Board 8 > February Game of the Month Club ft. GRIS, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Ys II

(+) Yeah! (+)

Feels like I'm pretty close to the end game now with Horizon

I just did the Zero Dawn mission. Talk about A LOT of exposition... The fight against the Behemoth was a pain, if only because the damn thing wouldn't hit the pillars. Next thing is to head back to All Mother, so I figure there's that and there's a least one spot in the far northern reaches that the game hasn't sent me yet near a Stormbird site.

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Finished Gris

pretty game.

Nominate: Hylics

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I'm on like the 20th or 21st story mission (I am meeting with Nora, the king, and others in Meridian), but I have mostly been doing other missions to get more skills. I decided to try the hunting grounds now, and I was surprised that I ended up completing them all. Some of the time conditions are absolutely ridiculous. Spurflints and Valleymeet were the most challenging to me, the former a complete surprise since it has a focus on stealth.

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Seanchan posted...

Feels like I'm pretty close to the end game now with Horizon

I just did the Zero Dawn mission. Talk about A LOT of exposition... The fight against the Behemoth was a pain, if only because the damn thing wouldn't hit the pillars. Next thing is to head back to All Mother, so I figure there's that and there's a least one spot in the far northern reaches that the game hasn't sent me yet near a Stormbird site.

Amazingly, the Behemoth only took me one try (might have been two but if it was, the first one was like an insta-death), and I did it pretty quickly too.

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Horizon Zero Dawn
I just did the quest where you're supposed to sneak to the Blaze stockpile and blow it up but I'm not great at stealth and got spotted immediately. Killed about 100 cultists before I decided they were never going to stop spawning so I just made a run for it. Screw those kind of missions tbh if I can Rambo the whole camp it should let me!

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Applying the freeze status REALLY helps with damaging the machines. I was fighting the named Thunderjaw, and despite tearing off most of it's armor, was not doing a lot of damage even with triple arrows. Eventually it actually killed me because I wasn't paying enough attention to my health. The 2nd time, I applied Freeze to it first and that was letting me do double or triple as much damage with each volley.

I tend to fall into the trap with games like this of just wanting the execute "my" strategy and not utilizing enough of the full play space. 90% of the time that works just fine because the game will just let you "power through" but it's always good to have a chance to reevaluate every once in a while.

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Okay, stalled out because I decided to actually complete the bestiary in Ys II, but at least now...
Ys II is beaten

So then nomination time again...
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

And also... Support: One Step From Eden

There, my noms aren't something I'd have to install and one would push me down the path of actually finishing RD. And plus, supporting that game's nom again since I need to play it.

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Monthly Progress
GRIS - Metal, Ark, KCF, Crispy
Horizon - darkx
Ys II - Axem, Wickle

Nominations
Abacus - Quantum Conundrum
Ark - Blasphemous, One Step Eden
Cody - Spyro 2, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Crispy - Omori, Hylics
darkx - Yoshi's Woolly World, Last of Us Part II
KCF - GNOG, Sayonara Wild Hearts, A Case of Distrust
JONA - VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Metal - Halo CE, Carto
MZero - Final Fantasy
Wickle - Castlevania: CotM, Fire Emblem: PoR

Supports
Abacus - Eden
Ark - Omori
darkx - Halo CE
KCF - Carto, Quantum
Metal - Sayonara
Wickle - Eden

Drawing on Wednesday

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Nominate Final Fantasy

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Nominate Star Fox 64

Might not end up finishing Horizon Zero Dawn in time.

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Played more HZD tonight. Currently level 20 and have completed 8 main quests so far. I'm probably spending too much time on sidequests.

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I've played every day since the 3rd or so, and I still haven't finished it because I am playing it the way that I want, and that includes side stuff. I am up to around 90% complete, but I will probably just do whatever remaining story missions that I have left before doing the DLC.

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Just checked my game completion and I'm at 25.03%.

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I'm around 90% for the main game as well. The next main mission says it's the "Final Battle" so I'm thinking it's that one and then one more mission after that to wrap things up. The last 3-5 missions have been very story heavy and they feel like they've taken a very long time to get through compared to the rest of the game.

I've done everything else in the main game except the Hunting Grounds. I might come back to them once I finish the main story but, to be honest, probably not.

I'm at around 40% for the DLC area. My plan is to finish off the DLC before I do the final main story missions as I think that makes the most narrative sense.

The story has gotten interesting. Nothing TOO shocking though. I maybe wish there weren't so many audio and text logs but that might be on me for backloading all those missions and not breaking them up with more side stuff.

I think if you're only at 25% you're going to have a tough time finishing by the end of the month unless you focus on the main missions. But maybe you're a faster player than me. My in-game clock says 80+ hours, though there's likely as much as 10 hours of "idle" time that shouldn't really count.

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also at 25% with 12 main quests completed, about 15 hours played. But I usually focus on the main quest at first and leave the side stuff for post game, so I might make it!

On Ys II, I'm about 4 hours in and just rescued Tarf

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I tried to just blitz through the main missions at first and found it very difficult. Doing some side stuff made the later missions much easier. The experience and other benefits you get are extremely valuable.

As I said before, I went into the "point of no return" (they make it very, very clear what this is) at level 33, and didn't find what was beyond that exceedingly difficult, so those of you who have done much more than me and are going in at well over level 40 shouldn't have too much difficulty.

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Last call for noms and changes

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GRIS is $6.79 USD for PS4
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP3643-CUSA16694_00-GRISPS4SIEA00000

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Noms and changes are now closed. I will draw soon-ish

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I'd say unclose the noms and nominate something, but eh. Looks like a good set of possible games.
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Your March Games of the Month are...

Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U/3DS)
Omori (PC)
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch/PS1)

Congrats to darkx, Crispy, and Cody for having their games selected!

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1. Yoshi's Woolly World
2. Omori
3. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
4. Case of Distrust, A
5. One Step from Eden
6. Quantum Conundrum
7. Carto
8. Carto
9. Star Fox 64
10. One Step from Eden
11. One Step from Eden
12. Omori
13. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
14. Hylics
15. Sayonara Wild Hearts
16. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
17. VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
18. Quantum Conundrum
19. Blasphemous
20. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
21. GNOG
22. Halo: Combat Evolved
23. Final Fantasy
24. Last of Us Part II, The
25. Halo: Combat Evolved
26. Sayonara Wild Hearts

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3/6 games selected in the drawing have been supported since that was introduced.

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Nice, will do Spyro 2.

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Well dang, I just played Spyro 2 a few weeks ago!

But here we go Yoshi! Knocking another unplayed game out of my collection!

Also...

KCF0107 posted...

GRIS is $6.79 USD for PS4
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP3643-CUSA16694_00-GRISPS4SIEA00000

So much for not risking waiting for a console sale. -_-

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I'd probably go for that if I weren't struggling to finish HZD in time.

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I played Omori after nominating it last time, (Fantastic game, highly recommended.) but there's a lot of stuff available on a replay, so I'm happy to check that out next month.

Probably passing on the other two, unless there's a great sale on Spyro reignited trilogy.

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rip.

Seven games I could play and none of them made it. Sucks to be me.

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Do you only have like old systems and a phone to play games? I'm not judging but surprised that you aren't able to play any of the games given the wide array of systems covered.

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Oof, Spyro trilogy was on sale on Steam like two days ago and I literally had it in my cart but decided to wait because I was in no hurry to play it

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In for Spyro 2. I played the first game in the remastered trilogy last year and enjoyed it a lot, so I'm excited to dive into 2.
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KCF has beaten Horizon: Zero Dawn

This game kind of didn't start off well. While impressive on a technical level, the opening segments were eye-rollingly heavy-handed, and lighting using the focus wasn't the best. When you were able to explore the Nora lands. Machines were always in packs and in the most inconvenient spots, mounts were clumsy and largely useless, and battles were a slog. As I got more skills, access to better weapons, and entered the Carja lands, things only went up from there.

I loved exploring the world after the initial area, I think they did a fantastic job with enemy variety and how to battle with them, side stuff was truly rewarding and not just extra fluff, and I just really liked the juxtoposition of primitive and advanced technology. I still had several issues with minor things like the odd saving system and concentration not being as effective as it should, but also some more substantial stuff.

A lot of open-world games do an excellent job with mission variety, but I felt HZD was severely lacking in that department. Part of that is because there is a much lower gameplay-affecting customization than its peers. There are only a few kinds of weapons, and outside of the basic enemies, most of the machines maybe have two weapons that are effective and efficient to fight with, so your limited options are even more limited. They also seldom leveraged the environment to make scripted fights more dynamic, and when they did, it was usually just for human enemies.

I also never really cared for the overarching story, not that Guerilla Games did a poor job or anything remotely like that. The game had a pretty original plot for a video game, so I commend it for that, but it just wasn't my thing. I don't need a game focused on explaining how and why the world became the way it is. I preferred the side quests because they had the more interesting approach to me of dealing with the world as it is. Some things are cooler if they are left ambiguous or just have minor hints as to its origins.

I still think that it's a great game, it's probably one that would be hard for me to re-visit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the dozens of hours that I put into it.

It bothered me all game that I knew that I heard Rost's voice before, and I looked it up after finishing, and he is also the voice of Caustic in Apex Legends as well as Blisk in another game that I'm currently playing, Titanfall 2.

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Ok boss three down, now I'm slightly before the Salmon Temple.

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Stalkers are the worst (HZD)

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MZero posted...

Stalkers are the worst (HZD)

Yeah, they're not fun but Thunderjaws are pretty bad as well and the Frozen Wilds machines are THE.WORST. Big, mean and super aggressive, and multiply that by 2 if they're Daemonic.

Having said that....

I FINISHED HORIZON: ZERO DAWN (and the Frozen Wilds DLC too...)!

Finished with around 90% for both the main game and the DLC. Did everything but the Hunting Grounds and the weapon tutorials.

I give it a 4 out of 5 rating. Beautiful graphics, interesting story and world, pretty fun gameplay. It's brought down by too many "follow the trail" missions and some really bad menus and "on boarding". The game just doesn't do a very good job of explaining things and leaves seemingly vital info to loading screen tips. I guess it's good that the loading tips are good, because you'll get to read a dozen due to the pretty awful load times.

As is usually the case, the DLC is probably the best part of the whole thing. Better missions, story, and characters, and all in a nice smaller area.

Might have time to knock off GRIS before the end of the month...

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Underleveled posted...

HZD Update:

Game Completion: 39.57%
Playtime: 25 hours, 30 mins
Level: 31

Main Quests: 18
Tallnecks: 5 (completed, except for the one in the DLC area)
Bandit Camps: 5
Cauldrons: 2
Corrupted Zones: 3

Vague story spoilers (related only to how much/little I have to go, no plot spoilers): At one point something that someone said made me think, just for a bit, that I was on the last story mission, but that didn't feel right because it seemed early and there were still too many loose ends. Turned out it wasn't, but according to a guide I only have four left.

Huh, these are almost my exact stats after my most recent session, kind of surprised me how close it is. The only real difference is I've only done two Tallnecks, so my time and percentage are a little lower

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February is almost over

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Shrine Key and the fourth boss down.

still have a lot of the Salmon shrine to go, but shouldn't be a problem to finish it tomorrow.

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I have beaten Horizon Zero Dawn

Finished with about 43% completion, so on the lower end. But I will probably go back and do most of the side content

now a few hours left to finish Ys II!

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MZero has beaten Ys II

Whew, barely made it!

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GRIS seems beatable in a night so I'm going for it tonight.

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Ys 2 beaten

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Okay, I regret buying GRIS on PC. Literally soft locked my computer in the opening cutscene. No way I'm gonna be able to play this, certainly not by midnight. What a waste.

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Well I got it to not freeze but I'm still having significant performance issues, especially input lag, which is causing me to mess up frequently. As a result, a game specifically designed to be easy and frustration-free is frustrating to me. Because of course. It was definitely a huge mistake to jump and gun and get this on PC when if I had waited, I could have gotten it for the same price on PS4 and probably be having a lot of fun playing it right now. Needless to say, I won't be finishing this game. Now or likely ever. I am disappointed, especially since I had planned my day/night around playing through this tonight, but it isn't the game's fault. Sorry to whoever nominated it. I was genuinely interested.

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I finished GRIS!

A nice short experience after the very lengthy Horizon. Not too difficult, some nice animation, and themes even my dense brain can understand. I hate saying that an indy game like this is not worth "full price" but...I'm glad I picked this up on sale.

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