Comment on Let's discuss: God of War
knokelmaat@beehaw.org 4 weeks ago
Again, a Let’s discuss post guided by what I am currently playing: God of War Ragnarok.
Let me start of by saying that I am a big fan of this series. I came late to the party, playing the original 2 games on my overclocked PS vita as part of the God of War Collection. I really liked the first, loved the second and actually absolutely adored the third game on my PS4 pro. Something about God of War 3 just going all the way on this mad destructive rampage really left me in awe. It has multiple incredible set pieces and Kratos truly becomes a vengeful monster in this game. The different weapons all felt amazing, it looked unreal at 60fps on PS4 pro and just was an all round epic experience.
I also played both psp games, which I thought were very impressive for the device, though a slight step down in all areas compared to the main trilogy. Still worthy entries though!
I did not play God of War Ascension yet, as this is the only one stuck on PS3.
I played God of War (2018) a few years later (a year or two ago), and while I did like it, I wasn’t as in love with it as many other people. I felt the combat was often sluggish and the storytelling slow and meandering at times. The design of the different areas was a bit hit and miss for me. There were moments of absolute brilliance (the opening scene, Kratos carrying his unconscious son to Freya, the ending and its impact on their relationship with Freya), but felt a bit too stretched out at times. Still, with respects to presentation, graphics, acting performances and music this was an all time classic.
I now started God of War Ragnarok, and I must say I am really liking it so far. The stakes seem higher, the characters are all interesting and even the combat feels better to me (I started on the hardest difficulty, just to see how long I would be able to hold out, but it actually makes me use the different systems more precisely). I am very hopeful for this one!
theangriestbird@beehaw.org 4 weeks ago
Fun to read your detailed thoughts on the series as whole. Literally the only GOW game I have played is the 2018 reboot, and honestly I found it to be really cool and fun! The story ended up being a bit thin by the end, but I thought that it was really engaging and fun the first time through, as you are experiencing it. There were just enough twists and turns that I felt like i never knew exactly what was going to happen next. Even though I never played the OT, the moment where
spoiler
Kratos goes home and takes the Blades of Chaos out of storage
was HYYYYYPE!!!
As a Dark Souls fan, I also found the slower pace of the combat to be pretty engaging. I played through all of the extra combat trials (idr what they are called) and beat all the Valkyries, so clearly I was enjoying myself. I liked all of the build options they give you with the loot and abilities. I remember beating my head against a few of the trials before realizing that a build overhaul made the trial trivial. Making builds is one of my favorite experiences in games, so I really appreciated this.
I don’t remember my exact feelings about the combat, but I remember my one major criticism was how slow Kratos turns around. They give you that input to do a fast 180, but when you are in a heated fight and you are getting surrounded by enemies, you can forget to tap it with all the other inputs you have to remember. The end result is it can feel like Kratos is resisting you as you try to spin around to hit some enemies behind you.
knokelmaat@beehaw.org 4 weeks ago
I had exactly this issue at times! Sometimes it felt like Kratos just wasn’t fast enough to react to my inputs, almost felt a bit over animated or something. I’ve dabbled in souls games (only finished Demon’s Souls though), but there the movement and reaction always felt instant and fair.