God of War Ragnarok Thread

BrawlMan

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I think with the combat having a deeper bag of tricks in these games now and traversal feeling very efficiently designed, I’m not missing jump as much as I thought I would. It’s generally easy enough to navigate the environments where you can usually say, “Well, I’ve done/seen all I can here; next!” vs someone like me that would probably be jumping all over the place like a maniac trying to get to *that one ledge* that might’ve not even been possible anyways.
That's all well and good, but they're still a good amount of cases where I counted when either characters could have made a jump that wouldn't have been that hard for them to make. Ryu Hayabusa or Leon could have made these jumps. I knew they weren't going to fix it, but it's something that still irks me at times.
 

CriticalGaming

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…Aaaand we’re back!

I mean i get what he says for sure and i can understand the developer problem. However in God of War the problem isnt that the characters will give you hints, it is that they do it so quickly that it bumbles he exploration. Maybe force them to delay, say if a player is in a single area for 5 minutes then give them a hint. Or if they interact with someone incorrectly a couple times.

The hints can stay, there just needs a bit of buffer time between them to let the player try to sopve it themselves first.
 

BrawlMan

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The Freya side quests are long ones. Woo! Her first side quest in Vanahiem will take a player at least an hour to almost an 1 hour and a half, depending on what you're doing. After completing those, I went back to the main story, and Atreus in full moody teen mode now. This next chapter is the 3rd solo level for Atreus now. First you
re in Migard, then Asgard, and now Muspilhiem is unlocked too.
I am stopping for tonight; getting tired.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I mean i get what he says for sure and i can understand the developer problem. However in God of War the problem isnt that the characters will give you hints, it is that they do it so quickly that it bumbles he exploration. Maybe force them to delay, say if a player is in a single area for 5 minutes then give them a hint. Or if they interact with someone incorrectly a couple times.

The hints can stay, there just needs a bit of buffer time between them to let the player try to sopve it themselves first.
For all the options the game provides, it shouldn’t be that much of a hassle allowing the player to tweak the timing of hints, or even turn them off completely if so chosen. “Don’t patronize the player so much” seems to be the takeaway with most of these things.
 

CriticalGaming

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You know in most games that jump focus away from the main character for gameplay sections, those sections tend to suck because of a lack of tools or drastic combat changes. Think spider man and the mary jane sections.

But here the gameplay sections arent bad because the people you control still fight with a lot of their own tools that are pretty good. And they serve a good purpose of continuing to push the story forward where Kratos hits a dead end.

Again im trying to complain and i cant.
 

Casual Shinji

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I'm reaching the end of the game, and I think it was a mistake to finish this arc in two games. Or I should say, I think it was a mistake to not change the arc altogether if they decided to finish it in two games. There are too many big moments that follow eachother up too fast for me to feel properly invested in them, and for the previous ones to be given their due. It's like being hurried along through a museum. I'm seeing very important things occur, but the game is like 'yes, yes, very important, but please keep going, we have to wrap things up, chop chop'. I'm left feeling exhausted and underwhelmed at the same time.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I'm reaching the end of the game, and I think it was a mistake to finish this arc in two games. Or I should say, I think it was a mistake to not change the arc altogether if they decided to finish it in two games. There are too many big moments that follow eachother up too fast for me to feel properly invested in them, and for the previous ones to be given their due. It's like being hurried along through a museum. I'm seeing very important things occur, but the game is like 'yes, yes, very important, but please keep going, we have to wrap things up, chop chop'. I'm left feeling exhausted and underwhelmed at the same time.
Maybe you’re not fully understanding the circumstances here. It’s war!! Ragnarok is upon everyone, and chaos is all that remains! Everything is happening so fast!!!

…is about how I assume they rationalized and/or justified it.
 

CriticalGaming

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Maybe you’re not fully understanding the circumstances here. It’s war!! Ragnarok is upon everyone, and chaos is all that remains! Everything is happening so fast!!!

…is about how I assume they rationalized and/or justified it.
This actually makes a lot of sense for why things happen like that.

And there are some events that are much slower in build up for payoff's later. I'd argue Loki's whole arc through the game is like that because a lot of his specific sections, while they do have combat, are much slower paced than the rest of the game. Freya also has a lot of good build up imo as well.

Also I don't know, but I'm predicting that the "god of war" that the prophecies speak of on those giant boards....my guess is that Atreus only assumed they would be Tyr, but they were never Tyr. The God of War in those murals is Kratos. Because with Tyr being a passive little (tall) crybaby, the prophecy needs the god of war to unite people to punch Odin in the dick, which Kratos is technically a God of War so....it's him right? He's already uniting people like Tyr, Dwarves, Freya, a squirrel, etc
 

BrawlMan

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hanselthecaretaker

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This actually makes a lot of sense for why things happen like that.

And there are some events that are much slower in build up for payoff's later. I'd argue Loki's whole arc through the game is like that because a lot of his specific sections, while they do have combat, are much slower paced than the rest of the game. Freya also has a lot of good build up imo as well.

Also I don't know, but I'm predicting that the "god of war" that the prophecies speak of on those giant boards....my guess is that Atreus only assumed they would be Tyr, but they were never Tyr. The God of War in those murals is Kratos. Because with Tyr being a passive little (tall) crybaby, the prophecy needs the god of war to unite people to punch Odin in the dick, which Kratos is technically a God of War so....it's him right? He's already uniting people like Tyr, Dwarves, Freya, a squirrel, etc
I could’ve sworn the first game more or less alluded to this, but maybe I’m mistaken.
 

Casual Shinji

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Maybe you’re not fully understanding the circumstances here. It’s war!! Ragnarok is upon everyone, and chaos is all that remains! Everything is happening so fast!!!

…is about how I assume they rationalized and/or justified it.
Except very little in the game eludes to that; war, chaos. The main theme of the game is Kratos learning to trust Atreus' actions as he grows into manhood, and not being bound by fate, not pursposefully trying to avoid fate, but to think for yourself.

I am far into the game, but I know I'm not exactly where you are yet. I would still take that over stretching things out or prolong even farther than they need to be.
That's the other extreme, and not one I'm saying they should've done. As it is now it feels like watching The Lord of The Rings trilogy, but Two Towers and Return of the King are smushed together but with the run time of one movie. As a follow up to GoW'18 this feels extremely rushed and cramped. If they wanted to do just two games they should've opted for a different follow-up story. Even if that meant some of the set-up of '18 would go unfulfilled, the story that would be there would've gotten the room it needed, instead of all these important moments feeling like someone's speed reading through story chapters.
 

BrawlMan

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As a follow up to GoW'18 this feels extremely rushed and cramped. If they wanted to do just two games they should've opted for a different follow-up story. Even if that meant some of the set-up of '18 would go unfulfilled, the story that would be there would've gotten the room it needed, instead of all these important moments feeling like someone's speed reading through story chapters.
Take your poison on that one. I do agree that the previous game shouldn't have had so many sequel hooks, but that's a problem with a lot of media these days. Just have an opened ended conclusion or self-contained story, then worry about the a sequel when your product becomes a success. If it's even necessary that is. Oh well, thems the brakes.
 

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Sony Santa Monica left a truly heart-warming in-game tribute to a developer who passed away during God of War Ragnarök's production.

Please note, while this tribute is not integral to the main story, it does relate to one of the game's 'Favour' side-quests. If you are keen to avoid any spoilers, please refrain from reading further.

As players make their way around God of War Ragnarök's realms, they may notice love hearts adorning the environments. These hearts are connected to the Across the Realms side-quest.

This quest tells the story of Jari and Somr, a couple who travelled across the realms together and eventually found a place to call their home. Players can find their camp - the Eternal Campfire - in Midgard, and from here start gathering the ingredients necessary for the couple's next dish (thanks, SirusGaming).

However, this in-game love-story is actually connected to Sony Santa Monica couple Sam Handrick and Jake Snipes.

The couple met when Snipes started working at Santa Monica in 2019. The two soon became inseparable, travelling across the US together and baking (a lot) for the studio.

But their relationship ended too soon. In 2020, Snipes very sadly passed away due to his epilepsy, leaving Handrick heartbroken.


Sam Handrick and Jake Snipes.

Sharing their story on Twitter, Handrick recalled how the couple would "talk about how much we'd love to leave some symbol of us in Ragnarok. Some indication within this game that had been the reason we'd first met, our first game made together.

"[Snipes] once suggested simply a heart, with our initials in Norse runes, carved into this world we made."

He continued: "I told Eric [Williams, Ragnarök's director] and the team about Jake's suggestion of our initials carved into a heart. And he and the team returned with that and something even more special.

"A story of two men who find each other in an often cruel world, and who find a place to belong simply with each other.

"I wanted this story to be one many queer people know: journeying through a world that doesn't always understand you to find a place that truly feels like home.

"And sometimes that place is simply a person. And something as simple as a recipe can be a link back to that home."

You can read Handrick's full, incredibly beautiful, thread below.

 

BrawlMan

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Atreus gets a magic sword now too! Also, Thor is doing a temporary assist with the BOI! Muspelhiem is where I am at right now. This game gets getting better and better. I cannot wait for NG+!
 
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CriticalGaming

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Atres gets a magic sword now too! Also, Thor is doing a temporary assist with the BOI! Muspelhiem is where I am at right now. This game gets getting better and better. I cannot wait for NG+!
Im actually surprised i passed you so significantly. Ive even been trying to do everything to get as close to the plat as possible. But you are hours behind me in the story now. Oh well. I wont spoil anything.