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[MikeM]

I love the current dad of war, but also loved the original trilogy. it would be cool if they dig into the past a bit and put out a game akin to the originals.

 

[Heisenberg007]

The gameplay is completely in service of the story they are trying to tell in this new duology, i.e., being better.

Previously, Kratos used to enjoy this. Now he doesn't enjoy this. He avoids conflict as much as possible and only does what is necessary. He wants to defy fate and set a better example for his growing son.

Once you understand that, view the toned-down spectacles with that lens, and get to the ending of Ragnarok (which is beautiful!), everything just ties together perfectly.

At least it did for me.

In terms of pure spectacle? Sure, these 2 new games may not fit the bill as well as the first 3 games did. But in terms of overall story, a message, and a purpose? These 2 new games are perfect.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Didn't 2018 sale what the past iteration did over it's lifetime? It seems like the formula was stale and this fresh new God of War is what actually brought it into a larger audience.

The new 3rd person over-the-shoulder format appeals to a broader audience since it's very similar to other PlayStation first party IPs like Uncharted and The Last of Us. The older format was a little harder to get into for the average gamer but it's what long-time and loyal God of War fans expected.

 

[roxya]

Do people think that "hot take" means "unpopular opinion" now?

 

[Gaiff]

Do people think that "hot take" means "unpopular opinion" now?

This is not an unpopular opinion but a very divisive one which is kind of what a hot take is.

 

[GymWolf]

The gameplay is completely in service of the story they are trying to tell in this new duology, i.e., being better.

Previously, Kratos used to enjoy this. Now he doesn't enjoy this. He avoids conflict as much as possible and only does what is necessary. He wants to defy fate and set a better example for his growing son.

Once you understand that, view the toned-down gameplay with that lens, and get to the ending of Ragnarok (which is beautiful!), everything just ties together perfectly.

At least it did for me.

In terms of pure spectacle? Sure, these 2 new games may not fit the bill as well as the first 3 games did. But in terms of overall story, a message, and a purpose? These 2 new games are perfect.

Toned down gameplay...more like toned down spectacle.

Combat is vastly better and more varied.

 

[Nvzman]

Didn't 2018 sale what the past iteration did over it's lifetime? It seems like the formula was stale and this fresh new God of War is what actually brought it into a larger audience.

This isn't really a valid point for anything, the last classic GoW game (not counting Ascension as that was more of a side-game) came out in like 2010 on a significantly less popular console in an era where the gaming landscape was considerably smaller, and this applies even more for the first two games (PS2 sales aside obviously).
Its not that the series ever got stale, its moreso that gaming got more mainstream and corporate, and I think if anything 2018 is a shining example of that. Much less edgy and brutal, more focus on story and slow hand-holdy stuff, very railroaded gameplay, and derivative gameplay. Granted as I said before, its still a good game, but I cannot shake how obviously mainstream it is over the older games.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Read about cpus instruction sets, it's not a secret, it'll kill a lot of doubts, there's no secrets into making games, search about Linux op, it's easier to get useful informations and will save a lot of your time.

...what are you even on about? You could argue in favor of the ps2 cpu architecture when compared to others at the time, but saying it could have a game like classic GoW (or any game really) while the ps4 couldn't is just ridiculous. Especially when GoW3 is on the ps4.

 

[Syphon Filter]

It's not a hot take, it's the truth and facts. The last good and actual god of war game was god of war 3 on PS3.

 

[ProtoByte]

Definitely not a hot take. A large portion of the fanbase feels like the new format should have been relegated for a new IP and God of War left alone in the gameplay department.

Those fans are crazy. The old games are objectively inferior gameplay wise.

 

[The Cockatrice]

All they needed to do with the sequel is add epic huge cinematic boss fights like the dragon, but 10x time more than that, instead in Ragnarok besides maybe Thor, all fights are...anemic to say the least.

 

[DeepEnigma]

No, God of War is still God of War. Thread title should have been "Why I don't like the new God of War".

We have these threads every other month. At least its moved on to GoW and no longer TLoU2 every month with the same topic over and over and over.

Definitely not a hot take. A large portion of the fanbase feels like the new format should have been relegated for a new IP and God of War left alone in the gameplay department.

Took a survey, did ya?

 

[Gaiff]

Those fans are crazy. The old games are objectively inferior gameplay wise.

Why do people misuse a word with such an easy to understand definition?

 

[ProtoByte]

Why do people misuse a word with such an easy to understand definition?

Enemy design is better in the new games; combat variety is better. Game feel is better (I.e. there is better audio-visual impact to attacks). Not as much button mashing. Better level design to where you actually have to pay attention to the space around you to play optimally.

There's literally no basis you can argue that the gameplay experience in the old games are better other than maybe the puzzles (the most insignificant part of any of these games) compared to Ragnarok.

 

[SHA]

...what are you even on about? You could argue in favor of the ps2 cpu architecture when compared to others at the time, but saying it could have a game like classic GoW (or any game really) while the ps4 couldn't is just ridiculous. Especially when GoW3 is on the ps4.

Gow3 is a ps3 game, physics is cpu intensive, gow 4 wouldn't be possible.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

New games are not perfect but need minor adjustments and reduction of annoying elements to make them much better.

I liked GOW 1 & 2 but part 3 I just couldn't care about series anymore. So the change in direction is fine.

 

[GymWolf]

All they needed to do with the sequel is add epic huge cinematic boss fights like the dragon, but 10x time more than that, instead in Ragnarok besides maybe Thor, all fights are...anemic to say the least.

The dragon was the worse boss fight in the first game by far, spectacle and zero challenge whatsoever, absolute shit fight mechanically.

 

[gothmog]

God of War would have been as dead as Halo if they just kept doing what they were doing.

 

[Nvzman]

Toned down gameplay...more like toned down spectacle.

Combat is vastly better and more varied.

Those fans are crazy. The old games are objectively inferior gameplay wise.

First off, you have no idea what objective means.

Second off, after just recently playing through the old games on hard and 2018 on hard... the gameplay was considerably more shallow and boring in 2018, at least in my opinion.

God of War 1 is genuinely fucking hard as hell, especially the last level and boss, but I still pushed through and beat it because the gameplay was very enjoyable, and the same goes with 2 and 3. The old God of War games had their strength in gameplay because the difficulty had more to do with knowing your various weapons' strengths to keep juggles/combos going, having quick reflexes to avoid enemy attacks, and deal with crowd control regularly. You also had aerial combat which just added more to the combat (which 2018 completely lacks) and allowed for some fun air combos which just let you go wild and buy time before an enemy could recover. They were difficult but mostly very fair (aside from some bullshit in GOW1) and I had a lot of fun even at the end of those games.

God of War 2018 started very differently, I liked the combat but as the game got closer and closer to the finish line I was starting to get extremely bored and fatigued by it, even on hard. It was much less of the juggling/combo/fast paced action of the original games and a lot more of just being patient, waiting for an opening, or waiting to dodge/parry an attack. If you didn't do that, you'd die in like two or three hits, which was just immensely annoying. And even worse, there's a pretty large focus on color-coded enemies towards the end of the game which is just astonishingly lazy game design in basically every hack and slash ever (DmC has a pretty similar issue but at least it didn't have just two fucking weapons). Sure its more accessible, sure its more "polished" I guess, but it had almost none of the fun factor the old games had. It was considerably more boring and generic, and I basically just wanted to finish the game for the story at that point, and I had lost all interest in the gameplay. Theres far less variety, not more lol.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

DMC> Devil May Cry 5

 

[Heisenberg007]

Toned down gameplay...more like toned down spectacle.

Combat is vastly better and more varied.

Good point. Edited.

 

[rofif]

I hate playing as Badreus in Ragnarok. The game was a bit to sappy.
And thats the most disappointing Asgard I've ever seen. terrible

2018 is great. Just that I think Thor should've been in that one.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Gow3 is a ps3 game, physics is cpu intensive, gow 4 wouldn't be possible.

Yeah and we have games with much more advanced physics than any GoW game running on a ps4.

I really don't get what you're trying to argue, GoW1-3 weren't even physics heavy games in the first place. And yes, a game like them is 100% possible on a ps4, updated graphics and everything.

 

[Gaiff]

Enemy design is better in the new games; combat variety is better. Game feel is better (I.e. there is better audio-visual impact to attacks). Not as much button mashing. Better level design to where you actually have to pay attention to the space around you to play optimally.

There's literally no basis you can argue that the gameplay experience in the old games are better other than maybe the puzzles (the most insignificant part of any of these games) compared to Ragnarok.

You're seriously arguing that "game feel" is objective? lol.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I didn’t care for gow 2018. Never played ragnarok because it seems like more of the same. GoW 3 was sick. I just accept that it isnt for me anymore and they are hugely popular so they found their audience.

 

[Puscifer]

, and i severely side-eye whatever gameplay centric gamer who think otherwise

LOL WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK AM I READING


You literally just said "gamers who like gameplay aren't to be taken seriously" this is what this walky talky shit has done to the industry.

 

[Gaiff]

I hate playing as Badreus in Ragnarok. The game was a bit to sappy.
And thats the most disappointing Asgard I've ever seen. terrible

2018 is great. Just that I think Thor should've been in that one.

Rofif and I completely agree on something. Any argument presented henceforth is invalid. We have our answer.

Mod of War feel free to lock this thread.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Not a hot take. It's the correct take. Much prefer the God of War being the embodiment of War instead of trying to be Superhero dad.

Last good GoW game was 3.

Not a fan of the toned down rage and big focus on only fighting humanoid enemies less impressive then Greek Gods.

 

[GymWolf]

First off, you have no idea what objective means.

Second off, after just recently playing through the old games on hard and 2018 on hard... the gameplay was considerably more shallow and boring in 2018, at least in my opinion.

God of War 1 is genuinely fucking hard as hell, especially the last level and boss, but I still pushed through and beat it because the gameplay was very enjoyable, and the same goes with 2 and 3. The old God of War games had their strength in gameplay because the difficulty had more to do with knowing your various weapons' strengths to keep juggles/combos going, having quick reflexes to avoid enemy attacks, and deal with crowd control regularly. You also had aerial combat which just added more to the combat (which 2018 completely lacks) and allowed for some fun air combos which just let you go wild and buy time before an enemy could recover. They were difficult but mostly very fair (aside from some bullshit in GOW1) and I had a lot of fun even at the end of those games.

God of War 2018 started very differently, I liked the combat but as the game got closer and closer to the finish line I was starting to get extremely bored and fatigued by it, even on hard. It was much less of the juggling/combo/fast paced action of the original games and a lot more of just being patient, waiting for an opening, or waiting to dodge/parry an attack. If you didn't do that, you'd die in like two or three hits, which was just immensely annoying. And even worse, there's a pretty large focus on color-coded enemies towards the end of the game which is just astonishingly lazy game design in basically every hack and slash ever (DmC has a pretty similar issue but at least it didn't have just two fucking weapons). Sure its more accessible, sure its more "polished" I guess, but it had almost none of the fun factor the old games had. It was considerably more boring and generic, and I basically just wanted to finish the game for the story at that point, and I had lost all interest in the gameplay. Theres far less variety, not more lol.

Agree to disagree, new gow on max difficulty are way harder, enemy and boss quality is way higher, and you do the bolded part aswell, not sure what game you played dude, also hard is nowhere near as difficult as gimme the god of war.

Boss and enemy quality is so much better and that is part of the combat aswell, even just the fucking short evade work better, look better and it make you feel way more badass when you evade long combos from enemies, hit detection are perfect.

I guess we just enjoy different things.

 

[simpatico]

Dad of War is a fine game. In a perfect world we could continue both directions with separate full featured AAA releases. Timeline and lore be damned. I'll agree with OP in that if I had to pick one, I'd prefer the older gameplay loop.

 

[rofif]

Rofif and I completely agree on something. Any argument presented henceforth is invalid. We have our answer.

Mod of War feel free to lock this thread.

 

[rodrigolfp]

First off, you have no idea what objective means.

Second off, after just recently playing through the old games on hard and 2018 on hard... the gameplay was considerably more shallow and boring in 2018, at least in my opinion.

God of War 1 is genuinely fucking hard as hell, especially the last level and boss, but I still pushed through and beat it because the gameplay was very enjoyable, and the same goes with 2 and 3. The old God of War games had their strength in gameplay because the difficulty had more to do with knowing your various weapons' strengths to keep juggles/combos going, having quick reflexes to avoid enemy attacks, and deal with crowd control regularly. You also had aerial combat which just added more to the combat (which 2018 completely lacks) and allowed for some fun air combos which just let you go wild and buy time before an enemy could recover. They were difficult but mostly very fair (aside from some bullshit in GOW1) and I had a lot of fun even at the end of those games.

God of War 2018 started very differently, I liked the combat but as the game got closer and closer to the finish line I was starting to get extremely bored and fatigued by it, even on hard. It was much less of the juggling/combo/fast paced action of the original games and a lot more of just being patient, waiting for an opening, or waiting to dodge/parry an attack. If you didn't do that, you'd die in like two or three hits, which was just immensely annoying. And even worse, there's a pretty large focus on color-coded enemies towards the end of the game which is just astonishingly lazy game design in basically every hack and slash ever (DmC has a pretty similar issue but at least it didn't have just two fucking weapons). Sure its more accessible, sure its more "polished" I guess, but it had almost none of the fun factor the old games had. It was considerably more boring and generic, and I basically just wanted to finish the game for the story at that point, and I had lost all interest in the gameplay. Theres far less variety, not more lol.

Kratos can't even jump anymore. Or see the battlefield properly with that shitty camera.

 

[Jigsaah]

I only have played the original trilogy and GOW 2018. I think they each have their own place.

To compare them almost feel like apples to oranges to me because they are so different from one another.

Another really good example of this is Ninja Gaiden. The original NES trilogy and the rebooted Xbox version are all fantastic games in their own right. One does not make me miss the other.

I guess I just appreciate each for what it is. However, what I think both series needs is a remake of the original series, or a reboot in the style of the original trilogies. I'd buy that day one no questions asked, cept "how much?".

 

[BouncyFrag]

I still replay the original trilogy. The newer ones are too much of a slog, especially with Boi being an idiot most of the time. I did enjoy old Kratos talking about all the crazy, epic shit he had done, much to the shock of others.

‘Exaggerated?’

 

[Cashon]

God of War 2018 is probably the game that I think is most overrated. Its popularity is almost bewildering; I suspect that its production values (graphics, sound design, cinematography etc), which are top-notch, do most of the heavy lifting for this game, while the story does the rest. I don't think people who shower it with praise really take into amount the whole of the actual gameplay that is present. They just like that it's basically an interactive movie.

I have not played Ragnarok yet, but I probably will before the end of the year because my girlfriend wants to watch me play it. I hope it's much better than its predecessor.

 

[Jigsaah]

God of War 2018 is probably the game that I think is most overrated. Its popularity is almost bewildering; I suspect that its production values (graphics, sound design, cinematography etc), which are top-notch, do most of the heavy lifting for this game, while the story does the rest. I don't think people who shower it with praise really take into amount the whole of the actual gameplay that is present. They just like that it's basically an interactive movie.

I have not played Ragnarok yet, but I probably will before the end of the year because my girlfriend wants to watch me play it. I hope it's much better than its predecessor.

 

[Danjin44]

I enjoyed God of War 2018 even it had absolute shit enemy variety. Ragnarok In other hand was tedious and boring and treated its players like toddlers and the builds so much towards Ragnarok but in the end it amounts to noting…..absolutely nothing.

 

[near]

I think a cool idea would've been to create an entirely new spin off series within the same universe, use pretty much the same game design while having the story revolve around Kratos' former wife. Maybe a mother and son story, then have the hidden ending reveal the real fucking Kratos and release GoW IV. I don't like the idea of Kratos being humanized, he is a savage, not a loving father. When I first played GoW 2018 I actually loved it, but in retrospect, I feel the polar opposite the more I think about it. I still haven't played Ragnarok.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

God of War 2018 is probably the game that I think is most overrated. Its popularity is almost bewildering; I suspect that its production values (graphics, sound design, cinematography etc), which are top-notch, do most of the heavy lifting for this game, while the story does the rest. I don't think people who shower it with praise really take into amount the whole of the actual gameplay that is present. They just like that it's basically an interactive movie.

I have not played Ragnarok yet, but I probably will before the end of the year because my girlfriend wants to watch me play it. I hope it's much better than its predecessor.

Lol most overrated game of all time has top notch production values and a good story according to you?

Interactive movie? You may not personally like the combat gameplay but it’s very well regarded in general and there is a ton of it.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Do people think that "hot take" means "unpopular opinion" now?

Probably. Same way most idiots treat the word "underrated" as "People dont like this as much as I personally do"

 

[JaksGhost]

God of War 2018 is probably the game that I think is most overrated. Its popularity is almost bewildering; I suspect that its production values (graphics, sound design, cinematography etc), which are top-notch, do most of the heavy lifting for this game, while the story does the rest. I don't think people who shower it with praise really take into amount the whole of the actual gameplay that is present. They just like that it's basically an interactive movie.

I have not played Ragnarok yet, but I probably will before the end of the year because my girlfriend wants to watch me play it. I hope it's much better than its predecessor.

So you're saying the older games lacked all of those qualities and that's why they weren't able to achieve the same amount of success as the 2018 version?

 

[Northeastmonk]

I liked 2018 more than Ragnarok. There was so much hype, that I probably overhyped myself. The stuff they did wasn’t on this biblical proportion level that I wanted it to be. To be honest, God of War 1-3 were a lot more rewarding for me. The new GoW has amazing production value, but I don’t get the same feeling as I did slaughtering the Greek Gods.

On technical level, they’re super impressive. They’re comfortable games, but the new GoW games aren’t my favorite. I got bored about 3/4 of the way into GoW:R and started skipping dialogue just to see what would happen.

 

[Robb]

The new ones are great, but if I had to choose between the new ones and the old ones I’d go for the old ones.

I very much enjoy that Bayonetta/DMC type combat.

 

[Gaiff]

Kratos can't even jump anymore. Or see the battlefield properly with that shitty camera.

Yeah, that's a big problem. You have to rely on that little icon when attacks are coming from behind you. The problem is, you don't know what kind of attack is coming. Could be a projectile or a ground slam attack. A 3rd person over-the-shoulder camera is just not suitable for a fast-paced action game. It's wonderful for aiming with the axe and blades but that came at the expense of a much better combat camera.

 

[SHA]

Yeah and we have games with much more advanced physics than any GoW game running on a ps4.

I really don't get what you're trying to argue, GoW1-3 weren't even physics heavy games in the first place. And yes, a game like them is 100% possible on a ps4, updated graphics and everything.

The new Kratos is basically immobilized, he can't do those fancy jumps here and there, he spent most of the time on the ground, not up there, you can't expect all that from a bearded guy.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The new Kratos is basically immobilized, he can't do those fancy jumps here and there, he spent most of the time on the ground, not up there, you can't expect all that from a bearded guy.

thats 100% a game design choice tho.... and not because the ps4 can't render... characters jumping?

 

[Moriarty1889]

The new games are in line with Sonys cinematic third person action type games. The original games were much better imo.

 

[lughnasadh123]

OGs were alright. New ones are a massive step up though.

 

[Cashon]

So you're saying the older games lacked all of those qualities and that's why they weren't able to achieve the same amount of success as the 2018 version?

I didn't say anything about the older games, but since you asked... How do you define "amount of success?"

 

[analog_future]

I agree.

I found 2018 to be really good but overrated.

And I found Ragnarok to be very milquetoast and I think the GOTY type reviews for it are silly.