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[00011000]

I'm almost one hour into the game now and have died almost 10 times already. Playing normal mode btw.
Is the game hard or is it just me?

First boss fight:

Spoiler

Poseidon and his horses trashed me

I've noticed that there are certain sections you have to do exactly right or else you die. Sometimes you can't discover that little gimmick and keep dying. Fairly frustrating, but comes with territory.

 

[Omotesando]

Discussing the intriges and 'authenticity/realism' of God of Wars plot seems a bit silly to me.

 

[Pallaris]

There was room to improve graphics at the expense of frame rate. But I think they made the right call. With all the action, it seems like a hard line to follow, keeping fps locked at 30, while pushing up to the limit of what can be done. Watching the videos, there are plenty of scenes that drop right to exactly 30, so they are up to the edge, I guess what I'm saying is it's probably hard to add that extra level of eye candy to the scenes that are holding in the 40-50 range, and have it not possibly cause scenes that are already at 30, drop slightly below. The only criticism I can make at the graphics is once in a while, a texture wouldn't look as detailed as the rest. But the game is the most impressive looking PS3 exclusive IMO.

I was impressed to read in the eurogamer post mortem, one of the Santa Monica guys futher optimized the frame rate an average of 8% in the final week of development, after the 1st wave of review copies went out.

Overall the game looks phenomenal (especially when you consider it's their first effort) but imo they should have stuck with 30fps locked. At times the stuttering camera can be a little obvious and distracting and makes the framerate feel inconsistent. I don't think the extra 10-15fps on average while you're walking around exploring adds anything to this sort of game to warrant the trade off. To be fair it's massively improved from the demo and not something you spend too much time thinking about while playing the game.

 

[00011000]

Discussing the intriges and 'authenticity/realism' of God of Wars plot seems a bit silly to me.

I think it's less "authenticity/realism" and more "congruency/consistency" being debated.

 

[00011000]

Overall the game looks phenomenal (especially when you consider it's their first effort) but imo they should have stuck with 30fps locked. At times the stuttering camera can be a little obvious and distracting and makes the framerate feel inconsistent. I don't think the extra 10-15fps on average while you're walking around exploring adds anything to this sort of game to warrant the trade off. To be fair it's massively improved from the demo and not something you spend too much time thinking about while playing the game.

mmhm, I wish it wasn't there to be fair, the 60FPS bits feel so silky-smooth, makes me yearn for what could have been.

 

[Veelk]

Discussing the intriges and 'authenticity/realism' of God of Wars plot seems a bit silly to me.

Realism has nothing to do with it, but a story must follow it's own established rules. First, the only way to kill a god was to use Pandora's box. Then, you could do it with any sufficient power weapon, like the blade of olympus. I was actually cool with taht. I just thought "Hey, I doubt that the gods wanted to promote that they could be killed through other means anyway".

Spoiler

Then Kratos killed Poseidon with bare hands. Okay, so any sufficient amount of brute force can kill a god. Weak, but whatever. Wait, now your telling me that the only way to kill Zues is to use whats in pandora's box? BULLSHIT

 

[jett]

Overall the game looks phenomenal (especially when you consider it's their first effort) but imo they should have stuck with 30fps locked. At times the stuttering camera can be a little obvious and distracting and makes the framerate feel inconsistent. I don't think the extra 10-15fps on average while you're walking around exploring adds anything to this sort of game to warrant the trade off. To be fair it's massively improved from the demo and not something you spend too much time thinking about while playing the game.

Nah man in the end I'm glad they stuck with the variable framerate. The game actually runs at 60fps a lot of the time, and with triple buffering + really fucking awesome motion blur you don't really notice the framedrops. At least I don't. Even less when the screen is constantly being filled with all kinds of crazy shit. Never did I give the framerate a second thought while playing the game.

 

[Omotesando]

I think it's less "authenticity/realism" and more "congruency/consistency" being debated.

Consistency/congruency is almost equally silly.

 

[Insane Metal]

My only complaints with the game in the graphics area: some textures are really blurry, and some characters are very badly modeled.

Spoiler

Hera for example. In that garden scene her arms are nothing more than a bunch os ridiculously badly modeled polygons.

 

[Omotesando]

Realism has nothing to do with it, but a story must follow it's own established rules. First, the only way to kill a god was to use Pandora's box. Then, you could do it with any sufficient power weapon, like the blade of olympus. I was actually cool with taht. I just thought "Hey, I doubt that the gods wanted to promote that they could be killed through other means anyway".

Spoiler

Then Kratos killed Poseidon with bare hands. Okay, so any sufficient amount of brute force can kill a god. Weak, but whatever. Wait, now your telling me that the only way to kill Zues is to use whats in pandora's box? BULLSHIT

Well I never expected GoW3 to make sense, especially after GoW2. But I do agree that a bit more consistency could elevate a game to a higher caliber, although with GoW3 I think that would be very marginal.

 

[TTP]

mmhm, I wish it wasn't there to be fair, the 60FPS bits feel so silky-smooth, makes me yearn for what could have been.

At times game had me wondering if it would actually be possible to pull off the same shit at 60fps all the time investing and improving over what they have built from scratch. I mean, the jump between Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 was quite significant both in performance and graphics detail. I wonder if SSM would be able to push it to 60fps while keeping the graphics/effects at the level they currently are.

Anyway, jitter needs to go. It's utterly disgusting "compromise". A bit pissed DF article didn't bitch about it.

 

[jett]

Realism has nothing to do with it, but a story must follow it's own established rules. First, the only way to kill a god was to use Pandora's box. Then, you could do it with any sufficient power weapon, like the blade of olympus. I was actually cool with taht. I just thought "Hey, I doubt that the gods wanted to promote that they could be killed through other means anyway".

Spoiler

Then Kratos killed Poseidon with bare hands. Okay, so any sufficient amount of brute force can kill a god. Weak, but whatever. Wait, now your telling me that the only way to kill Zues is to use whats in pandora's box? BULLSHIT

Spoiler

Zeus as king of Oympus is special I suppose...besides Kratos didn't kill him with any special power, just with the hope inside his heart. So I guess in the end it's not that different from killing the other gods? I wouldn't get hung up on this kind of crap personally.

Really they just retconned the story a bit. In a way I'm glad I did because I remember being pissed off how they used Pandora's Box in GOW1(LULZ IT MAKES YOU GIANT! -and for a limited time only-), at least in GOW3 it has some resemblance to the myth.

 

[Raist]

Realism has nothing to do with it, but a story must follow it's own established rules. First, the only way to kill a god was to use Pandora's box. Then, you could do it with any sufficient power weapon, like the blade of olympus. I was actually cool with taht. I just thought "Hey, I doubt that the gods wanted to promote that they could be killed through other means anyway".

Spoiler

Then Kratos killed Poseidon with bare hands. Okay, so any sufficient amount of brute force can kill a god. Weak, but whatever. Wait, now your telling me that the only way to kill Zues is to use whats in pandora's box? BULLSHIT

Spoiler

No, he didn't need it. That's what Athena told him, and that was a lie.

 

[Veelk]

Spoiler

Zeus as king of Oympus is special I suppose...besides Kratos didn't kill him with any special power, just with the hope inside his heart. So I guess in the end it's not that different from killing the other gods? I wouldn't get hung up on this kind of crap personally.

Really they just retconned the story a bit. In a way I'm glad I did because I remember being pissed off how they used Pandora's Box in GOW1(LULZ IT MAKES YOU GIANT! -and for a limited time only-), at least in GOW3 it has some resemblance to the myth.

Spoiler

Hope as an actual power that makes people stronger is lame, and I don't buy that Zeus is special, since he was going to be killed by the BoO in GoW2, so his specialness is only that he's the strongest god.

And I'm honestly not that bothered by the plothole not making sense as much as the damage it does outside the story, which I went over at length in the rest of my review

But you people only seem to have read the first 2 paragraphs. I worked on that review for a week, the least you could do was read all of it :'(

 

[Thrakier]

End was amazing.

Spoiler

Didn't quite understand the athena stuff though, why had Kratos to kill himself and also to whom should athena spoke...all humans were dead, weren't they?

 

[Thrakier]

Spoiler

Hope as an actual power that makes people stronger is lame, and I don't buy that Zeus is special, since he was going to be killed by the BoO in GoW2, so his specialness is only that he's the strongest god.

And I'm honestly not that bothered by the plothole not making sense as much as the damage it does outside the story, which I went over at length in the rest of my review

But you people only seem to have read the first 2 paragraphs. I worked on that review for a week, the least you could do was read all of it :'(

WTF you unspoilered jetts spoiler!!! AS EPIC AS GOW 3s INTRO.

 

[jett]

WTF you unspoilered jetts spoiler!!! AS EPIC AS GOW 3s INTRO.

He quoted before I added the spoiler tags. He should alter his post.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

End was amazing.

Spoiler

Didn't quite understand the athena stuff though, why had Kratos to kill himself and also to whom should athena spoke...all humans were dead, weren't they?

Spoiler

Kratos killed himself so as to release hope for the humans who had (presumably) survived the flood, rather than let Athena have it, as Athena had, like the other gods and titans, just used Kratos for her own personal gain

 

[Veelk]

Spoiler

No, he didn't need it. That's what Athena told him, and that was a lie.

Spoiler

That's not why it's a pointless journey. The pointlessness comes from Kratos himself. There was no reason he shouldn't have said "Yeah, I nearly killed Zeus with the blade of olympus myself about 25 minutes ago. If he couldn't have died unless I destroyed the flame, then what the flying fuck did you sacrifice yourself for? Explain yourself, ho".

 

[Raist]

Spoiler

Hope as an actual power that makes people stronger is lame, and I don't buy that Zeus is special, since he was going to be killed by the BoO in GoW2, so his specialness is only that he's the strongest god.

Spoiler

Spoiler

He didn't need hope to defeat Zeus himself, he needed to release it from Pandora's Box (or so Athena thought) / unleash it (by forgiving himself for killing his family and Athena) to counter fear that was poisoning Zeus (and about to infect him as well).

But you people only seem to have read the first 2 paragraphs. I worked on that review for a week, the least you could do was read all of it :'(

Well the rest is "game sucks/not enough variety/it's no Bayonetta.
I wouldn't hold my breath to get some feedback on the rest of that "review".

 

[Veelk]

Spoiler

He didn't need hope to defeat Zeus himself, he needed to release it from Pandora's Box (or so Athena thought) / unleash it (by forgiving himself for killing his family and Athena) to counter fear that was poisoning Zeus (and about to infect him as well).

Well the rest is "game sucks/not enough variety/it's no Bayonetta.
I wouldn't hold my breath to get some feedback on the rest of that "review".

Spoiler

I didn't see the fear infecting him at all. All I got out of it was Fear made Zeus evil, and Hope made Kratos more powerful, and powerful enough to defeat Zeus. If you have evidence that showed more, I missed it and I'd like to have it pointed out to me.

And I prefaced that I did enjoy the game. Besides that, yes, I basically said that, and alot more, but so what? All you did was simplify 2 points I made. I went into greater detail, and made more points than that. I don't see why that's not discussable.

 

[Raist]

Spoiler

I didn't see the fear infecting him at all. All I got out of it was Fear made Zeus evil, and Hope made Kratos more powerful, and powerful enough to defeat Zeus. If you have evidence that showed more, I missed it and I'd like to have it pointed out to me.

Spoiler

Heh? That's the whole point of that "dream" sequence. You're inside Kratos' mind and everything fades to a gloomy, dark wasteland, which seems to stretch endlessly. The only thing that saves Kratos from succombing to fear is a small sparkle of hope lit up by Pandora. Kratos getting over his guilt is what eventually allows him to release Hope that he got from Pandora's Box, allowing him to defeat "Zeus". Quotation marks because I'm fairly certain that big, dark version Zeus is not really him, but Fear completely possessing his body and soul. That's how I interpreted it. Kratos did kill Zeus with the Blade, unleashing Fear which was contained inside him. The last part of the fight thus wasn't really Kratos killing Zeus, but Hope destroying Fear (which is exactly why Athena put Hope inside the box in the first place)

And I prefaced that I did enjoy the game. Besides that, yes, I basically said that, and alot more, but so what? All you did was simplify 2 points I made. I went into greater detail, and made more points than that. I don't see why that's not discussable.

Yeah well throwing a couple of "I enjoyed it" here and there doesn't make it transparent. Your "review" sounds like bad game reviews out there where the text reads like a 7 and the final score is a 10. Or vice versa.
If you think that the game is full of flaws, there's not much to discuss.
I personally think that the game was great if a little bit flawed by a couple of poor boss design choices, and I can understand that the game has less content than GoWII when they had to develop everything pretty much from scratch again, while they had a lot of stuff they could "recycle" for GoWII. Hence why there was more content.

 

[Veelk]

Spoiler

Heh? That's the whole point of that "dream" sequence. You're inside Kratos' mind and everything fades to a gloomy, dark wasteland, which seems to stretch endlessly. The only thing that saves Kratos from succombing to fear is a small sparkle of hope lit up by Pandora. Kratos getting over his guilt is what eventually allows him to release Hope that he got from Pandora's Box, allowing him to defeat "Zeus". Quotation marks because I'm fairly certain that big, dark version Zeus is not really him, but Fear completely possessing his body and soul. That's how I interpreted it. Kratos did kill Zeus with the Blade, unleashing Fear which was contained inside him. The last part of the fight thus wasn't really Kratos killing Zeus, but Hope destroying Fear (which is exactly why Athena put Hope inside the box in the first place)

Yeah well throwing a couple of "I enjoyed it" here and there doesn't make it transparent. Your "review" sounds like bad game reviews out there where the text reads like a 7 and the final score is a 10. Or vice versa.
If you think that the game is full of flaws, there's not much to discuss.
I personally think that the game was great if a little bit flawed by a couple of poor boss design choices, and I can understand that the game has less content than GoWII when they had to develop everything pretty much from scratch again, while they had a lot of stuff they could "recycle" for GoWII. Hence why there was more content.

Spoiler

I thought the whole inside Kratos mind part was him just about to die, so he has his entire life flash before his eyes, and that's where he re-evaluates his life and learns to forgive himself, which allows him to release hope and defeat Zeus. The Ghost Zeus was weird as well, but I also thought the clones were wierd. I thought it was just another power that was added to give an interesting boss fight. But your way is possible as well. As I said, the ending is so vague and explains so little, there is little point in debating it because every opinion is right.

Well, I can't help that you think I don't enjoy the game, even though I say I did and point out stuff the devs did right. And yes, I do think the game is a 7-8 out of ten, though I hate using scores. I said the game is enjoyable, not great or superb. There are too many flaws and unfulfilled potential. But if you disagree with me, that hardly means we have nothing to discuss. Here's how it works: You post your thoughts on same instances that I talked about, hermes for example, and then I reply to your thoughts, and then you reply to my reply, and so on, and BAM. We have a discussion going on. It's not that hard.

 

[Spectral Glider]

So explain to me how these bonus costumes work. I can't play on Titan difficulty with Apollo because my first play through was on normal. So if I play through the game again on normal with Apollo, will Titan then open up for that costume? Seems kind of sucky, I don't really want to play through again on normal.

 

[jett]

Holy FUCK at Chaos mode. I just spent two hours trying to beat Poseidon and his minions. Goddamnit I had to play perfectly. That was fucking awesome.

So explain to me how these bonus costumes work. I can't play on Titan difficulty with Apollo because my first play through was on normal. So if I play through the game again on normal with Apollo, will Titan then open up for that costume? Seems kind of sucky, I don't really want to play through again on normal.

You can use the costumes on any difficulty level you have cleared, regardless of which costume you cleared it with. As the skins grant you powers, it would be cheating to be able to use them on a difficulty you haven't finished with regular Kratos.

 

[Y2Kev]

Damn, the

Spoiler

Hades

fight on Titan shows me just how much better the gameplay is in this game. It's so refined and tuned. I kinda love this game on Titan.

 

[Kittonwy]

ps360 of beyond3d:

Poseidon Battle
Avg:39.921 Min-Max:30.0-57.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOCQGI-nULY

Hades Battle
Avg:44.985 Min-Max:35.0-52.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imxVZkHS1Qc

Santa Monica would have blown Naughty Dog away had they not opted for a >30fps game.

Naughty Dog was also doing more effects and physics, self-shadowing for objects in addition to just characters, SSAO for objects and not just characters, more shadow-casting lights, Santa Monica didn't let the player control the camera, no self-shadowed objects, no dynamic physics, objects and enemies would disappear, water and some surfaces that don't have reflection maps for the characters, there are corners that were cut just to get the game to run at ~40fps, and they did this with a significantly bigger budget, more time and more staff and only had to focus on the single player campaign, give Naughty Dog 44 mil and 3 years on a game and you might have an even better game than Uncharted 2.

 

[Unknown One]

Wait until you get to

Spoiler

Hades, the final labyrinth fight, and Cerberus battle

Jett. It's going to test your nerves and wits.

 

[jett]

Naughty Dog was also doing more effects and physics, self-shadowing for objects in addition to just characters, SSAO for objects and not just characters, more shadow-casting lights, Santa Monica didn't let the player control the camera, no self-shadowed objects, no dynamic physics, objects and enemies would disappear, water and some surfaces that don't have reflection maps for the characters, there are corners that were cut just to get the game to run at ~40fps, and they did this with a significantly bigger budget, more time and more staff and only had to focus on the single player campaign, give Naughty Dog 44 mil and 3 years on a game and you might have an even better game than Uncharted 2.

shut the fuck up.

srsly.

 

[Bernbaum]

Just fucked up

Spoiler

Chronos'

shit.

Good gravy I'm having fun with this game. It's not as clever as GoW2, but well, I can always just re-play GoW2. Gotta admire the scale.

 

[Yoshichan]

Naughty Dog was also doing more effects and physics, self-shadowing for objects in addition to just characters, SSAO for objects and not just characters, more shadow-casting lights, Santa Monica didn't let the player control the camera, no self-shadowed objects, no dynamic physics, objects and enemies would disappear, water and some surfaces that don't have reflection maps for the characters, there are corners that were cut just to get the game to run at ~40fps, and they did this with a significantly bigger budget, more time and more staff and only had to focus on the single player campaign, give Naughty Dog 44 mil and 3 years on a game and you might have an even better game than Uncharted 2.

Woah.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Naughty Dog was also doing more effects and physics, self-shadowing for objects in addition to just characters, SSAO for objects and not just characters, more shadow-casting lights, Santa Monica didn't let the player control the camera, no self-shadowed objects, no dynamic physics, objects and enemies would disappear, water and some surfaces that don't have reflection maps for the characters, there are corners that were cut just to get the game to run at ~40fps, and they did this with a significantly bigger budget, more time and more staff and only had to focus on the single player campaign, give Naughty Dog 44 mil and 3 years on a game and you might have an even better game than Uncharted 2.

Naughty Dog hasn't made a good game in nearly 10 years, what makes you think they'll suddenly do it just by receiving $44 million?

 

[jett]

Wait until you get to

Spoiler

Hades, the final labyrinth fight, and Cerberus battle

Jett. It's going to test your nerves and wits.

I think I had

Spoiler

Hades'

patterns mostly figured out on Titan. The other two will be pain. :|

 

[Yoshichan]

I think I had

Spoiler

Hades'

patterns mostly figured out on Titan. The other two will be pain. :|

When in doubt, L3+R3 come out!

 

[Y2Kev]

Tim Moss incoming to destroy kittowny in 3...2...

 

[Cruzader]

shut the fuck up.

srsly.

I agree.

 

[Unknown One]

I seriously died on

Spoiler

Cerberus battle on Chaos for over an hour doing balls to the wall method with Cestus. Alway died before killing the last head.

This guy beats it with no upgrades and health/magic upgrades. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtdVNMfYnD0

I bow this this guy.

 

[Yoshichan]

I seriously don't even remember that

Spoiler

Cerberus battle

. I had full magic and Rage of the Gods and literally finished it in less than a minute. Titan mode.

 

[Unknown One]

In Chaos mode it's on another level.

Spoiler

1 direct hit will make you lose half your life that is fully upgraded. The exploding dogs will do about a quarter health. The Cerberus has got a shitload of health to boot. It took over 70 hits with a fully upgraded Cestus to rip off it's first head.

 

[Rindain]

I'm playing through on Normal, and I've been killed by

Spoiler

Hades

about 20 times so far. I can barely get to the part where you

Spoiler

rip out the second piece of flesh

.

Any advice as to how to avoid his attacks?

I haven't increased my life meter yet...maybe that's part of the reason. Other than that, it's just too hard to damage him without him damaging you back.

 

[Unknown One]

The attacks can be blocked/deflected or just Chaos his ass :lol

 

[ZeroRay]

I seriously died on

Spoiler

Cerberus battle on Chaos for over an hour doing balls to the wall method with Cestus. Alway died before killing the last head.

This guy beats it with no upgrades and health/magic upgrades. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtdVNMfYnD0

I bow this this guy.

With a name like shinobier, I expect nothing less. :lol

I'm playing through on Normal, and I've been killed by

Spoiler

Hades

about 20 times so far. I can barely get to the part where you

Spoiler

rip out the second piece of flesh

.

Any advice as to how to avoid his attacks?

I haven't increased my life meter yet...maybe that's part of the reason. Other than that, it's just too hard to damage him without him damaging you back.

I didn't have much trouble with

Spoiler

Hades

on normal. On titan though, he moves at twice, maybe three times the speed he did on normal.

 

[jett]

I seriously died on

Spoiler

Cerberus battle on Chaos for over an hour doing balls to the wall method with Cestus. Alway died before killing the last head.

This guy beats it with no upgrades and health/magic upgrades. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtdVNMfYnD0

I bow this this guy.

Haven't watched that vid yet, but I uh devised a surefire way to kill the thing on Titan(after many tries), I imagine it will work the same in Chaos.

1.-

Spoiler

Stay way from him ALWAYS. When he shoots out his dogs,grab and kick back the first one at him, then roll back because another is about to explode. Sometimes after the roll he won't explode and follow you instead and you'll be able to grab it, do it if you can. Repeat.

2.-

Spoiler

Whenever possible unleash arrows at him, always from far away. Be on the lookout for any of his attacks and dodge the fuck out. With patience this method will work on the first two stages.

3.-

Spoiler

When the first satyr appears stone him with gorgon summon. Done. Get back to steps 1&2.

4.-

Spoiler

When the two satyrs appear, again, gorgon one. Unfortunately you will not have enough magic for the third satyr. At this point I initiate rage mode and kill the cereberus with ease. Safest way to deal with the remaining satyr afterwards is to keep grabbing. After 3 grabs he'll die.

edit: OK that guy in the youtube video is nuts. :lol holy crap i could never pull that off.

 

[Y2Kev]

I'm playing through on Normal, and I've been killed by

Spoiler

Hades

about 20 times so far. I can barely get to the part where you

Spoiler

rip out the second piece of flesh

.

Any advice as to how to avoid his attacks?

I haven't increased my life meter yet...maybe that's part of the reason. Other than that, it's just too hard to damage him without him damaging you back.

You really just have to roll left and right. You can avoid every attack by rolling. When you see him about to do it, wait until the last second and hit left or right. He usually attacks twice. The first time you can just jump out of the way, but the second time is a full extension and this requires a roll. You have time to do two rolls.

 

[Unknown One]

Spoiler

Did you know if you leave the first satyr alone and enter the third stage, it will only spawn 1 more satyr?

That way you might have enough magic.

Edit: What was nuts about him is that he stated the battle was easy :lol

 

[TTP]

Spoiler

Did you know if you leave the first satyr alone and enter the third stage, it will only spawn 1 more satyr?

That way you might have enough magic.

Edit: What was nuts about him is that he stated the battle was easy :lol

It's not difficult really. It just takes a shitload of patience. Something quite un-Kratos-ish

 

[jett]

I'm playing through on Normal, and I've been killed by

Spoiler

Hades

about 20 times so far. I can barely get to the part where you

Spoiler

rip out the second piece of flesh

.

Any advice as to how to avoid his attacks?

I haven't increased my life meter yet...maybe that's part of the reason. Other than that, it's just too hard to damage him without him damaging you back.

You can block a lot of his attacks. For some you will have to roll way. Be patient, you can't button mash your way out of GOW3. An upgraded bow & arrow will help. I hope you have ugpraded the blades at least one level, the L1+[] attack does wonders on the hands on the floor, netting you mad health points, and will keep the flesh at bay.

 

[Rindain]

You really just have to roll left and right. You can avoid every attack by rolling. When you see him about to do it, wait until the last second and hit left or right. He usually attacks twice. The first time you can just jump out of the way, but the second time is a full extension and this requires a roll. You have time to do two rolls.

What is the best way of damaging him? I've been grappling his face then using the spinning whirlwind attack in midair, but he often attacks me as I'm doing that.

 

[Unknown One]

Spoiler

The last battle on Labyrinth is about 2x easier then the Cerberus. I use Pandora as monster bait and single out a Siren. Siren is the most deadly monster in that battle. ground hog guys are easy to kill but painful.

 

[Rindain]

You can block a lot of his attacks. For some you will have to roll way. Be patient, you can't button mash your way out of GOW3. An upgraded bow & arrow will help. I hope you have ugpraded the blades at least one level, the L1+[] attack does wonders on the hands on the floor, netting you mad health points, and will keep the flesh at bay.

The funny thing is I did fine with Ninja Gaiden, Metroid Prime 2, and other games with tough bosses....for some reason though I can't figure out a strategy for this guy. And yep, I have upgraded the blades once.