God of War (PS4): Kratos and the Dad-feels

I'm about 15 hours in as well, loving it so far. This has grabbed me far more than HZD did last year. I guess it's mostly the combat, I'm just more of a melee kind of guy. My only gripe is the camera, which does not work well in crowded situations as mentioned.

It's goddamn beautiful though. I've been out of the high end pc game for a spell but this is by far the prettiest game so far. Lot of it is obvious smoke and mirrors but still wow.

I am .... underwhelmed. It is very, very good but at some point when I was pulling crystals out of one area to put in another area to make a path I realized this is the same mechanics dressed up very pretty. That isn't bad but it ... I don't know it doesn't blow me away like I expected.

Also many people have talked about it compared to Horizon: Zero Dawn and when you think about that game you notice how lacking God of War's combat is. The combat is all run in and smash, smash, smash. It was great fun (for me) to set traps in H:ZD. To scan enemies for weakness, to target specific parts. I felt like I was a hunter and that made combat really exciting right up until the end. Meanwhile in GoW it is really just hit them until they don't get up.

Oh well there is enough space on my shelf for both so there is no reason not to enjoy them both.

farley3k wrote:

I am .... underwhelmed. It is very, very good but at some point when I was pulling crystals out of one area to put in another area to make a path I realized this is the same mechanics dressed up very pretty. That isn't bad but it ... I don't know it doesn't blow me away like I expected.

Also many people have talked about it compared to Horizon: Zero Dawn and when you think about that game you notice how lacking God of War's combat is. The combat is all run in and smash, smash, smash. It was great fun (for me) to set traps in H:ZD. To scan enemies for weakness, to target specific parts. I felt like I was a hunter and that made combat really exciting right up until the end. Meanwhile in GoW it is really just hit them until they don't get up.

Oh well there is enough space on my shelf for both so there is no reason not to enjoy them both.

I'm in the same boat.. not sure how anyone is considering this for GOY but that just shows you different strokes I guess. The combat which I hoped was going to be more in depth along the lines of maybe Dark Souls is actually just pretty much whack and dodge/block. The difficulty isnt in the enemies getting more strategic or tricky.. just that they hit harder and take more damage so your mistakes are punished more severely. Maybe it gets better as you go on.. I'm only a few hours in.

The Graphics are good..but its weird that Sony released a game that in 4K mode doesn't actually run well on the PS4 Pro.. it struggles with frame rate and while I'm not a "60fps or GTFO" guy I do want a solid frame rate.. jarring dips are annoying.

In the end the puzzles are nothing to get excited about.. the set pieces while interesting are not like a Dark Souls.. its very much linear with some back tracking once you I guess get something more ala metroidvania..but I would guess its nothing special..just a room with a collectible or treasure.

So far for me its still very much a pretty but forgetful game.. nothing like Bloodborne or H:ZD. I never was a fan of any of the prior GoW games so perhaps its that as well.. the characters do nothing for me.

Different strokes indeed - I notice you mention Dark Souls twice, which is a game series I don't care for at all, so that might have something to do with it.

Anyway after getting some more hours in yesterday the game continues to impress and surprise me.

God of War: 20 Spoiler-Free Tips For Before You Start

I really need to stick with single player games longer. I just realized that this is the first game I played from start to finish since Dragon Age Inquisition.

A lot of the things I liked happened way beyond 10 hours in.

Makes me wonder if I maybe let Horizon, Zelda and Uncharted 4 disappear back into the pile too quickly.

I don't get the Dark Souls references. The combat is not as tactical, and is much faster. Only similarities so far are opening shortcuts and a few forlorn looking knights in full plate crumbled against a wall here and there.

I'm running on Pro as well and I haven't noticed any frequent dips, though I'm not particularly sensitive to it either.

I was decidedly not thrilled with the second area either, it reminded me strongly of High Heavens in Diablo 3, a place which I absolutely hate.

Brok & Sindri are brilliant characters. I've laughed a load of times at the witty dialogue & banter you get from visiting them.

Suvanto wrote:

I don't get the Dark Souls references. The combat is not as tactical, and is much faster. Only similarities so far are opening shortcuts and a few forlorn looking knights in full plate crumbled against a wall here and there.

That and the dead people with the pick-ups in front of them.

And aren't the controls copied directly from Souls (or maybe Bloodbourne)?

I have to admit that I never played any Souls game past the first boss or larger encounter, so maybe I shouldn't make that comparison. What did remind me a lot of a Souls game was e.g. the first large enemy whose attacks you have to evade then hit and repeat.

To me, in the early goings, it feels like Dark Souls and Bloodborne but more streamlined. I love the souls games bit I tend to play them in a state of tension, which means I can't play for too long in one sitting. God of War gives me that weighty melee combat but I don't feel as stressed. The combat may not be as involved as Bloodborne's say but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, especially for people who are turned off by how demanding those games are.

Spikeout wrote:

Brok & Sindri are brilliant characters. I've laughed a load of times at the witty dialogue & banter you get from visiting them.

Yeah, they're great

Spoiler:

It's funny how you first meet Brok, and he's blue, and I just figured sure, dwarves are blue I guess. It's all fantasy, blue dwarves don't seem particularly weird.

Then you meet Sindri, and he's not blue! A little weird I guess, but so what? Maybe only some dwarves are blue. Maybe it's magic or something.

Then you talk to Sindri, and Atreus just straight-up asks him why Brok is blue (Oh my gods Atreus, you can't just ask people why they're blue). Turns out it's not any kind of fantasy bullsh*t, he just has argyria from handling too much silver. And Sindri's such a germaphobe because some Vanir told him about bacteria.

I dunno, something about these two asshole dwarves with their completely mundane problems in the middle of all this over-the-top high fantasy nonsense just seems really funny to me.

I have a weakness for lists.

God Of War PS4: 10 Tips & Tricks The Game Doesn't Tell You

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That boy ain't right

Question, and feel free to spoiler the answer in case others don't want to know:

Are the resources limited?

I ask because I'm still using the common green gear (level 2 favoring the runic path
with strength and defense) and most enemies I'm encountering are 4-6 range and I'm getting squashed, everything hits like a truck and no amount of skill, skills, or Artreus arrows can save me. I've been very hesitant to spend any resources because they seem fairly limited. So in anyone's experience, do I have to choose to spec and invest in a particular gear set and then be locked out of others?

staygold wrote:

Are the resources limited?

I guess with the armor sets you have to make a decision since they require special parts. With everything else I never had any issues. Go ahead and craft a new armor, I don't think you can do much wrong. I always went with the set that favored strength. Also don't forget to slot all sockets or upgrade equipment to unlock sockets.

Try turning off aim and strafe assists in the camera options. I feel like I have a lot more control now.

Suvanto wrote:

I don't get the Dark Souls references. The combat is not as tactical, and is much faster. Only similarities so far are opening shortcuts and a few forlorn looking knights in full plate crumbled against a wall here and there.

I'm running on Pro as well and I haven't noticed any frequent dips, though I'm not particularly sensitive to it either.

I was decidedly not thrilled with the second area either, it reminded me strongly of High Heavens in Diablo 3, a place which I absolutely hate.

Are you playing in 4K mode or 1080P mode? The Pro is fine in 1080P mode but 4K mode has some crazy frame hitching.

God of War: 7 Skills to Get First

Timely for me. Fortunately, the one skill I had chosen was one of those. Phew!

I've been able to select a lot more following that guide. Thanks.

I am enjoying the game; however, the pace of patches has been super quick. Today they released the 4th patch since the day 1 patch, which means almost every day I have had the game, I need to shut it down to install a new patch.

This is a silly thing to complain about, but there it is.

Another new patch today. I'm perhaps going to fire the game up at some stage during the day just to catch patches so I can play when I want to play in the evening without having to watch bars filling up for ten minutes.

I've done an edited version of an interesting early encounter with an unidentified person. It's very early on but I've put the video in spoiler mode just incase someone feels the thumbnail is a spoiler.

Spoiler:

So I’m on “give me a challenge” difficulty and I’m at the point where I may drop it down. It feels like I’m playing a Metroid situation where I don’t have the tools to deal with enemies. I’ve been beaten by getting stuck in a corner and just pelted with range attacks and big enemies.

JohnKillo wrote:

So I’m on “give me a challenge” difficulty and I’m at the point where I may drop it down. It feels like I’m playing a Metroid situation where I don’t have the tools to deal with enemies. I’ve been beaten by getting stuck in a corner and just pelted with range attacks and big enemies.

I've never played on any of the difficulties above the balanced one but my understanding is that you'd need to use everything you have at your disposal. Since in the begining you don't really many skills/moves, you probably need to use "advanced" techniques like pushing the enemies against each other, against walls, over cliffs, freezing them with your axe, etc.

It might be useful to watch this video for some ideas. The video is made by the devs and doesn't contain story spoilers as far as I remember. While they demo some of the "high level" moves in there, they also talk about some of the advanced strategies applicable at any time.

I guess I'm getting close to the end of the game. It's hard to tell based on story, but I seem to be doing a lot of end game content:

Spoiler:

I've beaten all 8 Valkyries, but the queen is kicking my behind. I guess I'll need to grind out the armor upgrades!
I've beaten all the normal challenges in Muspelheim, and unlocked the more difficult versions, but I'm not super stoked to do those right this moment. The hardest challenge for me was killing 25 guys without getting hit.
I've been through Niflheim quite a lot, unlocked all the armor pieces from there. They're pretty good armor, and I've been using it, but the healing isn't a game changer. I think the Valkyrie armor will end up being my go-to, once I have leveled it up. Still have a bunch of chests and tears to open/close, which requires a lot more grinding.
Going through both of those apparently netted me the items I can trade to the dwarves to get the item that levels up both the axe and blades... Why they made the final upgrade to the weapons like that, I don't know, but at least I know how to get those now.
Other than that, still have a bunch of random stuff to do. One more torch to light in the lake, because I literally can't reach it (I presume that's a story location), have to figure out how to get to a place Sindri wants me to go to for a favor quest I will probably be way overpowered for, and some more realm tears, artifacts I missed, Ravens, etc.

For me, GoW won't be my GOTY, unless the rest of 2018 turns out to be a games-I'm-interested-in wasteland, but it'll definitely be in my top 10. Combat is crunchy and difficult enough to be interesting, even if it's possibly not Dark Souls level. That they turned Kratos into a more nuanced character and actually managed to give him and his son a character arc is pretty impressive.
I like the world, even if the Norse myth is a little lot off. In general, I think they've made a very good game.

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Last one.

I like Kratos's boat stories. Especially the one about the horse.