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StarTopic God of War Ragnarök |ST| God Týr [Valhalla DLC available now]

And that’s a big part of the problem, the hints aren’t even helpful! “Try freezing that” doesn’t help me at all when I have no idea what “that” is! What are you referring to Atreus?! And if you’re not gonna be specific, then shut the heck up maybe?! Give me a moment to get my bearings!
See, I was saying "that" more generally. In my experience the hints are too specific and basically give the solution away to puzzles I might not have even looked at yet

But then when you do want a hint they're silent lol
 
I’m approaching the 30-hour mark and it’s an utterly mesmerising experience for me. I just love it to bits. It’s such an enormous game too. The plot, characters, combat, environmental variety… it’s just wonderful.

The way they build out the world, peppering in the lore they’ve dreamed up, it‘s fantastic and really clever.

There‘s some truly incredible sequences in here and a lot of surprises too.

Unless it falls apart in the final few hours, it’s probably my GOTY.
 
I’m approaching the 30-hour mark and it’s an utterly mesmerising experience for me. I just love it to bits. It’s such an enormous game too. The plot, characters, combat, environmental variety… it’s just wonderful.

The way they build out the world, peppering in the lore they’ve dreamed up, it‘s fantastic and really clever.

There‘s some truly incredible sequences in here and a lot of surprises too.

Unless it falls apart in the final few hours, it’s probably my GOTY.
Wow, 30 hours! I wish I had that much time to game, haha.

good to hear that the game holds up! I’m 12 hours in and i agree with you wholeheartedly - Ragnarok is absolutely incredible and I can’t imagine it not being my goty at this point. It’s basically perfect.
 
Oh my god. This game is so good. It’s SO GOOD.

Spoilers 12 ish hours in, after Atreus returns from somewhere where he meets a new character

seriously, don’t click this unless you’re further in the game than I am

The segment in the Ironwood was so great! It was awesome getting to play as Atreus for so long, and it really fleshed out his character. And i loved the giant girl, but don’t ask me to try and spell her name lol. But she’s amazing, I hope we get to see her again.

But anyway so Atreus returns home and is shocked to find himself at his home instead of Sindri’s. And then you get a pretty epic fight scene where Atreus fights the helwalkers by himself. Which was pretty damn hard actually. I think because for the entire game every encounter you have an ally to help, but this was the first fight where you were on your own.

You get a great scene were Kratos confronts Atreus about where he’s been, then SURPRISE VALKYRIE FIGHT! But it turns out the Valkyrie is Freya! And now Kratos and Freya are gonna go do shit together?! THIS IS AMAZING.

this game is excellent in every single way. I’m in awe
 
Finally got to put in time today. Played ~6 hours and got to the point where We found Tear, the OG God of War. So far I am enjoying this a lot more than the last game. Kratos is so much more fun to move around with. My timing on evading is crappy, working on that, but everything else is amazing. The first couple of realms are gorgeous.
 
17 hours in, more thoughts.

The area where I'm at is everything I wanted out of this game - fantastical and imaginative location, fun battles/bosses, and character interactions by Norse mythology characters that are still grounded in relatable human drama.

This really is a turning point for me, I hope that the game improves from here because there's been sections that have been not very good in my opinion. Granted, not everything can be on a grand scale, but I can't help but to sigh myself through tedious puzzles, constant chit-chat, battle upon battle against mobs, and just pacing issues in general.
 
Oh my god. This game is so good. It’s SO GOOD.

Spoilers 12 ish hours in, after Atreus returns from somewhere where he meets a new character

seriously, don’t click this unless you’re further in the game than I am

The segment in the Ironwood was so great! It was awesome getting to play as Atreus for so long, and it really fleshed out his character. And i loved the giant girl, but don’t ask me to try and spell her name lol. But she’s amazing, I hope we get to see her again.

But anyway so Atreus returns home and is shocked to find himself at his home instead of Sindri’s. And then you get a pretty epic fight scene where Atreus fights the helwalkers by himself. Which was pretty damn hard actually. I think because for the entire game every encounter you have an ally to help, but this was the first fight where you were on your own.

You get a great scene were Kratos confronts Atreus about where he’s been, then SURPRISE VALKYRIE FIGHT! But it turns out the Valkyrie is Freya! And now Kratos and Freya are gonna go do shit together?! THIS IS AMAZING.

this game is excellent in every single way. I’m in awe

I liked that section a lot but I think it went on a bit too long. That boss fight was also pretty odd, but quite good. It's crazy how much variety there is in this game.
 
Wow, 30 hours! I wish I had that much time to game, haha.

good to hear that the game holds up! I’m 12 hours in and i agree with you wholeheartedly - Ragnarok is absolutely incredible and I can’t imagine it not being my goty at this point. It’s basically perfect.
I really get the bit between my teeth when I’m excited for a game. The older I get, the less often I can throw myself at a game like this… but sacrificing a bit of sleep was worth it for the joy it brought me.

I finished it today. Adored it. You’ve got a hell of a game coming up. Enjoy.
 
I asked this in another thread, likely more appropriate here, lol.

This is basically my only slight complaint against the game, 15+ hours in. It relates to the dialogue in the game, between the chatter amongst characters and in cutscenes.

I found
Freya to be understandably harsh in the cutscenes with her words but as you continue through the Realm, her tone is different. I understand it is suppose to convey that she's accepting Kratos' actions through time but I found the conflicting tones to be too immediate, so it felt a little unearned to me.
Hopefully I am making sense, haha. Then again, could be just something that I noticed :p.
 
I asked this in another thread, likely more appropriate here, lol.

This is basically my only slight complaint against the game, 15+ hours in. It relates to the dialogue in the game, between the chatter amongst characters and in cutscenes.

I found
Freya to be understandably harsh in the cutscenes with her words but as you continue through the Realm, her tone is different. I understand it is suppose to convey that she's accepting Kratos' actions through time but I found the conflicting tones to be too immediate, so it felt a little unearned to me.
Hopefully I am making sense, haha. Then again, could be just something that I noticed :p.
I see where you're coming from, but I disagree that it was unearned. I feel like her change of heart towards Kratos was developed well over the course of those couple hours from when she ambushes you as a valkyrie, through her uneasy alliance with Kratos because she needs his help, and then finally she accepts that what happened wasn't Kratos' fault. I think that whole storyline was really well-developed and satisfying actually.

I'm finding it a bit overwhelming that now there's a third character to level up, with her own equipment and skill tree! I wonder if later on we'll get to play as Freya? That would be super cool.
 
I see where you're coming from, but I disagree that it was unearned. I feel like her change of heart towards Kratos was developed well over the course of those couple hours from when she ambushes you as a valkyrie, through her uneasy alliance with Kratos because she needs his help, and then finally she accepts that what happened wasn't Kratos' fault. I think that whole storyline was really well-developed and satisfying actually.

I'm finding it a bit overwhelming that now there's a third character to level up, with her own equipment and skill tree! I wonder if later on we'll get to play as Freya? That would be super cool.
Yeah, you make good points here. I did enjoy the
sentiment from Freya that she is not able to forgive Kratos and not able to kill him.
That was well done. I think I am being a little too critical.
To your last point:
Yeah, that would be super cool. It would be nice to have a mix of Atreus' range attacks with Kratos' meatier melee. I kind of want to look this up but the Internet is trying its hardest to spoil this game for me, so I will hold off.

I saw someone compare the advancement of combat from 2018 to Ragnarok to Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal and I think that's pretty spot on. There might be a little too much going on here like there was in Eternal, but once things click, it's just an amazing time.
 
I asked this in another thread, likely more appropriate here, lol.

This is basically my only slight complaint against the game, 15+ hours in. It relates to the dialogue in the game, between the chatter amongst characters and in cutscenes.

I found
Freya to be understandably harsh in the cutscenes with her words but as you continue through the Realm, her tone is different. I understand it is suppose to convey that she's accepting Kratos' actions through time but I found the conflicting tones to be too immediate, so it felt a little unearned to me.
Hopefully I am making sense, haha. Then again, could be just something that I noticed :p.
I agree with this. I really like that Freya becomes a companion and we get to spend more time with her, as I think shes a great character, but I feel like she should still sound cold and angry towards Kratos, even with their alliance.

It's maybe partially explained later, but I would have liked the seeds to have been sown earlier as it does feel a little sudden to me
 
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I've got questions, but I'm scared to google them because I'm afraid of running into spoilers. But I gotta wonder, what's Ragnarok's version of the valkyrie fights? Is it the Hateful fights? Because so far those don't seem that difficult, or as grand as the valkyrie fights were.
 
God I am in love with this game. I have some annoyances that I have been very vocal about, but man is it doing pretty much everything else so right.
 
I've got questions, but I'm scared to google them because I'm afraid of running into spoilers. But I gotta wonder, what's Ragnarok's version of the valkyrie fights? Is it the Hateful fights? Because so far those don't seem that difficult, or as grand as the valkyrie fights were.
It is not. There are much harder fights
 
God I am in love with this game. I have some annoyances that I have been very vocal about, but man is it doing pretty much everything else so right.
I think overall I would say the narrative is not quite hitting as hard for me this time around, but it just does so much right while addressing the main criticisms of the last game (energy variety, bosses)
 
I think overall I would say the narrative is not quite hitting as hard for me this time around, but it just does so much right while addressing the main criticisms of the last game (energy variety, bosses)
I think the one part of the story I am actually invested in is Kratos' character arc, somehow. I can't believe they are actually making me somewhat empathize with him lol

I was never too invested in the story in GOW2018, to be honest. It just never really clicked for me. This is far more up my speed overall. It's sort of returned to that "swashbuckling" spirit that the original trilogy had, and 2018 lost so totally.
 
Did some sidequests in Vanaheim tonight. The one for the lady dwarf wasn’t anything special but at least it had a funny conclusion. The “main” side quest for your companion in Vanaheim was much better, it really fleshes out that character and provides some great backstory. And the fights were pretty good too!

After that I decided to trigger the next main story sequence. Went back to Sindri’s house, and damn..

how can Atreus go against everyone who cares for him like that? Everyone that he cares for? Is it really because he’s just a teenager and he really likes Angrboda? He does have other motivations as well for sure, I get that. He’s a well-written character.

I’m not going anywhere with this, just rambling thoughts on Atreus I guess.
 
Did some sidequests in Vanaheim tonight. The one for the lady dwarf wasn’t anything special but at least it had a funny conclusion. The “main” side quest for your companion in Vanaheim was much better, it really fleshes out that character and provides some great backstory. And the fights were pretty good too!

After that I decided to trigger the next main story sequence. Went back to Sindri’s house, and damn..

how can Atreus go against everyone who cares for him like that? Everyone that he cares for? Is it really because he’s just a teenager and he really likes Angrboda? He does have other motivations as well for sure, I get that. He’s a well-written character.

I’m not going anywhere with this, just rambling thoughts on Atreus I guess.

I think I am right around the part where you are. 12 hours in and taking a quick peak at a list of main chapters, it seems like I have a long way to go.
 
Beat it tonight.

The story is just as good as it was last time. But the gameplay, bosses, and locations are far better.

Obviously this didn't hit as surprisingly as the 2018 version as many of us were surprised at how well this reinvention of the series worked, but god damn what a game.

Definitely going for the 100%/Platinum now.
 
I think I am right around the part where you are. 12 hours in and taking a quick peak at a list of main chapters, it seems like I have a long way to go.
I’ve got about 20 hours in the game. If we’re at the same point, I must be going really slow! Haha. I’ve made it a point to do every side quest I’ve come across, and I try and open every chest I find. The nornir ones are starting to get annoying and I might just start looking those up though. I don’t want to spend ten minutes playing Where’s Waldo to find a tiny little blue letter.

If I’ve got a long way to go that’s fine by me!
 
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I've got questions, but I'm scared to google them because I'm afraid of running into spoilers. But I gotta wonder, what's Ragnarok's version of the valkyrie fights? Is it the Hateful fights? Because so far those don't seem that difficult, or as grand as the valkyrie fights were.

Nope. I think I've come across what you're talking about. I beat the first one and it wasn't that bad. But then I found two more and had to give up because I'm underleveled. Definitely don't seem as special as the Valkyries but they're hard asf for sure, at least at this point.
 
God this game just keeps surprising me in wonderful ways. The situations the characters find themselves are always incredible, the people they meet and interact with are often surprising, the dialog is amazing and the voice work impeccable. I wish it were easier to talk about where I am in the story but the nature of this game makes that so hard to do without ruining it for folks who aren’t as far or who haven’t started it yet.

Atreus goes to Asgard, talks with Heimdall (who I love, I wanna see more of him) and Odin, then he goes on a quest with Thor?! This rocks!
 
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30 hours in now. This game just keeps going lol. Although I feel I'm nearing a climax
 
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Nope. I think I've come across what you're talking about. I beat the first one and it wasn't that bad. But then I found two more and had to give up because I'm underleveled. Definitely don't seem as special as the Valkyries but they're hard asf for sure, at least at this point.
are you talking about beserkers? I've seen that name online but I don't think I've found one yet.
 
are you talking about beserkers? I've seen that name online but I don't think I've found one yet.
Yeah, that's what I'd consider the Valkyrie equivalent. You need to do finish a main quest in a certain realm* to unlock them. I have not managed to beat any yet.

There are also plenty of other optional fights, but the Berserkers seem like the hardest

*I don't think it counts as a story spoiler, but just in case: the realm you unlock them is
Midgard
 
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I’m nearly done now. I’m not doing everything - at least not yet, but I’m close to leaving the game behind for a little bit.

I’ve finished the story, maxed out Kratos, fully levelled health and rage, beat nearly all the optional stuff, done all the postgame stuff, destroyed all the ravens, etc.

Just three more challenges to do and I’m done.

A great, great game - not perfect, but the best one I’ve played this year for sure.

I adored 2018 and have been with the series since day dot, but this is probably my favourite one.

I replayed God of War PS4 a couple of weeks before Ragnarok dropped and it was an interesting experience.

I think, decoupled from its moment in time, more cracks are visible and the new car smell has worn off a bit.

The story is a little slow, not a whole lot happens for long stretches, combat encounters are small, environmental diversity is a bit lacking, etc.

You don’t have many combat options for a long time either. Some of this was intentional to communicate how different the game was, but on a replay it feels a bit pedestrian.

It doesn’t help that you only visit a few places and multiple times. You must try to climb the mountain three times, visit Hel twice, etc.

I still loved 2018. It was a brave and bold reimagining that revitalised the franchise, while still retaining a sense of continuity - not just in story, but spirit. And while some parts have dulled for me personally, there was still a lot left to love.

But when I look at all the beautiful new environments, the improvements to combat, the enemy and boss variety, the fun new characters, etc. I can’t help but be drawn to Ragnarok.

The heartfelt father/son dynamic is still here, but expanded and evolved in such great ways. I’d love to say more but can’t due to spoilers.

And all of that improvement is melded to a plot that feels lively and dangerous. I think some will prefer the simple, focused narrative from 2018 more. But I loved the amount of plot, lore and twists and turns Ragnarok throws at you.

It is very much the Gears of War 2 and Uncharted 2 of the series - much like God of War 2 was back in the day.

It is 2018 maximised in nearly every area. Again, I think some people will take issue with parts of the game. And it definitely feels a little bit more like a Naughty Dog game in places, but there’s a lot of optional stuff and big expanses to explore.

I can’t wait until more people finish it and experience some of the cool little postgame flourishes. It’s going to be fun to talk about.
 
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Just finished. What a game. Easily my GotY (so far, but I mean... come on lol)

I think @Mr.Fletcher sums things up pretty well above. All of the main shortcomings of 2018 were addressed and then some - enemy variety, combat options, movement options, and especially bosses and boss variety are all greatly improved. I'm not going to get into spoilers (maybe I should make a spoiler thread? Would anyone be interested?), but suffice to say that whatever early reservations I had about the story were completely gone by the time I saw its end
 
Sigh.

Approaching 20 hours now and I've reached THAT point. The point of dropping down to Give Me Story, intending to just hack through all the battles while plowing through the rest of the story. If I have the energy.

Game is starting to drop hard for me. For every tense, emotional moment, there's 5 moments of uninteresting chitchat, for every amazing locale, there's 5 snowy ruins, for every spectacular boss encounter, there's 5 mob battles that are identical to one another, despite having different enemies.

I didn't really expect the game to keep a brisk pace and hold the fort for 30 hours, it's gonna breathe every now and then. But there's those great heights that it reaches, and I'm just like "why isn't the whole game like this?"

Also, what's the deal with (character spoiler)

Angrboda being completely sidelined so far? Ironwood was and still is a highlight of the game.
 
This was posted in the General Discussion thread by @7threst, but I think it's worth posting here too:

Angrboda being completely sidelined so far? Ironwood was and still is a highlight of the game.
I get what you mean but it does play into the theme of destiny vs choice. Angrboda firmly believes the prophecies are ironclad truth, and her story ends when she tells Loki his. She doesn't think she can be too involved after that.
[/ISPOILER]
 
The Hateful at the Lake of Nine was ridiculous. It took me half an hour to beat that one. And then I kept dying to a stalker during Sigrun’s sidequest. I had enough and turned the difficulty down from Balanced to Grace. It seems like the difficulty spiked really hard here. I might turn it back up, but to be honest it’s nice that trash mobs go down a lot faster on Grace.
 
Approaching 20 hours now and I've reached THAT point. The point of dropping down to Give Me Story, intending to just hack through all the battles while plowing through the rest of the story. If I have the energy.
I just finished up the game today and while it's a beautiful, well made game that hits a ton of great notes, the pacing was awful, the constant NPC narration/problem solving was quite irritating, and I dreaded every combat encounter.

I was forcing myself through the game after
Ironwood
to experience the story, the boss battles, and the high quality world design. I'd give it a solid 8.5/10, which is a half point higher than I'd rate GOW 2018.

I found Elden Ring to be soooo much more GOTY/GOAT-worthy, but sounds like I'm in the minority. Insert Principal Skinner meme.
 
I just finished up the game today and while it's a beautiful, well made game that hits a ton of great notes, the pacing was awful, the constant NPC narration/problem solving was quite irritating, and I dreaded every combat encounter.

I was forcing myself through the game after
Ironwood
to experience the story, the boss battles, and the high quality world design. I'd give it a solid 8.5/10, which is a half point higher than I'd rate GOW 2018.

I found Elden Ring to be soooo much more GOTY/GOAT-worthy, but sounds like I'm in the minority. Insert Principal Skinner meme.

I'm not finished yet, but this is by far my least favorite GoW game unfortunately. It's one of my favorite series of all time, and I rate all the SSM games either 9's or 10's. This game has way too many issues which you have mentioned. There is so much I love about it, and I am going for the Platinum (My only other Platinum is GoW 2018), but it's a shame it was hampered by so many questionable elements to it.

Elden Ring I also have a lot of issues with. I'm obsessed with all of current FROM's games, but again, this is my least favorite of the bunch. Too many open world annoyances. My personal GotY may be an outlier. I still have to play Bayonetta 3 and I'm incredibly excited for The Callisto Protocol.
 
Wild to see some folks here have a negative opinion on Ragnarok. I can’t imagine not thinking it’s an absolute masterpiece. I’m not finished yet, nearly 25 hours in and it feels like I’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m still absolutely in love with the game. Of course, people are entitled to their opinions!
 
It’s definitely a masterpiece. Bawled my eyes out at several points.

Kratos and boy are heart wrenchers.
 
I’ve spent two nights now doing mostly sidequests and I’m starting to feel a smidge burned out on them. There’s just so many of them. It’s like they’re never-ending. They’re good, don’t get me wrong. It’s just a lot. I’m starting to see a bit of the formula too. Big open area with a big side quest, along with a few smaller ones, and also there’s nornir chests and mini-bosses / optional bosses to find. It’s overwhelming. I think I need to get back to the main story or else I’m worried that burned out feeling might start affecting that part of the game too.
 
The Hateful at the Lake of Nine was ridiculous. It took me half an hour to beat that one. And then I kept dying to a stalker during Sigrun’s sidequest. I had enough and turned the difficulty down from Balanced to Grace. It seems like the difficulty spiked really hard here. I might turn it back up, but to be honest it’s nice that trash mobs go down a lot faster on Grace.

Honestly, it’s best just to return to some places after you’ve upgraded your armor and weapons a bit more. It’ll make those encounters feel easier. I played almost exclusively on Give Me No Mercy as I felt balanced was too easy (easier than the equivalent difficulty in the last game) but didn’t really have too many problems save from a couple of bosses.
 
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Considering giving up.

(22 hrs in spoiler)

On my way to rescue Freya's brother and I'm... bored. I can't bring myself to like Freya, I know what kind of character she is, but her whole episode with forgiving Kratos just didn't do much for me, and I have zero emotional investment in her rescue mission right now.

It's like, up until now, the unpredictability of everything kept me going. You just didn't know what could happen. But now I know - unless there's a major shakeup/turn (let me know if it is!) I just feel like I'm not in the mood for more fights, more chitchat and more puzzles.
 
On my way to rescue Freya's brother and I'm... bored. I can't bring myself to like Freya, I know what kind of character she is, but her whole episode with forgiving Kratos just didn't do much for me, and I have zero emotional investment in her rescue mission right now.

It's like, up until now, the unpredictability of everything kept me going. You just didn't know what could happen. But now I know - unless there's a major shakeup/turn (let me know if it is!) I just feel like I'm not in the mood for more fights, more chitchat and more puzzles.
There's a pretty big plot twist coming fairly soon that I doubt you'll see coming. After that there's not much left. I would recommend sticking it out to at least see that happen, and then see if you want to see the story out from there
 
Wild to see some folks here have a negative opinion on Ragnarok. I can’t imagine not thinking it’s an absolute masterpiece. I’m not finished yet, nearly 25 hours in and it feels like I’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m still absolutely in love with the game. Of course, people are entitled to their opinions!

It's weird because for me the Trilogy, Ascension, and 2018 are all 9.5's to me (the OG might actually be a 10). We'll see how this wraps up, but right now it's in the 7.5-8 range for me.
 
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Does that mean that it beat out TLoU2 and Spider-Man? Or are those not PlayStation Studios games? Massive accomplishment either way. The game deserves its success.

edit: just saw "fastest first-party launch"

guess that answers that question! Congrats to SMS!
 
Incredibly impressive numbers. SSM is one hell of a studio, so I have no doubt it's a well earned result.
 
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Just finished the main story after doing about 95% of the sidequests. So many mixed feelings. Gonna take a break before I go back and clean up everything. Going into it I thought there was no chance this wouldn't be my GotY, but as it is I'm not even sure if it's gonna make my top 5 or top 10 of the year. I'll have more thoughts after I 100% it.
 
Oh god the story is starting to bring the emotion. I cried twice while playing it tonight.
 
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Just finished the main story after doing about 95% of the sidequests. So many mixed feelings. Gonna take a break before I go back and clean up everything. Going into it I thought there was no chance this wouldn't be my GotY, but as it is I'm not even sure if it's gonna make my top 5 or top 10 of the year. I'll have more thoughts after I 100% it.
Feel free to give your full thoughts in the spoiler thread 😉
 


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