Vague spoilers for some locations and side quests in Horizon: Forbidden West

Butch:

I'm not lost, Dag. 

I just did what anyone would do when told there are four months left for me to save the world: I doubled back.  

Hit a rebel camp (The stealth valor boost is very helpful), took FOREVER to get a vista point by plainsong (man you had to be in JUST the right spot), got another ruin ornament from a place that it turned out was real (if you've done it, I'll share), and did all of Riverhymn. Liked that quest.  You do that? 

Not a bad day's work!  I mean, I'm no closer to saving the world, but whatever. 

Feminina:

Ah, Riverhymn. The young sprouts, we had to go collect widemaw pods, do a big fight? Good times.

Was that the vista point with the airfield? Or one that I missed? I doubled back as well, but didn't completely cover everything I'd missed the first time. I need to triple back!

Butch:

No, this was one where you had to get to high ground, look back towards plainsong, line up two old wind turbines with the thing between them.  Major pain in the ass. I have yet to see an airfield. 

Yes, the sprouts.  Picking up widemaw poop (c'mon, that's what it was).  I managed to do that undetected, which was pretty great.  That stealth valor surge is my new favorite thing. 

Ooo! I forgot!  

So...did you do a ruin/ornament that required moving a train car, by chance? 

Feminina:

I did do that moving train car hotel! The thing that took me the longest was jumping onto the damn zip line once I got that door unlocked. Jumping is...finicky. I have had a number of issues with jumping. It's like you have to be facing in EXACTLY the right direction or you just miss even though the thing is right there.

Though you probably had no issues with this at all, so it's likely just me.

I'll definitely have to triple back and keep an eye out for another vista point. I kind of like those as a concept, it's an interesting little puzzle, but they can be tough. The airfield wasn't bad, but the first one, with the bridge, took me FOREVER to line up just so, even once I knew I was in the right spot.

Butch:

Oh, you think the river one was a pain?  Wait until you find the one I did last night.  Really picky, that one. 

HA!  I did the same thing.  Over and over again.  (Though I was happy I realized that it was 1923 right off the bat.  Can't trick me, game!)  Jumping is a pain.  The worst part of Riverhymn was that series of jumps across that big pillar surrounded by water.  Had I not remembered to drop the ladder, Riverhymn would've burned cuz fuck it. 

Always. Drop.  The ladder. 

OK!  That railcar one was based on a real place.  I thought it HAD to be, and I was right.  Check it out: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_City_Railroad_Depot

You can look for more pics online.  Nice touches, game. 

But, more importantly, as I was leaving there for Riverhymn Aloy was all "Maybe I should go back, look for more."  "Odd," thought I, but I did and found a data point.  Two guys talking about virtual travel and....something else. 

You find that? 

The worst part of the damn vista I did yesterday was that, on my way to the finicky point, I got attacked by a machine, and I didn't know what the machine was, and every time I turned on my focus, instead of, you know, scanning the machine, I just got the picture I had to line up and Aloy all "Hmm....not here...."  Aloy, bigger problems at this time. 

Feminina:

Hahahahaha!!! I mean, that's super frustrating, but also funny. One track mind, our heroine. 

I also immediately got 1923, and that's cool that it's a real place. Nice touch. 

Two guys talking about virtual travel...uh...doesn't ring a bell. I'll be back there sometime! I don't remember if I noticed her saying she could go back and look again. It might have been the one thing I've missed with the new, fan-free, crystal clear sound.

Though on that, we joked about how the blog would become nothing but sound commentary, and that's not likely to happen, but I will say that I really like the music for this game (which I can actually hear). There's nice little peppy "exploring" tunes, and ominous "wandering the machine-infested woods" tunes and dramatic fight music. I haven't noticed whether or not it involves oboes, however. 

Jumping is SUCH a pain. And even when it gives you a ladder (which, mercifully, I also remembered to lower in the cave), you often still have to do some not-insignificant amount of climbing to get back to where you missed the jump. 

Which makes it especially annoying when you promptly miss it again. Several times in a row. 

It's a good game and I'm into it, but jumping is a pain. 

Butch:

It wasn't super important, just arched my eyebrows.  It was these two guys, Old Ones, who were sick, and talking about how nice it was they could travel virtually when they were bedridden.  One was getting gene therapy and the other was asking how it went.   The interesting line was "Well, we better enjoy the travel we can.  No one is working on a cure for the Doom Plague [caps in original] now that the machines are attacking." 

Doom Plague?  Have we heard about a Doom Plague in the old times? 

Oh, man, mark it.  Mark the date.  Femmy mentioned music.  

It is good!  Adds to both the mood and the sense of epic drama. 

Missing repeatedly is exactly what happened yesterday on that pillar thingy.  And on the jump OFF the pillar thingy.  I finally made the jump to the pillar thingy.  "Phew," I said, "glad that's over," then missed the NEXT jump and had to climb back and missed my next five tries on the jump I was proud to have made.  

I was displeased. 

Feminina:

Yes!--Or like last night, I finally made a jump, progressed past the jump, and then just casually fell off a ledge while not even jumping and had to go back to miss the jump several more times. Siiiiiiiiiiigh...

I don't remember anything about a Doom Plague in previous info. Guess it didn't make the news much once machines were destroying the world. I wonder if it'll come up again, or if it was just a one-off (as some of the notes are). 

Butch:

Oh man, you just fell?  That sucks. 

I don't know if the plague will be a thing.  Might not be.  There are one offs, for sure.  Maybe it might be something they throw in there that they can pick up later.  We get around to the fourth game and they're all "Uh....what do we do?  Uh, "Return of the doom plague!" and they can say "Hey, we didn't pull that out of nowhere...." 

Still.  Interesting that they a) put it in there and b) had Aloy hint we should go back to find it. 

Feminina:

That is interesting...as you say, maybe something they're keeping in their pocket for later games. It never hurts to have options!

I've become kind of genuinely terrified of heights in this game because I'm so afraid I'll have to climb all the way back up to somewhere. If it were just death, whatever!--but the repeated climbing, that's the slog. 

Butch:

There was one time, there was a save point right before one of those multiple "fail, then climb back" deals, and I found it faster just to reload the save each time I messed up than to climb all the way back. 

Behold the power of the PS5!  And behold how irksome jumping is. 

Feminina:

I can easily imagine this! Sadly, the nearest campfire was some distance away from the place I was dealing with last night. Grr, stupid jumping in trees...

Butch:

In trees?  Shit.  I haven't jumped in trees.  I don't want to jump in trees!

Feminina:

You will. It's gonna be great.

Butch:

I, for some reason, doubt this.  

There better be ladders.  

How far ahead of me are you? 

Feminina:

It's difficult to say given the doubling back we each may have done to different places and different degrees of thoroughness. I think one or two story points. Not that far.

Butch:

But four thousand question marks.  

I assume you went after Aether as well?

Feminina:

I did, yeah. It seemed to be clearly coded as the most appropriate one to start with...though by the time I actually get there, I'll probably be easily level 25 or whatever was the recommendation on the second one. In Vegas, baby!

But I'll do it in order, it's fine. 

Butch:

As we know, those levels don't mean shit. 

But Vegas will be awesome anyway.  

I hope they play Big Iron on the radio.