God of War Ragnarok is Incredible (minimal spoilers)

[sugarhigh 519]

I'm about halfway through the main story now and I love what they're doing. The writing has more natural speech than the 2018 game which is mostly great. Krato's gruffness isnt as one-note as the previous game. There is some JJ Abrams soy banter, but mostly kept in check.

 

The combat is incredible. It's technical, strategic, and pretty original. The last game felt like it was biting off Bloodborne, but Ragnarok feels very different from Elden Ring. The environmental effects in combat were overwhelming at first but once I learned them in a tough fight (The Hateful), the rest of the game hit a good balance of toughness.

 

Visually the game is top tier. I expected it to be worse with so many outlets praising Horizon over it. But Sony's production quality shines through more than pure technical rendering. All the realms are beautiful.

 

Special shout out to Thor and Odin's performances. Every line feels heavy with layered, even contradictory motivations. Their portrayals stay true to the franchise's history while also taking bold new directions.

 

[TLHBO 2,160]

Well at least someone enjoys it, I thought it was just the usual padded reviews you see for many AAA games.

 

I can't help but think to myself "this game would be good if the combat didnt suck". Like it sucks, it really sucks and I'm not enjoying it I'm just playing for the story at this point. The norse stuff really sucks too the elf realm makes me want to die its looks like one of the repetitive covenanant levels from Halo 2. I hated the elf realm in the first game and I hate it here it hss thst awful Halo/Too Human aesthetic. Beyond that you got THORGINGOR, MMILJJOOORRNR and THURRRSUUNNNGAARDD and all those stupid norse names, you have talking squirrels, blacksmith dwarves, snot spitting from men, magic acorns and world trees. Norse is the gayest shit ever made. To think we could have had Egypt and we get this trash instead.

 

Small spoilers

 

What I remember of the original games is Kratos smashing shit up, minotaurs  hydras, giant statues, medusas, anything that stood in his way, the game was balls to the walls fun meanwhile in this game I'm riding a fucking Yak picking fruit from trees. Kill me now

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by TLHBO

[sugarhigh 519]

4 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

Well at least someone enjoys it, I thought it was just the usual padded reviews you see for many AAA games.

 

I can't help but think to myself "this game would be good if the combat didnt suck". Like it sucks, it really sucks and I'm not enjoying it I'm just playing for the story at this point. The norse stuff really sucks too the elf realm makes me want to die its looks like one of the repetitive covenanant levels from Halo 2. I hated the elf realm in the first game and I hate it here it hss thst awful Halo/Too Human aesthetic. Beyond that you got THORGINGOR, MMILJJOOORRNR and THURRRSUUNNNGAARDD and all those stupid norse names, you have talking squirrels, blacksmith dwarves, snot spitting from men, magic acorns and world trees. Norse is the gayest shit ever made. To think we could have had Egypt and we get this trash instead.

 

Small spoilers

 

What I remember of the original games is Kratos smashing shit up, minotaurs  hydras, giant statues, medusas, anything that stood in his way, the game was balls to the walls fun meanwhile in this game I'm riding a fucking Yak picking fruit from trees. Kill me now

 

Nah the combat is great. It's dynamic like the classic PS2 action games but deliberate like From games. It'll punish you for button mashing but still give you tools to chain combos and juggle bitches. This is how melee combat should feel.

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

12 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

Well at least someone enjoys it, I thought it was just the usual padded reviews you see for many AAA games.

 

I can't help but think to myself "this game would be good if the combat didnt suck". Like it sucks, it really sucks and I'm not enjoying it I'm just playing for the story at this point. The norse stuff really sucks too the elf realm makes me want to die its looks like one of the repetitive covenanant levels from Halo 2. I hated the elf realm in the first game and I hate it here it hss thst awful Halo/Too Human aesthetic. Beyond that you got THORGINGOR, MMILJJOOORRNR and THURRRSUUNNNGAARDD and all those stupid norse names, you have talking squirrels, blacksmith dwarves, snot spitting from men, magic acorns and world trees. Norse is the gayest shit ever made. To think we could have had Egypt and we get this trash instead.

 

Small spoilers

 

What I remember of the original games is Kratos smashing shit up, minotaurs  hydras, giant statues, medusas, anything that stood in his way, the game was balls to the walls fun meanwhile in this game I'm riding a fucking Yak picking fruit from trees. Kill me now

 

 

Yeah, I went back and browsed through some footage of GoW3 and it hit me just how much more interesting it seemed. The boss fights in particular had a real sense of excitement and scale to them. Ragnarok's felt so tame and boring in comparison (outside of one cool fight later on)

 

 

[madmaltese★ 2,550]

Yeah it truly is incredible! Im keen to return to complete all the side content once my friends are done with my copy.

[TLHBO 2,160]

9 hours ago, sugarhigh said:

Nah the combat is great. It's dynamic like the classic PS2 action games but deliberate like From games. It'll punish you for button mashing but still give you tools to chain combos and juggle bitches. This is how melee combat should feel.

The way I would describe it is it feels like the enemies are made out of steel. The feedback, the amount of hits they take, the sound effects, it's like you're hitting solid steel. My biggest probpem is how spongey each and every enemy feels. The mini-bosses omfg set 30 minutes aside for these! even with everything upgraded, and if you choose to prioritize strength everything feels like they take far more hits than they should. Its like the difficulty in the game comes from keeping concentration, you hit, you dodge their attacks, repeat, but by the 30 minute mark on the mini bosses I find myself bored and desperately hammering the attack buttons just trying to make it end and thats when you're open to their attacks. It feels like a test of concentration rather than skill.

 

You know what the most retarded part about the game is? the gane establishes Atreyus is weaker than Kratos when he tries to punch through a chest, yet the kid can take down an enemy in 5 hits with his bow and it takes Kratos 300 hits with a fucking blade or hammer to defeat the same kind of enemy

 

It really feels out of place how easy the kid can smash through multiple enemies at lightning speed because Kratos can't do that. It's as strange as the gimmick where they put that purple/pink glass all over the walls and encourage you to reflect axe throws into enemies...it just seems out of place, like they were throwing shit at the walls to see what sticks.

 

I felt this way about the first game but decided to give the second a try hoping they changed some things or hoping there would be more exciting realms than the first game but its the same, and from where I am so far in the game dare I say this game night actually be inferior to the first (one of these atreyus parts is far outstaying its welcome).

 

I guess its just now for me I really miss the old god of war games. They were fast, fluid, fun, and they were straight down to business none of these walking around chatting nonsense. This game feels like it had been "Gears'd", the camera, the forced chatter, just the general feeling of the combat.

 

I miss the PS2 era in general. It was more fun and less fluff.

[TLHBO 2,160]

9 hours ago, Twinblade said:

 

Yeah, I went back and browsed through some footage of GoW3 and it hit me just how much more interesting it seemed. The boss fights in particular had a real sense of excitement and scale to them. Ragnarok's felt so tame and boring in comparison (outside of one cool fight later on)

 

 

I'm absolutely going through the first game on PCSX2 after this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xWSrmwHG14

 

The PS2 had more gameplay per square inch than anything on modern consoles

[Goukosan 2,249]

8 hours ago, TLHBO said:

The way I would describe it is it feels like the enemies are made out of steel. The feedback, the amount of hits they take, the sound effects, it's like you're hitting solid steel. My biggest probpem is how spongey each and every enemy feels. The mini-bosses omfg set 30 minutes aside for these! even with everything upgraded, and if you choose to prioritize strength everything feels like they take far more hits than they should. Its like the difficulty in the game comes from keeping concentration, you hit, you dodge their attacks, repeat, but by the 30 minute mark on the mini bosses I find myself bored and desperately hammering the attack buttons just trying to make it end and thats when you're open to their attacks. It feels like a test of concentration rather than skill.

 

You know what the most retarded part about the game is? the gane establishes Atreyus is weaker than Kratos when he tries to punch through a chest, yet the kid can take down an enemy in 5 hits with his bow and it takes Kratos 300 hits with a fucking blade or hammer to defeat the same kind of enemy

 

It really feels out of place how easy the kid can smash through multiple enemies at lightning speed because Kratos can't do that. It's as strange as the gimmick where they put that purple/pink glass all over the walls and encourage you to reflect axe throws into enemies...it just seems out of place, like they were throwing shit at the walls to see what sticks.

 

I felt this way about the first game but decided to give the second a try hoping they changed some things or hoping there would be more exciting realms than the first game but its the same, and from where I am so far in the game dare I say this game night actually be inferior to the first (one of these atreyus parts is far outstaying its welcome).

 

I guess its just now for me I really miss the old god of war games. They were fast, fluid, fun, and they were straight down to business none of these walking around chatting nonsense. This game feels like it had been "Gears'd", the camera, the forced chatter, just the general feeling of the combat.

 

I miss the PS2 era in general. It was more fun and less fluff.

 

You hit the nail on the head.  It's like you're attacking a steel column with a butter knife...a million hits just to make a dent.  That shit gets old and repetitive quickly. 

[sugarhigh 519]

32 minutes ago, Goukosan said:

 

You hit the nail on the head.  It's like you're attacking a steel column with a butter knife...a million hits just to make a dent.  That shit gets old and repetitive quickly. 

 

R2 button

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

On 2023-01-10 at 2:30 AM, TLHBO said:

The way I would describe it is it feels like the enemies are made out of steel. The feedback, the amount of hits they take, the sound effects, it's like you're hitting solid steel. My biggest probpem is how spongey each and every enemy feels. The mini-bosses omfg set 30 minutes aside for these! even with everything upgraded, and if you choose to prioritize strength everything feels like they take far more hits than they should. Its like the difficulty in the game comes from keeping concentration, you hit, you dodge their attacks, repeat, but by the 30 minute mark on the mini bosses I find myself bored and desperately hammering the attack buttons just trying to make it end and thats when you're open to their attacks. It feels like a test of concentration rather than skill.

 

You know what the most retarded part about the game is? the gane establishes Atreyus is weaker than Kratos when he tries to punch through a chest, yet the kid can take down an enemy in 5 hits with his bow and it takes Kratos 300 hits with a fucking blade or hammer to defeat the same kind of enemy

 

It really feels out of place how easy the kid can smash through multiple enemies at lightning speed because Kratos can't do that. It's as strange as the gimmick where they put that purple/pink glass all over the walls and encourage you to reflect axe throws into enemies...it just seems out of place, like they were throwing shit at the walls to see what sticks.

 

I felt this way about the first game but decided to give the second a try hoping they changed some things or hoping there would be more exciting realms than the first game but its the same, and from where I am so far in the game dare I say this game night actually be inferior to the first (one of these atreyus parts is far outstaying its welcome).

 

I guess its just now for me I really miss the old god of war games. They were fast, fluid, fun, and they were straight down to business none of these walking around chatting nonsense. This game feels like it had been "Gears'd", the camera, the forced chatter, just the general feeling of the combat.

 

I miss the PS2 era in general. It was more fun and less fluff.

 

Agreed. Even the basic fodder enemies take so many hits to kill. It just gets to a point where most of the combat encounters feel like they're outstaying their welcome.

[Tears of the Cows 1,206]

Yikes, glad I didn’t buy it. Sounds like the general consensus is that it’s just not fun. 

[Tequila_ 11]

Not a fan of the combat, still prefer 2018 GoW

[TLHBO 2,160]

I went back and played the original in an emulator. Very quickly you're into the game, there's no forced Gears style walking segments. It's fast, fluid and most importantly it's actually fun! its rare I feel "fun" in a lot of modern AAA games, we really lost something special in the modern era. Most games now just hand you an open world and a checklist to cross off.

[sugarhigh 519]

7 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

I went back and played the original in an emulator. Very quickly you're into the game, there's no forced Gears style walking segments. It's fast, fluid and most importantly it's actually fun! its rare I feel "fun" in a lot of modern AAA games, we really lost something special in the modern era. Most games now just hand you an open world and a checklist to cross off.

Ragnarok hits a nice balance where it's pretty guided for the first 10 hours or so until you've unlocked a bunch of realms. It wasn't until I reached the land of the Dwarves that I started doing any side quests. You can before that, but it feels like you're interrupting the pull of the main quest.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

10 hours ago, TLHBO said:

I went back and played the original in an emulator. Very quickly you're into the game, there's no forced Gears style walking segments. It's fast, fluid and most importantly it's actually fun! its rare I feel "fun" in a lot of modern AAA games, we really lost something special in the modern era. Most games now just hand you an open world and a checklist to cross off.

God of War 2 is still my favorite. The OG was dope too, though. 

[Casual 726]

I got about 10 hours in and then just kinda dropped it. Haven't had a desire to go back.

[sugarhigh 519]

Just finished. I got kinda obsessed the last 2 weeks and played it to the exclusion of anything else.

 

They're so generous with the big battles in this game compared to 2018. So many sick boss fights, and even some satisfying mini bosses. I didn't find any color-swapped enemies which were overused in 2018.

 

I love the balance they've hit between open world and linear path. The world is huge, with plenty of side quests, but none of it feels like filler. All the side quests either pay off with great world building (Sky Jellyfish!), or meaningful loot or both.

 

Their decision to stick with the (mostly) single camera cut also pays off a some hard to describe way. It helps glue together cutscenes and gameplay so you never feel like you're watching cooler shit than you actually can control. At key points it helps communicate how epic the journey is, and how much ground you've covered with these characters.

 

On paper there's no reason God of War should be a more effective narrative than Halo. Kratos and Master Chief are big dumb action figures. But with the 2018 reboot, Santa Monica has created a weirdly loveable ensemble cast. Many of the characters have their own journey that hit just as hard as what Kratos is going through. I hope this team gets to make something totally original this generation. They are elite tier.

Edited January 20, 2023 by sugarhigh

[sugarhigh 519]

If you're on the fence about this game, or you think there aren't big moments, I think this sequence is one of several that set a new high standard in the medium:

Spoiler

 

 

[sugarhigh 519]

The way this game handles the endgame is excellent. Its still the main game I'm playing, probably 15-20 hours since the credits rolled. There's at least one big story thing I know I'm gonna do before setting it aside. What a fucking epic.

[Mr. House 3,371]

On 2023-01-20 at 11:40 AM, sugarhigh said:

If you're on the fence about this game, or you think there aren't big moments, I think this sequence is one of several that set a new high standard in the medium:

  Hide contents

 

 

That was awesome.