Your video game hot take(s) thread
- Thread starter Dany_the_penguin
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The thing is, a new IP is exactly what Sant Monica Studios was going to do.
Sony Didn't Really Want Another God of War Game
Cory Barlog had to convince company
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They actually had two new IPs in the works, but one (that was actually led by the creative director of God of War 3) was already canceled and he’d left the company. The other, who knows what it might’ve been, but somewhere along the line after working on the TR reboot Cory Barlog approached Sony with his idea for the new God of War, and it was enough to convince them to shelve whatever else they had.
Correction, since I can't edit:
"I wouldn't intentionally spend four weeks up to that point playing a story-driven game like that. Dragging such a game out like that isn't my idea of fun."
I realized the way I said it implied I don't like story-driven games. I like good ones.
Funny you say that, when the first God of War is Kratos just standing at the top of a cliff, with the whole game being him remembering everything that has happened, realizing how wrong he was, how his guilt would haunt him for the rest of his life, and ended throwing himself off the cliff in despair. The first game was just experiencing Krato's introspection from inside his mind.
I couldn't finish the second game, because I couldn't stand this Kratos didn't learn anything from the first game's introspection, and he just did the dumbest thing he could have done 10 seconds after the game started. Did becoming the God of War put him into a curse that reduced his brain to only two brain cells (one used for combat and the other for anger)?
The second God of War is one of the few games where I dropped the controller in utter disappointment... twice.
I still haven't played the new God of War, so I can't really agree or disagree.
From the publishers perspective, sure. The developers though weren't just cranking out another GoW. Again, Ascension is an example of that. That was Santa Monica going 'Ugh okay, let's just make another. I mean, what else are we gonna do?' GoW '18 was them taking the effort to break open the franchise and seeing what direction they could take it in.
I prefered that too when I saw the reveal trailer, and then I played the game. GoW 18 is as much GoW as Resident Evil 4 is Resident Evil. Not that I'm comparing the impact of RE4 to GoW '18, but how the new compares to the old. And in both cases despite the differences it's still recognizeable as the old franchise beyond the surface.
Oof, you should've played GoW3 then. It has by far the worst moment of introspection I've seen in anything.
I'd say it again, CaitSeith. They kept the introspection to a minimum. Similarly, you don't want Clash of the Titans to constantly dwell on the characters' feelings in prolonged shots of their sad faces and wistful dialogue. (Not a very good movie, but it fits the bill.) The mythology and adventure is greater than the characters, more so in a game series like this.
Out of the entire Dino Crisis trilogy, I say numero 2 is still the best one. When you think about it, it basically predated how mercenaries would work in Resident Evil 4 and after. Before anyone starts, I know mercenaries mode appeared in the third Resident Evil game. Though it functions completely different to how it would work in later games and the second Dino Crisis. With the way how combos function in that game, it also predates DMC in a certain way. Feels like an all guns version of DMC1.
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There's nothing wrong with introspection, as long as it's done when appropriate, or not going overboard with it. Bayonetta 2 had some introspection that was done really well. It was some of the brief banter between Loki and Bayo herself. Granted, it does that thing where they have to slow down the player to a walk for a walkie-talkie section, but it never overstays its welcome. This only happens once in the entire game, so there is that. There's a way to screw it up; insert DmC (2013). It tried so hard to come off as smart and edgy at the same time, that it insults all of the senses. DMC3 definitely had introspection moments that are done well.
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Fair enough. I can't offer a differing opinion having not played the game in question, but my gut tells me that new ideas work better on a clean slate. They've now shackled themselves to a pre-existing canon they ostensibly tried to distance themselves from, and I think that kind of effort would have been better spent on something new they could have created and embellished upon. It's like a renewal of wedding vows in a marriage that has fallen apart. Not that the latest GoW isn't a good game (I can't say,) but if they're putting on airs without the vision reminiscent of the past successes, shouldn't they just have moved on?
I guess there's something to be said for moving forward in a different direction, but the pessimist in me in the modern era of "putting out what sells" can't see past the idea that they just wanted to sell "another" GoW as opposed to a reimagining of a franchise they were truly passionate about beyond its profitability.
Unlike CotT, GoW ‘18 flipped the script on that last bit, and it paid off. Name one long running IP in the action/adventure genre that’s stuck with the original formula the whole time, or at least kept it similar where the latest game had the impact of GoW’s reboot.
You don’t have to like it, and not trying to change your mind about anything; simply telling it like it is.
GoW’18 was a smashing success on all fronts, so it kinda renders the woulda/coulda/shoulda semantics null & void in this case. Although as a concession, their next actual new IP is supposedly in the fantasy genre. Guessing that’s the one the director of the last GoW is leading.
Not debating that it was successful, just nodding towards the idea that in the pre-development boardrooms, selling another God of War title expecting sales on recognition versus something entirely untried and untested and starting from zero was the motivation. I could be wrong, but in my experience with franchises I love, few stray from what made them successful. Not saying there aren't bad games that have stayed the course in their respective lanes, but few (I can't think of any) have impressed me by mixing things up mid-stride. GoW is apparently an exception, but I'd be hard-pressed to believe it was solely a passion project from those who loved working on the franchise.
It was Cory Barlog’s passion project, and he apparently had to fight tooth and nail to get the studio on board with things like the kid, no-cut camera, and general direction of the game. Once he got Shannon Studstill (head of Santa Monica) on board, she convinced Sony it was worth revisiting. Some on the team were skeptical until the very end, but others got into it earlier. Probably coincided almost entirely with which departments had the most headaches making their portion of it all work.
Which it's funny, because Gaming Brit and detractors like him claimed that Santa Monica and Corey Barlog were not taking any risks. All they had to go on was armchair theory guessing, and just on looking at interviews from pre-release. Trying to cause and spread all this false panic, anti-hype, and claim it's not a true God of War, nor a game for true gamers.
Even when this information was revealed, they chose to not say anything afterward, or double down on it.
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God of War 4 had side quests?
Something about being a ladykiller, I don't know I wasn't paying attention.
Honestly Treyarch also made an unflattering statement about the Cold War with Black Ops II, with main antagonist being a direct byproduct of Operation Condor since Menendez is a Nicaraguan and how the term Banana republic was penned.
I did enjoy that.
Apparently cold war also had a particularly ironic twist if you pick the bad ending and I'd love for that to be the canon ending but it won't
I get sick and tired of publishers forcing me to log into an online account whenever I hit the game’s main menu. You’re wasting my time trying to start up your game by making log into an account I will never use. Good one gaming industry! You surely know how to make gaming suck more!