God Of War Ragnarök - PS4/PS5

johnny_ultimate · 10-11-2022 1:24am

Only got a chance to play the first 45 minutes (up til the bear fight) and don’t really have much to say about the game so far other than it seems like a very… unhurried opening.

I will say though, I’d be very happy indeed if more games aimed for this level of console performance. The high frame rate mode is impeccable with VRR, and frankly I can barely tell the difference between native 1440p and 4K (especially with HDR on). It’s very much a cross-gen game so it’s not exactly the absolute cutting edge graphically… but a game with this kind of high fidelity running at 100-odd FPS is as close to PC-quality as any console release has been recently.

Zero-Cool · 10-11-2022 1:39pm

Really enjoyed the 1st game but didn't get the absolute love for it that other people got. However, serious feeling of FOMO with this and very tempted to pick it up before getting story spoiled. Worst case scenario, I'm finished with it in a month and trade in due Crisis Core.

Potential-Monke · 10-11-2022 10:36pm

I got to put about 5-6 hours into this last night. It's more of the extremely well polished and fantastic looking same, just bigger in scale and with some new moves/enemies. That's not a bad thing. I wanted more when I finished the 2018 one, and they have delivered. Can't wait to explore everywhere and find all the secrets. Some unexpected turns already and still scratching the surface. Can't play it tonight because stupid work, but have the entire weekend hopefully just for this. And not a single bug yet. This is how games should release.

recyclops · 11-11-2022 12:16am

As most have said its pretty much the same as 2018, which is fine.

What is surprising is if they are making such a similar game why aren't they jazzing it up with all the Ps5 gimmicks. All that dual sense malarkey they harped on about at least that could have made it feel slightly new.

SuperBowserWorld · 11-11-2022 12:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859861#Comment_119859861

Supposed to run very well on PS4 and PS4 pro too according to digital foundry. Great work by the dev team and Sony have a killer app again. MS probably weeping into all that cash they just can't seem to back the right horse on.

shrewdness · 11-11-2022 10:25am

Put about 8 hours in so far. It being more of the same of 2018 isn't exactly wrong, but I'm not sure that properly describes the improvements either. It's better in basically every single area than 2018, and incredibly polished. The combat is the same but upgraded a bit sure, that's probably the most similar thing. But stuff like enemy variety is hugely improved, and even early on, the story appears to be going places the 2018 game didn't come close to (which some complained wasn't as "epic" as the original games). Also one or two sections so far that threw a curveball compared to what we're used to from the last game, but a welcome one.

Feels like I've barely scratched the surface but it's already clear the scale of the game - I was finishing up a story mission in one of the realms when a door opened to another big area of that realm with exploration, side quest etc. All completely optional by the looks of it. Only half done one side quest at this stage as I've been focusing on story up to this point, but I saw one reviewer say the side quests are some of the best he's played in games, so that's encouraging.

recyclops · 11-11-2022 1:23pm

Yeah I wont be coming away from it feeling short changed as I didn't with the first, I say I had hype it up in my head that it would be a big leap, I need to stop doing that for cross gen games and pretty much games in general.

shrewdness · 11-11-2022 2:32pm

Yeah it's near impossible to match that new feeling of GOW 2018, given that that was a completely new style and direction for the series, and it came as such a surprise. So while this greatly expands and refines that, it just can't have the "wow" factor in that same way, in terms of how the game plays at least.

Grumpypants · 13-11-2022 9:19am

It's got the Empire strikes back problem. It's way better, but you can't recapture that first holy **** this is cool moment you get with something new.

J. Marston · 13-11-2022 4:30pm

Given all the accessibility settings they put in the game, it's a bit annoying that they didn't put one in to shut your companions up concerning puzzles.

After 10 seconds, they start "hinting" at the solution. Either...

I know the solution and I'm just looking around for loot etc.
Or if I don't know the solution, I still don't want bwaby's fiwst puzzy-wuzzy hand holding nonsense. I want to solve it myself.

BenK · 13-11-2022 10:28pm

As someone who hasn't played the first one, would people recommend playing that before this one or just jumping straight into this one seeing as they appear to be very similar, just the second one does things a bit better?

johnny_ultimate · 13-11-2022 11:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119870781#Comment_119870781

It’s akin to a second season of a TV show. It’s a very direct continuation of a story already told and mechanics already introduced. I would definitely recommend playing the first game first for that reason, just maybe with a gap between them as they’re quite long games.

Sephiroth_dude · 14-11-2022 12:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119870781#Comment_119870781

Don't skip the first one, its fantastic.

Potential-Monke · 14-11-2022 7:15am

I'd say the first game is a requirement, or at least watching a full recap. There's a good but in it that won't be clear in Ragnarök.

About 18 hours in and its just non stop. There's always something happening. The side quests are interesting and rewarding. Tye sheer scale of the story so far is immense and so much to go. Fantastic so far.

Grumpypants · 14-11-2022 8:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119870781#Comment_119870781

Since it's free on PS+ Collection there really isn't any reason not to play it other than time. Even then, if you stick it on story mode and whizz through it.

A few times in Ragnarok they revisit the first game, to the point I've wished I did play them back to back as it's been a few years and parts are fuzzy.

Penn · 14-11-2022 9:18am

I'm about 30 hours in at this stage. Still not finished the story because have been jumping into a lot of the side quests. Just a superb game. I'd definitely echo that in many ways it's more of the same and is missing the surprise element that the first game had, but it's also more refined and improves on a lot of things in small ways that really build up to it being a great improvement. There are things that I don't really like, particularly the enemy attack indicators for enemies off-screen, as the timing and often the direction of them can be way off. Other than that though, I'm really loving the game.

johnny_ultimate · 14-11-2022 6:42pm

Like the first game, I do find myself most engrossed in the semi-open areas where you can go off and do a bunch of side missions or puzzles. Completely takes away from the urgency of any narrative happenings, mind, although I do believe the game at least makes fun of that fact a little later on. But there's something of a comfort food element to just paddling around in a boat, landing at different shores and seeing what no-effort-required 'puzzle' there is to work through.

REALLY don't like all the RPG cruft on top of things, though - a problem that's plaguing an increasing number of AAA games these days. The menus are painful to navigate with all the tedious micro-management, and the same systems mean a lot of the stuff you find while exploring is just crafting shite or axe handle variants.

one armed dwarf · 15-11-2022 2:44am

Tbh, the axe handles can have fairly impactful gameplay implications. There's one for blades which can repel projectiles with the triangle spin thing, which becomes a very nice defensive->offensive posture switch in the right situation. Others can leverage other aspects of your build, I'm going with a big luck focus so that stuff like stun grabs has a bigger chance to proc health pickups, which means I'm popping on mods for getting stun as well. There's similar stuff to more quickly get cooldowns back

A lot of this stuff is meaningful on the higher difficulties anyway. But yes the game is very AAA focus-tested systems bloat everywhere.

johnny_ultimate · 15-11-2022 8:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119875768#Comment_119875768

I probably wouldn’t have minded some modularity to the weapons if it wasn’t for the upgrading system on top of that. I think that discourages experimentation as it encourages you to pump resources into an item, which in turn discourages you from starting the process again (even if subsequent items usually have a few levels already). And yeah while there are some cool extra abilities, I think some of the RPG stuff like Luck stats is ill-fitting in what, in action, is a pretty straightforward third-person brawler.

recyclops · 15-11-2022 9:13am

I am finding I forget about the blades of chaos during fights as it doesn't feel as "heavy" santa Monica have done an excellent job of feeling the axe hitting things but the blades just feel dull in comparison

Penn · 15-11-2022 9:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119875991#Comment_119875991

The balance of that is definitely off a little bit. I stuck to the same armour for most of the game for the same reasons such as lack of upgrade material, and just preferring the bonus abilities I had. After a while though, most resources do become so plentiful that you can boost almost any armour high enough. But by that stage, you're also finding new armour at your level that you could just jump straight into anyway.

The RPG system interface is definitely a bit clunky to use. I was very, very late game before I realised I could upgrade the runic abilities, because the RPG system makes everything else very apparant when you can upgrade something, but doesn't for the runic abilities. But again, for the most part I'd been sticking with the same runic abilities I had gotten from fairly early on too.

Rolled credits last night. An amazing game. I'm not sure it quite hits the heights of the first game, because the first game just had that surprise factor to it. While it would be an insult to say Ragnarok is more of the same, there is a definite air of "Oh, this side activity is like that other side activity from the first game" throughout the open world. But the expanded cast of characters, far more interesting side missions, and better puzzles really help (though some puzzle types do get a bit repetitive and require aggravating accuracy).

But hey, it does everything a great sequel is supposed to do; it fixes a lot of issues from the first game, improves on a lot of the good things about the original, and still throws in a bunch of new stuff which is all pretty great.

That said.... Elden Ring GOTY 2022!

Penn · 15-11-2022 9:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119876012#Comment_119876012

For me it's the same as the previous game; axe is best for taking on one or two enemies due to being a heavy-hitter, blades are best for mob control due to wide swings.

one armed dwarf · 15-11-2022 6:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119875991#Comment_119875991

The thing is, or at least what I found to be the case was that because each new level requires new upgrade materials you're not likely to be more than 1 level or so 'out of sync' between pieces of equipment if you do try to spread it out a bit. I had around two or so of each for each body part that I checked out. Also new ones tend to start at a high level.

I think generally speaking anyway the main game is tuned around not doing any optional content at all, so if you do lots of side content and spread out the resources you can avoid overlevelling and have more choice in the end. You can probably upgrade everything fully in this game, I'd imagine. I don't think the game is very stingy with upgrade materials (having beaten it earlier today)

and for me the luck stuff is more about giving a reason to explore the more unique perks, and emphasis specific skills a bit more. I don't think GoW is as straightforward as people put it, even if it's not on a dmc/bayo level. The extra difficulties to a good job at justifying the layered mechanics a lot more than appears on the surface.

Grumpypants · 15-11-2022 7:53pm

I've found any time I was getting a set of armour to 4 the next one I unlocked was starting at a 5. So it was nearly alway worth using (provided you looked cool which is the real reason to keep it)

Jordan 199 · 15-11-2022 9:05pm

This way is blocked! We have to find another way, another way, another way.

Give me strength.

Penn · 19-11-2022 12:03am

Nearly have the game platinumed. Minor endgame content spoilers:

The Beserker fights are obviously their attempt to replicate the Valkyries, but they're pretty poorly designed. Each Valkyrie felt unique or had a specific move that differentiated them from the rest (with the Valkyrie Queen having all those moves). Either the Beserkers are the same but using different elements, or they go cheap by having more than one. Those are by far the most frustrating. The game mechanics have never really suited more than one high-level enemy at a time. The camera, enemies teleporting or jumping to the other side of the arena, and high-level enemy attacks which track or are AOE attacks... it just doesn't suit GOW's combat system. Not to mention the attack indicators from off-screen which are awful. I beat the Beserker King easier than the two Beserker fights that have 2 or 3 Beserkers, because even though it was a tough fight, it was far less frustrating mechanically.

The rest of the endgame stuff is pretty much the same as the previous game, but implemented better. The ravens are easier to find/hit and there aren't as many of them. Backtracking and fast travel is a good bit easier. The lore behind some of the side content is also pretty good.

Anyway, just have the last few Musphelheim trials and another tough enemy fight to go.

one armed dwarf · 20-11-2022 1:29am

Nearly done with the berserkers, this one took a bit of time (endgame spoilers)

link

The trick with it is to find a safe spacing and manage the camera that you can react to all three. Though I don't exactly manage space very well here as I spend far too much time walking backwards rather than standing ground and keeping what space I have.

In general tho, I think it's a cool fight. But I would like a better fov anyway. It wouldn't make a big difference to the strategy, but it would make it slightly more comfortable to look at at least.

Still going with a luck build. Luck is what gives me all the buff procs and health drops. Rewards a very glass cannon kinda playstyle

Penn · 20-11-2022 6:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119895998#Comment_119895998

Yeah my trouble was just going for damage damage damage on the berserker, and just getting hit by the others when they go off-screen. Only got through that fight by brute force rather than any skill or technique. I still think it's not a great fight mechanically.

Regardless, I've now platinumed the game, at just over 51 hours.

New Valkyrie Queen wasn't too bad. Took a fair few tries, as some of her attacks I just kept instinctively dodging rather than blocking, and they'd f*ck up my whole rhythm. Last try managed it without resurrection stone, just managed to stay in the zone and hitting the relic moves at the right time. She's no match for aul' Sigrun from 2018 though, who I only beat by dropping the difficulty.

one armed dwarf · 20-11-2022 10:45pm

I think once we get the PC version with ultrawide 120fps everything will just feel way better

This guy went down fast, lol.

https://youtu.be/Zwj9LHIxMHk?t=482

RAAAWWR 😄

Just the head honcho left, then it's bye bye ragnarok (not doing collectables and platinum stuff)

recyclops · 20-11-2022 10:56pm

Is it possible to skip cinematics.

I am just at the Coldplay concert colorbomb bit and it's tedious.

God Of War Ragnarök - PS4/PS5

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