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

18 hours in:

God of War II
God of War III
God of War (2005)
God of War Ragnarok <------
God of War Chains of Olympus
God of War Ghost of Sparta
God of War (2018)
God of War Ascension

Current rankings. A lot is left, so all subject to change, of course.
 
18 hours in:

God of War II
God of War III
God of War (2005)
God of War Ragnarok <------
God of War Chains of Olympus
God of War Ghost of Sparta
God of War (2018)
God of War Ascension

Current rankings. A lot is left, so all subject to change, of course.

For me it would be:

God of War (2005)
God of War II
God of War Ascension
God of War III
God of War (2018)
God of War Ragnarok
God of War Ghost of Sparta
God of War Chains of Olympus
 
0
Just completed the game 100% on Give Me No Mercy, no resurrection stones used and I did not seek out any guides. There are still a handful of Labors still active standing in my way between the platinum but I don't think I'll bother. I probably put in 60-70 hrs or so. Overall I enjoyed my time with it. The combat was sublime, most of the characters were cool and gave great performances, and the story was interesting all the way through. Boss battles and creatures were varied and creative. The environments look beautiful, and sound design and music were on point. The optional content was all very well done with a lot of cool sidequests, and some really fun and challenging optional bosses.

But it had a lot bogging it down too. Obviously the biggest thing is the game treating me like I'm a complete idiot both in and out of combat, constantly spoiling puzzles and enemy weaknesses. The game also pretty much never lets you breathe. There is always a companion or two with you who never shuts up. Level design felt pretty bland, even compared to 2018, which was in itself a big step back from the Greek games. Everything is just so static in the levels without any cool traps or moving parts or interesting visual designs that were tied into moving throughout the levels themselves. The critical path was also far too easy, even on the highest selectable difficulty the first time through. Another of the worst offenders in the game was the pacing. It's just too damn slow moving. It barely even feels like a God of War game most of the time. Every time the action starts to ramp up a bit it gets brought way back down to a crawl again. And then, story wise, I simply cannot believe that
Atreus never finds out that Kratos killed his family. I simply can't believe that Kratos has been "redeemed" until he comes clean to his son about the worst deed he ever did.

All of the other SSM God of War games are at least 9/10 to me, but I'd give Ragnarok a 7. It's good but nowhere near spectacular.
 
I think I'm either approaching or have passed a point of no return. Mimir made a comment about "one last adventure" when they gave me the option to go do sidequests. A major twist happened that I did not see coming.
Tyr was Odin the whole time?! And he killed Brok! That bastard is gonna pay.

So now Kratos and Atreus are in Muspelheim to find the Fire Giant.

I assume I'm pretty close to the end. 35 hours in now.
 
I just finished
Helheim with Atreus.

I really loved this part a lot. It was structured like a classic GOW set piece (with a set piece boss fight on top!), followed by some great emotional resolutions, the "don't be sorry, be better" line and most importantly the return of Fenrir! He's a v. good boi

Masterful section overall, probably my favorite in a game that's been full of amazing sections so far
 
I just finished
Helheim with Atreus.

I really loved this part a lot. It was structured like a classic GOW set piece (with a set piece boss fight on top!), followed by some great emotional resolutions, the "don't be sorry, be better" line and most importantly the return of Fenrir! He's a v. good boi

Masterful section overall, probably my favorite in a game that's been full of amazing sections so far
This part of the game had me crying multiple times
 
I just finished
Helheim with Atreus.

I really loved this part a lot. It was structured like a classic GOW set piece (with a set piece boss fight on top!), followed by some great emotional resolutions, the "don't be sorry, be better" line and most importantly the return of Fenrir! He's a v. good boi

Masterful section overall, probably my favorite in a game that's been full of amazing sections so far
Funny enough, it reminded me of their Helheim trip in the first game, where they both kind of regained their focus after being rattled.
 
0
Finished this today.

Amazing game. Bit of an underwhelming finale, but the character arcs are resolved so well, and the rest of the game is so fantastic, I can't let that bug me too much.

Fantastic game, really, easily my favorite game in the series since God of War II.
 
Finished this today.

Amazing game. Bit of an underwhelming finale, but the character arcs are resolved so well, and the rest of the game is so fantastic, I can't let that bug me too much.

Fantastic game, really, easily my favorite game in the series since God of War II.
Did you see the “true” ending?
 
Just finished the game, pulled an all nighter because the last run was pretty epic for a lack of another word to describe it simply. I just couldn't put it down!

I think I ended around 43 hours? No Mercy mode, which I'm glad I did cause I played 2018 on the normal mode and while I enjoyed it good chunks of it aren't memorable tbh. I still 2018 though.

I haven't played any of the OG God of War games but this one improved on 2018 in almost every way. I liked the combat as far as weapon moves and runic attacks but the camera and movement always remain an obstacle to truly feel like I should invest heavily in the gameplay mechanics.

Favorite parts of the game were the story, narrative, character development and some gameplay mechanics.
 
It's interesting you say that - I found the last act by far the best part of the game
For me, everything after Tyr=Odin feels super rushed.

  • Atreus' existential crisis and Kratos deciding to walk away from everything, and then both getting over it and deciding to rejoin the fight, literally takes 10 minutes, we know this because this all happens in real time, on screen, in one continuous take. Which is fucking stupid lol
  • The armies across all Nine Realms are gathered within 15 minutes, all off screen
  • Surtur is completely opposed to helping, except, within 30 seconds (again, in real time) he changes his mind of his own accord, with no provocation or convincing necessary, and without ever involving his wife, who loves him and has as much of an interest in keeping him alive as he does in keeping her alive, at all. Kratos even remarks on how easy this is.
  • The Dark Elf/Light Elf conflict, which the games have GONE OUT OF THEIR WAY to build up as deeply irreparable, is, once again, fixed off screen in a matter of minutes (again, the passage of time is real time in a continuous take, they created this issue with their one take) and the explanation we get is Freyr saying "they like me over there"
  • The battle between Thor and Jormungandr, which is quite literally the centrepiece of the Ragnarok prophecies, is relegated to a 15 second looped animation in the background
  • Surtur's destruction of Asgard, which is quite literally another centrepiece of the Ragnarok prophecies, is reduced to also being a 15 second animation loop in the background
  • Characters like Sir randomly deciding to forgive Kratos and turn on Odin, or Freya randomly deciding she doesn't want to kill Odin, does not feel fully built up or contextualized. Like, I like these characters and have a feel for them enough that I can buy it, but the story has not put in the work here at all.
  • The armies of death from Hel, which are a third crucial component of the Ragnarok prophecies, and are built up incessantly by the game, are literally never seen. Like, at least Jormungandr and Surtur are there, even though they are hyper disappointing, but you don't even see Hel's armies
  • Fenrir, another crucial element of Ragnarok, is relegated to having nothing to do except be a very good boi as well
  • The actual siege of Asgard is a sequence of seven encounters with 3-5 grunt enemies in closed off arenas, and that's it, that's all there is, then you're at the end
  • The Thor and Odin boss fights themselves are fairly basic and unimaginative. Just single stage arena fights, no crazy gimmicks, no set piece moments, nothing. Just arena fights, and you're done

To me, it's very clearly rushed, and I think it's a consequence of smushing together parts 2 and 3 of a presumed trilogy into one game.

Very honestly, in spite of my academic acknowledgement of these shortcomings, these didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game at all. The finale felt flaccid, including in terms of gameplay, but as far as the story goes, I was never taking it seriously to begin with (my favourite God of War stories are the fucking stupid ones that just give an excuse for Kratos to wreck shit, like God of War 2, and this one is in the same spirit, where it's absurdly stupid, but is ultimately an excuse to facilitate the excellent gameplay). The level that I engaged with the game narratively on was the characters and the thematic arcs, and those are handled amazingly, even at the conclusion. Like, even in the ending sequence that I just spent all this time criticizing, the actual character moments are incredible such as Kratos telling Atreus he was wrong, and that he needs to open his heart and be himself or Kratos deciding not to kill Thor and reaching out to him and getting through

As far as the story goes, that's what I was playing the game for, so I don't particularly mind the ball being dropped on the big narrative set piece moments. To me, the part of the story I cared about was really well done, and while the finale is a bit flaccid even from the gameplay perspective, it was still fun enough for it to not drag down just how much I loved the game.
 
For me, everything after Tyr=Odin feels super rushed.

  • Atreus' existential crisis and Kratos deciding to walk away from everything, and then both getting over it and deciding to rejoin the fight, literally takes 10 minutes, we know this because this all happens in real time, on screen, in one continuous take. Which is fucking stupid lol
  • The armies across all Nine Realms are gathered within 15 minutes, all off screen
  • Surtur is completely opposed to helping, except, within 30 seconds (again, in real time) he changes his mind of his own accord, with no provocation or convincing necessary, and without ever involving his wife, who loves him and has as much of an interest in keeping him alive as he does in keeping her alive, at all. Kratos even remarks on how easy this is.
  • The Dark Elf/Light Elf conflict, which the games have GONE OUT OF THEIR WAY to build up as deeply irreparable, is, once again, fixed off screen in a matter of minutes (again, the passage of time is real time in a continuous take, they created this issue with their one take) and the explanation we get is Freyr saying "they like me over there"
  • The battle between Thor and Jormungandr, which is quite literally the centrepiece of the Ragnarok prophecies, is relegated to a 15 second looped animation in the background
  • Surtur's destruction of Asgard, which is quite literally another centrepiece of the Ragnarok prophecies, is reduced to also being a 15 second animation loop in the background
  • Characters like Sir randomly deciding to forgive Kratos and turn on Odin, or Freya randomly deciding she doesn't want to kill Odin, does not feel fully built up or contextualized. Like, I like these characters and have a feel for them enough that I can buy it, but the story has not put in the work here at all.
  • The armies of death from Hel, which are a third crucial component of the Ragnarok prophecies, and are built up incessantly by the game, are literally never seen. Like, at least Jormungandr and Surtur are there, even though they are hyper disappointing, but you don't even see Hel's armies
  • Fenrir, another crucial element of Ragnarok, is relegated to having nothing to do except be a very good boi as well
  • The actual siege of Asgard is a sequence of seven encounters with 3-5 grunt enemies in closed off arenas, and that's it, that's all there is, then you're at the end
  • The Thor and Odin boss fights themselves are fairly basic and unimaginative. Just single stage arena fights, no crazy gimmicks, no set piece moments, nothing. Just arena fights, and you're done

To me, it's very clearly rushed, and I think it's a consequence of smushing together parts 2 and 3 of a presumed trilogy into one game.

Very honestly, in spite of my academic acknowledgement of these shortcomings, these didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game at all. The finale felt flaccid, including in terms of gameplay, but as far as the story goes, I was never taking it seriously to begin with (my favourite God of War stories are the fucking stupid ones that just give an excuse for Kratos to wreck shit, like God of War 2, and this one is in the same spirit, where it's absurdly stupid, but is ultimately an excuse to facilitate the excellent gameplay). The level that I engaged with the game narratively on was the characters and the thematic arcs, and those are handled amazingly, even at the conclusion. Like, even in the ending sequence that I just spent all this time criticizing, the actual character moments are incredible such as Kratos telling Atreus he was wrong, and that he needs to open his heart and be himself or Kratos deciding not to kill Thor and reaching out to him and getting through

As far as the story goes, that's what I was playing the game for, so I don't particularly mind the ball being dropped on the big narrative set piece moments. To me, the part of the story I cared about was really well done, and while the finale is a bit flaccid even from the gameplay perspective, it was still fun enough for it to not drag down just how much I loved the game.
Thanks for the explanation. I pretty much see where you're coming from, but I guess I was too swept up in the amazing character work you talk about to care about, or even notice, those plotholes. Some of the more specific Ragnarok prophecies - like Fenrir, Surtur, Jormungandr - I kind of took as nods to the prophecies rather than anything you were meant to see as consequential.
 
Thanks for the explanation. I pretty much see where you're coming from, but I guess I was too swept up in the amazing character work you talk about to care about, or even notice, those plotholes. Some of the more specific Ragnarok prophecies - like Fenrir, Surtur, Jormungandr - I kind of took as nods to the prophecies rather than anything you were meant to see as consequential.
I think the bigger issue is the series has a history of using these mythological elements to create crazy services, and with this being the conclusion to the Norse saga, I was expecting some of that, and the game really doesnt come through on that front (barring the exception of the hellhound fight with Gorm)

Again, in the long run, not an issue, and the direction they do go, I loved anyway. Just something I noticed.
 
0
After a solid six-ish weeks of not touching the game I had the urge to jump back in. Sunk about 20 hours into it over two days and finished it.

What a phenomenal experience, with a climax that for me rivals Avengers: Endgame. I never thought a God of War game could make me cry but Ragnarok did more than once. Sony once again proving they've got the best first-party lineup in the business.
 


SMH i can't believe Sony released this game in such a poor state! :mad:

it's a sequel to a video they did for the original game showing off various pre-release bugs.

 
0
I really want the rumors of an expansion or DLC announced at TGA to be true.
:)


God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla will be an epilogue to the events of God of War Ragnarok that follows Kratos on a deeply personal and reflective journey.

Set after the decisive battle against Odin and Atreus’ departure, Kratos has seen a path for himself that he never thought possible before. Brought to the mysterious shores of Valhalla accompanied only by Mimir, Kratos will enter its unknown depths to overcome trials within himself and face echoes of his past.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla celebrates the combat you know and love from God of War Ragnarok and blends it with fresh, experimental elements inspired by the roguelite genre.

If you own God of War Ragnarok, you will be able to download God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla for free on December 12 at PlayStation Store.
 
0
Better redownload.

I love roguelike systems! Lets people that love the combat system to really see the limits of it.
 
0
Ok the impressions over on Era have sold me. I’m gonna have to reinstall this for sure. I’ll start it tonight.
 
I have reinstalled and dipped into Valhalla - its fun enough and there's definitely some amount of story there to keep you intrigued, though not sure whether I really like roguelites enough to really sit through it all to get to the story meat
 
I really am enjoying this so far, game has great combat so it’s nice to play a mode that’s mostly focused on that.
Started playing at about 11 and it was 2 am next I looked
 
hmm. i got the bug where the first respawn cutscene is bugged. floating mimir and no voices.

started over from scratch with a fresh save and got the bug again. screw this, i'm waiting for a patch

also i completely forgot how to play this game. playing so much FFXVI got me all sorts of confused and i have no idea what im doing. i died very quickly both times.
 
0
DLC seems to be getting good impressions, makes me wanna try.

Jumping back into this game is a bit daunting for me. Found the level design a bit too cluttered and hard to parse at times, and there’s so much side stuff I haven’t done.
 
0
I've dug into this over the past few days, and am enjoying it tons. I thought it was going to be a quick 5 hour experience but nah, this is a full on meaty ass standalone expansion. The combat is so good and it's provided a tough challenge on Normal mode.
 
0
I must have missed this star topic.

So I'm just popping in to say that Valhalla was fantastic -- I don't like roguelites, not even Hades, but the GoW team delivered something tremendously fun, unshackling Ragnarok's combat from the loot/crafting/questing/unlocking bloat of the main game and adding in all kinds of neat boons and synergies to explore, all while revisiting both the Greek and Norse sagas.

Valhalla was one of my top five games of 2023. Quite an achievement for free DLC.
 


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