God of War Ragnarok Thread
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It still pains me that Kratos didn't high-five his bear son as they posed after that fight. Like, how could you let that chance slip Santa Monica?!
The back-to-back badasses works enough for me.
GOTY: Ragnarok
Worst game of the year: post-campaign Ragnarok
Same thing I felt about the previous game, so I expected this. This combination of "open world" but also with very specific traversal paths makes completionism a f'k'g nightmare. Because it's not so impossible that I won't do it, but it's so inconvenient and hard to find stuff easily sometimes. It's great that the map tells me that the mines has one Nornir chest I missed! But of course it won't tell me where because god forbid you put an icon or a waypoint on HUD for me, critics and gamrs will complain it's Ubisoft handholding. But I also can't just navigate freely like Assassins Creed of Breath of the Fenyx so instead it's some godawful combination of running around in circles and pointing the camera all over the place and youtube videos.
Sometimes I look for a video game stuff to do while listening to music or podcasts and this will be it for a while, so I'm not too mad, but I am a little mad that by the time I'm done with the game I'll have spent maybe 30% of play time playing the most awe-inspiring, fun, and bad-ass video game of the year and the other 70% checking if the climbable wall I'm looking at is exactly the same one as the one on this PowerPyx video so that I can see the flying green bird at the right angle before repeatedly throwing an axe at it until I hit it.
Oh, and also I finally beat the berserker fight that is TWO BERSERKERS. Just... ugh, f*** that straight to hell.
Worst game of the year: post-campaign Ragnarok
Same thing I felt about the previous game, so I expected this. This combination of "open world" but also with very specific traversal paths makes completionism a f'k'g nightmare. Because it's not so impossible that I won't do it, but it's so inconvenient and hard to find stuff easily sometimes. It's great that the map tells me that the mines has one Nornir chest I missed! But of course it won't tell me where because god forbid you put an icon or a waypoint on HUD for me, critics and gamrs will complain it's Ubisoft handholding. But I also can't just navigate freely like Assassins Creed of Breath of the Fenyx so instead it's some godawful combination of running around in circles and pointing the camera all over the place and youtube videos.
Sometimes I look for a video game stuff to do while listening to music or podcasts and this will be it for a while, so I'm not too mad, but I am a little mad that by the time I'm done with the game I'll have spent maybe 30% of play time playing the most awe-inspiring, fun, and bad-ass video game of the year and the other 70% checking if the climbable wall I'm looking at is exactly the same one as the one on this PowerPyx video so that I can see the flying green bird at the right angle before repeatedly throwing an axe at it until I hit it.
Oh, and also I finally beat the berserker fight that is TWO BERSERKERS. Just... ugh, f*** that straight to hell.
Replaying on Give Me God of War and I just got to the first available Hateful fight in Vanaheim... Fuck. That. C*nt-gargling. Piece-of-shit. FIGHT!!!!
While I'm at it, fuck those Noken. They are the worst new inclussion in Ragnarok. Kratos is not designed (as a fighter) to zip and maneuver himself past enemies; he's a tank made to take enemies head-on. To introduce an annoyance enemy that buffs other enemies, that is situated past said group of buffed enemies, that you as Kratos have to kill first if you want to have any solid chance is fucking aggravating. These fights are never in anyway fun.
While I'm at it, fuck those Noken. They are the worst new inclussion in Ragnarok. Kratos is not designed (as a fighter) to zip and maneuver himself past enemies; he's a tank made to take enemies head-on. To introduce an annoyance enemy that buffs other enemies, that is situated past said group of buffed enemies, that you as Kratos have to kill first if you want to have any solid chance is fucking aggravating. These fights are never in anyway fun.
no... is there really one?! I'm already saving theNow beat the one fight that is THREE berserkers!
valkyrie
God of War Ragnarok Gets Its First Game of the Year Award from TIME Magazine
It starts
www.pushsquare.com
I did it, I got the platinum. whew
Yes, I cheated, putting the game on the easiest difficulty because while the combat is exhilarating and so so fun on default difficulty during the main campaign and story-focused side quests (basically, every time you have to free or hunt a creature this game is at its best), it is repetitive and tedious when finding artifacts. The post game content is super lame.
By "post game" I mean everything that you can do only after completing the main campaign, like the Asgard Remnants and Berserker fights. And while the Crucible challenge can be done before end game I'm throwing that in there because it's just running around fighting the same stuff. Yeah, this same kind of stuff was in the first game so I can understand brining it back and in both cases, it's annoying if you just want that shiny platinum.
For the last Berserker fight and the Valkyrie one I really struggled even on easy. One thing in the combat I never figured out is when to parry and when to block. Sometimes the enemy has a yellow circle and you can parry and it's really useful. Sometimes you can't. And sometimes you can but then they just hit you again, like wtf. And the worst is when they hit you and everything slows down and you CAN'T DO ANYTHING and they do a combo. That really makes me mad- I understand getting a combo done on me when I screw up, but don't make me thing I can do anything about it during. Or if there is, I missed it, and I suck, or it wasn't clear.
Unlike the first game, there is no like cool extra cut scene after doing everything. It's just... done... and you can still run around the world. Meh.
Yes, I cheated, putting the game on the easiest difficulty because while the combat is exhilarating and so so fun on default difficulty during the main campaign and story-focused side quests (basically, every time you have to free or hunt a creature this game is at its best), it is repetitive and tedious when finding artifacts. The post game content is super lame.
By "post game" I mean everything that you can do only after completing the main campaign, like the Asgard Remnants and Berserker fights. And while the Crucible challenge can be done before end game I'm throwing that in there because it's just running around fighting the same stuff. Yeah, this same kind of stuff was in the first game so I can understand brining it back and in both cases, it's annoying if you just want that shiny platinum.
For the last Berserker fight and the Valkyrie one I really struggled even on easy. One thing in the combat I never figured out is when to parry and when to block. Sometimes the enemy has a yellow circle and you can parry and it's really useful. Sometimes you can't. And sometimes you can but then they just hit you again, like wtf. And the worst is when they hit you and everything slows down and you CAN'T DO ANYTHING and they do a combo. That really makes me mad- I understand getting a combo done on me when I screw up, but don't make me thing I can do anything about it during. Or if there is, I missed it, and I suck, or it wasn't clear.
Unlike the first game, there is no like cool extra cut scene after doing everything. It's just... done... and you can still run around the world. Meh.
For that one, you just have to hit the parry button again as soon as the next strike comes. I know it's annoying, but I seen it and I've done it before. Do not double tap it as the game will read the input as a shield bash. That's the only thing I like about this game The Last game, is that they didn't really fix pairing. You can only parry in the direction you're facing instead of from all sides, unlike DMC, Bayonetta, or even the old GoWs.
God of War Ragnarok - Zero Punctuation - The Escapist
This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee Croshaw reviews God of War Ragnarok, the narrative-driven Sony Santa Monica sequel.
www.escapistmagazine.com
I find it interesting that he had a problem with the length of the game, which really was his only really gripe I guess. I suppose from a storytelling perspective he's right as there are a few moments in the game that probably don't need to be there from a mainline stand point. But as a writer he should understand the reasoning is to provide gameplay while also allowing characterization to happen as well.God of War Ragnarok - Zero Punctuation - The Escapist
This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee Croshaw reviews God of War Ragnarok, the narrative-driven Sony Santa Monica sequel.
The Angraboda scene in Iron wood with Atreus is overly long, however it's also the first time we really spend time with Atreus without his father overshadowing everything and we are given a lot of time here in order for the player to learn who Atreus really is without Kratos-supervision controlling his actions. It's one of those situations where people probably do want to get back to the Kratos murder-fest but the downtime is important to the story in order for that character development to happen. However the developers also know that it's a fighty-McMuder game so lets kill Grandma's cooking pot why not?
From an average player complaining about that downtime makes sense. From Yahtzee, I wonder sometimes where his storytelling analytic skills come from. I've read all his books and he's not exactly immune to the "boring section that takes too long" in his own writing.
This part I'll concede to and as I said before, most of those walking sections in that particular area should have just been a cutscene. A long cut scene yes, but a cut-scene. That's my biggest issue with a lot of these force walking sections, and it's always been a problem in most third person Sony games of recently. I don't want to interact with this, I want to get back to the actual gameplay. Just give me a cut scene in this case.
Honestly, Yahtzee's just being contrary and for the sake of it at this point. Besides, while the game is lengthy, it's still not overly long like your standard Ubisoft game. If you don't want to do the side quest, then don't do them. As for him complaining about the loading screens, they have the PS5 version, so the loading is almost instantaneous.
Which makes him all the more hypocritical and silly for it. I've never read any of his books common or do I intend to do so. Nothing against his writing, but I'm not interested, and there are other books I'm finishing up on.
I'm really not surprised about any of his complaints and even those feel mostly superficial or shows that he really has nothing to add for a game he doesn't like. Now I will say that there are others who said that Sony has a stretch in their games out and that is kind of true with certain games. Horizon suffer for it in both games and Ragnarok does this a bit too. I know there is a lot of in-game stuff, but there's other games I got to play and right now I'm finished with Ragnarok. I'll go back when I can, but I rather just go back when there's a new game plus option.
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On one hand it looks bad on Sony if they’re denying review codes to outlets that don’t kiss their ass, but on the other it’s their right. The risk is to their image by either looking arrogant or having less confidence in their product despite some oddball critic bs.God of War Ragnarok - Zero Punctuation - The Escapist
This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee Croshaw reviews God of War Ragnarok, the narrative-driven Sony Santa Monica sequel.
Having said that, if load times are really the culprit (still?!), I’d much rather crawl through a short cave or shimmy narrow walls every so often than stare at loading screens. The GoW games have always done this trick and I preferred it back then too.
I will defend Yahtzee on this one. Sony never had a problem beforehand giving review codes and Yahtzee has said much worse back in the PS3 era (where Sony were even worse and all the more arrogant). What makes this console generation so special?
Like I said before, he honestly didn't have much to complain about, other than the usual suspects. He's literally putting on airs and just picking at something super petty. Loading is instantaneous on the PS5 version. The PS4 version ain't half bad either. Loading from a death takes 30 seconds to a minute. Restarting a checkpoint is usually quicker though.
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And developers have already come out and said that the hallways are NOT loading screens. They use Hallways to do a couple of things.
1. Block players from easily leaving the set piece environment they are about to enter.
2. Set up a cut scene or situation that they need the players to enter from an exact angle. By forcing you through a hallway the player emerges into the scene EXACTLY where the developer needs them to be. Otherwise this is done for cinematic purposes more than anything now a days.
These hallways and tight squeezes USED to be for loading, but that's not the case anymore. In fact you can showcase this a lot by going through the Yggdrasil tree. Whenever you load into the tree to go to a new realm or location, the exit will NOT appear until any dialog has finished because they want the player to hear the dialog. However, if you try to jump to a new realm and the characters have nothing to say, (towards endgame and post game) then the exit appears almost instantly.
*shrug*
Pacing, crawling through tunnels, the Angrboda section- I liked it all. Disagreeing with u/BrawlMan, I'm glad they didn't make long cut scenes. Yeah I know it can feel like just pressing the joystick forward feels like busy work during exposition but I think Ragnarok did it in a way that worked, for me at least.
And man did I like Atreus + Angrboda and the witch and everything- it was maybe my favorite section of the main campaign until the last bits.
But then, I'm also a sucker for pretty environments. Yahtzee's complaint about the loading of "just another overly detailed environment" or some such is consistent with his lack of interest in visual fidelity. And that's perfectly fine, it makes for more interesting criticism to not care about that stuff in favor of others, but as a player I do like that stuff and yes I would rather crawl through narrow spaces to get more beautiful scenery than have loading screens.
It's just all about presentation and either it works for you or it doesn't. This is stuff Yahtzee doesn't care about and that's fine, it's why I've been saying here and even during their streams that I wish he didn't review these games, or at least not feel like he has to (though, yeah, I know, it generates the views).
However... the crawling through spaces gets unbearable during post-game or exploration, as I've said above. The game's presentation, pacing and mechanics fit the story campaign brilliantly. They do NOT fit a free-roam sandbox open world playground.
Pacing, crawling through tunnels, the Angrboda section- I liked it all. Disagreeing with u/BrawlMan, I'm glad they didn't make long cut scenes. Yeah I know it can feel like just pressing the joystick forward feels like busy work during exposition but I think Ragnarok did it in a way that worked, for me at least.
And man did I like Atreus + Angrboda and the witch and everything- it was maybe my favorite section of the main campaign until the last bits.
But then, I'm also a sucker for pretty environments. Yahtzee's complaint about the loading of "just another overly detailed environment" or some such is consistent with his lack of interest in visual fidelity. And that's perfectly fine, it makes for more interesting criticism to not care about that stuff in favor of others, but as a player I do like that stuff and yes I would rather crawl through narrow spaces to get more beautiful scenery than have loading screens.
It's just all about presentation and either it works for you or it doesn't. This is stuff Yahtzee doesn't care about and that's fine, it's why I've been saying here and even during their streams that I wish he didn't review these games, or at least not feel like he has to (though, yeah, I know, it generates the views).
However... the crawling through spaces gets unbearable during post-game or exploration, as I've said above. The game's presentation, pacing and mechanics fit the story campaign brilliantly. They do NOT fit a free-roam sandbox open world playground.
I didn't say to cut scenes had to be overly long, just making a cut scene. I'm not saying every walking section has to be a cut scene, but it really does cut down on a tedium on replays. Long Walk sections are fine on the first playthrough, but if you're doing repeat playthroughs or going for a harder difficulty, it's just another glorified and unskippable cutscene and longer down time not needed. I know that they can't be skipped right now. There will be a huge update for the New Game Plus and the cutscene skip. Santa Monica made the same mistake again.
Agreed.
And with that complaint, you technically proved his point and support his argument. I don't have a problem with it, but I am pointing it out. Those assets have to load or render somehow, post game or not.