#HFW details and stuff

[mistress-light]

Horizon Forbidden West PC • (dev Guerrilla Games)

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizontober 2023 | 16: new

[artekai]

Two guys committing identity theft, what will they do

[fogsblue]

hfw photomode  

[foibles-fables]

'and your points make salient sense re: the potential for romance choice'

but how can guerrila do it?

I'm assuming this is relating to my tags on a "romance choice in Horizon" post--I've posted about it myself at length before, so I won't go into too much detail here, but here's how:

while Aloy is not a blank slate character, her arc can be carried through in the same way through a romance with any host of characters, not just one

while we know your choices in Horizon don't affect the overall narrative (like the big choices in ME or DA or BG3), romance isn't in and of itself a narrative-altering choice. It might alter a side quest and a few cutscenes--exactly like the Desert Clan commander quest in HFW, so there's already precedent

GG wanted to do it in HZD but (rightly!) decided it wasn't the right time--and now clearly it is. Aloy's clearly grown in her arc, and now the devs can bring their initial ideas forward into her culminating game.

The way to do it is the same as you see it in other games. Keep the choice pool small (4 max). Conversation options and choice points, culminating in a romance scene. (much like we saw in HBS itself, fwiw.) We're talking a handful of varied dialogue and cutscenes--not worldstate-changing stuff like "cure the Genophage or don't" or "side with the Mages or the Templars." It'd be a simple mechanic to add to Aloy's story and a way to increase the player's immersion. Horizon isn't a full-on RPG, but it also isn't a linear game. It exists in a central space in which romance options still completely fit. GG is amazing at writing and changing details based on what order you do quests in, so why not this?

Hope that answers a little bit for you!!!

[focusontheheart]

OH MY GOD!!! The game is AMAZING!!! I can't believe the detail, skill, and love that went into this game and I've only finished one play through so far (Talanah - and the writing for it was so, so good!!) <3

Can't wait to play through the others, but wanted to drop in some complements before the rest of the day vanished off with Aloy's love life lmaooo. It is SUCH a good continuation from HFW thanks to ALL the creators who must've put a monumental amount of work into such a wonderful game <3 <3 <3

We're so happy that you're having a wonderful time!! It is so good to see that you're all enjoying the little details that came together to make our game what it is -- we're very proud of all the hard work that the team put in! 🥰

It's so wonderful to hear that you'll be exploring the other routes! Please do keep using our #FOTHreact and #FOTH[character] tags as you play, it's very exciting stuff for us to see what you think!!

Thank you so so much for the love and compliments, and happy playing on the other routes!! 💘

[aloy-the-desert-flame]

So I promised y'all some pics from Chainscrape and even though personally I'm not much of a children person, OMG DON'T THEY JUST LOOK CUTE.

This brave lil' guy, helping around the forge.

This young lady with her wildboar/bristleback toy (my bet is on the second):

You can ride this!

One of these days Aloy's going to find a big one to ride herself.

[aloy-the-desert-flame]

Awesome summary!

The Foods of the Forbidden West

The discord was talking about worldbuilding, as per usual, and we were trying to figure out what the people in Horizon eat/grow. So, armed with the encouragement and companionship of @elsodex, I set out to every major settlement to take pictures of their food and crops. Warning: this is gonna be a long one.

First up on our culinary quest: the Tenakth! And the first of them is the Lowland clan. Let's see the food of Thornmarsh.

(For every image we look at, we'll start at the top left, move our way down, then go to the next column.)

On the top left there's a basket of artichoke (the only one I found) next to a basket full of fruits. I can't be 100% sure, but I believe the purple/blue fruits are plums, and the red and yellow fruits are apples and pears.

Next image. Left basket has dragon fruit and.. well the other fruit I'm finding difficult to place. At first I thought it was a durian, but looking at images it definitely isn't. The closest fruit I could find was the kiwano, but it looks as though the colors of the rind and the flesh were swapped. The basket in front of it also has the kiwano, as well as... okay I talked to several people about this and we couldn't figure it out. Honestly I think it might be a grub of some kind. Or really large mandarin orange slices? There's a better picture coming up. The basket on the right has the same miscellaneous fruits as before (here it's easier to see the pear), with an addition of onions.

Below that we have our meats and veggies. A basket of radishes, a basket of turnips and carrots, baskets of seagulls (the only unplucked bird we'll see), a basket of fish, and a container of what seems to be nakati, which is a type of eggplant.

on the top right we have a medley of foods, most of which we've seen already. We have nakati, multiple kinds of radishes, fish, dragon fruit, kiwano, and the new addition of bell peppers in the basket on the right. (spoiler alert, we're gonna see kiwano and dragon fruit a lot.)

Up next is the Sky clan, lets see what food they have at The Bulwark:

Alright so, top left we have some hanging foods, garlic, fish, onions, and what I believe are oranges?

both pictures below are boars, the skyclan is the only place I saw these, though it's possible I missed something.

The whole middle column is meat, with the hanging meat likely being boar, and the bottom being some bird (likely goose), and possibly sides of salmon?

Top right we have more boar and birds, as well as a crate of eggs below them. (I'm struggling to place them, they are speckled and many different colors, which neither geese nor ducks lay, but chickens do not exist.) Next we have sausage, more meats, oranges again, kiwano, dragon fruits, and now tomatoes join the fray.

We have all the same foods found in Thornmarsh here, bell peppers, radishes, kiwano, onions, and dragon fruit.

Next up we have kiwano, df, and yes, believe your eyes, those are coconuts. Don't ask me how the only place I found coconuts was in the sky clan, I'm just as confused as you are. Under the table is some already shucked corn.

The final Tenakth clan is the desert clan, and well, they have some interesting things going on in Scalding Spear.

We've got our usual contenders in these crates, dragon fruit, kiwano, and nakati.

Next we have some racks of ribs, and a coil of sausages I originally mistook for a giant cinnamon bun.

next we have onions, eggplants, plums, pears, apples, corn, and green and red varieties of romaine lettuce.

Back up at the top we have the beginning of an interesting trend: "skewering foods and placing them near a fire". Do I even have to tell you what's in the top pic? say it with me now: dragon fruit and kiwano. there's also some meat that was absolutely not spiked on that wood.

next we have Dragon fruit and kiwano again, this time with bell peppers to shake things up.

At the bottom we have various small sausages and cuts of meat, sitting way too far from that fire to be getting any benefit from it. This level of meat preservation might explain every quest that's in the desert clan.

Now hold on! We're not leaving Scalding Spear yet. You may have noticed the bamboo being used to build the fire pits in the last image. Now you, dear reader, may be wondering where the hell you find bamboo in the middle of a desert. Well the answer is in Yarra's Personal Stash of Shit. (Or Drakka's, I guess, if you kill her. Does he automatically get her stuff? idk.)

On the left is potted bamboo. There were actually a few of these around her area. There's a few other plants as well, it's interesting that she chooses to cultivate these plants despite the clan's constant need of water. (Additionally, if that bamboo really is cultivated, then it is the only example of farming I've found in the Tenakth.)

On the right is what must be Yarra's pantry. we have an unknown spice in a dish on the left. Kiwano in the middle. The hanging fruits are probably mangoes, the green just looks blue because of the lighting. And other that we have those orange things again. I don't know maybe they're circus peanuts.

Next stop: Plainsong, both the foods and the planted crops.

Alright, you know the drill, top left is radishes, turnips, carrots, and a two new vegetables: salsify (the black one), and parsnips (the white one).

Under that we have a basket of the same, next to what I believe is a bowl of uncooked rice (though it could be another grain).

Next up we have a colorful collection of veggies. Parsnips, carrots, radishes, eggplants, peppers, romaine lettuce, rice, and scallions (though the leaves aren't correct so it might be something else).

We have rice soaking before it's being cooked (this is done to enhance the flavor and shorten the cooking time).

Then we have some beautiful honeycomb. (Mead, anyone?)

Then we have a nice array of dishes, I'm not going to try to figure out what they all are, but we have: a single baked sweet potato, various bowls of rice, and what seems to be various versions of a dish similar to lau lau. (Though lau lau is made with meat, so I'm not sure what they're using, probably something starchy such as the sweet potato.)

Finally we have some more root vegetables, along with some bamboo. (Waiting to be incorporated into plainsong? To be made into dishes? Exporting to Scalding Spear? Who knows.)

Now for the crops of Plainsong:

All of these are fairly simple. Up first we have some kind of bean plant, not certain on the variety.

Then we have either bananas or plantains, I'm leaning towards the former.

Then we have sugarcane, older and younger fields respectively.

And I wouldn't know the other if it weren't for these nice ladies, who are harvesting turnips.

Our final cuisine is that of the Oseram tribe. These include pictures from Barren Light, Chainscrape, and Hidden Ember, in that order. (Barren Light did not have Carja food as far as I could tell, at least not visually. The chef was Oseram and her wares were the same as the other two settlements.)

Okay first up we have an obscene amount of onions, corn, more onions, and.. Okay I really don't know what that is. It was grilled, I can tell you that much. If it's a meat, it's a bird, maybe a turkey patty.

Next we have a pile of sweet potatoes and some kind of flat bread. Somewhere along the lines of pita and naan (fingers crossed for naan).

At the bottom we have a bunch of sausages and some birds.

Chainscrape has this sick meat rack. It has whole boars, sausages, and two types of birds (it seems the ones at the top are turkeys, meaning the rest of the birds we've seen are likely geese). At the top right is more sausage and some pretzels. (I want to see the hook they use to get those down.)

Over at Hidden Ember we have more sweet potatoes and bread.

Radishes and sausage.

A bowl of onions and a leg of Boar.

But no exploration of Oseram food would be complete without discussing ale. Here's a lovely distillery found in Hidden Ember, along with other ale-related things.

Here we have a very proud man and his distillery (He's the herbalist at Hidden Ember if you want to see him.), kegs that were lifted to the third floor via a crane or pulley system, and some nice tankards.

And that's the food of the West! I didn't go to every settlement, so I might have missed something, though I should have gotten the broad gist of things. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed- wait, what's that? I forgot something? The- THE QUEN?!? Oh no, you're right.. well, I'll leave that for another time.

[hzdtrees]

To the hunt

[ramblingcj]

OK, there are a few things that bug me about HFW, though they're mostly nit-picking. But I like to ramble so...

- Why were most of the female characters you meet in Zero Dawn sidelined in favor of Erend and Varl? Like Petra and Talanah? Just like the guys, they were there for the battle of Meridian and, frankly, have as much content if not more than the guys. Erend especially seemed to be there just because. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy but he felt really underutilized. 

- Where was Ikrie? Or those three Banuk you meet who want to head for the Sundom? Or Inatut? Aratak? Or any other NPC you meet in Zero Dawn? Again, why was Petra and Talanah sidelined like that?

- Also what the fck is Erend doing in Las Vegas? Oh, they're trying to get allies so he goes to a random location instead of back to the Claim or the Sundom? Back to Meridian? The excuse is that they will “spread the message”. First, someone has to go back to Meridian and let everyone know that its safe to travel into the west in the first place before any messages can be spread to people back home. Again, what the fck is Erend doing in Las Vegas? If it was just for endgame purposes, they could've put him back in the settlement where Petra is. Now it just seems like the dude went to have fun rather than actually doing something useful. Which was a character flaw of his that he overcame in Zero Dawn btw...

- Why couldn’t Aloy fix the damn shieldwing? Seemed out-of-character for her to be running around with some busted equipment that she could easily fix. 

- This is something that irritates me in every single game that has this mechanic. If I have to hunt animals to get skin or bone to use as an upgrade, I shouldn't have to fcking hunt 50 of them to get that skin or bone! Pretty sure every single animal has those things! Upgrading is already a chore, don't make it worse!

- Both Zero Dawn and Forbidden West excel in small moments of storytelling. Some of the best scenes are the ones where the past and the present blend. The black boxes were great if a bit annoying to get to at times. The scene with the message from Faraday was one of my favorites. However, there's too much filler in the map. The greenshine or the metal flowers were just kinda there. Would be cool if there was a mini-story attached to it like with the black boxes. Flesh out the world more since it has such interesting lore.

Random stuff:

- I know Aloy will mention CYAN at some point and it would be really cool if the DLC involved CYAN somehow. Like CYAN had to deal with Hephaestus so it would be cool if recapturing Hephaestus meant recruiting CYAN’s help. 

- I like how Aloy has gotten more and more comfortable with touch. To the point where she even mirrors it. One example is in the end when Erend puts his arm around her and pulls her towards him, she just kinda goes with it (because it's Erend and he's one of her closest friends). She then later mirrors that gesture by doing the same thing to Beta while talking to GAIA. Zero Dawn had hints of that as well. People would put their hand on Aloy's shoulder and she would start doing it to others (most noticeable in Frozen Wilds). It's a subtle detail, but a nice one.

- Aloy talking to herself. Some people seemed to find that annoying, but I didn't. This is a young woman who grew up with a man who wasn't the most talkative and is used to being by herself. Of course she talks to herself!

[valaloy]

HFW: Full playthrough notes and thoughts

Hi everyone, this is my day by day notes/thoughts/speculation/diary for HFW! I’ve already finished the game now (81 hours playtime) but I took notes throughout and I’m going to post here for each day that I played. Since I’ve finished now, there are some post-game thoughts scattered throughout, so please only read if you’re comfortable with spoilers!

DAY 1

Varl! I was so nervous that we wouldn’t see him again or that he wouldn’t be a big influence on the game, but to have him in the tutorial and have Aloy teaching him as the tutorial is soooo cute I love them so much, though I DO think that Varl needs a shave. Like adding this in when I’m finished but he didn’t have a beard the rest of the game, so why did they put him with one in the beginning lmao? Was it literally just that meme like ‘he had a beard to show that time had passed’ because that is hilarious if so.

Omgomgomgomgomgomg water???? I literally didn’t progress the quest and just played in the water and looked at the waterfall for soo long like one minute into the game and I’m staring at all the intricate details, and I’m playing on ps4!! I’m so jealous of the ps5 people and what they must be experiencing, but I’m going to take my water and be happy about it because it simply looks AWESOME

The default settings/controls – yeah I changed them all immediately. The pulse thing with the focus? Annoying as hell, but thankfully there’s an option to switch the full focus mode to R3 and change the pulse to holding R3 so that’s what I did. I also turned on all of the climbing/interactive points permanently because hell no was I going to try and go through the game without that. Though why are there so many rocks???? And plants that aren’t belonging to healing berries like what are those for. I hope that they lessen the amount of rocks in a future patch haha. It’s also weird that they flipped a few of the controls – I also restored them to HZD defaults because 1) I’m definitely used to those and 2) they’re definitely better?? Some weird UI choices going on already. Added note post-game: yeah the rocks were the worst, and I’m sad they only had one type of healing berry. One of the BEST minor worldbuildling things about HZD was that each region had it’s own healing plants, that was so cool!! But idk, they just simplified things with the addition of the cooking plants to not confuse people I guess… kinda lame as I literally Never used the cooking mechanic outside of the initial quest that gives it to you.

Okay as much as I’m loving Varl being here and all his commentary and learning and doing stuff with the focus is awesome and exactly what I wanted from him, I’m kinda bitter because Varl could be Vala… I understand this is a me thing but I’m still like sad about it LOL

Still learning the controls – they’re so clunky at the moment but I can tell how smooth it’s going to be when I learn the game. Same thing happened for HZD and this is probs my fault for not replaying HZD before HFW. Post-game note: definitely got easier throughout, though there are several control issues that I took note of. Turning/going backwards/fine control while gliding was near impossible, and some of the climbing puzzles were ??? VERY unintuitive to jump from one place to another. A lot of times I had to use O to disengage from a climb while on the side of a fucking 100m tall building in order to leap out to the next point and hope that Aloy reconnected with it and held on because she wouldn’t make the jump in sequence which was… weird. I’m putting it down the general amount of bugs that I encountered over the game, but yeah little things like that really did break the immersion. Also on the sharpshot bow (my preferred bow) it killed me that they made reloading and shooting speed different so I needed to buff both to use it as my every encounter bow. Handling being one stat in HZD was good, but I had to use all my slots on 25% reloading/shooting perks to try and get it down to something usable, and even then the reload speed on the tear arrows was fucking abysmal… not great to use during a fight! It’s strange because the tear arrows are the biggest source of tear in the game and yet they made it so slow, I wonder if they wanted them to be an opening shot for an encounter only instead of me using them to rip off a majority of a machine’s armour before going in with the precision arrows…

The snake was an interesting first boss! I was kind of pissed off that my arrows were so piddly though, literally out here doing ZERO damage, I can’t imagine what an ultra hard version of this fight would look like (especially if you haven’t flipped the controls for the focus???). Post-game note: yeah my issue with gear continues throughout the game unfortunately and coming back to these notes I can’t believe that I literally picked up on it about 1 hour into the game…

Okay interesting that we go back to Meridian! Or at least the spire, this seems like a very closed off area. I actually was expecting to have a bit of overlap of map between HZD and HFW but thinking about it now it doesn’t really make sense to do that, but they did have to have Aloy come back so we can get the plot moving. Interesting that they have two closed off areas for the start of the game – the tutorial area with Varl and then the Spire.

I can’t believe Avad is back god poor Aloy has to withstand him yet again… I can’t believe he saw her and full on started with the gross behaviour like ‘oh you ran away before I could entrap you as my gf’ YIKES!!!! Like I know some people like him but uh his actions are awful and the fact that he launched into it here is :/// yucky. Post-game note: SO fucking glad we never saw him again. I did the clever option as Aloy’s response but lowkey want to go back and tell him to fuck off because he deserved it, what the hell was that conversation…  

Vanasha my beloved!! Why do I have the feeling though that this is just a fan service area with the callbacks and we’re not going to see her again… Kinda sad but hey, she got a life update in, she got to slay with her new outfit, we got an update on Meridian gossip and what’s going on with her and also Itamen (who was so cute omg) so not bad honestly.

Aloy climbing the spire I love her she’s such a badass. Can’t imagine what the hell everyone was thinking seeing her do all this cool shit and she’s just like wow, another day in the life.

I can’t believe she ditched Varl ASAP!! I was kinda wondering if the tutorial meant that we would get a friend in free roam but apparently not, which is sad because Aloy deserves friends. She is sooo in her emo era like ‘only I can do this’ babe pls learn the power of friendship – though I feel like that’s going to be one of the messages of this game, like you can’t stand by yourself, you need allies and a support network. Varl is going to be sooo pissed lmao but also he has a focus now and is kinda cluey, I bet he figures some stuff out by himself and catches up to Aloy like 😊 hi girl, you can’t get rid of me

Finished the day by getting up to the first free roam area, so exciting!!! I’m sooo hype to see what this game has in store for me!!!

[aloy-the-desert-flame]

YES! I was planning to make a separate post myself on this topic, but guess I'll just bump this up 😁

I love all those lovely side quest persons, the world would be so flat without them...

I?? I have seen No one talk about the fact that Boomer in hfw is CLEARLY autistic coded?? The whole reason we got the side quest Boom or Bust is because she got hyperfixated on a weapon and left in the middle of the night into the middle of the desert to work on it without telling a soul where she went??

I love this game and the representation it has so much and I’m more than thankful for Guerrilla for including such diverse characters 😭💕

[sunsetofdoom]

Meta asks for the writers thing!!

7, 14, 23!

7- What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

I, personally, think a lot of what sets my writing apart from others' is actually a hallmark of my ADHD- in that, I constantly drop little tidbits of headcanons, to the point of it almost being detrimental to the narrative. When writing, I'll actually get sidetracked in describing, for example, a character's clothes- where they came from, who made them, they were a gift for this holiday I just made up from their favorite aunt who died soon afterwards- and sort of lose myself in the detail to the point where it's distracting. I have to edit a lot of it out after the fact.

But I will say- multiple people have told me that what they like about my work is the physicality. Some of my friends have told me that I've actively made them physically feel descriptions in their bodies- @miss-spooky-eyes "I want to throw up everything I've ever eaten" was among the best compliments I've ever gotten. This remains a point of pride even though I mostly do it on accident.

14- At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

It's a toss-up. I have titles set aside for pieces I haven't written yet- still finding the right thing to title all guts no glory, all survivor no guilt- and then there's stuff like let her be soft, and let her be mine, which up until five minutes before posting was called please god just get to the porn.

23- What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

When I was a little kid, I actually had a story concept about identical twin girls who were captive in a house together, raised alone and completely dependent on each other, and then one left and got kidnapped and the other had to save her. I've been chewing on that one for a solid twenty years now, in a lot of different forms- from Thirteen's backstory fuckening to new HFW concepts about Aloy and Beta to original work ideas that I have percolating. It's got a lot to say about loneliness, I think. Not mine, obviously. But some other bitch in here is fucking lonely.

[foibles-fables]

Hi! Long-time listener, first-time caller! I just finished the main quest in HFW and I have Thoughts and no one to share them with, so I've decided to bother you with them 😁 I know you're primarily a Talanah blog, but all my thoughts pertain to Tilda (sns). You reblogged a post a while back (that I've lost, sorry) criticizing Tilda's character and specifically saying she's an example of the predatory lesbian trope, and I find that fascinating because I did not remotely have that reaction to her when I played the game, and I think I've figured out why, so I wanted to offer my 2 cents. First, I can't argue with the OP: she does, factually, meet the requirements for that trope, but I do believe it doesn't apply. First, because the game is riddled with other queer characters all over the world, the most noteworthy of which is (not Talanah unfortunately) Elisabet herself, but she is by no means the only one. Because of this, I would argue Tilda's predatory, selfish behavior is indicative, not of her sexuality, but of her class. I am *amazed* that a AAA-studio actually came out and said there's no such thing as an ethical billionaire. My biggest concern for the game was that they would try to redeem some billionaire and undercut their message from HZD, but imo they actually doubled down on it and I'm thrilled by that. Tilda's possessive behavior is such because a person does not become a billionaire by being any other way. Aloy literally wakes up in her vault, a part of her collection from the beginning, Tilda's intentions in saving her or befriending Beta are no less clinical or selfish than Gerard's in killing or creating them. She thinks she's better than him because she, what? Appreciates art? Sure, once it's been locked away in her vault (yeah yeah she probably did that for the plague but bare with me). That is why she rejects Beta for being "an imperfect copy." (And thats why Aloy's argument with Beta revolves around how Beta is not like Elisabet, and culminates with Aloy being able to see Beta as a unique individual and not just a photocopy of Sobeck [and yes that was also critical to Aloy's character development but shush].) Tilda was never meant to be queer rep, she was meant to be a megalomaniac billionaire. And she was a megalomaniac to her last. Imo, class is one of the major themes from the game, esp. Re: the Quen and Faro's Tomb, but imo you can see it even in those first quests in the Daunt (and ofc it was introduced hard-core in the prolog just like the rest of the Far Zenith and thematic stuff). Ultimately, it was driven home by Tilda's final betrayal and the actions of all the Zeniths, even the "good ones" Tilda talked about knowing. To have her arc end any other way would have been disingenuous and undercut the theme, and I'm really glad they didn't do that. Anyway, that's my 2 cents, sorry for dumping a novel in your inbox. Thanks for listening! ✌️

It's true that I have a complicated relationship with the details of Tilda's storyline and the handling of queer rep in HFW in general, lmao, but I completely agree with you on this front (re: its bones and commentary on class) and love the way you put it. Her behavior--which, whether read as predatory or not, is certainly toxic--can be pretty plainly taken as a byproduct of entitlement that's been left to fester unchecked for a millennia. A "Redeem the Billionaire" deal would've been totally out of place within the series's themes. I still think it's worth criticizing how some some of the queer aspects here were handled (especially when viewed in the larger scope of the game), but you're very right that more glaring factors serve to move her branch of the story forward.

[commander-shad]

I said in a blog earlier today that I would post my thoughts on the game after I was done, but screw it, I'm going for it now lmao. I just need to talk about it ok-

Don't go below the cut if you haven't played up until the quest Singularity (haven't done it myself yet)!

Long post ahead!

Let's start from the beginning eh?

1. The game starts by getting you right in the feels, huh? "And for a moment, I feel whole" Give this girl a found family pls, she needs it

2. Didn't expect Varl to show up! And the beard suits him, no matter what Aloy says lmao (why he'd have to get rid of it?)

3. Burrowers are so cute, a bit of a pain in the ass, but cute

4. Damn, Aloy has to write a guide on how to destroy someone's entire worldview in less than five minutes, because like, she didn't even hesitate (it becomes a little ironic if you told CYAN to go gently on the Banuk in the Frozen Wilds lol)

5. Well, if the Far Zenith stuff isn't a huge Chekhov's Gun, then I don't know what is

6. They actually let Aloy say "sh*t"! It took me aback a little honestly, out of all things in the game, this is what surprised me, huh

7. The Slitherfang was so cool tho

8. For that one scene- I legit just went 'Travis, you f*cking nerd!' Really felt Aloy's pain here

9. Really didn't expect the return to Meridian! A pleasant surprise for sure

10. That statue tho

11. Sylens, you son of a-

12. Avad still thirsts over Aloy I see. I picked the brain option, but after seeing the fist one giffed, I kinda wish I picked that one instead, but what's done done lol, Imma go for that next playthrough

13. It was nice to see some returning characterS for a while before we embarked to the West

14. Wow, Aloy really bailed on Varl like that eh? Considering that she's done it before (as shown in the comics and as mentioned in-game), I wasn't really surprised. Tbh tho, I'm not one to judge, I'd do the same, but just because I'm not a people's person

15. The song that kicked in the credits, totally didn't see it coming, but yeah, the moment I was done with that playthrough I immediately looked for it in Youtube, and now I can't stop playing it, send help-

16. Ok, but like, can we talk about the soundtrack? The reworked version of Aloy's Theme is amazing, and something I noticed about it- the HFW version of the theme sounds considerably more sci-fi-ish than the HZD version, you could say that it very subtly foreshadows how much more sci-fi-ish this game is in comparison to the first game. Dunno if it was intentional, but I kinda like that detail

17. And thus we are in the Daunt! Vuadis- excuse me- STUDIOUS Vuadis- he's funny. Funny as in 'I kinda hate him right now' lmao

18. Chainscrape is a pretty nice looking place-

19. Petra!

20. Oh look, that in-game board game I won't be playing because I suck at strategy

21. And now we get to see Erend. I kinda liked this interaction they had to be honest. Aloy had to get called out on her sh*t at some point, amirite? Erend was very obviously hurt by the way she suddenly disappeared, and in a way, no matter which option you pick, she still seems to be a bit of an a**hole, because no matter the reason she left, she still left without saying a word, and that's just not cool (says my hypocritical ass who previously admitted that I would ditch people with no remorse), so yeah Erend, you deserve to be salty about this

22. And now we go to Barren Light- Aloy still is a force to be reckoned with- the way Varl arrives just in time and Erend who is already there just going "oh you know, Aloy challenges the authorities and tempts fate, what else is new", so casually lmao

23. Shouldn't have been surprising to see Erend stand up for Aloy against the commander. While it's obvious that he still isn't happy about the stuff she's pulling, it seems that he still is determined to be there for her now, no matter what, like- he's trying, instead of holding all that stuff against Aloy, he's trying to be there for her instead when she wasn't and that shows a lot of maturity on his part

24. Regalla's entrance was pretty badass. The way the rest of the encounter went wasn't so much- it was very reminiscent of the Proving actually, except Aloy wasn't the target this time

25. My man Kotallo just stopped a Bristleback without even using a weapon, he's just rammed into it to stop it in it's tracks, how badass is that?

26. Ok, but Aloy just stood there while Grudda beat Varl's ass, she didn't even try to stop him, what gives-

27. Finally, the Shieldwing! I'm addicted to using it now-

28. And now, we're heading to the Horus. Totally not ominous and definitely Sylens' taste in lairs

29. Sylens is as insufferable as usual

30. Is it weird I feel a little bad for HADES? Whatever Sylens did to it, left it a shell of it's former self- anyways, it still was so satisfying to see it gone for good this time

31. That holo of Travis and Elisabet, in Latopolis though- "How do you love the world so much, but don't seem to love a single person it it?" I-I feel attacked-

31. That maze was a pain to figure out, I had to use a guide tbh-

32. This f*cking quest man- this damn quest- ok, so- Sylens just went "these people outside want you, but worry, they won't do anything to you, now open the hatch will you?", Aloy goes "lol no" and destroys her current Focus (considering that she hands out Focuses everywhere like they are nothing, I was left wondering just how many does she have on her person?) and uses a new one. So, the hatch to the facility was supposed to be open to Aloy only- AND THEN- EXCUSE ME, WTF

33. Oh what the f*ck- there's another- you know I was thinking about the possibility of another Elisabet clone, but definitely not like this- and like- who tf are these people? Why do they want me dead? And what the heck are these new machines?

34. F*ck Erik btw

35. The fact that we aren't even close to the middle yet and we already had our near death experience of the game tho- (they just had to name the quest "Death's Door" lmfao). That escape must have left Aloy pretty f*cked up if she was basically delirious when she got washed up on the shore. Speaking of that-

36. OUCH. WHY.

37. "I'm fine", Aloy says, nearly falling over for the like, fifth time in the last three minutes

38. I think it's cute the Utaru land-gods (to us known as Plowmowers) are named after the musical notes

39. It seems that VarlxZo has sailed! Good for them!

40. Ok, but I wanna talk about this scene for a bit- my reading of it is that- well you can very clearly see that Aloy is very determined to take off as soon as possible, even if she can barely stand. "I will crawl there if I have to" in her words. And I feel like she would have actually gone through with I believe, she has zero chill. And then she sees what Varl and Zo have going. I think she was a little guilty. Like, he seemed to be happy with Zo, and because of her stubbornness he would miss out on going with her to Plainsong. So Aloy giving in to their request to rest up and heal, is giving up on this small bit of selfishness she got going for Varl's sake. Well, she definitely benefited from it in the end though, that's good.

41. On an unrelated note, I got two of them actually, I'm kinda glad they are still keeping Aloy single (not me here projecting my aroace ass). Like, it's not just that, I just think that Aloy isn't really ready for something as deep as a romance, not yet at least. I mean, think about it: she grew up as an outcast, with only one person to talk to, so let's be honest here, she really doesn't know her way around people, you can tell from how socially awkward (socially awkward as in the way she behaves around people, talking down figures of authority for example) and blunt she can be. And if you think about it, Aloy never really had a friend growing up (just how sad is that?), I really wouldn't be surprised if she didn't really know what being actually friends with someone means, my guess is that she has a very surface level understanding of friendship, and that's why she has so much trouble properly opening up to her friends here in HFW. TLDR; Pls, give this girl a found family/friends before we go into any romances first if they do go into that. Besiiiiiides, Erend and Varl seem to be acting more like older brother figures to me more than anything

42. Ok uh, so I have several minor unrelated notes to make regarding a specific line of side quests that from what I've seen has disappointed several people, but it's not what you might expect. Anyway, here it goes. Just putting it out there; I have no problem at all with Talanah having a thing for Amadis, and I say that as someone whose first option for romance for Aloy if it happens is Talanah (if you don't let me keep my girl ace, at least let me romance a girl, thank you very much), I mean, bi Talanah anyone? Besides, Talanah has two hands 😏Second, I'm gonna put it out here, I wasn't that big on Talanah in the first place, she's an ok character for me at best, the one that is a little over hyped, but still pretty ok. Thirdly, call it a hot take if you want (as if the previous ones weren't hot enough takes already lmao), it very much makes sense that Talanah wouldn't become a member of the main character crew and that she remains in the realm of side quests. Let me explain. Talanah is a pretty missable character as in, not everyone is going to invest hundreds of hours to replay a game, not everyone is going to do all side quests (let's be honest here, as great as HZD is, it's side quests weren't and the most engaging ones (now that I think of it, that might be the reason I'm not that big on Talanah)), so a combination of both can lead to a character simply not getting enough attention as to become main character grade. So I think that we should be glad we even got a Talanah side quest in the first place, because she could easily be a character who didn't get enough attention as to get a place in the sequel. I mean, imagine if a much more obscure character from the first game suddenly became a main, pretty jarring, right? Anyways- Of course you all have a right to be disappointed in how her story went, while I didn't see much in Talanah's character, you guys did, so I guess you all know something more than I do ig. I personally wasn't disappointed, because I didn't really hold any expectations for her, I was perfectly happy with what the writers had in mind for Talanah. You guys who were let down didn't, and I very much respect that. Sorry for this rant, I just kinda really wanted to talk about this, you know- With that aside, I'm gonna say this, both Talanah and Amadis deserved better. Amadis deserved better than to live with the knowledge that this person he cared so much for simply doesn't really seem to give a f*ck about him anymore and Talanah deserved better than now having to deal with that this person she came to really like might never actually come to reciprocate her feelings just because he might never really get over the aforementioned events. So my guess is that there might be still hope for TalanahxAloy shippers, not the Talanah being invited to the base thing, but a chance of the two getting together in the future, who knows (optimism at it's finest ey?) Ok, done with this rant I think

43. Alright, where was I? Right, at Stone's Echo. After here we set out to find Plainsong. Man, the Utaru's architecture is kinda insane, they really just built their home on top of the satellite dishes, I'd love to live there (if not for the red blight thing)

44. Ok so uh, so much has happened in recent playthroughs that my memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to this part of the game, but if I remember correctly we went to Repair Bay TAU to reach Minerva, right? Or they needed something from the Core to track down MINERVA's exact location? I think? Can't remember, someone pls correct me on this- All I remember is fighting the Grimhorn and then Aloy was so close to pulling an Ourea while kicking HEPHAESTUS out from TAU that she just gets up, turns to the others and basically goes thumbs up looking like she's this close to falling apart lmao

45. Poor MINERVA tho, must have been scared, but at least we managed to get GAIA up and working! Yay! Mother Nature as an AI is back!

46. Ok but like- Horizon having a base of operations in the game was something I never knew I needed. It's perfect and I just love how it becomes more and more like home with each passing mission, I just-

47. And so, the hunt for the subfunctions begins. I went from highest level to lowest first so I went with the order of DEMETER, POSEIDON and AETHER. How it went? Well-

48. DEMETER wasn't that hard tho I got lost in the tunnels a bit- Alva is baby

49. Also f*ck Dreadwings, glad I never saw them again after that

50. We finally get to see Beta now! I like her, poor thing, she didn't deserve the Zeniths' treatment of her. Also Aloy, I know you're both traumatized and tired, but please stop being mean to her

51. As I was approached the ruins of Las Vegas to find POSEIDON, I was like "there is water somewhere under that desert, right?" There was. I just wasn't expecting so much of it lmao

52. For me Morlund and crew were a more bearable version of Gildun, I enjoyed hanging out of them, just realized that I never came back for them D:

53. And at last, AETHER. More complicated than I thought it'd be, because I literally had to fell half a mountain to get an event going. Aloy being a little gremlin in this one was so fun, and Kotallo was just so done with her sh*t lmao

54. Speaking of Kotallo, we stan him in this house

55. Why did it have to be a Slitherfang-

56. We're going to San Francisco baby wooo! The things we saw there tho- *shudder*, I felt a very distinct sense of dread walking through the bunker

57. It turns out Ted was further gone than I thought. Not only he has the biggest ego in history, but he also just rid of some of the people who lived in Thebes with him? I'm suddenly worried about what happened to the people in Elysium

58. Is it bad I wanted to mash Ceo's head all throughout the tour of Ted's limbo?

59. I really don't want to know what exactly was the thing I saw in that holo in the office, because whatever it was, it really didn't end well for him (he deserved it tho, f*ck Ted Faro)

60. So yeah, about point 58? Ted Faro's massive head crushed Ceo's... well... Everything. And the other guy just fell into the lava. Big yikes for both of them

61. We are now good with Beta it seems, you could say that we are close now, I like that. Sisters!

62. Aloy and the squad ready to force HEPHAESTUS into the found family against its will 😎

63. When the Zeniths bust through the roof after capturing HEPHAESTUS: This is why we can't have nice things!

64. I'm in- genuine shock guys. He's dead. Varl's f*cking dead. And Beta and GAIA are gone too. Aloy swore to protect her and she failed. Aloy must feel like she failed both of them and that's as rock bottom as it can get, just great

65. Tilda. She's sus. I don't trust her.

66. Not gonna lie guys, I almost cried at the talk Aloy had with Zo about Varl. And she is with his child too?!

67. Damn, someone's gonna have to tell Sona now. I feel bad for her you know. First she lost Vala, and now her other child too, that's just so f*cking sad

68. Another reason why Varl dying was so impactful was that he was there since the beginning, you know? He followed Aloy into the forbidden ruins of the Old Ones back in the Sacred Lands. He followed her to Meridian to fight a threat he admits that he can't really understand, but he did that anyways. He tracked Aloy all the way out to the middle of nowhere to help her with her mission of finding GAIA. He found Aloy in the aftermath of Latopolis. He was so willing to come and help Aloy investigate the mysterious signal. He just trusted and cared for her and the rest of his friends so f*cking much, and he ultimately paid for it

69. "Can't I just mourn for the loss of my friend?" It was so heartbreaking to hear Erend say that-

70. While still dealing with the loss of a great friend, the team must still move on and find a way to stop the Zeniths for good. Using a small gift Beta gave us back in GEMINI and the knowledge Tilda provided us with, it's time to put an end to Regalla's rebellion...

71. WE CAN FLY, HOLY SH*T- (damn that escalated quickly)

72. In the most badass way you can imagine, Aloy swooped with her trusty Sunwing down in the battlefield between Hekarro's army and Regalla's and destroyed her machines

73. And then we finally face Regalla head on. Her boss fight was kinda like HFW's equivalent to Helis', but meaner, b*tchier and harder, it took forever lmao

74. With Sylens' uncovered plan foiled, Aloy gets to meet him again and makes a deal with him...

75. To close, Tilda and Sylens seem to be a match made in hell, nothing can possibly go wrong with these two in the same room s/

•••

Tomorrow I'm finishing my first playthrough of the game (my gaming method is first playthrough being a speedrun of the story and the second and following playthroughs being a more loose and slow play of it with the side quests and activities and everything), so expect another blog on my thoughts on the finale too, though probably it won't be as long as this post since I wrote my thoughts on like 85% of the story lmao

I probably missed lots of stuff in this writedown but if I add them I can't be bothered to edit the numbers so I leave it be.

As of now it was great experience, tho I'm a little bummed out that the first gameplay trailer we got of HFW wasn't even in the story! Is it even in the game at all? Guerilla, pls explain-

I will gladly hear people's opinions, either on the game or on my own takes on it, I just really need to talk about the game.

What were your thoughts on it?

[aloy-the-desert-flame]

Attention to detail ❤️

Horizon Forbidden Critters