God of War Ragnarok

[Kevvy Metal]

1 hour ago, sammy said:

I’m 30 hours in and loving it.  It’s utterly gorgeous and so smooth to play, Kratos is great fun to control and I’m really enjoying the   humour and banter (Brok and Sindri continue to be the real gods).  I’ve done most of the side quests and I think I’m heading towards the end now 

  Reveal hidden contents

I’ve just freed the moon with Atreus in Vanaheim

Some of the set pieces have been brilliant and there’s definitely more enemy variety.  Shaping up to be my game of the year so far! 

Totally agree. It’s one of the very best games to come out this year. 
For me, nothing can come close to Elden Ring for GOTY, but this is in good company with some of the other excellent games recently released. 

[JPL]

9 hours ago, Stanley said:

I’m still having a great time with it, the combat for me is leagues ahead of the first game, and pretty much any other games too, and I love the boss battles. 

 

2 hours ago, sammy said:

I’m 30 hours in and loving it.  It’s utterly gorgeous and so smooth to play, Kratos is great fun to control and I’m really enjoying the   humour and banter (Brok and Sindri continue to be the real gods).  I’ve done most of the side quests and I think I’m heading towards the end now 

  Reveal hidden contents

I’ve just freed the moon with Atreus in Vanaheim

Some of the set pieces have been brilliant and there’s definitely more enemy variety.  Shaping up to be my game of the year so far! 

Blimey. Better combat AND a better game than Elden Ring? That’s some praise between these two posts.

 

I’m definitely making it my Christmas game, so impressions like these are great to hear. I just can’t see it coming anywhere close to Elden Ring.

[Stanley]

I’d keep your expectations in check if you’re expecting a ‘better’ game than Elden Ring, because it probably isn’t. It’s far more palatable though, for me anyway. My days of enjoying a rock hard slog are kind of behind me now, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Elden Ring but it definitely got the better of me. 

[footle]

20 minutes ago, JPL said:

 

Blimey. Better combat AND a better game than Elden Ring? That’s some praise between these two posts.

 

I’m definitely making it my Christmas game, so impressions like these are great to hear. I just can’t see it coming anywhere close to Elden Ring.

 

It isn't. It's not even the best or second best game released this month.

What it is is something that is highly polished and entirely predictable - if that's what you want, this is a good one.

(and with that, I'm going to turn the PS5 on and wander very slowly between cutscenes and fights).

[Kevvy Metal]

35 minutes ago, JPL said:

 

Blimey. Better combat AND a better game than Elden Ring? That’s some praise between these two posts.

 

I’m definitely making it my Christmas game, so impressions like these are great to hear. I just can’t see it coming anywhere close to Elden Ring.

 

Have you played GOW 2018? 

It's very, very much the sequel to that game, but pretty much improved in every way, and much beefier. 

If you've not played GOW 2018, I'd recommend absolutely playing that first, as they're basically two parts of the same whole. 

[Stanley]

I wouldn’t call it predictable, it’s formulaic and linear, but those aren’t bad things necessarily.

[Kevvy Metal]

47 minutes ago, Stanley said:

I wouldn’t call it predictable, it’s formulaic and linear, but those aren’t bad things necessarily.

It’s an incredible adventure game! 
 

I’d bet if Super Mario World was released today, this place would complain that all you do is jump and squash goombas 

[stir fry]

I preferred this to Elden Ring cause I like how in GoW they keep the mechanics simple in boss fights, but punishing if you fuck them up. 

 

In ER I feel like I tried to learn the mechanics of boss fights, then eventually gave up and threw mimic at them cause the attack strings were so long and ambiguous. Wasn't satisfying imo. Fighting things in GoW can feel pretty good tho, especially if you turn the difficulty to the right type of challenge (whatever that is for you personally). Makes you feel pretty godly

[JPL]

1 hour ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

Have you played GOW 2018? 

It's very, very much the sequel to that game, but pretty much improved in every way, and much beefier. 

If you've not played GOW 2018, I'd recommend absolutely playing that first, as they're basically two parts of the same whole. 

No I haven’t, but I have got it somewhere. Maybe I should just go with that for my Christmas game instead then. I was only looking at the new one, because of most people saying it’s better than the first.

[joffocakes]

22 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

It’s an incredible adventure game! 
 

I’d bet if Super Mario World was released today, this place would complain that all you do is jump and squash goombas 

 

You don't squash the goombas* in Mario World, they flip over to be picked up and kicked around when you jump on them.

 

*this type of goomba was later renamed galoombas.

 

That's how the thread would go.

[Stanley]

44 minutes ago, JPL said:

No I haven’t, but I have got it somewhere. Maybe I should just go with that for my Christmas game instead then. I was only looking at the new one, because of most people saying it’s better than the first.

The new one picks up where the first game ended, literally scene for scene. I mean you could watcg the story recap but a big part of my enjoyment of it comes from the story. It’d be like watching Empire Strikes Back before Star Wars or Godfather Part II before Part I. 
 

The new one is better IMO but the first one is definitely up there too. 

[JPL]

7 minutes ago, Stanley said:

The new one picks up where the first game ended, literally scene for scene. I mean you could watcg the story recap but a big part of my enjoyment of it comes from the story. It’d be like watching Empire Strikes Back before Star Wars or Godfather Part II before Part I. 
 

The new one is better IMO but the first one is definitely up there too. 

Ah, I didn’t know that. The first one it is then. Thanks.

[Thor]

Yeah @JPL You should absolutely play the 2018 GoW before this. Ragnarok is a direct sequel with many recurring characters etc. They're two great games, enjoy!

[footle]

On 25/11/2022 at 08:53, Thor said:

@HarryBizzle That section appears to be a kind of litmus test for whether someone will really enjoy the game. Perhaps if you persevere you may enjoy it, but I daresay the rest of the game is just going to piss you off if you really hated that section. 

I don’t recall anything as tedious in the first game as the “and now your boat is a… (spoiler)… and you’re just doing the picking things up” section.

[Thor]

Oh just fuck off. 

[El Spatula]

Footle in predictable positing shocker.

[Yuujiin]

Finished it the other night . Some parts were a bit slow but overall a great game . If 

Ray Harryhausen made a game this might of been it.

Chunky combat with fantastic art work. Perhaps a few more enemy types would be my only gripe. Would have liked a few more mid sized monsters to split in half.

 

Still have a ton of favours to complete if I want . Will potter around till The Callisto protocol Friday.

[footle]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

Oh just fuck off. 

You did say it was a litmus test.

[Number 28]

I didn't much enjoy that section either, but I don't think anything else in the game is quite so drawn out and tedious.

 

For me personally I've never been a huge fan of the story and cutscenes and the game is at its best when I'm simply exploring new areas, solving puzzles, smashing minibosses and looting chests. The amount of post-game content seems pretty insane in this. The previous game was mainly just the valkyrie fights right? In this it's

Spoiler

whole new regions within regions. I'm currently exploring Vanaheim and it's crazy how sprawling it is.

 

I'm wondering what the heck happened to Atreus? I was expecting him to be hanging out in Jotunheim with Angrboda, but nope. I swear I saw somebody on Twitch playing alongside

Spoiler

Thrud in the end game and thought maybe it's possible to rotate your companion at will? Would be nice.

[Uzi]

Done at 49 hours with all the side quest content (that I know of done) including any secret/end game bosses. 

 

Give them shit for not being original and linear, but man, Sony and Santa Monica sure know how to send you down a well acted/directed adventure with some pretty decent combat and basic puzzles set in while also looking stunning. I can't give them awards for innovative game design as its just built on the arena based template of 2018 but they maxed out every part of that template. Good shit Sonyz. Good shit.

[Stanley]

I’ve recently explored

Spoiler

The Crater

and surrounding areas, there is so much going on in this game and it’s all optional. That area is brilliant

Spoiler

Like a mini open world all self contained.

 

[earlymodernsteve]

12 minutes ago, Stanley said:

I’ve recently explored

  Hide contents

The Crater

and surrounding areas, there is so much going on in this game and it’s all optional. That area is brilliant

  Hide contents

Like a mini open world all self contained.

 

Yeah - that whole area is a DLC/expansion scale section just thrown in. I spent ages there grinding 

Spoiler

Dragons for armour upgrades.

The central puzzle was a nice nod back to the 2018 game too. Real standout section - and completely optional.

[Pug]

Think I'll knock the difficulty right down as I don't enjoy the prolonged boss fights and want to finish it soon as Callisto Protocol is out Friday. With CoD Warzone my gaming time will be split with the three.

[Thor]

1 hour ago, Pug said:

Think I'll knock the difficulty right down as I don't enjoy the prolonged boss fights and want to finish it soon as Callisto Protocol is out Friday. With CoD Warzone my gaming time will be split with the three.

Yeah, I was fine on the difficulty setting that was one up from easiest (Give me Grace, I think) apart form one boss battle where I had to drop it after two totally bullshit deaths when all I needed was one more hit on the boss. Hats off to anyone playing on Give me No Mercy/God of War, but I'd end up razing half of Swansea to the ground in a fit of rage. 

[HarryBizzle]

I've just finished up the Vanaheim sidequests and am headed back to Alfheim to see what's behind that spooky door in the dessert.

 

Spoiler

I really like having Freya as a companion. Really interesting dialogue.

 

 

The Nidhogg fight was cool but would have been much better if it hadn't tried to be a tutorial for the hex attacks. I don't know why they wouldn't just teach you those in advance and let you get on with the fight.

 

 

[Lying Cat]

Ending Thoughts

 

Spoiler

The end of the story was a massive great let down for me, because Kratos lived through it.

Kratos '18 is an absolute triumph in the reimagining of a tediously two dimensional edge-lord murder machine, and turned him into something the audience (or at least I) was able to care about, get behind and will to succeed. One of my favourite things narratively is a total shithead character who's trying to be better, and is shown to actually struggle with it because it's relatable, and it feels real.

 

At the end of GoW '18 we got the prophecy that Kratos was doomed to die in his son's arms, and while I now suspect it was a deliberate mis-interpretation and what it was actually foretelling was him dying a natural, happy death with his family close to him after he managed to overcome all his issues or some shit, how Ragnarok ended was hugely narratively unsatisfying - mostly because I was quite enjoying the whole sub-narrative of how we're all prisoners of our own behaviour and that our fates are written not because of some mystical force, but because ultimately we're going to go ahead and do what we do.

 

Kratos understood this by brushing away fate, and went through the path is was laid out for him because for him to do anything else would be utterly negligent and let down what he actually cared about. This is fine. I respect it. I travel the same road when I order a large pizza rather than have a salad and then feel bloated and awful afterwards.

 

So when the end of the game came and went without Kratos life being at any sort of risk beyond the risk he faces when the enemy health bar is at the top of the screen rather than over their heads, it was an enormous disappointment. Kratos had been gearing up for his own death in so many ways - he realised it was a distinct possibility, he had taken the massive step of actually trusting his son's decisions and was finally in a position to make one final stand to protect the ones he cared about, able to rest easy knowing that from that point on, they'd be okay without him. Hell, I was even ready for the knife edge point where he would shatter the constraints of predictability he had wrought about himself by putting his faith entirely in somebody else and allowing them to protect him, cheating his fate by truly becoming something else.

 

The line at the end about them only doing so well because he finally trusted Atreus to dictate who could be trusted was perhaps supposed to be this but it was narratively weak as piss. I wanted to be there, crouched over Raziel's body, the Soul Reaver plunged into his chest waiting for the coin toss to land on it's edge to find another way throuugh.

 

In the end all I got was Odin doing lasers, and Freya's brother wandering in out of left stage to take the team bullet in a deeply unearned manner.

 

Game was alright, beautiful, passable combat, great characters and excellent writing, but the final sequence for me was a total face plant.

 

[Thor]

32 minutes ago, Lying Cat said:

Ending Thoughts

Spoiler

Yeah, I was indeed somewhat surprised that Kratos didn't die, I was also gearing myself up for that. However, I didn't feel Freyr's death was as unearned as you make out, but it was a bit convenient. The one bit that stuck out as truly odd for me was the "sacrifice" of the no-name (though apparently he has one) big dude in the flying boat. I was like, am I supposed to care about this guy? And then you go and save him anyway.   That smacked of game dev 101 there, where the devs create this spectacular scene and the writers are like, the fuck are we supposed to do with that? It doesn't even make any thematic sense!

 

Overall, I think the devs either want to make another one (or more), or Sony mandated "you can't kill Kratos!!" because they want to keep selling them. We're definitely getting another game, and a final part of the trilogy as a PS5 exclusive, closing Kratos' tale off for good, would be nice. However, I can see Sony wanting to take this further, with Kratos meddling with gods in other mythologies like Ancient Egypt, Shinto, Hindu etc. This is actually hinted at in GoW 2018 in Tyr's temple, where murals show Tyr visiting other lands/realms.

 

Out of curiosity, have you continued playing after the credits rolled where you're still actually playing? Those are only the "mid-credits". 

 

[Lying Cat]

@Thor

 

Spoiler

Not too far as it was late. Had the chat with Freya, went out with the dogs to find out there's a whole bunch of other stuff - will be continuing with that, but it didn't feel as though it was going to change my mind unless there's a really good super secret ending. And don't get me wrong, easily one of the best games I've played this year, but it almost felt like the end had no room to breathe and this game should have ended with Kratos blowing the horn.

 

But I do get that I'm probably the minority there.

 

[Thor]

@Lying Cat

Spoiler

Go visit Lunda (at any one of the shops), following that quest line will get you the "fade to black" credits. And I really liked the final scene. 

 

[Lying Cat]

@Thor

Spoiler

Alright, I'll go in a minute, but if my boss complains at me I'll point her in your direction and say you told me too.