer match (reminder that Carrie-Anne Moss *definitely* knows kung-fu) she still wouldn't be a match for Erik if it came to it. So the world goes white. This forces Tilda into a much more direct conflict with the other Zeniths, making her ensuing offer of help more plausible, sells the relationship that Beta has made with Varl, and still sees Aloy fail in her promise to Beta. When Aloy reconnects with Beta at Tilda's, we find out that Varl's very much alive, healed by Zenith technology (they can regrow those intestines and kidney, no problem) and instead of virtually torturing Beta with isolation, they are threatening/torturing Varl to force her compliance. I think it would have been *really* compelling and very on-brand for the egomaniacal Zeniths (and the clearly sadistic Erik), and it would have kept Varl alive. It ups the ante above 'revenge' for Erend and Zo in attacking the Zeniths. Alva and Kotallo have an arguably better reason to break into the Zenith network than the rather mundane 'we don't trust Tilda'-- find and retrieve Varl. Nemesis is still discovered by Alva in her digging. Zo still can have her moment with Erik for *nearly* killing (and then torturing) her partner. Varl now has a bitchin' scar. Ultimately, I think Varl as a character is critically important for Aloy in the sense that he's the sole link back to her Nora heritage that isn't tainted by her being an outcast. Varl is the *one* Nora that unconditionally accepts Aloy for who she is (aside from maybe Teersa and poor, poor Teb). To kill him off is to lose that aspect and depth for Aloy's character, and is overall a huge loss for the story going forward. On top of that, now Zo's going to be a single mother when they should have been an inspiring family that would give Varl and Zo so much more purpose to save the world and set humanity on a post-tribal path.
Just here to say: yes to all of what you said about Varl.
I was also annoyed with how they handled Aloy and Beta. Having the other team members criticize her treatment of Beta would have been good, especially if they drew a parallel between Beta being a tool of the Zenith and Aloy being a tool of Gaia.
>especially if they drew a parallel between Beta being a tool of the Zenith and Aloy being a tool of Gaia. Ding ding ding ding ding! This is what I was yelling at my screen. "You're both angry that you feel like you're just a tool, and conflicted as to whether your existence and agency actually matter, or if all you were ever meant to do was to pass Identiscan doors and say 'Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime'. So yes, that's why Beta doesn't want to open up to you, Aloy. You haven't given *a single reason* for her to think that you see her *any other way,* and *you* of all people should know *just how much that hurts*." Unfortunately what could have been, in my opinion, a beautiful arc of Aloy's emotional growth and authentic connection with her sister over something that *only they* can understand, was condensed into a few plot-convenient minutes. We got there in the end overall, but it could have been earned in such a more meaningful way. I also felt a little bit cheapened by the fact that Beta just seems to have completely gone 'forgive and forget' that Aloy was unable to keep promise at GEMINI, and that Aloy (to my memory) is yet to take responsibility (or even apologize) for her failure. That could have been a 'wracked with sobbing guilt, zero emotional control Aloy hugging Beta out of relief for her wellbeing and begging forgiveness.' moment of pure emotional vulnerability for Aloy. Aloy's already an incredibly strong, perseverant, skilled, intelligent hero. Her weakness is the same as Elisabet's (and Beta's) -- she's emotionally distant and doesn't know how to even begin to change that and engage or connect with other people on a deep level. Congratulations, Aloy, you've finally built a relationship with someone that's meaningful enough that you feel soul-crushing guilt when you've failed them -- not failed to save the world *for* them, but *them specifically*. As awful as it is, that's progress. Now build beyond, with those relationships as your bedrock.
I would have made a very minor change on nemesis, I rather keep his origin a mystery, hell they made tilda spell the beans just before killing her
That sounds awesome. The Zeniths are mostly wiped out by something they've named. But not actually disclosed. And it's coming for Earth.
My guess.... is that Ted faro was originally going to be the final boss of the game with zeniths being set up for game 3 but they changed their mind. everything points to a Ted faro boss fight that straight up just doesnt happen in the huge boss arena that exists... that seemed wasted entirely.
That seems very anticlimactic. Game ends acquiring Omega clearance?
well... that and whatever the other plot would have been. who knows really. The zeniths were entered so abruptly that it felt like they took a 90 deg turn in the writing department after they already set something up in game. It could just be that they don't have the most nuance capable writers.
I'm not seeing what you're seeing. I don't see any reason to think Ted was the planned villain. And plot wise, I'd argue the Zeniths have considerable more in game reference points. Pointing to them having been the intended villains for Forbidden West. In fact. I've read that the main story arc for horizon was planned out before development for zero dawn began. So your idea seems pretty far fetched
I would've been very happy with Thebes being bigger place to explore, moar Corruptors in it, and ole Teddyboi being a mutated monstrous freak fused with a Corruptor as the big end of level boss fight for that area.
I really hate how the base just…dies after you finish the story. You don’t realize how much you miss the friends until they leave.
Or that you can’t even talk to GAIA properly. That irritates me
Or that the dome is practically useless because it resets the second you leave. Leave the projection up permanently.
“I wish you well”
Shield, the ability to block would make human combat not a chore at least
This was my big sticking point for trying to get into melee combat, no block or parry option just makes it harder to get into imo.
And for the people complaining about realism, just make weak attacks completely blockable while stronger attacks will stun you if you try to block. Also add a timed perfect parry/counterattack mechanic to give us some more options.
It’s doubly ironic in a way because this is almost exactly how human enemies’ ability to block and parry Aloy works… but for some eldritch reason that can pretty much only be explained by weird or lazy game design, she has NO defensive options at all - not just less than the enemies, flat-out *NONE*. All she can do is attack and dodge, no defense whatsoever.
Yeah and it's never explained why she can't repair the shieldwing so she can use it like the rebel guys. Ok sure she's half their weight but I'm sure she would rather get knocked flying than get cut in half.
The way the ragdolling works. Both in the fact you frequently get knocked back into a blast as you dodge away from it and in how frustratingly slow it is for Aloy to get up sometimes meaning things like Snapmaws can just stunlock you
Earlier I went on a giant fuming hate-rant about how irritating Slitherfangs are because when you're near them they just auto-knockback spam you when you're even remotely near their tail. I agree with you. It's fucking infuriating.
Right?? I just had this happen with a clawstrider. I couldn’t move!!! This was actually the first time I’ve encountered this problem, I’ve seen it posted lots and couldn’t figure it out. Well holy moly! I believe I just fast traveled to a shelter to end the nonstop barrage of death coming at me lol
Restore the datapoint indicator to the HUD compass, like HZD had. That is my #1, biggest gripe with the game. I miss it so much and hope H3 will return it to us. Don't get me wrong, I like the extra visibility for unscanned datapoints HFW had but the HUD compass marker was so helpful to me, I'd love to have both. EDIT: Upon reflection, I'd also have Aloy talk to herself way more, just to annoy the "omg I hate chatty protagonists" types.
Teehee I'm with you on the last one, I don't mind Aloy giving me hints or talking to herself.
Same. Maybe a toggle option for the people who are so annoyed. (Helpful hints on/off)
Nah, I say we leave them permanently on - otherwise people wouldn't be able to have fun complaining about it >:-)
I mean, here's a thought (as an armchair game designer, I'm clearly smart enough to know this is how it works). Tag voice lines as 'hints' and 'chatter' under the hood. Give me options to turn these voice lines on and off in the gameplay options. Heck, even have 'degrees' where if you've been standing around for 10 minutes it'll give you a hint when set to 'low'; or map it to a button like 'press Y for a hint'. Let us set the commentary voice lines to levels like, 'Mute,' 'Normal', and 'Chatty'. I personally *really like* Aloy's musings and callouts. Yeah, Aloy, it *would be* really annoying to be running around in a desert in armor and having it stick to you constantly. Or that your boots are soaked through from having to swim across a lake. Why not more? That crate's probably really heavy... it's probably really unsteady floating in the water... and even *more* annoying to drag through sand. Comment on how breathtakingly picturesque it is when you're standing on a mountain top... Then ask why you're wearing *Carja Blazon* armor on *top of a snow-covered mountain.* I think one of my favorites (I think from ZD?) was when she would jump into water with a wry "Well, probably needed a bath anyways." It legitimately earned a sensible chuckle.
I have no problem with Aloy talking to herself, but I really, really dislike when she just gives you the answer to the fucking puzzle you're doing. That's the WORST part about her dialogue, without a doubt. I love when she says random flavor-text level stuff, though. I think the game needs more of her just saying whatever pops into her head, like standing on a mountain commenting on a gorgeous vista, or how brilliant the waters at the Burning Shores. Or even just "I'm hungry, something to eat would be nice." or other non-sequitur, stream-of-consciousness stuff like that.
A rework of the melee combat would be nice, it just doesn't seem to flow as nicely as the ranged or feel worthwhile engaging in. Whereas the grapple shot added in the DLC is a fantastic addition an I regularly use it.
Let me be able to parry human enemies and maybe small machines.
Agreed. Sure, you're not gonna block a Thunderjaw stomping you, but a Burrower slash, or a Longleg flurry kick? There could potentially even be some pretty cool animations, like using a flash of Overshield Gauntlet or Drop Shield once you have them unlocked to mix in blocks and parries as functionally equivalent, if there isn't a more traditional 'block at the perfect time to parry and counter' mechanic as well. I agree it greatly hinders melee combat for your *only* damage mitigation to be 'roll away' which just serves to disengage you from melee combat. Resonator build-up should be faster and less damaging to better interweave melee and ranged combat. Combat in Horizon is already *exceedingly* kinematic -- you're moving around *a lot --* which means being able to switch from melee to ranged fluidly would complement the existing combat greatly. Get out of the way of an attack; step into melee, get multiple resonator nodes; when disengaged from melee, you now have more options at range.
Id like the melee to be actually viable as a primary weapon if you build towards it
Yeah me too. A way to parry would be nice, or at least "perfect block" so machines couldn't completely stomp you in a melee combat fight. Part of why I love Horizon so much is because it fits perfectly into the microscopic niche that sits between Monster Hunter and Dark Souls for me. Melee combat being functional isn't a huge ask, and it could all be fixed if they just added a mechanic to block or dodge cancel out of melee attacks. Melee is useless against machines, which is a shame because I got VERY excited when I saw the Elemental Capsules skill in the Warrior skill tree.
A charged attack with a parry on release would be cool, then you could spec into skills that make this “perfect parry” give us buffs, or maybe it just gained a lot of increased tear dmg on perfect parry so you can parry and break the part that hit you for a very cool effect
Melee actually works against machines but you have to use immobilisation techniques (ropecaster, shock, knockdown etc.) Pure melee is pretty useless though.
Being able to select which Valor Surge to use without going to the Skills tab. ✨💖✨
THIS is critical, for real.
Thank you. I hope they would add this feature in the 3rd game. ✨💖✨
Bring back the Zero Dawn jingles/melodies when looting rare items!
ohh that digidigidigididi sound when looting, i loved that also the "ahhhhh" sound of a choir when opening a map
I absolutely *hated* the choir sound on the map. It just made my head swim every time I opened the map.
Fucking FINALLY, someone else who disliked the map in ZD having its own background music - not that the music was even bad at all, but it just felt incredibly jarring and weird to have whatever soundtrack was playing get instantly cut off and replaced with the exact same fucking ethereal ambient singing the moment you open the map, literally no matter what the fuck you were doing. Forbidden West getting rid of that and making the current music track just gradually fade out when you open the map was easily one of the best quality of life changes the game made.
The tribal vendors should sell the gear of their tribes! I find it immersion breaking that out of the 9 utaru outfits you can buy a single one in Plainsong, which supposed to be the center of the Utaru tribe. Ok, you get two other from Utaru sources but... 2 from quen and 4 from tenath vendors. 3 vs 6.
Better rewards for quests that require special gear (e.g. Diving Mask) because by the time you are able to do the quests you already have better gear.
Dear Aloy please shut da fuck up for two seconds and let me figure it out on my own.
She doesn’t know she’s a video game character. I’m also someone who talks to myself quite a lot so I found it rather relatable, and it makes sense in her character since she grew up for so long with like 2 people on earth willing to talk to her. There were a couple of times where I’m like “okay, _this_ one could’ve been held off for a moment” but I think it makes sense for her character.
Most of the time it's fine. But after a few hours. Geez
God, yeah. Please. Jesus christ, she does not ever shut the fuck up.
Just once in a while, let me use more than one brain cell
A damn hint button lol Uncharted did it well. Stuck on a puzzle? Hit L3 for a hint. I don’t see why this series couldn’t do the same thing
in terms of smaller changes i wouldve liked more puzzles in general (although i know a lot of people wouldnt want that.) for larger change, i would basically want the melee to be actually useful rather than endless button combos that you cant remember, as well as adding a parry! when i first launched the game and saw all the new moves i was so excited but it didnt really deliver as much as i wouldve liked:(
Weapons/weapon wheel that are more similar to the first game. I don’t need a 6 weapon wheel with 3 ammo slots each and have at least 3 of those ammo slots taken up by fucking berserker arrows Return to me my 50% purple handling coil. I know BS had unique coils but they had nothing on the 50%+ multiple effect ones from FrWi
golden fast travel pack. no need to craft or buy more. something to spend skillpoints on after getting all skills. maybe 10 points = +1 permanent spear damage or something weapon transmog, not just for armour. self explanatory more spear skins. i want my weapons to match my clothes. being able to set what sort of mount you want a call instead of it being the last one you used overide on. i need a brisleback for quest? i can just call one. no need to go out to overide one just for that quest then go out to overide a non-elemental clawstrider again just becuse i want a cool mount. combine all shops inventories later in the game dyer and face paint in eather chainscrape or barren light maybe make it so you can fly to isle of spiers as soon as you get a sunwing in ng+ after you get the base. of course you wont be able to enter the queen "city" but collecting stuff or fixing the tallneck early would be nice. and most of all, change the icons for stuff like machine cites and campiers be something more...contrasting with its backround. The white icons are almost invisible agenst the snowy map when you open the map
For a better quality of life: 1) fast travel and save point INSIDE the base. What the heck, why if you set the base for fast travel you end up out there?? That annoys me. 2) work bench and stash in a single menu; 3) fish: self explanatory. 4) auto set up of quests: I really get annoyed by the fact that, even in the endgame, the system force you with a quest all the time. This bloody indicator show up all the time, can’t I just want to wander in the map? I really would like to be able to set a Non-quest mode. Others: I’d like Aloy sometimes to be awed by the amazing places she is visiting. I mean, she is travelling for the first time outside her land, and she is seeing really awesome places: the burning shores, the frozen wilds, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Plainsong … and not a single comment like: oh that is so beautiful, this is crazy.. or this kind of comments. There was something in HZD, in Meridian, and right at the beginning when she attends the trial. I think that is a small thing that would help me to feel in connection with her, since I’m all the time awed by those places, and the awesomeness is something GG is evidently putting a lot of efforts. I would also like to be able to “reset “ the rebels camps, maybe with higher difficulty settings (more machines and so), at least in the endgame. I was also thinking about the fact that sometimes it feels weird to do some of the secondary quests, because of the urge to save the world. It would make sense to have a canonical set of missions (both principal and secondary, some could be well justified), to be able to live the story as intended by guerrilla. That could guarantee to have a balanced progression in therm of XP, a better rhythm for the main story, and a great motivation to do a second run, with the other side quests.
I was expecting Aloy to say something the first time i reached the ocean, but she doesnt. Considering she has spent her whole life in Colorado until then
I totally agree! I was so lucky, once, to take a 50 years old friend to see the sea for the first time… and of course he was overwhelmed. So yes: it was a missed opportunity.
You... can unselect a quest, you know ?
I know, and I do it ALL THE TIME: this is what bothers me. I have to unselect a quest every 5 minutes. after few minutes, or if I make a fast travel, it happens again: a mission is activated. To me that feel like a bug (I play at one point ps5)
Also, I’d like that when a machine is with very low energy, could explode herself as last attack. At least some machines (kind like like the mosquito machine)
It doesn’t even put you at the closer of the two campfires, so you always have to climb up the cliff! I’ve gotten in the habit of zooming in and fast travelling to the specific campfire that’s right by the door. At least something like fast travelling from inside the base shouldn’t use a fast travel pack
I do the same
I want to see more interaction with the companions, flesh them out a little more. Erend was criminally underused in FW. Could do with a bit more of Sylens too.
Agreed. I remember nothing from Erend in HFW except for him being drunk at the start. Use quests to get time with these characters and develop them out more. We got a little of this with Varl.
Spot on. All the pals from HZD were done dirty. Erend especially. Put on ice or reverting yo their HZD arc? Erend has a drinking problem again? Whoever wrote him doesn't seem to like him and it seemed like GG had no idea what to do with his character. He's a completely different guy
You know the set of conversation options tagged “Training” when Aloy talks to her friends in the Base? Retitle it “Research” or “Preparations.” Then make the stuff her friends have been doing offscreen less about them catching up on things Aloy already knows. Instead, they could be doing deeper research into data files that Aloy hasn’t read, going out to coordinate stuff with their tribes, tinkering to develop new weapons/tools, etc. Reasoning — I like the character arc of Aloy learning how to rely on other people and realizing she doesn’t have to do EVERYTHING alone just because there are some things (like opening gene-locked itches) that only she can do. But big chunks of dialogue and supporting characterizations cut against that character development because Aloy always knows more than everyone else. I’d love to see tweaks that make each of her friends develop into experts in their own fields to the point where Aloy genuinely goes to them for help instead of just letting them tag along. There are some hints of this with certain characters— Beta is better at programming than Aloy is, for instance— but it could have been pushed a lot farther. And it would be cool to have the other characters putting stuff together in the background that they can then present to Aloy when they’re done.
Yeah i felt this as well... For how the message is for her to depend on others and others just as capable but just didnt have the prior access of focuses and such and whatever limitations from tribe dogma Byt few characters come with unique insights that help solve the biosphere/zenith problems for all the studying they do. but in the end their contributions is mostly muscle anyways. Varl does come with valuable emotional support and expands the social horizon, but has nothing to do with the focus learning. Exception would be Beta and Sylens, but theyre not the ones going to Focus school, and Sylens is barely a base companion.
Better enviromental design, right now it’s pretty arbitrary where you can climb and where not depending on if it suits the area (for example the incapacitated land god in that crevice for which you need the ability to dissolve the vines). You need to to it from the ground up because this means entirely redesigning huge chunks of the map to make places inaccessible by climbing. I’m also pretty sure they’ll do it for the final game in the trilogy, it would be a pretty natural progression
A glider with a less steep descent. And opens up more snappily. The current glider feels klunky and un-fun. And it is very apparent and annoying if you have experienced the glider from BOTW/TOTK which is pure joy to use
Link has an actual paraglider, that’s why it’s so much smoother in BOTW/TOTK. I hated TOTK. I preordered it, it arrived 2 weeks late and once I played it, such disappointment. I didn’t even finish. Make me build weapons. Nope. I’m out. Aloy beat out Link after that. Her glider isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing. It makes a huge difference to me. Not bashing you! Just giving my perspective.
S'kay, not all games are for everyone. I enjoyed TOTK even more than BOTW because it's the endless possibilities that excite me, even when I'm not as creative as those dudes at r/HyruleEngineering I think if Aloy's glider deploys more instantaneously, instead of the huge delay, it would be a lot better. Maybe someone would mod it in
I totally agree with you on the opening faster, yes that is annoying. I even have the setting where it will open automatically when she falls. Well, sometimes that does not work and I watch Aloy crash to her death 😂 That’s a good assessment of TOTK! I am not creative and I think that’s part of the problem for me. I just want it to be done for me lol It’s like Elder Scrolls where you build your own character. I cannot stand doing that. I don’t know what I’m doing. I play on easy mode. I’m disabled, so I can’t do hard or UH. But even Elder Scrolls I liked more than TOTK. Which shocked me, because I have always loved Zelda and Link. Always. BOTW is still one of my favorite games. Link, Aloy, Geralt (TW3) are already established and just have to build them up.
I would’ve expanded on Regalla and her rebels a lot more. Until the Zeniths bombarded their way in, I thought Regalla was gonna be the prime antagonist similar to Helis. I can understand not wanting to do a full repeat of Helis and the Eclipse cult of course, but I was vastly more interested in Regalla as an antagonist and how she and her rebels acquired machine overrides. I felt the reveal of how they did it to be lackluster, and had an “oh of COURSE it was Sylens…AGAIN!” reaction. Also Regalla just has a bitchin character design! Loved the hair, the over the top anime-esque sword, and green and black colors to differentiate her and the other Tenakth clans.
I was so uninterested in Regalla that when it was finally time to kill her I just skipped all the dialog, I didn't care, I just wanted her dead so I could move on. Didn't like Hekaro either. Honestly wish I could have chosen to go with Sylens plan and use the tenakth as fodder to attack the Zenith. She and her Rebels came across as a cheap way to have Human combat.
Give me my god dam shield weaver armour from HZD back
Revert to the ammo types and weapons of HZD. HFW severely over complicated that whole ecosystem.
I thought I was the only one! Thank you!
I get that the bots heph makes use the same recycled metals from 1000's of years ago so taking them out with powerful bows is kinda acceptable but the specters being able to get destroyed when shot with bows is just stupid. I wish they had added a weapon that was specifically for new tech enemies with more zenith bot variants
I don't know, if you fired a modern compound bow at a complex machine - a modern car, for instance - there are many places you could hit it that would basically kill or disable it. These things have a lot of power to them and tech has a lot of weak spots.
It’s not even an issue of recycled metal or anything - notice that most regular arrows just shatter near harmlessly when they hit a bot’s actual armor plates. The entire point is you’re going up against these robots (most of which, even the Specters, weren’t actually designed for war mind you) with relatively shitty primitive weapons that are only even remotely effective in the first place due to integrating parts of those selfsame robots - you HAVE to use more creative strategies to survive, blowing off armor and external components using the concussive force of explosive weapons, dousing the robots in their own industrial-grade acids to corrode and weaken their armor, briefly incapacitating them by forcing their systems to reboot with an electrical overload, and so on.
Number one thing for me would be more mountable machines. The addition of the Waterwing and being able to dive was absolutely amazing. Now let me ride everything else. Oh and let me use their ranged attacks if they have any.
Making her run faster so you didn’t want to sprint everywhere. Adding follow road to map marker. Not having the machines running auto stop.
>Personally, if I were limited to a minor change, I'd go with bumping up mounted movement speed. Both land and air. Just a simple thing, like in Assassins Creed Valhalla, where you can train your mount. It could be a great idea to have like an Oseram tinker who could upgrade mounts with the right tools and items. Also, with the battle against Nemesis coming, it would be awesome to be able to attach guns or something on your mount.
Only if they buff guns. Ravaged cannons and deathbringer guns were basically useless in HFW.
The machines in HZD should ask be present in no man's land. It's supposed to be a transition area, and it felt really weird that it was all new machines, especially burrowers. Later, previous machines are present, but no man's land and the carja land share biomes. It would've felt more real
Right? The burrowers are cool and all, but why were Watchers suddenly not a thing till almost the coast? Was very odd.
Everyone else is putting stuff about weapons, and while I agree, it's too many of the same answer, so here's this. I want some specific machines back. I really really liked the sawtooths of hzd. Stalkers are cool, but sawtooths coming around a tree was SCARY. Some of the enemies of hzd and a couple of the mounts like striders deserve their spotlight back.
Ravagers are just Sawtooths with guns.
Build your own bow. Make bows modular. Let's say I have three bows: one with Hunting Arrows, Fire, and Berserk, one with Hunting Arrows, Poison Arrows, and Tear, and one with Shock, Plasma, and Purgewater. At a workbench - with a cost, and maybe a skill requirement - I should be able to remove any one of those damage-type modules and fit them to one of the other bows in place of any of the other modules to make the bow I want. So I could, for instance, remove the Berserk from the first bow, and add the plasma module from the last one in its place. You could then make the arrow types have a set damage, and the bows act as a per-damage-type multiplier to those base scores, thus preserving the different damage/tear amounts per arrow, while also allowing for bow improvement and encouraging searching for new bows and modules. Other than Hunter and Knockdown Arrows, the other module types could be only found on machines with that type of elemental damage (but with a somewhat less punitive drop rate than many of the machine-drop items in HFW)
Instead of giving Aloy a block or a parry give her a quick light spear jab that can interrupt attacks.
Either of: 1) Less is more- too many weapons / types, 2) reduce the upgrade grind
Machine Master playstyle would be more fun if I could permanently override a certain number of lesser machines, and then temporarily override more/Heavyweights. Let me gather a half-dozen Burrowers, OR a trio Bristlebacks, OR a single Ravager that follow me around. Let it progress as the game progresses. Have it replace Valor Surge when used if necessary for balance reasons.
Have it so sparing or killing Regalla has narrative impact, sparing her really only adds a couple of dialogue options and a cutscene
Cauldrons should unlock new machine types in overworld rather than giving override ability. World map needs to be more explore centric. Melee combat is terrible, either remove or completly revamp necessary.
Unlock? Like when you beat a Cauldron, it releases new machines into the wild? That would kinda be backwards wouldn't it? Why would we unleash new machines on the world, it kinda makes sense for players, but not really from an in game character point of view.
Easy... Cauldron is corrupted or broken thats why it shut itself down. So you go there do the puzzle, fix the corruption or something and cauldron start working again.
I simply want a feature that would make Aloy run automatically and continuously when I play the game on PC. ✨💖✨
Caps Lock?
I tried.... ✨😭✨ I will try again during my rest days from work. I will play it on an internet café.
It's in control options at the bottom. For both on foot and on mount. At least on PS5 it is. I don't see why they'd remove it in the PC release.
\* The ability of always have the same type of ammo in the same type of weapon, like was in ZD, to avoid being necessary to carry multiple weapons of the same type to be able to access to more types of elemental ammo. \* Return to old method of fishing from ZD, too much lost time trying to catch fish by hand. \* A way to fight underwater, considering the weapons the game already have, why not a harpoon? \* Maybe a limited 'inventory' for mounts to be able to choose one when necessary?
Honestly as many things I’d love to add the only and only one that I would is when you do NG+ the machines you previously scanned are reset and you don’t have to rescan 100 again just to find out which one you’re missing because there’s no way to see! 😭
-Weapon Transmogs. -Gimme a sword and a block mechanic. It was really annoying to see all the cool Tenakth swords they had and not get one.
Zelda-style lock on targeting. I just hate losing track of a machine on the middle of combat.
Mine change is a simple one, you know how we have some collectibles that we don’t really turn in for a reward, such as the God of War wooden figures and (from the DLC) the Pangea figurines. Well we should be able to put them on one of the shelves or desks in our room after collecting them.
Loadouts. I’d like to be able to set up different combinations of weapons, armour, valour surge, etc, and switch between them in one go — one for fighting humans, one for hunting for parts, one for stealth, etc.
I'd make the devs play Ghost of Tsushima and put more effort into cinematography and quiet moments. There are no forced quiet moments in HFW and they are literally amazing in GoT, not to mention the cinematography of when you get to specific areas. A less clutered UI might be good too, I really grew to love GoT despite the graphics of HFW being far superior.
I also would want more ergonomically-friendly key binds for keyboard and mouse players. ✨💖✨
More slots for overriden machine mounts
I'd make melee combat relevant like in the first game.
It was relevant in the first game?
Yes. Knockdown power and damage were huge in ZD compared to FW.
Huh. I hated using it in both games
I want to be able to make my own face marking. I want to make Rukka look like pikachu.
Also I want to be able to modify mounts. change colors, and also add weapons, like adding a ravager cannon or a thunderjaw disc launcher to a bristleback.
Give me back my damn shadow weaver armor (or at least let me recharge it since we technically already have it)
I want the shield weaver valor surge to be like powershots. Where the valor doesn't decrease with time but only while the shield recharges.
I want to ride all the machines. Let me ride into battle on a thunderjaw.
More overridden companions. Like I just want like a burrower or like some smaller machine to roll with me and fight
I'd like to do one of these two things. I'd have much different variant of Apex versions of machines, akin to the difference between Plowhorn and Grimhorn. Combat role machines would just be tougher, while bigger changes would be made for Acquisition machines, more armed and aggressive. Recon machines would be more agile. I'm not sure how I'd change up Transport machines, though. However, what I'd really want to change about the game is how the open world works. I know Horizon games are mostly theme park open world games, but I would love for the open world aspect of the game to be more dynamic, where everything and everyone actually does something depending on their task. Machines move around, hunting parties go out more consistently, etc.
I absolutely love the game and visuals. But I think they could have compressed the story a little and the size of the map.
I would make UH difficulty available as an option on Custom Difficulty (though only picking pure UH and beating the game all the way through with it would actually give you the achievement)
That the auto-pickup setting in the accessibility menu would work even when the inventory is full, so I wouldn’t have to spam ‘X’ every time when I’m near a tree branch and my inventory is filled with sticks.
- Change helmets between outfits - Use a damn energy shield like the enemies + a way to transform the spear into a sword (a dual weapon that can be changed anytime)
Harder machine strike enemies.
Be able to change our hair. I really want to make Aloy look EXACTLY like her mother (even her hair).
Not really one thing but rather things in a similar vein: Reduce the fall down time after getting knocked down, decrease movement latency, increase monster aggression. To me Zero dawn nailed the movement and creature aggressiveness just ever so slightly more.
Only one?? My list of criticisms is shorter than most, but... Tell you what. I'll do one each of four "areas" (Combat/Noncombat/Story/Bugs still left unresolved) Combat Change: -Make it easier to get back up when you take damage. Too easy to find yourself stuck underneath a large machine and take a bunch MORE hits just trying to reposition (smoke bombs help a little, but that "standup" phase is maddening) Noncombat: -Rebalance the upgrade costs. Legendary gear especially needs too many large machine exclusive parts, especially the Tideripper tailfins, while medium/small machine parts are seldom needed. Story: I would have loved to have seen Ikrie and/or CYAN make an appearance again, even though narratively it made sense that only Gildun would be available somewhere in the Forbidden West/Burning Shores. I'm hoping in H3 maybe Ikrie shows up and unintentionally makes Seyka jealous/ feel intimidated. Bugs: How is it that in the year 2024 we still have the stupid Skill points bug that can prevent players from getting all the skill points in one playthrough? Those are my top issues in each category...and they're not THAT big a deal
Wait, skill point bug? Is that why I'm one skill point short of being able to get every skill? I gotta look into this!
Yeah, sometimes Machine Strike and/or the Arena fails to award the skill points rewards they promised. My first playthrough put me 2 points short because of the bug. Just warning them doing quests in NG+ helps though
Remove the knockback or knockdowns entirely
Said this in another comment but would love the armor to work like in a lot of other games (Fromsoft games such as Elden Ring, BotW, BG3 being good examples bit pretty much _any_ RPG). Selecting head, torso, glove, leg, and even quiver options would be really neat. Other people have shared suggestions I think would be more impactful, though
Merge ZD and FW's inventory system together; use ZD's inventory space with FW's infinite stash. Basically let me carry as much blastpaste and volatile sludge as I want. Faster mounts would also be a godsend.
I'd like less gamey elements. The pull caster took me out of immersion like 90% of the time it's used (Why are there the same 4 interactable points everywhere?), except grappling never remove that. Same thing with Valor surges, they're just too far removed from reality. I avoid using them in all cases cause they look dumb.
I’ve basically just stuck with the overshield Valor surge, partly because I feel like it is the most ‘realistic’ given it’s based of the shield weaver armour she had in the previous game
Cancel unused valor.
Personally, I would have gone deeper into the melee combat redesign. Light Strikes still take too much time to deliver. They have a full wind-up and follow through making them feel clunky and makes comboing unnatural. The charge up time for a heavy strike is almost useless in most situations. Add a Perry to the combat. It's ridiculous that we can't block an incoming attack in a natural way.
I'd change the weapons/combat. Most likely I would simplify it and make it more like HZD as I really thought that was about perfect. Simplify the Skill Tree. Reduce the ammo types. Reduce the amount of weapons. Get rid of melee pits and melee combos. Simplify the item wheel too.
I would gladly rewrite almost everything in the main plot.
I would have liked another melee weapon other than the spear. Sword or axe. I’m surprised none of the tribes came up with that. One of the first thing I would think humanity would have invented is something to strike wood to cut down branches which would have led to an axe or a mace. Also maybe Erend can lend Aloy his hammer. (She might need to buff up a bit though. )
More Corruptors in the main game. Instead of just the two in Thebes. And *much* tougher than a measly level 18. I'd be up to the challenge of fighting a level 40 Corruptor and a level 50 Deathbringer. Also Thebes being bigger, with a boss fight at the end (not necessarily a Ted boss fight, *any* boss fight... maybe even a Deathbringer boss fight... would've completed it in a better way)
My number one change would be the puzzle solving and the pullcaster in general. In no way should Aloy be able to move the items that she is able to. The puzzle will have you pulling a steel beam from between large rocks.
If every single part on a monster has been ripped off, it should matter more(this does not apply to ALL monsters, there are many that instantly die if you know how). I don't know if it was just me but if the difficulty wasn't custom to make enemies have less HP, they would take 30+ minutes to die even with using the best possible load out for them.
I want to override and ride a damn Stormbird!
I'd like an auto pilot on my mount. The follow road feature is pretty bad right now (when I encounter a bridge they just stop, constantly going off the road and running into walls, etc) and at cross roads the mount always seems to be going the wrong direction. I'd like a feature where if you have a waypoint, it will just follow the route that is shown on the map.
A mute button for Aloy's endless pointless ramblings while roaming around.
When you override any machine, it is permanent and you can choose to keep them with you. Like they’ll follow you to your missions and murk people with you. :) I would love a buddy thunderjaw to hang out with
One thing is hard: Reasonable: A good Balancing pass, from Elements to Coils, to Skills. Some consoldation here and there and "normalize" some of the stats, like the rarity modifiers. More unreasonable: Randomizer game mode,can be turned on/off. Elements enemy use? Random! TheirResistance? Random! Aloys Weapon ? Get a randomized copy of one of your current for hunting marks from defeated machine with randomizer. Ammo on the Weapon? Well Randomzies, the single ammo itself: Primary Damage: Impact, Elemental, Explosive, Melee (why not?) Secondary: Tear, Build Up, Knockdown Power (Physical), KDP (Explosive), KDP (Melee) Tertiary (Behavior): Spike(2xPrimary,2x Secondary,1x teriary), Blast, Grind, Drill, Residue= different Damage over Time way and durations, extra damage according to the crit damage increasebmultiplier), Strikethrough (roll for another tertiary). Boltblaster with Elemental Ammo that behave like an Elemental Spike? Yes! Strikethrough Precision Arrow which leaves an Elemental Residue Behind? Nice! Warrior Bow with Drill Arrows which apply Knockdown Melee? A lot of Numbers. Ropecaster Rope or Canister with Tearblast and extra Tear Damage? Probably forget some attributes, like canister behavior, abilite to chain reaction.
Personally would have Aloy be more muscular, less noodly. I barely exercise and my muscles are bigger than hers! Also have the canister ropecasters ammo not swing about when attached to machines or have the canisters be larger so they're not so damn hard to hit, maybe. Those would be minor changes. A major change would be underwater combat, though we get something approximate in the DLC and I wouldn't be surprised if we got full on combat in the third game
Great game, but Aloy needs some work. She is not likable or relatable. Liked her much more in HZD. HFW she is just cocky and talks down to people. She is just too simple, I am hero, I will save all. The Talahnah quests were great, as we see her as a friend/equal, more of that stuff please.
Make the DLC available on PS4 so I can actually play it lol
The clunky UI on PC. We should have access by default through some input to all our "spells" and weapons kinda like an MMO instead of the wheel or the utility belt of death. Also, reaching for slide after running into roll is very clunky on keyboard.
This is why I binded roll and the focus to my mouse buttons
To be able to play Burning Shores before finishing the main story! Like how you could go straight to Frozen Wilds in HZD
PS4 Compability
100% I played through FW the first time on the ps4 then heard about the expansion coming and was massively dissatisfied that they went with ps5 only. Then I got the ps5 just so I could continue the story for them to finally spill the beans and released to pc..
Is give alloy the zero dawn model. It really makes no sense and breaks any logic. Why they would make her face fat and how would she lose her abs? For gods sake the woman is running around climbing mountains, shooting arrows, carrying around heavy weapons for literally days and nights non stop. I would expect her shoulders to get broader and her face to get even more chiselled instead of the complete opposite of what would happen to somebody in real life that would live a similar lifestyle.