Which has the best story of the horizon series?

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Topcyclist

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Poll Which has the best story of the horizon series? (29 votes)

Horizon: Zero Dawn (1) 28%
Horizon: The Frozen Wilds (1.5) 7%
Horizon: Forbidden West (2) 14%
They're all poorly written/flawed so none of the above 10%
They're all mostly even for me 3%
I don't know 41%

I notice horizon got overlooked by people either thinking the first was one and done and they didnt have the draw of mystery for a sequel. Others thought the unique idea of robot dinos allured them and it was gone now. Maybe even zelda to Elden ring took the limelight, thou I believe that's overstated as the people playing elden ring arent giving up horizon to do so. IMO at least prior elden ring's release (most discourse about ED was that it was just open world dark souls and nothing to be impressed by or try if you already hated the difficulty of the series). That dismissive side of the internet aside, i really believe horizon was getting purchased by people into that game, and the elden ring game or even zelda wasn't really the same type to push away buyers.

Anyway for the story, I feel it's more of a toy story and toy story 2 situations in that people screamed toy story was one and done, i don't need to know more, yet the sequel was just as good and expanded on more things that were nice to know. Horizon to me never seemed one and done and left threads hanging but tried to have a fulfilling story on itself, much like lord of the rings in how each movie still feels nice on its own but the overarching threat is always meant to be in the final 3rd story.

So, I've also noticed people dropping horizon 2 due to the opening not hooking them and it's length. Finally got to play and beat it, PlayStation trophies said about 70% get far enough for the twist, 40% actually beat it, and the prologue isn't that long or annoying, any more than say the first horizon. I question what made this game's story not as appealing since the twist isnt thrown in at the ending, their's multiple new plot beats that expand the world, and it all mixes into side plots and character arcs (according to pstrophies most didnt see the robot arm story arc but it was a powerful message for people with similar disabilities.) Added to that I think the tribes are more fleshed out and make sense with the things aloy is trying to achieve and the past (symbolisms of the past repeating unless we change etc.). It all seems way more streamlined and besides the help the first game had, in being well the first and the hook, I thought the newer game was better story-wise. (gameplay too but of course, the game with more of the same is better).

It could be that I also predicted some of the twist due to everyone screaming about how good the story was after the first game's release...I mean the name Aloy, robots that weren't hostile and churning soil, old buildings, the random biosphere of grassland to whatever so abruptly (thou thats a game thing in most as well) and the notes spell it out for you.

So what did everyone else feel? What was the consensus on the story in particular?

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mellotronrules

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hmm- as the resident Horizon apologist i'm going to provide a cop-out answer and say: when it comes to best 'story,' i think itdepends on what you care about.

i think it's pretty uncontroversial to say Horizon Zero Dawn has the best plot and macro-level story...the world itself is a compelling mystery that gets revealed in a very satisfyingly melancholic way. i've said it elsewhere on these forums, but when you realize the nature of the machines, why they look the way they do, and who's responsible- that's a great moment in video game storytelling.

Frozen Wilds on the other hand is a really outstanding short story/self-contained narrative that plugs very nicely into the larger overarching themes and world. as a brother to a sister, i found it very engaging. as microcosm it's probably the tightest, most competently written storytelling of the series- similar to something like Shadow Broker.

however in my opinion Horizon Forbidden West has the strongest character writing, and admittedly that's entirely my shit (i will forgive a lot of plot stupidity/cliché for great characters). i feel like i learned significantly more about Aloy, Erend, and Varl despite having a fairly ho-hum plot. Kotallo and Zo are both great, well-considered additions to the cast- and i really hope we get to see more of them in the future.

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Topcyclist

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@mellotronrules: Good point. I didnt consider that much. I think jeff commented on what made the first game so appealing and why the hook isn't there and it deters people from hopping onboard the new game. Unlike say uncharted or tomb raider, games with some similar mechanics or dark souls to zelda, (i think horizon is all over the place in a good way), horizon falls on its continued story. You can't just jump to a new structure of storytelling, people are either in or out. Thou id argue the twist in the new game makes the genreswitch so who knows.

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getpoopedon

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I definitely clicked on this thinking you meant Forza lol

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FacelessVixen

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@getpoopedon: You're not the only one. If that were the case, I'd say Horizon 3 for the Hot Wheels story line weaving its way into Horizon 3's narrative with as much subtly as the Kool-Aid man crashing though one of the walls of a nitroglycerin plant.

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theonewhoplays

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#5  Edited By theonewhoplays

I didn't care for basically any character in the first game, including Alloy, and the meta narrative was the only thing keeping me invested enough to struggle through the gameplay and plot. And to the game's credit, I think the meta narrative stuck the landing, unlike the current plot which never felt like it took off at all. I tried Frozen Wilds and while I didn't hate it or anything, it didn't keep my interest in any way so I didn't finish it.

I've avoided Horizon 2 spoilers, and haven't played it so I can't do a comparison. But it would have to almost a complete 180 wrt plot and character writing for me to care, without the mystery of how the world came to be. I would give it a shot if it's on PS+ one of these days, but as someone who's a fan of most of Sony's 1st party releases, Horizon was a huge disappointment gameplay- and writing-wise.

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deactivated-6321b685abb02

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I liked the story in the first game, didn't much care for the characters but the story and combat carried it for me. It's was pretty easy to see where the story was going early on but I still enjoyed it for what it was.

Started playing 2 recently and dropped it after being in basically an extended stealth and walk and talk sequence for an hour with no end in sight. I do plan on going back to it though, I really haven't given it a fair shake so far, too much else to play. I just wanna get to the part where I can bring down a big group of enemies with 1 well placed shot and a whole buncha chain reactions then I'm pretty sure I'll be way into it.

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TheRealTurk

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I think Horizon 2 did a better job of writing the protagonist characters, for the most part. But Horizon ZD has the way better overall plot.

I was already falling off FW because of how tedious I found the gameplay and map, but I really stopped caring about the story when they introduced the Zeniths. They are all so cartoonishly evil that it's really hard to take them seriously. I mean, in ZD, Ted Faro was pretty much The Worst(TM), but he at least felt realistically drawn within the framework of that story. The new villains just feel like a grab bag of every socialist-leaning Twitter cliche about the rich. It felt like there should have been a way to write that story line without making them such caricatures.

And the ending kind of feels like a Force Awakens situation - we end up with yet another evil AI trying to destroy Earth, but this one is eviler.