Official GOW thread (for those playing it - no spam)

[Remij 4,666]

OMFG apparently some guy made it all up and that 6 Edge review is fake... and he did the same thing 4 years ago with the original God of War... they removed his thread making abilities  

 

 

The real Edge review drops Dec 1st lol

[Twinblade★ 3,889]

22 minutes ago, Remij said:

OMFG apparently some guy made it all up and that 6 Edge review is fake... and he did the same thing 4 years ago with the original God of War... they removed his thread making abilities  

 

 

The real Edge review drops Dec 1st lol

 

tbh EDGE is pretty terrible. They gave Requiem a 6 IIRC.

[madmaltese★ 2,548]

Remij and Twinblade circlejerk of hate  we get it. Yous didn't like it lol move on. Why do yous care what Edge gives it. Yous have already played the game  

 

Finished it last night. Final chapter/arc was so damn good! Felt like a game version of Endgame except actually good. The story, characters and narrative in this game are up there with the very best in any game ever imo. Kratos is a near GOAT game character at this point for me and easily the main Sony one. Representation of Norse mythology was also absolutely superb. Best Odin ever and Thor excellent also. I think it's better overall than the first narratively but also doesn't have the highs that the first had (Blades of Chaos moment in GoW still peak).

Actual gameplay wise it is what I wanted an expected, the same type of sequel that GoW 2 was to GoW. Same core frame but bigger and slight improvements. Now that 'bigger' part was truly bigger. Game is fn huge, I still have so much stuff to do if I wanted and that aspect of the game isn't for everyone. However you can easily mainline the story in 20h and get an absolutely well paced epic campaign. The side missions though are so damn good, mixing in Mass Effect style content where some are very personally tied to characters past and reveal more history on them. For the most part I thought they were great and that the game as side mission quality up there with Witcher 3. 

The combat is an evolution of the first, if you didn't like the first then you won't like this. I thought it was good and even great in the boss fights. There is a lot of it though.

Game was at it's weakest when it had abrupt pacing changes, mostly when the game would shift to sole Atreus parts. Ironwood sticks out so much as the worst part of the game, slow and long af. 

The realms and their level design was such a leap over the first imo. Massive and intertwined without feeling like just an open world. My fav type of mix of linear and exploration. 

Graphically the game looks superb and is many one of the best running games on PS5. However you can very much tell it's a ps4 core game. So much hidden loading with crawl spaces and slow movement andFaye and some other minor characters look downright bad at points.

Negatives for me were the UI and the core 'loot' system is not really needed but I guess adds game elements to a game this size, although i'd be more than happy with a shorter, tighter game without any gear/loot elements.

 

Banger of a game and exactly what I could've wanted but also what I expected for a GoW sequel. I'm not certain which I prefer more, this safer sequel or TLOU2 going for it all over again in their sequel, but I really do appreciate ND for their guts. 

 

GOTY wise it's gonna be tough. I'd probably have to say Elden Ring as that literally took over the gaming talk for multiple months and felt so fresh, even though I have soured on it a bit since release. This game though is very much a 'me' type of game atm. Heavy narrative, character focused, cinematic, not fully open world but still rewards exploration and heavily polished.

 

On a run of Reqium, RE8, GoW Rag. Not sure what will match those next. 

[Remij 4,666]

10 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

Remij and Twinblade circlejerk of hate  we get it. Yous didn't like it lol move on. Why do yous care what Edge gives it. Yous have already played the game  

 

Finished it last night. Final chapter/arc was so damn good! Felt like a game version of Endgame except actually good. The story, characters and narrative in this game are up there with the very best in any game ever imo. Kratos is a near GOAT game character at this point for me and easily the main Sony one. Representation of Norse mythology was also absolutely superb. Best Odin ever and Thor excellent also. I think it's better overall than the first narratively but also doesn't have the highs that the first had (Blades of Chaos moment in GoW still peak).

Actual gameplay wise it is what I wanted an expected, the same type of sequel that GoW 2 was to GoW. Same core frame but bigger and slight improvements. Now that 'bigger' part was truly bigger. Game is fn huge, I still have so much stuff to do if I wanted and that aspect of the game isn't for everyone. However you can easily mainline the story in 20h and get an absolutely well paced epic campaign. The side missions though are so damn good, mixing in Mass Effect style content where some are very personally tied to characters past and reveal more history on them. For the most part I thought they were great and that the game as side mission quality up there with Witcher 3. 

The combat is an evolution of the first, if you didn't like the first then you won't like this. I thought it was good and even great in the boss fights. There is a lot of it though.

Game was at it's weakest when it had abrupt pacing changes, mostly when the game would shift to sole Atreus parts. Ironwood sticks out so much as the worst part of the game, slow and long af. 

The realms and their level design was such a leap over the first imo. Massive and intertwined without feeling like just an open world. My fav type of mix of linear and exploration. 

Graphically the game looks superb and is many one of the best running games on PS5. However you can very much tell it's a ps4 core game. So much hidden loading with crawl spaces and slow movement andFaye and some other minor characters look downright bad at points.

Negatives for me were the UI and the core 'loot' system is not really needed but I guess adds game elements to a game this size, although i'd be more than happy with a shorter, tighter game without any gear/loot elements.

 

Banger of a game and exactly what I could've wanted but also what I expected for a GoW sequel. I'm not certain which I prefer more, this safer sequel or TLOU2 going for it all over again in their sequel, but I really do appreciate ND for their guts. 

 

GOTY wise it's gonna be tough. I'd probably have to say Elden Ring as that literally took over the gaming talk for multiple months and felt so fresh, even though I have soured on it a bit since release. This game though is very much a 'me' type of game atm. Heavy narrative, character focused, cinematic, not fully open world but still rewards exploration and heavily polished.

 

On a run of Reqium, RE8, GoW Rag. Not sure what will match those next. 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

So many crawl through the cracks, and raven transport loading scenes though.  Kinda got tired of seeing them mid way through to be honest.. but there's no denying it's very cool how they do that.

 

I just don't understand how you can't ding the game more for being completely brain-dead puzzlewise.  Even 2018 had a couple of puzzles that you had to actually think about... here though, you're just sick and tired of the NPCs giving you hints (ie telling you what to do)

 

For me that's the greatest sin of this game.  It treats you like you're a fucking idiot... and coming off of games like Elden Ring.. that shit just doesn't fly.  It's obvious they don't have any trust in their players to solve the puzzles they've created on their own.  Just that one aspect alone really hurts the game for me.

 

Also (spoiler for the ending) I'm curious what you thought about the final cutscene

Spoiler

I don't know if it was just the mood I was in at the time of playing it, but I thought it was so weird and sudden how you go and talk to everyone as Atreus, and then you meet up with Kratos, he basically tells you "You're ready".. and Atreus just kinda hilariously steps off the screen to the side after giving a stupid looking smile to Kratos  

 

And then Kratos finding another mural on the back which essentially shows him ascending to godhood.  I liked that, but... I mean, as if Angrboda wouldn't have seen it.. lmao.   I thought it could have been done better.

 

Anyway, I love a lot of the characters, I like a lot of their interactions.  I thought Atreus and Angrboda were cute when they had scenes together.  There's a lot a like, but it's just let down by a lot of the other things for me, which are unfortunately too important for me to ignore.

[Twinblade★ 3,889]

26 minutes ago, Remij said:

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

So many crawl through the cracks, and raven transport loading scenes though.  Kinda got tired of seeing them mid way through to be honest.. but there's no denying it's very cool how they do that.

 

I just don't understand how you can't ding the game more for being completely brain-dead puzzlewise.  Even 2018 had a couple of puzzles that you had to actually think about... here though, you're just sick and tired of the NPCs giving you hints (ie telling you what to do)

 

For me that's the greatest sin of this game.  It treats you like you're a fucking idiot... and coming off of games like Elden Ring.. that shit just doesn't fly.  It's obvious they don't have any trust in their players to solve the puzzles they've created on their own.  Just that one aspect alone really hurts the game for me.

 

Also (spoiler for the ending) I'm curious what you thought about the final cutscene

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't know if it was just the mood I was in at the time of playing it, but I thought it was so weird and sudden how you go and talk to everyone as Atreus, and then you meet up with Kratos, he basically tells you "You're ready".. and Atreus just kinda hilariously steps off the screen to the side after giving a stupid looking smile to Kratos  

 

And then Kratos finding another mural on the back which essentially shows him ascending to godhood.  I liked that, but... I mean, as if Angrboda wouldn't have seen it.. lmao.   I thought it could have been done better.

 

Anyway, I love a lot of the characters, I like a lot of their interactions.  I thought Atreus and Angrboda were cute when they had scenes together.  There's a lot a like, but it's just let down by a lot of the other things for me, which are unfortunately too important for me to ignore.

 

This, plus I just don't like the precedent this game might be setting. Other devs will look at its critical and commercial success and feel encouraged to mimic that type of brain dead design. I miss the days of challenging action/adventure games like Onimusha, Prince of Persia, Legacy of Kain, old school Tomb Raider, ICO, SOTC, etc and instead of the modern games in this genre trying to take those ideas and wrapping them in a next gen presentation it feels like we're just going backwards.

[madmaltese★ 2,548]

8 minutes ago, Remij said:

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

So many crawl through the cracks, and raven transport loading scenes though.  Kinda got tired of seeing them mid way through to be honest.. but there's no denying it's very cool how they do that.

 

I just don't understand how you can't ding the game more for being completely brain-dead puzzlewise.  Even 2018 had a couple of puzzles that you had to actually think about... here though, you're just sick and tired of the NPCs giving you hints (ie telling you what to do)

 

For me that's the greatest sin of this game.  It treats you like you're a fucking idiot... and coming off of games like Elden Ring.. that shit just doesn't fly.  It's obvious they don't have any trust in their players to solve the puzzles they've created on their own.  Just that one aspect alone really hurts the game for me.

 

Also (spoiler for the ending) I'm curious what you thought about the final cutscene

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't know if it was just the mood I was in at the time of playing it, but I thought it was so weird and sudden how you go and talk to everyone as Atreus, and then you meet up with Kratos, he basically tells you "You're ready".. and Atreus just kinda hilariously steps off the screen to the side after giving a stupid looking smile to Kratos  

 

And then Kratos finding another mural on the back which essentially shows him ascending to godhood.  I liked that, but... I mean, as if Angrboda wouldn't have seen it.. lmao.   I thought it could have been done better.

 

Anyway, I love a lot of the characters, I like a lot of their interactions.  I thought Atreus and Angrboda were cute when they had scenes together.  There's a lot a like, but it's just let down by a lot of the other things for me, which are unfortunately too important for me to ignore.

I've already talked plenty about how bad the NPCs literally telling you every solution within 0.2 seconds is. That is definitely a major problem.

The simple puzzle design in the main quest didn't bother me too much though because that's not really what I'm playing GoW for and also because I felt more challenging puzzles (still fairly easy) and combat for that matter are present in the side content. Also NPCs don't talk nearly as much in those if at all. I feel the game gives you as much as you want really, they just focused on making the main quest very accessible (which I guess you sort of have to when it's your most mainstream franchise atm). They make up for that by having as much side content as the main quest for more hardcore players that want more and also did an amazing job of having the quality of that side content be great too. 

 

But again it depends what you're looking for in a game. Like what I want from a GoW game is an excellent narrative + character development, cinematic gameplay and an evolution of what made the last one great and that's exactly what I got. The combat or puzzles not being peak combat or puzzle gameplay isn't as big an issue as say average combat would be in a Souls game or simple puzzles in a puzzle game. But again, there is some amazing combat in the side content, do the Berserker fitghts or dragon fights and so on and I find the combat excellent. It's only a bit of a downer when you're trying to get to the next story beat and you're being slowed down by regular enemies waves. 

 

END GAME SPOILERS

Spoiler

Yeah the little epilogue was a little awkward with Kratos but tbh the epic scale of everything that just came before was such a clear climax and peak for the game that I wasn't looking for another moment after. It's more or less what I expected since I knew there was a big post game content drop coming. But like what I said in my first post, I feel this game is better overall but without reaching some highs. The Loki and mural ending of the last game was much cooler than this one.

 

For every little minor gripe that you mention though I think it is so heavily overshadowed by major major superb moments. Like that last part was just fine but the Odin, Thor stuff prior was fucking epic. The entire destruction of Asgard as you ascend was so fucking cool. Before that, the Tyr reveal and killing of Brok was excellent and the impact on Sindri even better. Those scenes were just so so so good. The game has such a big cast this time around and they somehow nailed all of the characters imo. 

 

I think I just find the minor stuff less annoying as I feel it is far overshadowed by how good 95% of the game is imo and most importantly it nails the specific things I want a GoW game to nail.

 

 

 

 

 

[madmaltese★ 2,548]

2 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

This, plus I just don't like the precedent this game might be setting. Other devs will look at its critical and commercial success and feel encouraged to mimic that type of brain dead design. I miss the days of challenging action/adventure games like Onimusha, Prince of Persia, Legacy of Kain, old school Tomb Raider, ICO, SOTC, etc and instead of the modern games in this genre trying to take those ideas and wrapping them in a next gen presentation it feels like we're just going backwards.

I think you are being overally dramatic. If anything everyone is looking at Elden Ring as the current thing to copy, not GoW. 

[Remij 4,666]

1 minute ago, madmaltese said:

I've already talked plenty about how bad the NPCs literally telling you every solution within 0.2 seconds is. That is definitely a major problem.

The simple puzzle design in the main quest didn't bother me too much though because that's not really what I'm playing GoW for and also because I felt more challenging puzzles (still fairly easy) and combat for that matter are present in the side content. Also NPCs don't talk nearly as much in those if at all. I feel the game gives you as much as you want really, they just focused on making the main quest very accessible (which I guess you sort of have to when it's your most mainstream franchise atm). They make up for that by having as much side content as the main quest for more hardcore players that want more and also did an amazing job of having the quality of that side content be great too. 

 

But again it depends what you're looking for in a game. Like what I want from a GoW game is an excellent narrative + character development, cinematic gameplay and an evolution of what made the last one great and that's exactly what I got. The combat or puzzles not being peak combat or puzzle gameplay isn't as big an issue as say average combat would be in a Souls game or simple puzzles in a puzzle game. But again, there is some amazing combat in the side content, do the Berserker fitghts or dragon fights and so on and I find the combat excellent. It's only a bit of a downer when you're trying to get to the next story beat and you're being slowed down by regular enemies waves. 

 

END GAME SPOILERS

  Hide contents

Yeah the little epilogue was a little awkward with Kratos but tbh the epic scale of everything that just came before was such a clear climax and peak for the game that I wasn't looking for another moment after. It's more or less what I expected since I knew there was a big post game content drop coming. But like what I said in my first post, I feel this game is better overall but without reaching some highs. The Loki and mural ending of the last game was much cooler than this one.

 

For every little minor gripe that you mention though I think it is so heavily overshadowed by major major superb moments. Like that last part was just fine but the Odin, Thor stuff prior was fucking epic. The entire destruction of Asgard as you ascend was so fucking cool. Before that, the Tyr reveal and killing of Brok was excellent and the impact on Sindri even better. Those scenes were just so so so good. The game has such a big cast this time around and they somehow nailed all of the characters imo. 

 

I think I just find the minor stuff less annoying as I feel it is far overshadowed by how good 95% of the game is imo and most importantly it nails the specific things I want a GoW game to nail.

 

 

 

 

 

That's fair.  We just basically have different opinions on which aspects are more important for the game, and I can respect yours.

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

I’ve made some good progress. I think I’m getting close to the end game. The story is getting pretty awesome. Yeah, there are lots of reminders that this is a ps4 title (Horizon FW did a way better job at feeling “next gen”), and the hand-holding is a major buzz kill. But the game has felt extremely focused since the reunion chapter. So far, it’s feeling like an 8. I would rank it way higher if it was significantly tighter in spots and if the puzzles were actually rewarding. 

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

Finished GoW. The final act was awesome! The game’s main arc and characters have set a new standard for action-adventure games. I’m going to do more favors and the post game content before I give it a final score. Right now, the game is sitting between 8-8.5. The last last 1/3 of it was epic af. Hopefully, the devs fix the NPC/puzzle issue, as well. 

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

How far from the end am I after finishing up Vanaheim?

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

23 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

How far from the end am I after finishing up Vanaheim?

Is it The Reckoning?

[Twinblade★ 3,889]

50 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

How far from the end am I after finishing up Vanaheim?

 

You're not even halfway through  

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

40 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

You're not even halfway through  

 

I didn't think I was close to the end, but jesus christ I'm not sure I can do another 12 hours of this game. 

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

1 hour ago, -GD-X said:

Is it The Reckoning?

 

I think so. I'm on 'The Runaway' now.

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

5 hours ago, Hot Sauce said:

 

I think so. I'm on 'The Runaway' now.

You are like at the 40% mark.

[Voidler 1,675]

On 2022-11-25 at 2:26 PM, madmaltese said:

I've already talked plenty about how bad the NPCs literally telling you every solution within 0.2 seconds is. That is definitely a major problem.

The simple puzzle design in the main quest didn't bother me too much though because that's not really what I'm playing GoW for and also because I felt more challenging puzzles (still fairly easy) and combat for that matter are present in the side content. Also NPCs don't talk nearly as much in those if at all. I feel the game gives you as much as you want really, they just focused on making the main quest very accessible (which I guess you sort of have to when it's your most mainstream franchise atm). They make up for that by having as much side content as the main quest for more hardcore players that want more and also did an amazing job of having the quality of that side content be great too. 

 

But again it depends what you're looking for in a game. Like what I want from a GoW game is an excellent narrative + character development, cinematic gameplay and an evolution of what made the last one great and that's exactly what I got. The combat or puzzles not being peak combat or puzzle gameplay isn't as big an issue as say average combat would be in a Souls game or simple puzzles in a puzzle game. But again, there is some amazing combat in the side content, do the Berserker fitghts or dragon fights and so on and I find the combat excellent. It's only a bit of a downer when you're trying to get to the next story beat and you're being slowed down by regular enemies waves. 

 

END GAME SPOILERS

  Reveal hidden contents

Yeah the little epilogue was a little awkward with Kratos but tbh the epic scale of everything that just came before was such a clear climax and peak for the game that I wasn't looking for another moment after. It's more or less what I expected since I knew there was a big post game content drop coming. But like what I said in my first post, I feel this game is better overall but without reaching some highs. The Loki and mural ending of the last game was much cooler than this one.

 

For every little minor gripe that you mention though I think it is so heavily overshadowed by major major superb moments. Like that last part was just fine but the Odin, Thor stuff prior was fucking epic. The entire destruction of Asgard as you ascend was so fucking cool. Before that, the Tyr reveal and killing of Brok was excellent and the impact on Sindri even better. Those scenes were just so so so good. The game has such a big cast this time around and they somehow nailed all of the characters imo. 

 

I think I just find the minor stuff less annoying as I feel it is far overshadowed by how good 95% of the game is imo and most importantly it nails the specific things I want a GoW game to nail.

 

 

 

 

 

You guys do realise there is a setting to turn down hints right?

[Remij 4,666]

2 minutes ago, Voidler said:

You guys do realise there is a setting to turn down hints right?

No there isn't.  That setting only controls the length of time you have to do time based actions.

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

1 hour ago, Remij said:

No there isn't.  That setting only controls the length of time you have to do time based actions.

This. Trust me, I tried everything. 

[-GD-X★ 7,728]

Shiiii I googled that bitch too. Forbes and other sites say you can’t. It’s clearly an issue if a lot of places are pointing it out. I still enjoyed the ride, and I’m working on the side/post content.