God of War Review Thread

[ChupathingyX]

Change is good.

No, change is not inherently a good thing.

 

[Redryhno]

Considering 95% of the combat in the old games wasn?t spectacle, how much is being lost? The series was overdue for a deeper combat engine regardless of camera perspective, and considering TLoU?s hard hitting melee is pretty much a gold standard the similarity isn?t really a bad thing.

About 70% of the screen from what I've seen of it. Which is never a good thing when it comes to any HxS.

And the originals weren't about hard-hitting melee, they were about flashy combos, zooomed-in executions, one-god-destructo-blenders, and just brutality to the degree that it was stupid if you sat down and thought about it. Kinda like it was considered by the creator as a somewhat dumbed-down DMC mixed with someone that's had a very bad day and a complete lack of a sense of humor or style.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I've read combat is more deliberate this time, especially in terms of melee. People have said it has a momentum-like weightiness and feels crunchy, kinda like how The Last of Us is when you're smacking a 2x4 over an infected's face. The combat has moved to the shoulder buttons like Souls, but more tactical in that you will get into trouble more often trying to spam attacks. It sounds like it was designed to mix things up between the ax for both melee and range, melee with fists, and Atreus who can be used on cue to initiate or extend combos.

So basically what you're telling me is that it's no longer a spectacle HxS, but a Last of Us analogue?

Sounds like a bigass pass if you ask me.

Considering 95% of the combat in the old games wasn?t spectacle, how much is being lost? The series was overdue for a deeper combat engine regardless of camera perspective, and considering TLoU?s hard hitting melee is pretty much a gold standard the similarity isn?t really a bad thing.

I still don't see how this really zoomed in camera is a good idea. No one has made a good argument for it. How is constantly having to now lock on and rotate the camera in these chaotic battles better than a standard classic third person camera? I corrected myself and said classic because almost all the big third person games use these really zoomed in cameras now. It's absurd. I was frustrated in the last hours of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that I couldn't change the field of view (while aiming) at all. This game's combat does look nice, but for me it's ruined by this shit camera.

From the footage I've seen and things I've read it doesn't sound like anyone's fighting the camera system, which ironically happened occasionally in all the previous games anyways. Other than being able to move it freely now it still follows the player but just usually closer and forward-facing; although it does pan out for climbing or other context sensitive things. I've also seen how enemies will still try to flank or attack from other directions but the game has a way of highlighting that so the player isn't cheaply blindsided.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I think YOU have to answer that. Why go for a change? How is that change functionally superior? They're not doing it in the best interest of the game, they're doing it because everyone else is doing it, because it looks cinematic to some people, which is stupid. It's a bad choice for chaotic melee combat. Using a normal field of view because it works best isn't stagnation. According to you, we should change everything for the hell of it. Cars are easier to drive with steering wheels, but lets replace them with levers just for the hell of it.

No, change is not inherently a good thing.

Change isn't inherently good but can be needed. For example, everyone hopped on the Arkham combat bandwagon and I got so tired of it that I'm pretty much done with it even though I do think it's a good system. Or, of course, Ubisoft's open world games, which I find better than Rockstar's games but I was done with that formula after a couple games. Even if you find Arkham combat to be the best melee combat system, every game with it that you play has diminishing returns. Thus, you can't be like this is best for melee combat, this is best for shooters, and then make every game exactly the same as stagnation is the reason why most of last-gen and the beginning of current-gen was arguably the worst period for AAA gaming. We literally went from being tired of WWII shooters to being so tired of MMSs that WWII felt fresh again. Or just look at the history of rogue-likes and you're most likely seeing the same thing with souls-likes if that trend continues.

And the originals weren't about hard-hitting melee, they were about flashy combos, zooomed-in executions, one-god-destructo-blenders, and just brutality to the degree that it was stupid if you sat down and thought about it. Kinda like it was considered by the creator as a somewhat dumbed-down DMC mixed with someone that's had a very bad day and a complete lack of a sense of humor or style.

The new combat system does fit with God of War's brutal style though. The zoomed-in nature will give the combat more "crunch" to it and make it more visceral. Whereas this new system wouldn't work for a DMC or Bayo game with regards to theme and just the spectacle of combat those games are about. God of War wasn't what I'd call a spectacle fighter, it had an epic-ness to it but the actual combat system itself wasn't spectacle; it had more in common with PS2 Prince of Persia's combat than DMC.

 

[Redryhno]

And the originals weren't about hard-hitting melee, they were about flashy combos, zooomed-in executions, one-god-destructo-blenders, and just brutality to the degree that it was stupid if you sat down and thought about it. Kinda like it was considered by the creator as a somewhat dumbed-down DMC mixed with someone that's had a very bad day and a complete lack of a sense of humor or style.

The new combat system does fit with God of War's brutal style though. The zoomed-in nature will give the combat more "crunch" to it and make it more visceral. Whereas this new system wouldn't work for a DMC or Bayo game with regards to theme and just the spectacle of combat those games are about. God of War wasn't what I'd call a spectacle fighter, it had an epic-ness to it but the actual combat system itself wasn't spectacle; it had more in common with PS2 Prince of Persia's combat than DMC.

Since when? I might be agreeing with you if I hadn't had a stream on in the background about a week ago that I looked over to every once in a while(nostalgia and all that, even though I was always more on the DMC side of the coin), but a third of the screen during any combat sequence is filled with flashing lights from your weapons and magic. The only time it ever zoomed in was during executions and specific scripts(during which you were probably breaking some poor plebs kneecaps before feeding him his own ears).

I've no doubt it'll be an alright game, but as far as branding goes, I feel it'll fall short. Though I'm not sure anyone would've given a hoot if the branding wasn't there.

Spoiler: I got linked this a while back and it covers most of what I feel about the new GoW

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The new combat system does fit with God of War's brutal style though. The zoomed-in nature will give the combat more "crunch" to it and make it more visceral. Whereas this new system wouldn't work for a DMC or Bayo game with regards to theme and just the spectacle of combat those games are about. God of War wasn't what I'd call a spectacle fighter, it had an epic-ness to it but the actual combat system itself wasn't spectacle; it had more in common with PS2 Prince of Persia's combat than DMC.

Since when? I might be agreeing with you if I hadn't had a stream on in the background about a week ago that I looked over to every once in a while(nostalgia and all that, even though I was always more on the DMC side of the coin), but a third of the screen during any combat sequence is filled with flashing lights from your weapons and magic. The only time it ever zoomed in was during executions and specific scripts(during which you were probably breaking some poor plebs kneecaps before feeding him his own ears).

I've no doubt it'll be an alright game, but as far as branding goes, I feel it'll fall short. Though I'm not sure anyone would've given a hoot if the branding wasn't there.

Spoiler: I got linked this a while back and it covers most of what I feel about the new GoW

I wasn't trying to say previous GOWs had zoomed-in cameras, I'm fully aware they were fixed cameras pretty far zoomed-out most of the time (I played the main 3). I was saying the zoomed-in nature can actually fit with the brutal combat style of GOW, the combat might actually end up feeling more brutal than previous games. Whereas other games like DMC, a zoomed-in camera totally wouldn't fit really any element of the series. Every great game really comes down to having everything designed around supporting that core, this new camera style does work and support the core of God of War IMO even though it's quite a departure from previous games. I don't get how this new game can't still very much be on par with David Jaffe's original vision for God of War, which as quoted from Jaffe himself is "brutal, nasty, violent, anti-social, pissed-off, angry, fuck you" (and that is literally in GamingBrit's video).

I found the criticisms in the video really poor. He's criticizing the new game for not being focused on gameplay like previous games but from everything I've heard about the combat, it has more depth than the previous games. It's not like the old games set some high bar, it's almost impossible to make a combat system simpler than classic GOW. He complains about the camera being too close to input complex moves yet God Hand exists (and he actually has a pic of its cover art in the video) with a similar camera and its combat system is very complex. Basically he's complaining that GOW should be about good gameplay and the new game has better gameplay than the old games so his argument literally doesn't make sense. He even complains that the new game "looks like the kind of game made for people that really don't wanna play a game, don't want to have to learn how to use a combat system like the old ones." Or the following quote, "It's like back then (PS2 GOW) you needed to learn how to play a game, that shit's so old-fashioned." Yet he claims classic GOW combat is just mashing square in literally the opening seconds of the video and later on claims GOW's simple combat opened up the genre to casuals so what is there to "learn" with regards to combat in the prior games? Then, he goes down the very slippery slope of asking what if new God of War becomes popular and "ruins gaming" when every other game gets dumbed-down.

I personally loved the 1st God of War and hated the sequels and hated Kratos. I totally wrote off this game because of how shit the sequels were (Extra Credits GOW story analysis [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtgA6SaHHa0]), I didn't want more God of War and definitely not more Kratos. I'd be the first to admit that the new direction didn't grab me and thought it probably was the wrong direction mainly because I couldn't really care less about the series and gave the initial trailer/reveal like 2 seconds of thought. Although Kratos being the main protagonist AGAIN was by far the biggest turn-off, much more than the different direction. It wasn't until seeing the reviews that actually made me interested in the game and that it could actually be good again. Now I'm thinking I'm going to buy it on release when it was a game I completely wrote off until Hansel posted this thread on April 12th along with reviews showing up on my Youtube feed. Will I find it as great as the reviews claim? Maybe, maybe not. But I wouldn't be even giving this new game the time of day if it was just more classic God of War.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

So can anyone exaplain to me what the hell is going on with this story?

Why is Kratos in Norseland?

Why is Kratos even alive when he stabbed himself with the Blade of Olympus?

What happened to Ghost Athena?

Am I to believe that the end of the World as shown in God of War 3 was a localized apocolypse?

Why does he have a Son now and who was Mama Kratos that birthed him?

 

[Casual Shinji]

So I've been playing it for a good couple of hours and god... DAMN!!!

I'm still high on the experience, but I can't say I've felt this giddy, excited, and amazed at a game in a long while. It kinda feels like Santa Monica just casually strolled up on stage and did a mic-drop infront of Naughty Dog. 'Thought you were the king of the linear, story-driven, action blockbuster? Well check this shit out.' There's a fight early on in the game that made my nuts EXPLODE.

It's hard to discribe what the game is like, because dispite how it might seem derivative of other games it feels very much like it's own thing. The combat especially feels incredibly unique, and almost like a rhythym game (on the difficulty that I'm playing on anyway). And the gameworld is ludicrous in how it twists and turns into numerous side paths. There were areas where I figured a side path would lead to a chest and/or some enemies, only to be presented with a legitimate sidequest.

So that's it for now. I don't know how the rest of the game is going to fare, but these first 4 to 5 hours is getting a colossal thumbs up from me.

 

[Redryhno]

I like this picture.

Spoiler

Well, they gotta find SOME way to keep the pleb-boxes from chugging.

You expect them to sacrifice leaf detail on those trees or something?

So I've been playing it for a good couple of hours and god... DAMN!!!

I'm still high on the experience, but I can't say I've felt this giddy, excited, and amazed at a game in a long while. It kinda feels like Santa Monica just casually strolled up on stage and did a mic-drop infront of Naughty Dog. 'Thought you were the king of the linear, story-driven, action blockbuster? Well check this shit out.' There's a fight early on in the game that made my nuts EXPLODE.

It's hard to discribe what the game is like, because dispite how it might seem derivative of other games it feels very much like it's own thing. The combat especially feels incredibly unique, and almost like a rhythym game (on the difficulty that I'm playing on anyway). And the gameworld is ludicrous in how it twists and turns into numerous side paths. There were areas where I figured a side path would lead to a chest and/or some enemies, only to be presented with a legitimate sidequest.

So that's it for now. I don't know how the rest of the game is going to fare, but these first 4 to 5 hours is getting a colossal thumbs up from me.

I really don't know, from what I've seen on the hardest difficulty, the game wasn't really balanced all that well with it in mind, at least early on. Parrying locks you into a slo-mo that you have to attack to get out of, while enemies that weren't parried aren't, you sorta have to use magic and abilities to survive simply because there is no viable mini-stun or interrupt otherwise, and I feel like I'm fighting with the camera more than the original Dark Souls port, with Kratos taking up a good 40% of the screen adding to the general feel that the game isn't difficult because of the enemies, but because of the lack of visibility and how many are just sponges.

Also fuck the kid, he's a Tails for most of it, so he's a marginally better escort minion with your only real interrupt, but he just doesn't shut up. Heaven forbid you die a few times in some areas, because you will hear him repeat the same fucking line over, and over, and over again. And that's before I consider his voice, little bastard's not developed enough to be able to say half the shit he has to say properly.

As for the story, it's getting more than a bit stale that the last five or so years has had an overflow of "YOU ARE NEW PARENT, ACT LIKE NEW PARENT" storylines. I get that it's probably because the devs that were working ten and fifteen years ago are just having their kids and all, but jesus christ can we get some more stuff along the lines of Enslaved? Adults with different strengths and weaknesses instead of kids that are your sidekicks and effectively sole motivators? Kratos just isn't a good enough character with enough motivation to just basically jump into it, especially since the guy had a kid and wandered off immediately after for like ten years.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I really don't know, from what I've seen on the hardest difficulty, the game wasn't really balanced all that well with it in mind, at least early on. Parrying locks you into a slo-mo that you have to attack to get out of, while enemies that weren't parried aren't, you sorta have to use magic and abilities to survive simply because there is no viable mini-stun or interrupt otherwise, and I feel like I'm fighting with the camera more than the original Dark Souls port, with Kratos taking up a good 40% of the screen adding to the general feel that the game isn't difficult because of the enemies, but because of the lack of visibility and how many are just sponges.

I haven't played the hardest diffculty, only the second to hardest. And I'm not an expert on the intricacies of fighting mechanics, but things never felt unfair to me in terms of camera or enemy speed. And no, Kratos does not take up 40% of the screen during combat, unless you're talking about when you back yourself up into a wall, which happens in every game. At best he takes up 10%.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I second Shinji's impressions, and it seems like Redryhno is being a big heavy on the cynicism imo. I'm also doing my initial playthrough on the second to hardest, and the combat definitely feels more nuanced, weighty and deliberate vs the flashiness of old. It makes you engaged with every encounter as being a threat vs just being able to sleepwalk or button mash through most of them like before. Also for anyone thinking the new perspective would just have enemies lining up in front to be slaughtered, that's simply not the case here. Total awareness is vital in encounters with even a handful of enemies because they will attack from all angles, and projectiles can be especially hectic. There's been a few times already where I've had to use Atreus to stun the immediate threat while I focus on ranged attacks for those on a ledge. Changing tactics is highly beneficial because some enemies are sponges or immune to different attacks. Like the ice dudes laugh at your ax but you can pummel them quite handily and combo to build up their stun meter for a quicker finish. Tripping light dudes up with an ad throw at their legs and recalling it when they get up hasn't gotten old yet, and launching can lead to some elaborate combo chains between the ax swings, throws, fists, and Atreus all before I've even gotten any new abilities.

Speaking of, there appears to be a pretty vast array of new attacks to learn/unlock that could drastically change or enhance tactics down the road. Quite a bit more elaborate than the weapon before which just unlocked a preset group of slightly more powerful attacks or an extra layer of an existing move. I'm curious to see how runes affect things, and it's cool being able to find hidden stuff to infuse your weapon and armor with.

The first thing I did was check out the options, and I'm playing with the camera recentering set to off, meaning it won't constantly spin around behind Kratos and I haven't had any problems with it. The second boss fight became a bit tough to track in the last phase but I believe it was intentional. I would recommend not locking on in larger groups though so you can dodge more freely. It makes ducking and weaving over to a health drop much easier when attacks are coming from different angles.

I'm only going to type so much on my phone, but initial impressions are inline with being pleasantly surprised. I knew it would be different, but didn't expect it to play this smoothly. It makes most games with this camera style feel like tank controls by comparison, and personally only Aloy from Horizon feels more unbound from it. Kratos has a much more grounded physical presence in the world (literally, his jumping is environmentally contextual now) but otherwise still moves like a demigod should. I was also concerned about putting dodge and roll on the same button but the animation blending is stellar and both inputs feel snappy. Hats off.

If I had a couple minor nitpicks so far they would be:

- I'd make some of the stat/abilities progression less XP-based. Really, Kratos is...well, Kratos, so why are we still searching for items to expand his life bar? His core stats should pretty much be set in stone, with peripheral abilities based on item discovery or learning them and retaining it all, especially for the inevitable sequels. The only stats that should really need tending to are things he finds and uses, although I can understand Atreus's core stats needing to be upgraded and learned. Speaking of, he hasn't been annoying personally unless you really can't stand kids, and is along the lines of Ellie from TLoU but with far more gameplay potential. The story is minimal so far but I appreciate the approach being geared to unfolding it more naturally through just playing the game. The "single shot" technique is used wonderfully here. See? Even my attempt to criticize has led to more praise.

- Ok, there is also some pretty blatant environmental clipping going on, but mostly when Kratos dies and is lying on the ground. I've also noticed very occasional pop-in, at least on the Standard PS4. Tough to say if it's the all-around "best" looking game on PS4 as I've only played a few hours. At times for sure, but so far both the Uncharted's and Horizon especially still easily hold their ground as well.

- IIRC I didn't notice a photo mode in the options. Hopefully it's patched with one in the future.

*edit* Praise Valhalla. [https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/20/17261422/god-of-war-photo-mode]

 

[Casual Shinji]

I second Shinji's impressions, and it seems like Redryhno is being a big heavy on the cynicism imo. I'm also doing my initial playthrough on the second to hardest, and the combat definitely feels more nuanced, weighty and deliberate vs the flashiness of old. It makes you engaged with every encounter as being a threat vs just being able to sleepwalk or button mash through most of them like before. Also for anyone thinking the new perspective would just have enemies lining up in front to be slaughtered, that's simply not the case here. Total awareness is vital in encounters with even a handful of enemies because they will attack from all angles, and projectiles can be especially hectic. There's been a few times already where I've had to use Atreus to stun the immediate threat while I focus on ranged attacks for those on a ledge. Changing tactics is highly beneficial because some enemies are sponges or immune to different attacks. Like the ice dudes laugh at your ax but you can pummel them quite handily and combo to build up their stun meter for a quicker finish. Tripping light dudes up with an ad throw at their legs and recalling it when they get up hasn't gotten old yet, and launching can lead to some elaborate combo chains between the ax swings, throws, fists, and Atreus all before I've even gotten any new abilities.

It's actually really cool how they made Kratos' fighting style reflect his personality again, like in the first games. In those games he fights like a tornado of chains and blades, chewing up anything that comes within reach, because he himself is an unhinged, mindless, crazed killer. In this new GoW he's completely disciplined, and the combat as a result requires discipline and a cool head, instead of mindless button mashing.

 

[stroopwafel]

It's a pretty great game. I was never the biggest fan of the previous titles due to the monotonous combat which indeed was just mashing the same button over and over. It got old fast thought the dramatic over-the-top setpieces always kept me inclined to keep playing. The new game however has some terrific combat: dodging, blocking, slashing, throwing. Every encounter is awesome and this game has some of the most impressive visual and audio feedback. Speaking of visuals, this must be one of the prettiest games I've ever played. I even really like the brat, not half as annoying as Ellie from The Last of Us and it fleshes out Kratos as a character more and gives him more stuff to say without looking like he's talking to himself. I am also completely blown away by the art direction in the game so much so that I immediately ordered the art book which is incredibly thick. So much creativity went into making this game. This is the one time I fully agree with the consensus that this is an exceptional game.

 

[EternallyBored]

It's a pretty great game. I was never the biggest fan of the previous titles due to the monotonous combat which indeed was just mashing the same button over and over. It got old fast thought the dramatic over-the-top setpieces always kept me inclined to keep playing. The new game however has some terrific combat: dodging, blocking, slashing, throwing. Every encounter is awesome and this game has some of the most impressive visual and audio feedback. Speaking of visuals, this must be one of the prettiest games I've ever played. I even really like the brat, not half as annoying as Ellie from The Last of Us and it fleshes out Kratos as a character more and gives him more stuff to say without looking like he's talking to himself. I am also completely blown away by the art direction in the game so much so that I immediately ordered the art book which is incredibly thick. So much creativity went into making this game. This is the one time I fully agree with the consensus that this is an exceptional game.

While I liked the previous God of War combat, I'll admit it was a fairly simplistic system, that never quite reached the complexity or viscerally compelling spectacle of similar games like DMC and Bayonetta, God of War's best spectacle and experience came from its boss fights.

This games combat is different, and I am glad for the change because it is really damn fun, the axe feels responsive and throwing it around and summoning it back is a blast. The combat also feels much clearer and more deliberate than the earlier games where the blades of chaos could sometimes feel a little floaty with poor hit response. Also yeah, the art design is spectacular.

The RPG mechanics are interesting, the numbers never get large enough to say, grind your way to trivializing the fights, but there was definitely less dying for me on the hardest difficulty once the world opened up, the big boss fights also do a good job of maintaining that old god of war spectacle.

 

[Redryhno]

and I feel like I'm fighting with the camera more than the original Dark Souls port, with Kratos taking up a good 40% of the screen adding to the general feel that the game isn't difficult because of the enemies, but because of the lack of visibility and how many are just sponges.

I knew it. I just read the same complaint on the other forum I frequent.

Been playing this - enjoying it enough. Challenging difficulty, played about 5 hrs.

It's pretty much an Uncharted/TLoU clone. I like the setting. I wonder if Scandinavians are allowed to complain about Americans culturally appropriating from them?

The combat suffers because of the camera choice. It's extremely frustrating to see gaming press downplaying the importance of situational awareness during combat, while at the same time saying things like "the entire game is one take" - as if some arbitrary cinematic measure should have relevance in our completely different medium.

It is not as pretty as advertised, with the world fogged out beyond 30 metres and the occasional "setup" to show bigger landscapes. They really have just built levels and connected them with corridors, so I find anyone calling it an Open World a real stretch. Horizon Zero Dawn was a much bigger and better open world.

This is why I don't pay reviews much attention.

The game is alright, I'd recommend it when it gets to the 50% off bin, but there's just so much shit in it. Runes, equipment, damn collectibles that have no reason to be there other than the industry's somewhat recent infatuation with them that are just shoved in, many parts of the combat and the lack of patterns in boss fights and the complete lack of anything resembling the executions that made the series iconic, best I've seen so far is just chopping into a troll's jaw before he just fades away into pixels(literally, bodies turn into big damn pixels in the middle of a fight and just shrink, I guess they're supposed to be ashes, but they could've done a better job). Everything else just gets hidden behind scripted arena geometry and conveniently placed big-ass weapons that Kratos just climbs back over after presumably breaking some poor bastard's face in.

I just feel the artstyle, graphics, camera, and animations are all at odds with each other, because you've got the attack and enemy animations that desperately want to be in their roots of Hack and Slash zoomed out third-person arena pit fights, but the camera angle makes them look really damn cheesy, while the modern realistic-lite graphics undermine everything because the artstyle is also still trying to be more in the realm of GoW3 in that epic(literary definition) fantastical "this could be sorta real even if this looks so obviously like a game" style.

And the axe is just boring in my opinion. It's simple and neat to look at on your back, but it's not franchise-tier neat, especially when you still have the Rage mechanic where you just drop your axe and do the same amount of damage with just your fists except you don't get locked into animations that will get you killed with the axe for the difference of maybe 3 extra hits in one attack. Give me back the Blades of Chaos, the Nemean Cestii, even the Olympus Sword, just give me something that lets me know this is Kratos, even if he is for some unanswered reason not a raging bag of testosterone anymore(and don't pull the kid thing up, he barely knows he exists and it hasn't been answered why he popped around enough to have a family again either).

I do like that there is an endgame promised in the form of hidden bosses, that actually sounds cool, but if they all play the same as this first one(I'd say more, but it's sorta spoilery, they're all related is all I'll say), then I'm going to be very disappointed. Sponges and time consumers are already aplenty in this game, don't need them to also play the same.

*edit* Praise Valhalla. [https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/20/17261422/god-of-war-photo-mode]

Shame on you, posting a polygon link without warning people first. Now I've gotta go take a shower.

 

[tippy2k2]

So I wanted to get God of War as I'm hearing wonderful things but I have a few questions that I'm guessing people here can answer as it sounds like many have actually played it...

If I never played a God of War game, will that matter? I played most of the first game (never finished it) so I know most of Kratos' backstory with his family and what happened to them and why his skin is pasty white (or at least what was revealed in the first game). I have been under the assumption that I could but I don't want to try to Google around for that as I am a huge "Spoiler" hater. Speaking of. Is there anything from the previous three or four games (if you count that PSP game) that I should know to get max enjoyment?

Spoiler: Question 2 is supposedly a heavy spoiler so skip me if you have not played...

So some asshat just threw out the spoiler that it turns out that Krato's son in the game is actually Loki. I am curious how much of that hurts the story. I am assuming a hell of a lot as it sounds like much of the game is the "bonding" or whatever between Kratos and kid (which because of this spoiler, renders all of that shit meaningless for me) but I was hoping maybe that happens soon or soon enough to only hurt the story a bit.

Could someone shed some light on how much that is going to affect the game for me? As stated above, I am a "spoilers ruin the story" kind of person but I'm really hoping that maybe it happens soon enough in the game that there is still a ton of enjoyment to be had or I am really really really hoping that it actually is not the case and doesn't happen that way and I got a "fake spoiler" so if that is the case, please don't go too much into detail about it and just say like..."it doesn't matter as much as you think it does you crazy person tippy2k2 you..."

 

[EternallyBored]

So I wanted to get God of War as I'm hearing wonderful things but I have a few questions that I'm guessing people here can answer as it sounds like many have actually played it...

If I never played a God of War game, will that matter? I played most of the first game (never finished it) so I know most of Kratos' backstory with his family and what happened to them and why his skin is pasty white (or at least what was revealed in the first game). I have been under the assumption that I could but I don't want to try to Google around for that as I am a huge "Spoiler" hater. Speaking of. Is there anything from the previous three or four games (if you count that PSP game) that I should know to get max enjoyment?

Spoiler: Question 2 is supposedly a heavy spoiler so skip me if you have not played...

So some asshat just threw out the spoiler that it turns out that Krato's son in the game is actually Loki. I am curious how much of that hurts the story. I am assuming a hell of a lot as it sounds like much of the game is the "bonding" or whatever between Kratos and kid (which because of this spoiler, renders all of that shit meaningless for me) but I was hoping maybe that happens soon or soon enough to only hurt the story a bit.

Could someone shed some light on how much that is going to affect the game for me? As stated above, I am a "spoilers ruin the story" kind of person but I'm really hoping that maybe it happens soon enough in the game that there is still a ton of enjoyment to be had or I am really really really hoping that it actually is not the case and doesn't happen that way and I got a "fake spoiler" so if that is the case, please don't go too much into detail about it and just say like..."it doesn't matter as much as you think it does you crazy person tippy2k2 you..."

Not answering the second question, but to the first, you kind of know the important stuff, the PSP games mostly just give context to some of Kratos actions while working for Aries and some extra about his family and past, none of it really relevant to 4. God of War 2 and 3 is where the big stuff happens, but very little carries over, the end of 2 gives you the fate of one character and three is the end of Kratos Greek adventures, Kratos ending up in Norse mythology, his son, and his second wife are all self-contained to 4. There's some call backs, but nothing that would really cause you to not understand the story, you might want to at least find out what happens at the end of 3 as that kind of contextualizes why Kratos isn't in Greece anymore, though the answer isn't exactly a twist.

Spoilers for the big story beats for 2 and 3, no 4 spoilers of course:

Spoiler

Athena is around as a ghost after dying at the end of 2, all the other gods (except I guess Aphrodite since you boink her instead of kill her in 3) are dead, you find out in 2 that Kratos is a demi god son of Zeus when he had one of his many escapades with a mortal, this is largely irrelevant beyond explaining some of Kratos' power and what fuels some of his rage after GoW 1.
3 ends with you killing Zeus, killing the other gods and him basically causing the apocalypse, floods, tornadoes, tidal waves, lightning storms, and the dead escaping the underworld. So Kratos kills pretty much everyone in Greece at least. At the very end Pandora's box contained the nebulous power of "hope" which the ghost of Athena tries to get Kratos to give to her so she can rule over what's left, he refuses and unleashes the power to give it back to whatever humans are left, Athena bitches about how humans won't know what to do with it, Kratos is 110% done at this point, stabs himself with Zeus' sword and throws himself off a cliff.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

and I feel like I'm fighting with the camera more than the original Dark Souls port, with Kratos taking up a good 40% of the screen adding to the general feel that the game isn't difficult because of the enemies, but because of the lack of visibility and how many are just sponges.

I knew it. I just read the same complaint on the other forum I frequent.

Been playing this - enjoying it enough. Challenging difficulty, played about 5 hrs.

It's pretty much an Uncharted/TLoU clone. I like the setting. I wonder if Scandinavians are allowed to complain about Americans culturally appropriating from them?

The combat suffers because of the camera choice. It's extremely frustrating to see gaming press downplaying the importance of situational awareness during combat, while at the same time saying things like "the entire game is one take" - as if some arbitrary cinematic measure should have relevance in our completely different medium.

It is not as pretty as advertised, with the world fogged out beyond 30 metres and the occasional "setup" to show bigger landscapes. They really have just built levels and connected them with corridors, so I find anyone calling it an Open World a real stretch. Horizon Zero Dawn was a much bigger and better open world.

This is why I don't pay reviews much attention.

That "review" doesn't seem much better though either; just on the other end of the spectrum. He makes it sound like every game that has combat should be a top-down/isometric with a bird's eye viewpoint. That is essentially trying to de-legitimize a great deal of game genres, including something like the much lauded Souls series, since 99% of the time the camera aligns itself behind you facing forward as well. No, this actually seems to be mostly a continued knee-jerk reaction to a major change in an IP that was already running on fumes from nearly every design perspective. I can understand personal preference, but for whatever reason the continued need for some to harp on about problems that have been greatly proven to be minimal to non-existent only makes it seem like a personal grudge more than a legitimate attempt at critiquing.

I remember in the old GoW combat system you didn't even have to be facing the opponent to block. You could literally just waltz around swinging your blades, hit parry at the right time and block whatever attack was near enough. The new viewpoint brings more structure and IMO hasn't impeded situational awareness since I can still rotate the camera when not locked on to see everything I need to. It even goes a step further than most TPS/OTS games and adds indicators for off screen attacks, which can be prevalent in large groups. If I die it's because I wasn't paying attention to what's on screen, one way or another.

Also, the designers have always said they weren't making an open world game, so not sure why he thought it was one.