In what year is this set [SPOILERS]

[Kumagoro]

I'm trying to figure out the correct in-universe date of the game's events.
We get a few specific dates and we know the exact amount of time that passed between a specific event and the present.

I've started with this: we know exactly 355,510 days have passed since Elisabet Sobeck missed the last meeting with Ted Faro. It's stated by the automatic greeting system triggered by Aloy when she visits the ruins of Faro Automated Solutions. But when was Elisabet supposed to meet Ted and didn't?

One possibility is November 3, 2064. It's when we see her call Ted while flying to US Robot Command to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the situation. Perhaps Ted expected her to show up in person on that date. And after that, she never set foot in FAS ever again, since she was busy with Project: Zero Dawn. They only meet via hologram or elsewhere, and Ted's automatic agenda in FAS was never reset.

This would give us the current date (at least for when Aloy is exploring FAS) as March 13, 3038. This is contradicted by another information we have, which is Aloy being probably born on April 4, 3021 (it's the only specific date we get from an incubator in the All-Mother Mountain. Aloy and Sylens comment that that's where Aloy was born. I don't know how they would know exactly from which incubator she came from, but that seems a way for the game to give us Aloy's birth date).
But if she's born on that day, then she's not even 17 when she's in FAS, and we know she had to be 18 to compete in the Proving.

So which date was the automatic system referring to, in which Elisabet was expected in FAS and didn't show up? Is it possible it counts virtual meetings as well? So maybe some day in 2065 or even 2066, when the world was near the end?
It has to be a date that places the current time a little after April 4, 3039.

[Semipalmated Plover]

Originally posted by Kumagoro:

Originally posted by Semipalmated Plover:

GaiaPrime exploded 20 years ago. Sylens mentions it (as he went to investigate it).
Gaia's last act before self destructing was to inititate the gestation of Aloy. There are logs in the incubator saying that Gaia is now non-functional during the gestation process. So Aloy is in her 19th year.

"20 years ago" is clearly an approximation, otherwise the current year would be 3041 (which, if understand correctly, is contradicted in Forbidden West?).

And yes, the logs in the incubator are among the information I consider certain. It's reported here: https://horizon.fandom.com/wiki/Operations_Log

The key entries are:

3020-AU-26 08:45 - GESTATION ORDER RECEIVED

and

3021-AP-04 09:30 - #LK1A1-4510 DELIVERED

LK1A1-4510 is Aloy.
This is one end of Aloy's timeline. As far as I know, we're missing the other end. I know it's "about 20 years later". But I wanted to see if there was something as specific in the game regarding exactly when.

But I don't even think Aloy's age is the correct line of inquiry here. Instead, it might be more fruitful to pursue the very specific length of time expressed in those 355,510 days since the last time Elisabet had a meeting with Ted. If one of the data points established the date of that meeting, we could determine the exact day Aloy enters the FAS ruins.

I've not played Forbidden West yet, and avoiding all talk of it till i play it, so this is where i bow out i guess.

[Kumagoro]

Originally posted by Semipalmated Plover:

I've not played Forbidden West yet, and avoiding all talk of it till i play it, so this is where i bow out i guess.

Same here. I don't intend to cover Forbidden West. In fact, my attempt is to see if Zero Dawn already had the precise information about the current date somewhere.

[Kumagoro]

I just re-watched the dialogue with Sylens in his laboratory in GAIA Prime. He says "Nineteen years ago, a great explosion destroyed this mountain. GAIA's death... your birth." He explicitly says nineteen, not a more generic twenty. This seems to position the current year to 3040 then. That's not necessarily the year at the beginning of the game, though, since this is the end and how much time the events of the game encompass is not well-defined. But it must span at least a few months (travel distances alone account for that). So it's fairly possible Aloy was 18 at the Proving, around spring 3039, and now she's closer to 19 at the end.

[Metrinui]

I have to say, the reveal of how many days it's been since Humanity as we (relatively) know it existed was an unforgettable experience. The whole Faro Automated Solutions Ruin reveal was just, truly amazing. Wish I could experience it again

[Kumagoro]

Originally posted by Metrinui:

I have to say, the reveal of how many days it's been since Humanity as we (relatively) know it existed was an unforgettable experience. The whole Faro Automated Solutions Ruin reveal was just, truly amazing. Wish I could experience it again

Absolutely. The reveal of what Elisabet did to "solve" the apocalypse, too. I really couldn't figure out where they were going to go with that.

[Broken War Horse]

Best discussion in the form for a while. :)

[Eye of Newt]

Hearing that 355 thousand days thing for the first time was an absolute wham moment, because it underscores just how long since the world's end the game is set and raises even more questions about why humanity seems to be still in a primitive state of development after-the-end, as it were.

[Kumagoro]

Originally posted by Eye of Newt:

Hearing that 355 thousand days thing for the first time was an absolute wham moment, because it underscores just how long since the world's end the game is set and raises even more questions about why humanity seems to be still in a primitive state of development after-the-end, as it were.

Yeah, so often post-post-apocalyptic fiction doesn't really care to establish a conversation between the pre-apocalyptic past and the story's present. Most of them content themselves to focus on the rebuilt worlds. For instance, after watching all the Hunger Games movies (I don't know if the books provide greater detail), I was left with no clues about when the story is set relative to our time and what exactly happened to our society in their universe.

In any case, with HZD, I figured we were in the far future (aside from the fact that the loading screen's text says so!) when I discovered there have been 14 generations of Carja kings. That alone accounts for about 350 years.

[Magic A. I.]

Something tells me that "355,510 days" might be an approximation. What kind of clock is the facility actually using? Does it count days correctly? What is the margin of error? I believe that this line is there to give the impression of scale, not to point at any actual specific date. It might easily and explainably be off by a year or two without contradicting any other data in any way.

Also, do seasons even change in HZD?

[Kumagoro]

Originally posted by Magic A. I.:

Something tells me that "355,510 days" might be an approximation.

What kind of approximation would use a non-rounded number like that? :)
And what's the use of a PA alert that tells you an approximate time?
It seems to me the alert line was there for two purposes: a) to show exactly what year the game is set in (later confirmed by other sources), and b) to show how machines and AIs persist in their functions eternally and relentlessly. Both are chilling.

I don't think it's fruitful to wonder whether the creators of the game gave us specific times that weren't meant to be taken as specific. Why would they do that?

The purpose of my post was to determine if every information matches every other (FAS alert, cradle logs, and so on), and it appears they do. I'm ready to give Guerrilla credit on this, they seem to place great importance in detail. Think of the quantity of apparently irrelevant data points with specific dates that tell self-contained, extremely minor stories with the only function of giving us an understanding of the society of the 2040s and 2060s.

Also, do seasons even change in HZD?

I don't think the game has that function. After all, if the main story is played with the urgency Aloy would have (it makes no sense for her to delay going to find Olin in order to help random people with their random problems), I don't think it encompasses more than a few weeks. I mean, fantasy fast travel aside. But they already cheated on that by reducing the scale of actual places (they said as much, the first game is Colorado and Utah, but the distances are like 1/100th or so). They clearly subscribed to the Game of Thrones school of plot-driven travel.

To be honest, the most unrealistic element of the entire game, more than the science or the scale, is the absolute convenience of every crucial historical location being at a reasonable walking distance from where Aloy starts. FAS, US Robot Command, the Zero Dawn facility, GAIA Prime, even the Firebreak Project facility, everything is within the same relatively small area, and some of these structures were created independently from each other.

[Magic A. I.]

Hey, I'm not attacking you, no need to get defensive. In fact, I think that your investigation is commendable. However, take note of other points in my post. I think these points already counter or answer much of what you just said.

What kind of clock is the facility actually using? Does it count days correctly? What is the margin of error? I believe that this line is there to give the impression of scale, not to point at any actual specific date. It might easily and explainably be off by a year or two without contradicting any other data in any way.

Also, I wouldn't want to idealize developers. They made a buggy game with a lot of flaws. The writing is only occasionally good, and the plot shouldn't be above suspicion of taking shortcuts here and there. Therefore, inconsistencies may happen, but they can be explained without breaking immersion, which is a good thing. You want to prove that all data is precise, but do we really need to be so dogmatic about it? Next thing you'll be suggesting that way is human sacrifice on developers' altar in the name of the Sun. =)

Also, 355510 / 365 = 974. Seems pretty rounded to me. Could've been 974.6 or something. Oh, and did you count leap years? Because then the date actually moves by a lot.

[Eye of Newt]

Originally posted by Magic A. I.:

Hey, I'm not attacking you, no need to get defensive. In fact, I think that your investigation is commendable. However, take note of other points in my post. I think these points already counter or answer much of what you just said.

What kind of clock is the facility actually using? Does it count days correctly? What is the margin of error? I believe that this line is there to give the impression of scale, not to point at any actual specific date. It might easily and explainably be off by a year or two without contradicting any other data in any way.

Also, I wouldn't want to idealize developers. They made a buggy game with a lot of flaws. The writing is only occasionally good, and the plot shouldn't be above suspicion of taking shortcuts here and there. Therefore, inconsistencies may happen, but they can be explained without breaking immersion, which is a good thing. You want to prove that all data is precise, but do we really need to be so dogmatic about it? Next thing you'll be suggesting that way is human sacrifice on developers' altar in the name of the Sun. =)

Also, 355510 / 365 = 974. Seems pretty rounded to me. Could've been 974.6 or something. Oh, and did you count leap years? Because then the date actually moves by a lot.

973.33333333333333333333333333333 if you use the 365.25 figure as a way to factor in leap years.

[Magic A. I.]

Right. Almost a year. So 18-19 question is relevant again. Or does it have to be 17 now?

[Eye of Newt]

I just assume Aloy is 18 and roll with it. People saying "twenty years ago" to state the beginning of the Derangement are understandably rounding off, so I'd take Sylens's dialog (the man *is* extraordinarily precise with his words) and the GAIA logs as pretty solid markers of Aloy's lifespan. The 355k+ days is just a reinforcing point in that context.

[Magic A. I.]

Originally posted by Eye of Newt:

I just assume Aloy is 18 and roll with it. People saying "twenty years ago" to state the beginning of the Derangement are understandably rounding off, so I'd take Sylens's dialog (the man *is* extraordinarily precise with his words) and the GAIA logs as pretty solid markers of Aloy's lifespan. The 355k+ days is just a reinforcing point in that context.

Agreed.