Tyler George: With God of War Ragnarok right around the corner, we are looking over Kratos’ long and storied, history to clear the canonical timeline up
From God of War, Demon's Souls, and Final Fantasy 16, these are the best action games on PS5 you can play right now.
After conducting an unbiased analysis of God of War Ragnarok, it becomes evident that it lacks the exhilaration of the 2018 reboot.
No shit it lacks the exhilaration of the 2018 reboot, the 2018 gow was a new take, fresh and took something we loved and changed it in ways we didn't even know we wanted or needed but some how they delivered.
Gowr is a sequel that improved the original but was an evolution rather than revolution you can't expect that every single game.
I felt the exact same way with botw and totk, botw was exhilarating and changed zelda in ways I never knew I needed. Totk like gowr is absolutely brillant but it's a sequel and was an evolution rather than revolution, it didn't hit the same as the original but still great.
We can't expect devs to completely switch things up every single game they need to get in a sequel or 2 before moving on, games take way to long and way to expensive to take new creative risks every game. Just an unfortunant fact of gaming.
"but was an evolution rather than revolution you can't expect that every single game"
And they knew that...which is why they decided to end the Norse saga with this game rather than do a trilogy
I understand you probably don’t understand art, but not every game and movie needs to be a trilogy. How about let the artist decide and you just shut up and play it or don’t.
What the actual f*** are you talking about?
I'm not criticizing it, I'm agreeing with Flawlessmic on a point he brought up.
Jesus, take a god damn chill pill
Fox is right. They said as much along with how long development takes, making it hard to keep a story going with half a decade between releases
@GhostScholar
Ummm, what in the world are you talking about? Lol. Foxtrot clearly understands “Art” and you’d realize that if you reread his comment.
@GhostScholar
Foxtrot is agreeing with Flawlessmic, also saying that it’s because the devs respect the art they chose to not go the trilogy route. Foxtrot clearly understands art & the devs vision & decisions.
It’s easy to misunderstand each other if we decide someone said sthg they didn’t say, maybe you’re having a bad day & for whatever reason you clearly misunderstood what Foxtrot said.
I always gotta bring up KH, cause KH2 may have been an evolution, but it still took huge steps. KH2 felt like an actual improvement, like they cranked things up to 11, story issues aside. I think people have forgotten just how much you can really improve from sequel to sequel. ToTK, and Ragnarok to me are good examples of playing it safe. There's small improvements but both just did more of the same, and many ways did it worse than the game before. It's funny how now we can't expect devs to "switch it up" every single game, yet in previous gens that's what devs were doing, and games were just as complicated to make. With how huge budgets can be now, and how much time games are given to be made, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more to have been done.
I agree. Only thing is, totk vs botw differs much more than gow vs gowr. I played all of them and I love gow and gowr. But gowr seems to me like very very big dlc whereas totk is like new game despite it shares map and lot of assets.
I am not going to lie, but for some reason this one just fell flat for me. The originals were my all time favorite games and the reboot was awesome. This game is great no doubt but for some reason it just did not draw me in like previous God Of War games did.
I thought the ending felt rushed and a but of a let down, reminded me of mass effect 3's ending
Other than that it was great.
Its a tough one for me - I miss the specatalces of the old games, something FF16 is giving me. But I like the general gameplay, combat and everything really, in God of war reboots, over the older style
I think mostly the same, but also I felt Ragnarök had less discipline for itself. Huge parts of the game were not really as necessary and could have been better directed for player experience and dev time. I also wanted the PS2 to PS3 leap we had in GoW 2 to 3 for Ragnarok, but you could totally see the PS4's shadow in its design.
When we take a deep, objective look into what made the God of War soft reboot such a unique gaming experience, we’ll find that most of the things that Santa Monica Studio did right in that game are more or less absent from God of War Ragnarok. There’s a reason why most players have fonder memories of the PlayStation 4 title instead of the latest one – and it has nothing to do with the PlayStation 5’s infamous scarcity.“
For one, God of War 2018 was the much NEEDED refresh/reboot for the series. The first look gamers were given of God of War, Kratos and his son Atreus in that E3 demo had fans going crazy, especially when they saw how the transition from cutscene to gameplay was seamless. Along with that new camera perspective (being closer to Kratos) people even cheered when Kratos started moving lol. When the game released we all witnessed a masterpiece in storytelling, with a different Kratos, familiar to who we remembered from times past, yet now a father, incapable of being the man he so desperately wants to be, trying to detach himself from being known as “The God of War/Ghost of Sparta” and just being an unknown in this new world, realm, as Kratos, father to his son, Atreus. And yet, we see he fails at being the father he wants to be & that Atreus wants him to be throughout their long journey.
On top of that, gameplay was more grounded, brutal/closeup in your face and unique to this refresh new take, that compliments this new God of War story so well. I mean, the 🪓 is EPIC! Haha.
Almost EVERYTHING 2018’s game offered the player was done so incredibly well that the missteps that were had here, the sequel could fix, improve and polish to a fine sheen.
Ragnarok was a wonderful conclusion that ended. A conclusion that did not overstay its welcome, and told a rich, deep, personal and long story of these loved characters in two games in a way that ended precisely when it needed to. The story dialogue shared between characters in game while exploring on foot, in your boat, as Kratos with Atreus & Mimir adds to certain story moments, new and old. Same with Atreus having some conversation in game when walking around with “said” characters. And after you complete the game, there’s more to see, explore, do, hear in that dialogue between certain characters, no spoilers.
I have said this before in previous posts and commented that Ragnarok was NEVER going to offer a revolution/overhaul of the sort like 2018’s game, it was not needed and it should not have been expected. Why some gamers thought so has me scratching my head… Ragnarok is a sequel that was able to meet expectations of many fans of the first game, but it also was able to exceed fans expectations, which was not an easy feat by any means.
I’m going to totally butcher this, but I think one of Santa Monica Studios dev’s said something like & I think I’m adding stuff on here, so don’t quote me, maybe ya’ll can find the actual quote lol “ In game development you don’t always need to run, sometimes a step is all that’s needed” and that’s true. How much groundwork and improvements actually are made when you have that blueprint for your game and realize a simple step to your game is all you need to do. You don’t need to just go off and run/be ambitious for the sake of it. It can work & does work at times and we’ve seen it done in the industry. But dialing it back, and getting your vision in order can reap more benefits when your aware of just that simple step.
Brilliant take that mate, the 2018 reboot was phenomenal and went down as one of, if not the best games I've ever played, going back for the blades will probably remain as greatest moment I've ever had in gaming.
The mystery surrounding Odin and Thor, with mimir telling tales of them but you never seeing them, the storm when atreus gets ill, the horn being blown when kratos is taking atreus to Faye, the serpent recognising atreus and kratos and the revelation that atreus was loki.
It set up what should have been and incredible sequel.
But for me as a massive gow fan, platinumed everyone of them , Ragnarok massively disappointed me. None of the set ups were answered in Ragnarok and the Loki angle didn't go anywhere.
As a standalone game it is incredible almost everything is better than the 2018 game except for the story.
Maybe it was all in my head but I was expecting kratos to return to his old self and questions to be answered from the first one.
I don't know but the father son relationship was already set up and I was expecting something with atreus being Loki for him to get killed at the hands of Thor or Odin and kratos to just lose it and we'd get something similar to gow 3, but the games whole story felt like a teenage drama, Odin wasn't a bad guy, Thor had family issues etc, I didn't want any of that,
They turned kratos into a pussycat, the whole thing felt pointless, and the Ragnarok event was dire.
Ff16 boss fights are what ragnarocks should have been, I know it's not my story to tell and they can do what they want but I was massively disappointed, I finished the game but honestly it was the biggest disappointment I've ever had gaming wise.
What was your take on the story? Obviously the performances, voice acting etc are top tier, but the actual story?
Thanks bud.
I love how you went into detail there with certain aspects of the first game, regarding story points, gameplay moments within dialogue that was had between the characters etc. I agree with you, God of War 2018’s a phenomenal game. A masterpiece. One of the best games of all time. Also, I’m really sorry to hear you were so disappointed with Ragnarok in the way you were, that’s definitely gotta pull at the heartstrings (but not in a good way) in a way that just hurts and sucks!
My take on the story… Well, for starters I was hoping (more then anything) Freya would stick to her word and seek to rain down every vile imagination about Kratos and the opening of Ragnarok started off with that and I loved it! How they continued with that story arc between the two I loved, and while I didn’t have much hope for a healing/forgiveness from Freya to Kratos I hoped she would at least understand why he did what he did, and not look at what she lost, but see why she lost what she lost.
The father son relationship between Kratos and Atreus I expected to be stronger than before (with its expected ups and downs of course) but I never expected some of the stuff that did happen, like although we know Atreus aka Loki being smart etc I didn’t expect him to go behind his fathers back like he and seek answers, run off, rebel in the ways he did. But it also gave perspective to what Atreus was going through, showing his change in character (with time/age) and him wanting his dad to just trust him more in their adventures. And Kratos as well, not wanting to just let up a bit on the training, because Ragnarok is coming and him wanting Atreus to be ready for war was so crucial. Kratos knows what’s out there in a sense, whereas his son doesn’t and is not ready nor is he prepared for it. I think the way they weaved their stories together back and forth was done extremely well.
I understand wanting answers to questions, that’s fair. I thought Kratos would die. But that’s interesting you thought Atreus would and Kratos would revert back to his old self “God of War” kill everything in his path.
You mention Odin not being a bad guy, and I see that. I loved this version of Odin! Mysterious. Somewhat could connect with him. Yet didn’t trust him either. Different emotions with him. Thor as well, brought a very different dynamic than what I expected. I enjoyed his family issues (the bar scene/fight was awesome! Lol. Ragnarok, the final battle I loved. I understand why some didn’t like it (with much just going on in the background) as a visual showcase aka eye candy for the player, but the actual core combat for us, to some, felt basic and not epic. For me, I throughly enjoyed it. Fighting Thor again was a blast & Odin was a challenge to me, but also just fantastic. I get it was more grounded and not EPIC in scale like past GoW games. But I appreciate that.
I don’t see Kratos being turned into a pussycat, he’s just trying to move on from his old life, persona, ways. I understand if you don’t feel like he was the Kratos you saw in 2018’s game tho.
Man, in the end I respect your take on Ragnarok. Also, I’m glad you said it’s not your story to tell and they can do what they want, there’s humility there. Unfortunately as fans of these games we do tend to have it in our minds at times of how we think a story should be told in its continuation and in that it can lead to disappointment at times. I have had that experience with some games.
The biggest disappointment I had gaming wise was Uncharted 3, especially after the astonishing masterpiece that was Uncharted 2. To go from 2 to 3, much disappointment there.
Did you ever play The Last of Us?
Yes mate I've played Lou 1 and 2, I'm a bit of a sony fanboy.
I now kind of understand how some of the fambase felt about part 2, even though the actual game part of the game is better than the first they were disappointed with the story of the second, I personally wasn't because I wasn't as invested in Joel and tlou as I was in kratos and gow, but that's on me and not the Devs.
Honestly I was waiting and waiting for something to ignite kratos to become the old god of war and it never came. There was a scene near the end just before Ragnarok when atreus can't sleep and I was cringing thinking please kratos don't tell him you love him.
You're right that, as fans we have it in our minds how these stories should go and end up disappointed if they don't. The story doesn't detract from the production value and quality of the game and I understand that the majority of people, yourself include enjoyed kratos New arc but personally and on a selfish level I'm gutted the old kratos is no more and there's no more pantheons to decimate as the god of war.
Maybe I'll go back to it in the future and replay it without all my hopes and expectations
How about instead of criticizing an award-winning, GotY game, we instead put that "should have been" focus into games that "should have been good"? This is an ant hill discussion when we should be discussing the mountains surrounding us on all sides and far into the distance.
94 Metacritic cannot be wrong, the game is a masterpiece it was pure fun and joy to my soul.
Literally an hr and 10 mins to go before mid night and I can start playing this!!!
Gonna be buggered for work tomorrow but it will be worth it!!