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God of War Ascension |OT| Gods up, Foes down

T

TEH-CJ

Banned
Sn4ke_911 said:
Exactly, hell let me fight a freaking giant lizard or polar bear which shoots lightning bolts ... just give me anything good and fun to fight.... after beating the game i said to myself "that's it? what the hell were they doing 3+ years ... dang it i paid 70€ for this?!"
Oh well, one thing is for sure after this game i'm not in the "in SSM we trust" camp anymore.
Click to expand...

I lold

do you think the campaign has any redeeming qualities?
 
Vire

Vire

Member
Sn4ke_911 said:
Exactly, hell let me fight a freaking giant lizard or polar bear which shoots lightning bolts ... just give me anything good and fun to fight.... after beating the game i said to myself "that's it? what the hell were they doing 3+ years ... dang it i paid 70€ for this?!"
Oh well, one thing is for sure after this game i'm not in the "in SSM we trust" camp anymore.
Click to expand...

One slip up isn't enough for me to really doubt SSM.

I loved God of War 3 too much and I know there is another team working on something else. So maybe that's what the bulk of the talent is working on and there wasn't enough resources for GOW:A.

I dunno, just seems odd that there was twice as many bosses in 3.
 
D

dEvAnGeL

Gold Member
I did a very slow play trough of GOWA demo, checking all the details, taking my time, trying to get Kratos close to the camera to see the character model and after I was done I went an start GOW3, the difference is huge! GOW3 looks to this day absolutely stunning an much much better than ascension, I just can't understand what went wrong in the development of GOWA? those who say ascension opening is better than GOW3 opening, with all due respect but you guys have vision problems
 
S

shungokusatsu

Member
RoboPlato said:
Well, they have kind of used up everything from Greek mythology that could go in a GoW game.

I'm not letting myself get down on the game before I play it though. I'm going in really fresh and am looking forward to it.
Click to expand...
They don't seem to think so:

MS: Every game is a challenge, but the Greek mythos is so wide and varied. We could never do every myth that it has for us. We don’t find it limiting; it’s more exciting to explore more areas of it – new gods, new titans, new locales.
Click to expand...

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/03/08/god-of-war-ascension-qa-taking-kratos-to-the-next-level/
 
S

Sidzed2

Member
dEvAnGeL said:
I did a very slow play trough of GOWA demo, checking all the details, taking my time, trying to get Kratos close to the camera to see the character model and after I was done I went an start GOW3, the difference is huge! GOW3 looks to this day absolutely stunning an much much better than ascension, I just can't understand what went wrong in the development of GOWA? those who say ascension opening is better than GOW3 opening, with all due respect but you guys have vision problems
Click to expand...

It's true. GoW3 looks like the natural evolution of Ascension, instead of it being the other way round. However, what I've seen of the final boss looks pretty incredible, so maybe they blew their wad on that.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
Zen said:
God of War IIs combat was a mash of poorly executed changes on the formula that God of War I established. First of all they removed the parry timing leading to a heavy attack, and that's fine! But it's not fine when they deliberately left in the slowdown animation leaving you with nothing until well into the game when you get the golden fleece hours into the game. Originally you were suppose to get the fleece much sooner, but it got shuffled around, and the gameplay up to that point was stilted and awkward because of this useless slowdown that served no purpose but to kill the flow of combat. Once you got the fleece, it still wasn't as fun as the parry from the original.

The block mechanic: People complained in the original that you couldn't block fast enough at times, so instead of merely reducing the delay between button press and block, they made the block instant and spam-able. This allowed you to abuse it against harder enemies and it was just a sloppy solution all around. that broke the intended combat against harder enemy types.

Rage of the Titans: I don't think I need to go into why this was poorly implemented. It was tacked on an completely op.

Enemies: enemies in God of War II were frequently just annoying in terms of design and placement. II really tried to ramp up enemies doing very fast light attack interrupts and it was poorer for it. You were semi frequently put into a situation where you were trying to do something like push a block or turn a lever while waves of enemies would spawn at you, it was just annoying and worse than pushing that cage in the original, because those enemies were limited in number and had more lenient tells for their attacks. The highlight would be the poorly designed sequences were you had to protect the scroll readers, on higher difficulties. A decent amount of the new enemies were just annoying or unfair to fight unless you exploited the combat system (like the armored guys with the ball and chain).

Alternate weapons, there's no argument that the alternate weapon (sword) was under developed in God of War I, but all of the alternate weapons in II were garbage and just not practical to use versus the blades at all. They were a waste of orbs.

Art design. II has the worst art design in the series bar none. It's inconsistent and while you're on an island moving ever closer to the center, the areas clash so much that you're hard pressed to ever feel that sense of progression. It was also responsible for the sub par designs of the rest of the Olympians (none of them ever measured up to Ares from the original). They had to design all of the gods at once to shoe horn them in for a cutscene, and it showed, haunting even God of War III.

I also dislike GoWII because Kratos was much more of a meat-head, it invalidated the ending of God of War I and generally just pigeon holed God of War III, leading you up to fighting a boss whom you had already decisively beaten in II. Not to mention how it completely ignored all of the logical plot threads it set up itself through introducing time travel. Krtatos not once even thinking to save his family for instance. It was just an extremely sloppy and poorly thought out sequel to a highly self contained and well thought out original.

CoO had at least on par encounter design, better level design, better combat, and better sub-weapons and spells, massively more consistent art design and proper sense of progression through its environments. It was just all around a better game.
Click to expand...

Very interesting post, Zen! It's rare to find somebody actually talking about the game mechanics of GoW. That said, I do disagree with it quite a bit. The combat guys were running the show in GoW2, and it shows, with the most refined combat in the entire series.

The parry's a good point, but it actually does take awhile in GoW1 before you get(level 3 Blades), and the parry still serves a purpose. Some attack strings in GoW2 are unblockable unless you parry them. Some medium-sized enemies are stunned with parries and leave them open for retaliation, which doesn't happen with a normal block. More over, I LOVE the Golden Fleece. The projectile parrying is one of my favorite additions, and I love parrying a Medusa Gaze and throwing it back at everyone.

The blocking is a legit complaint

As for Rage mechanics, you say "op", I say "useful". The Rage of the Gods took so damn long to build up in GoW1, you practically forgot about most of the time. You might use it 3, maybe 4 times on an average playthrough. And you can't shut it off either. Once it goes, it goes until it's gone, which really kills a lot of it's potential utility. If either of these mechanics were "tacked on", it was RotG.

As for enemy management, I like the challenge. Enemies with fast attacks are usually very susceptible to the stun status of Chronos' Rage(that's the only thing you need to cross that river with the rotating circles before the Stone Minotaur) or OS grabs. The enemies are always limited in number, whether it be the fire harpies in the Raising the Phoenix statue push section, or the Translator protection. And let's not pretend GoW1 doesn't have these moments either, not just the cage push, but even earlier with the infinitely spawning harpies that require you to block their path with the statues. And nothing in GoW2(on Hard and below anyway) annoys me as much as the endlessly tedious battle in the spike wheel room with all the harpies. Or the slog of encounters and spike walls that littered the Hades section...

GoW2 alternate weapons certainly aren't "garbage" and "impractical". Certainly not any more than the Artermis Blade was in GoW1. The Barbarian Hammer is straight up stronger than the Blades, and can be a highly effective strategy for tougher opponents. In fact, I'd argue you should stop upgrading the blades at level 3, and focus your orbs on the BH on Titan. And the stunlocking goodness of T1 and PS on the SoD are straight up godlike.

The art design for the areas, well, that's just the most subjective thing there is, isn't it? It reminds me of the people who prefer Half-Life 1 to Half-Life 2, and vice versa. HL1 is mainly in one environment, giving you a sense of place and progression that HL2's many episodic locales can't match. HL2, on the other hand, has such a wide variety of wonderful environments, that it's fans feel kinda stir crazy being in the same ol' office complex most of the game. Clearly, you're a HL1 guy. Me, an HL2 guy. Love the art design, love the variety of beautiful locales, gives me that epic adventure feeling. You feel your way, I feel mine. As for the character designs, I was actually always partial to Hades, this obese mountain of a man with the spikes and various patches showing the lava underneath. And you don't like Poseidon, all Atlantean cool blue tattoos and surfer dude hair? Pfft

The story is poorer. Although the story in the first wasn't anything to write home about either, if I'm being honest.

As for CoO, I haven't played it in years. All I remember is that it was short, ugly except for a few distinct areas like Elysium, easy(even on Hard...it's Very Hard is the easiest in the series, too), with LOTS and LOTS of gated encounters in small, constrained arenas, with worse enemies, worse level design, MUCH worse/less bosses, worse spells (Efreet sucks, LoD is the worst ranged magic in the series, no Medusa/Eurayle like stun spell)...pretty much across the board inferior. I don't think it's very good at all, quite frankly, especially in comparison to it's console brethren.

Moreover, I love so much about GoW2, big and small. The swinging across the Badlands, hell just the swinging in general. How you can mash X and move faster up ladders or across walls and ceilings. The sound of a Golden Fleece parry. The yelp of a dog as you straight up punt it into another enemy(and it's actually a viable strategy, it does a lot of damage and it stuns even mid-boss tier characters). The 2d battle with the Spartan Warrior. The door-slamming QTE finisher on Theseus. The music that kicks in when you're escaping from the Atlas chapter. The projectile parrying tennis matches between you and the Sister of Fate. The final Endurance Run. The slick as hell finisher animation on the little axe-wielding riders. The "so damn mad it's parody level" annnnngry walk Kratos in the beginning of the Kraken fight, replacing your attacks with annnnngry yells to the heaven(I GROW TIRED OF THE LIES OF THE GODS!).

Damn, I love that game. But, that was an interesting post, Zen. It's rare that anyone talks about the mechanics of GoW besides simple buzz words.

GoW2 > GoW1 >> GoW3 > or = GoS >> CoO
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
Multiplayer happened. SSM needs a new director who is passionate about the single player portion of the series and who genuinely believes that it can be evolved and not just a mode where certain checkboxes have to be ticked. I like Todd Pappy a lot but if this same vision that was there in GOW :A is bought to a mainline GOW game next gen this series is in danger and I am not at all being hyperbolic when I say this. All you need is two average games in a series to spoil perception.

This is not a mainline game and we are nearing the end of this gen but if they seriously dont shakeup the series for PS4 it will be in trouble. The only genre which gets by with repetition and uninspired gameplay every singe time is the FPS genre. People do not seem to have the same patience for other genre's.
 
BadAss2961

BadAss2961

Member
meta4 said:
Multiplayer happened. SSM needs a new director who is passionate about the single player portion of the series and who genuinely believes that it can be evolved and not just a mode where certain checkboxes have to be ticked. I like Todd Pappy a lot but if this same vision that was there in GOW :A is bought to a mainline GOW game next gen this series is in danger and I am not at all being hyperbolic when I say this. All you need is two average games in a series to spoil perception.

This is not a mainline game and we are nearing the end of this gen but if they seriously dont shakeup the series for PS4 it will be in trouble. The only genre which gets by with repetition and uninspired gameplay every singe time is the FPS genre. People do not seem to have the same patience for other genre's.
Click to expand...
How is it not a mainline game? That suggests spinoff, or something irrelevant to the story.

So, is Stig really working on some secret game?
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Sn4ke_911 said:
Exactly, hell let me fight a freaking giant lizard or polar bear which shoots lightning bolts ... just give me anything good and fun to fight.... after beating the game i said to myself "that's it? what the hell were they doing 3+ years ... dang it i paid 70€ for this?!"
Oh well, one thing is for sure after this game i'm not in the "in SSM we trust" camp anymore.
Click to expand...

So Klepek was right to show apathy? :p

i6qpxF98OR5Eo.gif
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
LeBrick James said:
How is it not a mainline game? That suggests spinoff, or something irrelevant to the story.

So, is Stig really working on some secret game?
Click to expand...

I should have said a numbered title. Atleast ppl may accept this crap campaign saying that GOW4 will be better and bigger. Too much damage is not done yet.

Yes Stig is working on a new IP for next gen.( rumored to be an open world shooter and includes vehicular combat ).
 
O

Original Man

Member
game finally shipped. this is going to be good....just like UC3, AC3, MGS4...

lets admit it people. these games aren't bad, you just want new IPs.
 
BadAss2961

BadAss2961

Member
I won't buy into the negativity until I see it for myself. Even if there's not a lot of bosses, I still enjoy trekking through the environments and crushing waves of enemies.
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
Original Man said:
game finally shipped. this is going to be good....just like UC3, AC3, MGS4...

lets admit it people. these games aren't bad, you just want new IPs.
Click to expand...

MGS4 is flawed yet fantastic. UC3 is average and AC3 is one of the worst games to ever grace mother earth.
 
D

Derrick01

Banned
Original Man said:
game finally shipped. this is going to be good....just like UC3, AC3, MGS4...

lets admit it people. these games aren't bad, you just want new IPs.
Click to expand...

I like UC3 but most series really should end after the 2nd game unless you set out from the start to make each one separate from each other, like the Uncharteds do. Game writers don't have the chops to carry a story on that long.

And I think God of War 3 was a rare really good third game in a series. Then again the whole idea was just "Kratos mad, Kratos kill everyone", and it worked amazingly well. But as I said from the moment this game was announced, doing a prequel after 3 was a bad bad bad bad idea.

ViewtifulJC said:
or AC3 being one of the worst games of all-time
Click to expand...

If we're talking AAA games only then I agree with him.
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
ViewtifulJC said:
I don't know which meta hyperbole is worst: GoW3 being an amazing action game masterpiece, or AC3 being one of the worst games of all-time
Click to expand...

AC3 would have been better if my horse stopped copulating with the boulder before having a nervous break down and actually allowed me to progress in the game. Let me rephrase - it is one of the worst AAA games ( atleast that is what the budget seems to indicate ) of all time.
 
H

H2Yo

Member
Does anyone have a youtube link of the controversial scene in this game?
I want to make my own mind up about it but don't plan on ever playing this game.

I had to stop in God of War 1 as I couldn't get passed a section where you had to swim in an aqueduct and avoid something like a fan that was coming toward you.
 
Salz01

Salz01

Member
All the negative impressions are buming me out. Copy is on the way, and the only epic thing I get to face it seems is a let down.
 
H

H2Yo

Member
Darkmakaimura said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3L2de3ucLg
Click to expand...

Wow, that's it? I mean I'm guessing it's the kick that makes it controversial?
I suppose without context to who
Fury
is, I can't really comment but she doesn't seem like some 'helpless damsel', Kratos disposed of her like any other foe.

I must admit though when Orkos (no idea who he is) appeared I laughed out loud. He doesn't look like he fits in with the universe at all, looks like a guy from the 70s.
 
M

MagicWithEarvin

Member
OMFG... the stupid crap they keep throwing at you is cheap as hell. I can't wait to finish this game and be over with it. My goodness, what horrible sections this game has.
 
F

Freezasaurus

Member
Dark-VIII said:
interesting subject from IGN
Are Tomb Raider, God of War too Violent?

kinda feel the same, sometime it's cool but sometime it's not necessarily
Click to expand...

Games with violence necessitated by the plot are not too violent. Games where violence is excessive because it suits the tone of the game, are also not too violent. If the content in a movie or a game bothers you, then obviously, don't partake. But let the rest of us enjoy our entertainment.

Why people aim their political correctness-cannons at games and movies, I don't know. There are people out there in the world doing worse shit to each other on a daily basis than anything we see in our entertainment.
 
M

MagicWithEarvin

Member
Gotta love elevator sequences that offer multiple waves of enemies with no damn check points in between. This isn't even fun. At all.

Square Square Triangle to save the day again, I guess. Stupid.
 
M

Mik_Pad

Banned
Yep alot if people are playing GoW on my friend list and I won't be able to play it until next week :/

If someone has a chance can you confirm if costumes are in or out and what can we find in the extras section.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
pharmboy044 said:
No, he's just being a douche like the rest of GiantBomb toward these types of games.

I personally am really looking forward to the game with that awesome MP.
Click to expand...

Patrick is just a douche in general, so it's not shocking.

The mixed reports has made me more excited to try this. Weird how that works.
 
njean777

njean777

Member
Papercuts said:
Patrick is just a douche in general, so it's not shocking.

The mixed reports has made me more excited to try this. Weird how that works.
Click to expand...

The mixed reports made me finish AC3, and I actually think it wasn't as bad as everybody said. It wasn't the best in the series, but it wasn't the worst (imo Revelations was).
 
M

MrCookiepants

Member
meta4 said:
Have not played DMC but MGR is such a boring game. Deserves its 80 as much as this one does. Infact it deserves less IMO.
Click to expand...

MGR is the furthest thing from boring. It is one of the most overrated games around here though. Platinum could re-release E.T. the game with their name on the cover and GAF would worship it. :lol
 
M

meta4

Junior Member
MrCookiepants said:
MGR is the furthest thing from boring. It is one of the most overrated games around here though. Platinum could re-release E.T. the game with their name on the cover and GAF would worship it. :lol
Click to expand...

Platinum should save every franchise and genre apparently. But seriously the mechanics in their games are pretty good but their level design is so boring and by the numbers that it is really very very uninspiring. A classic case of a developer having mechanics and not knowing how to design competent and varied levels around it.
 
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