Topic: God of War OT

@ralphdibny If you’re going for the base experience and not trying to platinum then the older games will be pretty quick as they each can be beaten in just a small handful of sessions, especially the PSP games. Amd I don’t mean to sully your playthroughs of the originals, I hope you do enjoy them. And like I say, despite my memory of them not being stellar, I remember having a measure of fun with each. Not every gaming experience has to be a character driven and emotionally satisfying one, I’ve had plenty of fun with Tetris and Crash Bandicoot, and so for just the gameplay satisfaction piece I think you’ll like them. I am curious to hear your thoughts too as the series evolves, since as I say, it’s been a while for me and I really just blew through the original titles randomly at odd times in years past before I really knew what I was doing as a gamer.

@Th3solution the crash story is timeless 😂, must save the poor tawna bandicoot from the wretched clutches of Dr neo cortex. I am kind of joking of course!

Don't worry, you wont sully anything. I normally take games at face value and only go deeper if it catches my interest. They should be OK but I'm not expecting anything like Uncharted. I never had a PS2 when it was popular so I don't have a lot of nostalgia for PS2 games in general because I was a GameCuber! One HD classic PS2 game that I absolutely loved though was ICO, I really just loved that castle that stretched out into the horizon. It's another I wanted to revisit in 3D but never got around to. I played through about half of shadow of colossus afterward and I didn't think it was as good as ICO at the time so I really need to get around to playing it again at some point!

@ralphdibny Oh man, the Ueda games are amongst my favorite. Agree on ICO. It was one of my first gaming experiences that had a significant emotional impact and where I came to know gaming as an art form, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I personally found SotC to be even better. I’ve said it before, but I can’t refute the mechanical niggles of the game, and in some ways it’s a little annoying to play, but the aesthetic and the deeper lore of the game is just so fantastic that it’s one of my favorites of all time. The Bluepoint PS4 version is definitely the absolute best one. Then try out The Last Guardian as well 🙂
But yes, I guess you make a great point — when an older game relies solely on its gameplay to be entertaining then it’s more likely to age poorly and become more obsolete. But when it contains deep narrative, beautiful art direction (different from graphical fidelity), timeless characters, wonderful music, or emotionally resonant themes — well, then it will live as a replayable classic.

@Th3solution There has just got to be something good about it thats worth replaying I suppose. I played Crash 3 when it came out on PS1, I replayed it taking turns with friends about 12 years ago and will probably replay it again on the remastered version. I've replayed MGS1 countless times, probably like 15 times in the years after it came out (to unlock the tuxedo and the cyborg ninja outfit lol). But normally its now as part of a replay of the whole or part of the larger MGS canon every 4-5 years (though i have played it twice since this time last year lol - Twin Snakes and original)

I think I do see it as art but it is also just as broad as other art forms. Like the difference between Meet the Fockers and 2001: Space Odyssey, both are brilliant films in my opinion and I'd be happy to sit down and rewatch either given the right mood. But I wouldn't like to denigrate Meet the Fockers because it's not considered as arty as 2001. Both films are art and i enjoy both films for different reasons. Like I might enjoy Crash for its wicked hard platforming and enjoy MGS for its bonkers narrative tapestry

@ralphdibny The new game is also a very achievable platinum, probably a similar level to Spider-Man or HZD.

@Thrillho I just realised that I’ll finally be able to get the GoW platinum with it being included in the PS Plus Collection. Finally it’ll be mine after it went off PS Now!

@nessisonett

@ralphdibny Very true, indeed. A lot boils down to mood and just good ol’ fashioned personal preference.
I have a slight unfair bias against older and retro games just because of my own predispositions. But sometimes there are older experiences that warrant replay and just flat out are spectacular on their own. Speaking of, I do need to do a re-run of the MGS games. I have that in my backlog list to do, except I’m not sure I can find a way to play MGS1

@Th3solution MGS1 just got added to GOG on PCs for a really quite low price and it’ll run on the most starchy of potato PCs. You could always play it there if you don’t have a PS3 or Vita!

@Th3solution @nessisonett that or a PlayStation classic which are often dirt cheap, over here in the UK anyway. Shame it doesn't support rumble for some of the fourth wall breaking shenanigans!

@ralphdibny @nessisonett I guess I can play it on the Vita as a PS1 classic if it’s available there. I knew there was a specific remaster collection of MGS2,3, and Peace Walker, but never thought to check the Vita store. I’ll have to look later.

@Th3solution Shame there’s no L2/R2 on Vita, swapping item/weapon is an absolute sin with MGS1.

@Th3solution How're you getting on?

@Thrillho I was just about to boot up the game. I didn’t have any gaming time this week, so hopefully I make some progress this weekend. I’m perusing my PS4 screenshot album for the competition and maybe I’ll be able to get some last minute GoW shots to submit; the game is friggin’ gorgeous but I’ve only done one photo so far.

I’ll probably post some thoughts later on though about how I’m finding the game in general. Excited to see what happens.
Question though — do you recommend I try to explore every nook and cranny in each area or just plough through the story and go back for clean up on side areas later? It’s an age-old problem for me to get too worried about finding everything before moving on because I don’t want to miss out on a key power-up or secret, but this Metroidvania style set up means I’m likely to waste time running around areas that I can’t access and will end up coming back to later, correct?

FWIW I remember that I got the platinum when I finished the game the first time, so I must have collected everything as I went. I played on hard, and the only thing I had to dip the difficulty for was the Valkyrie queen

@Th3solution Have you reached the more open area yet?

I explored every area as I found it but you don’t need to. It’s much easier to travel around the areas later on in the game. Some areas have enemies that will be over levelled to you but these tend to be in their own area rather than at the end of a long section (if you get me).

But play how you like!

@Mega-Gazz @Thrillho Thanks, guys. And no, I’m not at a really open area yet. I’m still
early on but there are little off-shoot paths here and there it seems. And Atreus is eager to say “Hey, Dad! What’s this over here?!” or “Why are you going that way? It’s over here!”trying to pull me to the next passageway to continue the mainline story path, but I’m finding if I just follow him that I would miss some chests. But I am also finding that some areas look like you should be able to go there, but Kratos’s inability to jump or climb (except in designated landmarked areas) means that the spot is unobtainable. But it’s good to know it’s easy to come back later if I miss anything.

@Th3solution When you do reach the open area, there are certain sections you won't be able to get access until certain things happen in the story.

I'm just about to start playing the original God of War and when I was looking up the order (I'm going to play them in release order rather than chronological order), I found out there is a mobile game called God of War Betrayal. Luckily its for java based phones and there are plenty of free emulators for Android so I've downloaded it and will add it into the playthrough!

Just thought I'd post about it in case there are other OCDers who want to play every reasonable game in a series that weren't aware of this footnote in the annals of God of War history!

@ralphdibny The first GoW is alright. Probably was more impressive back in the day but that’s true of a lot of games. The 2nd one is a big improvement imo so you should be golden after getting through the first one.