80 hours in and I just realized Aloy essentially levels are reversed

[Sinophile]

Traditionally, you level up your character using side quests to prepare for the main quest. However, in Horizon, your "level" has little bearing anything except skill points and hit points. Everything else is dependant upon gear. The further your progress in the story, more areas you get access to, the better gear you get. I am level 60 but struggle with level 40 enemies because of how underleveled my gear is.

[Ulfsark]

........and whose fault is that?

[joridiculous]

Originally posted by Ulfsark:

........and whose fault is that?

the game for its idiotic upgrade system.
HZD did this much better.

[Alt0153]

Originally posted by joridiculous:

Originally posted by Ulfsark:

........and whose fault is that?

the game for its idiotic upgrade system.
HZD did this much better.

base gear + weaves/coils was much better than a pile of gear all needing separate upgrade components and a pile of money to upgrade

[Sinophile]

Originally posted by Alt0153:

Originally posted by joridiculous:

the game for its idiotic upgrade system.
HZD did this much better.

base gear + weaves/coils was much better than a pile of gear all needing separate upgrade components and a pile of money to upgrade

This game makes me want to play Fallout 4, where I can customize my gear functionally and aesethically. Fallout and Skyrim was also like 75% level and 25% gear whereas Horizon is the other way around.

[Napalm®]

Would be fine if requirements for upgrading weapons weren't so bonkers

[medledan16]

Originally posted by Sinophile:

Traditionally, you level up your character using side quests to prepare for the main quest. However, in Horizon, your "level" has little bearing anything except skill points and hit points. Everything else is dependant upon gear. The further your progress in the story, more areas you get access to, the better gear you get. I am level 60 but struggle with level 40 enemies because of how underleveled my gear is.

GIT GUD

[TasmańskiZwierz]

Originally posted by Sinophile:

Traditionally, you level up your character using side quests to prepare for the main quest. However, in Horizon, your "level" has little bearing anything except skill points and hit points. Everything else is dependant upon gear. The further your progress in the story, more areas you get access to, the better gear you get. I am level 60 but struggle with level 40 enemies because of how underleveled my gear is.

It's not that much weapon upgrade issue, but rather tactic one. With purple/orange unupgraded gear from traders you should be more than capable to deal with any enemy game throws at you in NG0. (In fact, you can even with blue ones, but they have limited ammo options). But the higher level enemy has, the more important it is to apply right tactic and exploit it weaknesses in order to deal with it fast and efficiently. Against humans, aim for the head. Against machines, try to explode volaite sacs and explode canisters. Whenever you can obtain heavy weapon - get it and use it. If there are environmental traps - trigger them when enemies are passing by. When you can - hide in bushes, bait single enemies, and oneshot them with silent strike. If large machines are too troublesome - tie them down with Ropecaster and be free to pack in free damage. Abuse Acid, Frost and Plasma vurnabilities. Against large enemies - utilize boltcasters with elemental bolts suited to their weaknesses. If you can override - override to get support in combat. If you are losing - don't be shy to use smoke bomb, retreat, and start anew from stealth.

[kaffekoppen]

Originally posted by Sinophile:

This game makes me want to play Fallout 4, where I can customize my gear functionally and aesethically. Fallout and Skyrim was also like 75% level and 25% gear whereas Horizon is the other way around.

Your levels matter a lot... to a point, then the progression breaks. Once you have all your damage perks in FO4, you and some enemies will continue to get more HP, but you will not be doing more damage. This leads to bullet sponge enemies, and now you are totally reliant on gear if you want to fight without falling asleep. This makes most of the guns in the game boring to use because they just don't keep up.

FO4's progression system is flawed, and in more ways than I just described. I feel like Bethesda never really could get this part right.

Don't get me wrong, I really do still like FO4, but it has some serious flaws.