God of War Review Thread

[Ghost]

Loving the praise it's receiving. My prediction was 96

 

Sony 4K TV Bought ✔️
Stone Mason Edition (won't arrive on day one) ✔️
Digital Deluxe Edition to play at midnight ✔️
Collector's Edition Game Guide ✔️

 

Next weekend is gonna be epic.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Kratos

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

56 minutes ago, ddracarys said:

What a wonderful collection of bought opinions.

 

56 minutes ago, Valyrious said:

 

Can't win 'em all. If they got great reviews, they paid them off.

If they get shitty reviews, it's a turd and you should never buy it. 

 

Welcome to the life of every fan of every Nintendo franchise. Ifit gets good reviews, it's been paid for, obviously.

 

Partof the reason why I check Zero Punctuation. Yeah he's accentuating the negative, but I can see through that and determine on his complaints if I would enjoy or dislike the game.

 

On topic: I don't call myself a God Of War fan but I have played everything, except Ascension which I have yet to finish. I've been getting tired of the same old AAA romp though, so I expected to give this new God Of War a miss. Seems like I should pay some attention and see if I can't get it in a sale somewhere down the line.

[olimoo101]

To be honest, the more and more I heard about this over the last few months, the more and more I knew this was going to happen.

 

This looks like a special video game.

Edited April 12, 2018 by olimoo101

[Valyrious]

I didn't link their review, but avoid Hobbyconsolas' review. They have a gigantic spoiler within.

[Baker]

Hyped! To be fair I didn't expect this. I'm waiting for ACG's review, he's the only reviewer I watch nowadays.

[Valyrious]

It's a hair away from hitting 95 on Metacritic. I gotta hit the hay for a few hours though, so hopefully by the time I wake up, I'll be editing it to a 95.

EDGE and Giantbomb still haven't submitted their reviews. If those are also 10's, that'll put it in the 95 MC territory. Which will be the highest true PS4 game of all time.

[NefariousDreamer]

2 hours ago, Deluziion90 said:

Is there any info already available about the trophies?

 

Hi Guys, i have been able to find a list of the trophies for GOW and they can be seen below. As of yet, i don't have any information regarding their grades and i will update accordingly.

 

Please note that there may some spoilers revealed.

 

God of War Trophy List

 

Spoiler

Father and Son                                – Obtain all other trophies
The Journey Begins                         – Defend your home from The Stranger
A New Friend                                   – Survive the Witch’s Woods
Feels Like Home                              – Allow the Light Elves to return home
Dragon Slayer                                  – Defeat the Dragon of the Mountain
Troubling Consequences                 – Defeat Magni and Modi
Hello, Old Friend                              – Retrieve the Blades of Dragon
Promise fulfilled                                – Heal Atreus
Round 2                                            – Rescue Atreus
Past Haunts                                      – Ride the ship out of Helheim
Twilight Beckons                               – Defeat Baldur
Last Wish                                          – Spread the ashes
Beneath the Surface                         – Explore all the Lake of Nine has to offer
Death Happened Here                     – Fully explore Veithurgard
Trilingual                                           – Learn the Languages of Muspelheim and Nilfheim
Dwarven Ingenuity                            – Upgrade a piece of Armor
Nice Moves                                       – Obtain a Runic Attack Gem
Iðunn’s Orchard                                – Fully upgrade your Health
Quick-tempered                                – Fully upgrade your rage
Best Dresses                                    – Craft an outfit for Atreus
Enchanted                                        – Slot an Enchantment into your Armor
All Will Fall                                        – Kill 1000 enemies
Dangerous Skies                              – Free all of the Dragons
Like oil and water                             – Complete all of Brok and Sindri’s Favors
Curator                                             – Collect all of the Artifacts
All Father Blinded                             – Kill all of Odin’s Ravens
The Best Moves                               – Fully upgrade a Runic Attack
Worthy                                              – Fully upgrade the Leviathan Axe
Why Fight It?                                    – Fully upgrade the Blade of Chaos
Path of the Zealot                             – Obtain Traveler Armor Set
Primordial                                         – Obtain Ancient armor Set
Unfinished business                         – Assist all of the wayward spirits
treasure Hunter                                – Use treasure maps to find all of the dig spots
The Truth                                         – Read all of the Jötnar shrines
Fire and Brimstone                          – Complete all of the Trials Muspelheim
Darkness and Fog                           – Retrieve all treasure from Workshop’s center chamber
Chooser of the Slain                        – Defeat the Nine Valkyries

 

[omarbanzai]

Damn it. I'll need some huge self-restraint to not buy this game day one and focus on my backlog. 

And I just got my copy of Nier: Automata yesterday! ?

I thought that 2017 was already an overwhelming year in terms of release and it seems like 2018 is giving it a run for its money.

 

[Sagaan]

Goty 2018 nuff said, so far the game is op as fuk.

[SirEricLPer]

Damn this game looks amazing

Now I am hyped and want to buy it day 1, but I still have two games to complete before moving on to the next game

[madbuk]

3 hours ago, Dragon-Archon said:

Could you add which reviews have spoilers?

Someone on ResetEra confirmed that these reviews have spoilers:

Hobbyconsolas

Kanobu

GamingTrend

Levelup

arstechnica

 

He's still going through and checking the reviews though so there is likely some more. I've heard a lot of people say SkillUp's review is completely spoiler free, but idk I'm still avoiding them all anyway. Here's that review:

 

 

2 hours ago, ddracarys said:

What a wonderful collection of bought opinions.

You can't be serious with this shit, surely?

[DrBloodmoney]

Sounds like it is a great game - should be a blast!

 

I must say, I really don’t understand all the hand-wringing over reviews containing ‘spoilers’.

 

1. If you don’t know the entire plot of the game, then how could you possibly know what parts of it it would ‘spoil’ the experience if known ahead of time?

 

2. If the game is as good as these scores suggest, then presumably it is good enough that knowing some plot points is not going to ‘spoil’ the experience anyway.

 

3. It’s a big-budget sequel featuring the same character as was in the first 6 games.

It’s not like you won’t be able to basically infer where the major plot will go within the first couple hours of the story.

 

4. GOW is hardly a ‘big-twist’, story-heavy series.

Kratos is shouty and angry and very annoyed at everything. That’s the plot. That’s always been the plot, and it has served them well, but it is hardly complex. 

Is there really a large audience who buy GOW games for their storytelling prowess?

[madbuk]

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Sounds like it is a great game - should be a blast!

 

I must say, I really don’t understand all the hand-wringing over reviews containing ‘spoilers’.

 

1. If you don’t know the entire plot of the game, then how could you possibly know what parts of it it would ‘spoil’ the experience if known ahead of time?

 

2. If the game is as good as these scores suggest, then presumably it is good enough that knowing some plot points is not going to ‘spoil’ the experience anyway.

 

3. It’s a big-budget sequel featuring the same character as was in the first 6 games.

It’s not like you won’t be able to basically infer where the major plot will go within the first couple hours of the story.

 

4. GOW is hardly a ‘big-twist’, story-heavy series.

Kratos is shouty and angry and very annoyed at everything. That’s the plot. That’s always been the plot, and it has served them well, but it is hardly complex. 

Is there really a large audience who buy GOW games for their storytelling prowess?

??

God of War is, and always has been, a story-heavy series. Kratos isn't just shouty and angry because he wants to be, he has been betrayed and tricked and heartbroken multiple times because of the gods. He has genuine reason to be angry and to be seeking vengeance. And while it is a common narrative that people like to spin that Kratos is angry all the time, that is simply not true. He shows compassion and love and genuine sadness, along with several other emotions.

[Dragon-Archon]

34 minutes ago, madbuk said:

Someone on ResetEra confirmed that these reviews have spoilers:

Hobbyconsolas

Kanobu

GamingTrend

Levelup

arstechnica

 

He's still going through and checking the reviews though so there is likely some more. I've heard a lot of people say SkillUp's review is completely spoiler free, but idk I'm still avoiding them all anyway. Here's that review:

Awesome, thanks a lot.

[Dreakon13]

Awesome.  The game was destined to be a GOTY contender and a reviewers darling, glad it appears to be living up to the hype.

 

Was never really on the fence as far as wanting to preorder it... just too lazy (since I already broke my "no new games in 2018" resolution a week or two ago).  I'll have to swing over to Gamestop and preorder it soon so I'm 100% sure I'm playing it next weekend. ?  I sincerely doubt all of the Gamestops around here would run out of copies, but better safe than sorry!

 

 

3 hours ago, Valyrious said:

Can't win 'em all. If they got great reviews, they paid them off.

If they get shitty reviews, it's a turd and you should never buy it. 

 

Good games don't exist.  Just bad games, and bad opinions calling bad games good.  The only people that are right are the ones who bitch loudest.  The gaming community, ladies and gentlemen.  Lovely isn't it?

 

 

45 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

4. GOW is hardly a ‘big-twist’, story-heavy series.

Kratos is shouty and angry and very annoyed at everything. That’s the plot. That’s always been the plot, and it has served them well, but it is hardly complex. 

Is there really a large audience who buy GOW games for their storytelling prowess?

 

You really haven't followed this particular God of War release at all, eh?

 

I haven't really played many of the other GOW games, so maybe they aren't particularly story heavy (I'm sure people might argue against that)... but this one has clearly taken more than a few pages from games like The Last of Us.  I dunno how you overlook the obvious cinematic narrative direction they're going this time around.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Zenpai]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Sounds like it is a great game - should be a blast!

 

I must say, I really don’t understand all the hand-wringing over reviews containing ‘spoilers’.

 

1. If you don’t know the entire plot of the game, then how could you possibly know what parts of it it would ‘spoil’ the experience if known ahead of time?

 

2. If the game is as good as these scores suggest, then presumably it is good enough that knowing some plot points is not going to ‘spoil’ the experience anyway.

 

3. It’s a big-budget sequel featuring the same character as was in the first 6 games.

It’s not like you won’t be able to basically infer where the major plot will go within the first couple hours of the story.

 

4. GOW is hardly a ‘big-twist’, story-heavy series.

Kratos is shouty and angry and very annoyed at everything. That’s the plot. That’s always been the plot, and it has served them well, but it is hardly complex. 

Is there really a large audience who buy GOW games for their storytelling prowess?

 

You've just been full of hot takes lately, haven't you?

 

Anyway, regarding the part in bold, one of the biggest things about this game, story-wise, is that Kratos is trying to distance himself from that part of himself as much as he possibly can. Furthermore, this is the most story-heavy game in the series by far. Despite how much I enjoyed the story in the first game, it could hardly be said to be was the focus of the experience. Not in this game. It's clearly equal parts gameplay and story.

 

51 minutes ago, madbuk said:

??

God of War is, and always has been, a story-heavy series. Kratos isn't just shouty and angry because he wants to be, he has been betrayed and tricked and heartbroken multiple times because of the gods. He has genuine reason to be angry and to be seeking vengeance. And while it is a common narrative that people like to spin that Kratos is angry all the time, that is simply not true. He shows compassion and love and genuine sadness, along with several other emotions.

 

Um... not really, actually.

 

The first game was more story-heavy, but as I just said, it was hardly the focus of the experience, despite being by far the best tale of the original six games.

 

In all the other games, however... good God, Kratos could hardly be said to be a multifaceted character. And I vehemently disagree with not being "shouty and angry because he wants to be, he has been betrayed and tricked and heartbroken multiple times because of the gods". He has been betrayed and disappointed, sure, but the way he handles the whole thing could hardly be said to be anything more than the most ruthless, literally bloody tantrum ever thrown in the history of tantrums. No one could dissuade him, no one could show him otherwise, there's vengeance to be served and may Hades have mercy on your soul if you stand in his way.

 

From the very start of God of War II, Kratos was clearly angry because he wanted to be. Has he suffered a lot? Sure. But what happens to you isn't your fault. How you choose to deal with what happens to you is.

 

To be honest, gameplay (and maybe the music) was the only reason I ever played God of War II and onwards. The PSP games and Ascension were better in terms of not making Kratos such a spoiled brat, but if you wanted a good story in the original six games, you had nowhere to go but the original game.

 

............................................................................................................./   /.......................................................................................................................

 

Anyway, I was kind of on the fence about this game just because I really enjoyed the gameplay of the original six games (the story not so much, apart from the first game) and to see such a drastic departure was a bit jarring. But seeing so many excellent reviews made me want to take a shot at it. Let's see how it fares for me personally.

Edited April 12, 2018 by jrdemr

[madbuk]

3 minutes ago, jrdemr said:

 

You've just been full of hot takes lately, haven't you?

 

Anyway, regarding the part in bold, one of the biggest things about this game, story-wise, is that Kratos is trying to distance himself from that part of himself as much as he possibly can. Furthermore, this is the most story-heavy game in the series by far. Despite how much I enjoyed the story in the first game, it could hardly be said to be was the focus of the experience. Not in this game. It's clearly equal parts gameplay and story.

 

 

Um... not really, actually.

 

The first game was more story-heavy, but as I just said, it was hardly the focus of the experience, despite being by far the best tale of the original six games.

 

In all the other games, however... good God, Kratos could hardly be said to be a multifaceted character. And I vehemently disagree with not being "shouty and angry because he wants to be, he has been betrayed and tricked and heartbroken multiple times because of the gods". He has been betrayed and disappointed, sure, but the way he handles the whole thing could hardly be said to be anything more than the most ruthless, literally bloody tantrum ever thrown in the history of tantrums. No one could dissuade him, no one could show him otherwise, there's vengeance to be served and may Hades have mercy on your soul if you stand in his way.

 

From the very start of God of War II, Kratos was clearly angry because he wanted to be. Has he suffered a lot? Sure. But what happens to you isn't your fault. How you choose to deal with what happens to you is.

 

To be honest, gameplay (and maybe the music) was the only reason I ever played God of War II and onwards. The PSP games and Ascension were better in terms of not making Kratos such a spoiled brat, but if you wanted a good story in the original six games, you had nowhere to go but the original game.

 

Major God of War Franchise Spoilers (excluding the new PS4 game obviously)

 

Spoiler

First of all, Ares enslaves Kratos into a life of servitude. While this is entirely Kratos' fault, Ares then proceeds to trick Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. What man would not be angry after that? Next, plagued with grief and nightmares, he seeks peace and the gods promise to forgive him. Due to their sly wording, Kratos is led to believe by the gods that they will relieve him of his nightmares? Do they? No. He was used yet again to do the gods chores. Then he tries to commit suicide, but the gods wont even let him have that wish granted, and they bring him back to life. Then he travels to the underworld and is reunited with his daughter, which is a very touching scene, before he is forced to leave her behind to go save the world. Again, that will break a man. And then there's the whole ordeal of Pandora being destined to die and Kratos not being able to stop it, despite his belief he had finally found a new daughter, even if she would never live up to his biological daughter (much like Ellie from The Last of Us). He then attempts suicide again to bring hope back into the world after realizing what chaos he has caused in his journey for revenge, and once again he still isn't allowed to rest in peace, as he is brought back into the Norse realm somehow.

Then there's also the shit with his brother where his brother turns against him due to what he's done after they finally reunite, and by the end they reconcile with one another, and then his brother gets killed off. Once again, he has lost a treasured family member.

Kratos has every right to be a broken and bitter man.

[Zolkovo]

This is blasphemy but I've actually never played a God of War title.. looking forward to this!

 

EDIT: Is this a re-make/remaster? None of the reviews seem to explicitly state so.

 

3 hours ago, BakkerJ said:

[...] I'm waiting for ACG's review, he's the only reviewer I watch nowadays.

 

Same here, although I do like to check out average user/critic score on metacritic as well.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Zenpai]

10 minutes ago, madbuk said:

 

Major God of War Franchise Spoilers (excluding the new PS4 game obviously)

 

  Hide contents

First of all, Ares enslaves Kratos into a life of servitude. While this is entirely Kratos' fault, Ares then proceeds to trick Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. What man would not be angry after that? Next, plagued with grief and nightmares, he seeks peace and the gods promise to forgive him. Due to their sly wording, Kratos is led to believe by the gods that they will relieve him of his nightmares? Do they? No. He was used yet again to do the gods chores. Then he tries to commit suicide, but the gods wont even let him have that wish granted, and they bring him back to life. Then he travels to the underworld and is reunited with his daughter, which is a very touching scene, before he is forced to leave her behind to go save the world. Again, that will break a man. And then there's the whole ordeal of Pandora being destined to die and Kratos not being able to stop it, despite his belief he had finally found a new daughter, even if she would never live up to his biological daughter (much like Ellie from The Last of Us). He then attempts suicide again to bring hope back into the world after realizing what chaos he has caused in his journey for revenge, and once again he still isn't allowed to rest in peace, as he is brought back into the Norse realm somehow.

Then there's also the shit with his brother where his brother turns against him due to what he's done after they finally reunite, and by the end they reconcile with one another, and then his brother gets killed off. Once again, he has lost a treasured family member.

 

Kratos has every right to be a broken and bitter man.

 

Yes. Yes he does. As I said in my original post, he has suffered a lot, no doubt about it. He does have every right to be a broken and bitter man. He does not, however, have the right to just throw the biggest (literally) bloody tantrum in the history of tantrums and... basically throw the entire world into chaos just because... he wants revenge.

 

It's one thing to be bitter and broken. We're all humans and we're all vulnerable. We're not able to handle everything that comes our way and just shrug it off as if it was nothing. We are able, however, to stop ourselves from letting those bitter circumstances get the better of us and just lash out at the world for our misfortunes.

 

Our circumstances are not of our choosing. But our attitude is.

[DrBloodmoney]

4 hours ago, Dreakon13 said:

You really haven't followed this particular God of War release at all, eh?

 

I haven't really played many of the other GOW games, so maybe they aren't particularly story heavy (I'm sure people might argue against that)... but this one has clearly taken more than a few pages from games like The Last of Us.  I dunno how you overlook the obvious cinematic narrative direction they're going this time around.

 

Well, I have played all the previous GOW games (except Betrayal and Ascension), and platinumed them all, so have played through the stories multiple times.

 

I like them very much - they are tremendously good fun - but the stories are thin. Not awful, actually quite good at times, but paper-thin in terms of emotion or engagement - primarily due to Kratos being such a one-note character. 

 

I’m sure they are doing something a bit more substantial this time - these review scores certainly indicate that - but, right now, without any of us having actually played GOW8, it, it seems outrageous to even utter this series in he same breath as The Last of Us.

 

 

4 hours ago, madbuk said:

God of War is, and always has been, a story-heavy series. Kratos isn't just shouty and angry because he wants to be, he has been betrayed and tricked and heartbroken multiple times because of the gods. He has genuine reason to be angry and to be seeking vengeance. And while it is a common narrative that people like to spin that Kratos is angry all the time, that is simply not true. He shows compassion and love and genuine sadness, along with several other emotions.

 

Come on now:

 

Kratos killed his own family. He was tricked, sure, but only after he himself requested the God’s help to win in a battle he was about to lose - knowing full well how the Gods of his world like to operate. He brought it on himself. And let’s face it, he was hardly a saint before that. He was a famously brutal killing-machine.

 

The vengeance that he takes ends up killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other families, as the Gods die, plunging the world into chaos.

He gives not one fuck. He stomps about, shouting at the world and raping and killing his way through everything and everyone. 

 

When presented with a slave girl in need of rescue GoW 3, he uses her to jam open a switch so he can nip through a door quickly before the thing crushes her like a twig.

 

He moans constantly about his lost wife and daughter but when presented with any other females he immediately starts either humping or killing them, and, in GOW3, when another character (who is also, like Kratos once was, enslaved by the Gods) asks Kratos to stay away from his wife and daughter, Kratos ignores him and does whatever the hell he wants, thus showing he is incapable of recognising any situation as negative unless it negatively affect him.

 

He is a sociopathic, narcissistic, homicidal man-child, with rage issues, a victim-complex and too much testosterone. Hence the early on-set baldness.

 

....all of which is fine!

 

because these games are not about the stories. They are about 100 hit combos, crazy-scale fights, awesome graphical showpieces, quick-time-event-boning, blood, guts and shouting.

4 hours ago, jrdemr said:

 

You've just been full of hot takes lately, haven't you?

 

Eh?

Edited April 12, 2018 by DrBloodmoney

[bmg_ps]

2 hours ago, omarbanzai said:

Damn it. I'll need some huge self-restraint to not buy this game day one and focus on my backlog. 

And I just got my copy of Nier: Automata yesterday! ?

I thought that 2017 was already an overwhelming year in terms of release and it seems like 2018 is giving it a run for its money.

 

 

Bought nier last week and I still need to finish ac originis... 

GoW has priority so nier Will have to wait... 

So many great games, so little time... 

 

[PooPooBlast]

Wow! Did not see that one bit!

 

I really thought that this game would be an 8/10 or something, good but nothing amazing.

 

Guess I'm going to have to experience it first hand to see what's this about.

[Dreakon13]

23 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I’m sure they are doing something a bit more substantial this time - these review scores certainly indicate that - but, right now, without any of us having actually played GOW7, it, it seems outrageous to even utter this series in he same breath as The Last of Us.

 

I mean, the whole "if I haven't played it, it isn't real" approach is all well and good... but I don't think it's a stretch at all to say from interviews, trailers, gameplay clips, etc... that the game is going for a certain cinematic narrative approach similar to that of The Last of Us.  Right down to the kid and the father figure.  Whether the quality is there, that we'll have to wait and see (it certainly seems promising though to this point).

Edited April 12, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Leaderboards]

Stonemason Edition arriving day 1 baby!

 

Always knew this game would be a masterpiece.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Leaderboards

[Terra]

Wow, perhaps I'll have to get this sooner then I thought. Only touched the first God of War years ago and I couldn't get into it but maybe I need a refresher.