God of War [PS4, PC]

They have already done plenty of god of war that followed the same exact formula (a lot if you count the PSP, PS2 and PS3 games). I think it was time for a change and I applaud them for having the courage to really do so.

I don't want the exact same formula and respect they wanted to do something different, I'm just not sure this is for me. Now the game just feels to much like other games already out there.

I know it's early but this is like a mixture of Last of Us and Tomb Raider with Kratos than God of War. I'm more reserved in my desire for this game than before the announcement.

I'll give them Kudos for the top notch graphics, but a negative for the gameplay so far shown. The impressions of those that have played the demo have only reinforced that opinion for me.
 
For the same reason why people play beat'em-ups for decades without much changing? Or racing games that haven't changed (despite becoming more realistic or immersive). Or other skill games where the objective of the game is skill and to be fun? I'm into immersive games, story driven ones as the next guy, but IMO, I find it a bit scary that every game needs to be like that. What's next? The next Trials Fusion game with the goal of the game not the skill, but entirely story driven?

I'm one of those few who absoultely adored the gameplay of GOW. I'd have no problem with much of the same with a different story. The gameplay was definitely more important than the story to me.
Same here. Strange trend to have everything be an immersive story and character driven experience... FIFA2017 for example has a story mode. Strange times.
 
Someone on gaf from the behind closed door extended demo pointed out that the attacks are now mapped on the shoulder buttons. Wonder how combos will work that way unless they really have toned down the button smashing from previous entries.
We also didn't see any " free jumping " sequences, fixed camera can be tilted or controlled with the right stick. We ' ve seen evade moves but no " counter " or block yet ?
New vilains seems to be elemental base. ( fire/ lava ).
This really sounds like a Souls-inspired control scheme. Maybe the camera also locks onto larger enemies. If this is the case it's quite sad.
 
The good think with this approach is that, after the superficial presentation of Kratos as a mindless murderer that destroyed the whole Greece just for the sake of revenge, will now get proper character build.
 
I see it as with the new Doom. Kratos always was rage for me... I don't want to take care of a boy during a rampage through Greece, Valhalla or something else. Mindless fun.

But maybe in 12 years time we get a to the bones reboot of God of War and everybody will cheer and welcome the "freshness" of pure gameplay.
 
They have already done plenty of god of war that followed the same exact formula (a lot if you count the PSP, PS2 and PS3 games). I think it was time for a change and I applaud them for having the courage to really do so.

Was that ever bad? Why does every game need to play like i.e. Last of Us? I don't get it. Yet at the same time, we have more and more indie games gaining popularity because there is a huge market out there of people who actually enjoy the simple, skill driven games without much logic or story behind it. It's like comparing action-flicks with thrillers and full fledged dramas. Not everyone wants an action-flick to become something more than it is. People who like watching Die Hard, and continue watching it and its sequels do it, because they like Die Hard. Not because they'd rather watch 12 years a slave or something.

God of War was something special. It was like an old school game. Mindless button mashing against hordes of blood sacks, ripping of limbs, heads, the lot all in one nicely blockbuster like package. It felt like those old games on GameBoy I used to grow up with. Level after level until facing some super awesome difficult boss. And it wasn't the stupid story that had me playing this over and over again - if I wanted that kind of experience, I'll just watch a movie or something. Or play HeavyRain or one of the hordes of other story-driven-games-with-zero-memorable-gameplay outthere. No, I played GoW3 to death because it was a fricking awesome fun game to play.

I look at what they've showed of this new GoW game so far and most of the discussion in this very topic isn't about the super cool and awesome gameplay and fighting skills, no it's about the fricking story and the stupid kid. Why? Because the actual fighting that they showed could be out of the last Heavenly Sword game or a re-skinned Witcher DLC. Sorry Santa Monica, but you're on your best way of alienating the game and franchise you've built that people actually loved. That is the type of game with fast paced action and fighting.

If they had actually renamed the damn game, called it something else, I'd be all open to change. Then I wouldn't be watching this stuff and actually expecting a successor, a direct sequel, to IMO the best game of last generation.

EDIT: At least Konami was able to transition between generations of hardware with MGS without changing the format. We still got plenty of evolution, but the game stayed loyal to what the fans expected.
 
Last edited:
I have to admit that I am very excited about the new trailer and new gameplay machanics.
I consider myself a hardcore GoW fan - I played all games several times but after Ascension my love for the series disappeared to the point where I did not want to play it again anymore. I did not want another game in the same formula neither.
Heck, my wife who doesn't play video games apart of GoW (and previously Onimusha) passed on Ascension, because it was just more of the same (and not in a good way).

After GoW PS4 video I am definitly buying this one - I even consider to replay original trilogy for the ninith time. My only complaint is that there will be no TC Carson - he was the best.
 
Was that ever bad? Why does every game need to play like i.e. Last of Us? I don't get it. Yet at the same time, we have more and more indie games gaining popularity because there is a huge market out there of people who actually enjoy the simple, skill driven games without much logic or story behind it. It's like comparing action-flicks with thrillers and full fledged dramas. Not everyone wants an action-flick to become something more than it is. People who like watching Die Hard, and continue watching it and its sequels do it, because they like Die Hard. Not because they'd rather watch 12 years a slave or something.

God of War was something special. It was like an old school game. Mindless button mashing against hordes of blood sacks, ripping of limbs, heads, the lot all in one nicely blockbuster like package. It felt like those old games on GameBoy I used to grow up with. Level after level until facing some super awesome difficult boss. And it wasn't the stupid story that had me playing this over and over again - if I wanted that kind of experience, I'll just watch a movie or something. Or play HeavyRain or one of the hordes of other story-driven-games-with-zero-memorable-gameplay outthere. No, I played GoW3 to death because it was a fricking awesome fun game to play.

I look at what they've showed of this new GoW game so far and most of the discussion in this very topic isn't about the super cool and awesome gameplay and fighting skills, no it's about the fricking story and the stupid kid. Why? Because the actual fighting that they showed could be out of the last Heavenly Sword game or a re-skinned Witcher DLC. Sorry Santa Monica, but you're on your best way of alienating the game and franchise you've built that people actually loved. That is the type of game with fast paced action and fighting.

If they had actually renamed the damn game, called it something else, I'd be all open to change. Then I wouldn't be watching this stuff and actually expecting a successor, a direct sequel, to IMO the best game of last generation.

EDIT: At least Konami was able to transition between generations of hardware with MGS without changing the format. We still got plenty of evolution, but the game stayed loyal to what the fans expected.
I think you're very much overreacting. Let's wait to see a bit more of the game. Of course it's going to be huge in action. But a little bit extra depth in the story and characters never hurt anyone. In fact it can only be a good thing, if it doesn't make the game crawl to a halt, which I'm very doubtful of.
 
Little summary of the infos we got so far


Barlog was floored by the response to Kratos’ entrance during the live demo at the E3 press conference.

Right from the beginning the team wanted to “rip the whole thing up” and rebuild the franchise “from scratch.” They wanted to find all the things that worked and keep them, but change all the things that didn’t match the vision of a more intimate view on Kratos’ life.

The team “kicked around” a bunch of different mythologies for quite a while. The setting that they ended up selecting isn’t the viking era. Before the viking era there’s the migration era, and before that there’s a pre-migration era. It’s the era when according to the vikings the gods used to walk the Earth among men.

Kratos and his son are in a world where nobody is friendly and everything is hostile. Kratos’ son is actually the only one among the two who understands the local language. Kratos is a stranger in a strange land. For instance, the troll speaks ancient Norse, which the kid understands, but Kratos doesn’t. This allows the team to focus on a new dynamic with Kratos and his son.

According to Christopher Judge, the script of the game is not simply a game’s script, but is a fully fleshed out story with fleshed out characters that have full emotional ranges.
Kratos faces the struggle to accept a new role and not be the same old Kratos, and that for Judge is the role of a lifetime, as it allows a large emotional breadth as an actor.

Barlog mentioned that this is not a new Kratos, he’s still the Kratos we know, but he’s older, and he’s looking at life through a different lens. The same goes for Barlog himself: his view of the world is different from when he started working on God of War.

Kratos is struggling with the idea of having to deal with another person, a tiny human not listening and not understanding what he thinks is very simple. He’s frustrated, because he can’t let the anger out and has to remain patient and convey his knowledge to his son. His real challenge lays in how much how his real self he’s going to show to his kid, and in how much of himself he sees in his kid.

According to Judge nothing changes a man more than having a child, and the game also portrays the challenge of finding out how to be a father when you have never been fathered.

The ending of the demo portrays a missed opportunity. The kid is ready to open up, but Kratos misses the opportunity to open up himself. He doesn’t have the strength to pat his son on the back, while he’s completely capable to take down a troll. He has grown up under the most brutal military training possible, and that doesn’t breed cuddly puppies.

There are going to be RPG elements and progression, even if it’s not yet set in stone how they will materialize.
The axe that we see in the demo has a history. There is a whole story around that connects to many characters within the game.
Going with a new weapon was a very deliberate design choice, because there is a whole new way of controlling the game. There is a while new set of controls and a whole new way of interacting with the controller
. This had a long development cycle and it went through a lot of revisions.

The team isn’t yet ready to reveal the name of Kratos’ son.

The whole narrative is set around the idea of teaching, and that’s incredibly important to the gameplay. Through the entire game, Kratos is constantly teaching his son via banter and actual interactivity. There is actually a button entirely dedicated to interacting with Kratos’ son and prompting him to execute certain actions within the game, both in battle and in situations not related to combat, like puzzles.

source : http://www.dualshockers.com/2016/06...-info-on-setting-gameplay-kratos-and-his-son/
 
Last edited:
Game runs great even in this early state

2016-06-1612_34_29-grgfuln.jpg

 
If anything, that makes it more obvious to me that the game will be aimed to be 30fps. GoW3, in its final state was somewhere between 35 and 60. Given that the demo of this new GoW is running between 30 and 40, I think it's safe to say the target is a very smooth and constant 30fps. With the graphics, the camera angle, the way the combat seems to be paced, I see no chance that this will be aiming to be as fast paced as GoW3 was.

For the record, my main criticism and gripe with the game isn't necessarily the framerate, nor that Kratos has more depth to him, but mainly that they have completely changed the style of the game and its gameplay. Most of my criticism is directed at precisely the combat and what we have seen of it thus far. It looks as if it will play very different (more cinematic, more Heavenly Sword). It's just not what I had hoped for. And yes, I too found Ascension terrible and GoW3 masterful. No argument there. I'm just not pleased with the story-focused-driven-cinematic experience if it's replacing the more skill based arcade like piece of art it was before.
 
Many complained that the fixed camera in GOW was archaic (it was, a little). Unless I got the trailer completely wrong, now we have what looks like a more free camera, like in pretty much all third person games out there. And if that's the case, I like it.
 
If anything, that makes it more obvious to me that the game will be aimed to be 30fps. GoW3, in its final state was somewhere between 35 and 60. Given that the demo of this new GoW is running between 30 and 40, I think it's safe to say the target is a very smooth and constant 30fps. With the graphics, the camera angle, the way the combat seems to be paced, I see no chance that this will be aiming to be as fast paced as GoW3 was.

For the record, my main criticism and gripe with the game isn't necessarily the framerate, nor that Kratos has more depth to him, but mainly that they have completely changed the style of the game and its gameplay. Most of my criticism is directed at precisely the combat and what we have seen of it thus far. It looks as if it will play very different (more cinematic, more Heavenly Sword). It's just not what I had hoped for. And yes, I too found Ascension terrible and GoW3 masterful. No argument there. I'm just not pleased with the story-focused-driven-cinematic experience if it's replacing the more skill based arcade like piece of art it was before.

Yes I agree they really targeted 30fps, not 60fps this time. But never say no. As long as they don't cap the fps at 30 (or if they give us the option) there could be a neo way to play the game at a much higher fps...
 
Many complained that the fixed camera in GOW was archaic (it was, a little).

I didn't bring up the camera because it wasn't archaic, but because it made the scene and its processing more predictable. I'd say it's harder to target a high framerate with a completely free moving camera that is looking forward and possibly can be even controlled by the player and results in having to draw a much larger scene, than for instance a camera that is more or less from a higher angle (and entirely controlled by the game) looking down as it has been in the last few games. These are all reasons why I am concluding that this will be a very different game to what we are used to and why the action is much slower paced. It's at least clear to me that it will play very different, hence my annoyance.
 
Just to add about the camera. I liked the game controlled camera in the old GoW.

It's what made the game as fun to play as it did. It's focus on the combat, and emphasis on combat against multiple enemies. It also transformed the game into a bit of a platformer too, as during combat, the skill would be having to deal with multiple enemies by evading them, using the right combos and moving around to survive the battle. Many many many combats in previous GoW were like that and what made them memorable. Remember for instance the fight against Hercules. You weren't only dealing with the boss, but you were constantly fighting against others as well. The skill and challenge was to know who to fight first, when to hit who and progress through the battle. The fixed camera gave you the perfect overview and since you couldn't move it, all the buttons were assigned to the purpose of fighting.

Now, compare this to any other game that includes combat and has a more intimate camera view like is portrayed in the new GoW game. Ever played Heavenly Sword? Witcher 3? Other games where your camera is rather close, from behind? You lack the oversight. And the controls quickly become clunky because they (and the camera view) are not meant for multiple enemies. Usually these games solve it by switching target lock. The character focuses on the enemy he is locked on too and most moves correspond in that direction. Anyway, the camera can still be changed for these encounters I'm sure, but the point I was more making about the camera is that it to me makes it quite apparent that they are aiming for a much lower framerate target and as such, many things about the game and its style will change. Everything that they have shown so far points to that. Less arcadey, more realism, slower paced "realistic" movements, more intimate combat.

And the gore? Still there, but it seems only added through a QTE type action.

London-Boy, especially you who too has completed GoW3 more times you can count.... would you dare have completed it again and again for the story? I think not. The reason why most of us played GoW3 to death (I did too) was because of its addictive gameplay. And that is exactly what they seemingly have changed about it, as evident by what they have shown so far.
 
London-Boy, especially you who too has completed GoW3 more times you can count.... would you dare have completed it again and again for the story? I think not. The reason why most of us played GoW3 to death (I did too) was because of its addictive gameplay. And that is exactly what they seemingly have changed about it, as evident by what they have shown so far.
Of course not, I completed it as I wanted to kick some Greek God ass over and over again. Hence why I said, it would be good to have a little more story, if only to explain where the hell we are and what we're doing (pretty much like older GOW games! They did have a story!). And as long as they cutscenes are skippable - which is why I'm replaying UC4 again and skipping some of the cutscenes - the only reason I might watch some is because they're soooo prettyyyyyyy!
 
Back
Top