Topic: Horizon: Zero: Dawn

@Ralizah I’m not sure about the DLC since I don’t play it, but I’m sure someone will chime in about the order in which to play it.

As far as the collectibles, just fair warning that they rewards for collecting them are pretty lame, as I recall. It’s more of a fun thing to do for the exploration and the affiliated trophies. But yeah, a couple of the Banuk dolls (is that what those little toy things are called?) are pretty hard to get to. But thankfully, there are fewer of those little things in total so if you focus on them then collecting them all is quicker than the other items like metal flowers.
As far as Shell-walker hearts, you might be able to buy them. I can’t remember for sure, but there is a vendor in Meridian I think that sells animal parts. Not sure which types he sells though because he doesn’t sell them all.

@Ralizah Seeing how you're kinda over-leveled anyway, it doesn't really matter when you do the DLC. I was level 45 or something when I beat the main game, then I played the DLC later that year.

@Ralizah You can start the dlc whenever really but I think the best time would be just after the quest, 'Deep Secrets Of The Earth'. Aloy makes a few remarks throughout The Frozen Wilds depending on what she's discovered about project Zero Dawn and also in the main game about what she learnt in The Frozen Wilds.
It's pretty clever how Guerilla have added dialogue to both depending on when you start the dlc.

So, I was clearing out corrupted zones, and I stumbled across one with two robots called Rock Breakers. And... they killed me. Fast. Multiple times now.

These guys are way harder than any other machine I've encountered in the game thus far.

@Octane @ApostateMage Good stuff, guys. I'll probably get to the DLC before the final set of story missions, but not anytime soon, considering it supposedly has a lot of vicious new machines and a high level of difficulty.

@Ralizah It was a Rockbreaker that gave me my first genuine, serious "might not be able to finish this" challenge in the game. I didn't stumble across one in the wild, but rather got trapped in an inescapable area with one as part of a new side quest. Luckily, I was at the point where I was just (JUST) good enough to stay alive whilst slowly whittling down its armour and health, but it took a good forty-five minutes and I had to stay on my toes the entire time. It was spectacular, but also nightmarish.

There's no shame in your defeat, especially taking on two at once (I think I know where you're talking about, as even post-story with tons of great gear that particular Corrupted Zone was one heck of a fight). You'll get there.

@Ralizah That area is perhaps the hardest area to deal with. I would recommend you scan them, find out what they are weak to, and only deal with them when you are fully upgraded - inc all the various pouches to hold the maximum quantity of ammo. There are a couple of big Rocks in the area and you can climb on these to whittle away health. Laying traps every where helps too but when you get the opportunity, take out a certain part that will help you to continuously attack them.

In all honesty, you should leave this corrupted area to one of, if not the last thing you do in the regular part of the game. By which time, you will have gained experience to deal with these. I don't want to say more right now but make sure you are ready for this fight as it can be a struggle...

@RogerRoger @BAMozzy Scans indicated that their claws are weak to tear damage, so I imagine all I have to do to make them manageable is rip those off. Seems like a good opportunity to try out that Tearblaster gun I have. I also upgraded to the heavy protector armor, which should help.

I didn't think about standing on the rocks, though. Can they sense you from underground if you're not moving?

This is all very reminiscent of Tremors. Very cool enemy, even if it is a bit annoying.

@Ralizah The Claws stop them from burrowing underground and leaves them vulnerable to attack. They do seem to hear you on the rock - especially the big long one and will 'shoot' up to you as well but to make the fight quicker, stop them from burrowing and hit them with bombs (catapult) and the right arrows....

They were the one 'big' surprise that GG didn't reveal at any point in the preceding marketing and trailers. They are annoying but once you have the experience, they aren't that tough - I also know what's coming up too in the Frozen Wilds but for the base game, these are tough...

@Ralizah I seem to remember them being weak to frost damage, but still quite tricky to get substantial damege to em.

I've been taking a break from this game for a while, but I thought I'd start uploading some of my screenshots of this (absolutely gorgeous) game.

First: I like to call this one "Huntress above the Sea of Fog."

Second: this encounter with a glinthawk, which looks like a bullshot but just happened to line up beautifully.

@Ralizah Man, some stunning shots!
I rarely mess with photo modes, but I did snap some screenshots when I was playing HZD. The settings are beautiful and there are so many options of how to pose Aloy.

@Th3solution How do you pose Aloy? I've been wanting something just like that, but I couldn't find a way to change her animation when the game was paused.

I also rarely mess with photo modes, but it really works with this game. Primarily because of the stunning environments.

I'll post just a few more.

Really liked the reflection of the sun on this lake. Got a few cool shots of it.

Took some awkward attempts, but I finally paused at just the right time to capture this great action shot of Aloy jumping into the fray with some machines.

A stunning sunset that painted the land red.

A lovely scene with some trees.

Haunting scene, especially with the foggy ruins of a long lost civilization peppering the background.

I found the mix of muted early morning sky colors and the rich glow of the Strider's optical unit to be striking.

Those are some fantastic screen captures. The “Huntress above the Sea of Fog” and the shot with the Strider are especially good.

@Ralizah You need to go into Photo mode on the game and there should be options for different facial expressions etc for Aloy. I think it might be clicking one of the sticks, but not entirely sure.

Awesome pics BTW.

@Ralizah Yeah, like Johnny says. I forget exactly, but you go to photo mode and there should be instructions. I also seem to remember it being clicking one of the sticks changes her pose (standing, sitting, lifting her arms, laying down, making a heart shape with her hands, etc, etc) Also her facial expressions can be changed if I recall, as well as of course the camera angle, etc. It looks like you’ve got most of the other stuff. You can also put on labels iirc

Ooooh those are some great screenshotty's @Ralizah !

I'd share some of mine but... I'm not the best at that sorta stuff and i'm not good at getting the image thing to work on here lol xD

Like johnny and solution says in photomode you can mess with all sorts of things like Aloy's pose and facial expresion (Though i didn't really use the face one all that much) ... it's on one of the many tabs and there's a bunch you can go through... It's pretty extensive... I have a good 100 or so screenshots on my PS4 from Horizon xD

I can defintely live with this being your next games you've beat thing instead of Digtal Devil Saga (unless i missed that while I was gone)

Thanks, folks. I might take some serious snaps of the Frozen Wilds once I get there, but, otherwise, I think I'm done with going for serious or moody photography, so I'll very much be playing around with expressions during the second half of the game (40+ hours in, and my next mission is to investigate a woman who looks like she might be Aloy's mother).

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I envy you people who focus on one game at a time. I'm ping-ponging between four or five different games right now.

With that said, there are a number of big releases coming out relatively soon, so I'm going to start buckling down. My targets for this month are Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (slowly, on PC; I wanted this to be my portable game, but the Switch port just had one too many issues for my liking), Digital Devil Saga, and the single-player portion of Mario Maker 2.

I'm going for the platinum in Horizon, and I'd like to get all the trophies I can before finishing the final story mission, so I probably have another month or two left with this game.

@Ralizah Yeah, I gotta admit, as @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy mentions, Aloy's different expressions are fine for a couple random shots, but add very little. Her default face is usually fine for most of the shots you can cobble together, especially since it does make a couple context-specific changes during gameplay anyway, so the timing of the capture is all you need to tweak. For example...

In fact, I think I only changed her expression once, to make her appear confused by foxes...

Much more useful are the different body poses. Whether you're going for the "top of the world" vista shots, or something a little more up-close and intimate, they work wonders.

Please keep sharing your screencaps! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with in the Frozen Wilds area; that's perhaps my favourite area of the map, in terms of visuals (I'm a sucker for snow). Mucking about with Photo Mode can sometimes help break up some of the side quests, so it'll help you throughout the second half of the game; if memory serves, it was around the 35-40 hour mark that I started to flag and might've even taken a break for a couple days. Best of luck!

@RogerRoger That last screen capture is just fantastic. Every element of its composition is perfect.