God of War Ragnarok

[Stanley]

Finished last night, loved it. I did feel like an unstoppable God by the last level. The combat felt so natural and fluid by that point, and with everything going on it was almost like a cutscene in itself, it was just all so seamless.

[Stanley]

Oh man that post credits scene (big BIG spoilers)

Spoiler

The callback to Brok’s puzzle ‘a hole’

That was perfect. 
 

Very nice now that I’ve finished it to just pootling about exploring and admiring things, and there’s still lots to do. 

[Thor]

29 minutes ago, Stanley said:

That was perfect. 

Yep, that it was. 

[Stanley]

47 minutes ago, Thor said:

Yep, that it was. 

I read that in the voice of Mimir 

[Thor]

14 minutes ago, Stanley said:

I read that in the voice of Mimir 

Nah, that would read. 'Aye, that it was, brother'. 

 

Mimir is so good in these games. 

[Stanley]

Yeah the characters are done brilliantly in these games aren’t they, I love Sindri, and thought Odin was pitch perfect, and Thor, so many great ones. 

[Chindie]

Platinumed this afternoon.

 

What a great game.

 

Taking the Ragnarok story and spinning their own story around it, and taking the characters in different directions (Odin as a mafia family head mixed with a duplicitous tyrant, Thor as the mafia muscles guy who knows he's done evil deep down... Etc etc). Brilliant.

 

It does have slightly wonky pacing - it takes a while to get going, and then it rapidly ups the pace before slamming the brakes and then whacking it full pelt again to the end - meaning it feels like the story hurls itself from too much going on to not enough a few times. And it really is more of the last game with the polish and enemy variety turned up. But it's such a good formula, and all the presentation of it is just... peerless.

 

I will say it's got a few bugs though. The final... 'mission' I found would break if you came at it from the wrong direction (literally), and I had a couple of times where I needed to reset a checkpoint to get through a section as something would go wrong - examples including in Vanaheim Atreus got stuck at the bottom of a chain meaning a combat section requiring arrows in the very next area was impossible, and another case of the game just breaking when everything a story scene (the same area that broke the final mission, actually).

 

But overall. Wow. What a great, great, great game.

[Girth Certificate]

I had Atreus randomly show up in the background of a dream sequence except he was a wee bit too big compared to everything else and then he went invisible in the next cut scene. Was pretty funny

[Jamie John]

Question re the double 

Spoiler

Berserker 

fight near the mines: these twats can one-shot me, even though I feel like I'm coming towards the end of the game now (I'm up to the bit where 

Spoiler

I've recently forged the 

Spoiler

spear

and am now back exploring again before I make my way to Asgard. I know I need to kill 

Spoiler

Heimdall.

 

 

Should I just come back later when I'm more powerful, or is this fight this game's version of the valkyrie queen and I just need to git gud?

 

Annoyingly, I'm about 10% away from one hundred percenting all of Sfvartelheim (or whatever - the dwarf region), but there are still a couple of areas with an 'Undiscovered' in the checklist, and I don't know whether these are things I'm actually able to discover yet or if they're gated off to me until later on.

 

Does the game make it very obvious once you get to the point of no return if you want to go around mopping everything up?

[Stanley]

Yeah don’t worry the endgame is superlative in this, you can tackle the berserkers at your leisure then and there is LOADS more to see and do, unlock etc. it’s generous way beyond what you’d expect. Just superb this game. 
 

Also with regards to where you are:

Spoiler

You are still some way from the end

[Chindie]

50 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Question re the double 

  Hide contents

Berserker 

fight near the mines: these twats can one-shot me, even though I feel like I'm coming towards the end of the game now (I'm up to the bit where 

  Hide contents

I've recently forged the 

  Hide contents

spear

and am now back exploring again before I make my way to Asgard. I know I need to kill 

  Hide contents

Heimdall.

 

 

Should I just come back later when I'm more powerful, or is this fight this game's version of the valkyrie queen and I just need to git gud?

 

Annoyingly, I'm about 10% away from one hundred percenting all of Sfvartelheim (or whatever - the dwarf region), but there are still a couple of areas with an 'Undiscovered' in the checklist, and I don't know whether these are things I'm actually able to discover yet or if they're gated off to me until later on.

 

Does the game make it very obvious once you get to the point of no return if you want to go around mopping everything up?

 

There's not really a point of no return. You can go back and mop up everything post storyline ending. There's some things that are pointedly meant to be end game/post game content. 

 

But you can't miss anything. You can go back to collect things etc etc. 

[Uzi]

1 hour ago, Jamie John said:

Question re the double 

  Hide contents

Berserker 

fight near the mines: these twats can one-shot me, even though I feel like I'm coming towards the end of the game now (I'm up to the bit where 

  Hide contents

I've recently forged the 

  Hide contents

spear

and am now back exploring again before I make my way to Asgard. I know I need to kill 

  Hide contents

Heimdall.

 

 

Should I just come back later when I'm more powerful, or is this fight this game's version of the valkyrie queen and I just need to git gud?

 

Annoyingly, I'm about 10% away from one hundred percenting all of Sfvartelheim (or whatever - the dwarf region), but there are still a couple of areas with an 'Undiscovered' in the checklist, and I don't know whether these are things I'm actually able to discover yet or if they're gated off to me until later on.

 

Does the game make it very obvious once you get to the point of no return if you want to go around mopping everything up?

Come back later

[Jamie John]

Cheers, all! I shall soldier on.

[MardiganX]

This is just glorious to play. The core of the Father Son story is hitting me hard with every beat and there isn't a moment or line wasted as things progress. I feel like I'm still quite early on

Spoiler

hunting Angrboda's Granny right now

 

but a lot of the combat mechanics are now nicely dialled in so I can be aggressive but take care of defensive business when necessary. That did take a lot longer than it should have given action games are my favourite genre, but after fuck knows how many hours of Elden Ring maneuvers ingrained in my muscle memory I'm back to where I should be. The funniest 'issue' to deal with is the fact you can take damage without your attack animations being broken a lot of the time. Either give me invincibility frames or stagger me FFS, haha. At the very least the shield bash attack after I've applied the skills and faced the risk to earn the parry should protect me.

 

Minor grumbles about things most folk wont give a single fuck about of course  overall its just the perfect evolution of the fantastic world, characters and gameplay established by the first game. Oh and as has been mentioned many times before, the dual sense was created specifically for the implementation of the Leviathan Axe. A couple of times when recalling her after finishing a strong enemy I've held the pad above my head and looked down at the ground as the hilt lands in my hand  what? Is that that not what we are meant to do?

[HarryBizzle]

Currently on Lake of the Nine:

 

Spoiler

Trying to find the norns. It feels like a very long game. It feels like I'm only around the half way point, or slightly past it, but I suppose I've spent quite a bit of time doing lots of side stuff.

 

Bit with Thor as my companion was unexpected. Wasn't particularly good, though, he's not really a proper companion.

 

I can't really figure out if Atreus is just annoying and behaves irrationally because he's poorly written or that's just what teenagers are like. The first game was very on the nose with some of it's writing, and so is this, but on the whole it hangs together very well.

 

[Stanley]

It’s insane how much content is in the 

Spoiler

Crater

Area. They could have legit left all of it out and charged extra for DLC, and it would have seemed like amazingly generous still. 
 

That area is brilliant too just so much crammed in there. 

[MardiganX]

Just finished the incredible section where you meet

Spoiler

and grow close to Angrboda

and it is more emotional and touching than it has any right to be. Really brilliant storytelling! 

[Quest]

Edge have given this a 7, which seems about right to me. 

[Girth Certificate]

oof that'll have them howling

 

Mopping up endgame stuff now, rocking all realm-shift gear so I'm like a big lumbering furious Bayonetta  

[stir fry]

7 is where I end up with it too. Still a cool game! But in the end it was carried for me by the post game moreso. Wished the main story was a bit leaner

[Stanley]

It’s a solid 9 for me for sure. A case of sequelitis I reckon with that review, same with Splatoon 3 which also received a 7 and again a 9 for me, two of the best games I’ve played all year easily. 

[MardiganX]

QQ for those who have finished it. Is there a better parry based shield than the Dauntless or should I put all my upgrades into it because its just so good and nothing will beat it?  

[PaB]

On 01/12/2022 at 11:40, Stanley said:

It’s a solid 9 for me for sure. A case of sequelitis I reckon with that review, same with Splatoon 3 which also received a 7 and again a 9 for me, two of the best games I’ve played all year easily. 

Yeah 9 is the correct score .

[Girth Certificate]

I wish there was a setting to just activate Frost / Burnyfire / Windywind automatically as soon as the gauge is full. I've only started remembering to use it in the endgame  

[stir fry]

7 minutes ago, Girth Certificate said:

I wish there was a setting to just activate Frost / Burnyfire / Windywind automatically as soon as the gauge is full. I've only started remembering to use it in the endgame  

It's nice to do in certain situations tho, at close range it interrupts the enemy's bullshit. Which is awesome

[MardiganX]

30 minutes ago, stir fry said:

It's nice to do in certain situations tho, at close range it interrupts the enemy's bullshit. Which is awesome

 

I struggled with how stagger works on both sides of this early on but I'm well into it now and its absolutely fucking brilliant. The way it maintains the immediacy of the combat, giving you so many great options whilst there is a visual carnival going on is so impressive. The first game did this so well, but its really perfected in the sequel. Things that almost every other game can only handle in cut scenes is your bread and butter here. I keep finding myself finishing a new battle and only then realising I have a huge smile on my face

 

The Dauntless Shield paired with Realm Shift armour is starting to feel a little over powered, even with them still on level 1 but I'm having too much fun to care. That's not to say its making things easy as I still get slaughtered if my concentration lapses or I get greedy on the offensive, but the feeling of real power is fantastic.

 

 

[Kayin Amoh]

This game is so. Goddamn. Long. Praying for it to end as playing it through with a friend.

 

Spoiler

just done garm.

 

ironwood was absolute bloat in its purest form. I’d say you could easily hack massive bits off both this and it’s prequel and make a much better and leaner single game without the filler.

[CrichStand]

Game clock is now saying 37hrs and am just wandering the Lake of the Nines, before heading to the next story part. It looks amazing, it sounds amazing but the area just hasn’t progressed anything on at all. It’s all incredibly simple and I mean INCREDIBLY simple and feels by the numbers, more so than earlier parts of the game. It’s almost like I’m on auto pilot whilst playing. Yet the game is now telling me what to do and prompting me with stuff, way more than it was at the start. The whole area is pretty big, yet feels like it has about 5mins of wafer thin gameplay in it.
 

Bizarrely, the combat encounters have just got easier and easier too.  I’m not even having to mix stuff up like earlier in the game, hammering buttons now feels like auto-win. Just done another Hateful encounter against a single Hateful enemy, and it was a piece of piss, whilst the very first one I encountered , near the start of the game, was rock hard and involved multiple enemies. Also did a nearby mini-boss that looked like it was going to slap my arse all over the shop. I just stood still and spammed throwing the axe at his head for 5mins and it didn’t bother to attack me up close. Job done. 

[Kromeo]

Finished it. Hated most of it. Did some of the post-game as well, and that's where I finally started having some fun. (The Crater! Finally, large chunks of gameplay without too much yappin'.) Still, can't give this any more than a 6/10: there's just too much bloat, predictable linearity and lazy design. Not to mention how skewed the narrative-to-gameplay ratio is; it's worse than in the previous game.

 

Yes, it all looks very pretty, but how can I get immersed in a pretty world if the traversable routes are so obviously designed, sealed off from any truly organic exploration, and streamlined for the lowest common denominator audience? (Side characters pointing out the large number of chests only destroys the illusion so much more.)

Yes, the characters are well designed and the acting's really good, but how can I enjoy them if they wrestle control, agency and fun away from me every time they show up? I tried liking Angrboda, I really did, but fucking hell. Her yak segment alone destroyed the possibility of this game ever getting replayed.

 

Going back to this year's true GOTYs, like Neon White, Elden Ring and Rollerdrome, makes me feel so elated. I guess AAA Sony games just 'aren't for me'.

[Thor]