Topic: God of War OT

Can someone explain to me (an idiot) what the advantages are for each armour and which one would be better and why? I’m totally lost a sea with all this still, I’ve collected lots of things but no idea what to do with them. Enjoying the game overall, finally after almost starting from scratch. Thanks in advance 👍

@AgentCooper Rarity isn’t the main thing at all really. The shoulder guard looks loads better to me with a decent spread of stats at a decent level (I think if you press R3 or something similar it explains what each stat means). Both have one enchantment slot too.

The one thing the new piece of armour has in its favour is that it has room to be improved; the dots under the current level show one filled circle so it can be levelled up twice. But I suspect based on the base stats that it’s just defence that will increase each time.

In the grand scheme of things I don’t thing it makes a massive difference but it’s worth thinking about what stats favour your style. Are you going all in on strength and being more of a glass cannon, making defence and vitality (health) higher to give yourself more of a chance, or spreading things around a bit?

It looks like it’s the first game you’re playing so one thing to consider later in the game is that some combat abilities can only be used/unlocked with stats at a certain level but, again, that wasn’t a deal breaker for me at any point.

tl;dr I don’t think it makes a huge difference in the end really.

@Thrillho Appreciate the feedback mate, helped a lot. I hadn’t even seen the L3 prompt 🙄

I’m trying my hardest to be as relaxed with it all but i had so much gear and other rubbish it was becoming a bit overwhelming.

I’ve tried to keep an even spread with subsequent upgrades including keeping the original armour. I’ve also acquired some decent gauntlet things since too so i think I’m in fairly good shape.

Really trying to not be obsessive about it and enjoy the story! 😂

What a difference a few days make, I’ve made some good progress and getting my head round the various combos and strategies for the various enemy types. I’ve just fought Daniel Faraday on a dragon which was truly epic! Every time I think there can’t be a set piece or area that blows me away, another one pops up. In short I’m having a blast and coming from a more apprehensive position last week it feels all the more sweeter.

@AgentCooper The combat in both games is great as it can be really easy to use but also has some great depth to it, particularly when you unlock and use the stance changes (a move where you pause after an attack, Kratos changes stance and then had new attacks to use).

It just feels great to play too.

The method of unlocking moves by using them in Ragnarok I think works better but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with how it works in the first game.

Glad you’re having fun!

So the latest rumour is that Bluepoints current project is an adult Atreus-centred God of War spin off. Now there is nothing concrete to go on… but apparently some recently released concept art from Bluepoint has a character that looks suspiciously like a grown up Boy.

I’m a bit conflicted if true, as I’ve been crying out for a God of War: Ragnarok expandalone for the longest but part of that was due to it meaning an extra game from SSM that wouldn’t require a full production calendar (a la First Light, Lost Legacy, Miles Morales etc.). While if this report is actually true, it would take a full production and stop a separate dev team from releasing another game. On the other hand I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from being somewhat excited if confirmation were made. Interested to hear other people’s thoughts.

@colonelkilgore It's an interesting idea and the fact the studio helped with Ragnarok would certainly lend credence to it. This way the work wouldn't have just been about helping get that title finished but also about familiarising the studio with the game engine for this new project.
I agree with you about wanting more from that saga but it also meaning it ties up another studio for longer. However it might mean the rest of Santa Monica can help get Corey Barlog's next project out a lot sooner which I think is something to be excited about.

@Malaise yeah Atreus could get a bit annoying… as kids can be tbh 😅… but ultimately he was a pretty good character who served to make Kratos a significantly more well-rounded protagonist.

I’d be interested to hear why God of War is a series that doesn’t interest you at all?

@BearsEatBeets Yeah if it dies mean more man power for the long-mooted Barlow sci fi adventure, it’s no bad thing I guess. But I’ve no doubt SSM have already begun pre-prod on the next God of War arc too, so I have no idea how the studio would split resources. You’d have to think the majority of bodies would be thrown at the bankable franchise and a smaller team would be devoted to Corey’s passion project. Either way, I’ll play all three in that case 😁

@Malaise ahh that’s exactly what I was curious about, whether you’d played any of the rebooted games or not. I went straight into the series with 2018 as the older games never appealed to me neither. I ended up enjoying it so much that I went back and played them too though.

Well I hope Ragnarok gets some time on PS+ so that you can give it a go… it hit for me but am aware that it sits behind 2018 in some people’s reckoning. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the ride.

@colonelkilgore Depending on what stage Corey's project is I'm inclined to think they might put the weight of the studio behind it to get it done while a smaller team does pre-production on where they take GOW next.
Much like yourself and @Malaise I never had an interest in the serious until the Barlog reboot. It always looked like a button-mashing action game but I'm glad I gave the reboot a go as that and Ragnarok became among my favourite playstation studio games. It didn't me persuade to try the older titles though as I still feel they are likely to be quite different games to play.
I'm glad they are making something new next (especially led by Corey) and as much as I loved the last two GOW I hope they don't try and keep churning them out just because they were successful unless they feel they have lots of interesting ideas to keep it going.

@colonelkilgore I always felt BluePoint would be the studio to take on Bloodborne 2, since FromSoft is unlikely to devote themselves to it now that they are industry multiplatform rockstars. But a GoW spin off also makes some sense for them.

I still need to play Ragnarok. I finally purchased it recently when I found it cheap. So I might get to it late 2024 or early 2025.

@Th3solution yeah I was hoping their current project was something Bloodborne-related myself tbh. Maybe that’s the reason I’d be a bit disappointed if this current rumour were true.

I've finally got around to trying God Of War 2018. Always meant to but, every time I thought about purchasing it I got distracted by something else instead.

Played up til just after the Stranger encounter and basically just the set up for the game, the first mission/first hour or so.

No complaints so far. Nice that I don't have to deal with super Angy Kratos like in GoW III (The only other GOW title I've played). He's so much more... Resevered even in just the first few talks with Atreus and trying to keep himself and his anger in check. Looking forward to playing more.

@HallowMoonshadow I really ended up as a big fan of GoW 2018. I felt middling about the original games GoW1-3, but 3 was probably the best in my recollection. Still, my main complaint was Kratos, as you say - he just was a miserable person to deal with 😅. I think I’d be better able to tolerate his unadulterated anger and revenge now as an adult, but when I played the OG games I just couldn’t wrap my head around his personality. The sad dad version in 2018 is much more likable and empathetic in my experience, and the gameplay is rock solid. Overall just a great game. I have Ragnarok in the backlog and really need to get around to it.

@HallowMoonshadow @Th3solution pre-2018 Kratos is just as nuanced as the 2018 follow up, the ps2, psp and gow3+ascension tell a beautiful character arc that the 2018 game literally uses as its basis, don’t talk up the 2018 game so highly while disrespecting the games that it uses as basis >.>

As I said I've only played the third God Of War before @Yousef- so I can't comment on the other titles (He could very well have a lot more depth to his character) but unfortunately I can't really recall him being much more then a rage filled death machine in GoW 3 aside from when interacting with Pandora who ends up reminding him of his dead daughter.

Granted I haven't played GoW3 in over 10 years so there's no doubt some other moments that humanise him there. Plus GoW 2018 is also a LOT more character driven and focused then the previous entries too which no doubt colours my perspective.

Just for you I changed "Nuanced" to reserved 'kay?

Ha well PS + Premium struck again here @Th3solution (Well it's part of extra technicallly but whatever, free is free!)

Played some more today and just reached the dwarven blacksmith for the first time.

I'm still getting used to the combat more then anything. It's a lot slower and weighter than I was expecting. I've died quite a few times, especially when they introduced the witch enemy for the first time who kept teleporting everywhere and poisoning me...

@Yousef- As I said I do think that I wasn’t in the right mindset to grasp all of the original GoW narrative threads and I honestly remember very little about the story or even much about the character arc for Kratos. It was just my own memories of not particularly liking him as a protagonist. I probably wasn’t looking at the greater arc and just experiencing him as a perpetually angry man. And anger and revenge can be done fine, but I don’t remember feeling the balance of his redemption.

As an example, I felt the same way playing as Abby in TLoU2 initially. Over time I grew to see her side of things and her humanity and redemptive characteristics. I know Kratos eventually develops those same qualities but I didn’t really feel them until 2018. But again, it might be a “me” thing.

So I've played a decent amount more of this, reaching Alfheim and getting part way through the temple.

Combat has clicked with me a bit more. Though with the wealth of combat options I do keep forgetting what I can do.

It also looks fantastic too, especially for a PS4 game! Alfheim in particular looks very VERY different to Midgard.

Greatly enjoying my time with it and not a whole lot to say really beyond what I've already said.

@HallowMoonshadow glad you’re enjoying it… one of my favourite games of all time. I still click on steamers’ opening sessions of the game, if and when they come up on my suggestions just to see their reactions. As someone for whom action adventure games are amongst my favourite genres… it’s elite in almost every regard.

@ColonelkilgoreThe animations in the game are so cool 😎. As is the combat.