So, the newest casualty of the games industry obsession with cramming multiplayer into everything is God of War 4.
(God of War 4, God of War: Ascension, PS3)
That is what they said about UC2 MP. I guess NO ONE ever learns. How do you know that they are 'cramming' it in and not actually thinking carefully about what they do? Do you play it or know all the mechanics. Or is this just another 'everything Sony thinks of sucks because we say so' articles?
As much as I loved the multiplayer it was a game which got lucky with adding online
Adding online to single player focused games can be a hit or a miss. Most of the time it's a miss, Uncharted 2 luckly went the right way but it dosen't mean God of War will.
Keep an open mind on this, if it does suck you don't want to be dissapointed.
I think the Multiplayer is going to be amazing with the concept they have and it seems crazy fun to play with friends. Put we will have to wait and see how it turns out might be really good. I just hope they don't ruin the single player.
You talk about ND being 'lucky' and tell me to keep an open mind? Don't talk as if ND and Sony Santa Monica are just some green developers that just appeared out of nowhere and only now making their first games. If their MP succeeds it was because they worked hard on it not simply that they were lucky. No one has said up to now that it was a guaranteed success but premature negativity is not exactly very productive either is it?
Are you serious....a guy telling people to be calm and keep an open mind is being told that he should take his own advice....something he's already doing and trying to look at both sides of the argument.
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Right...
Oh and being disagreed to death, right I'm done...seems like everyone wants to be iggnorant the type of people that think that everything in life is going to be perfect, well if you get dissapointed with it if things go bad, don't say I didn't try and warn you.
I hate this site sometimes, feels like you have to follow the crowd so you don't get called to death. Whatever happened to letting people have their own opinions <sheesh>.
@smashcrashbash
OMG learn to READ
I'm not saying they came out of no where don't try and twist my words to make my comment look stupid.
I;m just saying with how things go with adding multiplayer in a single player games these days it's a hit or miss regardless of what kind of developer you are, sometimes things don't take off. Uncharted online could of gone badly...it didn't thus which is why I said ND were lucky, they managed to craft a good online. Do people like to make crap up so they can futher their own "argument"
He's saying keep an open mind, that things don't always play out in the good way. Basicaly don't let hype consume you because of the developer/game so you'll blindly like something you've convinced yourself is going to be amazing for months IF IT DOES END UP turning out to be a letdown.
Whats wrong with talking about something while looking at both sides of the argument, the good and the bad.
It's like people see it as "bashing GOW" and quickly hit the disgaree button. No wonder the bubble system on this site is so broke, people just do things out of spite.
Got lucky? Uncharted 2 is a very valid example. It was a Story-focused game that added a multiplayer mode that made sense. And the single-player actually improved over the previous game.
As far as I can tell, the multiplayer in GOW Ascension makes sense. I don't believe it will affect the story. It's not a yearly game like Assassin's Creed(Brotherhood). SSM has more development time.
Based on some of your previous comments Mike, you are doing the opposite of keeping an open mind.
The fact you're claiming that ND got lucky with the multiplayer aspect of Uncharted 2 shows this. The tone of your comments suggests that you expect God of Wars multiplayer to be a failure.
That isn't keeping an open mind. That is being unnecessarily negative.
Keeping an open mind is good, but you're telling people to keep an open mid that it might suck. And that's where you're wrong, because you are slighting people for their excitement of the game. I mean I for one am not completely sold on the idea of multiplayer but that doesn't mean I gonna go around telling other people they shouldn't be excited for it.
I have no problems with multiplayer in God of War Ascention or even God of War IV as long as they keep the single player as impressive as in the other games.
God of War Ascention will be a good experiment and if it doesn't work, Santa Monica shouldn't put multiplayer in God of War 4 (and keep trying to improve it using spinoffs like Ascention). If it works, why not?
***Keeping an open mind is good, but you're telling people to keep an open mid that it might suck. And that's where you're wrong, because you are slighting people for their excitement of the game.***
I gotta agree with Mike on this part. Excitement leads to hype, hype leads to journalists writing things as if they 'are' instead of what 'they could be'. Hype leads to final reviews that had lofty expectations but resulted in less, even if less is the same as God of War 3, and criticizing it as such. That leads to game bashing, fanboy wars, poorer sales, and a skew on the ability to measure whether or not multiplayer was the right or wrong decision.
People should keep an open mind. People should have some skepticism. It's a good thing to not just accept that something will be good because of a video or what some producer talks about. Blindly accepting it as good will do no good for anyone but the development team. Now is the time to share our skepticism so that they can assure us that we're wrong and take our pre-release feedback to hopefully make sure what we think could be wrong with it doesn't happen.
@cgoodno I agree. There is nothing wrong with being skeptical or thinking something won't work out, as long as we aren't overly negative about it. Can't really give judgement on whether it is good or not yet, just gotta wait and see.
Sometimes if too much attention is given to multiplayer, it detracts from the single player. Hopefully it won't for this game, but for some reason some people seem to reject the possibility this game might not be as good as past GOWs.
And there's no need to hate on Mike, he isn't trolling.
***That is what they said about UC2 MP. I guess NO ONE ever learns***
UC2 was an amazing game. But, I do feel that if they hadn't focused so much on MP in UC3, it too could have been just as good and not had a storyline with certain things removed to meet their deadlines.
That is just my opinion on that specific situation, not on MP as a whole. Only thing I will say is that I fully support any company that maintains a strong focus on their roots, which tend to be the single player experience. Whether this will be the case with GoW4 or not remains to be seen, but my chances of buying before reviews are made are less likely now with the addition of MP.
Im really ify on God of War multiplayer but that could be because im so into the single player that i worry they wont put enough time into the single if they focus on multi. shouldnt worry about things i cant predict but im only human haha
for both of you lead combat designer Jason McDonald insisted that single-player has not suffered as a result of the addition of multiplayer. "We didn't want to sacrifice single-player for multiplayer, neither did we want to tack [the latter] on," he said. "We're definitely going full force with both."
Personally I really enjoy the multiplayer in AC and ME3 for what it is...a great change of pace and quite a bit of fun (to me anyway).
To each their own but basically what I'm hearing is that you guys don't think Sony Santa Monica is good enough to make this work which I completely disagree with after seeing the other GOW games I've seen from them.
Why cant Sony exclusives have multiplayer like all other games and companies have it? Arent Santa Monica Studio allowed to make a multiplayer component in God Of War? Suddenly now people complaining about multiplayer in this game, so complain on 90 percent of all games have it, tragic!!!
I like this. We've seen a few minutes of gameplay and already a backlash has begun. It makes me very sad to be human that we can't even try something before bashing it.
Only dummies are close minded. People keep bringing up uc2 because its a prime example of adding a good mp to a game known for its great sp, so why wouldnt people mention it. Looking at the few videos ive seen mp looks kick a$$ and is welcomed by me. We are talking abour Santa Monica studios who are knwn for quality if you think their going to tack on a bs mp ppl are insane. $hit im glad naughty dog tacked on mp because to br honest imo they do mp better than these so called mp experts ala COD.
By the way adding mp isnt an obsession for most, but an evolution in gaming. Mp,s werent around before bcus games simply didnt have the online capability to do so. A welcomed innovation in gaming if you ask me.
This is just the day and age we live in when it comes to video games. A lot of people wont buy a video game unless it has some kind of online feature, it helps people feel like they are getting more for their money.
I remember one of the only complaints people had with God Of War 4 was that (some people) wanted some sort of online mode. It might not be my cup of tea, but its not like you'll be forced to play it.
Live and let live is what I say. Some people might really like the online. Personally I'll be playing through the campaign, and as long as the online portions didn't cause them to rush the game or anything, I'll be happy.
If the SP experience is great then why not? Assassin's Creed had MP but still had an EXCELLENT SP experience, same with Uncharted, Dead Space 2, and most likely with Max Payne 3. Ninja Gaiden 3 ins't a legitimate argument because it still would've sucked even without the MP. And about the online pass excuse with Sony. IT ONLY APPLIES ONLINE! Their online service is ALREADY FREE so they kind of have a right to put online passes. When you see Sony pulling the kind of shit like E.A. or Capcom does with Day 1 DLC's, on disc DLC's or, or buy the true ending DLC (Asura's Wrath) then complain. I'd rather have online passes then having to PAY to play online like XBL.
There is no actual reason why Online Passes are needed as a form of piracy protection on console systems and the only reason game publishers are jumping on them now is just for pure greed. They are nothing more than a way for publishers and developers to earn extra money from the used game market.
But yes, God of War Ascension will have multiplayer. It is a must-have these days. Millions of more people will justify a $60 purchase if that includes an addicting multiplayer.
I personally can't wait for the beta! Hopefully done in time to fix issues BEFORE the game goes gold.
Was this not also said about Assasins Creed? Mass Effect? Hmm well since its like that, I wont be picking up Max Payne 3 since its doomed to fail because it has multiplayer :/ *sarcasm*
Gamers need to stop acting like multiplayer is overtaking the single player experience, If either the Single/Multiplayer is lacking its the creators fault.
What gamers SHOULD worry about is more unnecssary DLC!
Listening to people blab on about GOW having MP is getting on my nerves.As soon as Sony says they are going to do something suddenly the critics appear talking all types of $hit. Barely anything has been explained about the game and already the negativity has started. As far as I have seen ND and Sony Santa Monica aren't known for half @$$ing their games despite the long drawn out b***h sessions about UC3's multiplayer and GOW3's story.
God, it's endless. NO ONE has said that it would be good for sure and have just said give it a chance. But the league of obvious MUST point out that it MIGHT suck as if we are all idiots. ANY game can suck. ANY MP can suck. We listened to all the 'logic' and how UC2's MP would suck and the endless articles going how it would have been better if they left it out.
And despite all the hate, the MP was loads better then half the MP out there.If it sucks we will just play the SP and ignore the MP like I did Dead Space.No one tells anyone to shut their holes when I have to listen to how the next SSB will beat PASBR before it is even announced and hear about how much units Halo 4 will sell before anyone even played it or to keep an open mind just because I am rooting for the GOW MP to be good.If the MP is great we will enjoy it and if not we move on.WAIT until the game comes out and b***h then. Sony Santa Monica isn't going to stop making it because you says so. Stop the stupid, childish 'don't hype this game' nonsense. I can hype the damn game if I want. Everyone else does when the new Mario, Halo, Gears and COD come out so why can't I? If people let the hype alone ruin the game for you hen you are now too stupid to play games and it obviously has affected your brain.
lead combat designer Jason McDonald insisted that single-player has not suffered as a result of the addition of multiplayer. "We didn't want to sacrifice single-player for multiplayer, neither did we want to tack [the latter] on," he said. "We're definitely going full force with both."
Well if we aren't bitching about including multiplayer in a formerly single player only outing, then we're bitching about a single player outing not providing a unique/different experience to its predecessors.
It's times like these I'm ashamed to be grouped into the collective nitpickers. Guilty by association, eh?
Grow up people. Stop condemning what you know so little of. Do any God of War fans honestly think that Santa Monica hasn't done their homework on this to ensure they're delivering as compelling a MP experience as they've done with their SP entries? That's a horribly short-sighted view to adopt before all the cards are laid out on the table, wouldn't you say?
Why do people keep bringing up UC2 as an example?!?!?! Its driving me nuts. UC is a shooter, it is not all that difficult to make a competant MP experience in the FPS or TPS genre.
GoW:A is an action game. It will be a much more difficult beast to tame for MP. AC had high acclaim for the MP but the online usage rates reflect the lack of fun it was long term. And NG3...well, yea.
Whether this can turn the tide for action/adventure MP is yet to be seen. But I am not expecting much.
But as long as they dont sacrifice SP quality - it will still be worth the price of admission, wont it?
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As much as I loved the multiplayer it was a game which got lucky with adding online
Adding online to single player focused games can be a hit or a miss. Most of the time it's a miss, Uncharted 2 luckly went the right way but it dosen't mean God of War will.
Keep an open mind on this, if it does suck you don't want to be dissapointed.
It sounds good, the issue is if they can execute it well.
Uncharted 2 didn't get "lucky". It was carefully put in and thought about, plus it was supported heavily by Naughty Dog.
This isn't just a tack on portion you know ? Plus they usually work on these things for quite a while, before ever announcing it.
Are you serious....a guy telling people to be calm and keep an open mind is being told that he should take his own advice....something he's already doing and trying to look at both sides of the argument.
...
...
Right...
Oh and being disagreed to death, right I'm done...seems like everyone wants to be iggnorant the type of people that think that everything in life is going to be perfect, well if you get dissapointed with it if things go bad, don't say I didn't try and warn you.
I hate this site sometimes, feels like you have to follow the crowd so you don't get called to death. Whatever happened to letting people have their own opinions <sheesh>.
@smashcrashbash
OMG learn to READ
I'm not saying they came out of no where don't try and twist my words to make my comment look stupid.
I;m just saying with how things go with adding multiplayer in a single player games these days it's a hit or miss regardless of what kind of developer you are, sometimes things don't take off. Uncharted online could of gone badly...it didn't thus which is why I said ND were lucky, they managed to craft a good online. Do people like to make crap up so they can futher their own "argument"
This site is getting worse by the day. Now its fuelling pointless opinion pieces blabbing on about something that they know nothing about.
The game is not finished so climb back in your prams and wait.
He's saying keep an open mind, that things don't always play out in the good way. Basicaly don't let hype consume you because of the developer/game so you'll blindly like something you've convinced yourself is going to be amazing for months IF IT DOES END UP turning out to be a letdown.
Whats wrong with talking about something while looking at both sides of the argument, the good and the bad.
It's like people see it as "bashing GOW" and quickly hit the disgaree button. No wonder the bubble system on this site is so broke, people just do things out of spite.
Uncharted 2 is a very valid example.
It was a Story-focused game that added a multiplayer mode that made sense. And the single-player actually improved over the previous game.
As far as I can tell, the multiplayer in GOW Ascension makes sense. I don't believe it will affect the story.
It's not a yearly game like Assassin's Creed(Brotherhood). SSM has more development time.
What's wrong with bringing Uncharted? Should I also mention Mass Effect & AC too?
Now it's your turn to prove me how "most of the time" it's a miss.
The fact you're claiming that ND got lucky with the multiplayer aspect of Uncharted 2 shows this. The tone of your comments suggests that you expect God of Wars multiplayer to be a failure.
That isn't keeping an open mind. That is being unnecessarily negative.
Keeping an open mind is good, but you're telling people to keep an open mid that it might suck. And that's where you're wrong, because you are slighting people for their excitement of the game. I mean I for one am not completely sold on the idea of multiplayer but that doesn't mean I gonna go around telling other people they shouldn't be excited for it.
God of War Ascention will be a good experiment and if it doesn't work, Santa Monica shouldn't put multiplayer in God of War 4 (and keep trying to improve it using spinoffs like Ascention). If it works, why not?
I gotta agree with Mike on this part. Excitement leads to hype, hype leads to journalists writing things as if they 'are' instead of what 'they could be'. Hype leads to final reviews that had lofty expectations but resulted in less, even if less is the same as God of War 3, and criticizing it as such. That leads to game bashing, fanboy wars, poorer sales, and a skew on the ability to measure whether or not multiplayer was the right or wrong decision.
People should keep an open mind. People should have some skepticism. It's a good thing to not just accept that something will be good because of a video or what some producer talks about. Blindly accepting it as good will do no good for anyone but the development team. Now is the time to share our skepticism so that they can assure us that we're wrong and take our pre-release feedback to hopefully make sure what we think could be wrong with it doesn't happen.
Sometimes if too much attention is given to multiplayer, it detracts from the single player. Hopefully it won't for this game, but for some reason some people seem to reject the possibility this game might not be as good as past GOWs.
And there's no need to hate on Mike, he isn't trolling.
UC2 was an amazing game. But, I do feel that if they hadn't focused so much on MP in UC3, it too could have been just as good and not had a storyline with certain things removed to meet their deadlines.
That is just my opinion on that specific situation, not on MP as a whole. Only thing I will say is that I fully support any company that maintains a strong focus on their roots, which tend to be the single player experience. Whether this will be the case with GoW4 or not remains to be seen, but my chances of buying before reviews are made are less likely now with the addition of MP.
lead combat designer Jason McDonald insisted that single-player has not suffered as a result of the addition of multiplayer. "We didn't want to sacrifice single-player for multiplayer, neither did we want to tack [the latter] on," he said. "We're definitely going full force with both."
don't worry
To each their own but basically what I'm hearing is that you guys don't think Sony Santa Monica is good enough to make this work which I completely disagree with after seeing the other GOW games I've seen from them.
Arent Santa Monica Studio allowed to make a multiplayer component in God Of War?
Suddenly now people complaining about multiplayer in this game, so complain on 90 percent of all games have it, tragic!!!
It may be the best thing in gaming history; it may turn out to be the worst.
No one knows yet.
I remember one of the only complaints people had with God Of War 4 was that (some people) wanted some sort of online mode. It might not be my cup of tea, but its not like you'll be forced to play it.
Live and let live is what I say. Some people might really like the online. Personally I'll be playing through the campaign, and as long as the online portions didn't cause them to rush the game or anything, I'll be happy.
But yes, God of War Ascension will have multiplayer. It is a must-have these days. Millions of more people will justify a $60 purchase if that includes an addicting multiplayer.
I personally can't wait for the beta! Hopefully done in time to fix issues BEFORE the game goes gold.
Ok i will to the author this is not GOW 4 i repeat this is not GOW 4.
OT:They already said SP is their bread and butter.
Gamers need to stop acting like multiplayer is overtaking the single player experience, If either the Single/Multiplayer is lacking its the creators fault.
What gamers SHOULD worry about is more unnecssary DLC!
God, it's endless. NO ONE has said that it would be good for sure and have just said give it a chance. But the league of obvious MUST point out that it MIGHT suck as if we are all idiots. ANY game can suck. ANY MP can suck. We listened to all the 'logic' and how UC2's MP would suck and the endless articles going how it would have been better if they left it out.
And despite all the hate, the MP was loads better then half the MP out there.If it sucks we will just play the SP and ignore the MP like I did Dead Space.No one tells anyone to shut their holes when I have to listen to how the next SSB will beat PASBR before it is even announced and hear about how much units Halo 4 will sell before anyone even played it or to keep an open mind just because I am rooting for the GOW MP to be good.If the MP is great we will enjoy it and if not we move on.WAIT until the game comes out and b***h then. Sony Santa Monica isn't going to stop making it because you says so. Stop the stupid, childish 'don't hype this game' nonsense. I can hype the damn game if I want. Everyone else does when the new Mario, Halo, Gears and COD come out so why can't I? If people let the hype alone ruin the game for you hen you are now too stupid to play games and it obviously has affected your brain.
"We didn't want to sacrifice single-player for multiplayer, neither did we want to tack [the latter] on,"
he said.
"We're definitely going full force with both."
can't wait
It's times like these I'm ashamed to be grouped into the collective nitpickers. Guilty by association, eh?
Grow up people. Stop condemning what you know so little of. Do any God of War fans honestly think that Santa Monica hasn't done their homework on this to ensure they're delivering as compelling a MP experience as they've done with their SP entries? That's a horribly short-sighted view to adopt before all the cards are laid out on the table, wouldn't you say?
GoW:A is an action game. It will be a much more difficult beast to tame for MP. AC had high acclaim for the MP but the online usage rates reflect the lack of fun it was long term. And NG3...well, yea.
Whether this can turn the tide for action/adventure MP is yet to be seen. But I am not expecting much.
But as long as they dont sacrifice SP quality - it will still be worth the price of admission, wont it?