This is a awesome analysis. Though i have a bit of constructive criticism surrounding your summary and analysis of the Banuk. The biggest detail you missed was in mentioning a key detail that helps to understand them more: the story of Banukai. Banukai was the first chieftan who saved her tribe from a tribe known as the ravenous tribe. At a critical moment she saw a blue light and connected with the machines. She is a christ like figure who died for her tribe. Everything from the tribes customs to their code of survival to their name is taken from the story of banukai. And to them, breaking that code is dishonoring the very foundations of their tribe and everything banukai stood for: survival against all odds. This is very important because it establishes the tribe as having profound religious and spiritual beliefs, which are way harder to break than a fickle belief system of "survival against all odds...just because".
Also: A little bit of background on the facial animations and why the animations are so stiff in ZD. In Zero Dawn Guerilla only had a VERY small motion capture studio that could only capture one person at a time. Because of this, they relegated Mocap to Aloy's gameplay animations only. All the dialogue movement was done by computer and the actors only read their lines in a sound booth. But for Frozen Wilds, Guerilla worked with a outside studio that did Motion capture. From this point onwards, the actors were actually in a room, acting out their lines (with those gimp suits) instead of reading them in a sound booth. and this improved even further in Forbidden West when Guerilla built their own motion/performance capture studio in house (and it really is a massive studio with camera's everywhere).
You can actually access the frozen wilds before reaching day tower. I'm doing a playthrough where I complete the frozen wilds before entering Carja territory. Shit is really hard but not impossible
Lovely video. I've personally found the Aratak-Ourea dynamic very compelling, because they each represent one "pathological" approach to the challenges. Just like Burgrend says: The shamans have their heads in the clouds, and the chieftains are strict warlords. Of course, the reason for them being siblings is that at the end, Aratak has someone to mourn -- it wouldn't work with Ourea being a stranger.
0:41 "Given that the story is considersbly shorter, i hope to go into more detail but remain far more succinct. Only time will tell," *Narrator : Adam did in fact go into way more detail. However Adam was not so brief as he was hoping, and for this, the community rejoiced eagerly listening and silently wishing the video were longer.*
I cannot believe your videos (especially this series) isn't more popular. You genuinely put SO much work into something not many others have. And definitely not to the same extent. I've been going through your videos as I finish the games. First Zero Dawn, now this, and eventually Forbidden West (when I get through it 😭). But seriously, these (and your newer videos) are amazing. Really help me understand a game I already love, sooo much more. And you really deserve so much more!! Keep it up man :)
If you do Frozen Wilds before you beat the base game Arritak will help defend the Spire. Also Sylen's dialogue changes. On NG+ play throughs, I like to open the Cut because there's some great gear to get and then do the base game until after the Nora rescue before going back to the Cut and finishing that as I think narratively it's between the exploring GAIA PRIME and the final story mission. I say this because you have all the information on Zero Dawn and Sylen's urgency makes sense
Very good video, I'm discovering your channel and watching your Horizon analysis and you did a great job with this series! Quick note about Aratak's path during the ascent of Thunder's Drum: by choosing his path you'll play a lengthy battle against two Scorcher and a Behemoth (all three of them daemonic, of course). The fight is quite hard, but in my opinion very fun. In the end, you'll recover a unique coil (34 fire and 20 ranged resistance) amongst the remains of the fallen Banuk hunters.
Given that the Fireclaw was, at the time anyway, HEPH's magnum opus of hunter killers, I feel the fight with the daemonic version fits well in the story and sets the tone for future boss battles involving machines directly empowered by HEPH. Such as the Grimhorn in the repair bay (to a lesser extent) and the Apex Slaughterspine in Cauldron Gemini. Although I would have liked to seen those towers again, maybe in a more advanced state given that it is implied that the Apex machines are daemonic machines but better in every aspect. Makes you wonder if we will get another showdown with the AI now it now had access to Far Zenith tech. No doubt stealing what it could before retreating back to tke cauldron network.
Bro, I was just randomly strolling down my feed until your channel popped up at the very bottom. I am so shocked that TH-cam did not recommend you but I’m glad I found your channel.
59:25 My thinkings: If Elisabet hadn't worked on firebreak and developed CYAN would she not have had the existing framework for CYAN and not had the head start needed to finish GAIA in time? We see that by the time they were putting the bow on the whole project they had minutes to spare to repair the seal issue. Surely Elisabet must have been inspired by her workings with CYAN to come up with the solution so quickly offsetting any delay in the R of R&D. Though both her and Ted "Fucking" Faro had a hand in CYAN's development so would that have inspired him to work on the Chariot line??
I really appreciate your videos, not just a recount but summary, analysis and speculation. Really helps to cement my understanding of the lore after playing each part. Regarding the Banuk inflexibility: 43 and 110. I choose the Be gentle option in which CYAN overtime will reveal the mach8ne reality to the Banuk. I think this will be the method the story uses to update the Banuk and make them ready for endgame. Having a strained relationship with sibling myself. I got the brother/sister dynamic with so much being unsaid and hard to break barriers.
25:20 I actually disagree with this part. When I played the DLC, and found out that they were brother and sister, it immediately re-contextualized the situation for me. I instantly had the same concerns Ourea addressed - did I just challenge this Banuk for his Werak over a family squabble? I was impressed that the writers understood that's the immediate impression left when you find out. It was effective and memorable in my experience.
You put so much work into this! Even though I don’t like the gameplay your analysis allows me and others to access the story in depth. Thank you! I notice that you have a number of other long analyses and a so few subs. Absolutely criminal. I’m going to hype you up.
Came here after the first horizon video, so happy you’re discussing the narrative and more detail and I can’t wait for you to discuss the DLC for forbidden West
I went to the banuk as soon as i went for the metal flower next to the big worm, which drew me to go explore and find the Frozen Wilds, and stayed to get at least one bluegleam weapon, which made the game much easier and later when i came back to the main quests
Just in case anyone is wondering at ~53:15 what is the difference between Aratak's and Ourea's paths: Aratak's path provides a really powerful upgrade (in one of the crates left by the fallen banuk), but at the cost of fighting through some tough machines, including yet another Frostclaw; it's also possible to detach a weapon from one of the Scorchers (strangely, it seems the game will automatically delete the weapon from the SECOND one, if you detach both of them), and then carry it through the door to the next arena, which can be beneficial in the next big combat.
Very nice video! I love the detail in editing of blurring out the text if it's not in context to what you're saying in the video, or when holding back on revealing information. Such a nice touch on top of a well edited and constructed analysis on my favourite game series. Thank you for your hard work, your effort is acknowledged and much appreciated!
About the banuk survival, I feel your assessment is correct until you factor in cyan. At the very least cyan will be able to change aratak and his clan if not the entire banuk culture.
You can actually play the frozen wilds before going to day tower. I'm doing a play through rn where I'm trying to complete the frozen wilds before entering carja territory. I don't think they intended this, because alloy will sometimes discuss events/people without meeting those characters in the game up to that point
The frozen wilds is my favorite dlc I've ever played... it's beautiful and the stories were so impactful to me as well as the world. I prefer it over the burning shores but I will note the burning shores characters feel like they genuinely connect with aloy and the character acting is phenomenal and unlike what I've seen prior in the game.
Once again another great analysis of the Horizon series. By any chance are you still working on making a video for the sequel game forbidden west, i played it last year & I don't know why not many people haven't taken up the game or reviewed it.
The Forbidden West video is currently in the works. Aiming to have it done before The Burning Shores DLC releases, though I can't be certain if I'll manage it.
Now you have me wondering whether I read the text parts of the audio data points in Frozen Wilds. I played and beat it a long time ago so who knows now? 🤷♀️
Honestly this is one of my favorite dlcs ever though I like the forbidden west one more when it comes to final fights lol . I honestly really liked the spirit and ourea. Her bother was ok but I really liked her .
Like your comments, but disagree about the sibling relationship. Are you an only child? I'm hearing that you don't understand how difficult and fraught they can be. I found both of them compelling and interesting characters. But, as you said, it's subjective...
56:30 you can use them, actually, that must have been a bug on your part
ปีที่แล้ว +3
I don't really like the blue gleam, green shine and brim shine. They all seem to server the same purpose of encouraging / forcing us to explore more in order to get better gear. It's as if the designers couldn't come up with proper reasons to explore so they had to make it a currency based rewards. I think datapoints, coils, weaves, sellable or collectable items and shards would have been enough. But best would have been to make more small lightly scripted encounters and errands. I have to say I don't really even like the outfit and weapon rarities and how weapons can only use certain 2-3 ammos. If these two bows can both shoot advanced arrows, why can't they both shoot frost and shock arrows too? Instead of switching between weapons, I'd rather switch between what ammos I have loaded. It doesn't make sense that Aloy is carrying 20+ weapons at all times. Even having 6 loaded at all times is a bit much. The same tool should be used for both casting ropes and tripwires for example. If there were less different kinds of weapons and outfits, there wouldn't be need for gleams and shines.
Frozen Wilds imo was a much better dlc than Burning shores. It felt bigger and had a lot of interesting characters. Burning Shores felt tiny by comparison.
This is a awesome analysis. Though i have a bit of constructive criticism surrounding your summary and analysis of the Banuk. The biggest detail you missed was in mentioning a key detail that helps to understand them more: the story of Banukai. Banukai was the first chieftan who saved her tribe from a tribe known as the ravenous tribe. At a critical moment she saw a blue light and connected with the machines. She is a christ like figure who died for her tribe. Everything from the tribes customs to their code of survival to their name is taken from the story of banukai. And to them, breaking that code is dishonoring the very foundations of their tribe and everything banukai stood for: survival against all odds. This is very important because it establishes the tribe as having profound religious and spiritual beliefs, which are way harder to break than a fickle belief system of "survival against all odds...just because".
O
Also: A little bit of background on the facial animations and why the animations are so stiff in ZD. In Zero Dawn Guerilla only had a VERY small motion capture studio that could only capture one person at a time. Because of this, they relegated Mocap to Aloy's gameplay animations only. All the dialogue movement was done by computer and the actors only read their lines in a sound booth. But for Frozen Wilds, Guerilla worked with a outside studio that did Motion capture. From this point onwards, the actors were actually in a room, acting out their lines (with those gimp suits) instead of reading them in a sound booth. and this improved even further in Forbidden West when Guerilla built their own motion/performance capture studio in house (and it really is a massive studio with camera's everywhere).
It's hilarious that the Tanakht in Forbidden west also claim that they were the ones who started the hunting grounds.😂😂😂
To be fair, it isn't exactly a difficult idea to come up with.
Canonically, I so want it to have been the other tribes copying Oseram delvers
Secretly they were all watching the Nora just, doin' their thing stayin' alive and thought, "Gosh, that's a neat idea for recreation!"
You can actually access the frozen wilds before reaching day tower. I'm doing a playthrough where I complete the frozen wilds before entering Carja territory. Shit is really hard but not impossible
Lovely video.
I've personally found the Aratak-Ourea dynamic very compelling, because they each represent one "pathological" approach to the challenges. Just like Burgrend says: The shamans have their heads in the clouds, and the chieftains are strict warlords.
Of course, the reason for them being siblings is that at the end, Aratak has someone to mourn -- it wouldn't work with Ourea being a stranger.
0:41
"Given that the story is considersbly shorter, i hope to go into more detail but remain far more succinct. Only time will tell,"
*Narrator : Adam did in fact go into way more detail. However Adam was not so brief as he was hoping, and for this, the community rejoiced eagerly listening and silently wishing the video were longer.*
😅😅
Okay, now I really need you to talk about forbidden West burning Shores 😂
I cannot believe your videos (especially this series) isn't more popular. You genuinely put SO much work into something not many others have. And definitely not to the same extent. I've been going through your videos as I finish the games. First Zero Dawn, now this, and eventually Forbidden West (when I get through it 😭). But seriously, these (and your newer videos) are amazing. Really help me understand a game I already love, sooo much more. And you really deserve so much more!! Keep it up man :)
If you do Frozen Wilds before you beat the base game Arritak will help defend the Spire. Also Sylen's dialogue changes. On NG+ play throughs, I like to open the Cut because there's some great gear to get and then do the base game until after the Nora rescue before going back to the Cut and finishing that as I think narratively it's between the exploring GAIA PRIME and the final story mission. I say this because you have all the information on Zero Dawn and Sylen's urgency makes sense
Very good video, I'm discovering your channel and watching your Horizon analysis and you did a great job with this series!
Quick note about Aratak's path during the ascent of Thunder's Drum: by choosing his path you'll play a lengthy battle against two Scorcher and a Behemoth (all three of them daemonic, of course). The fight is quite hard, but in my opinion very fun. In the end, you'll recover a unique coil (34 fire and 20 ranged resistance) amongst the remains of the fallen Banuk hunters.
Right… Ikrie wanted to help her… “friend”.
Given that the Fireclaw was, at the time anyway, HEPH's magnum opus of hunter killers, I feel the fight with the daemonic version fits well in the story and sets the tone for future boss battles involving machines directly empowered by HEPH. Such as the Grimhorn in the repair bay (to a lesser extent) and the Apex Slaughterspine in Cauldron Gemini. Although I would have liked to seen those towers again, maybe in a more advanced state given that it is implied that the Apex machines are daemonic machines but better in every aspect.
Makes you wonder if we will get another showdown with the AI now it now had access to Far Zenith tech. No doubt stealing what it could before retreating back to tke cauldron network.
Bro, I was just randomly strolling down my feed until your channel popped up at the very bottom. I am so shocked that TH-cam did not recommend you but I’m glad I found your channel.
59:25 My thinkings: If Elisabet hadn't worked on firebreak and developed CYAN would she not have had the existing framework for CYAN and not had the head start needed to finish GAIA in time? We see that by the time they were putting the bow on the whole project they had minutes to spare to repair the seal issue. Surely Elisabet must have been inspired by her workings with CYAN to come up with the solution so quickly offsetting any delay in the R of R&D. Though both her and Ted "Fucking" Faro had a hand in CYAN's development so would that have inspired him to work on the Chariot line??
Unfortunately Anita was the programmer of CYAN. The spirit states in the post finale conversation that it never met Dr Sobeck.
It is implied that Anita copied CYAN's programming/framework as a base to build GAIA from. So, some of column A, some of column B?
@@Linnir
In my opinion, the frozen wilds is a better and a more developed dlc than the burning shores
I really appreciate your videos, not just a recount but summary, analysis and speculation. Really helps to cement my understanding of the lore after playing each part. Regarding the Banuk inflexibility: 43 and 110. I choose the Be gentle option in which CYAN overtime will reveal the mach8ne reality to the Banuk. I think this will be the method the story uses to update the Banuk and make them ready for endgame.
Having a strained relationship with sibling myself. I got the brother/sister dynamic with so much being unsaid and hard to break barriers.
Frozen wilds was such an amazing addition to Zero Dawn. Great video as always. Thanks!
25:20 I actually disagree with this part. When I played the DLC, and found out that they were brother and sister, it immediately re-contextualized the situation for me. I instantly had the same concerns Ourea addressed - did I just challenge this Banuk for his Werak over a family squabble? I was impressed that the writers understood that's the immediate impression left when you find out. It was effective and memorable in my experience.
You put so much work into this! Even though I don’t like the gameplay your analysis allows me and others to access the story in depth. Thank you!
I notice that you have a number of other long analyses and a so few subs. Absolutely criminal. I’m going to hype you up.
Came here after the first horizon video, so happy you’re discussing the narrative and more detail and I can’t wait for you to discuss the DLC for forbidden West
That's what I always do myself. I always finish the Main game first, and then do Frozen Wilds.
It just makes more sense to me.
Great video Adam. Like you I play this after the main game. Simply because it's so big. Still it's absolutely brilliant and very challenging.
I went to the banuk as soon as i went for the metal flower next to the big worm, which drew me to go explore and find the Frozen Wilds, and stayed to get at least one bluegleam weapon, which made the game much easier and later when i came back to the main quests
Just in case anyone is wondering at ~53:15 what is the difference between Aratak's and Ourea's paths:
Aratak's path provides a really powerful upgrade (in one of the crates left by the fallen banuk), but at the cost of fighting through some tough machines, including yet another Frostclaw; it's also possible to detach a weapon from one of the Scorchers (strangely, it seems the game will automatically delete the weapon from the SECOND one, if you detach both of them), and then carry it through the door to the next arena, which can be beneficial in the next big combat.
Very nice video! I love the detail in editing of blurring out the text if it's not in context to what you're saying in the video, or when holding back on revealing information. Such a nice touch on top of a well edited and constructed analysis on my favourite game series. Thank you for your hard work, your effort is acknowledged and much appreciated!
Just finished your Horizon Forbidden West Video, now this! loved it, thanks for making it :)
Great video, entertaining commentary. Keep the good work up :)
Taking Arataks path let's you pick up a really good coil for your weapons.
Also I think instead of making Arratik and Orea brother and sister, husband and wife would've worked better.
Very Nice ♥Like😍👍💕i wish you a wonderful day!🌹💕
38:11 would actually love to see a Banuk compete against a Tenakth from the sky clan in a survival challenge 🤔
You mean Lowland, right?
There's Lowland Clan, Desert Clan, and Sky Clan.
@@PS4Pat I meant sky clan 😂 haha thanks m8 will correct it
@@SouLP196, I was also thinking you may have meant Sky.
@@PS4Pat don’t know what you mean I said sky clan all along 💀😂
About the banuk survival, I feel your assessment is correct until you factor in cyan. At the very least cyan will be able to change aratak and his clan if not the entire banuk culture.
You can actually play the frozen wilds before going to day tower. I'm doing a play through rn where I'm trying to complete the frozen wilds before entering carja territory. I don't think they intended this, because alloy will sometimes discuss events/people without meeting those characters in the game up to that point
The frozen wilds is my favorite dlc I've ever played... it's beautiful and the stories were so impactful to me as well as the world. I prefer it over the burning shores but I will note the burning shores characters feel like they genuinely connect with aloy and the character acting is phenomenal and unlike what I've seen prior in the game.
Once again another great analysis of the Horizon series. By any chance are you still working on making a video for the sequel game forbidden west, i played it last year & I don't know why not many people haven't taken up the game or reviewed it.
The Forbidden West video is currently in the works. Aiming to have it done before The Burning Shores DLC releases, though I can't be certain if I'll manage it.
apenas incrivel em diferentes maneiras, muito bom achar analise desse jogo incrivel!!
I really like how all the tribes in Horizon are admirable in some way but also having some deep seated flaws.
I love this DLC. the snow....amazing.❤
Do one about the Burning Shores.
When video about burning shores? I need it
Now you have me wondering whether I read the text parts of the audio data points in Frozen Wilds. I played and beat it a long time ago so who knows now? 🤷♀️
Honestly this is one of my favorite dlcs ever though I like the forbidden west one more when it comes to final fights lol . I honestly really liked the spirit and ourea. Her bother was ok but I really liked her .
Like your comments, but disagree about the sibling relationship. Are you an only child? I'm hearing that you don't understand how difficult and fraught they can be. I found both of them compelling and interesting characters. But, as you said, it's subjective...
56:30 you can use them, actually, that must have been a bug on your part
I don't really like the blue gleam, green shine and brim shine. They all seem to server the same purpose of encouraging / forcing us to explore more in order to get better gear. It's as if the designers couldn't come up with proper reasons to explore so they had to make it a currency based rewards. I think datapoints, coils, weaves, sellable or collectable items and shards would have been enough. But best would have been to make more small lightly scripted encounters and errands.
I have to say I don't really even like the outfit and weapon rarities and how weapons can only use certain 2-3 ammos. If these two bows can both shoot advanced arrows, why can't they both shoot frost and shock arrows too? Instead of switching between weapons, I'd rather switch between what ammos I have loaded. It doesn't make sense that Aloy is carrying 20+ weapons at all times. Even having 6 loaded at all times is a bit much. The same tool should be used for both casting ropes and tripwires for example.
If there were less different kinds of weapons and outfits, there wouldn't be need for gleams and shines.
Frozen Wilds imo was a much better dlc than Burning shores. It felt bigger and had a lot of interesting characters. Burning Shores felt tiny by comparison.
Huh-za I was the 1000th Like 🎉😊
Anybody know if HZD ps 4 including Frozen W can be played on the ps 5?
It can and both are free on PS plus but might be removed in in a week so start now
,😊
We got more gildun in BS!
The story is bad. It had interesting concepts but they did garbage with them.
Yup
nuh uh