God Of War Ragnarök - PS4/PS5

thegame983 · 30-12-2022 9:13pm

I would pay an extra 10 quid to make the Atreaus sections skippable in NG+

Royale with Cheese · 30-12-2022 9:26pm

Maybe on top of New Game Plus they can add a New Game Minus Atreus option.

recyclops · 31-12-2022 12:39am

Would indeed make it a tighter game. I went back to elden straight after for a start of NG+.

Mad to think a game as big as elden feels a lot less bloated than this.

Penn · 31-12-2022 1:29pm

I really didn't mind most of the Atreus sections, except for the gameplay of the Jotunheim section. I get that they needed to give us time with Angrboda, and I thought the ending with the boss battle against the giant was well done, but going through the swamp areas and collecting fruit and whatever was just so damn slow and boring.

The other Atreus sections I thought were pretty well done. None of those felt too long imo, they were pretty interesting with the different companions, and they were necessary for the story.

Tazzimus · 11-01-2023 11:55pm

Finished the main story earlier today, some nice twists and turns along the way.

The voice acting was fantastic, quite a cast as well.

One of the post end game missions concerning a particular character was very nicely done.

Had most of the side quests done before I decided to finish the story, so just finishing off the last few bits now.

johnny_ultimate · 17-01-2023 1:03am

Have decided to just focus and get this done over the next few nights since I’m so near the end.

Played through The Crater side area tonight, which is easily the best part of the game so far… and it’s a totally optional side area! I’m glad a level that dense and dynamic is in the game, full of big, epic Metroidvania-style exploration and progression. It has its issues - repeated boss fights, boring loot and rewards - but it’s nonetheless an impressive feat of level design that’s not far off being a nice little compact six-hour game on its own terms.

What’s a bit odd to me is that there’s nothing like that on the main path, at least so far. Instead it’s a long and often tedious collection of fairly linear levels that regularly overstay their welcome. It’s in areas like The Crater where the game sings - the combat, the level design, the puzzle mechanics. As said, I’m really glad that good stuff is in the game - it makes it substantially better! But it just feels like they’ve got it all a bit backwards: the totally optional stuff is the game pushing its new ideas, and - a few cool boss fights aside - the main path is where the tedium sets in.

OptimusTractor · 24-01-2023 12:15pm

Just got through Alfheim and this is lifeless. When does the action takeoff. I was expecting blood and thunder after the opening but this is like being dragged around Dublin Zoo by a child.

EoinHef · 24-03-2023 9:22pm

So finished this a few days ago, was going back through some side stuff after but I think Ive had enough.

It's a good game for sure imo, but I have to say it didn't quite have the same impact as the first.

52hrs played and I've one side quest left, was going to do it until I saw the amount of certain enemies you have to kill and just though na.

EoinMcLovin · 05-04-2023 5:26pm

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1643644755102793731?t=fEW8hYa02Bx7P1aeO4RUew&s=19

___

Penn · 12-12-2023 8:08pm

Started NG+ in Ragnarok a few nights ago, partially because I want to play through the story again, but also partly to get used to the combat/controls again for Valhalla.

Valhalla is available today. Had a few goes of it there. The first few runs seem very much designed to be story-related and an introduction to the systems. Certainly interesting so far. The combat is still great (though you now have little control over what runic attacks you get), there are new enemies and some of the story beats so far feel like a great addition to Kratos' journey. It'll be interesting to see how it progresses. So yeah, enjoying it so far.

Penn · 13-12-2023 10:53pm

Completed the main Valhalla story. Takes a couple of full loops to get the full story and it definitely gets tougher and tougher, and I had a few failed attempts here and there. Not going to lie, I only beat my last attempt with a pixel of health left and mainly because i pressed the wrong button but it worked out in my favour.

It's not hugely difficult though compared to other roguelikes such as Hades. You're not as much at the mercy of RNG as most of the stat perks and boosts can be minor enough, relic attacks all do basically the same damage, and you still have your axe, blades and spear. Your main progress is the permanent upgrades you gradually unlock. You can also choose which shield, relic and rage type you want at the start rather than it being rng. They maybe could have a gone a bit further with the whole thing, but considering it's free DLC for an absolutely amazing game, they already went above and beyond imo.

That said it's still really well designed and a fantastic use of the excellent combat of the main game, with a few extra new enemies and bosses thrown in. And story-wise it works as a terrific postscript to the main game.

Potential-Monke · 14-12-2023 8:51am

Ugh, the chances of thr story bits not being spoiled before it comes to PS+ and I get to play it...

Penn · 14-12-2023 9:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121493349#Comment_121493349

The DLC? It's free. You just need the main game.

Edit: Ah, I'm assuming you traded the game back in after completing it. I'd say if you can avoid spoilers for the next week or two, nobody will really be talking about it any more after that anyway.

Ronandusty · 19-12-2023 2:58pm

Got 6 hrs into this and.......i hated it. Atreyu constantly glitching was the final straw for me. Off to CEX.

The last game was fun but nothing will ever top the highs of God Of War 2.

Gimme hack and slash joy over dull RPG any day

Potential-Monke · 19-12-2023 6:44pm

I still loved fhe new games, but I agree, Rage Kratos > Dad Kratos. They can't go backwards, so I wouldn't mind a slight jump forward and maybe kill Atreus and let Kratos go all Rage again. Say, Atreus gets killed while exploring the Giants Causeway, so Kratos comes to Ireland to murder all ye olde Irish gods.

Penn · 19-12-2023 7:29pm

I can't imagine anything more boring than the idea of going back to Rage Kratos. A Kratos just fighting and killing gods because he's angry at them.

I enjoyed the early games, but Kratos only started becoming in any way interesting in GOW3 when he started to feel the weight of where his vengeance had led him and the guilt of his past life.

The combat and gameplay should always be the star of the show, but the story and evolution of Kratos as a character in the past two games far outweighs angry, shouting, moany one-note Kratos from the previous games.

This isn't so much directed at ye above, but more so David Jaffe who was the creator of the original games said similar things last night about how Santa Monica have made Kratos too soft, and Kratos should go back to how he was previously, which I just think would be an awful regression. Games, characters and storytelling in games has moved on. Kratos' evolution from the previous games to now has been one of the best stories told in modern gaming. Kratos in the previous games was just angry shouty man, and that was getting boring even just in those games.

Potential-Monke · 19-12-2023 10:33pm

I just don't want story to get in the way of good gameplay. Early GoW games were straight up fun. And while the latest 2 are near perfection for what they are, I still think I had more fun in the og trilogy. Games to me are supposed to be entertaining, fun to play, remove me from the reality of life. When they start to emulate life, they start to go downhill for me.

Last of Us was an amazing technical showpiece for the PS3, but I couldn't bring myself to replay it because its just too heavy. BG3 won all the awards and it embraced the crazy fun by all accounts. My goty is Immortals of Aveum, a fun game. Most of Nintendos library is fun based due to technical limitations. It's also why I'm struggling to find good games available to me these days. Too much concentration on realism (within the world) while sacrificing fun.

But I also know this is my own personal opinion and that's the great thing about gaming, it's so diverse there's something for everyone. And why I currently have a love/hate relationship with Avatar.

Penn · 20-12-2023 9:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121516066#Comment_121516066

I think the only place in GOW Ragnarok where the story got in the way of gameplay was when you're playing as Atreus and you meet Angrboda. Their trek collecting fruit in Jotenheim just dragged so much, but was needed to forge their relationship and fill in a bunch of exposition. They definitely got the balance wrong there imo.

But I think in general, a good story really adds to the gameplay. I do disagree that games should remove us from the reality of life. Like all art, it can serve as a reflection of the reality of life. The circumstances can be completely different, but the personal development and emotional journey of the characters can be more of an addition in a game than something that takes away from it. I think this is even true of games compared to movies/TV because with gaming you play an active role rather than just passively watching (even if that active role is outside of your control in terms of what you do, where you go, the choices the characters make). Though obviously, movies/TV are meant to be purely about story and characters.

Don't get me wrong, gameplay comes first. The game should be fun, enjoyable, engaging etc. That's where the old Kratos is still very much present imo. He's still utterly brutal, the combat is gory (but requires far more skill now than the previous games which were often too button-mashy), it's still incredibly outlandish and exciting, and even in the story sections there's still a quiet underlying rage to Kratos in everything he does which is reflective of what he used to be like. I think the newer games absolutely adhere to most of the core tenets of the original games. But I think the story and the evolution of Kratos from just the boring shouty man he was before to what he's like now really adds to the game, the story, and I think filters through to make the gameplay better too. Kratos (and therefore you as a player) has far better and more complex motivations, than just the original games' "I HAVE BEEN BETRAYED BY YET ANOTHER GOD! NOW I MUST KILL THAT GOD! BUT FIRST I MUST KILL A DIFFERENT GOD TO USE THEIR POWER TO REACH AND KILL THIS GOD WHO, AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, HAS BETRAYED ME!"

But as ever, not all games should be like that or have such stories either. It's all about striking the right balance. Even Baldur's Gate 3, it definitely embraces the fun a lot more, but there's also a depth to most of the main characters and their stories which if you work on following/completing, can really add to the whole experience.

God Of War Ragnarök - PS4/PS5

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