The Forge of Winter

[Met A Demon Once]

I like Horizon Zero Dawn and I have found the Frozen Wilds to be fun

until

I tried the Forge of Winter. I am not a big fan of puzzles in games and this quest is puzzles on steroids and has just worn me down to the point that I just quit the quest in mid-game.

I spent an obscene amount of time trying to get my companions to cross a gap. Now I can walk back and forth around this gap without any problems and I do mean walk. They could not walk around this small gap but I could. This is what I call puzzles on steroids. Puzzles that solve no useful purpose except to keep you distracted from why you are there.

I don't even want to go back. I think I will load a save just before this quest started and fast travel somewhere else where puzzles are a minimum.

Maybe I will go back to Horizon West and get tortured there for while. I quit it over puzzles on steroids too.

[Death Approaches]

Sorry, I mean I feel your frustration, but I've never had that problem and I've done it multiple times...

sometimes, being Aloy the cauldron parkour master, you can do things out-of-sequence, what I mean is, you found a way to activate bridge 3, when Aratak and Ourea are waiting for you to activate bridge 2, so they won't follow you across, because to them you're "going the wrong way" and will try to run a different way, to the bridge not yet activated, that's a good indicator...

if you mean they get stuck because the game's pathing isn't all that smart, well, you've dealt with that since lvl 1 so you know how to lead them back, then approach again more to the center or hugging the wall, etc. whatever's required.

that's not a puzzle. a puzzle is the tedious stuff like the floor nodes or that lame back-and-forth flow crap you had to do at the pumping station... my guess is, this is just pathing, and if the character's bounds says it can't fit, then it will never fit, so maybe lead them there a different way... usually the obvious way, it's not that clever of a game, honestly.

we'd need to see a screenshot of you crossing and them not crossing to know, though. And it's possible something glitched, it's not unheard of.

when you feel like going back, of course. don't make yourself mad at a game.

[Met A Demon Once]

Me and you have different views on what is a puzzle.

Anything that stops the normal flow of a game is a puzzle. Until the puzzle is solved the "normal flow" of the game cannot continue.

In the case stated before a terminal needed to be found and overridden for the game to continue. Until then the normal flow of the game is stopped.

Your version of what is a puzzle is much to narrow.

[Death Approaches]

that's just what is known as "pacing"; easy fight, story, medium fight, more story, puzzle (actual), harder fight, yet more story, emptiness and downtime to loot to re-arm, then boss fight... rinse and repeat. They're hard blocks; you can't get past here til you read this, can't open this door til you get that thing from that other location, etc.

if you found jumping around on those turning wheels and maglev containers in the cauldron and hiding in the steam to sneak your way through to the main chamber "puzzles" when there was literally only one way to do it along usually two pathways, well, you're right, we have different definitions... if you want constant combat, try DooM... no, wait, it has pacing too... maybe Wolfenstein II... no, that has pacing... hmm, seems almost every shooter not a multiplayer deathmatch chaos frenetic frenzy has "flow" or "pacing". Wonder why that is? Hmm.

[dcy665]

They could try Call of the War boys or Modern Wiener Dogs
Or something like that

[Met A Demon Once]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

that's just what is known as "pacing"; easy fight, story, medium fight, more story, puzzle (actual), harder fight, yet more story, emptiness and downtime to loot to re-arm, then boss fight... rinse and repeat. They're hard blocks; you can't get past here til you read this, can't open this door til you get that thing from that other location, etc.

if you found jumping around on those turning wheels and maglev containers in the cauldron and hiding in the steam to sneak your way through to the main chamber "puzzles" when there was literally only one way to do it along usually two pathways, well, you're right, we have different definitions... if you want constant combat, try DooM... no, wait, it has pacing too... maybe Wolfenstein II... no, that has pacing... hmm, seems almost every shooter not a multiplayer deathmatch chaos frenetic frenzy has "flow" or "pacing". Wonder why that is? Hmm. :possession:

I do call all those turning wheels and maglev containers puzzles. Ever try to walk through a maze which is a form of puzzle. No difference here except how the maze is displayed. Which is why I say the quest has puzzles on steroids. The normal flow of the quest is constantly being stalled while each one is solved. I really dislike this type of gaming.

I am here for the story not the puzzles and puzzles are constantly interfering with the story.

By the way Doom and Wolfenstein are not my cup of tea. Fallout series and Mass Effect and Starfield are where I spend most of my time. I had no problem with Horizon Zero Dawn and most of the Wilds. But, when I hit quests like this my interest drops to zero.

[the7thguest]

Oh you will have so much fun in forbidden west, nearly no puzzles there at all anymore.
/sarcasm