Topic: God of War OT

I remember being able to do everything in God of War on Normal difficulty except for defeating the Valkyrie Queen. Tried for so many hours but in the end I decided to just lower the difficulty and defeat it so that I could get the last trophy I needed for the Platinum.

Keep in mind that it doesn't matter which difficulty level you play on if you want to get the Platinum trophy.

@Ralizah yeah it does, there is some pretty decent endgame content there once the main story is done and dusted,

@Ralizah Collectibles can be slightly awkward because some areas are quite linear so I found I near enough had to replay whole areas to get the one or two I missed. I don’t recall it being particularly onerous though.

That fight against the dragon was pretty cool. Really basic mechanically, but it worked well as spectacle, which is something the game has been a bit short on until this point. It's not a proper God of War game if at least one of the bosses isn't 100x bigger than you are.

@Thrillho Will definitely have to return to certain areas to open some of those chests with the rune symbols on them, because a few of them are a royal pain in the butt and I just decided to leave them. I'm not excited about having to track down all 50 whatever of those Odin birds. Those are gonna be a major grind.

Oh boy, Atreus is going to be a problem, isn't he? Not getting good vibes about that exchange where he says he wouldn't have felt badly about killing elves if he'd known he was a god. This child gives me the sense he's not equipped to handle the knowledge of his godhood in a healthy manner.

@Ralizah It’s not like the boy’s genes are fantastic. Kratos is a mass murderer even if you ignore the gods, with all the randoms you hack and slash.

@nessisonett A predilection towards violence, I suppose?

I get the sense that Kratos' legacy of violence, anger, and carnage are aspects of himself he's terrified of fully confronting, which is what has hampered his ability to address those same tendencies in his own son. How tragic would it be if his own son became the very thing he wished to protect him from!

By the way, I just got past the bit where Atreus really starts acting out and strands us in Helheim. I'm ready to drop him off at the adoption agency now, even if the stun from his light arrows is amazing.

@Ralizah Yeah, I remember being quite taken aback with his behaviour towards the end. I was totally off guard!

@nessisonett The fact that he becomes so unruly that he even starts ignoring your commands is a bit of a genius move. Great interplay of narrative and game mechanics.

And that's the main story of God of War wrapped up! Still need to complete a copious amount of side content, including fighting some valkyries, but overall I think I'm mostly done with the game now. It started out a bit on the rough side for me, but I ended up quite enjoying it as the game opened up, the (tragic) story came together near the end, and combat became more involved as I unlocked new skills. I'm also liking this new, more self-reflective version of Kratos and his complex relationship with his son.

Really looking forward to fighting Thor in the sequel.

@Ralizah Congrats in completing the main story. The Valkyrie fights are actually the highlight for me, even though I did very much enjoy the main story and as you say, Kratos is so much more interesting and relatable this time around versus his younger and angrier version. Hopefully the reveal about Atreus being Loki wasn’t spoiled for you, since it’s alluded to in the Ragnarok trailer.
Do you think you’ll try for the platinum? The Valkyries is the toughest part of it, although getting all the Ravens, artifacts, and shrines are also an annoyance.

The last Valkyrie is definitely the toughest fight in the game. I refused to lower the difficulty for it (but I was only playing on the default one) and it took me a while
Can't imagine beating her on the highest one tbh (unless you can power up even further in NG+, haven't tried that).

@Voltan yeah it’s up there amongst the most difficult fights I’ve had in gaming. The only things that exceed it are a couple of the optional Sekiro bosses… and ‘maybe’ some of the dlc bosses in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3.

Congrats @Ralizah on beating the game.

Really glad to hear it picked up for you in the story department since we last spoke (apologies for not replying to that... work unfortunately but I've got it mostly in balance now) along with everything else gelling with you even more.

I'd have probably got it by now if I hadn't got so many games to go through already...

Is this getting the Ralizah review treatment or have your thoughts been summed up nicely enough already regarding the game?

The Valkyrie fights are a great challenge. I managed to complete the game on the second highest difficulty setting - give me a challenge I think it is - and they probably took me as long to complete all of them as completing the rest of the game. I remember watching a guy do the Valkyrie queen on the hardest difficulty level and he made it look easy. That was the first time I realised where I fit into the grander scheme of gaming skill 😆

@render I played on Give Me a Challenge, and I can't tell you how many times I've died over the course of the game, lol. GoW being as forgiving as it is really helps, at least. I might drop down to the Normal difficulty equivalent for the post-game, though. I'm very, very tired of dying.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I'll definitely be doing a long-form piece about it, although my backlog in that regard is piling up. My will to write has shrunk quite a bit lately. The only way I ever get out of these moods is just forcing myself to write, though sheer force of will. So I'll probably be activating whatever my equivalent of Spartan Rage mode is soon so I can catch up with all of the games I want to discuss in detail.

@Th3solution The "Loki" reveal doesn't mean much to me without context, since I assume they're not going to follow some of the weirder mythological stories about him, which is a shame, actually, given how deeply queer and genderfluid Loki is in Norse mythology.

And no, the reveal wasn't spoiled for me. I tend to not overanalyze trailers, especially when they're sequels to games I'm not finished with. Granted, I did wonder why Freya was trying to kill Kratos, and now I know. Probably should have just let that mother/son interaction play out to its logical conclusion instead of making a powerful enemy.

The platinum... I dunno. I'll definitely finish up the substantive side-content, but without some sort of robust tracking tool, trying to find and kill 50 specific birds across the map sounds as fun as tearing out my own fingernails. We'll see.

@Ralizah The genderfluid thing is mostly an MCU thing. I've read most of the source material, and Loki is never portrayed that way. There's one story where he transforms in a mare to get f'ed by a stallion, but I wouldn't use bestiality as an example of genderfluid

Loki can change shape, that's it. And I can definitely see the game going that way. Atreus even suggested that one of his powers may be shapeshifting into a wolf IIRC, definitely foreshadowing if you ask me.

Don't think they will show him having sex with a horse though lol.

@Octane He also turns into a milkmaid and bears children for years, lol. And accompanies Thor (who's dressed up like a bride) disguised as a maid. And, yeah, he turns into a mare and gets impregnated by a stallion. I believe there were other instances of looking like a giantess and women otherwise.

Not genderfluid my butt, lol. He's a shapeshifter, so I guess it comes with the territory.

Anyone know any tips for getting anchors of fog? I've been grinding Niflheim for hours and still can't find any.

@Ralizah don’t know if you’ve checked this previously but if not:

https://www.ign.com/wikis/god-of-war-2018/Anchor_of_Fog_Locat...