God of War Ragnarok Thread

hanselthecaretaker

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I’m sure this has been mentioned somewhere but it can’t be purely a coincidence the game releases on the 9th, and there are all 9 realms available now, no? I haven’t bought many new games lately but it seems most either fall on a Friday (like GoW 2018, Horizon: FW, Elden Ring, etc.) or Tuesday for many others generally. Wednesday though seems kinda exceptional.
 
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CriticalGaming

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I’m sure this has been mentioned somewhere but it can’t be purely a coincidence the game releases on the 9th, and there are all 9 realms available now, no? I haven’t bought many new games lately but it seems most either fall on a Friday (like GoW 2018, Horizon: FW, Elden Ring, etc.) or Tuesday for many others generally. Wednesday though seems kinda exceptional.
Wednesday is odd for sure.

Tuesday used to be the release day, but now most stuff seems to fall into Friday releases. Nintendo stuff releases on sundays for some reason.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Wednesday is odd for sure.

Tuesday used to be the release day, but now most stuff seems to fall into Friday releases. Nintendo stuff releases on sundays for some reason.
Isn’t Japan land of the rising sun? Or maybe I’m just thinking of the house of the rising sun.


Anyways, man DF is on point -

Usually they seem to be much closer to or even after release day with these things. I haven’t watched Skill-Up’s review but apparently he recommend watching it too. But it sounds like there’s some spoilery stuff.

Less spoilery -


 
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Old_Hunter_77

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ok i guess I'm officially hyped.
Likely I won't play it 'till 2023 but I'm glad to have this to look forward to
 

CriticalGaming

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ok i guess I'm officially hyped.
Likely I won't play it 'till 2023 but I'm glad to have this to look forward to
Sadly I have a business trip this week so I will not be able to play GoW until around the 14th of November. Which is a problem because Pokemon too. I kinda wish pokemon was this week so i could play it on the switch while on my trip, but release dates hate me this year.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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My goal is just to finish Infamous: Second Son and Forbidden West first so I can delete them and have enough space to install. No, not going to bother with a new HDD since that would give me an excuse to not finish them.
 

FakeSympathy

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Okay, if youtube wants to enforce content takedowns, can they stop these spoilers and leaks?

Fucking autoplay got me again; I think I’ve seen enough to piece together the entire game.
 

CriticalGaming

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I spent the last week playing 2018's GoW in preparation for this game. There are a few things i would like to bring up in regarding the game design they tried for with the game.

First the sense of exploration is far better than i remember and there is a surprising amount of things to do and find all over the world. From simple puzzles to combat challenges, to simple scavenger hunts. All of them feel rewarding and the constant lore given to you by Mimir makes you want to stay focused on the game.

A lot of open world games get to a point where you are just doing crap to fill a box or completionist whatever, usually you get to a point where you can turn the game down and turn a podcast up. But GoW never felt this way for me. Because the combat sounds were so satisfying and the lore or banter with Atreus and Mimir kept me dialed in. Which is something i dont remember feeling about the game when i first played it.

Also the other thing was that the combat is so good and extremely customizable. Each weapon as a variety of special attacks that you can slot into them on top of the natural skills you unlock from the skill tree. Atreus isnt left out either as he has elemental choices and several summons that each provide a different utility for certain playstyles.

Some of the challenges were too hard for me the first time i played, namely the impossible levels in muspelhiem and the fucking Valkeries. I beat a couple but the rest felt impossible.

This time around i paid special attention to the runic skills and practiced using them regularly and it has made a world of difference in the enjoyment of the combat. Shocking how learning a game makes you enjoy a game right?

Interestingly there are some unique easter eggs and very good acting by the cast in the game that you wouldnt notice the firet playthrough.

For example after you fight Baldur in the begining, Kratos rushes home to get Atreus from under the floorboards. He rushes Atreus to grab his things and that they are leaving. If you watch Kratos you will notice the blanket with the Blades of Choas, and you see Kratos pause for a moment as he considers bringing them along on this upcoming journey. It is subtle and a new player wouldnt notice, but if you already knew the Blades were there it is an incredible little detail that pays off later.

From all the releases so far Ragnarok is bigger and better, so i think this is going to blow me away tbh.
 

meiam

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This time around i paid special attention to the runic skills and practiced using them regularly and it has made a world of difference in the enjoyment of the combat. Shocking how learning a game makes you enjoy a game right?
This is why I always oppose call to have easy mode in soul game and generally suggest people try harder difficulty in game with good gameplay, easy mode just transform a good combat system into button smashing until the player hit a wall they can't button smash their way pass, which often get them to quit.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I spent the last week playing 2018's GoW in preparation for this game. There are a few things i would like to bring up in regarding the game design they tried for with the game.

First the sense of exploration is far better than i remember and there is a surprising amount of things to do and find all over the world. From simple puzzles to combat challenges, to simple scavenger hunts. All of them feel rewarding and the constant lore given to you by Mimir makes you want to stay focused on the game.

A lot of open world games get to a point where you are just doing crap to fill a box or completionist whatever, usually you get to a point where you can turn the game down and turn a podcast up. But GoW never felt this way for me. Because the combat sounds were so satisfying and the lore or banter with Atreus and Mimir kept me dialed in. Which is something i dont remember feeling about the game when i first played it.

Also the other thing was that the combat is so good and extremely customizable. Each weapon as a variety of special attacks that you can slot into them on top of the natural skills you unlock from the skill tree. Atreus isnt left out either as he has elemental choices and several summons that each provide a different utility for certain playstyles.

Some of the challenges were too hard for me the first time i played, namely the impossible levels in muspelhiem and the fucking Valkeries. I beat a couple but the rest felt impossible.

This time around i paid special attention to the runic skills and practiced using them regularly and it has made a world of difference in the enjoyment of the combat. Shocking how learning a game makes you enjoy a game right?

Interestingly there are some unique easter eggs and very good acting by the cast in the game that you wouldnt notice the firet playthrough.

For example after you fight Baldur in the begining, Kratos rushes home to get Atreus from under the floorboards. He rushes Atreus to grab his things and that they are leaving. If you watch Kratos you will notice the blanket with the Blades of Choas, and you see Kratos pause for a moment as he considers bringing them along on this upcoming journey. It is subtle and a new player wouldnt notice, but if you already knew the Blades were there it is an incredible little detail that pays off later.

From all the releases so far Ragnarok is bigger and better, so i think this is going to blow me away tbh.
The exploration felt good because each area had its own hook with unique stuff to see and do, and there was very little filler taking the “wide linear” approach to world design. Like, rowing through some of the caves was the extent of time sinks in the game (unless we throw the Niflheim farming runs in), which is pretty impressive. Hopefully they can still make Ragnarok feel this way given how much bigger it apparently is.

Setting aside the inclusion of all nine realms, I’m mostly curious how they’ll handle the areas we’ve already been to. One thing I really like is when games have you revisit old locations and seeing how the new art direction accounts for the passage of time, and/or events. I’m sure Mimir will do his damnedest to fill us in on that too.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I won’t watch until after playing the game, but this is his second review, which sounds like it has a good balance of both criticism and praise -



Also -
 
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CriticalGaming

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I won’t watch until after playing the game, but this is his second review, which sounds like it has a good balance of both criticism and praise -

I watched this review and it does not contain spoilers. His negatives are pretty minor tbh, but I see where he is coming from.