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LTTP: God of War Ragnarok (PS4)

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.001
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Originally released in 2022 at the end of the pandemic.

It’s a perfect game, real balanced and for those who don’t know our Spartan, Greek god, Kratos is now a Norse “Champion” with a legitimate life in Scandinavia and there are some that believe they’re just profiting off the Viking narrative but you’re getting a new view on incredible characters like a young Loki, Thor, Odin and the events of Ragnarok.

original


Like many games today the maps are interfered with objective bloat and I urge developers to let maps be maps.

God of war has always been super linear, todays open world games give you 100% freedom on where to roam, that open world feel is here but it’s somewhat linear and not being able to go into every dwarf home or climb every cliff might be a hard pill for some to swallow.

god-of-war-powerup.jpg


Kratos here is still that crazy mother fucker, cracking puzzles, the melee combinations (axe, blades, spear, shield) with little conversation but this time he’s supported with allies like young Loki, and Freya. Young Loki received a lot of pushback and it’s sad, give the kid his own game.

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I love beating the crap out of Odin’s enemies, various beasts in this game. Fighting through hoards of enemies is amazing thanks the weapons Kratos is equipped with.



To me the essence of god of war is very much here, Kratos is scary and even makes a god like Thor look like a coward (interesting Thor design btw), you have areas where to travel, giants, cutscenes with commitment to Norse lore and it shows the god of war charm is still present.

god-of-war-ragnarok-full-cast-list-and-all-voice-actors-5.large.jpg


Overall god of war Ragnarok was a pleasure to play over its 18 chapters, almost 50 hours of gameplay, I think Odin represents a good, power hungry main boss and the actor delivered an all time performance.

Ragnarok deserves a play in my opinion, what did GAF think of God of War Ragnarok?
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
This genuinely felt like a post written by ChatGPT.

The game was underwhelming and a step back from 2018.

The battles against Thor, Heimdall and Odin were fun, but overall this game felt like an absolute chore to play.

Better than 2018 in a lot of things except story, pace and writing.
The combat in Ragnarok is so much better. Even little things like tapping triangle to power up the blades or axe make the combat more engaging. The enemy variety is massively improved, the mechanics have much more depth, and there are more layers and verticality. The game truly shines when you get wide open areas to explore and play around in like the Crater in Vanaheim. The sections where the game lets you play and experiment with the different builds and items with little dialogue or cutscenes to murder the flow are by far the best.

It's really a shame because it crams two games worth of plot in one and this destroys the pacing.
 
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kevboard

Member
Ragnarok deserves a play in my opinion, what did GAF think of God of War Ragnarok?

by far the worst game in the series, and it makes me hope that the eventual sequel will be made by a different team as this game was barely tolerable to finish.

my cousin who is a gigantic GoW fan and who platinumed its predecessor couldn't bring himself to finish the game... that's telling I feel.
his will to see it through to the end wasn't as strong as mine, and even I almost gave up multiple times.
 
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GymWolf

Member
The combat in Ragnarok is so much better. Even little things like tapping triangle to power up the blades or axe make the combat more engaging. The enemy variety is massively improved, the mechanics have much more depth, and there are more layers and verticality. The game truly shines when you get wide open areas to explore and play around in like the Crater in Vanaheim. The sections were the game lets you play and experiment with the different builds and items with little dialogue or cutscenes to murder the flow are by far the best.

It's really a shame because it crams two games worth of plot in one and this destroys the pacing.
The strange thing is that 2 games crammed into one and you would think the pace was super rapid, but then they lose hours in the sections with angrboring or thor's daughter.

And let me tell you this, they need to give up on the one shot camera bullshit for the next game, it limit how you can tell a story way too much, for example to know what odin or the villains are doing\saying they always had to make you control atreus to physically interact with them instead of a simple cutscene like in any other game, they have to tiptap around this one shot camera stuff to include every story bit but the game is not better because of it.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Fantastic combat and overall game. I platinumed it back in 2023 and am actually playing through the Valhalla mode as we speak. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the combat.
I've heard good things about Valhalla and am starting it this week. Are there new enemies or it's mostly the same in different combat arenas?

Also, it's just Kratos alone? Not even Freya as an ally, right?

The strange thing is that 2 games crammed into one and you would think the pace was super rapid, but then they lose hours in the sections with angrboring or thor's daughter.

And let me tell you this, they need to give up on the one shot camera bullshit for the next game, it limit how you can tell a story way too much, for example to know what odin or the villains are doing\saying they always had to make you control atreus to physically interact with them instead of a simple cutscene like in any other game, they have to tiptap around this one shot camera stuff to include every story bit but the game is not better because of it.
The one-shot camera worked for 2018 because the scale is much smaller and it's really just Kratos and Atreus on a quest. Ragnarok is a full-blown epic with worldwide events, major gods, and a ton of characters. The single-shot camera simply doesn't work for it and I have no idea why they insisted on reusing it. It was a cool gimmick because it worked for what Barlog wanted to do. Ragnarok's director was clueless and wanted to keep using it even though it made no sense for the sequel.
 
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Woopah

Member
I've heard good things about Valhalla and am starting it this week. Are there new enemies or it's mostly the same in different combat arenas?

Also, it's just Kratos alone? Not even Freya as an ally, right?
Correct, it just Kratos and no allies. There are some new bosses and enemies, but its mostly the same ones as in the base game (at least from what I've played so far).
 

GymWolf

Member
I've heard good things about Valhalla and am starting it this week. Are there new enemies or it's mostly the same in different combat arenas?

Also, it's just Kratos alone? Not even Freya as an ally, right?


The one-shot camera worked for 2018 because the scale is much smaller and it's really just Kratos and Atreus on a quest. Ragnarok is a full-blown epic with worldwide events, major gods, and a ton of characters. The single-shot camera simply doesn't work for it and I have no idea why they insisted on reusing it. It was a cool gimmick because it worked for what Barlog wanted to do. Ragnarok's director was clueless and wanted to keep using it even though it made no sense for the sequel.
Perfect description.
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
This genuinely felt like a post written by ChatGPT.

:messenger_grinning_smiling:

Like many games today the maps are interfered with objective bloat and I urge developers to let maps be maps.

God of war has always been super linear, todays open world games give you 100% freedom on where to roam, that open world feel is here but it’s somewhat linear and not being able to go into every dwarf home or climb every cliff might be a hard pill for some to swallow.

robot GIF
 

Kurotri

Member
I felt that Ragnarok was like a two steps forward two steps backwards kinda game. It had potential to be so much more but didn't really do enough to elevate itself enough from 2018. It does some things better than it and then some things worse. My highlights were definitely the crater level, the combat and Thor's initial fight as well as the ending. It's less tight and cohesive compared to 2018 though, with pacing issues and generally underwhelming delivery of characters and moments that were hyped up in the original. Some of the dialogue was the icing on the cake, with Odin in particular completely breaking my immersion in the very beginning of the game, some of the wording was just off and it felt like I was watching Thor Ragnarok. The writing wasn't as consistently strong as the original.

Overall it's good but I'm more fond of 2018.
 
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Roufianos

Member
I get more sour on it the more I think about it. Great gameplay but the story, dialogue and pacing were such a step back. Can definitely tell it had a new director.

It also somehow failed to fix the only few flaws with the original game, i.e. the map, awful menus and unnecessary RPG elements. It actually made them worse.
 
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The combat in Ragnarok is so much better. Even little things like tapping triangle to power up the blades or axe make the combat more engaging. The enemy variety is massively improved, the mechanics have much more depth, and there are more layers and verticality. The game truly shines when you get wide open areas to explore and play around in like the Crater in Vanaheim. The sections where the game lets you play and experiment with the different builds and items with little dialogue or cutscenes to murder the flow are by far the best.

It's really a shame because it crams two games worth of plot in one and this destroys the pacing.
The best part of God of War Ragnarok is actually the DLC (Valhalla).

The combat is better in the sequel but a step back in story, writing and pacing like Gymwolf said.
 

Bieren

Member
By the last couple of chapters I had turned the difficulty all the way down and was just hate finishing it. The longer the game went, the worse it got. I still have a ton of side content I would like to finish, but just can't bring myself to do it. The game is beautiful. the combat is fun, but the characters and story just ruined it.
 

Muffdraul

Member
After I finished GoW 2018 I thought, "Man... as epic as that was, just imagine how after the sequels are out, it's going to seem like a pathetic little prologue. The sequels are going to absolutely blow it out of the water." Boy was I wrong. Ragnarok wasn't terrible, but IMO it absolutely failed to live up to the potential that 2018 set up. I really wish Cory Barlog had directed it.
 

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.001
by far the worst game in the series, and it makes me hope that the eventual sequel will be made by a different team as this game was barely tolerable to finish.

my cousin who is a gigantic GoW fan and who platinumed its predecessor couldn't bring himself to finish the game... that's telling I feel.
his will to see it through to the end wasn't as strong as mine, and even I almost gave up multiple times.

The hate bubble surrounding popular games is a real bummer on this forum. WOW.

Stopped reading there.
JbGSh60.gif

Too silly seeing the word “perfect” and you’re triggered.
 
the writing and dialogue made it seem it takes place in contemporary united states, big step down from 2018

gow 2 and 3 are still the best gow's, come at me haters
100%.

I usually like to play games more than once - but I cannot bring myself for another playthrough of Ragnarok.

On the other hand - I could replay God of War 2 and God of War 3 multiple times and still walk away amazed.
 
One of the most overrated game of the generation. It really deserves much lower than 94 MC. Maybe 15 points less. Huge disappointement for me after 2018 on many levels.

I'll never buy another God of War game. And yes this has been written by Chat GPT (not by Grok because that tool would have never written such nonsense).
 
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Fake

Member
I refuse to believe this is a sequel to GoW.
GoW 2018 even with the lack of brutal and lack of enemies still was a great game.
Even the first reboot lacking most of the gore, the pacing was fine and Atreus was a minor annoying in that game.

Probably one of the worst GoW games to date, cared by a progressive media more interess in daddy issues than the plot inself. The 'boy' meme got over used pretty fast and the addition of unless characters no one asked was bad. Is just bad.

Still can't figure out how GoW end like this. Will be another fucking reboot.

The review score almost give me vibes from the Deathloop review score.
 
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Hollowpoint5557

A Fucking Idiot
Too silly seeing the word “perfect” and you’re triggered.
I'm not triggered. I saw an opinion that I don't believe can be backed up by any logic or facts and I decided to move on and not waste my time any further. If anyone is triggered it is you by my meme. Now I've already hit ignore on this thread, please quit replying to me because I don't want to have to ignore any further comments from you as well. Take care.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I refuse to believe this is a sequel to GoW.
GoW 2018 even with the lack of brutal and lack of enemies still was a great game.
Even the first reboot lacking most of the gore, the pacing was fine and Atreus was a minor annoying in that game.

Probably one of the worst GoW games to date, cared by a progressive media more interess in daddy issues than the plot inself. The 'boy' meme got over used pretty fast and the addition of unless characters no one asked was bad. Is just bad.

Still can't figure out how GoW end like this. Will be another fucking reboot.

The review score almost give me vibes from the Deathloop review score.

I think just the fact that Corey Barlog didn't direct Rag is the primary difference. GoW 2018 had more restraint. Ragnarok tried to do way too much, some of it entirely pointless.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
I was lukewarm after my first playthrough but after a second I really came to love it. Could have edited some stuff out like the yak ride and some of thors daughter but overall grew to be one of the best experiences
 

FeralEcho

Member
The game was a massive dissapointment for me,God of War 2018 is a better game than it due to the much better pacing and a great story overall but God of War 2 and 3 are better games than both of the newer ones,easily. I could replay the original trilogy anytime and not feel bored one bit despite having finished it like 15 times by now whereas with the new ones, despite liking the combat and the idea of a norse mythology in the GOW universe I just can't get over the story portrayal of Kratos in these games.

In 2018 it worked as it was a new begining for both the character and the series and Atreus was at least "somewhat" endearing as he was just a kid,it made sense for Kratos to babysit him getting him to grow up but Ragnarok pushed things too far in that direction having all these introspective moments with Kratos and Atreus as if it was trying to win some Oscar with how pretentious ir was.Kratos is at his best when he's unchained and Ragnarok was a poor showing of that story wise despite the savage combat.

As a fan of the series since the first God of War, I'm sorry but Kratos moping around with his idiot son like some ptsd war veteran having close up camera shots of him sighing every 5 minutes is not what God of War is about to me.
 

A.Romero

Member
I liked it for what it is. Went through the story once and enjoyed it but didn't have the patience to collect everything else.

I liked the first one as well but that one did entice me to explore all the content the game has to offer. I guess I found the combat to be tighter or more fun or maybe the one from the second game was just too much.

Personally, I don't think GoW as a AAA franchise can go back to how it was in the original trilogy. However, maybe a AA GoW could be made in the format of the originals and it should be good too.
 

Zimmy68

Member
Bought the digital deluxe edition when it was released but got bored with it about 2 hours in.
Forced myself to finish it when I got the PS5 Pro.
I loved the combat, hated the walking simulation unskippable cutscenes, etc.
I would give the game an 8 but just like GOW 2018, once I finished it, I didn't feel like touching it again.
 
It had no real stakes despite having a lot of build up. The first game had a successful narrative build up and pay off. This game built up to wanting to race to the finish line ASAP.

Was completely blown away when they had this big build up like ATREUS IS GONNA DIE, ATREUS IS GONNA DIE, YOU GOTTA SAVE ATREUS KRATOS, HE'S GONNA DIE. Then Kratos pulls up with the fucking Lance of Longinus and wipes the floor with Heimdall without even breaking a sweat. Was really insulting considering he was catching the fade with Baldur and while it was a bit like a DBZ battle there was some real damage and back and forth.
 
I'm up to the second time you go to Freya's home. And can explore the creator. Lost the will to play. The big explorable open areas just get bigger and bloated. I know I can skip it, but still.
 
One of the best games of all time! Cutscenes were amazing and the combat was great. Music was "chefs kiss" top shelf. I loved the acting of Odin. The ending actually got me to tear up. Beautiful ending to an amazing journey with Kratos and his son.
 
I'm playing through right now and it just feels off. I didn't like the combat in the first very much, but it was serviceable, and it's just bad in Ragnarok. Not very far in yet I think (Alfheim) but I have not been at all interested in the story or characters. The loot seems distributed oddly, I still don't have a heavy runic attack and the gear seems underwhelming. It's been a while since I played GOW 2018 so maybe it's that gap, but the lore and the world are... not interesting. The level design I hope improves, right now it's is somehow sprawling yet empty, and also somehow restrictive. It does not feel good to explore and the majority of the rewards you get for doing so is currency to upgrade the lackluster gear.
 

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.001
IMG-6473.jpg


I just wonder if Loki is on people’s and developers lips, him tricking humanity is a disgusting approach we saw in the marvel movies, how will they spin adult Loki anyway? Is a Loki game people want?
 
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