#we'll see when zenith comes out. i guess.

[kalpasoft]

it feels weird because it's obvious i've 'dropped off' since first announcing my game, the hype from the kickstarter and the markiplier play through of the prototype dying down.

it's weird because of course it bums me out that people aren't as excited as they were, but its also nice because it feels like there's a bit less pressure hanging over my head.

[dany36]

i did it!!! after 62 hours (162 in total), i completed new game+ in ultra hard!! wow, i didn't think I was going to be able to do it cus of what I had been hearing about it (plus i thought the game in normal was way harder than zero dawn in normal), but well, it's been done!!! and i'm really proud that i did it without using any of the legendary weapons. i didn't really wanna use them cus upgrading them was gonna be such a hassle (ESPECIALLY in ultra hard are you kidding me) and it uses so many sludges that i would rather keep for my new favorite weapon which got me through this ultra hard mode...the spike thrower!!! <3

i don't ever bother with "ultra hard" modes or 100%ing achievements, but i love the horizon games so much that i just can't help myself. overall i enjoyed this second playthrough just as much as the first one. knowing what was coming and being able to appreciate the cutscenes while recognizing the songs that would play from the OST (LIKE HELLO TILDA SAYING "YES, A SECOND CHANCE TO DO WHAT'S RIGHT" TO ALOY TWICE AND--OMG--THAT'S THE NAME OF THE SONG FOR THE FINAL BATTLE ALSDKJFLASDJFSDF) just made me love the game even more.

anyway, more random junk thoughts below

first time through i really didn't see the whole tilda-being-evil coming. i mean the game hints at it right before leaving to the zenith base but i really liked her character (plus carrie-anne moss plays her, hello) and i was really wishing that she was helping aloy and her friends because she really wanted to make up for her past. PLUS when aloy tells her that lis regretted how things ended between them, how tilda reacts is so LASKJDFLASKJDFLASKJDF like IMAGINE tilda regretting for 1000 years how their last conversation ended and then aloy's like "yeah lis was sad about it too" like i would personally just go insane (well i guess tilda did actually lol). so in the end when she reveals she actually just wants aloy i was like damn...why are u like this. oh well...thanks for saving aloy from the zeniths even if it was for a super selfish purpose i guess. ;(

THEN AGAIN i also totally missed the implied relationship between tilda and lis until aloy spelled it out for me. i was seriously like WAIT WHAT, I thought they were just seriously gals being pals!!!! so i mean i am not the brightest at picking up hints, so i certainly wasn't gonna pick up on the fact that tilda was going to be, in fact, evil and not doing it out of the pure goodness of her heart.

why did they make erend's dialogue to the zenith base so whiny. i was like omg erend plz stop. especially the part where he's like "you know, there's one thing i'm gonna regret about all of this" and i was like oh crap something deep is coming and even aloy's "what is it" sounded annoyed, so when erend says "all this climbing we had to do" i was like sir....please. you're not helping.

i love sylens's character so much. i swear every cutscene he was in i would just have the goofiest grin on my face. the way he expresses himself is just so damn entertaining to listen to. the banter and remarks between him and aloy are just the best. when sylens finally arrives at the base and teases aloy about the company she keeps, "are you going to actually ask a question or are you still playing catch-up", "stop waxing useless nostalgia and get back to the task at hand", like oh my god i think next time i play (once i FINALLY get a ps5) i'm going to have to record my favorite cutscenes/lines of him. i loved how aloy actually ASKS him to stay since they could really use his help against nemesis and then HE DOES STAY ALKDSJFLASKJDFLJAS hell yes!!! no i do NOT ship them like some people do but i REALLY love their....weird-ass-friendship-or-whatever-the-hell-they-got-going-on and i'm so glad we'll get to see more of sylens!!!

alva is hands down my favorite character from the second game (silga is close but alas she's just a sidequest character ;( ). like holy crap her voice actress really did such a fantastic job at making her so damn adorable, charming, and relatable. i would always look forward to any new interactions with her back at the base, and it's so cute how protective aloy is of her whenever you're on a mission with alva since she knows alva is not exactly a fighter. if alva didn't already have a gf i'd definitely be on the aloyxalva ship.

also i realized alva's theme song is "The Eye that Reveals" and just ugh that just made me love her character even more because that's one of my favorite songs from the OST even though it's so short alsdkjflsdkjflaskjdf 😭

although i'm extremely sad that talanah and petra didn't have more involvement in the main plot, i'm glad they at least didn't get the nil treatment. i honestly didn't even know he was in hfw until i finished the game and i started browsing the tag and saw people mentioning him. i was like WHAT the hell?? i avoided the racing game like the plague since i had zero interest in it so then there i went, racing with machines so i could watch the cutscene. i'm not a nil fan by any means but i was really curious as to how he would explain his change in career lol.

ultra hard mode in hfw was definitely harder than hzd ultra hard mode. despite this, i definitely died way less than when i played it in normal mode (i like to think i improved lol). the purple-level spike thrower became a must against any big machine cus i mean, that thing can knock down ANYTHING, even specter prime!! plus the explosive ones do some incredible damage. really glad i discovered its usefulness cus otherwise with just a normal bow+arrow i would have been done for, especially since they nerfed the ropecaster so much in this game.

i was doing most of the sidequests+errands in new game+ cus i thought there was going to be more use for the campion's tokens but...i got all the weapons, dyes, and face paints and still have like 30+ tokens with me PLUS i didn't do like 5 or so sidequests+errands so there's still definitely more i could get but...it looks like they give you more than you really need...

anyway, enough babbling about hfw for now. time to put this game to rest until dlc comes out. i'm kind of anxious at how the third game will wrap things up--for the second game i was really looking forward to it, but for this one i'm scared that they'll screw it up. oh well, hopefully the dlc for forbidden west will be just as amazing and fulfilling as frozen wilds was!!