God of war (PS4)
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Fucking ugh. Last night I decided to check out the optional realm of Nifelheim and it turns out that rather than being at all interesting it's just a set of arenas that you need to grind combat in; with the added fucking 'joy' of the entire thing being covered with a timer (a 'cursed fog' in the game world that'll kill you if the timer runs down). Not only do I not care about that in the slightest but they've put a fucking Valkyrie in there so bang goes my ambition of doing them all. Despite them being tough I've massively enjoyed taking down the three that I've done thus far. Usually trying the same boss over and over again turns me off, but something about these fights really clicked with me so that I've relished the idea of running straight back in for another go rather than just getting frustrated. Now I know there's one of them in there and another in the other bollocks optional realm (Muspelheim, which is another combat arena with various handicaps for each round and the Valkyrie at the end of it all) I'm robbed of all interest. Fucking boo!
The Valkyrie is always in the same place and you can generally just run in there to get to her without stopping to fight.

I also disliked that part of the game but I did get all the Valkyries, so I can't be too hard.

Couldn't kill the super-valk though :(
I very quickly lost interest in the grindy endgame and went off to do something else. Fair enough they didn't have to do one at all and the main campaign was bloody brilliant.
Grim... wrote:
The Valkyrie is always in the same place and you can generally just run in there to get to her without stopping to fight.


Indeed, but without first grinding to get the armour your resistance to the mists is so low that you get very little time to fight her. Or so I'm told anyway, I've currently sacked the whole thing off because its design annoyed me. Even if I did that one, knowing that the other one is gated off behind another combat arena means I'm probably not going to bother; and if I'm not going to do all of them I'm minded to just stop giving a shit at all about them.
Ah, I potentially did get the armour? I can't really remember as it was a fair while ago.
As I didn't feel much like Bioshock 2, I thought I'd have a crack at God of War instead.

It hasn't really clicked with me yet. I'm not very good at the combat and get easily overwhelmed when there's a couple of enemies around, especially if some of them are the shooty varieties. I certainly don't feel like some super-strong hero type. That being said, it was a rewarding feeling when I got really stuck in one bit on Friday night and gave up in a strop, and then on Saturday night came back and practically strolled through.

I've never played a GoW game before, I was one (like mentioned earlier in the thread) that thought it was kind of a Devil May Cry action-fighter kinda set up.

Other thoughts, um looks like there will be a lot of combos to remember and upgrades to think about. Kratos really looks like Triple H to me.
It didn't click with me until I got to the frozen giant, and he's a good way in.

I learned about two combos, I used special moves when I remembered they existed and I count it among the best games I've ever played.
I have this now.

It's gorgeous. Felt like I was button mashing my way through... till the hub area then things clicked. Menu is BIG, understand it now though after much bewilderment as to what upgrades to get.

He looks just like me.
Grim... sums it up for me too. I wasn't getting on with it until Thamur's corpse but then it clicked, and I got by with a fairly limited move set.

Don't worry about the combos and the armour etc. If fucking around with armour settings and memorising combos is your thing, then go for it, there's loads there. But if it's not, that's also not a problem.

And know that at the beginning, a lot of chests and areas are closed off, don't worry that you're missing something. There'll be opportunity later. Probably.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
I've never played a GoW game before, I was one (like mentioned earlier in the thread) that thought it was kind of a Devil May Cry action-fighter kinda set up.


The earlier games very much are, this one's a departure/reboot sort of a thing.

The combat will click, but for a lot of the early hours I just stayed back and smacked guys with axe throws over and over again. If you do this, and upgrade Atreus as a priority because he's also all about the ranged attacks, you can stay out of the thick of it easily enough until you get upgraded and get used to it. Although it's maybe worth noting that I never really struggled with the core of the game at any point. Indeed outside purposely challenging side content (i.e. valkyrie fights and opening realm tears I had no business being anywhere near) I don't think I died once on the default difficulty. Just keep moving and don't get 'greedy', if you try to wail one someone for too long they'll likely either counter or you'll get whomped by someone behind you. Dive in, get your hits in, then move.

ETA: and don't forget about the shield! I sort of completely forgot to use it for ages in the early game which was a mistake, not least because it's a brilliant way to deal with projectile throwers. Obviously it'll protect you from damage, but the unlockable move that smashes their projectile back at them if you time the block correctly means you can basically one hit them to death as part of defending yourself.
Findus Fop wrote:
And know that at the beginning, a lot of chests and areas are closed off, don't worry that you're missing something. There'll be opportunity later. Probably.


This is all true but having read this thread before I find myself disagreeing with the chat that it's not obvious what you can and can't access. When going through there was stuff that there was just literally no way to impact and that had never been mentioned and that seemed plainly obvious to me was stuff I'd 'unlock' later on. I don't feel I was ever left puzzling over something that I couldn't do anything with. The stuff that each additional power allows you to interact with is consistently visually different from other stuff (e.g. has big fucking red tentacle things growing over it that don't react in the slightest to any of your attacks) and every time you did unlock access to ones of these things it was explained in no uncertain way.
Grim... wrote:
The Valkyrie is always in the same place and you can generally just run in there to get to her without stopping to fight.

I also disliked that part of the game but I did get all the Valkyries, so I can't be too hard.

Couldn't kill the super-valk though :(



I didn't have any issues with the valk in the mist, but as you said I couldn't kill the Valk Queen either lol, from what I was reading is that she basically has all of the other valks powers so if you remember how they fight she should be easy (apparently) but I just kept getting fucked up.
Yup, same. I did like that
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
she came bursting out of the "summon hole" and grabs you by the throat rather than passively appearing :D
Grim... wrote:
Yup, same. I did like that
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
she came bursting out of the "summon hole" and grabs you by the throat rather than passively appearing :D



Yeah that was really good, been so long since I played this I definitely should go back to it, maybe learn how to play again before I take her on though lol
I covered the combat earlier in this thread. In essence the game has no idea what abilities/powers you're going to have at any given point, because it doesn't know how much XP you'll have earned and what you'll have spent it on, so it has to make sure everything is doable with pretty much the 'basic combat set', whereas the extra weapon types for example, it does, so game mechanics can be designed around them.

Ahhh yes here we are - https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/ ... 44#p994644
Bamba wrote:
Findus Fop wrote:
And know that at the beginning, a lot of chests and areas are closed off, don't worry that you're missing something. There'll be opportunity later. Probably.


This is all true but having read this thread before I find myself disagreeing with the chat that it's not obvious what you can and can't access. When going through there was stuff that there was just literally no way to impact and that had never been mentioned and that seemed plainly obvious to me was stuff I'd 'unlock' later on. I don't feel I was ever left puzzling over something that I couldn't do anything with. The stuff that each additional power allows you to interact with is consistently visually different from other stuff (e.g. has big fucking red tentacle things growing over it that don't react in the slightest to any of your attacks) and every time you did unlock access to ones of these things it was explained in no uncertain way.


Unfortunately the open world nature of the game meant that for a good few hours I was questioning myself over missing important pick ups.

I got over it, as I grew to understand how it was working, but I found it pretty demotivating at the start.
IGN Walkthrough!
One does not simply walkthrough Midgard.
I played a bit more last night and it's clicking a bit more, maybe the slower start combined with my play style was holding me back - I was indeed trying to dash in and axe them to death rather than be patient, and I was not using the shield, trying to dodge everything instead while I stayed up close. I felt a bit cheap using so many distant attacks but that second troll just kicked my ass over and over until I changed my approach. I have died a lot.

Last night I unlocked more POWAZ (the L1+R2 heavy rune and the L1 + circle healing rune) and entered some new areas, it felt like the story really moved up a notch and I'm starting to dig the mythology and setting far more now (we met a witch, boated round the lake, things happened).

I'm quite looking forward to playing this a bit more.
I remember the point it clicked for me. I was playing on the hardest difficulty and got to an early section where they introduced those snake things that zip about (underground near a small bridge you need to knock down perhaps). I got absolutely mangled multiple times (Like, a lot). It was utterly brutal all of a sudden. Then I won and felt like a fucking boss.
Can Kratos not read, or is he just lazy and gets BOY to do it? Or is it that this isn't 'his' language and he needs a translator?
It's a very old language that he doesn't know.
Ah that does make sense, and thinking back, I seem to recall BOY said that he knows it because his mother taught him.

Is the fact they are living in this realm and BOY can read the old language something that's cleared up later in the story, or from a previous game (I didn't play any of them), or does it not even really matter in the slightest?
Sir Taxalot wrote:
Is the fact they are living in this realm and BOY can read the old language something that's cleared up later in the story, or from a previous game (I didn't play any of them), or does it not even really matter in the slightest?


The story--or as much of it as you're supposed to know at this point--is drip-fed throughout. There's nothing much in detail that comes from the previous games, all you need to know is that Kratos rampaged around ancient Greece being incredibly fucking angry and straight up murdering a load of gods in the Greek pantheon after being dicked around by them and became the God of War in the process. Also, it turned out that his father was Zeus, which didn't stop Kratos murdering him as well. Anyway, after all that violence and rage he's come to the Norse world for peace and to try and be a better man. Atreus was born after that and didn't feature in the earlier games. Kratos did have a mortal family back in the Greece days but was tricked into killing them by Ares which kicked his whole 'murderous raging revenge' thing off.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
I felt a bit cheap using so many distant attacks but that second troll just kicked my ass over and over until I changed my approach.


I felt the same, though not enough to stop using that tactic given that it works a treat in the early hours. If it helps, that stops being so effective as the game progresses and your melee stuff improves to the point that just spamming the axe throw isn't really an impulse any more and I think I almost stopped using it by about half way through. Just use whatever works at that time and don't worry about it.
Nice one, thanks Bamba.
I think I'm close to the end of the main story (which I've really been digging, it's great, and I have really enjoyed the developing dynamic between Kratos and BOY) but not too sure now whether to plow through to the end and continue ignoring pretty much all of the sidequests or to take a break and dick around for a bit.

I've just (spoilers)
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
Got the neat fire blades, picked Atreus back up from the saucy witch (cor, isn't BOY being a little shit during this part of the game), got the rune from the round temple and am part way back up the mountain,


How far am i from the main story's end, roughly?
Sir Taxalot wrote:
How far am i from the main story's end, roughly?


Relatively close. After you finish climbing the mountain again there are another three 'stages' to go, but I wouldn't say any of them are particularly long. Maybe a couple of hours depending how quickly you smash through them? I'm surprised though you've been avoiding the side content, I thoroughly enjoyed all the exploration and extra stuff and it certainly helps in powering you up and unlocking new stuff. There's dragons to free, Travellers to fight and Valkyries to get knocked around by and two entirely optional realms (if you can be arsed with them). Get into it!
You can do all that afterwards though.
Finished the main story last night, what a cracking game.
Finished the main story last night, and overall this game was just utterly brilliant. For me, it felt like a bit of a slow burner to start but after a while I was hooked, and by the end i really did feel like Kratos was a badass (and incredibly violent at times, beating people to a bloody pulp with his bare hands). The combat became good fun after a while, but I have to admit to feeling a little embarrassed when I realised I'd got through about two-thirds of the game unaware of holding R3 (ugh) to sprint, or using the d-pad for a quick 180 turn :belm:

Father-son stories always resonate with me, and I liked the slow development and growth here, indeed the story and how it was revealed were excellent. I liked how it was presented as not always being as simple as good/evil, and the contrast with Kratos dark yet quite wise view compared to Atreus' hopefulness.

I've gone to do a few side quests, like the favours, and it feels nice to explore now the main quest is resolved. Tonally it feels a bit 'off' now, Kratos and Atreus are so strong a lot of the enemies are a breeze for my button spamming style. There was one monster that Atreus was scared of, he kept talking about it, but we whupped it easily. I don't think I'll do much of the optional realms as I'm not bothered about collecting much more armour or that, I'd like to just wrap up a few loose ends then I'm done.

Coming late to the PS4 like I have means that I've been able to play a couple of utterly fantastic games (for relatively cheap) all in a short space of time. Now I need to think what I'd like next...
Everybody's Golf!

If you like a golf game, it's probably the best one I've ever played.
That would be a significant change of pace, which is kind of what I'm looking for; although I'm not really into golf
I hate the game for real and am completely incapable of playing it, but I do love me a good golf game.

Everybody's Golf is delightful and charming and a joy to play, but I guess you would need to at least like golf games.
I was thinking of something like a flying/shooting/space adventure kind of thing before I go into Shadow Of the Collosus (for the first time)
Maybe try one of the new Uncharteds - 4 or The Lost Legacy? PS exclusives, loads of shooting, both great fun and they look amazing.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
or using the d-pad for a quick 180 turn


I was aware of that and thought it would become useful (in the early stages I felt like I was getting smacked a lot by monsters who were off-screen behind me) but once I properly got into it I never actually found a use for and just purposely ignored it.

Sir Taxalot wrote:
Tonally it feels a bit 'off' now, Kratos and Atreus are so strong a lot of the enemies are a breeze for my button spamming style. There was one monster that Atreus was scared of, he kept talking about it, but we whupped it easily. I don't think I'll do much of the optional realms as I'm not bothered about collecting much more armour or that, I'd like to just wrap up a few loose ends then I'm done.


If you're looking for a challenge then the Valkyrie fights will still provide that. They'll be easier now you're geared up because you'll deal more damage and take less, but you still need to learn the required techniques and be able to execute them or you'll get murdered.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
Coming late to the PS4 like I have means that I've been able to play a couple of utterly fantastic games (for relatively cheap) all in a short space of time. Now I need to think what I'd like next...


Not sure what you've played already but in terms of PS4 exclusives that are well regarded you've got:

Until Dawn
The Last Of Us (if you didn't play it on the PS3)
Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy spin-off
Bloodborne
Spider-Man
Horizon Zero Dawn
The Last Guardian
I am a few hours in and it is a great game.

I think i will be on this till I finish it.
KovacsC wrote:
I am a few hours in and it is a great game.

I think i will be on this till I finish it.


It's reet bloody good isn't it. I found it a slow start but built up excellently.
Yes.. I am loving it met my first Valkyrie, wow she is tough.
It took you six months to get from 'a few hours in' to the first Valkyrie?

I sometimes like to savour a game and take my time with it, but that's a whole new level.
I didn't bother with the Valkyries in the end, for me it was too much effort for not enough reward.

After a brief break I went and played God of War III (the remastered version of the PS3 game). It was fun too, very different and the angry-smashy Kratos was for sure a right bastard but I did enjoy the stylish fast combat. A very good couple of games.
I'm still annoyed that I couldn't beat the very last Valkyrie.
I stumbled across Valkyries a couple of times during the game and always thought I’d go back when I beefed up a bit but never did, I just barrelled through the story.
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