HZD vs BOTW

For those of you that have both and have played both, which do you prefer? I’ve finished Horizon Zero Dawn on normal, now doing a NG+ on Hard level as well as the Frozen Wilds DLC on Hard. I have BOTW but haven’t played it yet.

Horizon is your average good game with amazing graphics, BotW is one of the best games I've ever played. In my view there's absolutely no competition between the two.

Get both

In my opinion they both are amazing, but very very different and both have distinct weaknesses. I won't rag on either, but since you've already played HZD but not BotW I'll just mention that BotW has the richest mechanics and emergent gameplay you can imagine, but on the flip side the story is not gripping and they do a poor job delivering it in a coherent manner; BotW suffers from classic open-world pitfalls that HZD - while a more shallow game - does a better job avoiding. BotW fails to deliver the tense combat and satisfying sense of narrative progression. But BotW does a much better job of flexing your creative muscles and while there is little "weight" or meaning to the things you do as you randomly wander the countriside, it gives you a deeper experience along the way... if that makes any sense.

IMO they are both must-plays but I strongly disagree with anyone who claims either is perfect or one is bad compared to the other. They are almost orthogonal gaming experiences.

If you can get both, who’s better ? Well, the only thing both have in common is that both are games.

Get both

Played both and find them alright for what they are now looking back, but both are pretty underwhelming and not a fan of how they function. Have no intention to return to either game because of these reasons.

Horizon despite the developer once stating in an interview the game was designed to be a lot like Monster Hunter, is actually more Tomb Raider in a sandbox world. Not essentially a bad thing, but lacks any of the deep layers from the noted game series above. It's a game designed to look nice and Guerrilla Games played it safe with something already over-saturated in the gaming market. My guess is because attempting something like MH was too ambitious_

Breath of the Wild would have been a much better game without two tedious systems. BotW just wants the player to cook and break weapons to extend the games length. This is one of the most artificial ways to increase a games relevance, and screams a lack confidence in its other systems for replayability and longevity. Which is odd considering the combat is pretty good for a Zelda and openworld game, tight, fluid and responsive (take notes next time Rockstar). Even just pushing rocks on a small horde below is really awesome. Climbing almost anything then gliding across the map is really the games highlight and something I enjoyed many times. Dungeons also take a back seat, and are simple and few to be exact.

They both are good

I didn't particularly like HZD. It felt like an Ubisoft game - big, pretty, and soulless. The enemy design was fairly cool, but the protagonist was extremely dull and everything felt same-y after the first few hours.

BOTW is brilliant though. Sure, there's not much of a plot, but I can't think of a game with better or more rewarding exploration. Structually, it's not really any different from HZD, but the repetitive tasks and fun and varied, and there's an astonishingly large number of ways to interact with the world and its denizens.

Also, I stand by the weapon breaking system. It's a great mechanic that encourages experimentation with the game's many weapons, and adds an engaging risk/reward dimension to battles.

I can see that hoarders would loathe this system (ie. the same sorts of people who might mod an Elder Scrolls game to have unlimited carry capacity), but that doesn't stop it from being a very well designed gameplay mechanic.

BOTW

Horizon Zero Dawn but Breath of the Wild looks gorgeous. I haven't got a Switch. Horizon Zero Dawn had some interesting plot twists and they did stroll away from the cliche story. I like how they included lots of different demographics and tribes, but I know what you mean, Aloy was a bit dead.

Dat necro'd thread

Going with BOTW even though I’ve played neither yet. Lol