#hfwthoughts

[commander-shad]

The Talanah and Amadis situation from the perspective of someone not wearing shipper goggles. (I'm going to regret this phrasing, aren't I)

Minor spoilers for The Burning Blooms and Need To Know.

Kinda long post ahead (sorry if I come off looking mean with this, I swear, I hate being mean, it's simply my tone coming off as such)

I touched a bit on this on my post about my thoughts on the game but I fully expand here just because.

Hot take: Amadis doesn't deserve the hate.

Before I go into anything, I'll say this first: I ship neither TalanahxAmadis, neither TalanahxAloy. I'm a stickler for canon ships when it comes to this franchise lol (now you"ll say isn't TalanahxAmadis canon now? Not really, it never got confirmed, you could say that what got confirmed was that they might as well not get together if anything.)

So what I actually wanted to write about... Whatever did he do to you? lmao

Like if he was a bigot or something like Ahsis, I'd get it, but he's not? In fact he seems to be against all those things, if him not giving away Nessa to the Carja for what she did (secretly join the army when it was forbidden) is anything to go by.

If he was an a**hole or something, I'd get it, but the most a**hole move he pulled was not writing to Talanah like he promised. (In fact that kinda made me wonder though, how does letter delivery work here- is post service a thing? Where do you go to get letters delivered? If there's something like that, with all the dangerous machines going around, I wouldn't be surprised if many letters never got to their recipients actually). And you can't really say he led Talanah on for that to be considered an a**hole move. All that he wanted was to find out what happened to Nessa so that he can move on from her in peace (that didn't happen because yeah, she's apparently alive and doesn't really seem to give a sh*t about him anymore, how is it easy to move on in peace from that lmao).

If it's about the shipping aspect of the whole thing, then, I'm very sorry if I come off as an a**hole with the way I phrase this, but 1. How can you read the Sunhawk comics and not see the very obvious romance setup between Talanah and Amadis there? I saw where they were going with this from miles away. And 2. This is my reading of the whole situation, but even if Talanah was confirmed to be not straight, I think there's still a chance that she'd go after Amadis anyway, because since when do you need to be smitten with someone to go after them and make sure they are ok?

Now about Talanah.

I don't see what's so out of character? In the first game she was against people like Ahsis who were bigoted, misogynistic and all that. She wanted to make the Hunter's Lodge more than a trophy hall.

I didn't see anything in HFW that went against that. Her journey to the west (sorry lmao, iykyk) might as well have been a vacation leave from the Lodge or smth, you never know. As for why she uses her time away like this, as I said in my last paragraph on Amadis, you don't necessarily have to be in love with someone to go look for them. In this case it just happened that she was.

As for why she didn't stay to help Aloy, I have some reasons for that.

One, it simply wouldn't make sense for a side quest character suddenly become main. It doesn't matter if they are popular or not, not everyone is going to find out about them, because not everyone is going to invest time in all the side quests unless they want the trophy for all allies. (Some people say Talanah was majorly advertised. Oh yes, major advertisement is definitely *checks notes*... only appearing in one promo art piece and nowhere else, not even a glimpse in a trailer or something. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the only reason Talanah even appeared in promo art was to just show that they didn't forget her and to appease the fans who were curious about her, not to imply that she'd become a major character.) Not everyone cares about side characters.

Second, Talanah still has a place in the Lodge. Who knows, maybe she was only allowed to leave for a short time. Knowing her status as the first female Sunhawk and how not everyone would welcome this change, probably there'd be several people eager to try and claim the position the longer she was absent and knowing how hard Talanah worked to gain this position, to give up on it now would be dumb. The only way I see her being available to help Aloy on her quest was for her to give up leadership of the Lodge and yeah, I doubt she'd do that.

Third, you'll say, Talanah joined the fight against HADES, wouldn't she join in a fight which now has even bigger stakes? Reminder that even lesser characters appeared in the battle, pretty missable ones too. (I personally didn't even know about Aluki at first, because I didn't know you could talk to more than one Banuk in the encampment, so I was wondering who tf are you lmao.) So Talanah showing up didn't mean that much if you ask me. Another thing is that I didn't really see her be that interested in Aloy's cause in the first place. Aloy very much cared about Talanah's cause about what she wanted to do in the Lodge. I didn't see Talanah even attempting to ask Aloy about what she was doing. Unless that was just an attempt of keeping things professional and all that between Hawk and Thrush, then I don't know if Talanah was even interested to know. I'm not saying that Talanah didn't care about Aloy at all, in fact I believe that she does care, more than she shows, but what I'm saying that she could have at least tried reciprocating that interest and care Aloy showed towards her.

That's just my opinion on the whole thing, and opinions are subjective, so we all are entitled to our own. I'm up for a civil talk tho :)

[commander-shad]

Man, HFW is so good, that all the three days I've been playing it so far, when I'm done for the day, I look at the clock and I find out that I've been playing for 6+ hours lmao

And I'm not even close to being halfway through, so my guess is the rest of the story is going to be such a wild ride and I'm here for it.

Just love it so far, I have no words.

[commander-shad]

I might be in the minority here, but for me HFW is better than HZD for like, everything.

I can't really explain what it is about it that HZD didn't do for me, I mean I love HZD still, but HFW is just... something else in a way, you know?

It might be that I enjoyed the fact that HFW could focus more on building a story around the characters rather than the world, because in a way, HZD's job was to explain this world they have set up (most people say the best part of HZD is the mystery of uncovering what happened, I honestly didn't really get that feeling, I'm the kind of person who about stuff like that I'm like "yikes, that really is something" and then keep going lol).

HFW had better twists imo, for example the reveal in the quest Death's Door slapped me a lot harder than anything in HZD. And what happened in the quest GEMINI just hurt so much, whereas when Rost died in HZD for example, I didn't really feel anything, because we didn't get to know him as well as we did *spoilers*. But the acknowledgement of the impact he had on Aloy in this game was great.

As I said, I loved HZD, but it kinda lacks for me when comparing it to HFW.

[commander-shad]

Ok, so finished my first playthrough of the story, writing this just as the credits play (that song had to play again aaaa)

Spoilers for the final quest, Singularity!

1. Generally speaking, this whole quest was Endgame kinda sh*t! Especially the part where HEPHAESTUS starts pumping out machines to fight the Spectres and we have to make our way through the battlefield, just wow-

2. The pain of running out of acid arrows while fighting Spectres

3. The fight with Erik was such bullsh*t, mans deals so much damage and he just refused to f*cking die

4. Zo arrived just in time to deal the killing blow, glad to see that a**hole go, he had that coming

5. So we find the truth about the Extinction Signal, turns out noone got it right and this new maniacal AI, NEMESIS was the one who did it, it's angry at the Zeniths and it's taking it out on everyone in it's path, seems that it's on its way

6. Man, the Tilda boss fight was pure, f*cking insanity! Some attacks were impossible for me to dodge, and the fact that I had no materials for acid arrows left and no medicinal plants altogether made me die like 5 times. I was on Easy difficulty even, had to lower it to Story 😑

7. Sylens really was about to bail to space huh-

8. Beta was so happy to see Aloy and that hug, the way it was slightly stiff, but still very much means so much for them

9. Wow, Sylens, is that actual emotion I see on your face?

10. He stayed! And now he seems to be teaming up with Aloy for real! Let's hope that goes well

11.. That epilogue scene was pretty nice, our girl finally has that found family she so desperately needed, it was about time! Well, whatever the world and NEMESIS has to throw at them, they will be ready

12. The new end credit song just now, some altered version of "In The Flood"- I like it, anyone knows what it's called? Eh, it will probably come with the OST

Anyways, I personally really liked the ending, can see why others didn't, it's sense of closure wasn't the same as in HZD, but I guess that's the point? It wasn't really meant to be as satisfying as that one, but what can you do, as the Carja say "By the Sun, by the Sun, we're never really done!"

Saving the world is a full time job, that I can't wait to hopefully finish in the final installment of the Horizon trilogy, because Aloy really needs a break and to find stability and happiness 😊

Alright, I'm going for slow playthrough number two now, that's all!

[commander-shad]

I said in a blog earlier today that I would post my thoughts on the game after I was done, but screw it, I'm going for it now lmao. I just need to talk about it ok-

Don't go below the cut if you haven't played up until the quest Singularity (haven't done it myself yet)!

Long post ahead!

Let's start from the beginning eh?

1. The game starts by getting you right in the feels, huh? "And for a moment, I feel whole" Give this girl a found family pls, she needs it

2. Didn't expect Varl to show up! And the beard suits him, no matter what Aloy says lmao (why he'd have to get rid of it?)

3. Burrowers are so cute, a bit of a pain in the ass, but cute

4. Damn, Aloy has to write a guide on how to destroy someone's entire worldview in less than five minutes, because like, she didn't even hesitate (it becomes a little ironic if you told CYAN to go gently on the Banuk in the Frozen Wilds lol)

5. Well, if the Far Zenith stuff isn't a huge Chekhov's Gun, then I don't know what is

6. They actually let Aloy say "sh*t"! It took me aback a little honestly, out of all things in the game, this is what surprised me, huh

7. The Slitherfang was so cool tho

8. For that one scene- I legit just went 'Travis, you f*cking nerd!' Really felt Aloy's pain here

9. Really didn't expect the return to Meridian! A pleasant surprise for sure

10. That statue tho

11. Sylens, you son of a-

12. Avad still thirsts over Aloy I see. I picked the brain option, but after seeing the fist one giffed, I kinda wish I picked that one instead, but what's done done lol, Imma go for that next playthrough

13. It was nice to see some returning characterS for a while before we embarked to the West

14. Wow, Aloy really bailed on Varl like that eh? Considering that she's done it before (as shown in the comics and as mentioned in-game), I wasn't really surprised. Tbh tho, I'm not one to judge, I'd do the same, but just because I'm not a people's person

15. The song that kicked in the credits, totally didn't see it coming, but yeah, the moment I was done with that playthrough I immediately looked for it in Youtube, and now I can't stop playing it, send help-

16. Ok, but like, can we talk about the soundtrack? The reworked version of Aloy's Theme is amazing, and something I noticed about it- the HFW version of the theme sounds considerably more sci-fi-ish than the HZD version, you could say that it very subtly foreshadows how much more sci-fi-ish this game is in comparison to the first game. Dunno if it was intentional, but I kinda like that detail

17. And thus we are in the Daunt! Vuadis- excuse me- STUDIOUS Vuadis- he's funny. Funny as in 'I kinda hate him right now' lmao

18. Chainscrape is a pretty nice looking place-

19. Petra!

20. Oh look, that in-game board game I won't be playing because I suck at strategy

21. And now we get to see Erend. I kinda liked this interaction they had to be honest. Aloy had to get called out on her sh*t at some point, amirite? Erend was very obviously hurt by the way she suddenly disappeared, and in a way, no matter which option you pick, she still seems to be a bit of an a**hole, because no matter the reason she left, she still left without saying a word, and that's just not cool (says my hypocritical ass who previously admitted that I would ditch people with no remorse), so yeah Erend, you deserve to be salty about this

22. And now we go to Barren Light- Aloy still is a force to be reckoned with- the way Varl arrives just in time and Erend who is already there just going "oh you know, Aloy challenges the authorities and tempts fate, what else is new", so casually lmao

23. Shouldn't have been surprising to see Erend stand up for Aloy against the commander. While it's obvious that he still isn't happy about the stuff she's pulling, it seems that he still is determined to be there for her now, no matter what, like- he's trying, instead of holding all that stuff against Aloy, he's trying to be there for her instead when she wasn't and that shows a lot of maturity on his part

24. Regalla's entrance was pretty badass. The way the rest of the encounter went wasn't so much- it was very reminiscent of the Proving actually, except Aloy wasn't the target this time

25. My man Kotallo just stopped a Bristleback without even using a weapon, he's just rammed into it to stop it in it's tracks, how badass is that?

26. Ok, but Aloy just stood there while Grudda beat Varl's ass, she didn't even try to stop him, what gives-

27. Finally, the Shieldwing! I'm addicted to using it now-

28. And now, we're heading to the Horus. Totally not ominous and definitely Sylens' taste in lairs

29. Sylens is as insufferable as usual

30. Is it weird I feel a little bad for HADES? Whatever Sylens did to it, left it a shell of it's former self- anyways, it still was so satisfying to see it gone for good this time

31. That holo of Travis and Elisabet, in Latopolis though- "How do you love the world so much, but don't seem to love a single person it it?" I-I feel attacked-

31. That maze was a pain to figure out, I had to use a guide tbh-

32. This f*cking quest man- this damn quest- ok, so- Sylens just went "these people outside want you, but worry, they won't do anything to you, now open the hatch will you?", Aloy goes "lol no" and destroys her current Focus (considering that she hands out Focuses everywhere like they are nothing, I was left wondering just how many does she have on her person?) and uses a new one. So, the hatch to the facility was supposed to be open to Aloy only- AND THEN- EXCUSE ME, WTF

33. Oh what the f*ck- there's another- you know I was thinking about the possibility of another Elisabet clone, but definitely not like this- and like- who tf are these people? Why do they want me dead? And what the heck are these new machines?

34. F*ck Erik btw

35. The fact that we aren't even close to the middle yet and we already had our near death experience of the game tho- (they just had to name the quest "Death's Door" lmfao). That escape must have left Aloy pretty f*cked up if she was basically delirious when she got washed up on the shore. Speaking of that-

36. OUCH. WHY.

37. "I'm fine", Aloy says, nearly falling over for the like, fifth time in the last three minutes

38. I think it's cute the Utaru land-gods (to us known as Plowmowers) are named after the musical notes

39. It seems that VarlxZo has sailed! Good for them!

40. Ok, but I wanna talk about this scene for a bit- my reading of it is that- well you can very clearly see that Aloy is very determined to take off as soon as possible, even if she can barely stand. "I will crawl there if I have to" in her words. And I feel like she would have actually gone through with I believe, she has zero chill. And then she sees what Varl and Zo have going. I think she was a little guilty. Like, he seemed to be happy with Zo, and because of her stubbornness he would miss out on going with her to Plainsong. So Aloy giving in to their request to rest up and heal, is giving up on this small bit of selfishness she got going for Varl's sake. Well, she definitely benefited from it in the end though, that's good.

41. On an unrelated note, I got two of them actually, I'm kinda glad they are still keeping Aloy single (not me here projecting my aroace ass). Like, it's not just that, I just think that Aloy isn't really ready for something as deep as a romance, not yet at least. I mean, think about it: she grew up as an outcast, with only one person to talk to, so let's be honest here, she really doesn't know her way around people, you can tell from how socially awkward (socially awkward as in the way she behaves around people, talking down figures of authority for example) and blunt she can be. And if you think about it, Aloy never really had a friend growing up (just how sad is that?), I really wouldn't be surprised if she didn't really know what being actually friends with someone means, my guess is that she has a very surface level understanding of friendship, and that's why she has so much trouble properly opening up to her friends here in HFW. TLDR; Pls, give this girl a found family/friends before we go into any romances first if they do go into that. Besiiiiiides, Erend and Varl seem to be acting more like older brother figures to me more than anything

42. Ok uh, so I have several minor unrelated notes to make regarding a specific line of side quests that from what I've seen has disappointed several people, but it's not what you might expect. Anyway, here it goes. Just putting it out there; I have no problem at all with Talanah having a thing for Amadis, and I say that as someone whose first option for romance for Aloy if it happens is Talanah (if you don't let me keep my girl ace, at least let me romance a girl, thank you very much), I mean, bi Talanah anyone? Besides, Talanah has two hands 😏Second, I'm gonna put it out here, I wasn't that big on Talanah in the first place, she's an ok character for me at best, the one that is a little over hyped, but still pretty ok. Thirdly, call it a hot take if you want (as if the previous ones weren't hot enough takes already lmao), it very much makes sense that Talanah wouldn't become a member of the main character crew and that she remains in the realm of side quests. Let me explain. Talanah is a pretty missable character as in, not everyone is going to invest hundreds of hours to replay a game, not everyone is going to do all side quests (let's be honest here, as great as HZD is, it's side quests weren't and the most engaging ones (now that I think of it, that might be the reason I'm not that big on Talanah)), so a combination of both can lead to a character simply not getting enough attention as to become main character grade. So I think that we should be glad we even got a Talanah side quest in the first place, because she could easily be a character who didn't get enough attention as to get a place in the sequel. I mean, imagine if a much more obscure character from the first game suddenly became a main, pretty jarring, right? Anyways- Of course you all have a right to be disappointed in how her story went, while I didn't see much in Talanah's character, you guys did, so I guess you all know something more than I do ig. I personally wasn't disappointed, because I didn't really hold any expectations for her, I was perfectly happy with what the writers had in mind for Talanah. You guys who were let down didn't, and I very much respect that. Sorry for this rant, I just kinda really wanted to talk about this, you know- With that aside, I'm gonna say this, both Talanah and Amadis deserved better. Amadis deserved better than to live with the knowledge that this person he cared so much for simply doesn't really seem to give a f*ck about him anymore and Talanah deserved better than now having to deal with that this person she came to really like might never actually come to reciprocate her feelings just because he might never really get over the aforementioned events. So my guess is that there might be still hope for TalanahxAloy shippers, not the Talanah being invited to the base thing, but a chance of the two getting together in the future, who knows (optimism at it's finest ey?) Ok, done with this rant I think

43. Alright, where was I? Right, at Stone's Echo. After here we set out to find Plainsong. Man, the Utaru's architecture is kinda insane, they really just built their home on top of the satellite dishes, I'd love to live there (if not for the red blight thing)

44. Ok so uh, so much has happened in recent playthroughs that my memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to this part of the game, but if I remember correctly we went to Repair Bay TAU to reach Minerva, right? Or they needed something from the Core to track down MINERVA's exact location? I think? Can't remember, someone pls correct me on this- All I remember is fighting the Grimhorn and then Aloy was so close to pulling an Ourea while kicking HEPHAESTUS out from TAU that she just gets up, turns to the others and basically goes thumbs up looking like she's this close to falling apart lmao

45. Poor MINERVA tho, must have been scared, but at least we managed to get GAIA up and working! Yay! Mother Nature as an AI is back!

46. Ok but like- Horizon having a base of operations in the game was something I never knew I needed. It's perfect and I just love how it becomes more and more like home with each passing mission, I just-

47. And so, the hunt for the subfunctions begins. I went from highest level to lowest first so I went with the order of DEMETER, POSEIDON and AETHER. How it went? Well-

48. DEMETER wasn't that hard tho I got lost in the tunnels a bit- Alva is baby

49. Also f*ck Dreadwings, glad I never saw them again after that

50. We finally get to see Beta now! I like her, poor thing, she didn't deserve the Zeniths' treatment of her. Also Aloy, I know you're both traumatized and tired, but please stop being mean to her

51. As I was approached the ruins of Las Vegas to find POSEIDON, I was like "there is water somewhere under that desert, right?" There was. I just wasn't expecting so much of it lmao

52. For me Morlund and crew were a more bearable version of Gildun, I enjoyed hanging out of them, just realized that I never came back for them D:

53. And at last, AETHER. More complicated than I thought it'd be, because I literally had to fell half a mountain to get an event going. Aloy being a little gremlin in this one was so fun, and Kotallo was just so done with her sh*t lmao

54. Speaking of Kotallo, we stan him in this house

55. Why did it have to be a Slitherfang-

56. We're going to San Francisco baby wooo! The things we saw there tho- *shudder*, I felt a very distinct sense of dread walking through the bunker

57. It turns out Ted was further gone than I thought. Not only he has the biggest ego in history, but he also just rid of some of the people who lived in Thebes with him? I'm suddenly worried about what happened to the people in Elysium

58. Is it bad I wanted to mash Ceo's head all throughout the tour of Ted's limbo?

59. I really don't want to know what exactly was the thing I saw in that holo in the office, because whatever it was, it really didn't end well for him (he deserved it tho, f*ck Ted Faro)

60. So yeah, about point 58? Ted Faro's massive head crushed Ceo's... well... Everything. And the other guy just fell into the lava. Big yikes for both of them

61. We are now good with Beta it seems, you could say that we are close now, I like that. Sisters!

62. Aloy and the squad ready to force HEPHAESTUS into the found family against its will 😎

63. When the Zeniths bust through the roof after capturing HEPHAESTUS: This is why we can't have nice things!

64. I'm in- genuine shock guys. He's dead. Varl's f*cking dead. And Beta and GAIA are gone too. Aloy swore to protect her and she failed. Aloy must feel like she failed both of them and that's as rock bottom as it can get, just great

65. Tilda. She's sus. I don't trust her.

66. Not gonna lie guys, I almost cried at the talk Aloy had with Zo about Varl. And she is with his child too?!

67. Damn, someone's gonna have to tell Sona now. I feel bad for her you know. First she lost Vala, and now her other child too, that's just so f*cking sad

68. Another reason why Varl dying was so impactful was that he was there since the beginning, you know? He followed Aloy into the forbidden ruins of the Old Ones back in the Sacred Lands. He followed her to Meridian to fight a threat he admits that he can't really understand, but he did that anyways. He tracked Aloy all the way out to the middle of nowhere to help her with her mission of finding GAIA. He found Aloy in the aftermath of Latopolis. He was so willing to come and help Aloy investigate the mysterious signal. He just trusted and cared for her and the rest of his friends so f*cking much, and he ultimately paid for it

69. "Can't I just mourn for the loss of my friend?" It was so heartbreaking to hear Erend say that-

70. While still dealing with the loss of a great friend, the team must still move on and find a way to stop the Zeniths for good. Using a small gift Beta gave us back in GEMINI and the knowledge Tilda provided us with, it's time to put an end to Regalla's rebellion...

71. WE CAN FLY, HOLY SH*T- (damn that escalated quickly)

72. In the most badass way you can imagine, Aloy swooped with her trusty Sunwing down in the battlefield between Hekarro's army and Regalla's and destroyed her machines

73. And then we finally face Regalla head on. Her boss fight was kinda like HFW's equivalent to Helis', but meaner, b*tchier and harder, it took forever lmao

74. With Sylens' uncovered plan foiled, Aloy gets to meet him again and makes a deal with him...

75. To close, Tilda and Sylens seem to be a match made in hell, nothing can possibly go wrong with these two in the same room s/

•••

Tomorrow I'm finishing my first playthrough of the game (my gaming method is first playthrough being a speedrun of the story and the second and following playthroughs being a more loose and slow play of it with the side quests and activities and everything), so expect another blog on my thoughts on the finale too, though probably it won't be as long as this post since I wrote my thoughts on like 85% of the story lmao

I probably missed lots of stuff in this writedown but if I add them I can't be bothered to edit the numbers so I leave it be.

As of now it was great experience, tho I'm a little bummed out that the first gameplay trailer we got of HFW wasn't even in the story! Is it even in the game at all? Guerilla, pls explain-

I will gladly hear people's opinions, either on the game or on my own takes on it, I just really need to talk about the game.

What were your thoughts on it?

[commander-shad]

Ok, so much happened in today's playthrough, like holy sh*t-

I feel like I'm reaching the end, so when that's done (tomorrow maybe, I dunno) Imma make a post with all the random thoughts I had while playing HFW.

Because it has been pretty crazy so far and yeah, really want to see what comes next.

[commander-shad]

Thoughts on flying in HFW I personally can’t see it as a regular gameplay option. But I can see it as a one-off story moment, in a fashion similar to Jedi Fallen Order. Mild spoiler for JFO, in some part of the game you have to get to a location that’s very hard to access normally, so you befriend this creature that takes you to that place you need to go. That happened only once, and it is the only way of fast travel later on just to revisit an area on the map for collectibles. I can imagine something similar to that, a point in the game where you have to get to a place that’s hard to access/tedious to make it there, you have to make haste, so for this instance you override a Sunwing or whatever other flying machine there is and you fly there fast and easily instead of what otherwise could be a long, tiring piece of gameplay. Most likely would be accompanied by some cinematic.