#and getting almost murdered by a shell-walker caravan upon loading in just because i went outside the room during the loading screen

[hzdtrees]

Where You Came From

Since I'm still missing out on the UH achievement, I got around to starting a new playthrough and therefore, another tour of the Embrace. I suppose during my first two, maybe even three playthroughs, I didn't even realise time of day was fixed until at least The Point of the Spear, if not until the Proving. It is only logical, considering you've got a clear task: buy a Tripcaster and craft some fire arrows. In a NG+, you could essentially just slip down the zipline and run over to the Northern Embrace Gate, where Rost will already have teleported himself to.

But I don't exactly like leaving things undone, and among those things are scooping up the data points down in the bunker; murdering every single machine inside the Embrace; annoying the Nora in Mother's Cradle by testing out how many variants of "oh no! Why is the outcast speaking with me?" they come up with; realising Scrappers are still surprisingly heavy hitters and completing all three side-quests the game gives you at that stage. Quite a long day for Aloy, considering she only set out to procure some equipment and help out Grata while she was at it. Interestingly enough, aside from Grata, Rost and Aloy there are no other outcasts in the Embrace, which seems to be due to them not allowed as close to All-Mother Mountain, or not deemed worthy of the extra protection. Although there is speculation that Grata is tied to Rost insofar that she was the Brave who dragged him over the border, this was never confirmed, so I'm still curious for what she was cast out if she's allowed inside the Embrace. I was somewhat disappointed you can no longer speak to her after the Proving, even just to tell her you'll definitely not be coming back to help her, which was, while brought up as a possibility, not yet made entirely clear by Aloy prior to it. It felt like a minor oversight in a game with practically no oversights, which is likely why I felt disappointment at it at all - the other time being Nakoa nowhere to be found in Meridian before the final battle.

#horizon zero dawn #the embrace #photo mode #virtual photography #i hope we get to visit rost's grave again in HFW #just to tell him it worked out #that playthrough is going very well btw #i'm set on staying away from Meridian for as long as possible #which means i'm currently doing a large sweep of the map along the edges #and getting almost murdered by a shell-walker caravan upon loading in just because i went outside the room during the loading screen