[Mentalist]

Killed a Thunderjaw. Because I can, haha.

Been screwing around in the Carja desert, among the canyons. Activated 2 more Tallnecks, picked a bunch of flowers;

Also, upgraded most of my weapons to Shadow-type. I has ice arrows now!

Did another Cauldron, and cleared a bandit camp ; basically doing a lot of busywork, getting the feel for the land and the new machine-types (like the Buffalo ones, and the Ravager)

Finished the session by the Hunting ground, and encountered a Stormbird there; that could be an interesting fight.

Time to learn to use the Ropecaster, since 2 of the 3 Hunting challenges require using it.

[Malankazooie]

Traveller, on 16 August 2020 - 03:26 PM, said:

Malankazooie, on 15 August 2020 - 02:12 PM, said:

The Frozen Wilds is an excellent expansion. No slacking or resting on laurels by Guerrilla Games. You'll find a new game mechanic that is interesting and you'll notice something about the machines that will have you panting and repeating "what the hell!."

Ha! yeah, my first encounter with a Thunderjaw was a brown your whites moment for me.

I've got a feeling I bought the dlc but didnt play it as I was playing something else at the time.

Oh man, you have to at least venture up there and check out Yellowstone National Park.

[Mentalist]

Another Hunting ground aced. Ropecaster's an interesting toy, but feels very situational.

While trying to complete some of those challenges I ran out of wood; so now I gotta do some serious foraging.

Also trying to complete all the weapon tutorial tasks, because hey, free XP.

[Mentalist]

Oof.

I decided to keep exploring the northern bits of the desert for a bit. Found an Oseram town, did a favour, got to play with a cannon.

Then I went further north, cuz there's a Vantage point there, and I figured, "why not grab that while I'm in the area?"

Welp. It's in the nest of a particularly angry Stormbird. Angry, and big.

This... might take a while.

[Aptorian]

Hope you learned to use that rope caster.

[Mentalist]

Aptorian, on 20 August 2020 - 08:12 AM, said:

Hope you learned to use that rope caster.

Fire works equally well.

The trick is to keep firing, and eventually you are bound to hit the Blaze canisters.

I spotted a big bunker. I can't get in yet, guess I did some more sequence-breaking.

Killed a Behemoth, because I went convoy-hunting.

Spotted a Corrupted Zone occupied by 2 Rockbreakers. I have no clue how to fight them RN. I'm leaning towards ice being the way to go.

[Morgoth]

Isn't HZD great, Ment? I look forwards to hearing your take on the story too.

[Malankazooie]

Definitely in the discussion for one of the best games of the current console generation.

Damn, thinking about the killer exclusive games PlayStation 4 had humbles me with awe. They fuckin' nailed it.

[Mentalist]

Oof, did the Cauldron guarded by a Thunderjaw. Fighting him in tight spaces wasn't particularly fun.

Then I went and aced another Hunting Grounds. Got 2 of the challenges on my first try (have Ravagers shoot some machines, + have Ravagers take down a Thunderjaw); the last one (use Thunderjaw to kill Ravagers) took a bit of practice to get the timing right.

Then I went off looking for another Vantage point, and ended up next to another ruined city infested with cultists. Guessing this'll be a story area?

Anyhow, finished the session by clearing the bandit camp in the area.

Tomorrow I'll go collect some more stuff along the western edge of the map and try to activate the Tallneck. Afterwards, either hit up Frozen Wilds for that spear upgrade, or maybe finally go to Meridian.

[Mentalist]

Whew. Finally got those Corrupted Rockbreakers.

Trick was to climb up on a mesa where they can't jump out of the ground at me, and then not die to their projectiles while shooting off their digging arms. Once those were gone, they're left flopping like fish out of water.

I also picked up all the elemental Heavy armor sets and all the Shadow weapons in the western area of the map. And I got Corruption arrows! They're even better for causing chaos than Override, because I don't even need to sneak up on the machines anymore.

Now that I've got good kit, I can go back to the Frozen Wilds and get that spear upgrade. I only need 3 more skill points to unlock Tinker so that I can swap out old enhancements into new gear.

[Traveller]

Mentalist, on 24 August 2020 - 05:50 AM, said:

Whew. Finally got those Corrupted Rockbreakers.

Trick was to climb up on a mesa where they can't jump out of the ground at me, and then not die to their projectiles while shooting off their digging arms. Once those were gone, they're left flopping like fish out of water.

I also picked up all the elemental Heavy armor sets and all the Shadow weapons in the western area of the map. And I got Corruption arrows! They're even better for causing chaos than Override, because I don't even need to sneak up on the machines anymore.

Now that I've got good kit, I can go back to the Frozen Wilds and get that spear upgrade. I only need 3 more skill points to unlock Tinker so that I can swap out old enhancements into new gear.

I got tinker pretty early on - along with the one that let's you collect up and reuse your trip wires.

[Mentalist]

Traveller, on 24 August 2020 - 03:23 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 24 August 2020 - 05:50 AM, said:

Whew. Finally got those Corrupted Rockbreakers.

Trick was to climb up on a mesa where they can't jump out of the ground at me, and then not die to their projectiles while shooting off their digging arms. Once those were gone, they're left flopping like fish out of water.

I also picked up all the elemental Heavy armor sets and all the Shadow weapons in the western area of the map. And I got Corruption arrows! They're even better for causing chaos than Override, because I don't even need to sneak up on the machines anymore.

Now that I've got good kit, I can go back to the Frozen Wilds and get that spear upgrade. I only need 3 more skill points to unlock Tinker so that I can swap out old enhancements into new gear.

I got tinker pretty early on - along with the one that let's you collect up and reuse your trip wires.

Well, yes, that's the skill that you need in order to grab Tinker, lol

But I focused on extra hit strength and then stealth, and then all the extra resource collection skills, lol. I was hoarding my enhancements until I got the "top tier" gear, as I do now.

[Malankazooie]

I recall taking that same approach. I went H.A.M. on the stealth at first. But once I got that tinker skill, that was a lot of fun to "tinker around with" <<<< see what I did there?

[Traveller]

Mentalist, on 24 August 2020 - 08:41 PM, said:

Traveller, on 24 August 2020 - 03:23 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 24 August 2020 - 05:50 AM, said:

Whew. Finally got those Corrupted Rockbreakers.

Trick was to climb up on a mesa where they can't jump out of the ground at me, and then not die to their projectiles while shooting off their digging arms. Once those were gone, they're left flopping like fish out of water.

I also picked up all the elemental Heavy armor sets and all the Shadow weapons in the western area of the map. And I got Corruption arrows! They're even better for causing chaos than Override, because I don't even need to sneak up on the machines anymore.

Now that I've got good kit, I can go back to the Frozen Wilds and get that spear upgrade. I only need 3 more skill points to unlock Tinker so that I can swap out old enhancements into new gear.

I got tinker pretty early on - along with the one that let's you collect up and reuse your trip wires.

Well, yes, that's the skill that you need in order to grab Tinker, lol

But I focused on extra hit strength and then stealth, and then all the extra resource collection skills, lol. I was hoarding my enhancements until I got the "top tier" gear, as I do now.

Well I did play it on release, I'm a bit hazy on the skill tree now! I do remember that there was one line - spear I think - that I left until last or never got round to.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 25 August 2020 - 05:49 AM

[Mentalist]

Heh, Frostclaw is a fun machine to fight.

Working my way thru Frozen Wilds now. Aloy's supposed to "prove herself" again? Hrm.

Gonna try out those Hunting Challenges tomorrow.

Then it's probably time to get that spear upgrade installed.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 25 August 2020 - 06:27 AM

[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 25 August 2020 - 06:29 PM, said:

How you like them sunsets/rises?

They're quite nice.

I am very impressed by how often I find myself unable to see what I'm aiming at, because the enemy machine is directly below the sun, so I get glare blocking my reticle, lol

Solid landscapes, though.

Edit: those Hunting challenges are pretty insane.
I'll come back to those once I got some way better kit. Currently I'm just not doing damage fast enough to hit those timing reqs. Oh, and there's a whole bunch of errands to get my weapons improved! Hmmm.

Meanwhile I've spent a bunch of hours clearing out those pesky Control Towers and killing Scorchers in the process.

I do resent the fact that even after I cleared a tower the machines that spawn at the site are still "Daemonic". That feels wrong.

Anyway, now I'm just side questing and collecting stuff. Bought 2/3 maps for the Cut, and now I just need to keep shooting goats until one of them drops a damn Skin ingredient. I'm gonna need a lot more Gleamlight if I wanna buy all those nice super-weapons.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 26 August 2020 - 06:44 AM

[Mentalist]

Very productive session. Collected a ton of gleamlight, picked up all the Frozen Wild Collectibles, cleaned up the Bandit Camp, and killed a bunch of Scorchers.

Gonna finish cleaning up the Control Towers tomorrow (only 2 left!), and wrap up some side-quests before going back out to hunt a Stormbird to upgrade my lighting-stick some more (also, I got a flamethrower now, which is pretty sick)

[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 27 August 2020 - 05:49 PM, said:

The human enemies in this game are shit.

yes, the helmet-wearing bastards are annoying.

They require stealthing around, and these camps aren't no Arkham Predator encounters.

I'm getting some AI glitches where machines won't leave their little valley to attack me. Can't get upset, tho, because I need to kill 15 of these Scorchers for the achievement, and they're quite tenacious.

[Mentalist]

Man, that Ikrie's challenge...

Not insanely hard in practice, but limited amount of arrows means you need perfection to save as many arrows as you can for the end. Took me a whole bunch of tries to get it right.

Now I'm basically out of stuff to do in Frozen Wilds then than the main story. Time to become chief? But first, I'ma go back out to upgrade my lightning gun. Once I've got that and the flamethrower all ready to go, I'll go back- I need top weapons to have the speed to ace the Hunting Grounds challenges

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 28 August 2020 - 01:33 PM

[Aptorian]

Mentalist, on 27 August 2020 - 07:35 PM, said:

Briar King, on 27 August 2020 - 05:49 PM, said:

The human enemies in this game are shit.

yes, the helmet-wearing bastards are annoying.

They require stealthing around, and these camps aren't no Arkham Predator encounters.

I'm getting some AI glitches where machines won't leave their little valley to attack me. Can't get upset, tho, because I need to kill 15 of these Scorchers for the achievement, and they're quite tenacious.

Did they fix that exploit where you could just whistle and lure one robot after another into a bush and stealth murder them.