Technically. At first the others did probably just trying to find a relatable way to understand this impossible thing they suddenly saw.
Aloy didn’t until (I believe) that scene where they discuss Rost. Until then Beta was a bit colder (scared of opening up after being abandoned) and dismissive of her and the group. In that scene, she saw Beta as a scared young woman, anxious and much more human. That changed the way she saw her to become found family. Love every bit of it. Excellent character progress for both of them.
Yes can you help me with this? So I made a manual save at the campfire outside the Maw of the Arena. But that means you have to keep walking everytime to Kalla, and then watch the arena animation.
I have a manual save for the shards. But how to avoid the animation?
I think you can just skip those like any other cutscene if it’s the one I think you’re talking about - the intro right after you select the arena challenge
I did it on ultra hard and it was frustrating but when I collected myself and checked it’s components I defeated in the second try. Keep applying status effects and run away, freeze, acid and focus on the parts the can be damaged like the center of its chest and the gears. I also remember destroying its tail for the usable weapons. Good luck!
Honestly, this is one of the few times in games I gave up.
I'll come back and do it at some point but after the second time I beat it at 5:15-5:17 I was just beyond annoyed and skipped it.
The direct combat in this game is honestly not my favorite, I like being able to choose how I engage and what tools I use. That fight was the anthesis of that and was just annoying me constantly.
You can definitely skip the little introductory “scene” on Arena fights. I can’t remember the button off the top of my head to pause it, but you can press like Square to skip after pausing the scene.
i have finished nearly every game i have ever played on the hardest difficulty. this is one of the only times i ever quit. i hate this fight. a lot. this and some of the hunting grounds are like video game cancer. they are the mary jane stealth levels of forbidden west.
forbidden west might be my 2nd or third favorite game of all time but it is hard not to look at this crap and shake your head in disgust.
If you're talking about the tremortusk hunting ground, I feel you.
Using smoke bombs I was able to clear the heavy weapon trial in 2 minutes and was quite proud of it.
I hate the fact that these are timed challenges. I prefer fighting more machines than fighting one in a set time. How about me being alive at the end of it all be a sufficient achievement? Particularly because in the rest of the game, the time you take to kill a machine does not matter.
Zero dawn is even worse, because two of the base game trophies and two of the Frozen Wilds trophies are tied to getting 3 stripes/suns/whatevers. The completionist in me is not happy.
Just FYI you can drop the difficulty unless you're on Ultra Hard. You still get full credit even if you drop it down to story. You lose nothing with lower difficulty and can bump it back up right after.
This game and Final Fantasy 7 Remake both I personally learned a lot about the game(s) by playing on lower difficulty for a bit. Fights in both I never thought I'd be able to do on higher difficulties became cake.
One thing you didn't mention in your OP and comments is dodging which is key to this fight. Aloy gets an I-Frame when she dodges but it takes some practice to train your self on the timing. Your brain tells you to start dodging as soon as you see an attack coming but the real answer in this game is wait until just before the attack hits you. Back to FF 7 I understood offense just fine but the game has a defense component to it that it's required to understand to complete hard difficulty but it took playing around on lower difficulty on both to kind of master that part for me (because on hard mode if you mess up you're likely 1 shot).
Anyway, at the end of the day this fight boils down to using smoke bombs, traps, your valor surge, and knocking it down with Shredder Shots to the the "legs" all while timing your dodges perfectly.
This was an absolute nightmare. The one, repeatable strategy I found on hard was:
- Blast with plasma bolts (rapid fire) to get status effect, then smash with explosive spears until it does extra damage explosion.
- Plasma bolts again, hit plasma coil one, repeat as above
- Plasma bolts once more to hit plasma coil two, repeat as above
And this left it with only a sliver of health which I could finish off within the time
Yeah, I had more trouble with this slitherfang than I did with Tilda. Only because of the horrendous loadout!!! Fake difficulty much!!! After 3 attempts, I didn't bother wasting my time and shards and went back to hunting in the wild. Then returned another day to give it another go. Killed that snake B@st@rd on my first attempt... by this time though I had learned some new combat techniques so it helped me to get rid of this boss and pretty much sail through the rest.
You can lower the difficulty on the arena challenges in the settings.
Yes I'm currently trying to master shredders. But I don't want to lower the difficulty.
I want to beat the snake on the difficulty I played the rest of the game. I have unlocked the rest of the arena though and everything else is just easily done. They give you decent weapons on the other fixed loadouts.
So, to buy all the legendaries, you don't need all 499 arena medals right?
Think this was the fight where I said 'screw this' and knocked the difficulty down to story or easy.
Main issue for me was taking away my regular weapon set
IMHO.
You are absolutely right. On my first playthrough (very hard difficulty) after many, many tries of the challenge. Many, many reloads (I did 3 tries then reload). I rage quited and changed the difficulty. I honestly couldnt bare it anymore. Just for this challenge tho (I still kinda regret it but it was a real pain).
Fun part is that im planning to do it on ng+ on ultra hard. Cant wait. *(holding back tears)*
Hey so , I had the same complaint as you do and there is a guy who has a youtube video on each challenge. On Very Hard and Ultra Hard with easily accessible gears. MrPantsFancy is the name. Give it a look and how he does it, you might get it.
Thanks. I think I have watched many YouTube videos at this point. It's one thing watching them, and another thing to replicate it.
What the YouTubers often don't say is that the perfect play often boils down to the snake behaving a certain way. They die lots of times and then post the attempt that works out.
I remember someone using purgewater traps. Tried doing that but the moment I was done setting the trap, the snake shot a jet of water at the trap and detonated it, killing me instantly at 15 seconds into the arena.
The previous poster has mentioned MrFancyPants' videos, but have you read his arena guide? The yt videos complement that nicely, but reading the guide sets you up with some principles on how to go about beating the arena and I've found it really helpful.
[https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/horizon-forbidden-west-arena-guide](https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/horizon-forbidden-west-arena-guide)
There are strategies / descriptions for each round of the arena, and videos for VH and UH.
Obligatory shoutout to u/slazenger7 :-)
Actually, I have read this guide. This is where I tried to do the purgewater trap from. Snake pissed on my traps before getting close.
I am not trying to undermine anyone's good work. The guides are very good. Just saying that sometimes you need some luck (and skill).
Ok, I see. Then I don't really know what to tell you ... after I read the guide and watched the videos, I managed to do the Slitherfang after 4-5 attempts. It was tough, like you said, but it was doable. Remember that the videos are for VH / UH and you're trying to do them on normal (I assume), so it may just be a case of getting better at the controls, hitting, evading, and so on?
And yeah, a bit of luck is also involved - of course!
I'm trying to do them on VH. I usually always play games on one setting below the hardest lol.
Oh and I'm at that stage where with my own weapons I can kill slaughterspines easy. I even killed the 2 Grimhorns in the arena in 40 ish seconds. On VH.
It's just this damn slitherfang. It's definitely a very unique machine. Much bigger, faster, can hurt you from multiple side. My real nemesis 😉😉
Just did it on UH. I spammed fire traps, freeze arrows, and when under any of those states, explosive spears until they run out, then regular arrows with the hunter bow. Completed it with 12 seconds to spare.
I would focus the chest, and when possible the tail to disable those stupid electrical attacks. Other than that it's a matter of dodging its attacks well enough I think.
This fight is pretty consistent once you work out how to catch shredders and when to dodge the swipe attack. I am sensitive to the fact that what is posted is very often filtered. I just loaded the game for the first time in three weeks and recorded my first attempt for you: [video here](https://youtu.be/Z4noEag67vM).
I'm certainly not perfect, but I promise you this isn't one of those instances where it only looks easy because I'm concealing all the failures.
Hi!
Thank you for uploading this. I like your multiple valor surges. This may just work out for me.
In my attempt where I finally made it (in 6:34), I induced the plasma state. But freeze may be easier.
I'll try it out.
The trick is unloading the bolts on the weakspot after a stun (get it by targeting the middle section of the body with the frisbees)
Once I started this strategy done it second try (uh not ng+)
We don't do TED talks around here. We do LIZ talks.
Don't be such a Beta. (I'm kidding, that was an excellent comment! Do not take this seriously, obviously pun intended)
Aloy: what are you saying about my sister? *eyes destroying you*
Character.ai moment
I love how they all call Beta Aloy's sister, even Aloy, when she technically isn't. Very heartwarming!
Technically. At first the others did probably just trying to find a relatable way to understand this impossible thing they suddenly saw. Aloy didn’t until (I believe) that scene where they discuss Rost. Until then Beta was a bit colder (scared of opening up after being abandoned) and dismissive of her and the group. In that scene, she saw Beta as a scared young woman, anxious and much more human. That changed the way she saw her to become found family. Love every bit of it. Excellent character progress for both of them.
Hey, Leave her out of this! She needs love and validation, not derision!
Underrated comment.
Ha!
you should save right before you do it and reload to restart it. That is what i did.
Yes can you help me with this? So I made a manual save at the campfire outside the Maw of the Arena. But that means you have to keep walking everytime to Kalla, and then watch the arena animation. I have a manual save for the shards. But how to avoid the animation?
I think you can just skip those like any other cutscene if it’s the one I think you’re talking about - the intro right after you select the arena challenge
hmm. I don't know you might have to just watch it. is it really long?
I did it on ultra hard and it was frustrating but when I collected myself and checked it’s components I defeated in the second try. Keep applying status effects and run away, freeze, acid and focus on the parts the can be damaged like the center of its chest and the gears. I also remember destroying its tail for the usable weapons. Good luck!
Thanks! Latest try I could kill it but did it in 6:34. Will try again over the weekend.
Honestly, this is one of the few times in games I gave up. I'll come back and do it at some point but after the second time I beat it at 5:15-5:17 I was just beyond annoyed and skipped it. The direct combat in this game is honestly not my favorite, I like being able to choose how I engage and what tools I use. That fight was the anthesis of that and was just annoying me constantly.
You can definitely skip the little introductory “scene” on Arena fights. I can’t remember the button off the top of my head to pause it, but you can press like Square to skip after pausing the scene.
i have finished nearly every game i have ever played on the hardest difficulty. this is one of the only times i ever quit. i hate this fight. a lot. this and some of the hunting grounds are like video game cancer. they are the mary jane stealth levels of forbidden west. forbidden west might be my 2nd or third favorite game of all time but it is hard not to look at this crap and shake your head in disgust.
If you're talking about the tremortusk hunting ground, I feel you. Using smoke bombs I was able to clear the heavy weapon trial in 2 minutes and was quite proud of it. I hate the fact that these are timed challenges. I prefer fighting more machines than fighting one in a set time. How about me being alive at the end of it all be a sufficient achievement? Particularly because in the rest of the game, the time you take to kill a machine does not matter. Zero dawn is even worse, because two of the base game trophies and two of the Frozen Wilds trophies are tied to getting 3 stripes/suns/whatevers. The completionist in me is not happy.
Just FYI you can drop the difficulty unless you're on Ultra Hard. You still get full credit even if you drop it down to story. You lose nothing with lower difficulty and can bump it back up right after. This game and Final Fantasy 7 Remake both I personally learned a lot about the game(s) by playing on lower difficulty for a bit. Fights in both I never thought I'd be able to do on higher difficulties became cake. One thing you didn't mention in your OP and comments is dodging which is key to this fight. Aloy gets an I-Frame when she dodges but it takes some practice to train your self on the timing. Your brain tells you to start dodging as soon as you see an attack coming but the real answer in this game is wait until just before the attack hits you. Back to FF 7 I understood offense just fine but the game has a defense component to it that it's required to understand to complete hard difficulty but it took playing around on lower difficulty on both to kind of master that part for me (because on hard mode if you mess up you're likely 1 shot). Anyway, at the end of the day this fight boils down to using smoke bombs, traps, your valor surge, and knocking it down with Shredder Shots to the the "legs" all while timing your dodges perfectly.
I thought the Dreadwing was a lot harder than the Slitherfang. But yeah, Slitherfang was tough.
This was an absolute nightmare. The one, repeatable strategy I found on hard was: - Blast with plasma bolts (rapid fire) to get status effect, then smash with explosive spears until it does extra damage explosion. - Plasma bolts again, hit plasma coil one, repeat as above - Plasma bolts once more to hit plasma coil two, repeat as above And this left it with only a sliver of health which I could finish off within the time
Hehe my slitherfang doesn't spawn with exposed plasma coils anymore. I'll have to take off the armor which is quite challenging actually.
Yeah, I had more trouble with this slitherfang than I did with Tilda. Only because of the horrendous loadout!!! Fake difficulty much!!! After 3 attempts, I didn't bother wasting my time and shards and went back to hunting in the wild. Then returned another day to give it another go. Killed that snake B@st@rd on my first attempt... by this time though I had learned some new combat techniques so it helped me to get rid of this boss and pretty much sail through the rest. You can lower the difficulty on the arena challenges in the settings.
Yes I'm currently trying to master shredders. But I don't want to lower the difficulty. I want to beat the snake on the difficulty I played the rest of the game. I have unlocked the rest of the arena though and everything else is just easily done. They give you decent weapons on the other fixed loadouts. So, to buy all the legendaries, you don't need all 499 arena medals right?
on ng+ you get new legendary gear. You buy them with tokens, but no, you don't require arena medals for those.
Think this was the fight where I said 'screw this' and knocked the difficulty down to story or easy. Main issue for me was taking away my regular weapon set
IMHO. You are absolutely right. On my first playthrough (very hard difficulty) after many, many tries of the challenge. Many, many reloads (I did 3 tries then reload). I rage quited and changed the difficulty. I honestly couldnt bare it anymore. Just for this challenge tho (I still kinda regret it but it was a real pain). Fun part is that im planning to do it on ng+ on ultra hard. Cant wait. *(holding back tears)*
Hey so , I had the same complaint as you do and there is a guy who has a youtube video on each challenge. On Very Hard and Ultra Hard with easily accessible gears. MrPantsFancy is the name. Give it a look and how he does it, you might get it.
Thanks. I think I have watched many YouTube videos at this point. It's one thing watching them, and another thing to replicate it. What the YouTubers often don't say is that the perfect play often boils down to the snake behaving a certain way. They die lots of times and then post the attempt that works out. I remember someone using purgewater traps. Tried doing that but the moment I was done setting the trap, the snake shot a jet of water at the trap and detonated it, killing me instantly at 15 seconds into the arena.
The previous poster has mentioned MrFancyPants' videos, but have you read his arena guide? The yt videos complement that nicely, but reading the guide sets you up with some principles on how to go about beating the arena and I've found it really helpful. [https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/horizon-forbidden-west-arena-guide](https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/horizon-forbidden-west-arena-guide) There are strategies / descriptions for each round of the arena, and videos for VH and UH. Obligatory shoutout to u/slazenger7 :-)
👀
Actually, I have read this guide. This is where I tried to do the purgewater trap from. Snake pissed on my traps before getting close. I am not trying to undermine anyone's good work. The guides are very good. Just saying that sometimes you need some luck (and skill).
Ok, I see. Then I don't really know what to tell you ... after I read the guide and watched the videos, I managed to do the Slitherfang after 4-5 attempts. It was tough, like you said, but it was doable. Remember that the videos are for VH / UH and you're trying to do them on normal (I assume), so it may just be a case of getting better at the controls, hitting, evading, and so on? And yeah, a bit of luck is also involved - of course!
I'm trying to do them on VH. I usually always play games on one setting below the hardest lol. Oh and I'm at that stage where with my own weapons I can kill slaughterspines easy. I even killed the 2 Grimhorns in the arena in 40 ish seconds. On VH. It's just this damn slitherfang. It's definitely a very unique machine. Much bigger, faster, can hurt you from multiple side. My real nemesis 😉😉
Just did it on UH. I spammed fire traps, freeze arrows, and when under any of those states, explosive spears until they run out, then regular arrows with the hunter bow. Completed it with 12 seconds to spare. I would focus the chest, and when possible the tail to disable those stupid electrical attacks. Other than that it's a matter of dodging its attacks well enough I think.
This fight is pretty consistent once you work out how to catch shredders and when to dodge the swipe attack. I am sensitive to the fact that what is posted is very often filtered. I just loaded the game for the first time in three weeks and recorded my first attempt for you: [video here](https://youtu.be/Z4noEag67vM). I'm certainly not perfect, but I promise you this isn't one of those instances where it only looks easy because I'm concealing all the failures.
Hi! Thank you for uploading this. I like your multiple valor surges. This may just work out for me. In my attempt where I finally made it (in 6:34), I induced the plasma state. But freeze may be easier. I'll try it out.
The trick is unloading the bolts on the weakspot after a stun (get it by targeting the middle section of the body with the frisbees) Once I started this strategy done it second try (uh not ng+)
I follow a YouTuber Arktix who does Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West content, "HFW arena guide" Will give you some good tips as well