#shieldweaver

[meridianpenthouseview]

This is too true! 😂 This picture is perfect, Teb looks so proud of himself, and Aloy’s just… letting him have his moment… 🤣🤣🤣

Their friendship is adorable!

For the anon asking about HZD, if the late game gets to hard, there is an armor that basically makes it a breeze to get through.

yeah and said armour also makes every new game+ playthrough incredibly funny

(commission info // tip jar!)

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 67

Longnotch

I left Longnotch in a light blizzard, heading north west to the Snowchant mountains. I passed a group of hunters training near the salt beds as they were attacked by Daemonic Watchers. I stayed to help take them down. Even after weeks, Hephaestus' infection clings to most of the machines in the area.

Lauvuk was surprised to see me back again, in her muted Banuk way. I could tell she wanted to see me best Aratak's time almost as much as I did.

First, I tried out my new Stormslinger, taking down Scrappers and Watchers, as well as a Ravager in record time to earn myself the top spot. I struggled a little with the volatility of the weapon, shock building up and kicking back as I fired, but the improvements Varga made rendered the trial an easy win.

This time, I bested Aratak's time with thirty seconds to spare. I used the same strategy as I had last time, but honed my speed against the Frostclaws by concentrating on their freeze units and chillwater sacs near-exclusively, keeping them anchored with rope to stop them from launching themselves at me. The modifications I've made to my weapons in the meantime gave me the edge I needed to succeed.

Heading back to Song's Edge, a pack of Scrappers attacked and knocked me from my mount. I stopped to take them out, otherwise they'd have been shooting laser blasts at me all the way across the flats.

The ruins of old vehicles by Hollow Hall. I found some datapoints in the area.

Moving south to Song's Edge. Furanhi and Hishavan had cleared out of their camp along with the other Carja outlanders. They left their shelter and furniture here too. Must have been in a hurry to leave once they found out about the rogue Banuk killers from Inatut.

Back in Song's Edge, I spectated a few sparring matches—posturing between members of different Weraks.

I met up with the group of huntresses I helped yesterday. I may have boasted about my new time for the Chieftain's Trial. Is it boasting if it's true? I decimated Aratak's record.

I spent the night in the village. Beginning the journey to Gaia Prime tomorrow.

[robo-dino-puppy]

woven in light

[horizon-armor]

Shield-Weaver

[gonkaccino]

Finally, at level 58, having done every single available thing on the map, Aloy has heard the name "Elisabet Sobeck" for the very first time. And I've still got 4 whole days left! I might actually have some time left over to play more Pacific Drive after getting every steam cheevo before the HFW port comes out!

[aron-mp4]

Collecting all armour sets in the game!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[gt-ridel]

Finished the game, can confirm

Helis and Hades were immediately crunched.

Onto the sequel now!

I've been obsessively playing Horizon Zero Dawn for the first time over the last few weeks.

Loving the story, the world and the game play! But also...

I went out of my way to complete (almost) every side quest and gather every collectable before dealing with the main plot.

Because I'm a chronic over-prepper and wanted to be in top form when the bad guys came for me.

But I didn't notice there were suggested levels for each mission.

It says I should be lv25 for this part of the main quest.

Y'all,

I'm at 55. ;;>.>

It really takes the bite out of a villain monologue when you know for a fact you could snap them in half, if only you could get out of this sacrificial arena cutscene.

[amethystmoonart]

In the Flood

Aloy as a brown girl, in the shieldweaver outfit

[loumauve]

playing HZD on story mode

climb the mountain to try and avoid the Stormbird on the way to the vantage point. succeed thanks to Shieldweaver and Banuk Chieftain.

make it all the way to the ruin, remember that you've forgotten the exact setup for the missing-ladder skip. skip the ladder skip and skip back down the snowy wreckage.

think you're out of the woods bc no Stormbird cutscene. walk towards the edge on the way down. end up in the Stormbird cutscene/fight after all. curse this game bc how dare. fight and win.

stumble back down the cliff and make it to the middle plateau where the gd Glinthawks spot you. keep tumbling forward only to end up dropping Aloy off a too-high-even-for-the-Shieldweaver cliff. worry about the reload because the last campfire was somewhere near a Trampler site much further west. figure out that the game reloads you into an auto save post Stormbird fight.

redo that last segment three times before taking the safe route and killing all the machines as opposed to trying to run past them.

end up at the campfire at the bottom. try to remember where the spot is to get out of bounds. remember that you also forgot that setup. continue on down the hill.

make it to Free Heap only to realise that you still can't talk to Petra because for some reason the game devs decided that having the not-main-NPC-dude talk instead is preferable for some reason.

quit playing bc you're mad because you miss her.

decide to go cry about the Bashar Mati video instead.

[offense-is-the-best-defence]

Finally got the Shieldweaver armour 😁

[spectral-blades]

i will be doing this my way, aka the “why are you making this more difficult, nickell, oh my god” way. no tripcaster (unless i run out of arrows), no ropecaster (boring), no shieldweaver (annoying recharge).

god i finally started the new game plus ultra hard forbidden west playthrough and did enough stuff to get iriv’s downfall before getting to barren light, and like… this shit kinda easy? like just dodge and hit em with the upgraded bows and or rail gun spectre gauntlet??

it feels really similar to very hard (which is how i beat it the first time). so,,,

i’m off to go play horizon zero dawn, from the beginning, on ultra hard, on a new save file! i want CHALLENGE, dammit!

[ilikedetectives]

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 27

Meridian

Leaving Meridian just after dawn to check out Marad’s rumour of Eclipse activity in the Spurflints. 

Stocked up on medicinal herbs along the way, and picked myself up a new mount. 

Came across a herd of corrupted machines: two Tramplers and three Longlegs. I took out the Tramplers' undercarriages to set them aflame until they ran themselves aground. Tried to keep the Longlegs at a distance as I overcharged their power cells with shock arrows, keeping them down and waiting for my spear. 

Quick rest at Day's Height, a Carja watchtower.

A dust storm kicked up as I rode into the Spurflints. I can see why the locals cleared out long ago. Machines are numerous too. It’s not just the machines that have grown deranged over the past fifteen years or so, but the weather too. There are places where it’s not so bad, but I’ve heard stories. Even in the Embrace, the rains come on in a flash of grey and move on swiftly. Rost said it wasn’t that way when he was young. 

I found the estate up against the drifts. No machines, just a few Eclipse cultists. I took them out with sharpshot arrows and strikes from cover. No one saw me. 

Locked inside the lodge was Olin’s wife, Enasha, and their son. I was surprised to find them alive, and in relatively good shape given the circumstances. Keeping them secure and fed after Olin’s absence, whether the Eclipse found his body to confirm his death or not, seems unlike them. With all the disruptions Sylens has been making to their Focuses, and the fact that few seem to wear them, maybe news travels on foot more often than not. Is it possible the cultists here still think Olin is working for them?

I didn’t tell Enasha that I was the one to kill Olin. It wouldn’t have helped things. She must know that he was working for the Eclipse given their need for leverage, and seeing as I’d just gone around and killed a bunch of them…maybe she put two and two together, I don’t know. I can’t say I regret what I did, but his wife and son’s life will be hard without him in more ways than emotional. I’ve heard how women are treated in the Claim. Felt bad for the kid too. He was just…quiet.

Storm cleared after that. Nice views of the Jewel, and always, the Spire. I still haven't gone to take a look at it. I should when I'm back out this way.

Riding east toward Daytower, I came across some interesting ruins. A long metal capsule torn into strips and sliced in two; a structure, a vehicle? I found a datapoint there.

Then my Focus picked up the signal of a Cauldron a little further south. Getting late but, if I'm lucky, the core will be ready and waiting like it was in Zeta.

A huge crevasse ran across the Cauldron entrance, but from the torches, supplies and climbing gear strewn along the trail down through the cave-in, I wasn't the first person to try getting inside. There were corpses laying along the trail, and at the end of all their excavating and exploration, all they found was another sealed door. Fortunately, I had my override module.

Inside, it was similar to the other two Cauldrons, except for these rotating mechanisms transporting fluids around, keeping everything in motion. Good for climbing, too.

A Ravager and Watchers inside. Free kills once I tore off its cannon.

Another Ravager, two Longlegs, and a herd of Watchers. Stealth as far as it would take me and Ravager cannon once it wouldn't. There was a huge machine inside churning Blaze in its belly, ventricles oozing green spreading outward through the Cauldron. They recycle the stuff, and seem to syphon its source from deep underground. How do they make it, and why?

Deeper into the Cauldron, making for the core. Each one is similar, but not identical. Maybe each serves a different purpose? It also seems that some produce more dangerous machines than others. Maybe some were built more recently, as the Derangement worsened. But how could they have been built inside mountains, so deep underground, without disturbing the surface?

When I activated the core, a Ravager joined the Snapmaw in its centre. Hardpoints to the chill sack on the Snapmaw, and the frost explosion took the Ravager too. Targeted their weak points and they were downed in no time. The Snapmaw took a nasty swipe at me though, knocking me down with its tail.

The core of Cauldron Rho. Heaps of new machines added to my roster now, including Ravagers. Hello Sun Furrows Blazing Sun. I was exhausted by the time the core began to rise and I let myself feel it. Took longer to navigate the Cauldron than I was hoping, and it was mid-morning by the time I saw light again. Need to find somewhere to rest before moving on to the border.

[honoramongstthieves]

I'm over wasting time as the day grows older

[h0riz0nstuff]

[mercuriobebop]

Drawn some crushes to clean my system and as samples for my inminent opening commissions to cope with al this coronavirus stuff.

Aloy with Carja makeup and Shield-Weaver, and Tifa ready to land her foot in someone’s teeth.