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God of War Valhalla Is Surprisingly Awesome

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Creating this OT because not only is the Hades like rougelike gameplay is fun and fleshed out with perks, skills and fun combat loop, there is an actual story mode here that is full of surprises so far. Only two hours in and I am surprised at how much they chose not to show in the reveal trailer.

Wont spoil here because everyone needs to experience the awesome story and gameplay surprises, but if you are not sold on this DLC or think this is just a simple throwaway add-on like what ND is doing, read the spoilers.

Big story and gameplay spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Spoiler 1
The game takes you back to mount olympus during one of the random levels and you start encountering enemies from the first three god of war games.
Still not sold?
Spoiler 2
You then get helios who replaces Mimir as the talking head and hilarity ensues. Oh and they give you the spartan sword as the new rage weapon and its fucking awesome.
Still not sold? Main boss spoiler since this is a Hades like game where you are supposed to beat the final boss over and over again to uncover the full story.
The final boss is ..................................... Tyr himself! That was such a fun boss fight.

Whats surprising is that the story keeps changing on every run. i am playing on normal so havent died much but this feels like the best way to do a rougelike game. I am really surprised by this and I wasnt even going to download it. They definitely undersold the game. Oh and no walking segments, no little dipshit, no picking fruits or talking squirrels. This is straight up action and no bullshit.

Also loving how each run feels rewarding. You get Hades like perma upgrades even if you die so no run feels like a wasted run. I am looking at you Returnal. There are like half a dozen new systems introduced with this DLC. This is going to be a fun one to replay.
 

Vick

Gold Member
I keep hearing overwhelmingly glowing opinions, then see you going from this a few hours ago:

why is it so good? i heard there is story in there but i dont want to die over and over again to see it all.

it looked like that TLOU2 mode thats reusing the story missions. figured ragnorak valhalla is doing the same.

To this Thread.
That's a really WTF-level of promising. Was planning on trying it anyway this weekend for focus on Kratos and combat and no surrounding bullshit, but I might have to download sooner apparently.
 
Also loving how each run feels rewarding. You get Hades like perma upgrades even if you die so no run feels like a wasted run. I am looking at you Returnal. There are like half a dozen new systems introduced with this DLC. This is going to be a fun one to replay

Sounds awesome.

Have you completed a run yet? How long does it take?
 
Fuck me. I just finished Armored Core 6. And now that the New game+ show itself harder than I believed it would be, GOW Valhalla is even better than expected? I am not a FOMO guy most of the time. But I will have to see it. Thanks for the OT.
 
The DLC is awesome, that fact that it's free makes it even more so, they could have *easily* charged $10 for this and many would have happily bought it (and it would have been more than worth it).

The thing that most intrigued me when this was revealed was the mention of "echoes of the past". I had a suspicion about what that could mean and - so far - the game is delivering, I'll leave it at that... Only played a couple of hours, attempted the first "real" boss once and got taken out, only just scratched the surface I think.

New narrative elements, new cutscenes, tons of new dialogue between Kratos and Mimir, an addictive gameplay loop that really allows GoW's combat to shine, couldn't ask for more, it's a generous release from PlayStation/SSM leading into Christmas.
 

SABRE220

Member
I was hoping they would launch a ps5 exclusive dlc like burning shores to atleast give us a sliver of their true technical capabilities like in prior gens....going from seeing gow3 on the ps3 which was ridiculous even by the gens end to this on the ps5 is quite disheartening not to say it isnt a great game.
 
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DavidGzz

Member
My only complaint is having to deal with the drama with Freya and still trying to listen to dialogue about the mind games. Just let me kill and stfu.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
so how does it handle difficulty? I was comfortable with "no mercy" but now I have to re-learn it.
 
Wonder why Sony is now including these DLCs for free. They are probably noticing some nice engagement with these extras. Probably gave Returnal a nice boost. It's good to see this being free and TLOU2 Remastered having a 10$/€ upgrade path.
 

damidu

Member
looks so meaty, incredible that its free
only thing giving me anxiety is remembering all the gameplay details.
seems to put you right into thick of it
 
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Luipadre

Member
Yeah they really undersold this. I decided to watch it only on twitch first but im downloading now and gonna play it myself. Incredible really
 
Will check it out today. I still have the early access to Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising to grind (gotta get those levels before the official release tomorrow), then I'll come back for more Kratos. Heard good things about this update.
 

Hrk69

Gold Member
I will play it eventually!

I recently bought a new TV (after 4 years without one) and my next big purchase is going to be PS5/PS5 pro

My PC is good enough to play modern games but my FOMO for exclusives is huge lol
 

WitchHunter

Banned
Creating this OT because not only is the Hades like rougelike gameplay is fun and fleshed out with perks, skills and fun combat loop, there is an actual story mode here that is full of surprises so far. Only two hours in and I am surprised at how much they chose not to show in the reveal trailer.

Wont spoil here because everyone needs to experience the awesome story and gameplay surprises, but if you are not sold on this DLC or think this is just a simple throwaway add-on like what ND is doing, read the spoilers.

Big story and gameplay spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Spoiler 1
The game takes you back to mount olympus during one of the random levels and you start encountering enemies from the first three god of war games.
Still not sold?
Spoiler 2
You then get helios who replaces Mimir as the talking head and hilarity ensues. Oh and they give you the spartan sword as the new rage weapon and its fucking awesome.
Still not sold? Main boss spoiler since this is a Hades like game where you are supposed to beat the final boss over and over again to uncover the full story.
The final boss is ..................................... Tyr himself! That was such a fun boss fight.

Whats surprising is that the story keeps changing on every run. i am playing on normal so havent died much but this feels like the best way to do a rougelike game. I am really surprised by this and I wasnt even going to download it. They definitely undersold the game. Oh and no walking segments, no little dipshit, no picking fruits or talking squirrels. This is straight up action and no bullshit.

Also loving how each run feels rewarding. You get Hades like perma upgrades even if you die so no run feels like a wasted run. I am looking at you Returnal. There are like half a dozen new systems introduced with this DLC. This is going to be a fun one to replay.
So EW gets replaced?
 
Yeah I was surprised to see story elements on stream as well I'll play it this weekend didn't expect to play ragnarok again until the pro released
 
Agree OP. I'm pretty damn shocked on how interesting the story seems to be. I really thought this was gonna be pure gameplay and basically nothing more. It does seem like a roughlike done right. My only minor complaint a couple of hours in is the "break" rooms. They seem too big (at least in the early game of this) just to find some echos. Kind of annoying having to look around to where the chest is.
 

CosmicComet

Member
'Spartan sword'???

Bruh you mean The Blade Of Olympus itself. You made it sound like ordinary greek hoplite grunt sword.
 
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skit_data

Member
10 more trophies

full house whatever GIF
 

NewYork214

Member
I have a question. Reason I don't wanna go back at the moment is because I haven't played in long time and don't remember the controls and armor shit.

Can I just jump into this and go or better to play the story a bit to get familiar with it again?

Also don't have the room on PS5 because baldurs gate 3 been sitting on it since launch waiting for me to start it lol
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Do you keep your equipment from the main game or the game strip you of everything?
They strip you off all your armor and gear.

however, you keep all your skills. So all the weapon skills are maxed out for each weapon. That really helps make you feel powerful despite your weapon and runic attacks doing shit damage.

Its a good compromise because some of those skills are crucial to make combat fun for the spear and the Axe.
 
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