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gold-eyes-vengeful-heart · 3 years

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Resolve

((or: Runya eavesdrops on some conversations.

Contains spoilers for the Emerald Weapon part of the Weapon questline! Also contains many mentions of violence, abuse, and also contains Runya being an asshole.))

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Blue disapproved of Runya sneaking back out of his room in Terncliff. It sloshed around the back of his mind like water in a shaken container, never quite settling long enough for him to be able to ignore it.

“Oh, come now,” he muttered to himself, still using one hand on the wall to brace himself lest his overtaxed body fall over entirely on him. “You know as well as I do that I can’t help but be...curious about who they found.”

He couldn’t help but be curious about what, exactly, these children were up to. Why they would leave one of their own behind for the wolves--or the Wolf, rather, he realized with a dry smirk--when they had more than enough time to take her with them. Or at least that was how Sorin recalled it, once Runya had been conscious enough to start asking questions.

(It was almost as if they wanted her to be found, Sorin had said. By us, specifically. But we’re their enemies, aren’t they?)

Yes, they were. Anyone who would point what was essentially a giant gun at the lot of them and do their best to pull the trigger was, indeed, an enemy as far as Runya was concerned. And yet...something strange was going on here, if siblings supposedly close to one another were deliberately leaving one of their own behind. Specifically for Baelsar, Sorin had said.

Well, maybe it was past time someone found out what was going on. Even if he had to squeeze the answers out of the girl himself.

His ears pricked up as he caught wind of a conversation, though. Between that lancer woman and the man he had just been thinking about, even...and it sounded as if she was recounting the Empire’s treatment of her. It was enough to get him to roll his eyes; anyone under the Empire’s banners would have similar tales, and recounting it to a Legatus overseeing it seemed like a futile exercise. And yet. Yet.

“To think I served under the same banner as those vile creatures..”

He sounded...disgusted. And something about the hypocrisy actually blanked Runya’s mind of any snide retorts or even anger. The man who had been in charge of Gyr Abania. The man who had instituted working camps to blight the landscape with his Castrums. The man who had been directly responsible for and the man who had overseen cruelty after cruelty. The man who had taken children from their parents to raise as his obedient little child soldiers.

This man. Acting as if he, somehow, had no idea of what the Empire was doing to those caught under its bootheel. Over corporal punishment that was depressingly commonplace even with the people it deemed worthy of being counted as actual ‘people’.

{...What?}

Blue’s distaste for Runya’s being up and about even stopped, going still as a millpond save for that one immensely confused ripple in its surface. A few images of the Black Wolf in his armor, fuzzy and contextless as they were, flickered through Runya’s mind--

And he laughed. A short, disbelieving sound at first, and one that rose into a full-throated cackle in very short order, indeed. It had gotten both the Imperials’ attention, and though his everything kept hurting even more with the laughter, Runya just sauntered towards them, spreading his hands wide.

“Oh, Baelsar, Baelsar. You missed your calling as a comedian, it seems.” The wide smile on his face felt as plastered on as it looked, and now that the confusion had abated, anger roiled in to fill its place. “Either that or you are possibly the worst liar I have ever had the displeasure of hearing. You just didn’t know, did you? Really, now, if I were your friend here I would be positively insulted that you thought that little of my intelligence that I would fall for a blatant lie like that one.”

And at that, Baelsar tensed right up. Good. “I didn’t ask your opinion, Runya.”

Runya leaned in, fangs showing in a significantly sharper smile. “And I wasn’t asking your permission to give it, Legatus. Or has your age gotten to you and you’ve started mistaking me for one of your soldiers?”

“Father?”

The timid female voice from behind him made his ear turn slightly before his head did. The Auri woman who it belonged to nearly backed into her Duskwight handler in surprise, and Runya’s continuing sharp grin did little to dissuade her that the reaction was a wrong one.

“Oh, just the person I had been thinking about,” he chuckled, “at least before your Father Dearest grabbed my attention. I take it you’ve come to speak with him?”

But she just stared at him with wide eyes, nodding...but speaking to him instead. “You’re...you’re the other pilot. The one with the blue dragon machine.”

“The IXth Legion’s glorious Resonance testbed, and so on, yes yes.” He waved a hand idly. “I am also exceedingly curious.”

She blinked. “About...?”

“Well, what else?” He pointed. “They left you behind for us. Intentionally, if dear Sorin was at all correct, and he usually is.”

And at that, her face fell, but his stare bored into her until she finally responded. “Rex...Alfonse...they...they wanted me safe with Father.”

“Even though,” Runya drawled, interrupting, “we’re currently your enemies? Are you sure they were--?”

“I’m very sure!” she retorted, showing a bit of fire in her tone for the first time--though she immediately winced as if she expected something for it. (A quick little thing that Runya saw but made no comment on, as much as he noted it for later.) “We weren’t going to use the project for Lord Varro’s ambitions...”

And then she trailed off again, as Runya cocked his head to one side and took a step forward.

“Then for what, exactly, were you wielding them on his behalf?” he asked, his smile a bit less sharp now. “If it was even on his behalf?”

Her fists clenched. “We were going to use the Weapon program to defeat him. Defeat the Empire. Make a better world for those like us, even if we would never live to see it.”

His eyebrows were slowly rising, now, but he didn’t interrupt.

“Father always said that the strong should fight for those who can’t fight themselves, and the Weapons are strong. But the Weapons would never get to their true potential without the sheer amount of aether primals have.”

But this time, before she could continue, Runya casually turned his head to glace out of the corner of his eye at Gaius. “Baelsar? I believe you might have actually lobotomized them if this is the plan they’re coming up with.”

He jerked like he was struck. Good. So Runya continued.

“I mean,” he continued, smiling slyly, “Blue wasn’t at his full potential either. It never drove me back into the Empire’s arms to do some mass murderer’s dirty work just to follow my own ends--and they are their own ends, no matter what pretty words and noble intentions they dress it up in.”

And the Auri woman blanched, even if she stood her ground.

“In fact, it’s arguable that I very well ran the risk of messily dying for defecting. Not just because our overlords would have been displeased, but because the Empire had long since carved me open and stuffed me full of artifacts and cared little for what that would do to my long-term longevity outside of their care. I was never expected to be far away from it, you see.”

The casual admittance left an awful silence that he took full advantage of once more.

“She said it herself--the Weapons were powerful. They were the only ones who could pilot them, too, I would wager. Why not simply take these powerful Weapons and go to the very people sworn to defeat the Empire if that was their ultimate goal? If they need primals’ aether so badly--why not bring them to us and ask the people who fight primals and have studied them the most about whether there’s any other way to enhance them? Why fight the biggest thorns in the Empire’s side and try to kill them if you want to stop the Empire so badly?”

He just sighed, rolled his neck to loosen the tension a bit, and turned to walk off, his tail lashing behind him. “One would wonder if you cared about them at all, Baelsar, if you didn’t bother teaching them basic logic. Or maybe they just learned from Father about their ends being the only ends that matter, no matter what means it requires for means? But my course of action remains the same, when and if we do find these other Weapons...I am going to kill them and anyone who pilots them. I said that I would rip the entire Empire up root and stem, and I meant every word of it. Even when it comes to you. All that matters is if you would put your neck on the chopping block now or later.”

He cared little for these fool children and their equally-fool plans. He cared little about noble intentions, when noble intentions but led to hell. All that mattered to Runya was that they were working for the Empire, still, and that made them his enemies.

And his enemies would die. Or he would.

#; writing #5.4 spoilers #spoilers #somewhere Sorin is just like RUNYA #RUNYA /NO/#RUNYA STOP #also: warning for me being INCREDIBLY petty about Werlyt's writing lmao

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airanke · 7 years

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Everything Wrong With The Broken Shore Scenario

Okay I updated this entire thing to be basically a break down of what the title says. Mentions some good things, but most of it is salt from me.

FYI. Most things about this entire plotline / storyline / questline were and are bad, and I have zero tolerance for horrible story-telling. Especially if it involves character deaths. And if I’m still salty about something that happened nearly a year ago? I think that means that somewhere, someone, SOMEHOW, managed to screw up majorly.

Using this video for the HORDE SIDE (and only covering the Horde side, I DO skip over Varian’s death for the first half of this rant, and cover it in the second half, which is focused on the Alliance).

Understand that if Varian and Vol’jin’s deaths had been executed well, I would not be as angry about this entire scenario as I still am. I would have accepted them! Broken Shore was not well done. The entire scenario was - for lack of a better word - bullshit. Varian’s death? Bullshit. Vol’jin’s death? Bullshit.

I won’t bore you with more unnecessary exposition on my part. Onward we go.

0:00 - 0:14

Okay! Let’s start on a slightly positive note! Good set up. Lots of demons around, though - and this is me being nit-picky - there doesn’t appear to be a lot of demons pestering Horde forces. If we’re supposed to believe that the Horde was getting “overrun”, should have been more demons, and more people fighting. We’ll chalk this up to rendering times and stuff like that instead of bad planning, though. We also get to see that Baine is fighting off Demons while Thrall crawls on the ground, which is a good thing, because we know that Baine is 1) preoccupied and 2) Thrall is close to being out of commission. So yeah. Good set up.

0:14-0:26

First, I’ll talk about how nice it actually was to see Sylvanas display emotion - as out of place as it feels. When did she develop any sort of “emotions” or “feelings (of liking / tolerance)” toward Vol’jin, exactly? All we know from the Siege end when you talk to Sylvanas on what she thinks of Vol’jin being Warcheif, is that 1) she won’t take orders from a troll, but also 2) that she admires / respects Vol’jin’s tenacity. So a slightly positive - if confusing - touch. That Sylvanas had genuine concern for Vol’jin’s well-being is an interesting look into her character.

This is also where the Horde side of Broken Shore goes to shit. Sylvanas had more than enough time to shoot the Fel guard that attacks Vol’jin. Consider, for a moment, that when she was alive, this woman was Ranger General of Quel’Thalas. Also, in the opening set up scenes, we see one of her token arrows take down a demon that was going after Varian, so distance was definitely not an issue. Need proof?

Purple explosion, and Sylvanas’ arrows are almost always encased in purple magic. Happens at 0:04. Immediately afterward, between 0:05-0:06, the shot zooms in on Sylvanas, who is very clearly standing at the top of the cliff. So you cannot argue that there was a greater distance between Voll’jin and Sylvanas at the point where Vol’jin was stabbed. Now, understand that I could have very easily accepted this. I could have accepted Vol’jin’s getting stabbed and subsequently the death that followed. I should have been able to accept it - but it was poorly written, and thus, I cannot accept it. Even almost a year after the fact. If people are still angry about Vol’jin’s death, it means Blizzard did something wrong in their writing. Don’t believe me? Still think her inability to shoot the Fel guard coming at Vol’ijn is passable?

0:26

Please explain to me, then, how this horse is here.

By magic?

Then using that same logic, by magic Sylvanas should have been able to easily shoot the Fel guard that attacked Vol’jin.

How is this horse here? Why is it not dead? Why are there no demons trying to attack it, why is no Fel bat trying to whisk it away, and why is there such a severe lack of demons in this entire shot? If this horse is somehow magically here, then by that same magical-ness, Sylvanas should have shot the Fel guard that stabbed Vol’jin. How can you possibly make an error like this? Do you know how terrible of a writer you have to be to think that you can have a woman of Sylvanas’ calibre, with the experience she has behind her - the thousands of years of experience - could not shoot a single Fel guard while she had more than enough time to and since she was already looking at Vol’jin, she would have seen approach him?

But here, have a horse, perfectly fine, ready to go, waiting for her to leap on it’s back so she can go rescue Vol’jin. Because even in a fantasy setting, during what is supposedly a massive demon invasion, that is perfectly logical and perfectly acceptable.

0:27-0:32

Another positive point! Again in the department of us getting to see there’s more to Sylvanas than her dark, angry, brooding side. Also dang girl is strong, picks up Vol’jin like it ain’t no problem.

But again, this only further pushes the question of why she somehow couldn’t take out the Fel guard that stabbed Vol’jin. At this point, I am personally beginning to question her capabilities as a Ranger General. Can shoot down a Fel bat no problem, but somehow can’t shoot a Fel guard? I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything better, however, female characters in this game / story are poorly handled and poorly written at best.

0:32-0:40

Set-up shot. We’re supposed to feel really worried because oh no here comes a big force of demons.

Except they’re... walking. Now we can argue that they’re walking because they know they’re going to win - but if you’re out to wipe out all life on Azeroth, why wait? Why take it slow? Why not swoop in and take everyone down while Sylvanas is distracted with Vol’jin telling her not to let the Horde die, and while Baine is (supposedly) still fighting demons off of Thrall? Sure it’s a big force, but that’s all it is. A big force taking its sweet time to come kill the Horde.

0:41-0:46

Sylvanas thinks on what Vol’jin has said. Again, a good look into her character. It oddly shows that she has come to see the Horde as her people - in a way, though I find this character change to be incredibly strange and a bit jarring. Either way, we get a nice range of emotions from her. We see that she does not want to call the retreat, but resigns herself to the fact that she must do it, 1) out of respect for her Warchief’s technical last command, and 2) because she knows that it is the best option (also, because if she dies as well, then who will lead the Forsaken? If we’re still running with the idea that Sylvanas is selfish and only cares about herself).

I mean just look at her face:

Not the face of someone who wants to call a retreat. And immediately following it, we get a pretty neat shot of her with a resolved expression in that, regardless of how this is going to affect their tender allegiance with the Alliance, she is going to sound that retreat:

All good points.

My complaint is that this seems very out of character for Sylvanas, but what was her character like to begin with? Between Vanilla, Wrath, Cataclysm, and Legion Sylvanas, it’s a whole lot of “what” and “how”. Her character is inconsistent. Suddenly she cares about Vol’jin, and apparently the Horde as a whole. Uh? Where’d that come from? Was there a book I missed? What are the relationships between all these characters anyway, because in the books Jaina forgave the Horde for what happened to Theramore, but after this event she goes back to hating the Horde (and I presume, breaking up with Kalec, because he explicitly told her that he couldn’t be with her if she was going to let herself be consumed by anger).

A rant on Jaina is for another time though. Let’s move on.

0:46-0:57

Good use of music, but that’s about it. We see that Thrall is down, and Baine is picking him up while looking to the Val’kyr like they’re angels (and I suppose they are, in a way). We see minimal shots of Horde soldiers being shot.

We also see zero demons.

..... why are there zero demons in this scene?

I thought Broken Shore was crawling with them? I thought there was this massive force coming through a portal? I thought the Horde was close to being overrun? We don’t even see Fel bats flying around. The Horde seriously just walks calmly away from this situation. There’s no panic, there’s nothing, just... calm walking. Seriously, look at how calm these characters are:

We are clearly about to be overrun, you guys.

Apparently the Legion decided it was time for a coffee break, and they’re all sitting in lawn chairs playing Go Fish while they watch the Horde retreat. Yeah. Sounds quite logical to a large demonic force looking to purge Azeroth of all life.

0:57-1:00

Again, we see no demons. And the Horde ship is perfectly fine, intact, not damaged, no demon has touched it. Because obviously, if you’re as cocky as the Legion so obviously is, you wouldn’t destroy the Horde’s only escape from the Broken Shore. So basically, the Legion intended to kill off the Horde and Alliance at this point but weren’t really committed. Gul’dan just wanted to be able to gloat about killing Varian and Vol’jin later (he’s poorly misinformed, especially in regards to Vol’jin, but, what can we expect from an overused villain who got a sad backstory? Nothing really).

You could of course argue that the Legion left the boat alone because they anticipated wiping out the Horde forces, but that’s not really an excuse not to cover all possible scenarios. After all, isn’t that why the Legion keeps failing in its invasions in the first place? Because they don’t account for all the possible scenarios?

You could also argue that the Legion simply wanted to gloat about how powerful they were by taking out Varian and Vol’jin. Unfortunately, none of the Alliance were around to actually “see” how Varian died (we only know because we, as viewers, were shown in the cinematic. None of our characters were actually there, savvy? We were all busy retreating). At least Horde characters “saw” Vol’jin die - but I digress.

There is no logical reason aside from being abhorrently cocky that can be given to excuse why the Legion would not have destroyed a stationary boat docked at the beach.

I will skip over the part showing Varian’s death, and go right to the part where we see Sylvanas on the boat (since I’m going to cover Varian’s death in the Alliance part of this rant).

3:57-4:15

Sylvanas honestly shows little to no remorse over her call because it was the right call to make (but I also question it at this point since Blizzard decided to have nearly zero demons throughout the entirety of the Horde cinematic, despite the fact that supposedly our side was in a Very Bad Spot™). We also see Varian’s blade fizzle out. Cool.

Moving onto the Alliance side of this (which the Horde was forced to watch, because obviously we had to know what happened to Varian, but none of the Alliance players were forced to watch what happened to Vol’jin. Nice one Blizzard, nice one).

At this point I also stopped going off of the Horde video I linked previously, and switched to this one for the FULL Alliance part. And boy howdy do I also have a lot of complaints - so buckle your seat belts! I’m actually going to argue for the fact that Varian’s death was as much bullshit as Vol’jin’s was! Me! A Horde-biased player! WoW!

0:00-0:39

All set up and exposition. What I liked was seeing was 1) Mekkatorque blindly shooting a Fel guard because Gnomes don’t get enough attention, and 2) Varian yelling at Genn to stop clawing at a Fel guard’s face. The “my lord!” was a nice touch too.

But also, that’s a lot of demons. Where were all these demons in the Horde cinematic? I thought that I was supposed to think that my side was being overrun? Something’s Not Quite Right™.

It’s almost as if Blizzard wanted the Alliance to think that the Horde was retreating for no real good reason. Who would have ever thought? Because obviously if leaders come to an understanding with each other, PVP will magically disappear along with it. Along with battlegrounds.

Solid logic.

Wait. Where’s Jaina? I thought she was there?

0:39-0:53

I had to laugh for a moment because of where I paused... anyway! Varian is stunned to hear the Horde retreat. Those Dark Rangers also walk away from their posts far to calmly for my liking. If the situation for the Horde is as dire as we’re supposed to believe, they should be hauling ass. Except apparently the situation is not as dire for the Horde as we’re supposed to believe. Imagine that.

Now, Varian has a moment where he appears to be thinking that perhaps something happened up there that caused the Horde to retreat. I’ll prove it! Look at his expression here:

That is the expression of a man who is thinking about a reason for why Sylvanas was sound a retreat. Then there’s Genn. Who’s angry snarling basically brings Varian to this:

So Varian decides that Genn is right, they couldn’t have ever trusted Sylvanas, and so there is nothing but anger. Yay. The demons also oddly leave both Genn and Varian alone for this entire set of dialogue. I’m glad to know that there is also a lack of demons at certain points in the Alliance cinematic as there were in the Horde cinematic.

Let’s throw a positive point in here: the range of expressions in these cinematics plus the updated 3D models is really nice!! And the music, in both, is excellent, as per usual.

And we move on.

And still no sign of Jaina at all.

0:54-1:05 (this was also part of the Horde side cinematic. The Gunship up to Varian’s death)

There’s the gunship! But without the Horde the Alliance will supposedly be overrun, and I mean, there are a lot of demons, but the Gunship seems to be taking care of them pretty easily-

1:05-1:06

.... oh. So THAT’S where that mass of demons that waddled slowly out of a portal ended up. Instead of chasing down and killing off the Horde. I see they have their priorities in place. Perhaps their whole mission this entire time was simply to kill off the Alliance. We will never know.

1:07-1:15

Everyone goes to the Gunship - and again, instead of chasing them down, the Legion just marches toward them. Walking over a bunch of dead demons. This is about as dire feeling as the Horde cinematic when the Horde started retreating. Which is to say, it doesn’t feel dire at all. These demons aren’t even running. They’re walking. Taking their time.

And still no Jaina. So it is safe to assume that she teleported away from the battlefield to sulk long before any of this stuff happened at the Broken Shore. Which means she basically booked it after we all fought the demon that appeared after Tirion died. And furthermore, have you noticed how the cinematic very suddenly became all about Genn and Varian? Mekkatorque has also mysteriously disappeared. At the very least, we know that Baine was busy taking care of Thrall on the Horde side.

But what happened to Jaina and Mekkatorque?

I’ll get to why Jaina was mysteriously removed from the cinematic in a little bit. The answer is quite obvious when you sit back and think about it for as long as I have.

1:16-1:45

Look guys it’s the star of the show! Gul’dan! Who should be dead and shouldn’t have been used as yet another endgame boss, but alas. Here he is. Because a Bronze Dragon somehow took Garrosh back in time after the Bronze Dragons had supposedly lost all their power (and that is... yet another story for another time. Sheesh).

Also that. That is a Fel Reaver.

And, that Fel Reaver is why Jaina was completely removed from the cinematic.

Aside from, you know, being a female character whose only purpose is to be a pile of angry, overly salty meat (I am personally infuriated over how Jaina’s character has been handled, but as I mentioned quite far above, that’s a rant for another time).

Jaina is an Archmage. It makes perfect sense for Blizzard to conveniently forget about her even being present on the Broken Shore if you’re intending to bring in a big bad like the Fel Reaver. She could have (in my opinion, given that, you know, she’s an Archmage) very easily either a) frozen the Fel Reaver, b) blasted it away with a powerful fire or arcane spell, or c) summon a massive wave of water to push it away (or at the very least, summon some Water Elementals to, oh I don’t know, put out the Fel Reaver’s fire? Completely plausible).

In order to make Varian’s “heroic sacrifice” make sense, they had to pull out the one other character on the Alliance side who could have dealt with the Fel Reaver no problem. Which means removing any trace of Jaina from this entire scenario, because Varian’s death makes absolutely zero sense when you consider the fact that Jaina Proudmoore was present in this fight.

She was there.

And she was conveniently removed because she could have taken down that Fel Reaver with ease, and don’t you dare try to convince me otherwise or defend Blizzard on this point. You cannot just remove a character like that from a cinematic when said character was vital to the fight (see: The Alliance would not have been able to get up to the platform where we all saw Tirion die if Jaina was not present to create her path of ice).

But no. She is somehow not here. She is somehow not present in the one situation where her presence would have prevented a character’s death.

I’m angrier about the fact that she was axed from this cinematic than I am angry over Varian’s death. Notice how both Sylvanas and Jaina - powerful female characters with years of experience under their belt - were reduced to either suddenly incapable of using a bow (Sylvanas) and magically gone from the entire situation (Jaina).

Some Archmage. Some Ranger General.

1:49-2:14

Emotional scene with Genn and Varian. A nice touch - and again, good range of emotions on the characters, excellent music.

Not enough to save this terribly written, terribly executed plot though.

2:15-2:34

Varian takes down the Fel Reaver in one shot.

This is precisely why no one will be able to convince me that Jaina wouldn’t have been able to take out that Fel Reaver in one shot, because she is and was and will always be fully capable of doing so. I’m almost saliter over how Jaina was handled than I am over Vol’jin’s death. Incredible.

We’re going to skip over Varian’s whole one-on-one with a bunch of Fel guards and being killed by Gul’dan because there’s not a lot I can say about it, considering that Blizzard generally does well on their fight scenes. My only irritation is how quickly Varian goes from “FOR AZEROTH!” back to “FOR THE ALLIANCE!” because the Horde is Evil™ and Abandoned The Alliance For No Good Reason At All™.

3:53-4:09

We see Genn screaming in rage to the sky (a nice touch) and the light of Varian’s blade going out (also a nice touch).

And that’s it.

In short, the entire reason why Vol’jin and Varian died is because Blizzard decided not to use powerful female characters to their full potential. They completely undermined both Jaina and Sylvanas’ capabilities as experts in their respective fields.

Vol’jin’s death was not a nice twist on the “female character dies to further male’s plot line”, no, Vol’jin’s death was a mockery of Sylvanas’ capabilities as a Ranger General - if we want to get all feminist about this, of course. The fact still remains. Jaina was still removed from the Alliance side cinematic e n t i r e l y despite her obvious presence in the scenario itself. We don’t even see a hint to any of her spells in the scenario as well.

It was by MAGIC!!! that both Vol’jin and Varian died, and not because the Broken Shore was somehow a well-written scenario.

#Vol'jin #Varian Wrynn #Jaina Proudmoore #Sylvanas Windrunner #WoW #World of Warcraft #Legion #Air's antics #I'm still so salty about this it's STUPID #IT'S SO STUPID #I SHOULD NOT GET ANGRY ABOUT THIS EVERY TIME IT COMES UP #BUT I DO #I GET SO ANGRY #ESP OVER HOW JAINA WAS HANDLED #WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS OKAY?#FFS

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brokenbase · 7 years

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Horizon: Zero Dawn - BROKEN BASE REVIEWS

That's right - we were lucky enough to score an advanced copy of Horizon: Zero Dawn from Sony! So, what did Steve think about one of the first big console exclusives of the year? Well, go ahead and watch the video! Or, if you wanted to read the review, you’re in luck - the full script is just below the cut!

Horizon: Zero Dawn, the latest game from Killzone developer Guerrilla Games, is already under a lot of pressure. Not only is it one of the first big releases of 2017, but it’s the one of the biggest guns in the PlayStation 4′s exclusive line-up for the year. A new IP, a new heroine, a new engine - even after a fantastic debut and some serious hype, Horizon: Zero Dawn still has a lot left to prove.

There’s a lot to cover when it comes to Horizon. Not only is the game massive in scope, but Guerrilla Games have pulled from a number of other gaming franchises to create one of the most eclectic sandboxes in recent memory. While there’s nothing wrong with pulling inspiration from other, successful franchises, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.

Thankfully, Horizon: Zero Dawn manages to blend its different ideas into a cohesive - and more importantly, fun - open-world action game.

Players take on the role of Aloy, a young woman surviving the harsh wild of a post-apocalyptic Earth. Giant robotic animals roam the planet, leaving humankind to fight for its very survival. As one might expect, it doesn’t take long for Aloy to get swept up in a worldwide conspiracy, forcing her to leave home in search of answers.

To put it bluntly, the first few hours of the story are rough. Aloy is enjoyable enough, but the story of an outcast trying to fit into society is downright generic. It’s far too easy to predict exactly what will happen, and it’s not nearly interesting enough to create any sort of emotional attachment.

Once the intro is out of the way, Horizon’s story does get better. The game’s world and the people in it manage to create a setting that’s both far-flung and believably grounded - given that this is a world where giant robot dinosaurs roam the wilderness, that’s saying something. It definitely helps that many of the player’s actions actually make an impact: Seeing decisions and questlines come full circle as the game progresses is a great touch, and does a lot to make Horizon’s side quests feel like more than inconsequential errands.

But it’s the story of the machines and their origins that’s the true star of the show. Horizon’s A.I.-centric plot may be a new take on an established concept, but a number of genuinely surprising twists and a distinct identity keep it from feeling stale. Sadly, the pacing is extremely lopsided: the story becomes an unrelenting deluge of information during its second half, and it can be overwhelming at times.

What’s worse is that Aloy’s personal story doesn’t hold up nearly as well. Her storyline takes a backseat for far too long, and the main villain doesn’t have enough of a presence throughout the game to feel like a real threat. By the time the credits roll, the whole revenge plot feels like more of a sidenote than anything.

As a whole, characterization is flawed: Aloy herself is enjoyable, and some of the side characters are great, but nearly everyone else is either forgettable or entirely unlikable. For whatever reason, Aloy’s closest ally is an absolute prick throughout the entire game, while the central villains are basically nonexistent. It’s completely backwards, and choices like these derail the story on more than one occasion.

Simply put, the narrative of Horizon: Zero Dawn is all over the place: some parts of the story are fantastic, while others drag the experience down. Personal tastes will be a factor in your enjoyment of the story, but once it gets going, the good usually outweighs the bad.

Anyone who’s played an open-world game from the past ten years will know exactly what to expect from Horizon: Zero Dawn. The entirety of the game’s single-player story takes place in a massive seamless map filled to the brim with NPCs, quests and hidden collectibles. Players complete story missions to advance the plot, and side quests to earn optional rewards. Scaling specific machines will reveal large portions of the map, and fast-travel points open up as players explore the world.

At first glance, it might seem like Horizon’s strict adherence to the standard open-world formula wouldn’t leave much room for new ideas...and while that’s true in some respects, it’s also selling the game short. The overall structure may be familiar, but the gameplay itself is an entirely different beast.

With a focus on stealth, ancient weaponry and RPG mechanics, one would be forgiven for assuming that playing through Horizon: Zero Dawn is a slow, methodical experience. In reality, that’s only half-true.

Players will spend the majority of their time playing Horizon doing one of two things: engaging enemy combatants head-on, or sneaking around them. Combat and movement are fast and loose while simultaneously rewarding those who play with precision. It’s possible to let off a slew of arrows quickly, but it’s far more satisfying to pick off enemies one at a time with carefully-placed shots.

Human enemies, for the most part, don’t provide much resistance. Their sheer numbers can be a threat, and more powerful variants are introduced as the game goes on, but they don’t hold a candle to the robotic enemies that players will face.

Without the ability to take out a target with a single shot, combat against the machines becomes far more tactical. Weapon choice, enemy layouts, terrain, available ammo, healing items - everything has to be taken into consideration before taking the first shot. Actual combat is a chess game of positioning, targeting weakpoints and isolating weaker enemies, and it’s a blast from beginning to end. Fights against multiple machines can be a bit too chaotic for their own good, and certain enemy types are overpowered, but these issues are minor in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, combat is more complicated than just bows and arrows. Aloy’s arsenal does a fine job of both encouraging experimentation and allowing players to find a specific style that works for them. Different ammo types and elemental status effects offer even more variety, though the upgrade system isn’t quite as successful. Purchasing or crafting better gear is definitely helpful, but grinding for the specific parts required to do so relies entirely on random chance. Get ready to hunt a lot of rabbits.

Skills points and leveling up are the final piece of the combat puzzle, and it’s exactly what you would expect. More experience means more skills, such as slowing down time while aiming or more powerful melee attacks. It’s another way that players can customize their play style, but it’s nothing new, either.

The rest of the gameplay is fun, if not entirely noteworthy. Puzzles and platforming are basically automatic, and don’t provide any real sense of challenge. Collectibles are fun to find, but the rewards for finding them aren’t anything special. Dialogue trees are an interesting addition, but there are only a few instances where Aloy’s response actually changes anything.

It’s a shame that the smaller aspects of Horizon’s gameplay aren’t as polished as the core mechanics, but it’s clear that Guerrilla Games focused on what matters. Combat feels great, and sneaking through an enemy encampment is extremely satisfying. It would have been nice if everything were as engaging as the combat, but Horizon nails its core gameplay so well that these small missteps are easy to forgive.

From the moment that players press Start, one thing is obvious: Horizon: Zero Dawn is absolutely gorgeous. Nearly everything about the game’s presentation is phenomenal, from the environments to the character models to the sound design to the insane level of detail.

Watching as Aloy or any one of the massive machines move through the environment is a sight to behold, and the sheer number of different animations is staggering. Lighting is another highlight, with the use of color and shadow standing head-and-shoulders above most other games in the industry. Horizon is a game that revels in creating atmosphere.

What pulls everything together is the game’s unparalleled sense of scale. True, there are plenty of games with massive open worlds, but few truly take advantage of their sandboxes. Horizon, on the other hand, is constantly using the scope of its world to amazing effect. It’s huge, in every sense of the word, and it’ll make your jaw drop more than once.

Granted, the presentation isn’t perfect. Facial animation is noticeably limited, and characters don’t really emote. Some of the voice work (typically whenever children are involved) also falls short, and a few minor technical issues pop up from time to time. That being said, a few infrequent hang-ups aren’t nearly enough to derail one of the best-looking games of this generation. Horizon: Zero Dawn is both an artistic and technical marvel, and proof that there’s still plenty of room to grow in the current generation of consoles.

Horizon: Zero Dawn isn’t a perfect game. The story is unfocused, the intro drags on for far too long, and the pacing is ridiculously unbalanced.

But, when you look at the bigger picture, it’s easy to see just how good Horizon really is. The game may draw its mechanics from a number of different series, but everything comes together so well that it’s hard not to be impressed. It’s also a technical marvel, with an unparalleled attention to detail and infinitely impressive scale. The game may stick to some open-world traditions a bit too strictly, but at the end of the day, Horizon is still one of the most polished games in recent memory.

If Horizon: Zero Dawn is just the first piece of Sony’s exclusive line-up in 2017, then PlayStation 4 owners have a lot to look forward to.

#Broken Base #Horizon: Zero Dawn #Reviews #Writing

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