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

[BloodyHell]

50 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Angry lol? I'm having a great day today. I was disappointed to read something that would have been a nice surprise. 

But its not a part of the story, it's a codex, just like the codex in almost every modern Sony game, as well as most others. 

 

Story spoilers should be marked, but like @Spork3245said, if you consider that a spoiler, you shouldn't be in the thread.

It's like spoiling that Aloy has a skill tree. It foreshadows nothing about the game itself.

If you want to come in and ruin story spoilers because of a codex, you do you. The block button is close by. 

 

[best3444]

1 hour ago, BloodyHell said:

But its not a part of the story, it's a codex, just like the codex in almost every modern Sony game, as well as most others. 

 

Story spoilers should be marked, but like @Spork3245said, if you consider that a spoiler, you shouldn't be in the thread.

It's like spoiling that Aloy has a skill tree. It foreshadows nothing about the game itself.

If you want to come in and ruin story spoilers because of a codex, you do you. The block button is close by. 

 

 

The comparison between Kratos now journaling is not the same thing as knowing Aloy has a skill tree. Are you kidding me?

 

On another note, I'm going to start playing this tonight. I'm pretty hyped.

[Greatoneshere]

Game is great so far - a couple of more hours in. Feels more like a lot of the first game in many ways, not a bad thing, but hoping the gameplay loop expands.

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Someone saying, without spoiler marking it, in a thread for a game post-release, that the main character writes the codex/journal entries in the menu from their POV, and you consider that a story spoiler for yourself, then that is completely your fault and does not justify some future shitty behavior by you to just launch into all kinds of spoilers after a game releases in future threads. Those two things are not like for like.

 

I would never have cared, or felt, that was ever a spoiler. And again, if I knew I was going to be that sensitive, to that degree, I just wouldn't be in a post-release game thread for that game then. You're wrong here.

 

Lol, I was kidding about spoiling games in the future. I'm already over it and I just want to play the damn thing tonight. 

[Greatoneshere]

Just now, best3444 said:

 

Lol, I was kidding about spoiling games in the future. I'm already over it and I just want to play the damn thing tonight. 

 

Not even sure where my post went lol. The game is great so far, so don't worry, plenty of unspoiled things to enjoy still.

[best3444]

5 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Not even sure where my post went lol. The game is great so far, so don't worry, plenty of unspoiled things to enjoy still.

 

Yea, what the hell happened to you post? 

[Keyser_Soze]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea, what the hell happened to you post? 

 

Kal deleted a bunch of stuff because you said it was a spoiler.

[best3444]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Kal deleted a bunch of stuff because you said it was a spoiler.

 

Too late for that. 

[Kal-El814]

5 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Kal deleted a bunch of stuff because you said it was a spoiler.

 

I didn't delete anything. I edited all referenced to my initial post based on best's comment. I didn't touch anything @Greatoneshere wrote. No idea what happened there.

[BloodyHell]

Spent most of the day installing a garage door on my tractor barn, and all I thought about was what I'm going to find out next.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

I didn't delete anything. I edited all referenced to my initial post based on best's comment. I didn't touch anything @Greatoneshere wrote. No idea what happened there.

 

I think it was a glitch on my end as I was trying to do another post in this same thread right after no worries. 

[best3444]

1 hour ago, BloodyHell said:

Spent most of the day installing a garage door on my tractor barn, and all I thought about was what I'm going to find out next.

 

How many hours are you in? I cannot wait to get home and play this. I haven't gamed in a little while now.

[BloodyHell]

48 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

How many hours are you in? I cannot wait to get home and play this. I haven't gamed in a little while now.

9 hours. A few of those were exploration and side quests though.

[skillzdadirecta]

3 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Game is great so far - a couple of more hours in. Feels more like a lot of the first game in many ways, not a bad thing, but hoping the gameplay loop expands.

Same... I'm liking it so far but not loving it and it definitely feels like the first game in a lot of ways. Considering I'm very early in the game, i expect the gameplay to expand a bit though. Story hasn't grabbed me just yet, but I full expect that to change as well. Game looks great but not as great as I would expect to be honest.

[Greatoneshere]

2 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Same... I'm liking it so far but not loving it and it definitely feels like the first game in a lot of ways. Considering I'm very early in the game, i expect the gameplay to expand a bit though. Story hasn't grabbed me just yet, but I full expect that to change as well. Game looks great but not as great as I would expect to be honest.

 

This is where I currently stand - like you telling myself it's still very early. It's still really good, but semi-evolutionary over revolutionary so far.

[Dodger]

This is some minor and early shit but I'll tag it just in case

 

Spoiler

I do like how bright and beautiful everything is once you first get out of Midgard. Definitely a nice change of scenery from the last game. 

 

[stepee]

This game is to close out this saga before moving onto the next so gameplay wise I’m quite happy for it to be evolutionary and to get more of this sublime style before they attempt something revolutionary again next go at it.

 

I think I’ve settled on performance mode high frame rate as it’s the only mode that makes me feel like the ps5 is being taken advantage of since the temporal resolution increase there is a huge upgrade whereas the higher res is a bit superfluous since the TAUU is putting in good work here. 

[Kal-El814]

The main thing I've noticed gameplay wise since I recently finished a re-play of the last GoW game is that I feel like a weak little figurine compared to my end game Kratos.

[BloodyHell]

31 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

This is where I currently stand - like you telling myself it's still very early. It's still really good, but semi-evolutionary over revolutionary so far.

I don't know why anyone would expect a revolution to a gane that is a direct sequel to the last revolution of the series. This is one complaint I heard someone else mention, and it kinda baffled me.

[stepee]

9 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

The main thing I've noticed gameplay wise since I recently finished a re-play of the last GoW game is that I feel like a weak little figurine compared to my end game Kratos.

 

I hear ya playa, I remembered being a beast at the end of my GOW play through and also why couldn’t they let me start with my bladdddes.

[Greatoneshere]

5 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

I don't know why anyone would expect a revolution to a gane that is a direct sequel to the last revolution of the series. This is one complaint I heard someone else mention, and it kinda baffled me.

 

I don't need a revolution, like I said it's really great and I know I'm still early. But game opens with a lot of big moments (just like the last one), you traverse a semi open world and shoot pots, open the same chests with the same puzzles, etc. It's like literally the first game again in terms of how you explore, do things, everything. I platinum'ed the last game so I didn't want to literally travel a boat again and do what feels like the exact same thing when I did it a lot already in the last game. Again, played all the games, game needs to feel and play like God of War of course, but the gameplay loop is so easy to guess and do on hard difficulty that it feels like more of the same is all so far. Still AAA, but feels safe so far (but very well done).

[Dodger]

11 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

The main thing I've noticed gameplay wise since I recently finished a re-play of the last GoW game is that I feel like a weak little figurine compared to my end game Kratos.

Yeah same here. Feels weird to not to be all powered up and wrecking shit.

[stepee]

15 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

I don't need a revolution, like I said it's really great and I know I'm still early. But game opens with a lot of big moments (just like the last one), you traverse a semi open world and shoot pots, open the same chests with the same puzzles, etc. It's like literally the first game again in terms of how you explore, do things, everything. I platinum'ed the last game so I didn't want to literally travel a boat again and do what feels like the exact same thing when I did it a lot already in the last game. Again, played all the games, game needs to feel and play like God of War of course, but the gameplay loop is so easy to guess and do on hard difficulty that it feels like more of the same is all so far. Still AAA, but feels safe so far (but very well done).

 

While generally what I wanted is more of the same, I do agree with the boat coming back, if it’s the same amount as last time, that really could have been any other traversal method instead.

[Kal-El814]

My guess is that the boat is a pretty reliable way to give the player some agency in where they're going but also lets the writers know a minimal amount of time to get from A to B on critical path story bits so they know how long to let NPCs and Kratos blab. When you're on land there are generally shortcuts you could make or it's possible you'll clear puzzles on the first go. And in the first game you can't die on the boat so you don't have the GTA problem of dying mid mission and hearing the same shit over and over.

[stepee]

Just now, Kal-El814 said:

My guess is that the boat is a pretty reliable way to give the player some agency in where they're going but also lets the writers know a minimal amount of time to get from A to B on critical path story bits so they know how long to let NPCs and Kratos blab. When you're on land there are generally shortcuts you could make or it's possible you'll clear puzzles on the first go. And in the first game you can't die on the boat so you don't have the GTA problem of dying mid mission and hearing the same shit over and over.

 

While this is totally all true, couldn’t they do that with like a sleigh?

[Kal-El814]

Just now, stepee said:

 

While this is totally all true, couldn’t they do that with like a sleigh?

 

True enough.

[Greatoneshere]

11 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

My guess is that the boat is a pretty reliable way to give the player some agency in where they're going but also lets the writers know a minimal amount of time to get from A to B on critical path story bits so they know how long to let NPCs and Kratos blab. When you're on land there are generally shortcuts you could make or it's possible you'll clear puzzles on the first go. And in the first game you can't die on the boat so you don't have the GTA problem of dying mid mission and hearing the same shit over and over.

 

All true - I get why everything is the way it is, but it gets kind of rote after awhile. Probably doesn't help I just recently played Fallen Order which has a lot of gameplay similarities (along with FO taking from Dark Souls and Uncharted). It's fun and rewarding, but short and obvious in terms of gameplay loops. Reviewers hyped up the side quests in this one, so again it's still early, hence for me these are just me early impressions.

[stepee]

14 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

True enough.

 

Actually when, spoilers for like the first minute of the game,

you were on the sleigh with Freya chasing you

I thought/was hoping that was actually the new replacement.

[best3444]

Holy Fuckin Jesus Christ my parents wifi speed is comical. I just started downloading it and it says 5 hours!

 

I won't be able to play this until tomorrow now. Reading some impressions in here has definitely lowered my hype level too. So I'm in no rush. 

 

Why did this game get such incredible reviews and all of you guys say it's just "ok". I guess I'll see tomorrow.

 

I wasn't expecting amazing visuals because of the god damn PS4 fiasco. 

[stepee]

Graphically it actually looks better than I thought after having my hopes set pretty low. The high frame rate performance mode really elevates it imo, to see this level of detail, with this IQ, running this smooth, on a console. It’s a really really nice visual package. 

[best3444]

9 minutes ago, stepee said:

Graphically it actually looks better than I thought after having my hopes set pretty low. The high frame rate performance mode really elevates it imo, to see this level of detail, with this IQ, running this smooth, on a console. It’s a really really nice visual package. 

 

So did you try 40fps vrr? Or do you suggest I play on performance mode?

[Biggie]

30 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Holy Fuckin Jesus Christ my parents wifi speed is comical. I just started downloading it and it says 5 hours!

Its probably fast to them lol

[best3444]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

Its probably fast to them lol

 

My dad was watching me hook everything up and it was like he was witnessing alien technology. I was laughing. 

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

So did you try 40fps vrr? Or do you suggest I play on performance mode?

 

There’s actually two quality modes above 30fps, to get the locked 40hz you have to now disable vrr on your tv when selecting quality/high frame rate. It’s nice, much better than 30fps and looks good, but you are talking over twice the frame rate in the performance/high frame rate mode. It’s too big of an improvement for the limited image quality gain.

 

Performance mode runs at 1440p but with some superb TAAU action going on so it’s way too close to the same actual IQ to give up those frames. You have to keep in mind that you lose resolution whenever you are actually moving or turning the camera around, higher frame rates keep the image resolution intact. And 80-90fps means you have really nice clean camera pans. The animation during fighting looks more fluid and impressive as well. It’s a huge gain for very little perceivable loss in this instance.

 

Now there IS also the option of turning in quality/high performance mode and leaving vrr on. This seems to stick closer to 60 and looks great. I had problems with flashing in this mode (i’ve seen people on lg oled complain about this as well, but your mileage may vary) so it was a no go for me. I could see going with that mode if it works well on your tv/if they patch it, but I think I’d still just gobble those extra 20 frames, they are wasted on the image quality difference.

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

There’s actually two quality modes above 30fps, to get the locked 40hz you have to now disable vrr on your tv when selecting quality/high frame rate. It’s nice, much better than 30fps and looks good, but you are talking over twice the frame rate in the performance/high frame rate mode. It’s too big of an improvement for the limited image quality gain.

 

Performance mode runs at 1440p but with some superb TAAU action going on so it’s way too close to the same actual IQ to give up those frames. You have to keep in mind that you lose resolution whenever you are actually moving or turning the camera around, higher frame rates keep the image resolution intact. And 80-90fps means you have really nice clean camera pans. The animation during fighting looks more fluid and impressive as well. It’s a huge gain for very little perceivable loss in this instance.

 

Now there IS also the option of turning in quality/high performance mode and leaving vrr on. This seems to stick closer to 60 and looks great. I had problems with flashing in this mode (i’ve seen people on lg oled complain about this as well, but your mileage may vary) so it was a no go for me. I could see going with that mode if it works well on your tv/if they patch it, but I think I’d still just gobble those extra 20 frames, they are wasted on the image quality difference.

 

I might go with performance mode then. I'll have to see the options when I start playing.