Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West and DLC SPOILERS Thread

I thought the main story went downhill fast when the Far Zenith villains were introduced. The first half of the story about restoring Gaia was fine. I wish they had left it at that and maybe made Regalla into a bigger threat. Or even made Sylens a Solas-like villain. I was actually expecting him to be a major character and he was, in the background, but ultimately he didn't have much screen time at all. And the story made him look foolish in the end so that the female characters could outshine him by a mile and I didn't like that sentiment. His decision to stay on Earth is an interesting development though. I didn't expect that. Thought he was going to make an exit for real. Going to be interesting how it plays out.

I thought the main plot was honestly atrocious. Thebes was such a low point. Ted Faro alive as some kind of off screen monstrosity?! And worse, he wasn't just an arrogant idiot who got humanity wiped out. Oh no, he was also a complete creep with a harem! WTF, who writes shit like this?!
And they didn't stop there, the CEO as another evil white guy on top of it was too much. That was a total parody. Absolutely painful to watch. One of the worst missions of any game. Just plain bad.

It really pains to say this about the main plot. And it's so disappointing and strange considering how AMAZING the side content is. The Vegas storyline is one of the best written things I've ever seen in gaming. It was so charming and mesmerizing. Just perfect.
They CAN write great stuff. So what the actual fuck happened there with the main story?? Far Zenith made Corypheus look like great writing in comparison...

Granted, there were individual scenes of the main story that I really liked. Like Aloy and Beta. That conversation where Aloy gets so frustrated and cannot understand how somebody with the exact same genes could be this passive negative miserable thing. And then she realizes why. Because she didn't have Rost, somebody who loved her and built up her confidence. And I LOVED that scene. Thank you for saying this. For acknowledging that fathers are very important too. Refreshing after all the subtle and not so subtle man bashing going on.
How Aloy grows to care for Beta was great.
Btw I was really impressed how Ashley Burch worked with her voice. She sounded very different as Beta, almost like a different person. She nailed Beta's broken character with her voice. I know some people don't like the voice actress and how she pauses a lot while speaking but I love her voice. Not Jennifer Hale awesome but her voice is perfect for Aloy for me too. All the voice actors did movie quality work. These characters all felt so alive and real. Excellent casting.

In general, it was so awesome to see Aloy transform into a leader and accept and own that role. She's Guerilla's Shepard. There are so many parallels there, both in personality and narrative structure around finding people who'd do anything for her. Inspiring such fierce loyalty. Aloy has become a total warrior goddess. The shy awkward teenage girl gone (for the most part), replaced by an unflinching defender of the tribes of Earth, defender of people who have not been kind to her as a child.
Seeing Aloy embrace friendship was heart warming. From outcast to beloved hero is an awesome journey. Definitely rivalling Shepard's cult status at the end. A true legend born.

So that was great stuff which was better told through her work with the tribes and her interactions with her companions, rather than that silly goofy main plot.

I did like Tilda's character though. Now OF COURSE the only one with some humanity left is a woman and the biggest assholes of the bunch are white men, again. Ugh. The sadistic psychopath had to be white, naturally. Couldn't he be... Asian or something? Or a woman? That annoyed me. I'm tired of this narrative. Everybody does it now.

The moment Tilda said she knew Sobeck I thought, ah romance incoming. At first it wasn't said and I thought I was wrong for once. But of course that was a given. Super cliche too for 2022 but at least it's a credible reason why she would betray the Zeniths. Which in hindsight makes her fascination with Aloy more than a little creepy and I wish her story didn't end the way it did with that dumb ass contrived boss fight. Did she really have to get this creepy about taking an improved version of Elisabet with her to maybe rekindle what she lost? I don't mind uncomfortable stuff but that felt like such a waste. They needed a boss fight and so they made a very unoriginal one. Felt out of place. Would have preferred her to either sacrifice herself for the cause to redeem herself or just leave alone and die alone like Sobeck. I guess Guerilla wanted to show that they're all too far gone and ultimately selfish. Which is fine. But her thinking she could just take Aloy with her was so lame. Surely she was smartened than to expect Aloy would agree?? Stupid resolution to the plot.

Also the entire assault on the base was super lame. The final battle in HZD was amazing. Seeing all the people she helped join the fight. And how it played out was great. Felt really exciting and earned and rewarding.
Here you just fight past lame specters and then face the sadist and then Tilda. Both fights were dull and very JRPG-ish which in my book is not a good thing anymore. At least we were spared fighting monster Faro...

The story was never going to be as good as the one from the first game. The whole mystery around who Aloy is was something they were never going to repeat. That emotional rollercoaster was amazing even if the plot itself was already quite silly. But it was a well crafted story. And when Aloy finally finds Sobeck I cried like a baby. Aloy finds Shepard basically and then in Forbidden West she becomes Shepard. So there's some thematic consistency at least, lol. And I can't wait for the reapers to arrive in the third game of this trilogy.

So ME2 had that silly god awful human reaper fight at the end and Forbidden West had silly Specter Tilda. Oh well. Both games were about people and not the plot. But at least ME2 had that awesome reveal who the collectors are while FW has... mutant Faro. Ehhhhhh....

Also, the idea that Sylens managed to build a weapon that strips the Zenith shields felt like very lazy writing. They didn't explain it because you can't explain that away. These immortal beings getting tricked like that was just silly. Them being immortal in the first place was so unnecessary. Why couldn't they just be descendants from the Old Ones? Maybe as ignorant of Earth and its history as the people on Earth were about the old world? Anything but sparkly vampires would have been nice...

I'm kind of apprehensive of what the writing of this game means for the plot of the third game. But as long as there's awesome character writing and great sidequests again I can forgive it.

Despite my major gripes with the plot it's still a 10/10 game for me. Or maybe 9.5. Top 10 best games of all time for me along with HZD. Because they improved on everything else. Maaaybe with the exception of the flavor choices they got rid of except in 3 cases I think? I was expecting them to go even more the BioWare route and have more minor choices or at least even more ways to shape Aloy a bit to the player's liking. But there was basically none of it here. That was disappointing. Not a big deal for me and I'm okay with Aloy not following Shepard's footsteps here and banging everything that moves. Girl got no time for that!
But I do consider it a step back that they ditched the choice to select a tone with people.

One super minor personal thing I was hoping for that I knew wasn't gonna happen but still: In the beginning it was nice that Aloy could sort of continue showing interest in Avad. I had her respond favorably to his advances in HZD and I was happy that I could have her say she'd like to come visit him when all this is over. But of course this didn't happen because this shit isn't over. So I'm hoping in the third game Aloy DOES get a proper love interest at the end. If she survives, that is. I could imagine her being terrified of romance more than the end of the world, not knowing how to just live her life now after spending her whole life fighting for survival. I'd like to see her try. Elisabet died alone. No matter how it ends for Aloy, she'll die among friends. Either way, I'm ready for the tears! *g*

What did you guys think of Varl's death? I did not expect him to die right there. I thought Tilda would pull some space magic resurrection spell on him. I was kinda shocked. I was apprehensive of some of the companions dying at the end but not before. And then Zo tells Aloy she's pregnant, oh man. That was so tragic. Very well done storytelling though. I just wish he'd lived. He was a great guy. So not exactly like ME2's suicide mission where everyone could make it.

I loved all the companions. Ava the least perhaps but they were all well written. Kotallo was especially awesome. Now I'm torn between Avad and Kotallo as love interests haha. Sorry Erend. He's the greatest sad guy ever written but Garrus bromance is as far as it goes with him for me. That drink before the final mission had such Mass Effect vibes, man! I wish Varl had a companion quest too...

Oh, I did not expect Nil to be Red Teeth. I didn't even recognize him with the face paint. He was the hottest guy in HZD, that face paint does not do him any favors, lol. But was great to see him again. I just wish Aloy had been a little less disgusted. I remember her kinda playing along with his antics in HZD, no? I think you can even flirt back. So I thought it was slightly out of character that suddenly she's creeped out by him. I mean, hello, that's Nil, your friendly psychopath! Go with the flow, Aloy, and be nice to him, will you?! Guy fought for you after all!