This excerpt doesn't excite me, and I loved GoWIII and didn't even mind Ascension. I can't help feel but those who complain about the simplistic button mashing of those titles where the same people who moaned and moaned about the Labyrinth in GoWIII and the Trial of Archimedes in Ascension (which eventually was nerfed in a patch) - despite the extra mechanics on hand to manage the encounters. Even on higher difficulties the combat increased in complexity and depth. But the common theme seems to be 'button mashing shit', which is just wrong. Yeah on easy, you could ▢, ▢, △ your way through large chunks of the game.
Just looking at the interface to the game is horrible - those bright yellow energy bars? And needing to 'charge' a finisher - would be interesting to revisit those 'Ryse' threads now. The point is the finishers were earned by taking down a middle tier enemy (Minotaur, Cyclops, Centaur etc.). Now you have to do that, and mess about doing it in a certain way to earn a QTE. No thanks. The troll fight was disgusting, and the energy bar just screamed 'Dark Souls imitation', with poorer combat. Running in to hack at knees, I'm bored of it now. In the earlier titles the BoE/BoA had reach and you could jump, hitting the enemy in various places. All the popups on every screen as well - worse than Rise of the Tomb Raider, and that had a noticeable amount as well. It looks like a game that FHI would publish with the stellar artwork of SSM. Like The Witcher meets Bound by Flame/Lords of the Fallen.
I respect that maybe the team wanted to make a different type of game but Kratos's story was done. He was left to lie. Most of the threads created were actually around the fact that people hated his character and he was an asshole. So the answer is to create a story arc where his character changes (due the child), yet Kratos was still a rage machine even when it was clear he was touched by Pandora in III. The more I see of this the more I think this is a project that the team really wanted to make and had to slap the IP over the top to either get funding or because they lacked the assurance it would be a success after the pathetic internet reaction to The Order 1886. They need to look at Guerilla Games and what they did with Horizon I feel for inspiration here.
The previous games were fast, fluid and that led to a brutality that is just missing from everything I've seen so far. It drove a sense of urgency into the quest, that's now missing.. It's descended into let's go on epic quest but take it really slowly and meander from point to point, having long drawn out battles with trash mobs. That's not even mentioning the platforming/traversal as well. I understand and respect there are a large swathe of gamers excited for this title, but they also need to respect and acknowledge that the existing fanbase who loved these titles are being left high and dry. Since the first trailer, the criticisms and concerns have been there from us, and enough time has passed now that these concerns could have been alleviated. Instead we get the same small cutscenes, with small amounts of enemies and the same mash enemy until dead, then take out the next one MO. A major part of the titles was mob management and prioritising enemies, freezing them with Medusa's head, or cloning yourself with an amulet. I think this looks like an imitation of other titles, and it looks worse than them. Walking round at Uncharted pace to arena's with that combat doesn't grab me or excite me.
The reality is I'm probably going to buy it anyway because I love the franchise but it might not be a day one and I might just see what reactions are like first. I'd love for the studio to take some of the concerns of the fans of the previous 2/3 games and show us something that at least indicates that the heart and soul of the game is still there. I mean we're down to single wielding an axe with a shield on our back.
Caestus / BoE / BoA / Nemesis Whip were all dual wields, why hamstring himself. Lose the kid and the bow and equip another axe?
This is the intro/early starter area for Ascension - the difference is like night and day here
