Topic: God of War OT

@nessisonett fair enough, it's not for everyone. V even alienated actual metal gear fans. Obviously I loved it though because I'm a total sap for anything metal gear 😅

@ralphdibny

Yeah the HD collection, played V first as I wanted to make sure that I could get the plat, just in case they closed the servers etc. Doing PW next as I want to get the online trophies while there are still playing it to ensure this plat is within my control too. Got some good co-op in already and I only started it this morning, so I may have been over-paranoid about finding no-one to play with.

@nessisonett

Yeah I started it (briefly) back in 2016 and didn’t really get on with it but went back recently and loved it... one of my favourite games now. Gonna play the whole series apart from Metal Gear Solid (unless those rumours of a remake are true of course).

@colonelkilgore I didn't know there were online trophies in mgsV, I'm only like 4 away from the platinum on that but I probably won't get around to them.

Glad you are getting games on peace walker though! I haven't played any online on it whatsoever, I think I did a search for players but it came up with nothing, might have been my internet connection or something though

@ralphdibny

There are 3 on MGSV... plan (& begin) an attack on another players FOB, build a nuke and then dissarm it.

On Peace Walker I actively went looking on Reddit and PlaystationTrophies.com. A couple of people got back to me with a day or so... if you ever fancy some PW co-op let me know.

@colonelkilgore oh yeah of course! I forgot about that, I actually managed to do the 2 nuke ones this year when I replayed it. Its funny because I was really apprehensive about deleting my save to start it again but quite a few cut scenes played out differently to how I remembered because I did stuff in a different order so it was well worth it!

Cheers, I'll definitely keep it in mind if I decide to boot it up again! How are you managing with the PW trophies? Some of the online ones looked quite work intensive if I remember correctly

@ralphdibny
Well I only started today so I haven’t gotten any online ones yet... think I’m around 1500 of the required 20000 camerarderie required for the real ‘grindy’ online trophy (Vic Voss).

Planning to get the 2 ‘quicker’ online trophies done with some nice Canadian chap next Tuesday. I’d imagine a great chunk of the cameraderie with him also.

Finally had a chance to spend some quality Kratos time. The game is just really quite fantastic. Unless it just absolutely falls apart in the second half, I think GoW will crack my PS4 top 5. It has such a great balance of combat, puzzles, exploration, and story.

There is one issue I’ve had with the game though. Despite being a good 10-12 hours into it, I feel strangely like I’m not making any “progress” in the game. It’s like I’m going hither and yon but I don’t really know if I’m progressing a story toward any kind of ending. The game set-up is a strange amalgamation of linear and open world, and yet there aren’t solid markers to seek out or check boxes like most open worlders. But in actuality, I think I’ve figured out the main reason I have this strange sense of non-progression — the single camera shot. The fact that there is no traditional cut scenes and no loading screens to break up things into chapters or sections, I feel like I haven’t made it to any “checkpoints” yet. It’s an unusual feeling, and one I didn’t quite expect from the single shot method. Don’t get me wrong, I like it and think it’s brilliant, but my brain is not wired to approach a game this way. It keeps expecting a stop in the action and a wrapping up of a section to signify moving along in the story, and this game just doesn’t have that. Amazing stuff.

@Th3solution nice one! I just finished up shadow of the tomb raider and had a similar feeling about progression about half way through, same sort of linear but open world structure but most of the last half of the game is kind of set in and around one area. With all the sidequests and stuff I felt like I was stuck there for a long time. Good game though and I managed to get most of the trophies so I've started a hopefully shorter playthrough on the hardest difficulty in new game plus to mop up the platinum

@Th3solution

I’m really glad you’re enjoying it Th3o... and I do get where you’re coming from but it does all start to come together into a great denouement at the end... and don’t forget to stick around for the post-credit scene 😉.

For me, as the world serpent began to emerge further and further out’ve the water as the game wore on and more and more of the world became explorative as a result , it just started to click. And then that finish (denouement/Uber-tease)... as an avid student of ancient mythology (& Marvel) it hit home hard (both of ‘em did ). Great game..., playable-blockbuster... system-seller par-excellence... enjoy the rest!

@ralphdibny

I accidentally stumbled upon your post about ‘not implying Dark Souls was uninteresting as you had never played them’ by accident while replying to @Th3solution’s post... try them tho (only a select few ‘works’, be they books, graphic novels, film, TV or games have had as a profound influence on me... and Souls ‘might’ just have been the most profound of the lot)

@colonelkilgore nice, cheers for the recommendation! May I ask what the profound influence was? Everyone who plays them really recommends them so there must be something special about them. My mate used to praise them too and insist I play them. Not too long a go he wanted me to play Dragon Quest 11 for similar reasons I guess but I don't think I can afford to invest in a new series when I'm so heavily invested in other series and games. I've heard DQ11 is like 100+ hours long. Im sort of considering it now it's on game pass but I'm still apprehensive. Same with Bloodborne (coming back to the souls games), I have it from PS Plus but I just don't know if I'll get in the "mood" to try it before my sub runs out. There's just too much stuff vying for my attention and my backlog will attest to that. Thankfully the lack of new games (that interest me) in 2020 combined with the lack of work has meant I've been able to tick huge amounts off the back log though

It really is just a matter of time and priority for me, it's not exactly comparable but I would like to watch the Chicago shared universe of shows (Hope, PD, Fire, Legal etc) but I'll never do it because I can't see myself dedicating 100+ hours of my time to it

@Th3solution I think the game has a nice balance between giving you the chance to explore a bit but also pushing the plot along.

It’s not quite Uncharted linearity but most of the game is to some degree. I quite liked having a bit of time to do other stuff though. Interesting that you feel the single camera shot may be playing a part though.

@Th3solution Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. The whole game is one long chapter in that regard. But it's pretty cool, and not too many games do it. It does help giving the game a distinct feeling. You just have to accept the fact that you're always making progress when you do something, the game is just not crossing it off a big checkmark list.

@Octane Very good points, it made a refreshing change from all the games that handle game progression in the more traditional sense (especially more recent times) and never saw it as a negative thing really. Just a different way to do it.

@colonelkilgore it's ok! It was very interesting to read your points. I think normally a recommendation for SoulsBorne comes across as an instruction to play it because you don't know what you're missing. Then people are apprehensive to share what's so good about it because I assume they would think that it would spoil experiencing it for the first time. So the main descriptions end up being it's hard and there's lore. I do get it though, like if I recommend a game, I try not to say too much about what is good about it because I don't want to spoil it. I just normally accept that I can't do it justice and people may not play it based on my thin recommendation. So thank you for going in to more detail about it!

I like that it made you more persistent in other areas of life. That sounds quite good. I think I'm generally quite persistent (if appropriate) in most aspects of my life (naturally at work I have to play the "game" which I hate doing but sometimes it's not wise or appropriate to push something that I think is right), I'm quite persistent in my chores and DIY nowadays even if I sometimes procrastinate things to the point where it can take a year or more to do it, but it does get done eventually! I think the area I'm least persistent in is my creative endeavours, I normally get so far and give up or lose interest. I never go the final mile and that kind of makes me sad so could definitely do with a boost in that area.

I think I'm quite blinkered with games too tbh, but I am totally OK with that. I like certain series that I've played since I was a kid like Donkey Kong Country, Mortal Kombat, Doom, Mario, Metal Gear etc and there is often enough games released in those series that it keeps me busy. I do branch out a bit if there is an associated developer, I also go for platform exclusives even if they're not necessarily my cup of tea just to try them, which is why I've played through the gears of war series this (last!) year and am now going through the god of war games. I'm probably Gona push through the batman Arkham games too at some point even though I really don't get on with them.

I think metal and classical/gothic/renaissance has a lot of crossover in terms of music, depictions and scenes anyway! So I can see how something could be described as both things. Something like castlevania would be exemplary of this!

I just finished God of War 3. I think it was quite a good ending to Kratos' story. I do wonder how they will explain the obvious between this game and God of War 2018.

I did wonder how they'd stretch out the ending of God of War 2 into a full blown sequel before Kratos finally got his revenge. I think the Kill Bill-esque nature of taking down the gods one by one satisfied that curiosity sufficiently.

I did get a little bored in the first few hours. I was kind of having a bad week anyway so I feel a bit bad if I bagged on the game too much for being boring. My favourite bit of the early part of the game was where you brutalise Poseidon but see it from his point of view.

I had a bit of a break and came back to it this week and made some good progress in the game which I interpreted as better pacing on the part of the developer. It was also quite interesting hearing so many famous voices in this game like Rip Torn and Kevin Sorbo.

Generally I quite enjoyed the act of brutalising the various gods in the game. They are so holier-than-thou and they really lord it over you. Quite appropriate I suppose for gods! But it was quite satisfying to knock them off their pedestals and put them in their place.

Next up are two prequels, Ghost of Sparta first which is set before this game and Ascension which I believe is set before the whole series. I'll probably knock out Ghost of Sparta next week some time and Ascension not too long after that. I might take a break though once I've finished the Ancient Greece era and before I move onto the Norse era.

Edit; oh yeah the other thing I liked were Hercules' gauntlets. The power glove item from Chains of Olympus was one of the best items in the whole series so I was glad to see something similar return for this installment!

@ralphdibny I honestly found the last couple of hours really boring too. 3 isn’t a great game which was only emphasised by me playing 2 immediately beforehand which actually is a fantastic game and stands up.

@nessisonett I had to re read my thoughts on GoW2 to refresh my memory. I feel a bit bad playing all the games and then coming here and being all negative about it 😅. At least I am making an informed opinion I suppose. I think the key thing I don't enjoy about the longer games is the pacing. The combat is just a bit too repetitive for a 9-12 hour game of which God of War 2 is the longest.

I think GoW 3 mixed it up a bit better. Also having the special moves attached to each weapon instead of being separate encouraged me to use more of my arsenal which broke it up a bit. I think I just used one weapon in some of the earlier games because it worked, was just a little boring.

I am looking forward to ghost of Sparta though because it's another 6-hourer

I can’t believe I’m realizing this so late as I’m probably halfway through or more (just got the chisel piece) — but I just noticed that even though I’ve been upgrading my combat moves, some of them are not functional because I don’t have the required attribute leveled up enough to take advantage of the new move. Some of the attribute requirements are very high. Maybe I’m just playing the game wrong, but I seem to not have very high attributes.