Sony Horizon Forbidden West - Information Thread, update: Digital Foundry hands-on with PC version

[Ghost_MH]

7 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I started playing this on a Dual Sense and I am not entirely sold on the experience. I dunno, but the way everyone described the haptics and adaptive triggers I expected more. More resistance in the triggers and polished and even sense of feedback around the whole controller. Whenever I step into tall grass it feels like the vibration is deep in the controller. Like a mexican jumping bean in a tin can. So the translation to my hands feels clumsy. It is more granular than standard vibration, I’ll give them that, but it hardly feels transformative. At times it feels more distracting. I don’t know but it feels weirdly selective on what gets a sensation of feedback. As though decisions were made arbitrarily to be places where haptic feedback happen. 

 

Trigger haptics in this game aren't great. If you want to really enjoy the trigger haptics on PC, Season A Letter to the Future is where it's at. I literally bought my Dualsense for that game. The feel of the bicycle pedals and camera shutter are great. The game, itself, is mostly fine. I enjoyed my time with it, but I also enjoy these kinds of weird little exploration games.

 

Otherwise, I don't particularly find the haptics on the Dualsense all that wild outside of the triggers. I find Nintendo's HD Rumble to be better, but even then you only ever really notice it in like 1 2 Switch where it feels like magic.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

14 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Trigger haptics in this game aren't great. If you want to really enjoy the trigger haptics on PC, Season A Letter to the Future is where it's at. I literally bought my Dualsense for that game. The feel of the bicycle pedals and camera shutter are great. The game, itself, is mostly fine. I enjoyed my time with it, but I also enjoy these kinds of weird little exploration games.

 

Otherwise, I don't particularly find the haptics on the Dualsense all that wild outside of the triggers. I find Nintendo's HD Rumble to be better, but even then you only ever really notice it in like 1 2 Switch where it feels like magic.

I tried using M&KB but I just wasn’t feeling it. I picked up my Xbox Elite series 2 controller and immediately felt right at home. The rumble actually felt better. Even with small, nuanced or subtle vibrations the sensation translated to my hands was better. It feels like the rumble motors on the Xbox controller are closer to the walls of the grips. It feels like Im getting vibration feedback over a larger surface are. Hard to explain maybe. The Xbox controller feels like my whole palms are being vibrated, while the dual sense feels like Im just holding onto a thing that is vibrating. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart was kind of the same way. 
 

It is enough to make me think the reason so many people were so amazed by the feedback in the dual sense, saying it “felt next gen” was because playstation controllers on the PS4 and maybe PS3 had awful rumble feedback. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Im still very much enjoying the game. And the game’s visuals continue to impress. Though there are places where RTGI and RTAO would really complete the visuals. The insides of people’s mouths when they talk seem oddly lit at times. 
 

People were right that Aloy doesn’t shut up though. So much so she’s trying to make asides about stuff or think out loud what me the player should do while talking over herself in a conversation with somebody else. 
 

I need to check and see if I can made gliding a single push rather than a hold to activate. It feels like it takes too long to activate at times. Aiming also felt better once I switched to the Xbox controller. It wasn’t bad on the dualsense. I could hit the parts I wanted to more often than not, but the tighter stick on the Xbox controller gives me more control, even at a higher sensitivity. 
 

I miss the whistle to lure enemies.  Throwing rocks is vastly inferior. It only seems to be useful if you need and enemy to just look in a different direction, but not to specifically go somewhere. 

[stepee]

I really like how this has aspect options regardless of resolution. So you can just set 32:9 and it will put in borders. I’d like to see this in more games. It’s too small on tv but on apple vision pro you get this wonderful super widescreen presentation whatever size screen you want and it looks incredible. When eventually I get a 77” for my living room I could see using 21:9 on that too when I have the option.

[stepee]

7 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Im still very much enjoying the game. And the game’s visuals continue to impress. Though there are places where RTGI and RTAO would really complete the visuals. The insides of people’s mouths when they talk seem oddly lit at times. 
 

People were right that Aloy doesn’t shut up though. So much so she’s trying to make asides about stuff or think out loud what me the player should do while talking over herself in a conversation with somebody else. 
 

I need to check and see if I can made gliding a single push rather than a hold to activate. It feels like it takes too long to activate at times. Aiming also felt better once I switched to the Xbox controller. It wasn’t bad on the dualsense. I could hit the parts I wanted to more often than not, but the tighter stick on the Xbox controller gives me more control, even at a higher sensitivity. 
 

I miss the whistle to lure enemies.  Throwing rocks is vastly inferior. It only seems to be useful if you need and enemy to just look in a different direction, but not to specifically go somewhere. 

 

I always think people are exaggerating about how much she talks, and also give some leniency because growing up an outcast it kinda makes sense she would talk to herself like that. But then I play for a bit and na it’s definitely valid that it’s freakin overkill. Like, to the point where it’s actively annoying sometimes when you are trying to fight an enemy and collect stuff and she is just fucking going ON about some pointless shit and you can’t even really hear it because of the other sound effects. They definitely need to dial it back and ideally give her a companion more often so at least it’s banter not weird self narration.

 

I also hope they add block/parry to the next one. I’ve played this game probably like 80 hours between both versions now and I still keep trying to do parry and forget that you can’t.

 

Off topic the hdr is crazy good in this game. It looks phenomenal on every display I’ve tried it on. Great highlights and contrast.

[best3444]

On 4/7/2024 at 2:54 PM, stepee said:

If you want a new deck game get Sleeping Dogs DE it’s only like $6 and you thought it looked cool before

 

Be honest. Will the visuals disgust me? 

[Greatoneshere]

I never had a problem with Aloy talking too much myself, but it seems for you guys the patch that lessened her talking wasn't enough.

 

Horizon Forbidden West update makes Aloy talk less, fixes lots of bugs too - Gamepur

WWW.GAMEPUR.COM

---

We get it, you have a stash.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

14 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

I never had a problem with Aloy talking too much myself, but it seems for you guys the patch that lessened her talking wasn't enough.

 

You're married so you're probably used to much more talking.

 

[best3444]

Wtf a patch to shut up Aloy! Now that is badass. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

 

Be honest. Will the visuals disgust me? 

 

Sleeping Dogs DE is a made for ps4 era port so it still looks pretty good. Bump the details and run it at 90fps and it still looks good for a handheld.

[best3444]

33 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

Sleeping Dogs DE is a made for ps4 era port so it still looks pretty good. Bump the details and run it at 90fps and it still looks good for a handheld.

 

Thank you for responding but I'm knee deep in Alan Wake 2 as I type this and I am so glad I gave this game as many chances as I did. I'm really advancing things and about 15 hours in now. Shit is getting wild and it's so interesting. I can definitely see why this was up for so many game of the year awards. 

[stepee]

Really enjoying the Burning Shores campaign, though I loved the main game so not super surprising. The story is good though and I really like Seyka, definitely my favorite companion so far. And the location is probably the best for exploration with lots of hidden depth in the islands. The amusement island in particular was great. 

 

I didn’t realize you get to

fly the waterwing which is sweet af being able to dive down into the water

, good stuff.

 

I’ll probably finish it tomorrow as i’m on the last mission but I’ll have lots of side quests from the main campaign open for whenever I want to dip back to some robo dino’s.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

On 4/10/2024 at 1:13 PM, best3444 said:

Wtf a patch to shut up Aloy! Now that is badass. 

Not really. That article and I guess associated patch are from 2022. So we already have the “less chatty” Aloy. lol 

[best3444]

@stepee Is it possible to just play the Burning Shores content? I never beat that and I have an itch to play this again. I do not want to go through the story again though. 

[stepee]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

@stepee Is it possible to just play the Burning Shores content? I never beat that and I have an itch to play this again. I do not want to go through the story again though. 

 

Nope! You need a saved game with the main campaign beaten. Also it wants you to be pretty high level so if you rush through the story you’ll have a hard time.

 

I downloaded a save so I didn’t have to do the story again and did side quests I didn’t do the first run to level up and that worked pretty well. Sony needs to let you transfer saves from ps5 versions to pc versions though. 

[best3444]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

Nope! You need a saved game with the main campaign beaten. Also it wants you to be pretty high level so if you rush through the story you’ll have a hard time.

 

I downloaded a save so I didn’t have to do the story again and did side quests I didn’t do the first run to level up and that worked pretty well. Sony needs to let you transfer saves from ps5 versions to pc versions though. 

 

Wow. Maybe I still have my save when I beat it. 

[Ghost_MH]

8 minutes ago, stepee said:

Nope! You need a saved game with the main campaign beaten. Also it wants you to be pretty high level so if you rush through the story you’ll have a hard time.

 

I downloaded a save so I didn’t have to do the story again and did side quests I didn’t do the first run to level up and that worked pretty well. Sony needs to let you transfer saves from ps5 versions to pc versions though. 

 

What is high level in this game? I'm at level 45 at the beginning of the Gemini main mission.

[best3444]

11 minutes ago, stepee said:

Also it wants you to be pretty high level so if you rush through the story you’ll have a hard time.

 

Easy mode my friend 

[stepee]

11 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

What is high level in this game? I'm at level 45 at the beginning of the Gemini main mission.

 

That is fine - it wants you to be level 41 to start it.

 

 

[stepee]

12 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Easy mode my friend 

 

The problem with that is if you do a straight story run like the guy who did my save did, in about 17 hours, you are like 20 levels behind. So any of the BS content, those dinosaurs just take too damn long to kill even if you don’t get killed yourself, it doesn’t work well.

 

You have to do story mode to take down an enemy 20 levels up in any reasonable time but then story mode is too lenient with the damage you take to where it’s almost like playing with invincibility so that doesn’t work well either and you wouldn’t want to play the new content like that.

[best3444]

7 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

The problem with that is if you do a straight story run like the guy who did my save did, in about 17 hours, you are like 20 levels behind. So any of the BS content, those dinosaurs just take too damn long to kill even if you don’t get killed yourself, it doesn’t work well.

 

You have to do story mode to take down an enemy 20 levels up in any reasonable time but then story mode is too lenient with the damage you take to where it’s almost like playing with invincibility so that doesn’t work well either and you wouldn’t want to play the new content like that.

 

[legend]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

 

The problem with that is if you do a straight story run like the guy who did my save did, in about 17 hours, you are like 20 levels behind. So any of the BS content, those dinosaurs just take too damn long to kill even if you don’t get killed yourself, it doesn’t work well.

 

You have to do story mode to take down an enemy 20 levels up in any reasonable time but then story mode is too lenient with the damage you take to where it’s almost like playing with invincibility so that doesn’t work well either and you wouldn’t want to play the new content like that.

 

Yeah I'll second that difficulty is important. There are some really cool things you can do in Horizon's combat, but if the game is too easy, you'll never be motivated to find them and it will all feel boring as hell. Instead you're just going to shoot things with your hunter bow endlessly and wonder why anyone likes the game.

[legend]

For example, some fun stuff in this video that you'd never do if you play on too easy of a difficulty and miss the fun. (Sorry, the video is hosted on twitter, so I'm breaking the rule)

 

 

[stepee]

17 minutes ago, legend said:

For example, some fun stuff in this video that you'd never do if you play on too easy of a difficulty and miss the fun. (Sorry, the video is hosted on twitter, so I'm breaking the rule)

 

 

 

Yeah that looks about right! Though for me even on easy I’m playing like that still - it’s really story mode where it totally busts the game (or I’m sure easy for more skilled players)

[stepee]

okay yeah that is definitely a GOAT final boss - willllld

[legend]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

 

Yeah that looks about right! Though for me even on easy I’m playing like that still - it’s really story mode where it totally busts the game (or I’m sure easy for more skilled players)

 

Haha well glad you're still pushing yourself even on easy! For me the most fun is when I find a strategy and combination of moves and suddenly what wasn't easy, is now easy  Without some push of difficulty, the victory of finding something badass just isn't as sweet.

 

Incidentally, this was also part of my problem with FF16. It didn't really push me to do cool fighting. I kind of forced myself to do more because it just was just too boring otherwise, but it never felt as good as when being a bad ass was a requisite.

[best3444]

I played on normal difficulty on my first playthrough and struggled greatly. I suck so bad at games these days. 

 

Like stepee said, when I played on easy I still experimented with all combat options. I just didn't use my one bow the entire game. 

 

I remember the final boss in the campaign being extremely difficult. 

[stepee]

4 minutes ago, legend said:

 

Haha well glad you're still pushing yourself even on easy! For me the most fun is when I find a strategy and combination of moves and suddenly what wasn't easy, is now easy  Without some push of difficulty, the victory of finding something badass just isn't as sweet.

 

Incidentally, this was also part of my problem with FF16. It didn't really push me to do cool fighting. I kind of forced myself to do more because it just was just too boring otherwise, but it never felt as good as when being a bad ass was a requisite.

 

I find it challenging even on easy as the AI is quite good in this game and VERY aggressive.

[legend]

Well if you find yourself experimenting with the system then maybe that will be okay! But just make sure you don't go so low that you don't need to do that anymore. I remember trying story mode at one point and I was just blowing shit up way too easily with a regular hunter bow. Maybe easy strikes a good enough balance. (I often check difficulty in case my wife might be interested who usually, though not always, plays games on easier modes)

[best3444]

16 minutes ago, legend said:

Well if you find yourself experimenting with the system then maybe that will be okay! But just make sure you don't go so low that you don't need to do that anymore. I remember trying story mode at one point and I was just blowing shit up way too easily with a regular hunter bow. Maybe easy strikes a good enough balance. (I often check difficulty in case my wife might be interested who usually, though not always, plays games on easier modes)

 

Easy I was still dying lol. Now story mode, you're invincible. 

[best3444]

Well I don't have a save file that will allow me to play Burning Shores. I've decided to play through this again to experience the dlc.

 

I'll keep in mind that I should be a level 40 or so by the end game for Burning Shores. But I'm definitely not doing many side quests. 

[stepee]

Just now, best3444 said:

Well I don't have a save file that will allow me to play Burning Shores. I've decided to play through this again to experience the dlc.

 

I'll keep in mind that I should be a level 40 or so by the end game for Burning Shores. But I'm definitely not doing many side quests. 

 

Do you not have one that is at least far along?

[best3444]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Do you not have one that is at least far along?

 

Yea, it's about 9 hours in. I'm debating starting there or just start over because I'm mentally ill. 

[stepee]

Just now, best3444 said:

 

Yea, it's about 9 hours in. I'm debating starting there or just start over because I'm mentally ill. 

 

Start there imo as the opening is SLOW

[best3444]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Start there imo as the opening is SLOW

 

Lol I know all about this game. My journey with it began on PS4 and me trying to beat it like 15 times then giving up. I remember everything really well so yea, I'm not starting over.