I'm playing through the new God of War, and so far, it's living up to the hype.
Also, it's less an improvement on the God of War formula than the upgraded sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow we all deserved. Great combat, fantastic visuals, and genuinely fun Metroidvania puzzles.
cc: foolio
I'm playing through the new God of War, and so far, it's living up to the hype.
Also, it's less an improvement on the God of War formula than the upgraded sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow we all deserved. Great combat, fantastic visuals, and genuinely fun Metroidvania puzzles.
cc: foolio
Yeah, I'm already playing it. It's pretty good. I do have some issues with it, but I'm having fun.
Only significant issues for me right now are that the camera is not super-responsive in group-fights and the fast-travel is not unlocking with any rapidity, though it makes sense why it's not.
I also have no idea how far into the game I am, but there was just a very significant shift that was pretty incredible. Think the game actually deserves all the GotY hype it's getting.
minor/vague/not-even-really GoW spoilers:
! I love that despite the revamped/improved everything, there's still some goofy-as-shit moments where you accomplished one major goal and a character is like "nope actually now you have to travel deep into the realm of screwdrivers to get the magical legendary Philips Head" and you go through hell and back (sometimes literally) to do that, and the tool then allows you to unlock some mundane blue doors all around the world. That's mostly just standard metroidvania'ing, but the GoW coat of paint makes it so dramaaaatic.
Anyway yeah I'm enjoying it! The writing +acting especially, weirdly enough. Very organic and often funny.
Combat is…what it is. I know I'm not making proper use of the full range of mechanics.
Some of the optional encounters with purple level 7's seem brutally unfair, but I guess the point is you either git gud, or you run away and come back later, better equipped.
@CCC:
Anyway yeah I'm enjoying it! The writing +acting especially, weirdly enough. Very organic and often funny.
This has been a pleasant surprise for me as well. It's interesting that the storyline works in large part just because of what a terrible caricature of a character Kratos had become over the course of the series (and he started off pretty bad as it was). Like, his being a complete garbage hero in GoW3 really gives his arc in this one some meat.
Combat is…what it is. I know I'm not making proper use of the full range of mechanics.
Some of the optional encounters with purple level 7's seem brutally unfair, but I guess the point is you either git gud, or you run away and come back later, better equipped.
Yeeaaaah, this one has me falling into an old GoW trap of just using the same combos instead of learning the rest, and a lot of the customization falls a bit flat. But there are some nice tweaks over the course of the game that open things up a bit.
And the rifts are some of my favorite fights. I've given up on some, but some have basically been tiny optional bossfights and have felt pretty satisfying.
While I don't think it's an outstanding story, it still is pretty good. Have to agree with tatermoog in that the previous games help make Kratos's story arc and interactions in this game work pretty well. Overall, I love being able to explore various parts of Norse mythology and learn about parts of it. Every time I get to a new area I have to take time to just appreciate the details put in the world.
Combat is fun, but I definitely have a long way to go with mastering it. I was a crazy person and I've been playing on Hard mode the whole time (not God of War mode, the second highest difficulty), and the game was really hard at the beginning. I had regular mobs killing me multiple times, and the trek to get to the Lake of Nines took me hours because of that. After that though only some encounters have been hard, and that's some of the optional stuff (Fafnir's storeroom really kicked me around for a while). Despite some of the difficult encounters early on, I enjoy all the fights as while a more slower pace and being more deliberate with your attacks, it still has that brutal feeling of when you take down enemies.
Not sure how much left I have in the game, but I assume I'm in the second half of the game. My current mission at this time is…
! getting the chisel tip. Just broke through the ice and looks like I'm about to get into a fight
@The:
Not sure how much left I have in the game, but I assume I'm in the second half of the game. My current mission at this time is…
! getting the chisel tip. Just broke through the ice and looks like I'm about to get into a fight
I keep thinking I'm in the last part of the game and I'm not. I'm a few hours past you and still feeling the same.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
Same. Feels like there've been about three "surely this is the end!" moments so far, and then…nope!
To anyone considering GoW, I highly recommend avoiding all story spoilers, for just that reason.
I keep thinking I'm in the last part of the game and I'm not. I'm a few hours past you and still feeling the same.
Just finished that little story part, and I have no clue where I am in the story, and I feel like there is still a good ways to go. Doing a lot of the extra content definitely helps stretch it out. Can finally start going into those sealed tombs, but unfortunately there's no way for me to find the discovered ones on the map. Though going into one, those might be more end game because I got slaughtered and just left.
I can at least guess that there's at least one more area before the final if only because
! I can't do anything about those blue branches, as well as those eye looking things.
@The:
I can at least guess that there's at least one more area before the final if only because
! I can't do anything about those blue branches, as well as those eye looking things.
! Judging from some very soon-to-happen events, I actually think that's closer to the halfway point. I may be wrong, but, well, we'll see.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
@CCC:
Some of the optional encounters with purple level 7's seem brutally unfair, but I guess the point is you either git gud, or you run away and come back later, better equipped.
I feel you, but trust me, they get more tolerable if you come back with better stats. Also, Atreus becomes more useful and also essential as you go through the game. Get ready to start spamming Square (or R2 depending on your control scheme, I chose classic because using shoulder buttons for your main attacks is just weird) against certain enemies while constantly dodging their attacks and relying on him for crowd control.
Minor combat spoilers:
! Those Shock Arrows are a godsend. Before that, Atreus is only useful for diverting the attention of enemies. Shock Arrows can be upgraded to electrify multiple foes simultaneously and chip out decent amounts of damage over time. His Rune Attacks (specifically the ones that have flying creatures) are useful too since they act like recurring homing missiles.
! Defeating Wulvers (basically magma werewolves) are literally IMPOSSIBLE without Atreus' Shock Arrows because they will dodge your Leviathan Axe throws.
Spoiler:
"Life's not about finding out which card is yours, but finding out which cards you're not."
! Judging from some very soon-to-happen events, I actually think that's closer to the halfway point. I may be wrong, but, well, we'll see.
! Funny thing, is I can believe that. For some reason a video on my feed was all the God of War cutscenes, and it was long, and all things considered if that video was only main storyline stuff then that says everything. There's also the fact that the game was very slow getting you to fight Gods. You fought Baldur near the beginning, but then it's a long time before you fight any others. We've been hearing a lot about both Thor and Odin but neither have shown up yet.
@The:
! Funny thing, is I can believe that. For some reason a video on my feed was all the God of War cutscenes, and it was long, and all things considered if that video was only main storyline stuff then that says everything. There's also the fact that the game was very slow getting you to fight Gods. You fought Baldur near the beginning, but then it's a long time before you fight any others. We've been hearing a lot about both Thor and Odin but neither have shown up yet.
! I haven't beaten the game yet, but I have feeling that Thor and Odin won't show up in this game. Mainly because three realms seem to be permanently closed off in the Yggdrasil portal room by Odin, most notably including Asgard. Which I am interpreting as a big "STAY TUNED FOR THE SEQUEL" neon sign. Baldur's walking around with Thor's two sons too, who I assume will be somewhat similar to Thor in how they fight. So it seems redundant to throw in a Thor boss fight on top of that.
! I like this approach because it's giving more gravitas to encountering the gods. Which helps the story become more dynamic for Kratos' character development and the supporting cast since all of the previous games int he Greek pantheon treated most of the gods and notable figures like check marks on a grocery list rather than being interesting characters with some semblance of depth.
! Odin seems to be as much of a megalomaniacal scumbag as Zeus was and Thor sounds like an easily provoked murder machine. The stories about them are amusing, but they don't sound too interesting right now. But I hope they're memorable characters if they're being hyped up this much though. I am assuming Baldur is the final boss since his death in Norse mythology kicks off Ragnarok, and I've barely seen him in the game so far if I'm right about the journey to the chisel being around the halfway point.
@Count:
I feel you, but trust me, they get more tolerable if you come back with better stats. Also, Atreus becomes more useful and also essential as you go through the game. Get ready to start spamming Square (or R2 depending on your control scheme, I chose classic because using shoulder buttons for your main attacks is just weird) against certain enemies while constantly dodging their attacks and relying on him for crowd control.
Minor combat spoilers:
! Those Shock Arrows are a godsend. Before that, Atreus is only useful for diverting the attention of enemies. Shock Arrows can be upgraded to electrify multiple foes simultaneously and chip out decent amounts of damage over time. His Rune Attacks (specifically the ones that have flying creatures) are useful too since they act like recurring homing missiles.
! Defeating Wulvers (basically magma werewolves) are literally IMPOSSIBLE without Atreus' Shock Arrows because they will dodge your Leviathan Axe throws.
Yeah no I'm almost at endgame (I think?) and still suck pretty hard haha.
I'm used to constantly using Atreus for arrows and summons and stuff but I've barely touched Runic attacks or anything remotely in-depth/technical about the combo system.
The 8 you-know-whats are destroying me and I can't get past level2-hard of the arena, so next stop is a certain realm to get a certain armor that'll serve as a crutch in the meantime 
@CCC:
Yeah no I'm almost at endgame (I think?) and still suck pretty hard haha.
I'm used to constantly using Atreus for arrows and summons and stuff but I've barely touched Runic attacks or anything remotely in-depth/technical about the combo system.
The 8 you-know-whats are destroying me and I can't get past level2-hard of the arena, so next stop is a certain realm to get a certain armor that'll serve as a crutch in the meantime
I'm with you on not caring about the Runic Attacks. I only use them when I am desperate for damage and distance when I'm low on health. And I'm not good at learning complex combos in any game lol.
You're struggling at Level 2 of the arena? Either you need better armor/enchantments or you need to practice dodging more. I cleared the first three levels fairly easily. There are five levels and only the fourth and fifth ones were total pains in the ass for me. Beware, Level 4 Normal has you clear 100 enemies in a row, so have a Superior Runic Stone ready. And one of the eight can be found after Level 5.
The eight though… I think I'll leave them be until I finally get the you-know-whats. I've spent most of my time doing as much exploration as I can then focusing on the story.
Spoiler:
"Life's not about finding out which card is yours, but finding out which cards you're not."
Just beat the game, and that ending!!! Also please do use those runic attacks, especially against many of the bosses, they act as a chunk of offense and keep you from getting hit. I've used them for damage, and sometimes just to get to a green healing stone. A few of them are really OP as well. Loved the game, though, and can't wait for the next one. I enjoyed the original trilogy immensely when they came out, but this is definitely what was needed today and it would be hard to go back to those games.
Finished the game and I have many questions. But overall, it was a great ride, and I'm suddenly engaged in a series that was pretty much dead to me. Who knew?
Seriously, I don't recommend playing them again, but the fact that this game came from a series that produced GoW2 and 3 is almost a metaphor in and of itself for the maturing of video games in general and why it's not a bad thing at all.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
Finished the game and I have many questions. But overall, it was a great ride, and I'm suddenly engaged in a series that was pretty much dead to me. Who knew?
Seriously, I don't recommend playing them again, but the fact that this game came from a series that produced GoW2 and 3 is almost a metaphor in and of itself for the maturing of video games in general and why it's not a bad thing at all.
Kratos in this game is almost built off of the mindset that he was a completely horrible character in previous games.
Character aside, I don't remember GoW3 being that bad, fun-factor wise. Great set pieces too.
…The other games almost always felt like slogs though and in retrospect I'm not sure why I forced myself through them. Repetitive combat, boring puzzles, zero exploration...
Re: this one
! Just killed Baldur, which I assume means the end is in sight?
Combat-wise, I managed to git gud with a little help from Niflheim's Mist Armor, which represented a huge stat boost (plus, proper use of runic attacks + rage management + Boy). The valkyries became manageable, though the queen still took two hours of pattern-learning and reflex-polishing, last night. Easily the Dark Souls of GoW bosses.
Niflheim realm tear with three Revenants can fuck off.
Finished everything in Muspelheim except!- Stage 1: Impossible, which is a "don't get hit even once" challenge that throws an Ancient and Wulvers and trash mobs at you simultaneously and I am never going to beat that one.
Not feeling too inspired to hunt down the remaining ravens and artifacts. We'll see.
@CCC:
Character aside, I don't remember GoW3 being that bad, fun-factor wise. Great set pieces too.
It was great fun, but it was also the first time the complete grotesque nature of the main character threw me so hard. He's got no redeeming qualities and there's some downright rape-y stuff, and there's no sense the game thought of it as anything other than "cool."
Again, as Purple Hermit said, this game is almost entirely responding to that one and what it represented. Think the main motif of the game is "be better," and there's some neat meta- qualities to that as well.
! Just killed Baldur, which I assume means the end is in sight?
Combat-wise, I managed to git gud with a little help from Niflheim's Mist Armor, which represented a huge stat boost (plus, proper use of runic attacks + rage management + Boy). The valkyries became manageable, though the queen still took two hours of pattern-learning and reflex-polishing, last night. Easily the Dark Souls of GoW bosses.
Niflheim realm tear with three Revenants can fuck off.
Finished everything in Muspelheim except!- Stage 1: Impossible, which is a "don't get hit even once" challenge that throws an Ancient and Wulvers and trash mobs at you simultaneously and I am never going to beat that one.
Not feeling too inspired to hunt down the remaining ravens and artifacts. We'll see.
You're pretty close to the end, but there's still a decent amount of platforming left. Ending is a little…unique. Also:
! I will admit to finally downgrading the difficulty to "easy" before the queen. I can't stand long fights with a "one slip and you're screwed" aspect to them outside of the Souls games.
So I finished the game Saturday and had some time to think over my experience of the game. Overall I loved the game, with the combat being pretty fun and challenging. I played on hard through the entire story, and only went to easy to grind out the optional area where going through on Hard made it take so much longer. My favorite experience was coming across a high level traveler and taking it down by learning its pattern and coming up with the best way to take it on. One hit on me was an instant death. Bosses were an epic affair, but outside the first big encounter and one other boss early on I came out on top my first try. I think doing all the side stuff before each story part made that easier. All in all, it did have that God of War feel especially with the take down attacks.
The world they made with the Norse mythology, whether it was each areas environment or the bits and pieces of lore scattered through the game really made it feel alive. Each new area always had spots I had to just stop and appreciate. As far as the relationship of Kratos and the Boy, it was done really well and I loved the development of both of them. The very end of the journey I felt was really well done after everything they went through.
All in all, a very solid game where I can't really find much fault with it. I can't put it in my favorite games category, because it just lacked something that keeps me gravitated towards games like Persona 4 and 5, Super Metroid, or Trails in the Sky. Still, a solid effort and a game that if it gets game of the year I can get behind that.
One low-key (A LITTLE NORSE HUMOR FOR YOU THERE) highlight of the game was Mimir. Almost strictly there to add lore and color, and done so well.
I loved that guy. Any time he gave a story while on the boat I would wait to beach until he finished because the lore was interesting and at time humerous.
@The:
I loved that guy. Any time he gave a story while on the boat I would wait to beach until he finished because the lore was interesting and at time humerous.
When I was in elementary school, there was a big illustrated book of Norse Mythology that I'd check out pretty often. A lot of those stories were in there, my memories of them buried deep in my sub-conscious.
Looking back, very weird I was into that stuff when I was young. Pretty dark stuff.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
When I was in elementary school, there was a big illustrated book of Norse Mythology that I'd check out pretty often. A lot of those stories were in there, my memories of them buried deep in my sub-conscious.
Looking back, very weird I was into that stuff when I was young. Pretty dark stuff.
Norse mythology is one of those interesting things (like many mythologies I guess) where there are multiple versions of everything, and they can wildly vary depending on the source. A lot of the original myths were mainly told through collections of often-random poetry, which I'm pretty sure wasn't even internally consistent all the time, but then much later got compiled into a prose re-interpretation that became more or less a canon. Anyway the point is it's pretty easy to make it as light or dark as you want, and usually not too bad for kids. In the same vein that they teach Greek mythology to kids but don't say "and then Zeus got bored so he raped a bunch of women." GoW basically takes the darkest interpretations and then makes them 10 times worse, as they pertain to the actual game events lol.
Anyway I still haven't had time to finish the game for various reasons (my random guess is I'm like halfway through), but I'd say my biggest real issue is exploration and side-content. The actual story is pretty great, and if all you do is follow the main objective as a narrative and cinematic experience, I think it's super solid. But everything else is… not. There's a lot of problems. First of all, every damn side area (per realm) looks and feels the same, to the point that I literally can't tell them apart or if I've already been somewhere sometimes, and if I'm looking at my map to pick a warp point I usually have no clue what each location actually is. The lake is actually a pretty shitty hub, and it's made exponentially worse by the fact that the central area re-orients itself multiple times and that the water level keeps dropping (which, by the way, also makes it feel tedious as fuck to re-explore every single little beach to see what new things you can do).
There are also too many things you can't initially do. "Oh I found this cool hidden area, but I can't open this door, or read these runes, and I'm missing one random cipher piece, and oh there's some glowy thing I clearly can't interact with yet." I don't normally mind that kind of stuff in a general sense, especially in games like Zelda, but I think the main difference here is the aforementioned blurring and blending of all these little side areas so that I'm never really going to remember where a particular thing is later, coupled with the quantity of them and the fact that it genuinely feels tedious a lot of the time to trek back through an environment. I spent like 40 minutes beating a level 6 enemy that would one-shot me just because I didn't want to have to climb way the hell back there later.
And that brings me to the last thing about exploring, which is that the difficulty of areas and enemies feels super arbitrary. There's no real indication beforehand or pattern to it. One minute you're killing easy enemies, and then 10 feet away oh hey a horde of overpowered HP sponges. Level indicators don't even help that much because sometimes a level 7 enemy is a joke and may not even have that much health but then hey this level 5 recycled old boss is actually annoying as hell. What's that? He wasn't annoying enough? Okay here deal with a couple overleveled wulvers at the same time. And the rewards don't feel proportional, either. Not getting jack shit after a really hard fight is just a lame feeling and makes me wonder why I bother exploring instead of just coming back at the end of the game when I'm presumably going to be stronger.
On a mostly-unrelated note, I'm suffering from that RPG thing of being afraid to waste upgrade materials. I feel like the important resources are actually super scarce, so I'm never going to upgrade my mediocre armor when I assume I'm going to find better stuff soon. Same with the axe pommel or even upgrading runic attacks etc. It's something I don't feel like I should have to worry about; it detracts from my experience.
I finished it today. Without spoiling, the dialog was awesome and kept me entertained the whole way through, but the small number of unique enemies repeated over and over (even as bosses) left the otherwise gorgeous game feeling cheap and unfinished.
I finished it today. Without spoiling, the dialog was awesome and kept me entertained the whole way through, but the small number of unique enemies repeated over and over (even as bosses) left the otherwise gorgeous game feeling cheap and unfinished.
This is probably my biggest critique as well. There are few unique boss fights, so there's just not a lot of increased challenge except for the optionals (which also end up recycling). I wouldn't go so far as to say it made the game feel unfinished; more that there's too much content in terms of exploration that isn't matched by the diversity within that exploration. They probably could have stripped about five hours out of the game and had a more coherent package.
Still loved it.
The most important boss fight was fatherhood
@Purple:
The most important boss fight was fatherhood
! Loved the part where he tore off the top of fatherhood's head and shit down its neck. Zeus would be proud.
You guys didn't like the boss battles? Really?
I thought they were simply amazing that really tested your grasp of the mechanics. It was also refreshing to fight an NPC that is your size instead of the generic big aggressive boss that many recent action titles tend to have (looking at you Bloodborne and FFXV).
You guys didn't like the boss battles? Really?
I thought they were simply amazing that really tested your grasp of the mechanics. It was also refreshing to fight an NPC that is your size instead of the generic big aggressive boss that many recent action titles tend to have (looking at you Bloodborne and FFXV).
Looking from purely gameplay I have seen Baldur as the first and last Boss was really good and even though they weren't that big shots Magni and Modi didn't disappoint me at all.
Obviously the Dragon has the same problem with the likes of GOW 3 being poor on the gameplay aspect but always exceeding in scale and great finisher.
Don't know if I should count Trolls, Ogres and the likes as Bosses?
Nah I would rather say they fit in the mini Boss category.
I was mainly talking about
! the battles against the valkyries which are the hardest battles in the entire game.
Baldur's fight was amazing and probably one of the best boss battles I have seen in recent action titles.
Overall the battles in this game were much much better in terms of gameplay scenario compare to the shitty big-bosses in pretty much every modern action title.
Valkyries annoyed me at first because they seemed like an (optional) gear check. I gained access to them around level…4? I think? and just got obliterated. Like sure, I could have conceivably gitted gud at that point but it felt like the game wanted me to move on with the main quest and leave them for later.
They were a lot of fun, however, once I went through Muspel + Nifl and got those rewards. Felt much more fair.
And Sigrund was incredible! At least on normal difficulty (didn't play any others). Actually being forced to learn the complete moveset and polish my reflexes came with the same eventual satisfaction as some of the best soulsbornenioh bosses, which isn't a common experience imo.
...Other bosses were admittedly boring/forgettable (Balder didn't do anything for me).
I mean some of the bosses are pretty cool.
I think the biggest complaint people have been throwing around is the fact that a lot of side bosses and a few of the main quest bosses are reskins where you have to fight troll #243
I liked the side bosses and wish I could go back and fight more of them. The Grendel brothers were a highlight, but I think the game was more God of War 1, in which there were only 3 real bosses, but they were all pretty epic in scope, than 2 or 3, where there were loads of varying quality. It works for me, but I can agree in that I hope they up the ante in the next game. I think Modi, Magni, and Baldur are among the best fights in the series though. (best is Zeus in 2 or 3, for me)
So, super late but I finally finished the game this week. I stick by all my earlier impressions. The main story is a solid cinematic experience with excellent art, writing, and direction. Although I did not like the latter part of the story so much.
It falls apart for me in terms of exploration though. It's just poorly planned/balanced, and honestly punishes players who try to do any exploration during the game, especially early but really anytime before post-game. This is especially true since after beating the game it literally goes and marks your map with all the stuff you have left. Gee, thanks. That would have been useful the last 20 hours. The sidequests are boring, too, except freeing the dragons. Muspelheim was sometimes fun, but stuff like "defeat 100 enemies" is just a slog. Thank Odin I beat it on my first try. Niflheim was a massive disappointment. Aside from the fact that the game misleads you into thinking you can unlock it way earlier than you can by letting you collect 3 of the 4 cipher pieces, I was really sad to find it's nothing more than a randomly-generated material grindfest.
I'm glad I played it, but I'm not going for any type of completion. I came across 2 Valkyries while playing the game but they would basically 2- or 3-shot me and I didn't have that type of patience. When I finally beat the game my equipment level was still 4, which I'm reading is pretty low, and I feel no motivation to grind out better gear and then seek them all out. Maybe I'd enjoy the fights, but I dunno. Couldn't be worse than the main game "bosses" though, which are not only fairly easy but also generally unremarkable in any way. The final boss fight was cool, but that should have been the baseline for all boss fights in terms of scale. And what's with not getting to fight like… anyone? I kind of miss that part from GoW3 (the only previous entry I played).
Couldn't be worse than the main game "bosses" though, which are not only fairly easy but also generally unremarkable in any way.
For what it's worth, the Valkyrie queen blew away every other boss fight, which all felt like babby's first button-mash in comparison (dragon was okay, but kind of zelda-easy). It was as deeply satisfying as the best Souls bosses once getting into the groove, when it turns into a comprehensive dance involving every element of the combat mechanics and every gimmick of the previous valkyries, combined in one.
The "problem" as it were is that I needed to grind 3-4 hours for the Niflheim armor set to even stand a chance against the lesser valkyries (I think I was level 6 when I started beating them?) so they make you work for that sweet reward of getting your ass beat.
I don't play GoW, and have nothing against it, but this is hilarious:
@CCC:
For what it's worth, the Valkyrie queen blew away every other boss fight, which all felt like babby's first button-mash in comparison (dragon was okay, but kind of zelda-easy). It was as deeply satisfying as the best Souls bosses once getting into the groove, when it turns into a comprehensive dance involving every element of the combat mechanics and every gimmick of the previous valkyries, combined in one.
The "problem" as it were is that I needed to grind 3-4 hours for the Niflheim armor set to even stand a chance against the lesser valkyries (I think I was level 6 when I started beating them?) so they make you work for that sweet reward of getting your ass beat.
Lmao I did the niflheim valkyrie last and only grinded armor so I could have more time to fight the Niflheim valkyrie
…your plan makes much more sense, but ah well, still got it done.
@CCC:
For what it's worth, the Valkyrie queen blew away every other boss fight, which all felt like babby's first button-mash in comparison (dragon was okay, but kind of zelda-easy). It was as deeply satisfying as the best Souls bosses once getting into the groove, when it turns into a comprehensive dance involving every element of the combat mechanics and every gimmick of the previous valkyries, combined in one.
The "problem" as it were is that I needed to grind 3-4 hours for the Niflheim armor set to even stand a chance against the lesser valkyries (I think I was level 6 when I started beating them?) so they make you work for that sweet reward of getting your ass beat.
Yeah, it's really the grind that's got me completely turned off. I have tons of other things to play and watch so wasting any significant amount of time just grinding so I can do the interesting part is not likely to happen. Kind of a shame.
The dragon was a kind of cool set piece but the fight was teased and hyped for so long that I was pretty disappointed in how easy and repetitive it was.
Took me a while to get to God of War due to exams, but I finally finished it.
First of all, I chose the second-to-last difficulty setting. I regret not choosing Give Me God of War. Sure, it was difficult at times, but the fault was on me. Impatience in all. It wasn't really difficult, but perhaps that was because I did pretty much everything the side-quests had to offer so I was adequately strong, and having Atreus maxed out is a pretty bit help. If you want to play at that difficulty setting, doing side-quest is advised.
Beat 7/8 of the valkyries as well. They were hard, but, you really just have to look for patterns. One of them I beat without even using any rage. They are the only bosses in which I was glad I didn't pick the hardest difficult setting.
Beat the flaming challenges as well, whatever they are called. Not the impossible ones though, not yet.
Yes, enemies were repetetive. But I didn't really care. When all else is so good, the negatives kind of get drowned in the positives. Loved the story. It wasn't big or epic as the previous god of war, but it was subtle, and had enough emotion and Naughty-Dog like dialogue during non-story elements to liven the mood.
If there's a sequel I think they'll be able to do a lot more in terms of enemy variety and such. The groundwork for their combat system and all that is already done.
Took me a while to get to God of War due to exams, but I finally finished it.
First of all, I chose the second-to-last difficulty setting. I regret not choosing Give Me God of War. Sure, it was difficult at times, but the fault was on me. Impatience in all. It wasn't really difficult, but perhaps that was because I did pretty much everything the side-quests had to offer so I was adequately strong, and having Atreus maxed out is a pretty bit help. If you want to play at that difficulty setting, doing side-quest is advised.
Beat 7/8 of the valkyries as well. They were hard, but, you really just have to look for patterns. One of them I beat without even using any rage. They are the only bosses in which I was glad I didn't pick the hardest difficult setting.
Beat the flaming challenges as well, whatever they are called. Not the impossible ones though, not yet.
Yes, enemies were repetetive. But I didn't really care. When all else is so good, the negatives kind of get drowned in the positives. Loved the story. It wasn't big or epic as the previous god of war, but it was subtle, and had enough emotion and Naughty-Dog like dialogue during non-story elements to liven the mood.
If there's a sequel I think they'll be able to do a lot more in terms of enemy variety and such. The groundwork for their combat system and all that is already done.
You are sorry for not choosing God of War difficulty ? Yeah.. sure. I want to see proof of you finishing it in future. Jump in difficulty is Gigantic and I am sure you did not even tried it yet.
The GoW difficulty is not otherworldly or something. The game is still very beatable once you get accustomed to dodging and learning what you can get away with and what you can't. This game was one of the best single player experiences for me btw. Loved it.
You are sorry for not choosing God of War difficulty ? Yeah.. sure. I want to see proof of you finishing it in future. Jump in difficulty is Gigantic and I am sure you did not even tried it yet.
No I have not tried it, but I did not found the other difficulty that difficult either (exception being the Valkeryes, but I know their movements now so that'a okay)- I did pretty much do all the side-quest and found every collectable, and if that farming/gearing up is what is required to beat God of War difficulty, I'm unlikely to do that again.
I'll probably start and play the first hour or so, just to check it out.
I beat most games on the hardest difficult so I don't expect this to be, like the poster above said, otherworldly or anything.
No I have not tried it, but I did not found the other difficulty that difficult either (exception being the Valkeryes, but I know their movements now so that'a okay)- I did pretty much do all the side-quest and found every collectable, and if that farming/gearing up is what is required to beat God of War difficulty, I'm unlikely to do that again.
I'll probably start and play the first hour or so, just to check it out.
I beat most games on the hardest difficult so I don't expect this to be, like the poster above said, otherworldly or anything.
In my opinion it is Extremely difficult on hardest.. and I finished Souls Games and Bloodborne with all bosses including dlc. God of war on hardest is HARD. Share your inpressions when you will play it.
Been a long time since I've 100% a game, but I finally got the platinum.
I tried my hand at the Valkerye Queen, and I don't recall but I'm pretty sure her health bar was a different color. Went to Nilfheim, bought every chest, bought the best armor and every upgrade I could with the Mist Echoes, upgraded my axe to level 6 and then went and killed her. It did take me quite a few tries to down her, but I wouldn't say she was tough - I was just being impatient. After I drained her to 50% I would get sloppy and try to finish the fight a little to quickly, getting careless.
In my opinion it is Extremely difficult on hardest.. and I finished Souls Games and Bloodborne with all bosses including dlc. God of war on hardest is HARD. Share your inpressions when you will play it.
Not sure I'll attempt it at this point. I've had my fill of GoW. Dunno.
EDIT: I have the God of War difficulty a short actually. Just the first battle encounter though. Health bar seems shorter, I think. 3 hits and I'm dead. Having beat the entire game, yes, I can certainly beat the game on this difficulty (beating a few of the valkyries or Mespelheim challenges would require some alcohol though). Just have to be more careful and patient. Parry a lot. I did most of everything before I be the main story, so I was strong, and I was certainly careless a lot, but that's because I was powered up enough that I could afford to be careless.
If there was a trophy for it I'd do it, just a simple story run, but otherwise, I'm done 
Been a long time since I've 100% a game, but I finally got the platinum.
I tried my hand at the Valkerye Queen, and I don't recall but I'm pretty sure her health bar was a different color. Went to Nilfheim, bought every chest, bought the best armor and every upgrade I could with the Mist Echoes, upgraded my axe to level 6 and then went and killed her. It did take me quite a few tries to down her, but I wouldn't say she was tough - I was just being impatient. After I drained her to 50% I would get sloppy and try to finish the fight a little to quickly, getting careless.
Not sure I'll attempt it at this point. I've had my fill of GoW. Dunno.
EDIT: I have the God of War difficulty a short actually. Just the first battle encounter though. Health bar seems shorter, I think. 3 hits and I'm dead. Having beat the entire game, yes, I can certainly beat the game on this difficulty (beating a few of the valkyries or Mespelheim challenges would require some alcohol though). Just have to be more careful and patient. Parry a lot. I did most of everything before I be the main story, so I was strong, and I was certainly careless a lot, but that's because I was powered up enough that I could afford to be careless.
If there was a trophy for it I'd do it, just a simple story run, but otherwise, I'm done
Have you tried it clean or with new game plus ?
Also enemies transforming after few moments are my main issue with finishing game on this difficulty.. It gets insane if you do not have 100% control of every second of each fight later on.
Have you tried it clean or with new game plus ?
Also enemies transforming after few moments are my main issue with finishing game on this difficulty.. It gets insane if you do not have 100% control of every second of each fight later on.
There is no new game plus as far as I’m aware. Wouldn’t be a point in it since I havent even beaten the hardest difficulty.
So you have not beat the game yet? i.e the main story story.
There is no new game plus as far as I’m aware. Wouldn’t be a point in it since I havent even beaten the hardest difficulty.
So you have not beat the game yet? i.e the main story story.
Sure I did but it was really really hard on hard and jump to give me god of war was too big for me to go into full new playthrough.. I sold it after beating and seen news on new game plus lately, I thought it was already out.
