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RTTP: God Of War 3 ... a simpler and better time.

Bernardougf

Bernardougf

Gold Member
First of all anything I post here obviously is just My opinion.. so I dont have to keep saying IHMO all the time.

I recently finished Dead Space Remake and what awasome experience, 14 hrs tight perfect action horror game.

And just now completed Gow 3 in Titan Mode something I've never done in the past... it took me about 10 to 12 hours.

These two "old" games just reinforced my opinion that modern open world bloated games are just so boring, lacking focus and a tighter experience, in exchange for exploration and whatnot, recently I playd harry potter HL and was liking it but by the end damn I was bored to death and wishing the game to just end.

For me this is what studios should do to release more games in less time for more profit, shorter, tighter, more focused experiences.wtf all the games need to be 40, 60,100 hours..

Gow 3 is a game from the ps3 era, and nothing can convince me that the new GoW is better, aside from modern graphics, Gow3 is better in every aspect, gameplay, characters, pacing, story, and I much prefer the art direction from Gow 3, the attention to details im every set piece and the scale of everything is so good, I was playing something old and that I already beat it multiple times but it felt strangely new and fresh and different, while playing GOW2018 I felt like Im playing another story driven over the shoulder game with pacing problems, too much walking and talking too much hand holding ...modern bs and bloatness.

As soon as I bought my Ps5 I tried to play GoW18 again because of the 60 fps mode and gave up quickly, friday I got GoW3 again and just couldn't stop playing it. Replayability is important and this bloated moderm games are a chore to replay... I have hundreds of hours in every souls game and every now and then I choose one to replay it... Elden Ring ? Nope.. finished, easy platinum.. never going to touch it again, not even for the dlc.

Never understood why Santa Monica changed god of war, and after playing it again their best work in GoW3, I really cant and will never understand.

I hope the days of shorter and better paced games can comeback, and not just in the indie scenario, big AAA studios can take advantage of this games to sell and finance their bloated 100 hrs extravaganza.

I hope someday I can play another classic GoW with the real Kratos, chopping heads, kicking zeus in the face and **** Aphrodite ... great fucking game from a simpler and better time.

IMHO.
 
SlimySnake

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
They changed GOW because Ascension flopped and it was the right decision to take the series in a different direction. If they didnt do that they would be like Halo and Gears. Stale and boring franchises.

The problem is that they went too far with it especially in Ragnorak. GOW 2018 was already pushing it with a near 30 hour campaign, but ragnorak felt twice as long thanks to the atreus sections and the pacing in general.

I agree 100% on games needing to be shorter. I had a similar epiphany last year when spiderman 2 came out. I had spent years shitting on insomniac only for them to turn in a tightly paced 15 hour campaign that didnt overstay its welcome like GOW, TLOU2, FF16, and GoT did. I mopped up the side missions in another 5-10 hours and moved on. It's the perfect length for an open world game. GOW doesnt need to be 50 hours. HFW doesnt need to be 100 hours. Zelda didnt need to be 150 hours. Elden Ring didnt need to be 200 hours. Playing FF7 now and its way too long as well. I am legit thinking of skipping all side content and just doing story missions but i did with that with witcher 3 back in the day and it was a disaster.

If you liked GOW3 and Dead Space remake, id recommend other shorter games like Bayonetta 3, Callisto Protocol (10 hours each) Spiderman 2, and Gotham Knights (roughly 15-20 hours each). They are not as epic as GOW3 which is arguably top ten best campaigns ever, but they are pretty good by todays standards.
 
nial

nial

Gold Member
2018 is the only good God of War game.
those who can't runs GIF by truTV
 
Matsuchezz

Matsuchezz

Member
Yes, but nowadays people want more bang for their buck. Cheap bastards!! I want games to last between 10 to 15 hours, and 20 if the story is good enough and the gameplay is fun enough. I could not finish Ragnarok. I find boring to explore those worlds. I prefer straight forward games that force you to follow a path. Games that make you go around to find shit to assemble a weapon. I hate the open world shit.
 
ChorizoPicozo

ChorizoPicozo

Member
Bernardougf said:
These two "old" games just reinforced my opinion that modern open world bloated games are just so boring, lacking focus and a tighter experience, in exchange for exploration and whatnot
Click to expand...
Exactly, I was like, 'Why am I doing this?' a couple of times in Death Stranding, and the Third Act lasted for a 10-hour stretch (cuz i decided to stop doing shit). The pacing was all messed up.

the opening act of GoW 3 is so fucking amazing.

Bernardougf said:
Never understood why Santa Monica changed god of war
Click to expand...
GoW ascension showed that the formula got old and lost its luster. (it felt like a remake of the first 2)
 
DrFigs

DrFigs

Member
It's my favorite gow game and maybe my proudest platinum trophy. but shitting on gow2018 and ragnarok is so corny. they're also great games - just different.
 
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lordrand11

lordrand11

Member
GoW 3 was the last great one, the rest that came out afterwards were bloated open world Artsy Fartsy shit. I could not get into either of them and think Sony's clout chasing for those dumbass awards are fucking up what their console has always been about, the games.

My PS3 and 360 is the last actual Sony/Microsoft console I gave a fuck about, I hated the PS4/Xbone era and this era sucks ass too (those systems had like 3 games apiece I gave a shit about, hardly worth buying their crap).

PC's been doing me nicely with the upgrades and upgraded games though.
 
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DrFigs

DrFigs

Member
Danjin44 said:
I enjoyed GOWIII but the story was nonsense, the whole about Pandora and how the gods were infected by "fear" was cringe.
Click to expand...
it's just weird Kratos kills her dad and has sex with her dad's wife and she's kind of unfazed by it; she weirdly trusts Kratos even though there's basically no reason to think he's a redeemable guy at anytime in the game. but... Ragnarok's story might be even more of a mess. idk.
 
Danjin44

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
DrFigs said:
it's just weird Kratos kills her dad and has sex with her dad's wife and she's kind of unfazed by it; she weirdly trusts Kratos even though there's basically no reason to think he's a redeemable guy at anytime in the game. but... Ragnarok's story might be even more of a mess. idk.
Click to expand...
Oh it was, after beating the game it felt so unsatisfying and waste of time.
 
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Jaybe

Jaybe

Member
This is timely. I recently dragged myself through the slog that is GOW Ragnarok and then noticed GOW 3 Remastered is on sale. I might just get it.
 
ProtoByte

ProtoByte

Member
I will never stop being baffled by claims that old GoW had better gameplay. It's just not true. As much as people engage in the "cinematic moovy game" gaslighting, GOW3 is all spectacle, little to no substance in the gameplay department. Especially the boss fights.
 
DrFigs

DrFigs

Member
ProtoByte said:
I will never stop being baffled by claims that old GoW had better gameplay. It's just not true. As much as people engage in the "cinematic moovy game" gaslighting, GOW3 is all spectacle, little to no substance in the gameplay department. Especially the boss fights.
Click to expand...
but it's very effective spectacle! even the very opening scenes of the game, where you hear the narrator setting up the story while in the background you hear the increasingly loud clanging sound of metal as as the gow 3 logo is being forged. the presentation is so epic. the first like hour of the game i think has not been topped by any game ever.
 
RCU005

RCU005

Member
Everyone can have their own opinion about God of War, but I agree with OP about more games that are not open world.

I love open world games, but it's enough! I remember during PS3/360 every game wanted to be COD and so there were so many FPS, specially on Xbox. At least on PlayStation there was a lot of variety. This time around, every game has to be open world. It sucks!

My profile pic is from Zelda, TOTK, but about that game, I hated that Nintendo traded the story for an open world game. Yes, it was innovative, and has mechanics ahead of its time in a console with obsolete specs, but the most important part of THIS Zelda should've been the story. BOTW and TOTK were the first Zelda games with voice over and amazing characters (more in BOTW than TOTK), but it was 0.5% story. What a waste!!! I would've preferred that it was more linear, and they developed the characters so much more with a much better, and longer story.

Of course there can be both types. But we are in need of a rebalance. It's like how when Harry Potter movies were so successful, that every book wanted to make a franchise and have a two-part finale. It became the same thing over and over. We are right there with open world games.
 
gow3isben

gow3isben

Member
Better paced, better setpieces and bosses, better puzzles and platforming.

Combat is arguable.

Current God of War have better stories and characters.
 
Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
DrFigs said:
but it's very effective spectacle! even the very opening scenes of the game, where you hear the narrator setting up the story while in the background you hear the increasingly loud clanging sound of metal as as the gow 3 logo is being forged. the presentation is so epic. the first like hour of the game i think has not been topped by any game ever.
Click to expand...
Wrong post quoted.
 
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DrFigs

DrFigs

Member
Gaiff said:
That's just not true lol. The original series doesn't hit the highs of say, a Ninja Gaiden, but the combat and gameplay are excellent. The level design also shits on 2018 and especially Ragnarok which is a slog of: clear room, solve puzzles, rinse, and repeat. The stuff you can do with the combos, hit-canceling, angled dodges, and weapons swapping along with all the different weapons and mechanics in the original series are fantastic. Most players never discover those though because you only really need them in Chaos Mode and even then, if you're somewhat competent you can still get by with basic knowledge of the combat mechanics.
Click to expand...
It's certainly not a perfect game. One thing i remember was that you unlock all these weapons, but in fact, they're basically bad. you only really need the blades of chaos (or whichever blade they are in 3) - maybe the fists for some select enemies. that's definitely something Ragnarok nails imo. You're constantly switching weapons in that one and they all feel not just viable, but like actually it's optimal to keep switching up which ones you're using.

but i disagree w/ some of the stuff you're saying here. i think gow 3 has immaculate pacing. it's constantly throwing new things at you and i like the formula of clearing a room, puzzle, boss fight. nothing ever feels like its overstaying its welcome - a shortcoming of the newer games, where you have these long stretches of downtime where nothing interesting is really happening.
 
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Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
DrFigs said:
It's certainly not a perfect game. One thing i remember was that you unlock all these weapons, but in fact, they're basically bad. you only really need the blades of chaos (or whichever blade they are in 3) - maybe the fists for some select enemies. that's definitely something Ragnarok nails imo. You're constantly switching weapons in that one and they all feel not just viable, but like actually it's optimal to keep switch up which ones you're using.

but i disagree w/ some of the stuff you're saying here. i think gow 3 has immaculate pacing. it's constantly throwing new things at you and i like the formula of clearing a room, puzzle, boss fight. nothing ever feels like its overstaying its welcome. a shortcoming of the newer games, where you have these long stretches of downtime where nothing interesting is really happening.
Click to expand...
Wrong person lol. Didn’t mean to quote you.
 
DrFigs

DrFigs

Member
Gaiff said:
Wrong person lol. Didn’t mean to quote you.
Click to expand...
yeah i had a hard time trying to make sense of your comment. Knowing you meant to quote someone else totally changes how i read it now. so my response to it seems nonsensical now too :/
 
Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
ProtoByte said:
I will never stop being baffled by claims that old GoW had better gameplay. It's just not true. As much as people engage in the "cinematic moovy game" gaslighting, GOW3 is all spectacle, little to no substance in the gameplay department. Especially the boss fights.
Click to expand...
That's just not true lol. The original series doesn't hit the highs of say, a Ninja Gaiden, but the combat and gameplay are excellent. The level design also shits on 2018 and especially Ragnarok which is a slog of: clear room, solve puzzles, rinse, and repeat. The stuff you can do with the combos, hit-canceling, angled dodges, and weapons swapping along with all the different weapons and mechanics in the original series are fantastic. Most players never discover those though because you only really need them in Chaos Mode and even then, you can still get by if you’re somewhat competent with the combat mechanics.
 
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Fbh

Fbh

Member
Yeah Gow 3 is great. The setpiece moments and boss battles in particular still really hold up.

This is sort of related but I recently played through the Valhalla DLC of Ragnarok and, damn, it was nice playing some GOW that was actually gameplay focused again. You've still got Kratos talking about his feelings but it's secondary to the combat.
Valhalla is actually like "hey let's put this story part on hold so you can go back to the gameplay" while the main game is like "hey let's put the gameplay on hold so we can go back to the story"
 
angrod14

angrod14

Member
To me GoW 3 is too try hard. Constantly trying to be this huge, bombastic epic with noisy scenes, off-the-charts enemies, constant destruction. Only thing it was missing is Liam Neeson saying “RELEASE THE KRAKEN!”, specially during that Poseidon sequence.

It feels like it was directed by Michael Bay. A complete assault to the senses. Reminds me of Uncharted 3 a little bit.

GoW (2018) worked a lot better for me.
 
Pimpbaa

Pimpbaa

Member
I ain’t paying full price (over 100 bucks here) for games that short. Anything less than 15 hours and I’m waiting for a sale (unless the game is designed to be really replayable). I regretted buying GoW 3 back when it came out, paying full price for something that short. I expected more from my games back then (in regards to length) and even more so now (due to game prices). I enjoyed GoW 2018 a whole lot more but Ragnarok not so much (too much recycled assets, a theme for sony this gen it seems).
 
Rhazer Fusion

Rhazer Fusion

Member
Yeah I also think games are becoming way too bloated and long. I mean there is a time and place for 50 to 200 hour adventures, but it’s not necessary for every game games and generally doesn’t contribute much to the quality the game imo.
 
j0hnnix

j0hnnix

Gold Member
GOW3 will be my favorite GOW, I almost feel bamboozled playing GoW2018 and Rag, sure they looked great but everything about it just annoyed me. I love the Yakuza games but felt The man who erased his name was a sweet spot for me in game time.

Rag at one point I had to step away from it to force myself to finish it , not as bad as Valhalla , that was incredibly long and felt I wasted so much time playing it. There is games like Persona that I get investing the time into it but some games do not need to be time hogs they are becoming, maybe my busy life is getting to me but I just don't see the value. Hey look at us we have a 500 game, yeah but 95% of it is fetch this for this bs.
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Rhazer Fusion said:
Yeah I also think games are becoming way too bloated and long. I mean there is a time and place for 50 to 200 hour adventures, but it’s not necessary for every game games and generally doesn’t contribute much to the quality the game imo.
Click to expand...
Historically, most games were short in length. Then as systems and storage became bigger it got to a point in gaming a decent action game would get to that ~8 hour time of completion. RPGs and old ass PC adventure games are the genres that always took more time, and repetitive game like fighters and sports could be played for ages as long as someone wants to keep going.

But I think what happened was GTA3 (or maybe it wasnt them but another game 20 years ago), which not only amped up production values for action games, but also made the map size giant. So every other company decides whether to follow their route of big and bold, branching plotlines, open world exploration etc... So the total package becomes not only a quality game, but the amount of stuff jammed into the game also contributes a value equation into the mix. And then when mtx ramped up, it became even more important. Because then it wasnt just about getting gamers to buy a big long game, but also get them to buy mtx too every half an hour. And nothing makes gamers and game makers more buddy buddy for mtx then a game that is pretty good and really long. If the gamer plays two hours and doesn't do mtx today, then the next time he plays two hours he might do mtx that day. But a game that is only 8 hours, the gamer migt plow through the game and is done. No amount of mtx will make him come back.
 
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semiconscious

semiconscious

Member
lordrand11 said:
My PS3 and 360 is the last actual Sony/Microsoft console I gave a fuck about, I hated the PS4/Xbone era and this era sucks ass too (those systems had like 3 games apiece I gave a shit about, hardly worth buying their crap)...
Click to expand...
yep. with exceptions here'n'there, & unless you're all about them graphics, gaming's been in an overall downward spiral over the last 2 generations...
 
Kupfer

Kupfer

Member
SlimySnake said:
They changed GOW because Ascension flopped and it was the right decision to take the series in a different direction. If they didnt do that they would be like Halo and Gears. Stale and boring franchises.
Click to expand...
But that's what I feel the last two GoW games are. I played from GoW 1-3 and the PsP games GoS + CoO. I never felt bored. With GoW 2018, I was not only bored but also annoyed to the end, I asked myself where the fuck the God of War was in my new GoW game.
It just felt like it could have been a new IP but for the sake of popularity, they named it after a big franchise.
 
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R

Rockman33

Member
I think it was probably for the best after ascension they switch up the formula. GOW2018 felt different and new. But after ragnarok I’m pretty burnt out on them.

I for one welcome it going back to its roots. Gow3 is my favorite.

Really high production values is great and all. But I chose gameplay that’s more fun to play consistently 10 out of 10 times.
 
cireza

cireza

Member
Back then I played it after Bayonetta and it was a pretty meh-ish game, so I can't even imagine how bad modern GoW games must be reading this thread.
 
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