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[MayImilae]

With the 1.09 patch, Horizon Zero Dawn's biggest bugs are all fixed, and I've picked up the game again! And wow, they fixed -so many bugs-. There are still a few, but no big ones. Like, Frame pacing is correct now, HDR is working correctly, grass reacts to aloy, all animations are 60fps, the weird jumps after a camera cut are fixed, shader compilation is now live rather than all at the start, a bazillion crashes are fixed, just, wow, this game is tremendously better than it was when it first released on PC! I'm very glad I waited to play it.

Now that I'm playing it again, I'm changing things up and playing it on Very Hard. And much to my surprise, it's designed SUPER well. "Hard" in video games so commonly means "bullet sponges" (ugh), the game being an ass toward the player, or even taking away or making extremely difficult basic functionality like saving. All if those suck. But this game does hard difficulty really well. It boosts armour of the enemies, and cranks their damage to you WAAAY up, aand yet, I can still OHKO many enemies by hitting their weak points, and stuns and other effects work the same way. Due to their tough armour and NASTY damage, it pushes me to fully utilize the extents of the mechanics. Like, if I dodge a Sawtooth and pop it a few times and repeat, it's going to take forever, and two hits from he Sawtooth is all it takes to kill me! So just dancing around and popping it is no longer a good strategy. Instead, I need to take out its armor, then freeze it, and stun it, and pop its blaze canister, on and no. It makes the really awesome mechanics it has useful. And it feels sooooo great to play. It mates very well with the steam controller, which lets me do very precise aiming without aim assist while playing on our HDR TV. Very nice!

So yeaa, Very Hard, native 4k, max settings on everything, HDR on our Q9FN, and mouse control without aim assist on my steam controller. I'm adoring this playthrough! It's still a great game, but now even better than it was back on our PS4 Pro!

[KHg8m3r]

Stop making me want to replay Horizon Zero Dawn. I already beat it on PS4 Pro and got all the Suns

[Shonumi]

Hopefully Cyberpunk 2077 will be as polished as HZD in 4-6 months (sooner is better ofc). So glad I side-stepped the PS4 version of CP'77 and went PC. I really like how Guerilla Games stuck to making HZD better instead of letting it just be another "okay-ish" PC port. Impressive that they did the port, kept improving it, and are busy making the sequel.

I'm on my 2nd playthrough on PC. Still need to beat the game on Ultra Hard Mode. Shield Weaver outfit + maxed out Adept weapons evens out the difficulty. Adept War Bow maxed out for Freeze + Adept Hunter Bow maxed out for Attack makes short work of Thunderjaws (easy < 20 second kill). Banuk Werak Chieftain outfit is nice to never have to worry about recovering health. Last time I played, I was at 28 for Ghost Levels, so... 2.8 million xp... Yeah, I play this game a lot...

[DrHouse64]

CP2077 and HZD have completely different problems tho

I took FFVII on Switch since I still have to play this classic. Backgrounds are very blurry but since since I already spent 10 hours on it, I'll finish it on Switch. I tried the Playstation version with native resolution and the CRT Royale shader, it looks way better than any of the ports, that's frustrating. But the x3 speed and disable random battles options on Switch are great.

[Shonumi]

(12-23-2020, 09:26 PM)DrHouse64 Wrote: CP2077 and HZD have completely different problems tho

Every game has different problems, but I'm specifically talking about various glitches and rough edges the games exhibited. Both had a less than stellar launch and had their fair share of bugs and performance issues on Day 1. Today, HZD is one slick game to play, and hopefully CP'77 will get that same level of polish. Right now, it's genuinely fun to play... as long as you ignore the glitches (or enjoy them and make as many memes as you want).

Although, if you're referring to several of the problematic gameplay elements (teleporting/spawning cops, the lack of side-quests that connect to the main quests, lack of depth/approaches to certain quests, lack of interaction with V) that's something that needs to be addressed long-term by CDPR. Those issues are indeed very different from HZD's PC problems, largely because HZD was pretty much a "complete" game in terms of design and execution when they ported it. CP'77, on the other hand feels like it needs some DLC/Expansion Pack to make up for some of the lackluster stuff.

[Admentus]

(12-24-2020, 09:40 AM)Shonumi Wrote: Every game has different problems

The difference is that Horizon: Zero Dawn is actually fun to play from start to finish, while Cyberpunk 2077... Well... Let's say that's it does nothing new we haven't seen in the past decade already. It seems all to empty and pointless, unlike Horizon. And that's on top of the numerous issues the game is already facing. Even the shooting itself, getting around the city and trying in any other way to engage with the game just seems so lifeless. Then again, what do I really know about it. I didn't buy it, so I didn't play it. But that's for a reason ya know, you wouldn't want to buy something that doesn't appeal at all .

Somehow I doubt a bit of additional polishing and getting rid of all the bugs plaguing the game will suddenly turn it into a fun masterpiece. Cyberpunk 2077 was waaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooo overhyped. No thanks.

Oddly enough I felt more interested for the next Trails of Cold Steel title, some JRPG probably no one ever heard of than this AAA-mega-budget-hyper-realistic title.

Keep in mind that I found their previous major release: The Witcher 3, to be an absolute masterpiece. But this release from CD Projekt RED didn't convince me to get it at all. And honestly, I saw this backfiring on them waaaaaay before it's release.

[MayImilae]

Hehe. I ran into a bug in the Spurflints Hunting Ground that I ran into on the PS4 version. Sliding down the rails, then after landing, jumping up has Aloy like, jittering in the air as she jumps. I wish I recorded it, but I was playing in HDR and that's a pain to record in atm so, no footage. But yea, it's super weird! Fortunately it doesn't impact gameplay. But the OTHER bug I ran into at Spurflints did, where for whatever reason the game thought I was mashing a gamepad and so it killed the mouse and keyboard controls, only to turn it back on when i sent a keyboard or mouse button press only to immediately disable them again. I didn't have a gamepad connected at all, I am using a Steam Controller configured entirely in Keyboard and Mouse mode due to the whole turning off input for K&M if gamepad input is detected and vice versa issue. Super weird bug! And yes it wasn't from my Steam Controller - it happened even with on the actual keyboard and mouse. But yea, super weird bug! My setup has been completely fine for over 40 hours of gameplay, but in that one spot when the jittering jumping is happening, the controls bug sometimes occurs. Oh Horizon. I'm not even mad about it, I got through it and it was just kind of funny!

However, the stealth hunting trials are still rubbish. You need time to lay traps and do setup and sneak around! But to get a a blazing suns you have a minute to finish it. Uuuggghhhh. Sure sure, I did it, and I didn't even drop it from Very Hard. I just had to more or less ignore stealth and blast to the finish. I'm still disappointed about this even from my first playthrough on our PS4. Shame, I'd have loved a hunting trial that revolves around stealth.

[Shonumi]

I guess I find CP'77 pretty fun because I made a point to avoid the hype. Only trailers or screenshots I saw were from the Steam page, and I didn't check that until launch day when I started pre-loading it. No sense in suspense, you know?

So far, I think it's geared more towards being a shooter RPG, which is cool with me. Even though my build was intended to emphasize hacking/stealth, it just ended up being more fun to start blasting enemies. The intense firefights in particular really stand out if you go full assault. You're always outnumbered and outgunned, but you can use the environment and so many different weapons to gain an advantage.

Guess it doesn't take much to please me. Just want a decent shooter with a bunch of neat toys and tricks, so CP'77 checks all those boxes. My biggest gripe with the combat so far is that enemies that are way above your level are too OP, so much that they ignore your character's stats. I've had like 1000+ for my armor since level 20, but some enemies would one-shot kill me. I turn level 30, marginally better armor, and suddenly I'm unstoppable. Umm... what?

Anyway, the point I was trying to make that seems to have gotten lost is that CP'77 has a lot of bugs and rough spots. I still see models T Posing even after the latest hotfix. I just want CPDR to show the same level of dedication and care that Guerilla Games gave HZD. They continually improved HZD instead of leaving it as yet another console-to-PC port with caveats attached. Regardless the merits of CP'77 as a game, I just wish NPCs would stop vanishing, cars models would stop clipping into each other, and items would stop falling under environment objects and becoming unobtainable. It's not about making it a masterpiece, just making sure it's something that works smoothly.

Admentus Wrote:But that's for a reason ya know, you wouldn't want to buy something that doesn't appeal at all

Speaking of appeal, I actually can't find myself ever playing The Witcher 3. I've heard nothing but good things from it. I just don't find WRPGs or Western style RPGs set in a "Swords and Magic" kind of world all that interesting. You could throw all the Dragon Ages, Demon/Dark Souls, Elder Scrolls, Skyrims, and Fables you want at me, none of them stick, Witcher 3 included. Nothing at all against any one of those games, I just can't get sucked into the worlds they create.

I should post some of the odd yet funny HZD bugs I've come across that I managed to record. Got a "killer" rabbit, some bushes that change height, and a really weird one where some towns (like Lone Light) are completely empty with no NPCs.

[ExtremeDude2]

Happy New Year, this also marks 10 years on the forums for me XD. I tried to make it to the top poster before then, but I guess 2nd place will have to do for now

[DrHouse64]

Happy new year everyone !