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

This is one of my biggest gripes with this game. As it stands, if you're hit even once while rage capped, you lose all of your rage, and with it your ability to perform your most powerful combos and attacks (effectively locking you out of a really fulfilling, and satisfying aspect of these games). The penalty is just way too steep. It's why I prefer the combat in the previous games. I wasn't penalized, and locked out of performing my biggest attacks because an enemy happened to hit me once.

I totally agree. I think it would be perfect if once you achieved full rage meter, it would continue for a set time, regardless if you got hit or not. Say 1 minute. But each hit before you achieve the full meter would lower it. As it is, a lot of times you don't even get to use and enjoy the mechanic for more than a few seconds.
 

Dantis

Member
So I just hit the Trials section. That genuinely is very difficult. I appreciate that some people may not think so, but I am really struggling with it.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a checkpoint after each round, but it looks like you just have to start the whole thing over again?

Real shame, because I was loving the game up until now. Might not bother finishing it. I feel like it would cause more stress and cost more time than it's worth.
 

gibration

Member
I totally agree. I think it would be perfect if once you achieved full rage meter, it would continue for a set time, regardless if you got hit or not. Say 1 minute. But each hit before you achieve the full meter would lower it. As it is, a lot of times you don't even get to use and enjoy the mechanic for more than a few seconds.

Yup, it sucks to see it disappear once you get hit. That's probably the one thing I wish they'd change about their current combat system.
 

BHK3

Banned
I just found out that if you get petrified mid air you float for a while and you have enough time to escape. I like the instant death in past games more. You knew that you should never jump. IMO it should work the same way it works for enemies. Freeze faster but need more hits to die. Maybe add a qte that when done quickly is a guaranteed escape.

Gorgons also don't have any blood marks on them when you escape their grabs, they did a lot of weird changes in Ascension.
 

jackb2424

Banned
Just beat the trials. Only took 2 tries. Um.....so thats it? Thats whats the infamous trials that Sessler got stuck on? I thought there was a difficulty spike. When the title chapter came up I was like "here we go!". 20 minutes later and its done. Im not bragging on my gaming or anything but come the fuck on. Even if the trials were hard I thought we were suppose to be gamers and up for the challenge. Those trials were not in the least bit difficult. Now i'm pissed at all the nay sayers who says its too hard. To those guys, I think you should try a different hobby. Why in the fuck would SSM patch this. Unbelievable. 6 hours Sessler got stuck on. Give me a break.
 
starting to really get to grips with the battle system and just wailing on opponents on hard mode. Really enjoying the changes they've made.
 

Dantis

Member
Just finished it.

I loved it. My joint favourite of the series, along with GoW 1. I feel like this one has the best writing, the best pacing, the best art direction... The only complain I have is that I wish the old parry system was in there. And that the Trial of Archimedes is really tough at first sight, haha.


Really great.
 
Okay after my problems with bugs earlier I got past it and just finished it on hard.

As expected the trials were a bit of trouble - I found them pretty easy on normal providing you strategize, it's all about crowd control. On hard it's a bit more difficult - I got to the centaur on my first try and died there, so annoyed haha. I gave it a few more goes and did it on my I think 4th attempt. The hardest section is definitely the first part, just spam the shit out of magic, Uroboros and Orkos' stone there. The rest is relatively simple. Easiest part is with the dude with the hammer and the centaur. The wraiths at the end you should have built enough health from the previous two enemy types to be able to just go apeshit on them.

The last boss was super easy though, didn't realize how simple it was first time round on normal. It's like 70% QTE. Still a very cool sequence though - and to be honest, after the trials - I don't think anyone wanted anything more difficult. Good way to end the game. Really satisfied with this one.
 

void666

Banned
Just beat the game.

About the trials: The difficult part is the medusas plus sirens. Running away from them while using orkos and ouroboros is what worked for me. Had full magic in the second wave so spammed zeus wrath until everything was dead. The rest was easy.

About the final boss:
It's a kraken like monster with a lot of QTEs. You stand on a platform hiting its mouth and when the QTEs come you press the buttons. What's so great about it? Seen people saying it's the best boss fight in the GoW saga. Can't see why.

So... In the end i enjoyed the combat.
Story is weak even by GoW standards. I can't remember most of it. Kratos is more shallow than ever.
FPS dips were common and i don't think this game looks better than GoW3 in any way.

For me:

GoW2 > GoW3 > GoW1 > GoWA
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Just beat the game.

About the trials: The difficult part is the medusas plus sirens. Running away from them while using orkos and ouroboros is what worked for me. Had full magic in the second wave so spammed zeus wrath until everything was dead. The rest was easy.

About the final boss:
It's a kraken like monster with a lot of QTEs. You stand on a platform hiting its mouth and when the QTEs come you press the buttons. What's so great about it? Seen people saying it's the best boss fight in the GoW saga. Can't see why.

So... In the end i enjoyed the combat.
Story is weak even by GoW standards. I can't remember most of it. Kratos is more shallow than ever.
FPS dips were common and i don't think this game looks better than GoW3 in any way.

For me:

GoW2 > GoW3 > GoW1 > GoWA
It was a great spectacle and felt like a fun reward for finishing the frustrating Trial. I enjoyed it even though it was simple.
 

Darknight

Member
Just beat the game.

About the trials: The difficult part is the medusas plus sirens. Running away from them while using orkos and ouroboros is what worked for me. Had full magic in the second wave so spammed zeus wrath until everything was dead. The rest was easy.

About the final boss:
It's a kraken like monster with a lot of QTEs. You stand on a platform hiting its mouth and when the QTEs come you press the buttons. What's so great about it? Seen people saying it's the best boss fight in the GoW saga. Can't see why.

So... In the end i enjoyed the combat.
Story is weak even by GoW standards. I can't remember most of it. Kratos is more shallow than ever.
FPS dips were common and i don't think this game looks better than GoW3 in any way.

For me:

GoW2 > GoW3 > GoW1 > GoWA

If you think about it, no other game pulls anything like the GOW franchise. Its technically impressive. Thats part of the charm.
 
Wrote down how I feel in another thread figured id cross post.

God of war 1 did the story better
God of war 2 did the exploration, puzzles and combat better
God of war 3 did the scale and combat better
CoO is equally as bad
GoS i have not played

GoW:A was horrible on virtual all fronts.

Combat moves are locked behind a rage meter that takes too long to build making half the effective moves in the game useless not to mention the removal of many of the better moves from the game. The Elements are useless beyond changing the colour of the weapons and 4 equally effective moves except they have a magic spell locked behind them once you realize the electric spell is the best the others are redundant. World weapons are a step backwards for the series they serve little to no purpose have a very limited move set and only come in 4 variations I can count the times I used them on one hand. No unlockable weapons is horrible especially when the MP has so many of a good design. Hyped fights like the manticore and not only boring and simple but they are reused for seemingly no reason other than "hey we spent time on this you will play it again"

The length of the game is ridiculous its literally on par with a psp title
The "puzzles" are built for simpletons
Its artificially lengthened because they bumped up enemy HP.

Story
The story is virtually none existent. "You need these magic eyes to beat the baddies go fetch the magic eyes" They seemingly invented some forced story about "oaths" for the game. Why did kratos need to break this oath? We have never seen any obligation and everything prior to this depicted a clear chain of events. Kratos is about to be killed in battle by a barbarian warlord he asks ares for help. Ares tricks Kratos into killing his family and then Kratos vows to kill Ares. He walks around for a bit and then Athena enlists his help.

All the stuff about seeing more of Kratos Human side was complete bullshit its never shown at all other than to Orkos and then its barely noticeable. Chains of Olympus showed more of his human side. The furies are horribly underplayed I still couldn't tell you what they are called. The hekatonkasaurus rex which could have been a titan scale battle was basically 6 corridors 2 battles with a hand and a fight with a head which was basically hit this tooth for some time.

Crastor was not only pointless but simple beyond belief. Its basically the Ripper Roo fight from Crash Bandicoot 2

The ending was ridiculous Kratos is in the exact same position as before except now a little gold stone is broken. What did his "oath" force him to do because if it ares had control over him why the hell did he let him spend a week traveling round to kill the enforcers of that oath? Orkos served no other purpose than to push the story along. He is in 3 cutscenes and had 5 lines of dialogue and then you stab him like its some super important sacrifice/event

The final battle is the most underwhelming thing iv ever played. You can stand still in the upper left corner and hit square square triangle and still win.

Not a single one of the characters are memorable.

Honestly its a huge disappointment. It felt entirely filler. Its the Garlic Junior saga of God of War.
 

BadAss2961

Member
Story

The ending was ridiculous Kratos is in the exact same position as before except now a little gold stone is broken. What did his "oath" force him to do because if it ares had control over him why the hell did he let him spend a week traveling round to kill the enforcers of that oath? Orkos served no other purpose than to push the story along. He is in 3 cutscenes and had 5 lines of dialogue and then you stab him like its some super important sacrifice/event
I think the only control Ares had over Kratos was his word/the oath. The oath is the entire base of why this story takes place. The Furies punish those who turn their back against honor. Kratos breaking his oath to Ares is an act of betraying his honor, so the Furies come after him.
It's not until Kratos breaks free of Megaera's torture at the beginning (the last act chronologically) of the game that the tables begin to turn on the Furies, and Kratos kills them all one after the other.

But after that is where Orkos reveals that the Furies somehow bound him to replace them in punishing those who betray honor. This is why Orkos gets Kratos to kill him, resulting in Kratos officially being free of his bond to Ares without consequence (the wrath of the Furies), setting the table for God of War 1 where he can focus on getting his revenge on Ares.

Ascension is sort of a side story in the big picture, but a pretty good one imo.
 
Like I keep telling people, you need to learn to juggle enemies in the air. Kratos is absolutely devastating mid-air in this game. Most regular enemies can't touch him while he's up there, and lots of bigger enemies will miss their attacks when you're at the right height.


I completely fail to re-iterate this but to all of you guys out there, here is a hint: As soon as you are capable of launching the square or triangle "spin attack" there are section on the game where you can get temporary invincibility. This can be used well on your elemental battles when you first activate them causing you to fight all those satyrs. Just double jump tether and hold the square (or triangle if unlocked) then tether again to repeat cycle. This does not APPLY to armored or large enemies it's the only minor "trick" you can abuse if such a case do happen (you will feel cheap afterwards and no, you can't use this in the infamous trial)
 
Wow, I'm terrible at the combat. It's not that I'm losing fights, it's just that I never feel like I'm doing well or kicking ass like in the other God of War games. The parry is nearly impossible to time (I still can't even pull it off properly because my instinct is to press L1+x at the same time) and the horrible camera angles and blending colors make it tough to tell when an enemy is going to attack. Sometimes, I don't even realize that I am being attacked.
 
Wow, I'm terrible at the combat. It's not that I'm losing fights, it's just that I never feel like I'm doing well or kicking ass like in the other God of War games. The parry is nearly impossible to time (I still can't even pull it off properly because my instinct is to press L1+x at the same time) and the horrible camera angles and blending colors make it tough to tell when an enemy is going to attack. Sometimes, I don't even realize that I am being attacked.

Yeah, I've made a huge post about it a page back.
 
At the Foot of Apollo, I missed the last Gorgon Eye chest, after completing the game can I just chapter select to get it? I hope I don't have to replay all over again just for that trophy lol
 
Yeah, I've made a huge post about it a page back.

I agree with a lot of your points. As I keep playing the game I'm liking the combat more, but the game does a terrible job of explaining the new systems to you, and GoW doesn't have a following like Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, DMC, etc. where I can read about the nuances from people that are far better than I am. I was trying to get by with playing how I always played GoW and it's extremely difficult to get used to the changes after beating 5 games that had the same basic combat.
 
Oh really? I just got all the feathers too. Do you know if I can go back after I finish or would I need to start over?

Why not just continue playing the game? There are gorgon eyes up until the end of the game. When you collect all of them, remaining chests that would normally contain them become full of red orbs instead.
 
So I just beat the Trial of Archimedes on normal. Took me about 10 tries, and about 30-45mins. The first part was definitely the hardest part, and each respected level got easier. I feel like it would of been a lot easier for me if I had my blades all the way leveled up, they were only level 4. It seems like the Rage meter may be a lot different now, and more powerful. As well as the extra damage.

I can totally see what SSM was trying to accomplish here from a design point. It's all about your strategy and if you using everything at your disposal. Your supposed to fail if you approach it simply as a combat trial, where you just do damage through combos, and try to block and evade everything. They want you to manage the orbs from enemies and use the items. You get magic from pretty much every enemy as long as you kill them the right way. Getting health from the Avatar women is also crucial. You should never run out of magic. Also the amulet is key for doing crowd control, as is the Orakos thing. If your not using these two items constantly you will fail. My other strategy was to use the fire element to build up rage meter, and switch to Hades and do the L3+R3 move. I pretty much solely used the Hades magic.

I feel like the problem here, was that for the rest of the game, you never really had to have this strategy and use your items. You could pretty much get along with square square triangle just like all other GOWs. There was a couple other parts right before the trails that were increasingly difficult and were much easier if you used the items, but because of the abundent health chests and checkpoints, it wasn't that big of a deal. So for most people, it came out of no where, and they weren't properly "trained" for the situation.

I feel like a lot of the game is built around the amulet and using crowd control(has to be level 2). A lot of other people were complaining about the goats and how they interrupt everything, as well as a lot of other enemies when theres a lot on screen. The amulet is your answer here. This is a big design change from the other GOWs, where it was all about aerial combos and what not. Now its about crowd control and using the two items, more so the amulet, but the Orkos stone is important too, because you have the switch between during cooldowns.

I definitely feel like when it comes to combat, Ascension is the deepest and has the most strategy, but overall GOW3 was more fun. Just cause Kratos is much more powerful. That i think was one of there other objectives. They designed the combat around the story and the fact Kratos is much weaker then he was in GOW2 and 3 where he was basically a god. So they gave him items to make up for his lack of strength, and used it as an opportunity to make the combat harder and more strategic.

Wrote down how I feel in another thread figured id cross post.

God of war 1 did the story better
God of war 2 did the exploration, puzzles and combat better
God of war 3 did the scale and combat better
CoO is equally as bad
GoS i have not played

GoW:A was horrible on virtual all fronts.

Combat moves are locked behind a rage meter that takes too long to build making half the effective moves in the game useless not to mention the removal of many of the better moves from the game. The Elements are useless beyond changing the colour of the weapons and 4 equally effective moves except they have a magic spell locked behind them once you realize the electric spell is the best the others are redundant. World weapons are a step backwards for the series they serve little to no purpose have a very limited move set and only come in 4 variations I can count the times I used them on one hand. No unlockable weapons is horrible especially when the MP has so many of a good design. Hyped fights like the manticore and not only boring and simple but they are reused for seemingly no reason other than "hey we spent time on this you will play it again"

The length of the game is ridiculous its literally on par with a psp title
The "puzzles" are built for simpletons
Its artificially lengthened because they bumped up enemy HP.


Honestly its a huge disappointment. It felt entirely filler. Its the Garlic Junior saga of God of War.


Wow I couldn't disagree more. You obviously don't know how to use the elements and the rage meter. The rage meter builds a lot faster depending on what element your using. With fire/ares it builds up in a couple of combos. Really quick. Theres actually only a couple of combos tied behind the Rage meter(2?) I also found the Hades magic to be the most useful, especially in the Trial of Archimedes. Theres a lot of strategy behind using the L3+R3 abilities and the different special moves with each respective element. I agree they could of done more with the elemental switching though. Such as enemies being weak to certain elements, and countering them. I noticed a lot of times the same types of enemies get charged with different elements(lighting, fire, ect). This should of been for more than just visual flair, and I bet at one time it may have been. The mechanic probably got chopped due to time and money.

The grabbing mechanic added a ton of strategy over GOW3, but I feel in GOW3 it was more fun and flashy. That is grabbing an enemies and tuggin them around vs latching and bring yourself to them in a matter of milliseconds.

The items also added a whole element, see trial of Archimedes. The only thing I thought was sorta useless were the weapons you pick up. Only in certain situations were they useful. It may of been of an issue of giving the player to much stuff to use. I generally forgot I had them.

Also I much prefer the parry system in GOW3.

I would agree story wise this is one of the weakest entries, the weakest if you don't count the PSP games. Its a shame cause it had a lot of potential.

I think Ascension has the best visuals, exploration and sense of adventure(seriously when have chests and what not been so well hidden?), and possibly the best puzzles. I would say the combat is only second to GOW3. Also from what other people have said on here, the last boss fight is the most amazing and epic finale in the entire series(I'm about to play it now). I agree that GOW3 is overall much more epic, and GoW2 is the overall better designed SP game.

Ascension multiplayer is great fun, and definitely not a tack on. Adds a lot of depth and definitely adds a lot of replay value. Definitely deserves attention. It does make up for a lot of the SP shortcomings IMO, but not totally. I hope they build on it, and make it better for GOW4.

My point is they all have there strengths and weaknesses.


edit: I also feel like its a real shame their patching the trials. The section really brings out the deeper mechanics and strategy of the combat system. The problem is how they designed everything up to that point, not the trials themselves IMO. They should of been showing and telling the player to use and rely on the items much more, so they were used to using them. To many health chests and checkpoints too.
 

Jason2slow

Neo Member
GoW:A, in my opinion, is the worst of the console GoW's so far...it seems like they concentrated more on the visual aspects of the game instead of the gameplay itself. The game looks great, probably the best visuals on consoles to date, but the combat feels so slow and unresponsive, it's kind of irritating. I agree with people saying that the parry system is horrible, I can time it fine, but so far in most of the situations I find that even if I successfully parry an enemy, the reward for doing so does not outweigh the risk of trying to parry. MOST of the time after I parry, I will just get hit by another enemy and get staggered and continually get hit until I can roll out. When fighting mobs of enemies, I find the safest way to fight them is to continually grab enemies and throw them since you are invulnerable during the grab animation, which is not really entertaining to me. (Playing on hard currently).

This is the first console god of war since the first game, that I don't feel compelled to finish...
 

BadAss2961

Member
The only thing I thought was sorta useless were the weapons you pick up. Only in certain situations were they useful. It may of been of an issue of giving the player to much stuff to use. I generally forgot I had them.
I rarely used them myself until I started experimenting late in my first playthrough. Now they're a regular part of my combat. Turns out they are useful, particularly in combination with the blades. Here's some of my favorites moves with the pickup weapons...

For the sword,
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
on the ground performs a little jumping attack with slow motion added. As a bonus, the sword often makes enemies cough up extra red orbs while they're still alive.

The club is slow, but has 2 really useful attacks. The first one is when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, Kratos will charge up a powerful ground smash that will launch smaller enemies in the air, and even knock a lot of the large ones off their feet. Use it when there's distance between Kratos and a group of enemies rushing towards him... The second attack I use a lot. When you're putting in some combos mid-air with a group of enemies beneath you, hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will come crashing down, clearing out the crowd.

The javelin and the sling release some powerful projectiles, but you have a set amount.

Overall, the shield might be the best secondary weapon to hold onto. It has an awesome rush attack when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
. It does a lot of damage, relentlessly knocks back smaller enemies, and Kratos is very mobile during this move... Hold
IMG
while mid-air, and he'll perform a similar stomp to the club and follow it up with the same rush attack from before. Unlike the club though, the shield stomp will only pound enemies in the direction that Kratos is facing.

For when you're without a secondary weapon, Kratos fists are useful too. If you're fighting one enemy, press
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will start a series of punches that often staggers opponents. There's not a lot of attacks that stop enemies and makes them react with animation, but this is one of them.
 
It really gets better after the horrendous first half. I now get what they were aiming for with the combat system, but I don't agree with it. Staying safe and avoiding hits as much as possible just feels wrong for a GoW game, as does the lack of feedback; Kratos should feel more powerful and GoW3 was much, much more enjoyable in that respect. Still, the game is picking up enough that I actually want to finish it... not looking forward to the trial, though.
 

Jaroof

Member
Just beat the game.
Fuck. The. Trials.
It took me like 9 tries total. 5 the other day, 4 today. After I learned that parrying was pretty much essential, I did it pretty easily.

Last boss was pretty cool, though.
 

hamchan

Member
9 chapters in and I have no idea what is happening in the story. Feels like I'm just killing things for no reason. Past games always had a clear goal established from the start.

It also feels like it takes forever to kill anything in the game which makes sense canonically with a weaker Kratos but unfortunately is not as fun.
 

BadAss2961

Member
GoW:A, in my opinion, is the worst of the console GoW's so far...it seems like they concentrated more on the visual aspects of the game instead of the gameplay itself. The game looks great, probably the best visuals on consoles to date, but the combat feels so slow and unresponsive, it's kind of irritating. I agree with people saying that the parry system is horrible, I can time it fine, but so far in most of the situations I find that even if I successfully parry an enemy, the reward for doing so does not outweigh the risk of trying to parry. MOST of the time after I parry, I will just get hit by another enemy and get staggered and continually get hit until I can roll out. When fighting mobs of enemies, I find the safest way to fight them is to continually grab enemies and throw them since you are invulnerable during the grab animation, which is not really entertaining to me. (Playing on hard currently).

This is the first console god of war since the first game, that I don't feel compelled to finish...
It also feels like it takes forever to kill anything in the game which makes sense canonically with a weaker Kratos but unfortunately is not as fun.
It sounds like you guys are trying to play it like the other games. You've gotta adjust and mix it up more in Ascension.

But first things first... Launch enemies in the air by holding
y1LiU60.png
, then juggle them by alternating between holding
gUXLLuC.png
and
y1LiU60.png
. For heavy enemies and bosses, you can double jump and follow the same method. Kratos is a beast up high in this game. He deals a lot of damage and is out of harm's away.
 

Jaroof

Member
Why did Kratos wanted to break the bond? after playing this,it doesn't seem like it mattered anyway.

Wasn't it because he was pretty much a servant to Ares?
When the bond was broken, he wouldn't have to serve under his name.
Little did he know that the visions would occur after breaking the bond.

Not sure if I should've spoiler tagged that, so I did anyway.
 

gibration

Member
I rarely used them myself until I started experimenting late in my first playthrough. Now they're a regular part of my combat. Turns out they are useful, particularly in combination with the blades. Here's some of my favorites moves with the pickup weapons...

For the sword,
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
on the ground performs a little jumping attack with slow motion added. As a bonus, the sword often makes enemies cough up extra red orbs while they're still alive.

The club is slow, but has 2 really useful attacks. The first one is when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, Kratos will charge up a powerful ground smash that will launch smaller enemies in the air, and even knock a lot of the large ones off their feet. Use it when there's distance between Kratos and a group of enemies rushing towards him... The second attack I use a lot. When you're putting in some combos mid-air with a group of enemies beneath you, hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will come crashing down, clearing out the crowd.

The javelin and the sling release some powerful projectiles, but you have a set amount.

Overall, the shield might be the best secondary weapon to hold onto. It has an awesome rush attack when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
. It does a lot of damage, relentlessly knocks back smaller enemies, and Kratos is very mobile during this move... Hold
IMG
while mid-air, and he'll perform a similar stomp to the club and follow it up with the same rush attack from before. Unlike the club though, the shield stomp will only pound enemies in the direction that Kratos is facing.

For when you're without a secondary weapon, Kratos fists are useful too. If you're fighting one enemy, press
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will start a series of punches that often staggers opponents. There's not a lot of attacks that stop enemies and makes them react with animation, but this is one of them.
Don't forget about the spear which has a very good L1+O attack. Overall I found all the pickup weapons to be very useful. I'm surprised to see many here not use them as often as I did.
 
I rarely used them myself until I started experimenting late in my first playthrough. Now they're a regular part of my combat. Turns out they are useful, particularly in combination with the blades. Here's some of my favorites moves with the pickup weapons...

For the sword,
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
on the ground performs a little jumping attack with slow motion added. As a bonus, the sword often makes enemies cough up extra red orbs while they're still alive.

The club is slow, but has 2 really useful attacks. The first one is when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, Kratos will charge up a powerful ground smash that will launch smaller enemies in the air, and even knock a lot of the large ones off their feet. Use it when there's distance between Kratos and a group of enemies rushing towards him... The second attack I use a lot. When you're putting in some combos mid-air with a group of enemies beneath you, hold
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will come crashing down, clearing out the crowd.

The javelin and the sling release some powerful projectiles, but you have a set amount.

Overall, the shield might be the best secondary weapon to hold onto. It has an awesome rush attack when you hold
rjJKqGZ.png
. It does a lot of damage, relentlessly knocks back smaller enemies, and Kratos is very mobile during this move... Hold
IMG
while mid-air, and he'll perform a similar stomp to the club and follow it up with the same rush attack from before. Unlike the club though, the shield stomp will only pound enemies in the direction that Kratos is facing.

For when you're without a secondary weapon, Kratos fists are useful too. If you're fighting one enemy, press
gUXLLuC.png
gUXLLuC.png
rjJKqGZ.png
, and Kratos will start a series of punches that often staggers opponents. There's not a lot of attacks that stop enemies and makes them react with animation, but this is one of them.

wow, some really good info! thanks! definitely gonna try this out when I play on hard. :)

Don't forget about the spear which has a very good L1+O attack. Overall I found all the pickup weapons to be very useful. I'm surprised to see people here not use them as often as I did.

Like I said it may be more of a case of having to much stuff to use and forgetting its there vs it not being useful. With the items, different elements, different special moves with each element, magic, and rage special moves, I'm sure a lot of people forgot about the secondary weapons and there special abilities. I know I did a lot of times. I mainly used them for its special move when you throw them.

I'm not saying they shouldnt of been included in the game, cause it sounds like they can add to the replay value on multiple playthroughs. cause its another thing to experiment with.
 
Just beat the game.
Fuck. The. Trials.
It took me like 9 tries total. 5 the other day, 4 today. After I learned that parrying was pretty much essential, I did it pretty easily.

Last boss was pretty cool, though.

I didn't think parrying was essential at all, in fact I didn't do it more then 3 times when I beat it. Read what I wrote up above, in my long post about the trials. the key to is was the items IMO, and making sure your getting the magic and health orbs from the enemies.
 

BadAss2961

Member
9 chapters in and I have no idea what is happening in the story. Feels like I'm just killing things for no reason. Past games always had a clear goal established from the start.
Kratos was having illusions, which Orkos comes to inform him is the work of the Furies who are after him for breaking his oath to Ares. Orkos tells Kratos to meet with the Oracle to find a way to end the Furies' mind tricks and defeat them.

That's what Kratos is up to at your point in the game.
 

Sid

Member
Wasn't it because he was pretty much a servant to Hades?
When the bond was broken, he wouldn't have to serve under his name.
Little did he know that the visions would occur after breaking the bond.

Not sure if I should've spoiler tagged that, so I did anyway.
You meant Ares but yeah you're right.
 
Never played three, and have 1/2/GoS but never really got in to them to completion.

Really enjoying this although I'm thinking that I need to learn more on the combat mechanics because some of the enemies are just wiping the floor with me. The section where you gain the
ice blades with the goats, I ended up cheesing it by jumping and grappling constantly just so they couldn't hit me.
I rarely remember to block either, maybe that's where I'm going wrong.

Graphically this game looks amazing, I've heard people say that 3 looks better? If that is the case I guess I need to go pick that up as well.
 

BadAss2961

Member
Never played three, and have 1/2/GoS but never really got in to them to completion.

Really enjoying this although I'm thinking that I need to learn more on the combat mechanics because some of the enemies are just wiping the floor with me. The section where you gain the
ice blades with the goats, I ended up cheesing it by jumping and grappling constantly just so they couldn't hit me.
I rarely remember to block either, maybe that's where I'm going wrong.

Graphically this game looks amazing, I've heard people say that 3 looks better? If that is the case I guess I need to go pick that up as well.
GoW3 has its moments, but Ascension is more consistent, and clearly peaks higher. You definitely need to pick it up though. It's incredible.
 

SpokkX

Member
This game feels like a cash in and feels like it has been artificially lengthened.

- The battles are artificially lenghtened by just adding HP to the monsters.
Even the easier monsters are damage sponges. The are not hard, they just take about 4 times hits that in previous games.

- Puzzles are more longer and frankly less inventive. The do take up time however, further adding to the length of the game

- Resuse of monsters from GoW3 and very few new enemies.

- The new climbing is also way worse, it is not really gameplay anymore. Climbing is interactive cutscenes with only one way to go
 
- Puzzles are more longer and frankly less inventive. The do take up time however, further adding to the length of the game
]


Oh man, not at all. To each their own, but I could not disagree more on this one. For all the things people are saying, I can at least say: I was never that invested in the main story, so the story is not a big thing to me (but I liked it). I am not a big beat em up guy, so the combat system changes, not a big deal to me. I would however, stand up and appauld the additions they made in this to create some great puzzles. I loved this aspect of the game, and it definitely felt so much stronger than in the rest, and really just more fun imo. I understand you have picked an angle on your critique with the time thing, but this does not gel at all in my opinion.

I can appreciate the climbing thing, but I enjoy Uncharted, and this was basically GoW doing uncharted so I enjoyed. But I can see where someone might not dig that, if they don't like that kind of thing.

I'll put the puzzle comment up there with the "this could of been on Vita" comments though, sorry.
 
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