meridianpenthouseview

[meridianpenthouseview]

Wow, this is beautiful! You did a fantastic job with the lighting and having his face paint as the one spot of color is a lovely touch!

Because Varl is best boy and GEMINI still makes me so sad 😭

[meridianpenthouseview]

He looks so good 😭

[meridianpenthouseview]

I hadn’t noticed that! That is adorable! (But don’t worry Varl, we love you even if the sign in desk doesn’t!)

So Forbidden West is one of those games where I don't mind redoing the tutorial level because Varl is so funny. I set down my controller to put my hair up, and had no idea that he would try to sign in at the visitor desk too! "Guess it doesn't like me either :(" Oh Varl

[meridianpenthouseview]

Love their first meeting! And the scene looks so pretty in the remaster!

And the award for ‘Most Beautiful Man Alive’ GOES TOOOOO

[meridianpenthouseview]

When we first met, you asked me if I ever wondered what this world looked like when the Old Ones lived here. I thought it was strange at the time, but a lot has changed since I left the Embrace. Now I’m just trying to make sense of everything I thought I knew and...versus everything I know now.

[meridianpenthouseview]

love this guy.... carl 😍

still don't have time for any full illustrations so take roughly colored sketch ........ i can't believe uni is keeping me from my true purpose in life (video game fanart)

[meridianpenthouseview]

investigation

[meridianpenthouseview]

i wasn't planning on doing a daily sketch countdown until the remaster release but since i'm on a roll i might as well keep going! today i present: a flustered varl :)

[meridianpenthouseview]

Riverhymn is so beautiful! What spectacular shots! Those Utaru lanterns at night are just magical! 🥰

Riverhymn

[meridianpenthouseview]

Wow, this is so lovely! 🤩 I’m sure your friend will love it! This is so good!!!

painting i made for best friend 🦕

[meridianpenthouseview]

Camouflaged

[meridianpenthouseview]

The choice to include corn is certainly interesting. On the one hand, I think it makes a lot of sense because corn was a staple crop across large areas of North America, including for the Indigenous peoples who lived in the territory now farmed by the likes of the Carja and Utaru. So it certainly suits the climate and it is a very practical crop (it can be eaten fresh, dried it stores very well, and corn grain can be used for a wide variety of foods).

However, corn cannot actually survive in the wild, it has to be planted by humans (or machines as the case may be). Prior to human intervention, wild maize had only a few small kernels that would fall off the cob on their own. Corn as we know it today has lots of kernels that stay firmly attached to the cob and cannot spread on their own. Unlike many nuts and seeds that are designed to survive a trip through an animal’s digestive tract in order to spread, corn cannot spread after being eaten. If a whole cob falls to the ground any kernels that take root are usually too close together and will strangle each other.

In short, GAIA must have included corn expressly for people. The machines seem to mostly graze on grasses and such, and there is never any reference to machines destroying human crops, which would naturally be a big concern to many of our agricultural tribes. However, presumably before humans figured out how to do the job, machines must have been the ones propagating it.

I think the most likely source of the corn is that it started in the Utaru fields, propagated by the Plowhorns. After all, that area was originally intended to provide food for the humans of Regional Control Center 9 (the Base). I imagine that eventually the Utaru learned how to farm it themselves for their other villages, and through trade it made its way into Carja territory and beyond.

So in short I wholeheartedly agree that corn is not a foundational species for a natural ecosystem, but I think it fits within the lore as having come from the Plowhorn’s fields.

(Also, there may be a value to corn’s inability to spread on its own, since it wouldn’t be able to leave the Plowhorn’s fields to become an invasive species in the rest of the ecosystem.)

Sorry for this being so long, I clearly have a lot (too many) thoughts about the corn in this game. 😂

Im super curious why GAIA chose to make corn a primary crop.

Because like the lore states, only the base level of the ecosystem has been established, the rest of the plants were supposed to be reintroduced after the ELEUTHIA children learned how to take control and repopulate biomes. Corn isnt something id have normally considered a primary species.

Maybe she used it for biofuel for the robots?

[meridianpenthouseview]

🥹

For Rost

[meridianpenthouseview]

These shots are incredible and I am in awe of your photomode skills.

But I just have to point out to the world the little kestrel on the shaft of his giant ax-spear thing. I mean, obviously that means he is a Kestrel, a super tough warrior trained in brutal conditions and loyal to Jiran The Crazy. But he has a cute wittle birb on his weapon. The bird is glaring. He has an angry little birb on his giant ax-spear.

By the Sun, I love the details in this game so much.

Thank you, this photo set has just made my whole night.

horizon zero dawn (remastered) | shadow carja vs. rockbreakers

[meridianpenthouseview]

Wow! What an incredible picture of the Metal Devil on All-Mother Mountain! You captured the atmosphere so perfectly! The gorgeous sunset colors, the birds against the multicolored clouds, the fog laying low over the snowy valley, and then those twisted metal arms snaking over the mountainside.

Oh, I got chills the first time I noticed that thing up there. I didn’t know what it was yet but I had an instant sense that it would be trouble someday. I still get the feeling that thing is going to wake up to cause trouble in Horizon 3. But just having it up there looming over the peaceful valley… it is just spectacular.

I have so much in the works right now and I can't wait to be able to share, but in the meantime I'll give you this oil painting from a year ago when I first started making Horizon art! Metal Devil in the Nora lands.

This one found a home with a fellow fan and I'm so so honored.

[meridianpenthouseview]

🤩🤩🤩🤩

horizon zero dawn (remastered) | aloy 52/?

[meridianpenthouseview]

Wow! What a cool character design! I love the pose and how you really made the outfit and design fit perfectly with the Banuk aesthetic of the game while still being distinctive! You really put so much personality into the piece as well!

Artfight drawing for my friend @novastellaris! This is Inai, hunter and painter from the Banuk tribe~