#surprise hzd post

[hzdtrees]

Ikrie

#horizon zero dawn #hzd #hzd photomode #ikrie #surprise hzd post #because i'm missing her #so i need to go back in regular intervals to play her quest and take some pics for my own mental well-being #yeah i've got some problems #anyway. #she's way too pretty #her not being in hfw was just guerrilla ensuring i would live another day

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

#horizon 3 #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #horizon #hfw #aloy #guerrilla games #hzd #horizon burning shores #horizon theories #well not so much theories as observation and vague speculation #and some zesty takes #I love this world though #erend #sylens #varl #kotallo #beta #alva

[foibles-fables]

I've been following you for the Horizon content, and it's been very fun to see it. And I've recently finished HFW, and honestly... I can't help but feel underwhelmed and disappointed with the story.

I loved the world building, character interactions and themes in general, as I truly felt involved with HFW, but like... I just can't bother to like, care, or feel involved with the Zenith storyline.

They were supposed to be the main force to drive the story to the final game... and yet, they had so little screen time on a very impressive world, Beta ended up playing a minor role compared to the whole world and had a sudden change on trusting Aloy after just seeing Rost, and Tilda played a huge exposition role, shoehorning all depth of them in the last hours, which I found to be rather overwhelming and even easy to forget after Varl died on GEMINI.

And the final mission just didn't do much to make them compelling. Like... as I was charging through the base and hearing them ramble about their superiority, Zo killed the sadist idiot, Tilda suddenly revealing Nemesis, and the final monologue from Aloy... I was just reactionless, because I didn't feel any sort of involvement with that storyline to make me hyped.

It felt like I was fighting an enemy just for the sake of fighting it. Which is something I didn't feel with Helis and the Eclipse on my first playthrough of HZD.

I really wanted to love HFW and be excited for Aloy's follow-up adventure... but I guess I just can't with this.

I know I'm rambling and complaining a lot, but as a huge fan of Aloy and Horizon (in general), I can't help but point this out to someone.

You might be surprised to hear that many share your reservations about the narrative of HFW, myself very much included.

Over two years later it's still kind of shocking how much the story--including the implementation of the Zeniths--hamstrung what HZD had naturally built HFW to address. Sometimes it feels like the team forgot how to pace? Bringing back GAIA in the first act was...a true ??? to me. The turning point of Aloy and Beta's relationship was, IMO, incredibly unearned, and I concur entirely about both Varl (as well as the player reaction to it, filtered through Aloy's reaction) and the final mission/fight.

I also know that others feel that Tilda's Nemesis reveal kind of stole the fun out of speculation for H3. With where HFW (and BS, re: Londra's data and other threads) left the story, I'm finding myself just not inclined or enthusiastic to think in-depth about what could plausibly be coming next, beyond what actually bridges back to HZD (Elysium and VAST SILVER, namely). HFW itself left no new mysteries to carry forward.

Consider, however, if the Zeniths and Beta had been saved for the final chapter. That, IMO, would have made for a much more compelling hook into H3. Reveal them in a post-credits stinger after Aloy succeeds at stabilizing the biosphere and finally restoring GAIA as an endgame task. Instead of some...questionably-motived space spaghetti Bigger Fish, we'd have an actual full-circle existential threat.

It really seems like a compelling storyline for HFW and beyond was spelled out right there in GAIA's dying plea from HZD, and then just...sidestepped into what we actually received.

This is all to say, nonny, you're absolutely not alone and I think many folks who were head over heels for HZD were underwhelmed by what was presented in HFW. Like you, I still adore the world and the characters--but there was a lot that very disappointingly fell flat otherwise. Here's hoping it was just a sophomore slump, second-installment weirdness, and H3 falls back into the stride that the first installment set up.

#NEVER feel bad about complaining nonny #it is healthy to be critical about the things we love and to voice our disappointment #even if we still love them love their world love their characters #my ask box is always open for critical analysis #horizon critical

[asetoblog]

You know, Final Fantasy 7 is one of my favourite games ever (my top favs are HZD/HFW, all games involving FF7 and - although it's getting worse - Dragon Age) and I would like to write about something that doesn't sit right with me.

Warning: this post is a Sephiroth apology‼️🌸

So, remember the end of FF7 Remake, where Cloud & Co get to the end of the Midgar highway and they meet Sephiroth? In that exact moment, Aerith tells him "you're wrong", marking the word "wrong". She doesn't mean he's wrong about something, she literally means his whole existence is wrong and he shouldn't have been there or anywhere else in the first place.

Now, that remark rubbed me the wrong way, because Aerith is the only character connected to the Planet in this story and she's supposed to be very empathetic of what and how people suffer. She also lived in the Shinra building during her childhood and she hated it, she perfectly knows how things work there and she loathes - rightfully so - professor Hojo, because she knows what an unscrupulous and ruthless man he is. This would mean she met a younger Sephiroth at some point, and yeah she was still a child, but she must've noticed he was a kind and actually very submissive guy (maybe I'll get to this later???). I think she knows he too was subjected to experiments, just like she was, but this doesn't seem to bother her and she goes straight to saying something on the line of "you shouldn't exist".

In another moment in FF7 Rebirth, you can get a dialogue with Tifa in which she tells you she is "sick of Sephiroth cruelty [...]" and so on. Now, I agree with her, all she got from Sephiroth was her dad's death, wouldn't you be fucking pissed at him and hate him and want him dead? Yeah.

Thing is, I agree with Tifa and disagree with Aerith, but all of this makes me wonder: have they thought what a horrible and traumatic life Sephiroth had until that point?

Sephiroth:

-was born an experiment

-was taken away from his own mother, never met her

-doesn't even know his father

-as a child, he's shy and submissive, never gets any friends, he thus grows up lonely

-he spends most of his life in Hojo's lab, among Mako energy, needles and treatments

-no one ever showed him affection nor love, he was simply raised like a weapon in the hands of the most powerful corporation of the world

-his only two friends, as an adult, abandoned him

-one of his two best friends tells him the truth about him without the hint of some tact, he also calls him "monster" not knowing he's feeding the "insane gene" (let's call it that) in him

-the only new friend he gets, a recruit, jumps straight to conclusions instead of trying to help him

-he always said he wanted a "normale life" and he was forced into that. He also was one step away from leaving Shinra before the accident of Nibelheim happened

There's actually more to point out, but let's just take a step back and think about how an entire life of traumas, deprivation and loneliness can drive a person wild and cause Personality Disorders, Depression and Psychosis. I'm honestly surprised he even endured so much for so long and that would mean he'd be ok if only someone really cared for him and didn't see him as a "hero", a "star" or someone unreachable. His snapping point was reading all the history of Gast and Hojo's experiments and learning more about Jenova. That, sadly, adds up to the trauma he has to face and he even cries about it, meaning he was definitely still (emotionally) sane. Perhaps, it would have taken only one word of comfort but not even Zack was there for him, instead he acted a little harsh, in my opinion.

By this I don't mean things had to go differently, because otherwise I wouldn't have had one of my favourite stories out there, I'm just trying to point out how deplorable Aerith's comment sounds, especially knowing she's so caring and empathetic. I just don't like tha fact that such a dialogue line was written, but at the end I am but a humble Sephiroth apologist.

"You're wrong". No, Sephiroth is not wrong, all the people who surrounded him were.

#sephiroth #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #ff7r #ff7 rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #sephiroth apology #aerith was harsh man #i love his character

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 7 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

Marshall Kotallo: [DisapprovingDogDisapproves.png]

FlameHairSavior: Uh... what's that?

Marshall Kotallo: We have been having trouble expressing our emotions through text. However, Erend's incessant spamming of clips has reminded me that this not merely a text channel. We can use images to express ourselves.

ForgeLordAleMaster: WHAT'S SPAMMING?

Marshall Kotallo: To post, send, or otherwise display something repeatedly and annoyingly. I knew the Old Ones had to have a word for your behavior.

ForgeLordAleMaster: I TAKE OFFENSE TO THAT.

ForgeLordAleMaster: ...OKAY, NO, I GUESS IT'S FAIR.

FlameHairSavior: And the image you chose to demonstrate your emotions was... some sort of tall fox thing glaring at us?

β: dog specifically german shepherd one of the most common breeds for police for decades

FlameHairSavior: Oh, THAT'S a dog.

GranolaGirl: They are referenced quite often in the archives, but it took me quite some time to find an image. The ones I found all looked very different from each other and this one, though.

β: dogs were domesticated for thousands of years there were more recognized breeds than there were peopleto breed them

β: people to breed them

β: also that is an exagerration

β: exaggeration

β: many thousands if not millions of people bred dogs and there were anywhere from 200 to 500 recognized breeds depending on who was doing the counting

ForgeLordAleMaster: WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANY?

ADMIN [GAIA]: Most domesticated animal species were designated stage 2 organisms, intended to be re-introduced into the wild by humans operating the terraforming system with the ARTEMIS subfunction.

FlameHairSavior: Erend, you really need to read the intro packet GAIA gave you.

Marshall Kotallo: [DisapprovingDogDisapproves.png]

FlameHairSavior: Okay, I can see the value in using images now.

ForgeLordAleMaster: NO, I DID READ IT! BUT MOST STAGE 2 ANIMALS WERE REALLY BIG, RIGHT? LIKE THOSE BULLCOW THINGS. BUT DOGS ARE SMALL. I'VE SEEN BIGGER PIGS. SO WHY DIDN'T ARTEMIS INTRODUCE THEM ON ITS OWN?

FlameHairSavior: Oh. That's actually a good question.

HIMBO: You don't have to sound so suppressed.

ForgeLordAleMaster: THANK YOU.

ForgeLordAleMaster: WAIT, YOU MEANT SURPRISED, RIGHT?

HIMBO: Yes.

ForgeLordAleMaster: THEN THANK YOU.

ADMIN [GAIA]: Dogs, cats, and most other domesticated animal species were deemed to not be necessary to the initial creation of the biosphere. Neither dogs nor cats serve irreplaceable roles in the ecosystem, and they do not provide meat or any other animal product to humans.

β: both were domesticated for their services not their meat

β: dogs helped hunt and cats killed rats and pests

ADMIN [GAIA]: Correct. However, those are primarily beneficial to primitive, tribal societies. With the help of APOLLO, humanity should have been well into the modern age by the end of their first generation on the surface. Hunting dogs and mouser cats were not deemed a high priority.

HIMBO: Dogs can help hunt? That sounds useful.

ForgeLordAleMaster: AND YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE HOW OFTEN I'VE HEARD AVAD COMPLAIN ABOUT RATS IN THE GRANARIES.

ADMIN [GAIA]: Unfortunately, by the time APOLLO was destroyed, all the stage 2 stocks were sealed away where my predecessor could not access them. Furthermore, Dr. Ronson believed that the possibility of bringing back dogs and cats would be an extra incentive for the new generation of humanity to do their duty to take control of the terraforming system and re-introduce stage 2 organisms.

Marshall Kotallo: Why would it be extra incentive if they were not expected to need to hunt or keep out rats?

ADMIN [GAIA]: I believe these clips might help illuminate the matter. Dr. Ronson was quite fond of them.

ADMIN [GAIA]: [TheGoodestBoy.mp9]

ADMIN [GAIA]: [MurderFluffPlaysWithString.mp9]

β: oh ive seen those

β: wait i had some on my old implant

β: [PuppiesFrolickingWithExtraFrolick.mp9]

β: [KittyCryingForMilk.mp9]

Zo: This is what Ted Faro stole from us?

ForgeLordAleMaster: I NEED TO FIND HIS GRAVE SO I CAN PISS ON IT.

Chapter 7 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

#horizon #horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #aloy #beta horizon #zo #kotallo #erend vanguardsman #varl

[sorbetowl]

Horizon Ask Game

Oioioi, thanks for all the tags, @maybirdie, @meg-noel-art, @nerd-artist and @xxxhellfireravenxxx

1. ride or die ship (your otp): To no one's surprise, it's Ereloy, precisely as it reads on the can. They snatched my heart back in 2017 and haven't released it to this day.

2. most annoying ship: There are no annoying ships. Next question.

3. second favourite ship: Tough call. I'll go with Avad/Ersa, because they 100% had SOMETHING going on. Starcrossed lovers my beloved.

4. favourite platonic relationship: I'm living for the friendship between Alva and Kotallo. And Beta's line about Erend visiting her in the server room and being "loud...but funny". A kingdom for on-screen interactions between the two. Erend can be like "is free little sister". ;;

5. underrated ship: Drakka/Yarra. The raw enemies to lovers potential there...

6. overrated ship: I don't see anything overrated in a genuine outpouring of one's love for two fictional characters.

7. one thing i would change in canon: Now, after two main games and DLC? Oh, a fair bit. Varl's unnecessary death, even admitted to by the writers as being there for shock value. Shock over the drop in narrative quality post-HZD, maybe. Same as reducing Erend to everyone's punching bag without a single thought behind his eyes. Fantastic how everyone easily picks up reading English while Erend struggles with it when he's canonically the only member (besides Aloy and Alva) who knows how to read at all. He's the one asking Aloy in HZD where she learned to read Glyphs, something unique to the Carja who reinvented written language based on a book, and the Oseram who got taught Carja Glyphs for trade, which eventually developed into their own alphabet (they get differentiated as "Carja Glyphs" and "(Oseram) Glyphs" in datapoints. Erend can read both. Two alphabets. That's more than many bilinguals) But sure, he's the dumb dumb who can't read, not the companions that start completely illiterate.

8. something canon did right: All of HZD. What a masterful introduction to a new game franchise, and playing through it the first time unraveling all its mysteries is why I'm still here obsessed with the series.

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom: Probably the companion art piece for Love Games by my friend @maybirdie. It was incredible working with her as this beast of a fic came together and the friends that I made during that time are near and dear to my heart. And of course, being on the artist team for the Horizon visual novel Focus On The Heart!

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): Without a speck of doubt, Gildun. What a bundle of unbridled joy.

11. the character i relate to the most and why: Beta. We both have crippling anxiety, literally never go outside, and are unfortunately Very Smol™

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: The worst I can feel about a character is indifference.

13. something i've learned from the fandom: After having been in a fandom that crashed and burned over a decade ago and coming out with a general aversion to fandom...at the end of the day, people from all trades of life coming together to enjoy and create for the same thing that they love with all their heart is a precious thing and we're all richer embracing each other's uniqueness in this gathering.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sensual Fingerblasting (wink-wonk)

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: Break In by Halestorm for Ereloy, and for favorite character (Erend) End Of Me by Ashes Remain Tagging @emtazer, @imamandajulius, @souls-that-have-senses, @nmallenart, @bs-fangirl, @cranialgames And everyone who sees this and would like to give a go~

#ask-game #horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #tag game #ereloy

[meg-noel-art]

hi!! i wanna preface by saying i agree with you, i just want to add one thing bc i don't want to make my own post or be perceived in any meaningful way

i feel like the nature of specifically horizon's dlcs is a direct continuation of aloy's story. frozen wilds was how we got truly introduced to the heph storyline and why we know we need to go after it, also introduction/context behind apex machines etc. when i first played forbidden west i was surprised that it took the DLC so strongly into account, which led me to believe it was meant to be a necessary step in aloy's story bc it didn't felt like exposition - it felt like assumed, already known information (which it would not be if you didn't play frozen wilds).

i also think that's what they were going for with burning shores. unfortunately, GG alienated a large portion of their playership by making it ps5 exclusive (whatever their reasoning may be, likely technological) - also the points you brought up about other reasons players can't get a dlc. I'm not saying it's a good model to base a franchise on, but that is the sense i got.

i have nothing to say about the shipping aspect bc it truly does not matter to the overarching narrative outside of hooray!! representation that is important for a lot of people!! shipping wars are stupid as hell. you're playing barbie with other people's characters, everyone, calm down

Yes I've gotten multiple asks bringing up the Frozen Wilds, but it only proves my point. So in that sense I still disagree with you and others. FWs is still not necessary to play. It adds dramatic context. But all of it's lore is still re-explained, admittedly to a lesser degree, in HFW.

Heph running wild is still reiterated via exposition during the plot of Forbidden West. Characters that were important to implementing the lore never make a return - CYAN is mentioned once in a dialogue wheel with GAIA. Aratak is a battle easter egg. Ourea is dead. Even Gildun is not an exception. His reappearance was EASTER EGGED in HFW and then he ONLY showed up in -- another DLC, which is again, optional.

I'm not making up rules here folks. This is how DLC works for any franchise. They can absolutely expand lore, tack on characters and important plot points but at the end of the day they are NOT necessary to play the main story. And will always be rehashed/reexplained for players who did not play the DLC. Or who couldn't.

That's one of the reasons they made up another Zenith that somehow escaped the final battle. Londra is entirely expendable as a villian. One off monster of the week special episode villain.

Look how hard Guerrilla pushed the Sunhawk comic, going so far as to include it digitally in an edition of HFW -- and still Talanah's entire quest retells the events of the comic via dialogue wheels.

Because ---- Guerrilla HAS to account for the fact that s o m e fans may not have read it and won't know what's going on. And every fan must be allowed to be clued in.

Mass Effect DLCs are another great example - and ME is even MORE open choice than Horizon is.

I completely agree with you that Guerrilla narrowed what it can do with Burning Shores moving forward bc of the ps5 exclusivity as well. For whatever reason they did it doesn't really matter the point is it restricts it's audience from playing.

I ALSO had an issue with the writing in HFW because it was written very very obviously to allow NEW players into the series. To START with HFW, not HZD, and not be totally lost. Even past the first cutscene, Aloy spends a ton of time rehashing events with old characters. I think 3 will play out much the same way. Because they have to develop it like that. Their goal as a company is to appeal to a large crowd of gamers, for money. Capitalism, they do not want their games to fail. Especially after queer clapback. So three will rehash undoubtedly the events of HFW, HZD AND BS. And that's a lot to cram in without forcing players to have played or make assumptions.

I have nothing to say about the shipping aspect either. Despite the many asks today for some reason interpreting my objective take on the nature of a DLC is an attack on representation OR the ship in general - i have zero issue with it. I will say yet AGAIN, i thought it was cute and enioyed the story.

That does not change the fact that a DLC is skippable, choices with Seyka were in a flashpoint aka optional, THIS IS NOT DENYING THE ROMANCE - but Aloy's reaction to it is different and would effect a player's game -- and at most I assume she'll be reintergrated in a fashion similar to Gildun. Because again, Guerrilla MUST account for the fact that THEY chose to introduce her in a DLC and thus people/new players will not know her or the story.

That's how it works, sorry about it.

Thank you for the courteous tone of your ask! This is, however, the last BS ask I will answer.

Take care 🫶

#asks #burning shores #anon #ty for your thoughts #enjoy your day #hfw #horizon forbidden west #💗 #burning shores spoilers

[retrowhatever]

So basically all I've done in the last week is consume an unhealthy amount of Horizon fanfic. I don't have an ao3 account (yet) so I thought I would put my list of faves here. I've ordered them from shortest to longest. This is the first of two posts.

Ereloy fics I love:

Glarebreak by @dark-t1des-hzd - 850 words / Teen & Up - short and sweet scene of Erend being hopelessly in love and Aloy being injured

The Greatest Moment by @pikapeppa - 1200 words / Teen & Up - short scene at a festival with an absolutely dazzling kiss

Sparkstruck by @yogrossdude - 1200 words / Teen & Up - short scene of Erend tripping over his words when he sees Aloy in Oseram armor

A Forthright Woman by @dawnfromzero - 1500 words / General - bewildered Erend not realizing she's into him too

The Serendipity of Thunderjaws by blue_dragon1836 - 1700 words / Teen & Up - injured Erend and probably my favourite Aloy-kisses-him-first moment

Chainscrape by @dark-t1des-hzd - 2100 words / Teen & Up - I won't ever get tired of Aloy getting mad enough that Erend just confesses his love, plus the last line of this one is *chef's kiss*

another lesson learned in blood by sunspot - 2600 words / Teen & Up - Erend would die for her (don't worry, he doesn't) and I would die for them

you are unbreaking, though quaking by @plaidflannelcake - 3000 words / Mature - I have such a weak spot for like mind control fics (spoiler alert for my upcoming niloy list) and this one about corruption arrows scratches the itch

a sky full of light and none of them stars by @rhovanels - 3400 words / Teen & Up - condensed slow burn, plus drunk Erend falls out a window

your hands on every part of me by justalittlebluetiefling - 3600 words / Mature / HFW spoilers - just a raunchy scene at the base but also Erend is in love because duh

your hands on every part of me by @soupandchaos - 3600 words / Teen & Up - come for the sexy sparring, stay for Erend flexing

Thread Together by @yogrossdude - 3600 words / Teen & Up - single scene where Aloy gets injured and Erend stitches her up while being awkward

Long Road Ahead by @ladymaliwan - 4300 words / Teen & Up - I love drunk Erend and I love drunk and confused Erend even more

Steady by theyloy - 4500 words / Mature / mild HFW spoilers - Erend is surprisingly delicate when applying body paint, Aloy is unsurprisingly flustered

old wounds by @yogrossdude - 4500 words / Teen & Up - Erend is injured and Aloy is mad at him, quelle surprise

A Chance by @brandyllyn - 5000 words / Explicit / mild HFW spoilers - Aloy thinks she's missed her chance and Erend is bewildered as usual

outside looking in by I_heart_thunderjaws - 6600 words / Teen & Up / HFW spoilers - Big ol' mutual pining, the ending is so sweet I almost cried, and fun cameos from the rest of the gang

Playing Games series by @soupandchaos - 7900 words / 2 works / Explicit / HFW spoilers - stripstrike. that's it, that's the fic

Hearth by @yogrossdude - 8400 words / 3 chapters / Teen & Up - hypothermia and unresolved tension

those wings in your spine by @theherocomplex - 8800 words / Teen & Up - Erend is charming and lovestruck and dense, so basically he's Erend, kind of a slow burn I guess

simmer down and pucker up by @skellagirl - 9000 words / Explicit - injured, tattooed Erend and Aloy being shocked that she's into him

Fire and Spit by @godliath - 15k words / 10 chapters / Teen & Up - a good slow burn with lots of lovestruck gentleman Erend

Honourable mention: The Moth by @sacrificethemtothesquid - 250k words / 92 chapters / Explicit - look I don't think anyone needs to be told about this fic considering it's the #1 ereloy fic on ao3 and honestly I've only read like a third of it and it's almost too angsty for me because I'm a delicate flower so I probably won't finish it but the Vanguard in this are amazing and Tandin might be my favourite OC in all the Horizon fic I've read so we're including this for him and the rest of the Oseram weirdos

I can't draw and I haven't written anything in years and years, so consider this a small contribution to the fandom. I'd love to hear anybody else's fanfic recs as well!

Oh and I used the tumblr @'s for people whose names I could find. Happy to edit to include the @'s for anyone I'm missing, just tell me who I should be crediting!

Part 2: Niloy recs

#horizon #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #hzd #hfw #ereloy #aloy #erend #ao3 #fanfic #what we've learned today is I'm apparently very into hurt/comfort fics #bewildered erend best erend #rip to everyone who wants erend to be sober and responsible but im different #I really need to stop spoiling hfw for myself by reading fanfic but also people need to tag their damn stuff for spoilers #pretty sure at this point I know the entire storyline #yogrossdude and soupandchaos doing a lot of heavy lifting on this list #words I said

[daily-rayless]

5 Years of Aloy

Continuing my character appreciation series, it's time we turned to Aloy.

August 2018. Pretty sure these were my first sketches of her.

I started Horizon Zero Dawn in May 2018 – I can always remember, because it was very appropriately Mother's Day. I think it was the first open world game I'd ever played, and I just found the whole universe to be so engrossing – a mix of postapocalyptic sci fi, the Iron Age, and cavemen vs dinosaurs.

September 2018 (trying to draw a Watcher)

But of course Aloy herself was a big part of the appeal. Can I relate to her? No, I'm not a genius prodigy with no friends. But I can admire Aloy – her smarts, her bravery, her utter fed-up-edness. She's always fun to follow alongside as a protagonist.

January 2019

Playing HZD fell around the same time I decided I wanted to get back to posting online regularly again. This 1/19 picture was one of the first things I posted. I was so surprised and pleased when Guerilla Games reblogged/favorited it on Tumblr and DeviantArt.

June 2019 (Aloy and her early concept horse)

So I associate Aloy and HZD with a pretty positive time in my life.

October 2019 (Aloy on an original unicorn machine, because why shouldn't we have unicorns in the postapocalypse?)

And one thing I especially liked about Forbidden West is that it highlighted Aloy's faults. There were times in Zero Dawn where things came so easily to Aloy and it felt like she was always unilaterally in the right, the one sane person in the universe. Forbidden West showed that she was far from perfect, and I welcomed that.

November 2019

Aloy is generous, self-sacrificial but still aware of her own worth; powerful, driven, and always planning ahead. But she's emotionally short-sighted, inflexible at times, and I think she could actually be cruel under the right circumstances. As with Elisabet, her altruism is a love that “bruises”.

December 2019

She's intriguing and inspiring, so it comes as no surprise that I ended up drawing her a fair bit, especially given the fandom still felt so new and vibrant.

January 2020 (trying to draw a Stalker is harder than trying to draw a Watcher)

Also her hair is glorious.

January 2020

Drawing Aloy presents a number of consistent challenges for me. First of all, she's based on a real person. That makes it a lot harder for me to fall back on stylistic shortcuts. Even if I'm not a realistic artist, I still want to catch something of the “soul” of the actor and leave her recognizable.

March 2020

For another, all of Aloy's costumes are intricate. Sometimes I use references, but more often I'll put her in an outfit of my own design, throwing in elements from the different in-game tribes – as I think people would really do, if these cultures really existed. And certainly something that I think “Aloy Despite the Nora” would do.

February 2021

The designers at GG once congratulated themselves that one of Aloy's virtues is that she doesn't care about stereotypically “feminine” things like make up and clothes and jewelry. Along with that just being a bad take on a number of fronts, I've never believed it. The evidence doesn't bear it out.

June 2021 (I think this was right around the Forbidden West trailers started showing up)

The games themselves show Aloy wearing excessive jewelry and make up, tons of different outfits, being totally maximalist with her beads and layers and dinosaurish headdresses and now body paint on top of everything else (or under everything else). Is her appearance the most important thing in her life? No. Because she's currently saving the world. But it's clear she cares about her appearance and there's nothing wrong with that.

December 2021

Moving forward into Burning Shores (which I haven't played yet) and Horizon 3 (which I'm eagerly awaiting news on), I don't know what my specific hopes for Aloy are.

February 2022 (and then Forbidden West finally came out)

I want to see her remained flawed, but then I also want to see her grow. I'd to see her grow happier, whatever form that takes.

April 2022

Maybe a stress-free vacation sometime? I'd say the beach, but bad things happen when she goes to the beach.

May 2023

Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

#aloy #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #character appreciation #art progress #meta #horizon zero dawn spoilers #long post

[xxxhellfireravenxxx]

Thanks for the tags @maybirdie and @nerd-artist

1. ride or die ship (your otp): Big surprise it's ereloy! I have never been so focused on a ship before and I am not mad about it at all.

2. most annoying ship: I am not a drama-llama, I really don't have beef with other ships, this is what the fandom is for. We should all be free to ship our ships without others putting us down!

3. second favourite ship: I have several, I fully blame two-minutes for getting me into Kotallo/Talanah! Big fan of Zo/Varl, Morlund/Abadund and Avad/Ersa I also ship Abadund/Clipboard lmao

4. favourite platonic relationship: I love the relationships that Beta forms during Forbidden West, I really hope she is a bigger part of Horizon 3. Each of the gang teaches her life skills and how to navigate the world.

5. underrated ship: I don't have an answer for this one!

6. overrated ship: No drama-llama here!

7. one thing i would change in canon: I would love to have seen more of Ersa, the comics were amazing but I'd love a game set during the Liberation, learning more of Erend and Ersa's story with Dervahl.

8. something canon did right: I played HZD on a whim, my brother mentioned it to me as he thought I would enjoy it. I was so confused while I played. What happened to the old world? Why had humanity gone back to a tribal existence and what did the machines have to do with things? I was completely hooked, gripping story and lovable characters mixed with a thrilling story. Perfect.

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom: I don't particularly think I've created anything spectacular for the fandom, I'm just a hobby artist who enjoys drawing these two idiots! There are so many fantastic creators that I love screaming about.

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): Erend. He's been my favourite character since the very beginning. He's a lovable goof with a cheeky smile and I am very blessed to have the tasset glitch to enjoy and share with my friends!

11. the character i relate to the most and why: I don't relate to any one character specifically, I see a bit of myself in Petra, Talanah and Aloy. I'm very strong-willed with a sarcastic sense of humor and a dirty mind!

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: I have a list of characters I want to shoot in the ass with an arrow, these include Sylens, Tilda, Dervahl, Helis, Vuadis and Nil. Among many others.

13. something i've learned from the fandom: I joined the fandom back in June 2022, I finally felt confident enough to post a AU ereloy fic on AO3. What followed was an invite to join the Two Minutes discord server and meet some fantastic and extremely talented folk! I've learned to be more confident in myself and my artwork, having that feedback has helped me improve and its wonderful to be able to scream about my favourite blorbos!

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: All the sex. Sensual Fingerblasting, Sexual Tension and Explicit Sexual Content.

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: Hear Me Now by Bad Wolves ft Diamante. It makes me think of Erend struggling with drink and his grief after Ersa passed, Aloy arriving in Meridian and bringing him out of himself. There is a very strong undertone in this song of the whole 'friends to lovers' which is one of my favourite tropes, especially with ereloy.

tagging: No pressure tags!! Sorry for repeats! @maybirdie @sorbetowl @chib95 @littlelionpaw @hothotpot

#horizon forbidden west #hfw #horizon zero dawn #tag game

[jinxsilly]

hello haii... intro post GO!!

my name is jinx (any pronouns) and i post my drawings here! tumblr is the only social i have as of rn but i will be posting on pinterest with the same url

idk if its a kin or dissociative thing but i do identify as plural so if i ever use we/us then don't be surprised

interests include BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO.. fnaf / undertale / hzd/hfw / fallout / arcane

no dni but if your blog just consists of being mean to strangers on the internet then i will block you

#blog intro #pinned post

[emmaswanned]

another tag game from @dead-ghost-walking! thank you!!

How many works do you have on AO3? not very many - just five, which honestly always surprises me when i look because i feel like i write a lot more than that - it's just that i write a lot that doesn't end up published, either because it's just for me or because it's not finished. (so many WIPs..)

What’s your total AO3 word count? 21,437

What fandoms do you write for? nothing consistently - i have two Horizon Zero Dawn fics on AO3 which makes it my most-written-for fandom for sure, and i do have other HZD ideas i'd like to get out there, so i suppose that's my biggest fandom!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? since i only have 5 works on AO3 i'm only going to name my top fic by kudos, and that is Between Armor and Skin, which is. aloy/nil smut is what it is.

Do you respond to comments? I don't get a lot but i try!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i have not published anything with a particularly angsty ending. i actually really like writing angsty endings, though. my angstiest fic is an unpublished HZD WIP that i was hoping to finish eventually but unfortunately my computer crashed earlier this year and i lost a lot of files, including that one, so if i were to finish it I'd have to start from scratch. it's about the death of a major character, from his POV. i actually enjoy writing that kind of thing a lot, though again, i've never published anything like it on AO3. i might have in my Livejournal days that i'm forgetting about....

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? all i've ever known is how to hold my own is cutie, if you ask me. it's aloy/erend fluff and THAT'S IT.

Do you get hate on fics? i never have, but again, i don't post much!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i have and i will again (current wip perhaps 👀) but it makes me very self-conscious to write and even more self-conscious to post and i often get stuck on smut scenes in WIPs and never finish them. but this will NOT HAPPEN THIS TIME....

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? x-files/his dark materials au lives in my brain

Have you ever had a fic stolen? i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated? No

Have you ever co-written a fic before? x-files/his dark materials au is kind of a collaboration with @swiftzeldas in that it was my idea but she is also writing in the world and helping flesh it out!

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? a long time ago i started a law & order svu benson/barba AU in which benson and barba met circa-season 3 and it was going to be like a whole case fic type of deal and i was going to play with what the relationship between barba and stabler would be like, but that's another WIP i lost in my computer crash and anyway stabler and barba have met now on the show (i think? haven't watched in a couple years tbh) so the story feels a little redundant now

What are your writing strengths? honestly, nothing about writing comes easily to me. maybe dialogue. i do like capturing character voice.

What are your writing weaknesses? everything is a struggle for me, but in the interest of specificity, one thing i really need to work on is i'll get an idea for, like, a oneshot, and then suddenly i'll get delusions of grandeur and want to turn it into a multi-chapter THING. this is the point where i lose steam on most of my WIPs and they don't get finished.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i never have, but i would if the situation called for it. i suppose i'd be hesitant about it for fear of doing something wrong, but if i was writing a bilingual character and it made sense for them to speak a few lines in something other than english i would!

First fandom you wrote for? i remember writing jurassic park fanfic in my diary as a little kid, hahaha. but as far as stuff i posted online, like, it was probably warrior cats??

Favorite fic you’ve written? i really don't like rereading my own work, but the aforementioned Between Armor and Skin is actually pretty good and readable! which is a triumph to me because of my previously mentioned self-consciousness about writing smut :D

thanks again for the tag james!! i will tag @incomprehensiblelentils and @amidalleia!

#text post #tagged in meme

[erendcaptainofthevanguard]

"Howdy, partner." Nil greeted with a lopsided grin, looking expectantly at Aloy with steel gray eyes.

The huntress stopped in place and gawked at the Carja man, her brows raised, "Huh?"

Nil chuckled, "Howdy partner? It's what this group of people called cowboys, who existed thousands of years ago, would say to their friends or acquaintances in greeting. And we're partners so I thought..."

Nil continued to explain the culture of this old world group, his voice drifting away from Aloy's attention as she rubbed her temples, sighing.

I should never have given him a Focus...

#these are the weird thoughts i have while trying to fall asleep... #hfw #hzd #hzd nil #aloy #I'm half alseep right now so I'm gonna be in for a surprise when i wake up and find out i posted this #why am i like this lol #im so sorry about this please ignore me

[foibles-fables]

asking the expert so how would one actually seduce Aloy?

I think we will have to wait until she saves the world (again) before she even thinks about this.

I am also sure she would not just jump into bed and would need romancing before she loses her V yet maybe maybe In Petras case I hope her flirtatious quips could win the day but... I reckon Aloy respects honesty and if Petra just asked her direct?

or No?

not asking for her hand in marriage like Avad but-a basic- " hey flamehair do you have a type(women?)"

maybe in Talanah's case she has fallen already(or too blind to see she has)and but maybe not.

A heartfelt confession from T? A surprise kiss to shock Aloy to her senses?

idk Its late and I'm sure there are many more ideas.

I hope you can answer for both lol

tell me theres still hope for Petra fans

I view and thus characterize Aloy as someone who knows what she wants--[Insert Your Preferred Romantic Choice Here]--but has no idea how to approach getting it.

This is drawn from two canon moments in particular: 1) her wistful "It's like I'm dead and only come alive when I'm here with [Atral]. Do you know what that's like?" / "I...can't say that I do" exchange with Elida in HZD and 2) the oddly-specific list of romantic activities she spits at Avad if you select the fist option during his conversation in HFW (clearly she hasn't been thinking about those things at all. not at all).

This makes me think she wouldn't need to be seduced, exactly. I think her feelings would most likely be organic, but guarded.

And while it's possible to let the feelings win while the world's ending [looks directly at Shepard] I do think the other party would most likely have to approach Aloy first, even if seduction isn't the right word for it. I think anyone who'd want to be with Aloy would see the playing field as very, very even (because, in every case, it is!). I agree that Petra's directness would be a boon for her--especially compared to Talanah, who's likely still grappling with a lot of confusion of her own. I think I posted a few days ago about how I'd imagine a Feelings Confession would go between those two, but yeah, a heartfelt and vulnerable conversation for sure.

I hope this answers your questions!! I really, really do like spitballing about this side of Aloy's character development and appreciate the ask a LOT!

#have a great day friend! <3 <3 #horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #aloy

[phantom-kiwi]

Some of my favorite moments/sceneries in the game. (I don’t pretend to be good with in-game photo modes so these are more like “oh fuck this place looks great” moments or really just impactful events for me.)

I just finished the game and I have some Thoughts™ that I’ll put under the cut bc that game was GOOD

(Disclaimer: these are personal and not very constructive thoughts I’m having right after finishing the game, no time to cool down or anything, so this is more of a ramble to myself than anything else, but you’re free to read it of course)

Okay so like, a bit of background info, I’ve wanted to play this game since 2017, but at the time I only owned a Switch and a computer so I couldn’t. I got a second-hand PS4 in the second half of 2018 but found the game at a reasonnable price only in summer of 2019, so last year. Given how hyped I was for the game I didn’t want to rush into it and the second half of 2019 was really busy for me so I just. Waited. Fast forward to July, it’s the summer break, I don’t have anything else to worry about until the end of August so I decide to finally install the game. And honestly, I don’t regret anything, I don’t regret waiting until I could properly enjoy the game, it was all worth it because it met and then exceeded all my expectations like few games have before.

I’m a sucker for: open worlds, story-driven games, sci-fi and action-rpgs that use more traditional weapons like bows/swords; HZD has all of these things, combined. From the start it had everything that would suit me. But just the prologue shows you - and you can feel - how good the game is going to be. All the important aspects are already presented to you as you start to guess how much of an impact the protagonist is going to have, and how much you’ll experience with her. Hell, just the montage after the prologue where you see Aloy all grown up had me tear up, because that’s how attached I already was to her after 20 min of play.

The way the game presents the world to you is maybe what got me the most, because it starts, you’re intrigued, but then you keep learning new things that add sense to the way to world is, and you keep learning new things until almost the very end. Few things in games have impacted me the way the first Cauldron I entered did, or the audiologs leading up to you discovering the truth about the Faro plague, or the Zero Dawn project, or even the bits of info that you find in GAIA Prime, which is almost at the end of the game when you shouldn’t be taken by surprise anymore, gives the story a last little twist that revoltes you.

After you’re confronted with the evidence and consequences of the Faro plague, at the very very end, the game reminds you one last time about its message, the one you’ve guessed by now if you’ve been paying at least a bit of attention, which is that you should care and help when you can, because your abilities are useless if they’re used for death. There’s something about the Zero Dawn project and the Alpha Primes, their will to preserve life as best they could even if/when it cost them everything, that really touches me, to the point of making me tear up at the end of the game. The game wants to remind us of how priceless life is, and it does it so well.

I’m still amazed at how the story made me go through pretty much every possible emotion (but mostly happiness, sadness, anger and amazement) and just how well written it was. I love how it didn’t stop at the robot apocalypse, but added the ZD project, with its message of hope instead. Fuck I love this game.

I’d just like to add a last thing about the worldbuilding; I think the idea of integrating robots into the natural order of things in a world like the one in HZD is absolutely bonkers. That’s it. It gives the game a huge personality too. Also the palettes used for the robots are really nice.

I believe HZD to have many many great things about it, but the story, the worldbuilding and even the storytelling are what made - at least for me - this game go from “great game I enjoyed” to “one of my favorite games of all time”. So yeah, welcome to my video game hall of fame, HZD. I hope the sequel is just as good. Ramble over, my heart is full of love for this game.

#long post #horizon zero dawn #hzd #my heart is full of love and my mind is blown away #idk what to do now #thats how much i enjoyed the game #guess ill just vibe for a few days #aaahh id say its fanart time but im not sure i can do the game justice #its like this everytime a game or piece of media becomes one of my favorite pieces ever #happened with bow #happened with de #didnt happen as much with tow but still a bit #so yeah ill try but id be surprised if i come up with anything

[dea-marte]

Sorry i have been away for the last couple of days! i just started playing horizon zero dawn and it had me hooked! it has all the gaming mechanics and details i love, exploration, picking up plants, nice sounds and music, and sexy archery 😌

#shit how white people have dreads #and im pretty surew thats not the only cultural appropriation of the game #but honestly its no surprise from a triple a game but still! how much would it hurt to have some input other than white #im cautiosely enjoying this game #dea rambles #hzd posting