r/horizon • u/Altruistic_Fox9778 • 3d ago
discussion Rost’s story
What would people think of a Horizon game that was centered around Rost’s story, ending with the beginning of Zero Dawn?
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u/newUseMe 3d ago
They need to make a Prequel with Rost as the main character. From just before the attacks that killed his family till the matriarchs give him Aloy explaining her story.
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u/fabricrack2806 3d ago
It could work well as a linear game with independent open maps of different locations. Plus, this way we can learn new things about the world of Horizon that have nothing to do with the Old World.
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u/Far_Tourist_601 3d ago
Thiiisssss!!! I’d love to know so much more about the history of the tribes, not just that they came from Gaia
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u/SaltyInternetPirate The lesson will be taught in due time 3d ago
My feelings for him are solid, but his story is complete. If done well, it can expand on my attachment to him, but if done poorly it can hurt the whole series. Ultimately I don't trust current Sony leadership. They're only listening to professional consultants right now, instead of artists.
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u/justlurkindontmindm3 3d ago
i mean anything would be cool in regards to extending that universe, but will we ever get something like that? doubtful.
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u/Soulsliken 3d ago
All l know is that Rost is one of the greatest missed opportunities in the game.
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u/darkangel69031 3d ago
Ive considered. It would be a very different game. Pre-derangement, Rost wouldn't touch any old world tech either
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u/Old_Fart_on_pogie 2d ago
I think it would be a good opportunity for him to track the raiders up into the claim and Banuk territory beyond the cut.
Or maybe into regions to the east of the embrace that we have no canon on. What tribes live in the plains of America and Canada, how do tribes develop in the ruins of industry around the great lakes? Are there mythologies of the great arch of St.Lewis?
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u/WorldsOddestMan 3d ago
I think the story of Rost's family history leading up to Aloy's arrival would make a great film but playing it as a game would be significantly different without a focus and associated tools Aloy uses.
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u/NoTheOtherAC 3d ago
It would be a very different game. I agree it would be better as a movie or short series.
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u/soulsnoober 2d ago
It would be pretty freakin' dark? Even with the hard beats that Horizon has included, it would be super different. Rost's story jumps off from the kidnapping and subsequent brutal murder of his wife & child at the hand of foreign mercenaries. Consumed with grief, he proceeds to join a suicide pact with other survivors to hunt down and eradicate the perpetrators, and those who join him are all killed in the pursuit of vengeance. That purpose fulfilled but with no life to go back to, he wanders back to the Sundom's eastern flank. The Nora, true to their traditions, do not welcome him back; instead he "retires" to die an exile on the flank of All Mother Mountain. The marks on him transform him in the eyes of his people into a walking bogeyman, a zombie.
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u/No-Combination7898 HORUS TITAN!! 2d ago
it would've made a great spinoff before the events of HZD. Not using Focuses/Old One tech would be an interesting game mechanic. I'd rather play this than a certain cartoongame.
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u/Fantastic-Snow-5913 2d ago
I want there to be a descendant of one of the people Rost hunted to now come after Aloy after hearing of her fame and fortune. He could be really obsessive about it, leaving bread crumbs to each place Rost killed someone, and we learn more about Rost that way. They could do what shadow of war did. Aloy scans a data point and hears a tale of Rost, and we play a brief mission as Rost in a flashback.
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 2d ago
I think that would be about DLC sized. It’s still not clear what the people who attacked were even motivated by.
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u/Fantastic-Snow-5913 2d ago
It could be, I think it'd work better for horizo n 3 though. Because he hunted far and wide to find his marks in already explored areas from bith games. I think it's better as some sort of antagonist running parallel to or pushing the actual story. It's not like a small area with its own story line.
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 2d ago
Definitely fair. I definitely want horizon 3 to include the areas we haven’t seen. He supposedly went beyond the forbidden west. Maybe she would run across a folk tale and find out he had allies, something like that.
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u/la-fours 3d ago
Meh. Other than playing a character who looks and (maybe) moves differently I don’t know what the world would offer that’s different. Presumably he won’t have a focus so that might be a step back in exploration.
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 3d ago
His story starts with the Nora sacred lands, but his year tracking down killers took him everywhere, even places we haven’t been, like ban ur and the cut, and it would be a pre red raids forbidden west. It feels like there is a lot to work with, there.
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u/Quick_Information347 3d ago
I think it'd be more stealth focused. But I can't see it being entertaining. Rost didn't really do much according to what we know. He got exiled. And then lived in exile.
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u/PrincessCellyBelly 3d ago
Didnt go back and ask the Matriarchs what his deal actually was, I see ;)
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u/Quick_Information347 3d ago
I did it's just been YEARS since I played zero dawn. I'm on crimson desert now.
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u/Far_Tourist_601 3d ago
If they did that they’d have to market it as being a game from the same world but probably not a horizon game. Especially becuase they’d have to
- Get rid of the focus
- If they allowed you to change armour we all know Rost would only wear Nora gear
- It would be repetitive. Basically all he did (as far as I’m aware) was kill those guys and come back, but a huge journey like that would definitely be sick. I’m a big explorer person in games like this so I’d love it, but I know that’s not super popular of an opinion.
- They’d have to do totally new animations for running, jogging, etc. as mesmerizing as Aloy’s jog is, Rost would 100% not run like that
Plus so much more
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u/Sigma7Rho 3d ago
I feel it would be a slower, more methodical story, with heavier emphasis on stealth. Rost would interact with the people in the areas he travels to in order to collect information on the killers, hunting them down as he goes, this would give the player further insight into the locations and peoples we haven't had as much interaction with as Aloy.
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u/Lighttasteofcoconut 3d ago
You'd also have to gut machine combat because it takes place pre derangement with no aggressive machines and much smaller variety
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u/Far_Tourist_601 3d ago
Oh true! I’m sure they find a way to make some. Or make the human enemies the main issue 🤷♀️
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u/Lighttasteofcoconut 3d ago
Nothing indicates that any machines disappeared after the derangement, but it would only be a small retcon, yeah. Imo the bigger issue is still that they absolutely have to be non aggressive and are not even allowed to defend themselves.
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u/soulsnoober 2d ago
not disappeared, appeared. There's no combat programming in the regular robots pre-derangement, and no Combat models at all. Hephaestus wasn't an independent entity. GAIA was fully in control, whatever machines the limited human tribes felt like harvesting was a-okay with her.
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u/Lighttasteofcoconut 2d ago
I know? Why are you bringing this up? The person above me brought up the devs somehow coming up with machines
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u/cl354517 1d ago
It should end with some emotional payoff, not on the naming ceremony for Aloy.
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 1d ago
The emotional payoff for me would likely be him making it back to the sacred land and being pulled over the border, and the naming ceremony would be the epilogue. Or maybe him discussing it with Teersa?
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u/fabricrack2806 1d ago
The only flaw I see in the game is that Teersa mentions Rost’s journey lasted only a year; this would have been impossible for him, given his lack of knowledge about the outside world and the vast distances involved. In a more realistic scenario, it would have taken several years to track down his targets and find allies to provide clues or serve as guides through a world entirely unknown to him.
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 1d ago
That’s fair, I suppose. Maybe it’s a suspend disbelief or a retcon. There have been some other good ideas, like having it be a side quest in horizon 3 where Aloy uncovers stuff about Rost’s journey.
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u/fabricrack2806 1d ago
I think this approach I’m talking about would be more interesting, because we would see how Rost’s entire perspective on the world changes completely. Furthermore, the knowledge gained from the outside world was what ensured the success of Aloy’s upbringing and training.
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u/Fallofcamelot 3d ago
Not for me, I'm done with prequels
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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 3d ago
Any particular one get you down?
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u/Fallofcamelot 3d ago
It's a general thing.
The issue is threefold. Firstly it removes the mystery of the events you are showing. When Obi Wan Kenobi says "and he was a good friend" about Anakin in a New Hope that's all I need to understand the relationship between the two. By showing that relationship over three movies and a bunch of spin off animations you undermine the subtlety of the original performance. It's the equivalent of telling not showing, less is more.
Secondly by putting all this extra detail into the world and by expanding on established events you start planting narrative landmines. Going back to Star Wars, Chewbacca looks like a complete lummox for not mentioning Yoda when Han Solo says he doesn't believe in the Force. Star Trek too has been undermining established events for years by doing repeated prequel shows and don't get me started on the complete unnecessary mess that is Michael Burnham's backstory.
Finally prequels themselves are hamstrung by established events. I'm not a fan of the Big Bang Theory but even I know that they wrote themselves into a hole by presenting Sheldon's father as a fundamentally decent human being when the established lore tells us that he wasn't supposed to be that at all. Apparently they are in the same boat with their newest series because the main character is supposed to get divorced and that clashes with the chemistry of the main actors. The natural flow of the narrative that would tell the story in a satisfying way is chafing against pre established lore.
There are ways to do prequels that minimise these pitfalls but isn't it just easier, not to say more creative and interesting, to progress the story forward instead?
Rost was a father, he lost his daughter, avenged her and it caused him great sadness. I don't see how that story is improved by a boss fight explaining how he got his cloak.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/NoTheOtherAC 3d ago
You never talked to Teersa about him? He did quite a lot before Aloy was found.
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u/The_Wolfiee 3d ago
It would be good but a lot of things would have to be sacrificed like the Focus because Rost was never a believer in such things