I think I’ve sent myself on a guilt trip.
The dust has long since started to settle on E3
2016, with no shortage of information to parse through. Granted some things were still a no-show -- a
new Sonic game is on the way, but Sega just teased an announcement of an
announcement of an announcement to screw with everyone’s heads -- but I doubt
anyone will go on a rant about how the industry’s major players kept all their cards close to the chest.
And that’s where my guilt comes in. At last year’s E3, I was intrigued by Horizon: Zero Dawn. Very intrigued; it was new, it was different,
and it looked as if it had plenty to offer for gamers vis a vis robot dinosaur
hunting. I’d assume that’s not all you’ll be doing, but if that’s the
core gameplay, then it seems all right.
Well, that’s what I’d like to say; cut to a year later, however, and I’m
suddenly not so intrigued by it. What
would’ve once made my eyebrows slide up my face now makes me go “Ehhhhhhhhh…”
and “Awwwwwwwwwww…” I don’t understand
what happened, and it’s kind of tearing me up inside. That’s especially true, because -- at least
on a superficial level -- The Legend of
Zelda: Breath of the Wild ticks some of the same boxes, yet my hype is
breaking through the atmosphere.
What the hell’s going on? Well, I intend to find out with this LONG overdue post. Even though I already kind of have
an answer, but let’s pretend we’re going in raw.
Ha.
It’s worth noting upfront that neither game is on
store shelves, so it’s impossible to judge with absolute clarity which one is
better. Things can get better from their
E3 showings, and things can get worse.
Or, alternatively, design decisions made on day one can cripple either
endeavor in ways we gamers will eventually have to suffer through. That’s a real possibility, so we’ll see once
2017 rolls around.
Also, let’s not pretend like the name or pedigree
alone will guarantee a 10/10 game on release day. I have a deep love and respect for Skyward Sword, but the way some people
talk about it, you’d think it was singlehandedly responsible for curbstomping
the populace’s collection of childhood toys.
So yeah, there’s no guarantee of quality or enjoyment from person to
person. Similarly, let’s not give Horizon: Zero Dawn a free pass just
because it’s a much-needed new IP featuring a female protagonist. A good game can prove it’s a good game
without relying on any nepotism or excuses, so let’s judge them fairly and
accordingly. Inasmuch as one can be fair, given the undeniable presence
of personal biases.
So, what have we got? In the red corner, there’s Horizon: Zero Dawn. The game stars Aloy (which to my surprise is
NOT pronounced like “alloy”), who’s on a personal mission in a post-apocalyptic
(?) world to uncover the truth. She’s
armed with a mechanical bow and a set of arrows that’d make Green Arrow beam --
and it’s a safe bet that she’ll need to use tools and skills alike to fight off
robot animals and savage warriors to discover who she really is. And/or what’s out there in the wild. As one would.
Sony and E3 2016 alike were kind enough to grace
us lowly peasants with a heaping helping of evidence -- not just with a
cinematic trailer, but also a gameplay trailer long since available for eyeball
consumption. There’s been more stuff
since, but I’d prefer to focus on the early stuff to help illustrate a
point. So before we talk too much about Horizon, let’s have a look at what was
(and technically still is) on display, shall we?
Meanwhile, we’ve got The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the blue corner -- a
game that needs no introduction. Reportedly,
the story opens up with this incarnation of Link waking up after 100 years of
sleep; “Calamity Ganon” has run amok in Hyrule and its titular castle, so as
usual, it’s up to Link to sort things out.
Pretty basic story, as it often is, but it’s too early to know for sure
if that’s a red flag or a green light.
The important thing is that you’ll be making use of Shrines of Trials
and dungeons to (presumably) boost your strength, and find a way to clear out
Ganon once again.
Nintendo took a lot of heat for essentially
skipping out on E3 this year. On one
hand, I don’t blame them because E3 is as much the home of cringe,
hype-mongering, and a celebration of the industry’s greatest vices as it is a
great big gaming expo. On the other
hand? Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe they should’ve used that time and that
space to show off the Switch and its games, because it’s not like they’re a
secret anymore and the Big N’s stall tactics aren’t exactly winning over any
new fans. With that said, they spent this
year’s E3 showing off what’s likely hours of gameplay, which is always
appreciable. Go look that up if you
want; until then, here’s the trailer and a tiny snippet.
Okay, so…let’s start by going back to the red
corner.
It’s plainly obvious that Horizon: Zero Dawn is going to have a more overt story. That’s not to say that Breath of the Wild won’t have one, but it’d be pretty easy for the
upcoming Zelda game to put the
narrative on the backburner. So props to
the devs for having the guts to offer up a female protagonist in a game that --
presumably -- has plenty of bucks from the war chest behind it. At least, it sure looks like it has money behind it.
Then again, maybe the guys behind the game just have a good handle on
the PS4 architecture, and can do more with less.
In any case, what have we got on display? Well, we have Aloy and we have her
father. It’s a safe bet that there’ll be
a bigger cast than that, but for now we at least have our grounding and some of
our central characters. It seems as if
there are secrets behind Aloy’s birth and origin, which at once make her
special and reviled. “Outcast” is a term
that gets thrown around a lot, and it’s not hard to imagine that our leading
lady’s the victim of some bullying; it’d be interesting to see how that
affected and molded her into the woman she is in the present. Granted the implication is that she’s willing
to push those thoughts away, but that’s to be expected. Her mission is to solve the mysteries of the
world and her origin, even if it means infiltrating some secret techno-base.
The setup is there for a good story, no
question. So why does Horizon rub me the wrong way?
I think the problem here -- a personal, subjective
one, I should stress -- is that I have issues with the tone. It’s very grandiose in scope, and it’s trying
very hard to sell the weight and
importance of this mystery. And to be
fair, that’s not a bad angle to pursue.
Could anyone make it through their day-to-day lives if they didn’t have
absolute security in their identity? And
if we work under the assumption that this low-tech world makes communication
and interaction much harder, then that’d mean Aloy would have fewer people to
justify her identity, or give her the validation of her existence she’s
desperate for. Fair enough, right?
But the tone is at odds with the game, I
think. At this stage -- when I’m fresh
off of an overlong Xenoblade Chronicles X
playthrough -- I’m just as interested in the world as I am the
characters. Maybe more so. Thanks to that, I feel like trying to sell an
audience on the mystery of Aloy’s birth is a misstep. I’d lay that problem at the foot of the
trailers, because I personally find a huge percentage of them grating. But if it’s truly indicative of what to
expect from the final game, then I’m concerned that it’s trying to make us fall in love with Aloy without
letting us naturally fall in love with her.
It sounds like a bunch of double-speak, but there’s a difference.
The footage so far tries its hardest to prove how
brave, tough, focused, and determined Aloy is.
Those are fine traits to have, for sure; if she’s going to play the
leading role, then she has to have some agency and presence in the plot. But despite that, I feel like there’s
something…empty about her
characterization so far. Like everything
so far is going “Look how tough and spirited and rebellious she is! What a great character, right?” That’ll probably be the case until the full
game drops -- or we get more trailers/demos -- but I’m not sold on her
yet. She’s strong and capable and all of
that, but is she an actual person rendered in glorious HD? Or is she just a tool to be used by the plot,
the devs, and even the marketing team?
Notably, one of the latest videos has a Mass Effect-style conversation wheel pop
up. That can mean any number of things,
from deciding if there’s an alignment or karma system to determining which
ending you’ll get. In the worst-case
scenario, it could mean that Aloy loses her character because she has to
conform to the whims of the player. That
can lead to a sense of ownership and bonding with the player, in the sense that
he or she gets to watch their take on Aloy navigate through decisions and
relationships. On the other hand, it can
mean that she’s an automaton who loses her spark -- the boldness handcrafted by
her creators, player input be damned -- because she has to be the perfect
avatar. Because anyone an audience can’t
imprint on is worthless, right?
It’s impossible to get in deep with the story
right now. That much is obvious. Still, my concerns extend beyond that;
whether it’s in light of BotW or
taken on its own merits, it feels like there’s a gap between what Horizon wants to be and what it truly
is. What’s being promised is a sprawling
adventure -- a trek through a breathtaking, if hyper-simplified world. The colors are there, and the environments
are there, too; it’s a safe bet that the PS4 will help Horizon get the most out of its myriad habitats. Still, I don’t feel like it’s a winning bet
just yet, and the E3 content helps show why.
I know that it’s a concise video primed to offer a snippet of what the
full game will entail, but think back to its early moments. Think back to what Aloy does before she
starts her hunt.
She runs in pretty much a straight line, and has
an encounter with some enemies. I think
that was when my hype for the game seriously started to dip.
I 100% understand that the trailers aren’t
indicative of every last second of the final game (which is a good thing and a
bad thing, but whatever.) Still, this is
the footage that was chosen to represent Horizon,
and what the devs think is either worth getting excited about, or what encapsulates the core
experience. If either one of those is
true, then I think my doubt is justified -- especially in the face of BotW.
Why? Well, sure, it’s almost a
given that Aloy runs down a straight path to expedite the footage and get to
those golden moments. But doesn’t it
feel like a disservice to rush past all the nature on display and only focus on
it when it’s time for a sweeping trailer shot?
I mean, yeah, Horizon
is a good-looking game -- at least based on what a standard YouTube video
can show. I wouldn’t mind seeing what
else it has to offer, especially if there’s a chance to go off the beaten
path. The problem is that I’m concerned
if there’s an incentive to go off the beaten path -- if the world born from
thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars has anything to justify its
presence. Think of it this way: what can
you do in Horizon that lets you get
the most out of the world?
As far as the trailers show, you can run through
that world and climb stuff -- or at least use light parkour to scurry across it
quickly. It’s a safe bet that you can
harvest scrap from robotic enemies to craft new items. Likewise, it’s possible to mount unsuspecting
creatures. And of course, you’ve got an
array of weapons and tricks to take down an array of towering foes. It’s a system that’ll likely work in the long
run, but I already feel let down by it.
Bored, even.
The game seems to have a lean towards combat and
action -- using your tools to snipe at enemy weak points, all while dodging
attacks that could cleave a mountain in two.
In theory, it’d make for a pulse-pounding adventure from start to
finish. In practice, I have my
doubts. For starters, it seems like
you’re almost guaranteed to win just by using the arrows that tether an enemy
to the ground; I’d assume that you’ve got a limited count of them, but it
doesn’t look like enemies have any sort of defense against it. (Maybe they just break loose after a
while.) Whatever the case, it seems like
the action that should be thrilling and dynamic simply isn’t. True, Horizon
is probably a game that plays better than it looks, but I’m left wanting.
It looks too easy.
Too simplistic. Too far in the
player’s favor. Aloy has a ton of
special weapons, close- and long-range combat capabilities, what looks like a
generous dodge capability, and the ability to sense enemy weak points from
afar. How are enemies supposed to be a
threat when you can do so much to stomp them from any given distance? It’d be one thing if you had to learn how to
deal with enemy attack patterns and uncover weaknesses on your own, but the tools,
skills, and odds all seem geared toward making combat into an
afterthought. And if it truly plays that
way -- if the speculation becomes the final product -- then what does that mean
for a game with such a seemingly-huge focus on combat?
I feel as if this is a game that’d make a stronger
case for itself if it minimized the combat.
The Last of Us did that (well,
sort of), and nobody had a problem with it.
If the goal is to explore this strange and mysterious new world to
uncover its secrets, is it really an absolute necessity to kill every robot dinosaur that crosses our paths? Is it required to base at least a decent
chunk of the game around that? And yes,
you can get a thrill out of combat against towering foes; the Souls games and Bloodborne are proof of that, just like plenty of other games. But Horizon’s
combat doesn’t look nearly as intriguing, and I doubt it’ll have the
challenge needed to provide the satisfaction of a job well done.
On one hand, it makes me wish that the combat took
a backseat (or that whoever put together those trailers had the confidence to
show off footage without such an emphasis on violence). On the other hand, it goes right back to the
tonal problems I mentioned earlier. It
seems geared to force the weight of the
plot and the importance of the
journey you are going on without letting things naturally play out. And maybe that’s an inherent fault by
design. It’s not so much “explore this
sprawling world” as it is “explore this sprawling world to figure out who you
are”. It makes a difference.
So I’ll say this much: if it turns out that the
whole point of the game is to discover that Aloy is actually a robot or some
piece/retainer of alien technology, I’m gonna be pissed.
I want to go on an adventure. And sure, I’m not opposed to having a strong,
overarching plot to give that adventure focus.
But A) you have to earn it, and B) your plot has to be good. It’s too early to judge Horizon’s plot just yet, but it already feels like focus is being
pulled away from the world to push Aloy as hard as possible. It doesn’t feel natural, and it makes me
resent the game from the outset because it doesn’t have the guts to let things
flow naturally -- to let Aloy prove herself without dear old dad (and the
trailer footage, and the devs by extension) singing praises about why she’s
different, but also clearly better than everyone else.
I guess what I’m asking for here is a game that’s
quiet instead of loud. Throughout the
gameplay footage trailer, Aloy is constantly running her mouth -- explaining
what she needs to do, or what she did, and all sorts of reactions. Likewise, the story trailer says a lot, but
says very little (as trailers often do).
They’re trying to sell a feeling -- to tell us how to feel -- instead of
showing a feeling. Will the full game deliver? It’s definitely possible. But right now, I don’t feel like the footage
has delivered. Neither has Horizon in general.
Somehow, by trying to make the game look and feel
and act special, it’s as if the game is less
special. It’s not an adventure. It COULD be.
But it’s not right now. It just
feels like a late entrant in The Year of the Bow.
I don’t want to be so down on Horizon. I really
don’t. Like I said, it’s a new IP with a
female protagonist, so it deserves some credit right off the bat. Still, some credit doesn’t lead to all of the
credit. There’s still work that needs to
be done and quality that needs to be proven -- and what’s been shown off so far
isn’t substantive enough to satisfy me.
I need more proof as to why this game was worthy of getting time on the
E3 stage, and the clock has long since started ticking.
In the best case scenario, the PS4 will get a
solid title added to its library. In the
worst case scenario, it’ll be completely superfluous on release day -- because
there might be an infinitely-superior game on the way. There’s no guarantee that BotW will be the Game of All Years, but
if nothing else? It made a much better
showing, and it’s promising something much more intriguing to me. I’m guessing it did the same for others,
too. But I could be reaching a bit.
So what does it do? Why am I right there in the blue corner? Well, I’ll go ahead and explain…next
time. See you soon. And make sure you stock up on arrows.
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