#hzd the jewel

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon zero dawn | the jewel 2/?

[scrion7]

fuck glinthawks

In other news, I've been enjoying Horizon Zero Dawn

(no but seriously fuck glinthawks. don't be like me who focused entirely on melee gameplay. get sharpshot or war bows or ropecasters before exiting Nora lands. especially on hard difficulty.)

(still managed to take down the first Stormbird I saw with just the starter bow and my trusty spear. Monster Hunter has trained me well.)

[hzdtrees]

Waterways

[tjerra14]

Fic Author Self-Rec!

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Tagged by @foibles-fables, thank you so much!

So in no particular order--

Transposition (Horizon, Aloy/Ikrie, T) -- a somewhat canon-but-to-the-left piece that inserts Ikrie into HFW, and follows her across No Man's Land and Plainsong in her search for Aloy, and a much-needed confrontation that I wished the game would've allowed some space for.

Dissimulation (Horizon, Aloy/Ikrie, T) -- an exploration of Ikrie's mindset after meeting Aloy for a few times and realising that maybe she has come to care for her more than she had expected. Mostly an exercise in yearning. This one's also dear to my heart for potted plant reasons.

Before The Fall (Horizon, T) -- an examination of the consequences of Aloy's narrow escape from the Eclipse base in the Jewel, and their effects on her, which the game mostly glossed over for gameplay reasons. I've always felt HZD's story felt like it was missing something there, so I took that one memory of belly-flopping into a pool of water from 3.5m height when I was 12 and ran with it.

Homecoming (Horizon, T) -- grown from a Discord prompt and conversation, this one accompanies Elisabet on her final journey home. It was quite a challenge to write, and I'm still proud of what it became.

In All Its Splendour (Horizon, Beta/Milu, T) -- a soft moment between two characters that deserve all the softness of the world. Also an extremely personal one.

Not sure who is left to tag, so I'll just be throwing @philliam-writes and @bluntblade out there for good measure. If anyone else sees and wants to do this, consider yourself tagged!

[dovelydraws]

do you have any background context on your horizon dawn au??? I'm invested after seeing your redraw

Yes!! I do believe I've talked about it before, but it has been several years at this point so I suppose it might be difficult to find on this blog now lol

The overall plot of Horizon Zero Dawn stays the same in this au, with a few key differences (warnings for HZD spoilers):

When GAIA was programmed to start repopulating the earth, her subordinate functions ARTEMIS and ELEUTHIA crossed and created mutants instead of humans. Humans no longer exist on Earth.

Hamato Yoshi is in the position of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, and when GAIA cloned him in an attempt to save herself after destruction, she created four instead of just one and placed each of them in separate cradles as a fail-safe, hoping at least one would make it to adulthood. She used turtle DNA out of sentimentality, because Yoshi once told her that turtles were his favorite animals.

Mikey was created in All-Mother Mountain, essentially filling the role of Aloy and being raised as a member of the Nora tribe. Raph was placed in a cradle within the Cut, Banuk territory, Donnie in the Claim, Oseram territory, and Leo in the Jewel, Carja territory.

The four of them don't know of each other's existence, until Mikey survives the Proving Massacre and learns through the Eclipse focus that HADES ordered he and any other turtle mutants found be killed, recognizing him as one of the clones GAIA had created (similarly to Aloy being the only one with red hair, our four boys are the only turtle mutants in existence.) Realizing that Mikey is not as alone as he previously thought, he sets off on a journey into the west to find his long lost brothers, finding Raph first, then Donnie, then Leo, and together they discover what happened in the past and what purpose they were created for, and stop the Eclipse and HADES from destroying the world. :)

[anointedflame]

The Jewel

[hzdphotomode]

Random Photo from Horizon: Zero Dawn 494

[h0riz0nstuff]

A view on the Alight & the Spire

[theyloy]

[rayless-reblogs]

leaf

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon zero dawn | the jewel 1/?

[technomaestro]

Top 5 Video Game Soundtracks

Ok. Let's try this *again*. I had a whole thing written up and I accidentally refreshed the page, so tumblr ate the entire thing, and I lost it.

Destiny 2 There's a reason D2 is one of my all time favorite games, and the music for it is one of those reasons. Destiny 2's sweeping orchestral soundtrack is full of songs that encapsulate that grand, epic nature of the world and conflict you find yourself in as the Guardian. From the mission tracks like 1AU/Forge Ahead , Valkyrie, and Guns Blazin which provide this cinematic backdrop as you fight for your victories, to the epic swelling of the raid bosses where the tension in their first phases is replaced with triumphant moments where the tide turns as seen in Riven of a Thousand Voices or Insurrection Prime (even the most hated boss in Destiny has a pretty baller theme with tons of brass in it as you get ready to put him in his grave one last time after fighting him multiple times throughout the raid). Locations such as the Dreaming City have tracks that manage to encapsulate the mystery and history behind each location. No matter my feelings and critiques on the gameplay or the story, the music in Destiny 2 is just an absolute gift of musical genius. Michael Salvatori (yes, that same Michael Salvatori from Halo) is one of my favorite composers for the work he's put into that series. Favorite track: Journey ft. Kronos Quartet. This is the song that plays after the deafening silence that comes from escaping the city during the initial Red War campaign, where you montage your way through an unforgiving wilderness, powerless, as the city fades into the distance behind you. You've been beaten, your home taken from you, but the music swells with hope as you follow a sign from the Traveler - and you know you'll return to reclaim your city. I highly recommend taking a peek at the mission, as you can't play it anymore, to see what I mean as to how the track absolutely enhances the experience.

Hades Supergiant games - the people behind Bastion and Transistor, two other games with amazing soundtracks - really did knock it out of the park with Hades. This game's soundtrack is a wonderful blend of classic acoustic instruments (Check it out - it's called a Bağlama) mixed with metal and electronica to create a theme that evokes not only the aesthetics of the region, but also give it a modern twist that meshes with the dark, haunting vibes of the underworld that you reside in. Each track flows so well from one into the next, mixing perfectly with each area or character you encounter. And the two musical characters you encounter - Orpheus and Eurydice - add in plenty of musical flair to the game themselves. The motifs present in the songs are called back frequently to make it a coherent, consistent soundtrack, and it remixes so incredibly well. Favorite Track: God of the Dead - the theme for the final boss of each run, this track is incredible. Not only does it reflect the theme of Zagreus in a different key, showing the link between Hades and his son, before delving into this heavy, frantic track that perfectly encapsulates having to fight

Payday 2 There are exactly two ways to play Payday 2. The first is stealth - you won't have much in the way of music as you silently slip by cops, cameras, and civilians to reach your score. The other is the way I play, where you suit up in the heaviest body armor you can get, grab two automatic shotguns, and go to town to some of the best soundtracks in the game. Payday 2 has a unique musical cue system with it's audio during loud heists, where it amps up the tracks in time with what the cops are doing. At first, before you've been detected, you have the Stealth track which is always low and very basic to not intrude. In low points, like when you first go loud and the first responders arrive on the scene, you're in a Control track. Then, as the police gear up, it switches to a higher temp Anticipation Track, and then when the police storm your position, the Assault track. So each "song" in Payday 2 is actually 4 songs in one, that the game blends seamlessly together in order to match the audio with the gameplay. It's an incredibly clever system that keeps you immersed in the tension of the heist even as Bain, your mastermind, calls out over comms with instructions. And it helps that almost all of the tracks are exceptional bangers in their own right, with amped up electronica with great percussion and bass lines alongside rebellious hard hitting metal and rock. But during those assault tracks, there's something satisfying about hearing the build, reloading your guns, then timing you leaving cover to unleash fury with the bass drop. There's a great playlist here with links to the different types of tracks if you want to take a peek yourself. Favorite Track: I Will Give You My All - one of the few tracks with built in vocals. This particular track feels like the exact kind of music I'd see in a movie, and with the build I run in game for Loud stuff at the moment which incentivizes me running face first at bulldozers and cloakers, giving it my all is *exactly* what I intend to do in that game.

Horizon Zero Dawn HZD's soundtrack is full of the same sort of sweeping orchestral stuff that made me love Destiny 2, with tracks that serve to accentuate the world around you. The only reason it's down here at 4 and not higher is because there's a somewhat lack of variety; as a singleplayer story game, most of the music you encounter tends to be in cutscenes, rather than during gameplay. That isn't a *bad* thing however, and over the hundreds, if not thousands of games I've played, reaching #4 on the list is no small feat. The actual orchestral bits pair so well with being able to cultivate this theme of a world full of grandeur, the kind of which you'd see in nature documentaries. The various tracks illicit this feeling of a long forgotten hope, which if you know anything about the plot, ties in perfectly. The music that *does* play outside of the incredible cutscenes add to the world's aesthetic so well, pairing the sort of instruments you'd find people playing in the civilizations you encounter with the environments you find them in. Even the battle music, when there is battle music, is a tense affair; the game incentivizes you to stalk your prey, as Aloy is not a frontline fighter: she's a hunter among predators, and the music matches that tone. Favorite Track: A tie between Aloy's Journey, which provides not only natural sounds mixed with the instruments of the Nora and the underpinning of techno that permeates the story (in addition to one of my favorite musical things where you have these grand sweeping vocals that aren't actually lyrics) and Your Hand of Sun And Jewels, which gives off this sort of air of walking through city streets in golden sunlight, where people dance just a block away and you can smell the fragrant spices of the local cuisine. It makes me yearn and if I listen to it on full blast I can forget that I'm stuck at home for a moment.

Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Pokemon OSTs hold a special place in my heart because as much as I loved games as a kid, getting started on things like Mappy for the NES (which, now that I write that, really shows how fuckin *old* I am), Pokemon was one of the first things that I basically turned into my personality as a child. Silver version especially was one of the ones that *truly* got me going, as in Blue version I always felt one step behind my brother but Silver was *my* game, my generation. I have extremely fond memories of that game, from the Lake of Rage to trying to beat a ghost gym with a Sentret and it taking four hours because normal types and ghost types are just... immune to each other. But when Soul Silver came out and remastered the soundtrack, it brought back this wave of nostalgia. The bit tunes I remember had been brought to life, in a way that was recognizably Pokemon. Hearing it again brought back the waves of wanting to journey and be a hero again that when the game came out, I was sorely missing. The music in the game is upbeat and chipper, befitting a near solarpunk world that I want to live in. Iconic tracks remain iconic but with a bit of cultural flair, showing that the Johto region hasn't lost touch with it's roots. While it isn't the almighty trumpeting of Gen 3, the nostalgic tracks that are already evocative of nostalgia brings a yearning back for a time when things were simpler and I could just play games. Also, the Rival theme is *rocking*. Favorite Track: Route 26 Theme. Route 26 is also known as Tohjo Falls, the place which connects Johto and Kanto together. And for me, this route represents having reached a triumph and the energy to explore what's next. It's a critique directly against the Hero's Journey's unfortunate end, that they can never go home - the hero here *can* go home, but they choose to set out again for new sights. It's full of the fact that when it plays, you're taking your steps into something new, something bold, and full of new challenges that await you. It is, by far, one of my favorite tracks and the orchestral version brings me to tears.

[hzdtrees]

Stalker Territory

[tjerra14]

Sunhawk September, Day 19.

[dovelydraws]

Heya! I have a question for you. Scratch that, make that two.

For my first question, is your Horizon Zero Dawn Rottmnt Au still going on? Or did you scratch that?

If the answer is amping the lines of ‘yes it’s still going on’, then here’s my second question. How did the four turtle brothers end up in different tribes?

Thanks for reading this and have a great and wonderful day or night.

Oh now THIS is an exciting ask for me, I’ve been wanting to get back into the hzd au for a while LOL

So, yes! It’s still going on! I have quite a few drawings I want to finish up and upload all together once I get the chance (In fact, here’s a little sneak peak for ya)

As for the second part, I almost wanna keep that a secret until I can put together a comprehensive guide to the au with nice art and stuff but, unfortunately, that’ll likely take me forever 😭 so I guess I’ll give you the general rundown, but it contains spoilers for the game so I’ll do it under a cut in case anyone’s avoiding that

So assuming you know everything about the game, due to some code in the Project Zero Dawn subordinate functions going haywire (~or mysteriously being deleted~) humans no longer exist. Mutants have taken their place as the dominant species on earth.

Splinter essentially takes the place of Elisabet Sobeck; and when HADES began taking control of GAIA, instead of ordering just one embryo to begin gestation in a cradle, she orders four, sending each to different cradles as a failsafe to make sure at least one of them will be able to rebuild the system and restore her in the future. She used a mix of Splinter’s dna and four different types of turtles for it, and that’s how the boys were born!

Raph was created in a cradle located in Ban-Ur, and subsequently found and raised by a werak of the Banuk tribe there. Donnie is born in a cradle found in The Claim, and is adopted by an Oseram family of Armadillos; April is his big sister! Leo is born in a Cradle from The Jewel, and when he’s eventually found by members of the Carja tribe, he’s taken to an orphanage in Meridian. And then Mikey’s beginning is very similar to Aloy’s, where he is born in the cradle known as All-Mother Mountain, and given to Rost to raise as an outcast.

[hzdphotomode]

Random Photos from Horizon: Zero Dawn 420