Support NeoGAF

[Vtecomega]

Ok guys I am going to have to eat some crow. The combat has finally clicked for me and I am having a ton of fun. The flaws with the plot and enemy variety still remain but at least the combat has clicked. Also trying different builds is fun, just wish enemies would respawn post game or they add a new game plus.

 

[GTR R35_Supra RZ]

I FINALLY finished the main story and I'm currently working on finishing the side stuff.

Also fighting a Valkyrie in Niflheim is pain in the ass.

This game definitely could be one my GOTY contender but I still have DQXI, KHIII, VC4 to look forward to this year.

If you don't mind, what is DQXI and VC4?

I'm always up for AAA gms dropping that i don't know. So far i got locked in at Amazon :

Detroit.
RDR2.
Tomb Raider.

 

[Danjin44]

If you don't mind, what is DQXI and VC4?

Dragon Quest XI and Valkyria Chronicles 4.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

The Valkyrie queen and the one at the top of the trials were some grade-A bullshit. Too much ticky tack going on. They wouldn't have been too bad if not for their cheap ass area of effect attack that deals massive damage and you can't seem to escape it. Not to mention the attacks where they end up on you.

I big time struggled even on easy difficulty. For those of you attempting those on God of War difficulty I seriously want to know if you just hate yourselves.

 

[Danjin44]

The Valkyrie queen and the one at the top of the trials were some grade-A bullshit. Too much ticky tack going on. They wouldn't have been too bad if not for their cheap ass area of effect attack that deals massive damage and you can't seem to escape it. Not to mention the attacks where they end up on you.
I big time struggled even on easy difficulty. For those of you attempting those on God of War difficulty I seriously want to know if you just hate yourselves.

I'm guessing you are talking about the the flash attack that blinds you. you can actually interrupt her with Atreus.

 

[nath999]

Honestly this by far the best game I've played this gen. Thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it start to finish. I never try to get platinum trophies or anything like that but I actually went around doing everything I could.

 

[kevin_trinh]

I'm guessing you are talking about the the flash attack that blinds you. you can actually interrupt her with Atreus.

if you are playing on GMGOW difficulty Atreus can't interrupt that attack, the only way to avoid it is turn your back to the enemy so you wont get hit.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

I'm guessing you are talking about the the flash attack that blinds you. you can actually interrupt her with Atreus.

Turn your back and then she’ll just do her neck stomp.
Just cheap shit.

 

[TGO]

Just got

Spoiler

the Blades of Choas

Really puts things in prospective how powerful Kratos is, holy shit

 

[Ar¢tos]

More 2nd playthrough glitches.... Atreus refuses to read names of the braziers in the towers. He just says OK, but doesn't move and after the third try the input button vanishes, no brazier lit and no count in goals menu either. It's not important but they should look into these 2nd playthrough glitches.

 

[Keihart]

Tip for anyone playing on GMGOW, when playing against

Spoiler: 2 dudes in the snow

Thor's sons, when the small brother gets launched in the air, you can interrupt the attack by launching your axe. The move has a really big AOE and is unblockable otherwise.

Spoiler: Optional Boss Spoiler

1 Valkyrie down, lots to go...intense fight tho, that was really fun.

 

[ChrisDude]

Is it normal that my pro sounds like its about to take of to the moon when I play god of war?

 

[jowell24]

Is it normal that my pro sounds like its about to take of to the moon when I play god of war?

Happens with my Pro on Monster Hunter too. Nothing to be worried about.

Just more games pushing hardware to it's limits

 

[TFGB]

I’m so gutted.

I finally got round to starting GOW this evening and all I could manage was up to the first boss as my motion sickness kicked in, thus I’ve had to knock it on the head for tonight.

I only normally get it on fps’, but the camera is really making me suffer.

I’ll try again tomorrow after adjusting the camera sensitivity and hopefully I’ll be able to continue. Shame as it looks amazing.

 

[nowhat]

I’m so gutted.

I finally got round to starting GOW this evening and all I could manage was up to the first boss as my motion sickness kicked in, thus I’ve had to knock it on the head for tonight.

I only normally get it on fps’, but the camera is really making me suffer.

I’ll try again tomorrow after adjusting the camera sensitivity and hopefully I’ll be able to continue. Shame as it looks amazing.

You might also consider turning down/off motion blur (it's under Settings -> Video). It seems to cause motion sickness to some.

 

[TFGB]

You might also consider turning down/off motion blur (it's under Settings -> Video). It seems to cause motion sickness to some.

Cheers, I’ll give that a go too.

 

[geordiemp]

The Valkyrie queen and the one at the top of the trials were some grade-A bullshit. Too much ticky tack going on. They wouldn't have been too bad if not for their cheap ass area of effect attack that deals massive damage and you can't seem to escape it. Not to mention the attacks where they end up on you.

I big time struggled even on easy difficulty. For those of you attempting those on God of War difficulty I seriously want to know if you just hate yourselves.

I playing on give me a challenge, hard mode, and the fight with the Valkyrie on top of the fire mountain was tough, my god I spent all Sunday and eventually won.

Every stat and enchantment I had to optimise, carefully picking the 4 special moves that worked on her (2 ice, 2 burn) and reminded me of Ninja Gaiden black days. Maybe harder.

Still, what combat, anyone who says the combat is repetitive go play on challenge or above and complete the fog / burn areas post game, they are nuts. Spent more time playing the trails than the whole story by far.

The key to Valkyrie is firing arrows (light) well paced, dont mash, to keep her on ground - you must be looking at them when tapping Square. Also high burn Runic build and switch constantly between special moves and use Crows / Rage wisely.

 

[geordiemp]

Cheers, I’ll give that a go too.

I did motion blur 5, film grain 5, preferences performance

Camera Hor and vert = 3, aim camera 2, turned down the stationary sway setting to 7.

The default camera was horrible, far to fast.

 

[Keihart]

The splash in the lava made me chuckle.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Tip for anyone playing on GMGOW, when playing against

Spoiler: 2 dudes in the snow

Thor's sons, when the small brother gets launched in the air, you can interrupt the attack by launching your axe. The move has a really big AOE and is unblockable otherwise.

Spoiler: Optional Boss Spoiler

1 Valkyrie down, lots to go...intense fight tho, that was really fun.

I was happy when I downed this one:

Spoiler

I have fought harder bosses, but it got frustrating. As you can see I just want to keep blocking. lol i admit I didn't have the fight down, but I was persistent.

 

[toker818]

This game has the best damn combat I have ever played congratulations Santa Monica Studios 10/10

 

[God Enel]

The splash in the lava made me chuckle.

This move is so fucking satisfying. Today I can play all night. Was busy the whole last week so finally I can continue with GoW.

 

[Shifty]

Is it normal that my pro sounds like its about to take of to the moon when I play god of war?

Just more games pushing hardware to it's limits

And, if you're not the type to regularly pop open and clean your hardware, more dust getting into the fans as the generation progresses.

 

[goathouse774]

Just to add to the pile of things people (probably) have already said:

This game has renewed my vigor for gaming, generally. It's been so long since a game felt important to my life, in this way. There are many small niggling problems with the game, many only becoming apparent after nearly platinuming on GMGOW difficulty. (Yes, the early game balancing is off, but I'm sure I would roflstomp it now.)

Special mention needs to be made for the combat engine. So many ways to approach your build with the heavy rpg influence, absurdly wicked and nuanced moment-to-moment fighting, anti-button-mashing policy posted explicitly on the door.

A horde mode would truly elevate this package, but there's already so much content...

 

[nowhat]

I thought this might belong here:

(some of the visuals might be ever-so-slightly spoilery if you've managed to avoid the internet for a couple of years, but mostly it's just silly fun)

 

[Zimmy68]

That Dad joke video was funny.

My biggest issue with the game is that I don't feel I am leveling up correctly. I have no idea what to spend XP and Hacksilver on.
I read not to upgrade regular armor, wait until you pick stuff up in the world.

I just entered the area where you pass black breath, I did all the side missions offered which was only 2 or 3. But my character seems to be around a low 3.
I am unable to upgrade Atreus' bow to open more skills because I have zero of the item needed (soft silver?)
I feel I should be at a higher level with better gear but what I do I know?

 

[Danjin44]

Do guys think later on we might get a patch new game+?

@ Zimmy68 : I'm not gonna lie to you but that was also confusing at first, especially the menus was overwhelming. I didn't know what I was looking at. Later on I got used to menus and What I did was I didn't bother upgrading the common armour sets instead I saved it when I got rare, Legendary and Epic armour sets, because your level is not base how much Exp you getting but instead its base on what armours and equipments you wearing.

 

[Showaddy]

Fuuuuuck finally downed Sigrun after many a rage inducing attempt. Now I finally understand why crazy kids rip the wings off flies, so damn satisfying in the end.

Tempted to go Raven hunting for the platinum but I think I'll let my PS4 rest for a while now.

 

[INC]

I’m so gutted.

I finally got round to starting GOW this evening and all I could manage was up to the first boss as my motion sickness kicked in, thus I’ve had to knock it on the head for tonight.

I only normally get it on fps’, but the camera is really making me suffer.

I’ll try again tomorrow after adjusting the camera sensitivity and hopefully I’ll be able to continue. Shame as it looks amazing.

Switch to performance mode

 

[DonF]

The Valkyrie queen and the one at the top of the trials were some grade-A bullshit. Too much ticky tack going on. They wouldn't have been too bad if not for their cheap ass area of effect attack that deals massive damage and you can't seem to escape it. Not to mention the attacks where they end up on you.

I big time struggled even on easy difficulty. For those of you attempting those on God of War difficulty I seriously want to know if you just hate yourselves.

I'm playing in give me a challenge and the Valkyries are the best the game has to offer. Variety and a challenge. But! Its just patterns. I was playing with my brother ,who is a huge dark souls fan, and we started noticing patters, attack tells...every valkyrie telegraphs all of its movements. Just pay attention and know how to stop, dodge and counter the attacks. It turns into an awesome dance once you get the hang of it. Now sigrun...yeah thats another story. Way too much health, less time to react...very powerful attacks, attack variety. I still can't beat her.
edit: oh! also..don't forget your runic attacks! Time them and watch your cooldowns. For instance I always started the fight and used all 4 runic attacks and atreus special, and would take easily 20% of the Valkyrie health. Also try to focus on runic and cooldown for your armour. It makes a big difference...god I love this game.

 

[DeadmanPhoenix]

There are some high points in the game, like father-son dynamic and character models, but the rest comes undone IMO because it tries to be too many things at once.

I have almost abandoned the game yesterday. The quality of secondary quests is on the level of Dragon Age Inquisition. Loot is almost useless, I barely use different rune attacks and talismans because there is no sense in it. I am trying to complete all labors as they appear, leaving the main story for dessert, but goddamn this game is not making it easy. Quite on the opposite, the whole gameplay including abilities, path blockers, fast travel and weapons is all tied into the main plot, so the best way would be to just plow through the story first and then go finish the labors. Also the game is pretty front-loaded with action and drama, then the pacing dies completely until the very end. I feel let down to fight trolls after helwalkers in no-name locations after being teased by Baldur, Asgard and Thor's mentions.

Also - labor is probably the right word here. Side quests are basically fetch-quests with shit ton of backtracking and grinding the same enemies over and over in boring Tomb Raider environments. And what are the rewards? CRAFT MATERIALS. Upgrading armor and weapons here feels a bit useless and is very stilted. It doesn't matter how many sidequests I complete, if the game doesn't want me to unlock the next weapon upgrade or the next armor - tough luck.

Where are my epic levels with epic boss fights? I remember only 1 epic fight (with the dragon) and 1 epic level (with the dead giant), the rest is pretty run of the mill corridor-arena-corridor chore. To top everything off many of the bosses are just reskins of regular enemies. I mean I get it - compromises happen, but it's still annoying.

Many people here seem to enjoy playing the game on the hardest difficulty, but hey - I don't have a 100 hours to spend on the game of this quality anymore, it's just a self-inflicted handicap IMO. I was the same 5-7 years back when I have completed GoW3 on the hardest difficulty, but there at least the levels and bosses felt epic and the feedback from hitting enemies was really satisfying. Here hitting enemies is like playing a pg-13 cartoon.

I feel like Witcher 3, Horizon and Bloodborne/DS3 have spoiled me in terms of what do I expect from a AAA title. If it wasn't for all the marketing and knee-jerk honeymoon reviews, I believe the game wouldn't sell that well.

 

[Showaddy]

I'm playing in give me a challenge and the Valkyries are the best the game has to offer. Variety and a challenge. But! Its just patterns. I was playing with my brother ,who is a huge dark souls fan, and we started noticing patters, attack tells...every valkyrie telegraphs all of its movements. Just pay attention and know how to stop, dodge and counter the attacks. It turns into an awesome dance once you get the hang of it. Now sigrun...yeah thats another story. Way too much health, less time to react...very powerful attacks, attack variety. I still can't beat her.
edit: oh! also..don't forget your runic attacks! Time them and watch your cooldowns. For instance I always started the fight and used all 4 runic attacks and atreus special, and would take easily 20% of the Valkyrie health. Also try to focus on runic and cooldown for your armour. It makes a big difference...god I love this game.

Yeah with Sigrun particularly you're best off just keeping your distance, avoiding her attacks and then spamming your Runic abilities. Chasing after her and using normal attacks just got me slaughtered.

All of her attacks can either be dodged, blocked or interrupted by Atreus so it's just a case of learning the patterns.

 

[DonF]

Yeah with Sigrun particularly you're best off just keeping your distance, avoiding her attacks and then spamming your Runic abilities. Chasing after her and using normal attacks just got me slaughtered.
All of her attacks can either be dodged, blocked or interrupted by Atreus so it's just a case of learning the patterns.

Sigrun is pure attrition. Too much health, lots of attacks and in give me a challenge, its just 3 hits and you are out. I'm going to beat her eventually, but the challenge, coming from the other Valkyries, is a big jump.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Sigrun is pure attrition. Too much health, lots of attacks and in give me a challenge, its just 3 hits and you are out. I'm going to beat her eventually, but the challenge, coming from the other Valkyries, is a big jump.

Agreed. I did beat her on easy but I just ended up maxing out everything and using armor that boosted runic and cool down. Even then I barely beat her.

 

[Danjin44]

I beat Sigrun at "give me challenge" difficulty and I found the fight pretty fun. I know most her pattern before hand thanks to my fights with pervious Valkyries. It just came down to me not make mistakes and oh boy I died bunch of times because of it.

 

[Northeastmonk]

A good indepth post on the development of the Leviathan Axe: https://gamasutra.com/blogs/VinceNa...96d8&elqaid=84714&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30676

 

[Codes 208]

Finally finished. Amazing game. Had to draw some art based on the first fight with the Stranger

 

[Keihart]

So i was trying to make my way through the arenas and then i got to "kill 100 enemies"....yeah , i got to like 65 and was like, this is not a commitment i want to make on my nights after work.

 

[Geki-D]

Beat the game first run on Give Me God of War mode...

No trophy for beating it on this difficulty.
Trophy for Valkyries.
Trophy For Muspelheim.
Trophy for Niflheim.
If I want them, I have to do them on GoW Mode or start a new game.

Nope.
Wild ride, dare I say it's instantly become one of my all time favorite games. But GoW Mode is way too insane for that crap and my backlog is too big to replay this.

 

[JMZ555]

I got plat last week. Amazing game. I started on GMGOW but restarted and dropped down 1 after first fight

In terms of the Valkyries as you defeat each one you learn there patterns. Queen valkyrie took me a number of tries but in the end you just learn the patterns.

My tactic was when she goes into a wing shield, double L1 to break it ----> Activate Slow down time---->Activate Apollos gift ( think thats name, gives life back per hit) ----> finally launch the fury move with lots of hits. This kept me topped up through the fight.

I found you really have to keep your damage up and not play too defensive as you will just run out of life/luck sooner or later.

 

[Geki-D]

^ From what I've heard there's a world of difference between GoW mode and the next difficulty below it. I hope at some point they patch in the ability to lower the difficulty, at least if you've beaten the main story. That, or a New Game Plus you can do on lower difficulties if you've already beaten the game on any other. From what I'm reading even on easy, the Valkyries are hard so you need to get decent gear either way. Otherwise I'd just blow through the story on easy mode and do what's left.

 

[CamelCloud]

This game was so fucking good, I spent an entire week playing this. Finished it up last night at 4 am, including the platinum trophy.

Spoiler

Getting the blades of chaos was my favorite part, holy shit the hype.

 

[LoveCake]

Really enjoying this game so far.

 

[Hotspurr]

There are some high points in the game, like father-son dynamic and character models, but the rest comes undone IMO because it tries to be too many things at once.

I have almost abandoned the game yesterday. The quality of secondary quests is on the level of Dragon Age Inquisition. Loot is almost useless, I barely use different rune attacks and talismans because there is no sense in it. I am trying to complete all labors as they appear, leaving the main story for dessert, but goddamn this game is not making it easy. Quite on the opposite, the whole gameplay including abilities, path blockers, fast travel and weapons is all tied into the main plot, so the best way would be to just plow through the story first and then go finish the labors. Also the game is pretty front-loaded with action and drama, then the pacing dies completely until the very end. I feel let down to fight trolls after helwalkers in no-name locations after being teased by Baldur, Asgard and Thor's mentions.

Also - labor is probably the right word here. Side quests are basically fetch-quests with shit ton of backtracking and grinding the same enemies over and over in boring Tomb Raider environments. And what are the rewards? CRAFT MATERIALS. Upgrading armor and weapons here feels a bit useless and is very stilted. It doesn't matter how many sidequests I complete, if the game doesn't want me to unlock the next weapon upgrade or the next armor - tough luck.

Where are my epic levels with epic boss fights? I remember only 1 epic fight (with the dragon) and 1 epic level (with the dead giant), the rest is pretty run of the mill corridor-arena-corridor chore. To top everything off many of the bosses are just reskins of regular enemies. I mean I get it - compromises happen, but it's still annoying.

Many people here seem to enjoy playing the game on the hardest difficulty, but hey - I don't have a 100 hours to spend on the game of this quality anymore, it's just a self-inflicted handicap IMO. I was the same 5-7 years back when I have completed GoW3 on the hardest difficulty, but there at least the levels and bosses felt epic and the feedback from hitting enemies was really satisfying. Here hitting enemies is like playing a pg-13 cartoon.

I feel like Witcher 3, Horizon and Bloodborne/DS3 have spoiled me in terms of what do I expect from a AAA title. If it wasn't for all the marketing and knee-jerk honeymoon reviews, I believe the game wouldn't sell that well.

I keep checking in on this thread, to see if after the hype died down, people would actually look at this game in a more objective manner, but I am still so surprised at the comments of how this is one of the best games or best combat systems people have played. Or maybe I'm just super out of touch.

I agree with a lot of what you said.
1) The difficulty is terribly balanced at the beginning if you want to try harder difficulties
2) There is a severe lack of epic moments in the game
3) Monotonous corridors and same-y looking forests aplenty - it hardly feels like a big open world with uniqueness
4) Side quests I thought were OK, mostly because the combat is good so I don't mind fighting different combinations of enemies
5) I actually just replayed Rise of the Tomb raider, and it handles this semi-open world much better. Better quest rewards. MUCH better puzzles (so satisfying and expertly crafted).

For those saying the combat system is amazing. I will say it is a competent combat system. It's fun but can easily get tedious. As someone who loves hack and slash, the close-up camera and general clunkyness of having to aim to throw the axe, kills it for me. ALOT of big compromises had to be made in terms of sucking the fun out of this game in favor of "cinematic" quality. The irony is that the epic moments from previous GoW games are just not here - so huge missed opportunity on "cinema". Where are the huge memorable set-pieces? The menacing bosses and rivalries? The game instead takes you out of the action to observe some mediocre to OK acting, carry a wounded pig, or pick some flowers in a garden. Or play dad with your son.

The game was fun, and a good first stab at reviving the GoW franchise, but I'm just a bit shocked at how blind people are to its many flaws. Then again, many people think Uncharted 4 is superior to Tomb Raider, so for a rather large subset of core gamers and casual gamers, quality of cinema has become the dominant factor in gaming.

 

[Danjin44]

I feel like Witcher 3, Horizon and Bloodborne/DS3 have spoiled me in terms of what do I expect from a AAA title. If it wasn't for all the marketing and knee-jerk honeymoon reviews, I believe the game wouldn't sell that well.

You complaining about the way GOW does side quest then you go saying Horizon spoiled you!!? Are shitting with me right now!!?

 

[Dargor]

I keep checking in on this thread, to see if after the hype died down, people would actually look at this game in a more objective manner, but I am still so surprised at the comments of how this is one of the best games or best combat systems people have played. Or maybe I'm just super out of touch.

I agree with a lot of what you said.
1) The difficulty is terribly balanced at the beginning if you want to try harder difficulties
2) There is a severe lack of epic moments in the game
3) Monotonous corridors and same-y looking forests aplenty - it hardly feels like a big open world with uniqueness
4) Side quests I thought were OK, mostly because the combat is good so I don't mind fighting different combinations of enemies
5) I actually just replayed Rise of the Tomb raider, and it handles this semi-open world much better. Better quest rewards. MUCH better puzzles (so satisfying and expertly crafted).

For those saying the combat system is amazing. I will say it is a competent combat system. It's fun but can easily get tedious. As someone who loves hack and slash, the close-up camera and general clunkyness of having to aim to throw the axe, kills it for me. ALOT of big compromises had to be made in terms of sucking the fun out of this game in favor of "cinematic" quality. The irony is that the epic moments from previous GoW games are just not here - so huge missed opportunity on "cinema". Where are the huge memorable set-pieces? The menacing bosses and rivalries? The game instead takes you out of the action to observe some mediocre to OK acting, carry a wounded pig, or pick some flowers in a garden. Or play dad with your son.

The game was fun, and a good first stab at reviving the GoW franchise, but I'm just a bit shocked at how blind people are to its many flaws. Then again, many people think Uncharted 4 is superior to Tomb Raider, so for a rather large subset of core gamers and casual gamers, quality of cinema has become the dominant factor in gaming.

wow...

 

[Ar¢tos]

Since the photo mode patch, the text in menus goes out of screen bounds for me. I checked the ps4 settings and its fine there, only happens in GoW. Anybody else is experiencing this?

 

[TimFL]

I am blown away by the game. Had it pre-ordered and let a friend play the intro minutes but then held off playing this until now. I don‘t want the story to end, so please tell me I‘m at the beginning and I still have hours of story to go:

I am at:

Spoiler

the part where I just defeated that dragon and got the electricity bow.

Hesitant on reading through this topic because I‘ve already had 2 things spoiled on this page.

 

[Ar¢tos]

I am blown away by the game. Had it pre-ordered and let a friend play the intro minutes but then held off playing this until now. I don‘t want the story to end, so please tell me I‘m at the beginning and I still have hours of story to go:

I am at:

Spoiler

the part where I just defeated that dragon and got the electricity bow.

Hesitant on reading through this topic because I‘ve already had 2 things spoiled on this page.

Regarding main story, I would say you played half of it. It's hard to say how many more hours you have since I don't know how much side content you have done.

 

[TimFL]

Regarding main story, I would say you played half of it. It's hard to say how many more hours you have since I don't know how much side content you have done.

I think I did none of the side quests yet, usually hold off on doing them till after the story so I still have stuff to do (and getting all collectibles is more fun/less of a drag).