The previous was the last game I finished. What a great game with the leveling and difficulty options. My real hopes are a Laufey spin off/prequel game. That would be freaking awesome.
I am going to hold off and playing Ragnarok until Christmas. Wife needed an idea on what to get me .. Oh well, I will have to wait for just another 6 weeks. I can do this lol
On GameStop's website for the PS4 version, someone asks if it's a free upgrade and Gamestop responded that it is. It's not. It's a $10 upgrade fee. I haven't seen them backtrack yet.
>> I have a jotnar edition preordered but I’m considering canceling. Those damn boxes
>> are too big and I honestly don’t love this franchise that much.
>
> Didn't you hate 2018? I recall you crap talking it a lot.
I didn’t hate it. It was definitely above average. Just hated that it got voted as the greatest game of all time in that vote off IGN? Did. That’s a travesty to gaming.
>> I've avoided the $70 next-gen tax so far, but this one will be a test of patience.
>> Maybe there will be a minor Black Friday discount.
>
> This game is absolutely worth the cost of admission. I doubt there will be any sale
> for it on BF given its popularity and release time.
Probably combo sales if anything (B2G1, that sort of thing). Shooting for 50ish so it can more or less be a wash on resale. No game is worth $70 to me since there are always a dozen or so others that I can play while waiting.
Waiting on physical here, and probably until post vacation (heading to Disney this weekend)... sucks, but hoping to get caught up week of Thanksgiving.
Been playing it. So far it is cinematic heavy but lots of bosses. Nothing wrong with it but it’s not the greatest thing ever- yet. Feels like a Norse mythology / True romance mashup with this acting and the lines. Lol.
@MrBean Looks like you might be able to take part in both the Epcot food & wine (and maybe Kenny G or Sugar Ray at the free Epcot concerts if you like either of them) and the Christmas stuff, so pretty good timing! I still miss the school bread from Epcot Norway and catching the Epcot Dennis DeYoung concert on a cold (for Florida) night with hot chocolate. I don't know if they still do it, but Hollywood Studios was completely covered in Christmas lights when I went. The pay separately Christmas parade was definitely worth doing, too.
@MrBean If it's like when I went the concerts should be near the back of Epcot (maybe close to Japan?). You line up a little before the show (maybe a half hour) and then it's just general seating. It's not closed off or anything. You can check the schedule for the specific dates you'll be there. Avatar land looks really cool. It's amazing how much stuff they keep adding.
@Feeb It is. Definitely one of my fonder memories.
Didn't mean to hijack the thread! Is the game in pretty good technical shape? I remember the first game didn't need too many patches. Work gets really busy starting in January so it's tempting to jump in now.
Got my Jotnar, holy hell, this is a pretty badass box! Tons of trinkets ... all of which, will stay in the box because I'm out of g'damn room - but Mjolnir found a spot hidden behind my monitor.
This is definitely one of the more impressive CE's I've ever seen. How the box opens, how there are hidden compartments, the quality/look/feel, I'm pretty damn impressed.
I thought I didn't get the Vinyl, nope, hidden! Pretty cool.
Against my better judgment I went ahead and bought a copy. I hate to say it but it's kind of boring. Hopefully it'll pick up but so far it's just been a ton of rudimentary puzzles that Sony is terrified of you solving on your own. Between this and Forbidden West it's like they've tried their hardest to prevent a game from getting in the way of the story they want to tell.
Yeah God of War is way better than HFW. Mimir does eventually give you hints but it's nothing like Aloy talking to herself. Also I just prefer the semi open world aspect of God of War
God of War is definitely a much better game. Mimir and even Atreus are just super quick to chime in on every puzzle. Maybe it's somewhere in the billion accessibility settings, but I couldn't find a way to make them tone it down. Speaking of accessibility so far fighting trash mobs is a lot more enjoyable one down from the base difficulty. They aren't so spongy that way.
I’m still not overly impressed with the combat gameplay. At times it feels a bit tight and restricted. That’s one thing HFW does better imo. That one feels like it forces you to improvise and learn more- at least on the higher difficulty- and you have so many options. These are quite different games though so I’ll take both.
I like that part of leveling up skills is actually using them. Kind of makes you realize what you've been neglecting in combat. I'm not too wild about a tight third person camera with enemies spawning behind you constantly, though.
The game is a lot more interesting now. Combat has a few new wrinkles to keep it fresh. Puzzles still feel contrived, and crafting is the same waste of time that it is in every other game that has it, but the plot and combat are very solid. I'm at a bit of a loss for how to allocate my XP. It seems like it doesn't really matter since the skills are gated by weapon levels. At any rate I look forward to seeing what happens next.
I came across a video of the cut scenes and I'm about ready to watch that instead as the story is the most interesting part. Hearing this opinions on gameplay really resonate with me as I don't have the patience for something that feels subpar (to me and me alone, NOT overall) anymore. I can't tell you how many games I pick up with the plans to play again because I loved the gameplay and they don't get touched by me. Again: definitely a ME problem and not reflective of others...
I think I'm closing in on about 20 hours and the game says I'm 21% complete. It's exactly the game I was expecting it to be, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's hard to complain that a game has "too much" but I do think they could have edited this down a bit to improve pacing. It doesn't feel like padding but it does feel like certain sequences are too indulgent and go on for far too long.
My only gripes are pretty small: -Some of the story bits are awfully lengthy and although really well done I sometimes just want to get back into the action.
-About 10 hours in there is a sequence that goes on for about an hour where you just walk-and-talk. I could not wait for this bit to end even though the narrative was interesting.
-I felt like battles were also taking too long so I bumped down the difficulty a notch from normal, and honestly it didn't change a whole lot except it seems like I do more damage so things are over a little more quickly.
And yes there is a menu setting to have your companion not give you puzzle tips.
I think I know what long part you're talking about. I thought that would never end. I'm not sure I'm on board with the major gameplay change in this one.
I'm regretting not replaying 2018 again... Feeling disconnected from the story (altho the YT video helped, I'm failing to remember most of it). Damnit.
these are spoilers, but vague as possible and nothing really specific
I dumped combat to Story Mode. It seems every new place I go, there's some new combat thing being introduced and I'm a bit sick of it. I'm here for the story.
The first game had a relatively small cast of characters... This is constantly introducing new people at a break neck speed and it's overwhelming, I guess?
> I think I'm closing in on about 20 hours and the game says I'm 21% complete. It's
> exactly the game I was expecting it to be, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's
> hard to complain that a game has "too much" but I do think they could have edited
> this down a bit to improve pacing. It doesn't feel like padding but it does feel
> like certain sequences are too indulgent and go on for far too long.
>
> My only gripes are pretty small:
> -Some of the story bits are awfully lengthy and although really well done I sometimes
> just want to get back into the action.
>
> -About 10 hours in there is a sequence that goes on for about an hour where you just
> walk-and-talk. I could not wait for this bit to end even though the narrative was
> interesting.
this I think was 7.5-8 hours for me, if it's this:
The part in Ironwood with the girl/riding on the animal thing? I liked it, but I'm here for the story. But my time is without any side content.
>
> -I felt like battles were also taking too long so I bumped down the difficulty a
> notch from normal, and honestly it didn't change a whole lot except it seems like
> I do more damage so things are over a little more quickly.
>
I dumped it into Story mode. that is why I'm playing this.
> And yes there is a menu setting to have your companion not give you puzzle tips.
Need to find this.... after 10 seconds they're telling me what to do.
>|
Some complaints on Ragnarok so far:
these are spoilers, but vague as possible and nothing really specific
I dumped combat to Story Mode. It seems every new place I go, there's some new combat thing being introduced and I'm a bit sick of it. I'm here for the story.
The first game had a relatively small cast of characters... This is constantly introducing new people at a breakneck speed and it's overwhelming, I guess?
Still enjoying it though.
I am only doing the main story though, if I do side content it'll be after I beat it.
I platinum the 2018 on highest difficulty and I only remember that last Valkyrie being very hard. The fights in ragnorok do feel much longer but also feels more balanced in my favor.
I was gonna play hardest most but lots of people seem to be complaining. Instead I went with the second hardest. Partially regret... But time will tell. Just had my first God fight.
@MrBean I completely forgot the story from the first game, too. The major story beats from the last game are being referenced in this game and I think "Wait, what, that happened?" That was a really good recap video, so thanks for posting that.
@Kommie I agree about the combat. I thought I more or less had it down and then another skill tree pops up. Most of the time I forget I even have the L1 + X ability. I'm still not even sure what the frost/immolate status is, what it does, or how to tell it's active other than an icy or fiery looking enemy. I mostly tend to fling my axe at stuff and punch it until the stun insta-kill bar builds up. I also don't think there is an option to turn off NPC hints. You can lengthen puzzle timing windows, but there's nothing about NPC hints from what I can find. It seems like they're extremely impatient/helpful on the mandatory puzzles but a bit more hands-off on the side content.
I do kind of like exploring a map and doing side content, but I almost laughed out loud when an in-game character actually said "We don't have the tools to do this yet." If you know what it is why don't you tell me what I need to get past the stupid wind coming out of rocks or the golden glowy rocks? I don't really want to go back through everything all over again when I get whatever ability it is. There's no way I'm going to remember where they all are. I don't guess I'm really missing much since 90% of the treasure chests are token amounts of money or crafting mats. Hopefully optional bosses aren't gated behind my extremely poor memory.
Absolutely loving this game. The deeper dynamic between Kratos and Atreus is making a great story so far. At first I wasn't a huge fan of playing as Atreus, but after the second round, it's growing on me. Nice change of pace with a different strategy.
I don't remember the first one having this enjoyable of a leveling system. Love that you can level the skills themselves and put modifiers on them.
Anyone else focusing on Luck gear early on? I'm passing up on other great stats in favor of luck. Gear is all L4 at the moment.
Game feels like it's gonna be pretty big. I've gotta be closing in on 20 hours. I am definitely not looking forward to the back tracking. Wonder if we'll get a better fast travel or mode of transportation. For now I'm taking notes on all the crap left behind.
Definitely don't click if you haven't found out more about Lokis story (his second time in control).
1) Chasing Angroboda as a wolf was quite fun. Love that he's learning to control his power. 2) The grandma fight was surprisingly fun (albeit easy) 3) Do you really think they're gonna kill off Kratos?
@MrBean I've focused mostly on luck and strength, to the extent that I can. You abandon any and all builds you have when you have a chance to swap out for higher level gear, though. I've got one set (Lunda's?) that does poison/augments poison/barehand so I huck my axe (with a stun-boost augment) at an enemy and punch it until I stun/insta-kill it.
@Orlandu yeah I was assuming that'd happen at some point. Just seems like you need a ton of money and xp for all the additional leveling so sacrafcing stats now in favor of luck. Playing second hardest difficulty, die here and there, but nothing overly difficult. Kinda wish I did hardest, but don't want to hate the game.
You get a good amount of XP just for progressing story, so that hasn't been too much of an issue for me. I don't bother leveling equipment/handles/whatever since I assume they'll be obsoleted as I go. Does luck improve XP gain? I can't even remember.
Luck helps more with getting critical hits and some other attack effects. That's all I've seen it mentioned for but getting those things to activate more often makes a huge difference. I've focussed mostly on strength and luck as an effort to quicken battles.
As far as armor leveling up...I've pretty much had the same setup the entire game. Completely unmemorable pieces but instead of crafting other items I always just upgrade the current item since the specs are always better. I have an insane amount of crafting supplies that are useless at this point as there's no reason for me to craft something and then still need the special materials necessary to upgrade those to the same level I am now (most things are level 5-6 or so). I feel like this bit is kinda broken as those special things that let you upgrade armor gets harder and harder to find, even when you only need 2. So after hitting level 3 or so with something it doesn't make sense to just start over with a new piece since it drops down your character's level which impacts all kinds of stats.
Is anyone actually changing out their armor regularly?
I beat it... I'd maybe give it a 8/10. A lot of stuff about the ending I didn't like. And it used a really annoying trope from JRPGs... Sort of. Hard to explain without spoilers. There is some post game stuff I wanna do but might wait a bit.
