Sony God of War Ragnarök - Information Thread, update: initial OpenCritic reviews of Valhalla DLC posted

[Best]

2 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Stick and move, don't get greedy. I didn't have much Trouble with that one.

 

I feel guilty but I had to lower the difficulty to beat it. I've been spending hours on side quests. 

[BloodyHell]

Just now, best3444 said:

 

I feel guilty but I had to lower the difficulty to beat it. I've been spending hours on side quests. 

Why the hell would you feel guilty? It's your game, play it however you want. 

[Best]

6 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Why the hell would you feel guilty? It's your game, play it however you want. 

 

Because I really wanted to beat this on the "normal" difficulty which I didn't achieve in GOW 2018. I honestly don't mind and more than likely I'll have to lower the difficulty later in the main story. I read it gets extremely difficult. 

[Biggie]

14 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Because I really wanted to beat this on the "normal" difficulty which I didn't achieve in GOW 2018. I honestly don't mind and more than likely I'll have to lower the difficulty later in the main story. I read it gets extremely difficult. 

I played 2018 on EZPZ mode and I’m glad I did. No frustration and just enjoyed the game. 

[Xbob42]

17 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Because I really wanted to beat this on the "normal" difficulty which I didn't achieve in GOW 2018. I honestly don't mind and more than likely I'll have to lower the difficulty later in the main story. I read it gets extremely difficult. 

Eh, it's much better to do what you did and lower the difficulty than to smash your head against a brick wall for hours like I did against that damn Valkyrie Queen in 2018, and I still never beat her. That kind of shit just leaves a sour taste that never really goes away, just lower the difficulty when shit's too hard!

[Bacon]

Just talking about stuff: Spoilers for second (maybe third?) major area.

 

Spoiler

I will say so far, Tyr being a puss has been a letdown. Don't even give me hints if he GOWs up tho. Want to be a total surprise when it happens. I figured something would be up with how early we save him, but the problem with subverted expectations is that a person's expectations  are almost always better than reality

 

Anyway, the next part with the boy was good and also went on for too long. Stuff was interesting overall but I I hate the "it is easier if I just show you" and all that nonsense. Angr kept talking about Atreus and answering his questions, but I feel like that never happened. Sure, the mural was shown, but I still have questions that I thought would be answered. Or rather everything that was said was stuff I had already thought about. Best part was, IMO, Atreus reminding me of Kratos with that pose lying next to Angr. Angr's introduction has left me feeling meh on her character so far. Still, luck be to Lok in future wooings.

 

The boss fight with Freya right after pissed me off tho. I hated that random change from rage to valor. It fucked me up on the transition to the next segment and fuck do I hate the checkpoints in boss fights. I want to fight the whole fucking boss please and thanks. I already got rid of my rez stone and I don't plan on getting another. The whole second part of the fight just felt off the whole time and I didn't get my bearings until the fourth go and the checkpoint being after the transition was part of that.

 

 

[stepee]

42 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Eh, it's much better to do what you did and lower the difficulty than to smash your head against a brick wall for hours like I did against that damn Valkyrie Queen in 2018, and I still never beat her. That kind of shit just leaves a sour taste that never really goes away, just lower the difficulty when shit's too hard!

 

That fucking Queen, I still remember you trying that on the hardest difficulty and not being able to change the difficulty down!

[Xbob42]

3 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

That fucking Queen, I still remember you trying that on the hardest difficulty and not being able to change the difficulty down!

Yeah, didn't have the option to turn it down, would've GLADLY turned it down to the lowest just to beat her face in I was so demoralized.

[Best]

Well after beating that boss I raised the difficulty back to normal. We shall see how long that lasts. 

 

I think I might go back to the main story when I play again. Side quests are good but imo the story is more interesting. 

[Biggie]

47 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Well after beating that boss I raised the difficulty back to normal. We shall see how long that lasts. 

 

I think I might go back to the main story when I play again. Side quests are good but imo the story is more interesting. 

God of War is becoming one of my favorite franchises. Right up there with Uncharted and Metal Gear. 

[Bacon]

I redid that boss fight I mentioned in the spoilers and clipped it. 

Spoiler

 

 

[Kal-El814]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

 

Wont be able to see your spoilers until after I beat it in a couple weeks but overall what do you think is a better game between 2018 and this one?

 

Also I do wonder if some of your complaints will be mitigated for other people who might not devour all of it over such a short period of time.

 

I think Ragnarok is better than GoW. Even though I think Ragnarok is more bloated, every other good part of GoW is here and better.

 

For me personally, binging a game usually gives me a better impression because I stay in the zone but I know where you're coming from.

[Kal-El814]

6 hours ago, TwinIon said:

Ragnarok is very much God of War 2018 but more! It's not substantially different in function or feel, but there's more of everything and everything is very well done. If you hoped that the last game was the starting point of an evolving series, I suppose you might be dissapointed, but if you loved that game and wanted more of it, then Ragnarok delivers in spades.

 

I do agree with @Kal-El814 in the criticism that at times there is too much that feels too inconsequential. Yeah, unlocking new skills is good, and some armor pieces have specific traits that really make a difference, but there's also an endless number of runic this or artifact that serving very little purpose other than to give you a reason to keep opening chests. I've gotten lost in the menu more than once looking for where to slot the doodad that I just picked up, and most of the time I can't tell any difference.

 

I'm playing on normal and I still die a number of times on harder fights, so maybe others will notice the nuance a bit more.

 

Still, I enjoyed that you could somewhat tune things one way or another. I really like the armor that heals you when you do a stun grab, so I've built towards that end. I basically equip anything that increases stun so I can convert that to health. I like that build both because I get health, but also because the feedback loop is quite clear. Stun things, get health, repeat. Most of the armor I've found so far (lvl 6) is all "chance for good thing when doing x thing," which makes it easy to not notice, even if it is being beneficial. I do wish that you could find wrist and wast armor that had substantial effects like the chest armor does, and not simply supporting benefits.

 

This is a much more succinct way of saying what I wrote a novella about.

 

I will say that even on Give Me No Mercy a lot of the gear options ultimately just don't matter much. One of them does make the combat feel different, I suspect you know which I mean, but the rest do fine tuning do a degree that the game never demands.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I really hate that I’m at work instead of playing this for the next three nights. I got a couple hours in yesterday and instantly fell in love. 

[Bacon]

Maybe I am misremembering GoW 2018 but I feel like this game as far too many chests and little secrets while on the Main Story Quests. This leads to what feels like massive gaps between conversations and they get picked up like I didn't just jack off for 10 minutes. I mostly just wanna do the story and then do the side stuff in-between chapters but there are chests like every 5 feet that require some little trickery to open. Some side paths are nice as it gives time for secret talks to happen where someone else can't hear, but overall they are kind of a nuisance. I'd totally love an option of "loot all wood, stone, and golden chests, at the end of a MSQ" and just not even have to think about them. And that is only cuz there are so many. If there were less I wouldn't mind at all. 

 

I have also had more interruptions of secondary dialogue that is never repeated. Like, I was looting and it was being commented on but then primary dialogue overwrote it. I've had another where Boy and Father were talking about lore stuff then Boy just goes "you can enter over through that gap" and the whole lore dialogue was cutoff.

 

Edit: The amount of red-stone chests just goes to prove that crafting is shit.

[Bacon]

I made a comment earlier regarding boss checkpoints

Spoiler

Spoiler

While I do dislike them, I get why they exist for bosses like Nidhogg. While I'd prefer fights to be structured in such a way as to not need them, they are better on more cinematic fights like that. What is crazy is that I don't remember this at all in GoW 2018 but I know they exist. And while I could have beaten Nidhogg all in one go, it took me a few tries to really understand what the fight was expecting from me. Trying to do it all in one go while having all those pop-ups and slowdowns would have sucked big donkey dick. That is another small critique I have which is the amount of new things you are to do in the heat of battle. It is like giving you a Zelda item during a boss fight instead of having a whole dungeon to understand them. Not that there are any mechanics so far that are even remotely as "complex" as the already easy to understand Zelda items, but giving me more new shit to do while I'm already fighting isn't something I care for. 

 

And I know I can turn some of that off, but I'm not really sure what I want turned off and what I want left on. Like, one hand, I wouldn't have noticed the tail shield bash mechanic right away even with the blue circles, but it was also a mechanic I had learned last chapter with the light elves. 

 

And like, I am critiquing the game this much because I like it, but it could be a better video game at times and less of a "playable experience" if you want to call it that. Tho, part of that is on me as I'm just here to play this shit like Dark Souls with a good story.

 

Oh and lol, everytime they say Freyr I just keep thinking they are saying Freya but they are british or can't speak properly.

 

[Best]

You're extremely difficult to please. Holy hell. First you hated Elden Ring for odd reasons and now this game has too many chests to open. What game do you actually like other than FF14 online?

[Biggie]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

You're extremely difficult to please. Holy hell. First you hated Elden Ring for odd reasons and now this game has too many chests to open. What game do you actually like other than FF14 online?

I love finding chests. 

[Best]

52 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I love finding chests. 

 

Same. I love looting and upgrading in this game. I again woke up at 230am to play this lol. I played for 2 hours then headed to work. 😆 

[BloodyHell]

9 hours ago, Bacon said:

I made a comment earlier regarding boss checkpoints

  Hide contents

Spoiler

While I do dislike them, I get why they exist for bosses like Nidhogg. While I'd prefer fights to be structured in such a way as to not need them, they are better on more cinematic fights like that. What is crazy is that I don't remember this at all in GoW 2018 but I know they exist. And while I could have beaten Nidhogg all in one go, it took me a few tries to really understand what the fight was expecting from me. Trying to do it all in one go while having all those pop-ups and slowdowns would have sucked big donkey dick. That is another small critique I have which is the amount of new things you are to do in the heat of battle. It is like giving you a Zelda item during a boss fight instead of having a whole dungeon to understand them. Not that there are any mechanics so far that are even remotely as "complex" as the already easy to understand Zelda items, but giving me more new shit to do while I'm already fighting isn't something I care for. 

 

And I know I can turn some of that off, but I'm not really sure what I want turned off and what I want left on. Like, one hand, I wouldn't have noticed the tail shield bash mechanic right away even with the blue circles, but it was also a mechanic I had learned last chapter with the light elves. 

 

And like, I am critiquing the game this much because I like it, but it could be a better video game at times and less of a "playable experience" if you want to call it that. Tho, part of that is on me as I'm just here to play this shit like Dark Souls with a good story.

 

Oh and lol, everytime they say Freyr I just keep thinking they are saying Freya but they are british or can't speak properly.

 

2018 had just as many chests and secrets per square mile.

[Bacon]

5 hours ago, best3444 said:

You're extremely difficult to please. Holy hell. First you hated Elden Ring for odd reasons and now this game has too many chests to open. What game do you actually like other than FF14 online?

L2READ 

[Best]

3 minutes ago, Bacon said:

L2READ 

 

I read it. Just an odd nitpick about too many chests lol. I'm glad you're overall enjoying it. 

[Biggie]

Started this last night. So far the game has improved in every way from GOW 2018. The combat is legit satisfying. The graphics are fantastic. And the story is pulling me in big time just like the last game. Coming off 2018 and then going right into Ragnarök has really helped me appreciate how much better this game is compared to the last one. I started with Give Me Grace difficulty because I wanted to just enjoy my experience with this masterpiece. I probably could play on balanced but I’m concerned when tougher enemies start showing up I’ll have difficulty defeating them. In 2018 being able to just keep things moving made the game so enjoyable for me. 

[TheLeon]

This is not something I have strong feelings about either way, but I do think it’s kinda funny how every time I turn around, there’s a new chest to bash open. Like if you go off the main path and find a hidden chest, it doesn’t feel particularly rewarding because you’ve already opened 5 in the last few minutes, and their contents all kinda blend together. 

[Bacon]

21 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I read it. Just an odd nitpick about too many chests lol. I'm glad you're overall enjoying it. 

 

Just ruins the flow of the msq. It is literally just gathering resources off the ground with an extra step. In the most recent area there were 3 chests practically right next to each other. Stepped out of a combat arena to find a chest on a "hidden path". Then I saw a golden chest that required some small trickery, and when I jumped down to solve part of it there was another chest practically right there in the open.  

 

I don't view these chests as anything special. Elden Ring had this kinda stuff just lying on the ground whereas GoWR puts it just slightly off the path locked behind a fancy animation. No need for the chests. Just put some glowing stuff on the ground for me to pick up like you do when I beat a boss.

 

It ultimately isn't a big deal, but it is further proof that crafting is shitty time wasting content, as it is in all games. 

[stepee]

I actually love the chests and I’m pretty sure that’s something that was as abundant in the original as the constant chest puzzles was something I loved about the original one too. You could also just skip over them!

[Bacon]

Just now, stepee said:

You could also just skip over them!

No. They contain the metal required to upgrade gear and there isn't an option to buy that metal in the shop.

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, Bacon said:

No. They contain the metal required to upgrade gear and there isn't an option to buy that metal in the shop.

 

Are they really required to upgrade enough to progress or is it more fomo of not having the top gear all the time?

[Bacon]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Are they really required to upgrade enough to progress or is it more fomo of not having the top gear all the time?

To progress the armor that is your preference, yes. There is no other option in that regard. 

[stepee]

1 minute ago, Bacon said:

To progress the armor that is your preference, yes. There is no other option in that regard. 

 

I guess I meant not like avoiding all chests, but do you really need to go after all the hidden off the main path chests on story quests in order to do that? If so then I agree it should be balanced so going after all the chests is more of an optional activity.

[Bacon]

The amount of chests would be fine if they weren't on the path of the msq. They feel like interruptions while I'm enjoying the story. Notice I am not complaining about them in the side quest areas you unlock after finishing the current story chapter.

[Bacon]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

I guess I meant not like avoiding all chests, but do you really need to go after all the hidden off the main path chests on story quests in order to do that? If so then I agree it should be balanced so going after all the chests is more of an optional activity.

For now, I have only gotten enough materials to keep my preferred set of armor at the same level as the highest shop provided armor. There are only enough materials to keep 1 set updated as of now. By the time that set matches the shop provided sets, I am moving on to the next area that hands out the next level of materials.

[Best]

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

 

Just ruins the flow of the msq. It is literally just gathering resources off the ground with an extra step. In the most recent area there were 3 chests practically right next to each other. Stepped out of a combat arena to find a chest on a "hidden path". Then I saw a golden chest that required some small trickery, and when I jumped down to solve part of it there was another chest practically right there in the open.  

 

I don't view these chests as anything special. Elden Ring had this kinda stuff just lying on the ground whereas GoWR puts it just slightly off the path locked behind a fancy animation. No need for the chests. Just put some glowing stuff on the ground for me to pick up like you do when I beat a boss.

 

It ultimately isn't a big deal, but it is further proof that crafting is shitty time wasting content, as it is in all games. 

 

Fair enough. I love finding chests and upgrades so it's awesome to me. You make good points about items just laying on the ground rather than chests. 

 

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Started this last night. So far the game has improved in every way from GOW 2018. The combat is legit satisfying. The graphics are fantastic. And the story is pulling me in big time just like the last game. Coming off 2018 and then going right into Ragnarök has really helped me appreciate how much better this game is compared to the last one. I started with Give Me Grace difficulty because I wanted to just enjoy my experience with this masterpiece. I probably could play on balanced but I’m concerned when tougher enemies start showing up I’ll have difficulty defeating them. In 2018 being able to just keep things moving made the game so enjoyable for me. 

 

Yea, I litteraly beat 2018 a month ago so going into Ragnarok has been amazing. I'm really glad you got into these games because I know before you weren't digging it. 

[Bacon]

Spoiler

Kratos and Freya need to work on making a Baldur 2. I'm sure our God of War can over look her oddly large head.

 

[Best]

9 minutes ago, Bacon said:

  Hide contents

Kratos and Freya need to work on making a Baldur 2. I'm sure our God of War can over look her oddly large head.

 

 

Spoiler

Freya looks IDENTICAL to my sister. I mean it's crazy.