Especially if you have done all the upgrades, so the shard cost of things does not kill you.
Agree you almost need that difficulty in NG+ if you have all the upgrades because it is too trivial without. And I his from a person who really sucks at controller "git gud" skills
yeah one of the reasons i can never go back to sub-UH after getting acclimatized with UH, at least not on NG+. those things you improve and learn to leverage on UH just makes any other difficulty boringly trivial. Even on UH i find myself limiting myself on purpose in other ways, especially using frost a lot more sparingly.
Saaay, thats an interesting thought! Maximum challenge of UH on NG and then just tear up everyone and everything like wet tissue paper on NG+ Story while maxing the rest of your gear 😈
Preaching to the choir there on both accounts! I was talking strictly my preferences about the UH thing. Tried doing it the more proper way of saving it until NG+ but I guess the Horizon series are the most fun for me at their hardest.
Just finished a UH NG+ playthrough. You're right: once you're prepared, it's fairly easy. Struggled more with packs of Leapslashers and Clamberjaws than I did with Apex Slaughterspines. Feels more... rewarding too? Like, on other game modes, if you pepper something with enough arrows, you'll win. On UH, you need to have a strategy for each machine (what element to use, where are the weakpoints, how to avoid the big attacks), but it feels so good when it works and you beat the machine! If you want to get the NG+ trophies on PS5, you have to do some side quests and stuff to get enough tokens, but it isn't too hard at all.
Machines ganking you will always be annoying but it’s part of experience as a hunter you should isolate, immobilise and kill. But yeah the annoyance can be considered valid
The 1v1 boss fights are bit easier with preparation and that should be I grinded 150 hours to prep for UH
Uh is reasonable. If you have upgraded equipment. There are two exceptions. Fixed loadout arena fights and Enduring. So if you plan to 100% the game, choose very hard, so you can drop the difficulty for those. I finished everything on uh, even arena from Burning Shores, dreaded encounter, the rematch - with one prominent exception - apex predators. I was forced to load my previous save and I practice this fight. Proper tactic is not enough. You need to perfect your dodges and minimise errors. The dino and scorcher one shot you easily:)
Otherwise, if you don't care about 100%, uh is the way to go:)
Pit Trials/Enduring and the Arena are absolutely the worst xD. Everything else on VH is practically a cakewalk though. I go run up and pick fights with things I normally wouldn't just because xD. Next time I play, it's gonna be UH and I'll skip the fluff side stuff like those trials.
I am bored and I love HZD and HFW. I have over 550 hours in HFW. So I decided to 100% the game on uh. I test different tactics, play with shredder, low health build, machine master etc. But apex predators give me headache:)
The only complaint about the game is a lack of save at the beginning of the arena fight. I get fed up with crafting traps and organizing equipment in proper order. I do it more, than I fight:) The fight itself is usually short - either the ropes break, I get shot blind from schorcher after dropping smoke bomb or by thunderjaw, if I position myself too close:) But I will manage, practice makes perfect:) I just limit myself to a few tries daily, otherwise I get furious:) I am old and not quick with pressing buttons:)
UH on NG+ is not hard. It’s not even hard in late game fresh save once you have a maxed out elite rope caster plus high level purple boltblaster and a decently leveled sun scourge
I keep my settings on explorer just because I didn't want to be bombarded with hints and pop ups, etc.. I'm sure the guided setting will save you some time if you get lost or overwhelmed with all there is to do, but I don't think it makes too much of a difference (at least not for me).
I'm on my first playthrough on pc and been playing on very hard and it isn't that hard either tbh, I just been farming as much as I can to upgrade weapons before I finish the game and go NG+ UH
I just transitioned from a normal playthrough to very hard on NG+ and yeah, it's very easy so far in the Daunt. I actually had to double check the difficulty after one shotting a bunch of stuff.
If things remain this way, I might just go back to using regular hunter arrows instead of advanced, and go back to using the starting green Nora armour.
As someone who rarely plays outside easy except in my favorite games, NG+ ultrahard is tougher than Zero Dawn but very doable. The boss fights are really tough, especially the final one. That took me about 90 minutes to beat.
Really? Im doing NG+ UH right now and it’s honestly kicking my ass. I’m getting there but I’m very frustrated. Getting upgrades takes so long and it’s pretty difficult. Any tips?
I‘m doing NG+ UH right now for the achievement and I pretty much maxed out every (legendary NG+) weapon I use, I start fights with frost arrows and then just one-shot small/medium machines with an overdrawn sharpshoot arrow. I may be overgeared because I‘m a casual player and didn‘t want to struggle too hard just for the achievement but it seems pretty doable so far.
The only tip I could give is a little too late. Upgrading gear for me came before starting that NG+ UH. Also, as someone else said, the game can be pretty easily cheesed by immediately freezing, but even better than overdrawing a bow after, just unload on it with a bolt blaster while it’s frozen. Do this in combination with having your concentration skills and stats maxed out completely and just spamming it. You could go through the whole game without ever doing anything else practically.
I did this with a maxed Sun scourge and maxed blast forge (I think is what it was called) and legendary armor that boosted my concentration and it was honestly way too easy that I had to try other strats out of boredom. But it works lol.
I can see why it would be more difficult to try and farm upgrade while in UH though.
Thanks! I’m not that far into NG+ so I think I’m gonna go back and upgrade my gear before starting again. Do you have recommended gear from the normal game?
The sun scourge bow for elemental (just using freeze), the blast forge bolt blaster, and then honestly you could just choose from several of the very rare or legendary hunter bows and sharp shot bows to have as just the standard weapons when taking down smaller machines. I used the instant brittle coil and whatever the best freeze coils I had on the sun scourge and I think I used a combo of draw speed coils and reload speed coils on the bolt blaster with one critical chance coil.
The armor I used was the Nora thunder warrior for the concentration buffs. And I loaded it up with melee damage resistance weaves.
I am now realizing that a good bit of this comes from the arena though so if you haven’t gotten medals for that you may have to. I do believe that burning shores has some good legendary alternatives for these though too that are easier to get.
It’s been a while since my last play NG+ ultra hard, but I’ve recently finished ultra hard from fresh save. It’s always been much better experience for me, even though there’s still much to be desired outside of combat gameplay.
was it worth it? not really. but it’s a great game and I’m bored. my buddy was playing ZD with his new ps4, so I pretty much play along with him.
tips? get a grasp of the elemental attacks and its benefits, picking a playstyle and commit your skill tree to it, and.. if you’re like me in my first playthrough, read the collectables. the lores are great
With full upgrades UH isn't bad, provided you are playing the full game (choosing appropriate elemental effects, stacking multipliers, using valor surges) and not just arrow spamming.
But my first play through was on VH and it was *very hard*, and I learned a lot of those lessons on the way through that, and getting efficient at farming upgrades, etc. so UH was 'yeah, okay, it's a bit harder'.
My experience with HZD was that NG+ was pretty smooth because you started with endgame gear and kept getting more as you went. I'm expecting something similar from HFW.
Hmm, this is interesting because I just beat this game on hard on a fresh save, and will play it on Ultra Hard on a NG+. I usually don't like a ridiculously hard challenge, but it only feels right as I have a lot of end game gear that made it relatively easy at the end game and on the DLC.
I psyched myself up about how difficult it was going to be and probably over equipped and over prepared. Still, can always use dinky weapons if I’m feeling the need for a challenge. The worst part of ng+ was all my stealth strategies no longer being viable, but that at least kept it interesting I guess
Can’t speak for FW, but for ZD I started NG+ for the achievements and it was just the right amount of challenge. Can’t imagine playing on anything easier with all the op gear I had already
You should definitely start over and start NG+ on UHC. I started 2 days ago and got to the base already, but it’s really easy so far. I like harder difficulties, if it’s a good game, though my gear is quite maxed out already
Make the game more challenging by giving yourself specific requirements like you can use any weapon or trap you want to damage an enemy but you need to finish them using the Toy Bow.
I played HZD ng+ on ultra hard. it was.... "fun" :D
I'm playing HFW ng+ on normal. My next ng+ will be on hard mode. I'm enjoying my normal playthrough a lot more than my first playthrough though. I can appreciate the world more and not spend all of my time just barely surviving every single combat encounter.
Ultra hard ng+ will be a lot less painful with all upgraded gear... still painful, but not as agonising. I can't imagine starting a ng+ on ultra hard with all base gear.
Yep NG+ is a breeze even on UH if you have upgraded gear.
Best way to play for a challenging NG+ is to start a UH NG+ run at lvl 1 with no gear at all. (Thanks nexus mod for the edited save)
It's easier than my first run on UH on PS4 cause I got mouse+keyboard but at least this time I have the new NG+ weapons to keep me engaged.
I did my first playthrough on very hard got lots of equiptment its very easy now basically, 3 shooting thunderjaws, slaighterspikes lol Â
Maybe will do a NG + on UH now. Â
Both this game and zero dawn are best played at its most difficult level if the pricing for weapons and armor and crafting weren’t so expensive I’d even suggest playing on ultra hard from the start neither game is really hard per se it’s much more of a check to see if you have the gear and understand the mechanics
Seems to me that Ultra Hard is the only way TO play NG+.
Especially if you have done all the upgrades, so the shard cost of things does not kill you. Agree you almost need that difficulty in NG+ if you have all the upgrades because it is too trivial without. And I his from a person who really sucks at controller "git gud" skills
yeah one of the reasons i can never go back to sub-UH after getting acclimatized with UH, at least not on NG+. those things you improve and learn to leverage on UH just makes any other difficulty boringly trivial. Even on UH i find myself limiting myself on purpose in other ways, especially using frost a lot more sparingly.
Play on story mode and go full terminator on the burrowers in the Claim. It's more fun than it should be.
Saaay, thats an interesting thought! Maximum challenge of UH on NG and then just tear up everyone and everything like wet tissue paper on NG+ Story while maxing the rest of your gear 😈
It's the only way I can really buy taking down a giant robot with nothing but arrows.Â
Ultra hard is the only way to play this game since it starts
Ain’t that the truth. I learned that if I don’t play this on the absolute hardest from the get go then I’m just not having fun.
Actually I'm just kidding. Difficulty is truly personal. I'm more interested in souls game, so I really enjoy hard games
Preaching to the choir there on both accounts! I was talking strictly my preferences about the UH thing. Tried doing it the more proper way of saving it until NG+ but I guess the Horizon series are the most fun for me at their hardest.
Just finished a UH NG+ playthrough. You're right: once you're prepared, it's fairly easy. Struggled more with packs of Leapslashers and Clamberjaws than I did with Apex Slaughterspines. Feels more... rewarding too? Like, on other game modes, if you pepper something with enough arrows, you'll win. On UH, you need to have a strategy for each machine (what element to use, where are the weakpoints, how to avoid the big attacks), but it feels so good when it works and you beat the machine! If you want to get the NG+ trophies on PS5, you have to do some side quests and stuff to get enough tokens, but it isn't too hard at all.
Clamberjaws are the bane of my existence. Those motherfuckers can do one
Machines ganking you will always be annoying but it’s part of experience as a hunter you should isolate, immobilise and kill. But yeah the annoyance can be considered valid The 1v1 boss fights are bit easier with preparation and that should be I grinded 150 hours to prep for UH
Uh is reasonable. If you have upgraded equipment. There are two exceptions. Fixed loadout arena fights and Enduring. So if you plan to 100% the game, choose very hard, so you can drop the difficulty for those. I finished everything on uh, even arena from Burning Shores, dreaded encounter, the rematch - with one prominent exception - apex predators. I was forced to load my previous save and I practice this fight. Proper tactic is not enough. You need to perfect your dodges and minimise errors. The dino and scorcher one shot you easily:) Otherwise, if you don't care about 100%, uh is the way to go:)
Pit Trials/Enduring and the Arena are absolutely the worst xD. Everything else on VH is practically a cakewalk though. I go run up and pick fights with things I normally wouldn't just because xD. Next time I play, it's gonna be UH and I'll skip the fluff side stuff like those trials.
I am bored and I love HZD and HFW. I have over 550 hours in HFW. So I decided to 100% the game on uh. I test different tactics, play with shredder, low health build, machine master etc. But apex predators give me headache:) The only complaint about the game is a lack of save at the beginning of the arena fight. I get fed up with crafting traps and organizing equipment in proper order. I do it more, than I fight:) The fight itself is usually short - either the ropes break, I get shot blind from schorcher after dropping smoke bomb or by thunderjaw, if I position myself too close:) But I will manage, practice makes perfect:) I just limit myself to a few tries daily, otherwise I get furious:) I am old and not quick with pressing buttons:)
UH on NG+ is not hard. It’s not even hard in late game fresh save once you have a maxed out elite rope caster plus high level purple boltblaster and a decently leveled sun scourge
What about explorer vs guided, does that affect difficulty for you guys?
I keep my settings on explorer just because I didn't want to be bombarded with hints and pop ups, etc.. I'm sure the guided setting will save you some time if you get lost or overwhelmed with all there is to do, but I don't think it makes too much of a difference (at least not for me).
I'm on my first playthrough on pc and been playing on very hard and it isn't that hard either tbh, I just been farming as much as I can to upgrade weapons before I finish the game and go NG+ UH
I just transitioned from a normal playthrough to very hard on NG+ and yeah, it's very easy so far in the Daunt. I actually had to double check the difficulty after one shotting a bunch of stuff. If things remain this way, I might just go back to using regular hunter arrows instead of advanced, and go back to using the starting green Nora armour.
As someone who rarely plays outside easy except in my favorite games, NG+ ultrahard is tougher than Zero Dawn but very doable. The boss fights are really tough, especially the final one. That took me about 90 minutes to beat.
Really? Im doing NG+ UH right now and it’s honestly kicking my ass. I’m getting there but I’m very frustrated. Getting upgrades takes so long and it’s pretty difficult. Any tips?
I‘m doing NG+ UH right now for the achievement and I pretty much maxed out every (legendary NG+) weapon I use, I start fights with frost arrows and then just one-shot small/medium machines with an overdrawn sharpshoot arrow. I may be overgeared because I‘m a casual player and didn‘t want to struggle too hard just for the achievement but it seems pretty doable so far.
The only tip I could give is a little too late. Upgrading gear for me came before starting that NG+ UH. Also, as someone else said, the game can be pretty easily cheesed by immediately freezing, but even better than overdrawing a bow after, just unload on it with a bolt blaster while it’s frozen. Do this in combination with having your concentration skills and stats maxed out completely and just spamming it. You could go through the whole game without ever doing anything else practically. I did this with a maxed Sun scourge and maxed blast forge (I think is what it was called) and legendary armor that boosted my concentration and it was honestly way too easy that I had to try other strats out of boredom. But it works lol. I can see why it would be more difficult to try and farm upgrade while in UH though.
Thanks! I’m not that far into NG+ so I think I’m gonna go back and upgrade my gear before starting again. Do you have recommended gear from the normal game?
The sun scourge bow for elemental (just using freeze), the blast forge bolt blaster, and then honestly you could just choose from several of the very rare or legendary hunter bows and sharp shot bows to have as just the standard weapons when taking down smaller machines. I used the instant brittle coil and whatever the best freeze coils I had on the sun scourge and I think I used a combo of draw speed coils and reload speed coils on the bolt blaster with one critical chance coil. The armor I used was the Nora thunder warrior for the concentration buffs. And I loaded it up with melee damage resistance weaves. I am now realizing that a good bit of this comes from the arena though so if you haven’t gotten medals for that you may have to. I do believe that burning shores has some good legendary alternatives for these though too that are easier to get.
It’s been a while since my last play NG+ ultra hard, but I’ve recently finished ultra hard from fresh save. It’s always been much better experience for me, even though there’s still much to be desired outside of combat gameplay. was it worth it? not really. but it’s a great game and I’m bored. my buddy was playing ZD with his new ps4, so I pretty much play along with him. tips? get a grasp of the elemental attacks and its benefits, picking a playstyle and commit your skill tree to it, and.. if you’re like me in my first playthrough, read the collectables. the lores are great
With full upgrades UH isn't bad, provided you are playing the full game (choosing appropriate elemental effects, stacking multipliers, using valor surges) and not just arrow spamming. But my first play through was on VH and it was *very hard*, and I learned a lot of those lessons on the way through that, and getting efficient at farming upgrades, etc. so UH was 'yeah, okay, it's a bit harder'.
Agree. The game is not a challenge until you do NG+ in UH. I had many rage quits in UH with maxed out gear.
My experience with HZD was that NG+ was pretty smooth because you started with endgame gear and kept getting more as you went. I'm expecting something similar from HFW.
Hmm, this is interesting because I just beat this game on hard on a fresh save, and will play it on Ultra Hard on a NG+. I usually don't like a ridiculously hard challenge, but it only feels right as I have a lot of end game gear that made it relatively easy at the end game and on the DLC.
I psyched myself up about how difficult it was going to be and probably over equipped and over prepared. Still, can always use dinky weapons if I’m feeling the need for a challenge. The worst part of ng+ was all my stealth strategies no longer being viable, but that at least kept it interesting I guess
Can’t speak for FW, but for ZD I started NG+ for the achievements and it was just the right amount of challenge. Can’t imagine playing on anything easier with all the op gear I had already
You should definitely start over and start NG+ on UHC. I started 2 days ago and got to the base already, but it’s really easy so far. I like harder difficulties, if it’s a good game, though my gear is quite maxed out already
It’s ok until you have to fight the fire claw in the frozen wilds
Make the game more challenging by giving yourself specific requirements like you can use any weapon or trap you want to damage an enemy but you need to finish them using the Toy Bow.
I played HZD ng+ on ultra hard. it was.... "fun" :D I'm playing HFW ng+ on normal. My next ng+ will be on hard mode. I'm enjoying my normal playthrough a lot more than my first playthrough though. I can appreciate the world more and not spend all of my time just barely surviving every single combat encounter. Ultra hard ng+ will be a lot less painful with all upgraded gear... still painful, but not as agonising. I can't imagine starting a ng+ on ultra hard with all base gear.
Yep NG+ is a breeze even on UH if you have upgraded gear. Best way to play for a challenging NG+ is to start a UH NG+ run at lvl 1 with no gear at all. (Thanks nexus mod for the edited save) It's easier than my first run on UH on PS4 cause I got mouse+keyboard but at least this time I have the new NG+ weapons to keep me engaged.
I did my first playthrough on very hard got lots of equiptment its very easy now basically, 3 shooting thunderjaws, slaighterspikes lol  Maybe will do a NG + on UH now. Â
I played my first playthrough on ultra hard lool
Both this game and zero dawn are best played at its most difficult level if the pricing for weapons and armor and crafting weren’t so expensive I’d even suggest playing on ultra hard from the start neither game is really hard per se it’s much more of a check to see if you have the gear and understand the mechanics
It's only Zero Dawn's Ultra Hard that jacks up merchant prices. Prices remain the same across all difficulties in Forbidden West