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[Horizon: Zero Dawn]

Finished Horizon: Zero Dawn (after almost 143 hours) last night. Very happy with it. Loved learning the story behind Project Zero Dawn and Elisabet Soubeck/GAIA/HADES and think Aloy is a great protagonist and very much enjoyed playing as her. I hit Level 50, got all the Skill Trees and have (so far) unlocked 81% of the Achievements and the only ones left that look unachievable (for me) are the Hunting Lodge Time Trials (particularly the Blazing Sun-level rewards).

As I've noted before, from an RPG perspective HZD maybe isn't as fully-formed as existing franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age or Mass Effect but for a first try RPG from an existing FPS developer it's an incredible debut.

I can see a lot of room for development/improvement in any sequel. The only thing I'd be worried about would be adding more standard RPG elements - more sophisticated dialogue paths, more meaningful in-game decisions and more complex relationships (romances?) with NPCs - at the expense of the existing RPG elements that make HZD so enjoyable.

To be fair, I'm a little doubtful about the re-playability aspect of the game (compared to say BioWare's offerings) but as a one-off experience, as Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Grim Fandango or even The Witcher 1 were for me back in the day, I had a lot of fun discovering the world of Horizon.

I saw the original anime on a cinema re-release a couple of months ago and the live action remake on Tuesday. I liked the remake a lot - lots of resonances with Blade Runner and Mega City 1, I felt - and found it a lot easier to understand and follow than I had either the anime or the manga. Which, yes, means it's been 'dumbed down' for the multiplex audience and that might offend the purists but if you want a mainstream hit then sometimes you have to sweeten the pill.

The thing is I feel that GitS, like Dredd, has a hardcore but pretty niche audience that on its own isn't big enough to support a multi-million dollar franchise so you need something else rather than brand recognition to bring in the aforementioned multiplex audience. If Scarlett Johanssan running around, to all extents and purposes, essentially naked for two hours isn't enough of a USP then you've got bigger problems than what you put on your posters.

I'm going to suggest that making GitS a 12A rather than a 15 (like the anime) or an R/18 probably won't end up being seen as an asset. Although making Dredd an 18 didn't work for it either so perhaps the problem is more that niche products only appeal to niche audiences.

I asked for and received an excellent Fairfax sketch from Dave at the 40th:

I was a bit iffy about 'Dreams of Deadworld' when it first appeared because horror-for-horror's sake/Walking Dead-esque horror doesn't normally gel with me but next to 'Jaegir', 'Lawless' and 'The Order', 'The Fall of Deadworld' is one of the best things coming out of the House of Tharg at the moment.

Sure, I'm rooting for Fairfax and Jess to survive even though Kek-W agreed with me at the 40th that "[spoiler]it isn't going to end well, is it?[/spoiler]" but Dave (obliquely) noted as he was sketching that Fairfax is (kind of) [spoiler]Deadworld's version of Dredd[/spoiler] so the optimist in me hopes that Fairfax and Cassie [spoiler]manage to get their hands on the dimension-jumping technology that Death & the DJs used to reach Mega-City 1, which could tie 'Fall of Deadworld' into the original 'Judge Death' serial, and escape.[/spoiler] The realist however knows that's never going to happen. 

I'll admit I'm torn on this one. On the one hand a limited hardback with exclusive John Ridgway art print is 'Whoo!" but on the other I'm not exactly rushing to put Summer Magic on my wish list. I remember liking the first series when it appeared in the Prog but I don't look back on it with the same fondness as, say, 'The VCs' or 'Meltdown Man' (which I'd love hardback editions of), so I don't know if it's an essential purchase for me despite its previous scarcity... 

[Horizon Zero Dawn]

I reached Meridian in my playthrough of Horizon Zero Dawn last night and, wow! it really put Bioware's 'big cities' such as Denerim and Val Royeaux in Dragon Age to shame. Guerilla's Meridian isn't just a random 'quarter' that gives you access to a few shops and plazas with citizens standing around spouting random dialogue. It feels like a really bustling environment with NPCs moving around creating a semblance of activity and big enough that you can get lost wandering down a random alley. My previous comment about not being able to enter habitats still stands though since then there have been a couple of plot-related dwellings that you do get to go into and have a snoop around. The game also gives you reasons (if you want them) to return to Meridian so while I feel I've only had a cursory glance at what's going on in the city I don't feel I have to explore it all now, I can take my time and wander around a bit further next time I visit. Very impressive.

The 2000 AD 40th anniversary special has sold out - second printing on its way with Jock and David Aja covers www.2000adonline.com/post/1522

Quaequam Blag! That's ghafflebette!

'Quaequam Blag!' because this risks busting my carefully planned two TCUs per year of progs scheme.

(I realise this is a good problem to have. )

[Horizon Zero Dawn]

I'm about maybe 15 hours(?) into Horizon Zero Dawn, hit level 12 earlier today and I really love the game. It's got a great heroine in Aloy and the open world environments look amazing. As someone who doesn't really dig fighting in RPGs (it's a chore you have to get through in order to progress the story) the combat in HZD is working really well for me. Lots of stealth options when tracking machines but even if you have to get into melee with them you can still punch quite hard with your spear, which also doubles as a hacking tool to override certain machines.

Guerilla Games have implemented a really nice acrobatics/climbing/jumping mechanic for the game so as long as you're generally heading in the right direction Aloy isn't going to fall off a tightrope or miss a ledge (vastly superior to BioWare's Inquisition where even walking along a beam was tricky and a misstep can result in you falling off and having to start again (assuming you survive the fall)).

One thing I've noticed, where HZD differs from Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls, is there's no interior access; that is, you enter a village with a bunch of cabins but none of them are accessible. Not really a problem, there's often a sense of unreality in how RPG heroes freely wander into people's homes and help themselves to their belongs. Likewise, lots of homes in HZD have crafting equipment outside but unlike Skyrim none of it actually works, although you can kick over the odd basket or knock a joint of meat off its peg. but it perhaps suggests that GG decided to put their resources into other areas of the game.

The Save mechanism is odd as well as apart from in-game auto saves the only times/places you can save are at campfires dotted across the land, which act as fast travel points as well. Since HZD is a single player game with no multiplayer components the lack of option to save when you want to is perhaps surprising.

I didn't buy my first ever PlayStation last year because I wanted to play Horizon Zero Dawn but I'm jolly glad I did because it's fab. I definitely recommend it.

[The DDC only appear to own strips that originated in Eagle/New Eagle]

The DDC only appear to own strips that originated in Eagle/New Eagle (with one or two exceptions, IIRC) and anything that came to the comic from another title merger belongs to whoever ended up with the rights to that earlier title.

That's rather a shame because I would totally be up for a reprint collection of 'The Fists of Danny Pyke' by Johns Wagner & Burns. 

I can see the first volume being The Ballad of Halo Jones (with an Ian Gibson cover).

The website says that "Each hardback book has an exclusive cover especially designed for the collection". Given that that cover (and the others on display) have all appeared elsewhere, I'd assume that they're merely placeholders rather than what will actually appear on the books?

Unless 'exclusive' means something different for Hachette than how I've been using the word all these years.

Had an email this morning from the Shop saying my 40th Anniversary Progs have been dispatched today, so I expect they'll be arriving by the weekend?

I ordered HOD yesterday; the news that Tower King will get a re-issue is the cherry on the icing on the cake. 

Are there any special items I shouldn't let go cheap (eg poster progs)?

You probably know the Nemesis Poster Prog is quite (very?) rare. The banned Cursed Earth progs have probably lost some value due to the Uncensored reprints but Prog 1208 should still hold its rarity in perpetuity (most copies were destroyed in a flood).

I'm not sure how long it ran for, but Tharg returned and unmasked the perpetrators, and everything returned to normal.

Vector 13's rule of the Nerve Centre lasted from Prog 1014 to 1032 although it felt like much longer both at the time and afterwards.

Do you really reject one of the best/only space operas in 2000 AD? For shame.

If it makes any difference, the Meg floppies are the later Abnett/Williams version of the VCs, not the Finley-Day+MacManus & McMahon/Leach/Kennedy version.

IIRC the standard is paperback.  It's the special edition for me.  Pre-purchase in.  Is it too much to hope that Grant, Wagner and McMahon might be signing?

According to tonight's Thrill-Mail the bookplate is signed 'tho not sure if we know by who yet.


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