Topic: God of War OT

@AgentCooper I noticed you were on it earlier… hope that wee little baptism-of-fire in the deep underground hasn’t put you off too much and that you enjoy it even half as much as I did. The same for Days Gone… I can’t tell you how many times moments in that game crop up in my memory, such an underrated gem of a game!

@AgentCooper Rarity isn’t the main thing at all really. The shoulder guard looks loads better to me with a decent spread of stats at a decent level (I think if you press R3 or something similar it explains what each stat means). Both have one enchantment slot too.

The one thing the new piece of armour has in its favour is that it has room to be improved; the dots under the current level show one filled circle so it can be levelled up twice. But I suspect based on the base stats that it’s just defence that will increase each time.

In the grand scheme of things I don’t thing it makes a massive difference but it’s worth thinking about what stats favour your style. Are you going all in on strength and being more of a glass cannon, making defence and vitality (health) higher to give yourself more of a chance, or spreading things around a bit?

It looks like it’s the first game you’re playing so one thing to consider later in the game is that some combat abilities can only be used/unlocked with stats at a certain level but, again, that wasn’t a deal breaker for me at any point.

tl;dr I don’t think it makes a huge difference in the end really.

@AgentCooper The combat in both games is great as it can be really easy to use but also has some great depth to it, particularly when you unlock and use the stance changes (a move where you pause after an attack, Kratos changes stance and then had new attacks to use).

It just feels great to play too.

The method of unlocking moves by using them in Ragnarok I think works better but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with how it works in the first game.

Glad you’re having fun!

So the latest rumour is that Bluepoints current project is an adult Atreus-centred God of War spin off. Now there is nothing concrete to go on… but apparently some recently released concept art from Bluepoint has a character that looks suspiciously like a grown up Boy.

I’m a bit conflicted if true, as I’ve been crying out for a God of War: Ragnarok expandalone for the longest but part of that was due to it meaning an extra game from SSM that wouldn’t require a full production calendar (a la First Light, Lost Legacy, Miles Morales etc.). While if this report is actually true, it would take a full production and stop a separate dev team from releasing another game. On the other hand I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from being somewhat excited if confirmation were made. Interested to hear other people’s thoughts.

@colonelkilgore It's an interesting idea and the fact the studio helped with Ragnarok would certainly lend credence to it. This way the work wouldn't have just been about helping get that title finished but also about familiarising the studio with the game engine for this new project.
I agree with you about wanting more from that saga but it also meaning it ties up another studio for longer. However it might mean the rest of Santa Monica can help get Corey Barlog's next project out a lot sooner which I think is something to be excited about.

@Malaise yeah Atreus could get a bit annoying… as kids can be tbh 😅… but ultimately he was a pretty good character who served to make Kratos a significantly more well-rounded protagonist.

I’d be interested to hear why God of War is a series that doesn’t interest you at all?

@BearsEatBeets Yeah if it dies mean more man power for the long-mooted Barlow sci fi adventure, it’s no bad thing I guess. But I’ve no doubt SSM have already begun pre-prod on the next God of War arc too, so I have no idea how the studio would split resources. You’d have to think the majority of bodies would be thrown at the bankable franchise and a smaller team would be devoted to Corey’s passion project. Either way, I’ll play all three in that case 😁

@Malaise ahh that’s exactly what I was curious about, whether you’d played any of the rebooted games or not. I went straight into the series with 2018 as the older games never appealed to me neither. I ended up enjoying it so much that I went back and played them too though.

Well I hope Ragnarok gets some time on PS+ so that you can give it a go… it hit for me but am aware that it sits behind 2018 in some people’s reckoning. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the ride.

@colonelkilgore Depending on what stage Corey's project is I'm inclined to think they might put the weight of the studio behind it to get it done while a smaller team does pre-production on where they take GOW next.
Much like yourself and @Malaise I never had an interest in the serious until the Barlog reboot. It always looked like a button-mashing action game but I'm glad I gave the reboot a go as that and Ragnarok became among my favourite playstation studio games. It didn't me persuade to try the older titles though as I still feel they are likely to be quite different games to play.
I'm glad they are making something new next (especially led by Corey) and as much as I loved the last two GOW I hope they don't try and keep churning them out just because they were successful unless they feel they have lots of interesting ideas to keep it going.

@colonelkilgore I always felt BluePoint would be the studio to take on Bloodborne 2, since FromSoft is unlikely to devote themselves to it now that they are industry multiplatform rockstars. But a GoW spin off also makes some sense for them.

I still need to play Ragnarok. I finally purchased it recently when I found it cheap. So I might get to it late 2024 or early 2025.

@Th3solution yeah I was hoping their current project was something Bloodborne-related myself tbh. Maybe that’s the reason I’d be a bit disappointed if this current rumour were true.

@HallowMoonshadow I really ended up as a big fan of GoW 2018. I felt middling about the original games GoW1-3, but 3 was probably the best in my recollection. Still, my main complaint was Kratos, as you say - he just was a miserable person to deal with 😅. I think I’d be better able to tolerate his unadulterated anger and revenge now as an adult, but when I played the OG games I just couldn’t wrap my head around his personality. The sad dad version in 2018 is much more likable and empathetic in my experience, and the gameplay is rock solid. Overall just a great game. I have Ragnarok in the backlog and really need to get around to it.

@HallowMoonshadow @Th3solution pre-2018 Kratos is just as nuanced as the 2018 follow up, the ps2, psp and gow3+ascension tell a beautiful character arc that the 2018 game literally uses as its basis, don’t talk up the 2018 game so highly while disrespecting the games that it uses as basis >.>

@Yousef- As I said I do think that I wasn’t in the right mindset to grasp all of the original GoW narrative threads and I honestly remember very little about the story or even much about the character arc for Kratos. It was just my own memories of not particularly liking him as a protagonist. I probably wasn’t looking at the greater arc and just experiencing him as a perpetually angry man. And anger and revenge can be done fine, but I don’t remember feeling the balance of his redemption.

As an example, I felt the same way playing as Abby in TLoU2 initially. Over time I grew to see her side of things and her humanity and redemptive characteristics. I know Kratos eventually develops those same qualities but I didn’t really feel them until 2018. But again, it might be a “me” thing.

@HallowMoonshadow glad you’re enjoying it… one of my favourite games of all time. I still click on steamers’ opening sessions of the game, if and when they come up on my suggestions just to see their reactions. As someone for whom action adventure games are amongst my favourite genres… it’s elite in almost every regard.

@ColonelkilgoreThe animations in the game are so cool 😎. As is the combat.

@HollowMoonShadow Hm can also recomend you to play it as slowly as possible not stressing to much when playing the game. I think you will enjoy it much more if you play it like that. I would not set a hard deadline when to finish the game (even if it can be tempting to do so).

@oliverp it is it is… but also it’s the characterisation and performance of Kratos that just hits for me so hard. The stoicism and quiet strength he shows in the reboot just speak to me on so deep a level in relation to the main reasons why I love and respect my father and grandfather so much (while I might not always show it if I’m honest… which leaves me feeling somewhat ashamed). It’s the perfect rendition of tough-love… and it hits me so deeply in the feels.

@HallowMoonshadow Are you going to do all the Valkyrie fights and the Valkyrie Queen? I ended up enjoying those, although I had to take the difficulty down to easy.

How about Ragnarok, reckon you’ll jump into it anytime soon?

@HallowMoonshadow I was surprised that I ended up mopping up those post game bosses and getting the platinum. I usually don’t do that unless I’m really close to the platinum with the first playthrough. But for some reason GoW kept me engaged and the Valkyrie fights were a nice added bonus at the end. The Queen is particularly tough and beating her on normal difficulty is a true test, but on easy I think I was able to beat her in just a few tries.

I have Ragnarok in the backlog too. I just need to decide when the right time is. The PC port has stirred a little more buzz about the game so maybe I’ll succumb to internet peer pressure soon. There’s too many blasted games though!

Well well well. We can finally use this thread again.

I thought the new God of War game looked cool, so I immediately bought it. So far it's alright and reminds me of both Super Metroid and that Prince of Persia The Lost Crown game. I guess that's a good sign.

I really dig the art style, though. That's probably an unpopular opinion!