The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss the God of War series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Are there similar games you like? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
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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!
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.
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.
Combat peaked in GoW3 and it’s definitely the best western action game, IMO. OG trilogy badly needs a remaster and PC port, which I read is in the works, so that’s good.
I liked the freedom of expression GoW3 gave me. Like, you get one opening and you can fuck up the enemy in all sorts of ways in true action game spirit. Really good stuff and more western action games should’ve followed suit.
Frankly, I don’t think any of the originals are particularly good, and I was done with the new one just before the first one was over. They aren’t terrible, but I’ve always found the praise and hype for the series entirely disproportionate to the content.
Frankly, I don’t think any of the originals are particularly good
In terms of what? And what’s your relationship like with the character action genre?
I don’t particularly love the floaty, sloppy “just put some damage in this 180 degree arc” basis of the combat system much. I am also not at all on board with most of the early teenage edgelord narrative stuff in there. Maybe I was a bit too old by the time these came out.
The Harryhausen references are neat and some of the boss fights are cool set pieces that did set some of the groundwork for later AAA action games, but I would much rather spend time in the more expressive, free-flowing Devil May Cry side of things if I’m going for snappy, precise combat… or all the way into Musou slop, I suppose, although I’m not much into that, either.
I don’t particularly love the floaty, sloppy “just put some damage in this 180 degree arc” basis of the combat system much.
I’m not sure what this means, to be totally honest.
I am also not at all on board with most of the early teenage edgelord narrative stuff in there. Maybe I was a bit too old by the time these came out.
I don’t care what anyone says, narratives in character action games are shit 😂 I’m never gonna defend it, and always find it odd that people cared about their stories. They’re not good vehicles for storytelling, IMO.
There’s a reason GoW (2018) had to change genre to shift focus to storytelling, for example.
I would much rather spend time in the more expressive, free-flowing Devil May Cry side of things if I’m going for snappy, precise combat
Hmm… this makes me wonder how much time you spent playing around with GoW3’s combat system because it clearly takes a lot of inspiration from DMC.
They definitely moved towards… I’m gonna say better references later in the franchise.
Still, there’s also a reason they moved to a whole different genre.
GoW’s core combat premise is that you have absurd range and can deal damage in a wide arc. It was REALLY hard to tighten that all the way via iteration while keeping the way the game plays.
GoW 3 was a huge step above its predecessors in setting up big standout setpieces, and it played… I’m gonna say “better”, but it was still limited by the core framework of the series so far, and my argument is that framework was fundamentally flawed.
Hmm… sure, yes. I wouldn’t say it’s flawed, but I’d say it’s different, and I much prefer the Japanese way of doing things here where it feels I’m precisely choreographing a movie fight instead of doing as much damage as possible to anyone in my immediate vicinity.
I’d still say GoW3 is peak western action, and quite fun to play. I would not rank it on the same level as DMC5, Ninja Gaiden II, or Bayonetta, but I’d rank it fairly close—like a step or two behind.
As of the franchise as a whole, yeah, it’s not the best, but many franchises aren’t, TBH. I love Bayonetta, for example, but that franchise is all over the place. It’s almost GoW backwards… higher peak than GoW, for sure, but still messy overall.
I don’t have much to disagree with there, frankly. I mean, I like GoW 3 less than you do. I’d genuinely play the Ninja Theory DMC, if I’m honest, but at that point we’re splitting hairs.
To be clear, I don’t hate these games, I just don’t like them much and generally don’t play them on purpose. We’re coming at it from different angles but meeting pretty much halfway.
Nice to see some more GoW3 love. I adored this game from beginning to end and loved the variation the different weapons brought to the table.
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The first one on PS2 or the version from 2018?
I never beat the first one (I think it was the first one anyway…)
The ps2 disc had a scratch on it and the game would freeze/crash when I got to a certain part. It was the cutscene where Kratos hurls a gigantic column if anyone remembers.
I would like to eventually replay and beat that one game for some childhood redemption.
I started playing the new god of war 2018 at one point, but couldn’t really get into it at the time. There was(is) an oversaturation of viking focused content at the time and I was kind of burnt out on it by that point.
I hear the new games are really good though, so I’d also like to give them an honest chance at some point.
It was the cutscene where Kratos hurls a gigantic column if anyone remembers.
I think Kratos does this in just about every game. I was playing Ragnarok 5 minutes ago and he was hurling pillars at enemies left, right and center :D.
As for 2018: it’s a game with a big focus on combat, exploration and character driven storytelling. I can understand feeling burnt out on the viking aesthetic, but the game feels way more fantastical than historical to me.
I have only played the two GoW games on PSP and the canon game that came out on Java phones so my experience is pretty limited but I loved the games that I played.
I haven’t played any of the rebooted games but heard they have an amazing story, particularly the first one. Sadly, it’s too expensive…
What device do you use to game? If you have a capable PC and are unable to pay for the game, there are simple methods to obtain it for free, for which you should feel zero remorse in my opinion :). Piracy when the person in question is unable to pay for the game is nothing to be ashamed for, and I’ve read multiple developer interviews who endorse this!
I have a PC but unfortunately it’s less than capable
