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God of War: Ragnarök


one-armed dwarf
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Beat all the berserkers, 6 of them clobbered this weekend, phew. now it's just down to the head honcho and I'll be satisfied to shelve Ragnarök. Its health bar is purple, which means I'm underlevelled, but I reckon I'll still take him at this level. No more picking flowers for me, not going for collectables for platinums or anything like that

 

This one was quite difficult and took most of my energy. Lots of space and camera management needed. Not that I always do a good job of it. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

For these I took a mostly ignorant approach, thanks to equipment gained from the one above

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

My build is glass cannon. I have a lot of luck stats for proccing cooldown bonuses, stuff like 'perfect parry reduces cooldown', other stuff like hitting with blades might proc a ice axe buff and such. They really want you to swap weapons a lot in this game, unlike the last one. After the trio fight I got an armour that makes your attacks even more powerful if you use a relic, but makes your defence way weaker. So you can melt things if you know the mechanics well enough, which happened to the last guy here. Glass cannon nuked him

 

I like how the mechanics are simple tbh, if these were Elden Ring fights I'd still be learning the first one. Just onboard me fast and I'll figure it out, no stupid rote-learning ambiguous attack strings here.

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Can't watch those videos yet as I'm still not at the point where that stuff gets unlocked but it's interesting hearing you talk of the nitty gritty of the stats, I've never really played much attention to cooldown bonuses and stuff like that, I guess I should be paying more attention going into those fights, even if I'll be doing them on Very Easy mode. I had no clue about the purple life bars either lol.

 

I will be going for the Plat on this so a lot of backtracking will be needed I think, I still haven't got the item/weapon/ability to open places I encountered in the very first area of the game.

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I'm not sure the stats matter except on the higher modes tbh, but it allows you to lean into certain playstyles a bit. There's ones for hand to hand combat and chucking the axe away a lot, ones which are actually based on taking damage (can't imagine how that works on GMGOW tho), ones which are based on taking no damage at all. Ones which give a luck stat-influenced chance to proc better build up of status effects depending on your use of distance closers, etc etc. 

 

It's just a bit of a shame GMGOW is a 'lock-in' difficult, and I can't figure out how the build interacts with the enemies on that mode without entirely starting all over again, going through the motions of the unskippable cinematic sequences. Not sure why they are inflexible like that, but apparently GOW 2018's ng+ added game changing stuff to its mode, so I'll probably consider waiting to see what they add to this one (please let me skip cutscenes, even more unlikely I would like to skip Ironwood)

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Final one down, took a bit. Not as smooth a clear as I'd liked as I keep pausing the game at certain parts to think, cause it's hard to recognise some of the abilities. Just tired from work 😴

 

Spoiler

 

 

R4GiC_.gif

 

Anyway that's it for Ragnarök for now, I think. There is another boss fight, but I feel pretty done now. I might try GMGOW one day if they add the NG+ 2018 has maybe. I think the postgame is better than the one in 2018. 2018 had lots of real filler shite with the Nifhelheim grinding, which is why I stopped playing that game. But I did all I wanted to with Ragnarok, and I think the optional content feels pretty consequential, tho too much of it is based around getting loot. But it's still reasonably good stuff, with some pretty great dialogue and I enjoyed all the character interactions. They did a good job with this part of the game, brother.

 

That's my build. Good game when it comes together

 

Spoiler

FiNEmoYWIAMATxh?format=jpg&name=900x900

 

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Finally conceded last night and dropped the difficulty down to "give me story".... I'll happily play stuff like Gears or Dead Space on high difficulty but stuff like this infuriates me, I'd like my God of War to actually feel like a God and not get melted by 5 red shirt lizard things thanks.

 

Plus it's fair to say that I'm more interested in where they take the story than playing the game if truth be told.

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I've been turning the difficulty down for optional bosses and stuff whilst exploring but then turning it back up when I'm back on the main story path. I think the difficulty on balanced is just about right for most enemies though, it's just the optional bosses that I can't really be bothered to hit my head against the wall on and would rather get them over with.

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Yeah the game is massive, the past couple of weekends I thought I'd finish it and it just keeps going and going really, as fantastic as it is, it does feel a bit like I've got my fill really now and I just want to see the conclusion and move on but I am still really enjoying it which is kind of a juxtaposition I guess. 

 

I'm at the point now where the game is saying 'do some side stuff before going here' so I might not have too much longer left, but I've thought that before and then the status quo has returned (if that makes sense) so I've no idea.  All the side stuff I have left I think I'm still too under-levelled for so I think I'm now going to leave everything else to the post-game. I am a little apprehensive how difficult the

Spoiler

Trials

will be, I do kind of want to get them over with now as they're a potential Plat-breaker but I'm probably still too under-levelled to do so.

 

I have fought a few of the Valkyrie equivalents on Story difficulty and they haven't been too bad, I reached one the other night with a Red Health Bar though which absolutely annihilated me.

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There are definitely a lot of them, it's not something I'll struggle with though hopefully. I think I've got almost all realms at about 70-95% complete now as I've been doing everything I can whilst I'm there (if that makes sense) and have been going back since unlocking certain abilities in-between the story segments to polish some bits off. 

 

So yeah, I think I'm going to struggle with the 

Spoiler

Trials 

and Valkyrie equivalents more. 

 

I fought one last night 

Spoiler

which turned into three at the same time and fuck me it's hard. I get that I probably shouldn't be doing it at the level I am as all of them have purple health bars, but yeah, it was not fun at all getting pummelled by the two witches whilst trying to defeat the one brute-type enemy. I hope there's some way to cheese this fight once I'm at the appropriate level, feels super cheap.

It's a potential plat-breaker on its own this particular fight, I know I can do it if I just stick with it for hours on end but I'm not sure I want to or can be bothered with the hassle to be honest. I never bothered with all the Valkyrie fights in the last game for much the same reasons.

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It is cool I agree, but also annoying. It might be largely due to me being under-levelled for it at the moment (I'm Level 5, I think the boss is Level 7) and probably not having the right equipment set up. I think most of them that are 

Spoiler

1v1

shouldn't be an issue but the others might be a pain. I've left it for now though and will return to them after I finish the story and am hopefully a bit more levelled up. I will still attempt others I come across but not this particular fight.

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At about the 50 hour mark on this now, which is kinda crazy in of itself. The game just keeps going and going and going, about 3 times already I thought I was entering the 'Endgame' only for something else to happen in the Realm I'm in and then spending a lot more hours then mopping up everything that has now opened up in that realm. 

 

I've found the second half a lot more uneven than the first half of the game, the mini-open world areas break up the pacing of the story (obviously these don't need to be done the second you open them, but, me being me I like fully exploring them before moving on) and it seems to me when you get to a certain realm and fight a boss there that a load of stuff got cut inbetween cause I there is no context or leadup to this boss at all, you reach the end of this realm and it's just kind of there for you to fight and you're like, hang on a minute, how did it get here? Why is it here? etc.

 

Obviously nothing too crazy for video games but when the game has handled the story so delicately up to this point I was left scratching my head a bit. Things after that feel rushed and like loads of stuff has been cut too. I think I'm now at the conclusion but the game could go on or another mini-open world could open up afterwards for all I know.

 

I've done a lot of the collectible hunting already which is good, I don't have much to mop up after the game is over, every realm I've visited is at the 90-100% complete mark but I still have a few trophies to mop up and then the Trials to do if I'm to get the Plat. 

 

I do feel a bit burnt out by it right now and it isn't such a home run as the first game was, there's been no moment in this that has quite matched a few moments in the first game but it's definitely still an emotional tale and a great journey to take with such a fantastic bunch of characters. I think it is better than the first game in almost every way but it's definitely not as focused or satisfying in the story department.

 

Pics, they're all spoilery so don't look unless you're right near the end of the game.

 

Spoiler

488714FA-413D-40E5-96AF-B31CB66C23C6.jpegDF1F5FC3-5669-4A6C-A5A9-EF10AF0F0C2D.jpeg0971BE6D-4FB1-476A-84D2-480B3644AE90.jpegCEBAE2FE-55BC-42EE-B5AE-F4A9C3A0B71C.jpegFA799DEF-7F3D-43DC-9E43-832D243B2581.jpeg750AC611-46B7-4B39-9418-461CD42FA6A6.jpegF827F5ED-DA5C-4B50-BC57-BF616E064F04.jpeg7DCDCDCE-388D-4838-8531-AB1589E4A755.jpeg2BA06E77-00E3-433A-BB6F-C2C944937398.jpeg206AEF5B-84EE-472C-85B9-4CFC26B33B90.jpegD0BBA8F3-477E-43C5-A1F7-9037BA1160B0.jpeg515516F2-BF7F-453B-9259-5D7F28A1BF02.jpegA8D66D3C-A832-4CB4-ACBA-1033DC24A16D.jpeg38D7DCBB-32FB-41F4-8E18-5FA0F72FC205.jpegBD03AEB5-40FC-45E3-BE2E-F28DA975D76D.jpeg230DF467-3ECD-4F57-AA0F-72B9E0813A33.jpeg31E313F7-9B8B-42B7-BB69-8F099126B616.jpeg4E4F8940-6049-4109-BB8A-4EED149ABA1F.jpeg0704C76F-1749-4B5A-9869-7A226B0C9E62.jpeg782B0865-616C-4571-A26A-C67A83C3A595.jpeg

 

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I've been chipping away at this in between football. I've just finished the section where you first play as 

Spoiler

Atreaus

 

A change of pace I guess, but the number of things I've seen over the last few hours that I can't interact with yet has made me wince a bit. There's going to be a lot of revisiting areas if I want to see what they are

 

I quite enjoyed the boat section in the wetlands, but I was ambling around there so long I forgot what I was actually supposed to be doing. It's a big game

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Finished this over the weekend, took me about 52 hours to clock it I think.

 

I don't think there isn't too much to add to what I've already said about the game really at this stage but I will go a bit more in depth into my thoughts about the story now that everything has had a nice bow tied on it.

 

Story spoilers

Spoiler

This is very much Atreus' tale so to speak, 2018 was very much Kratos' tale and his journey to reconnect with his son and be better for him and his late Wife whereas this is very much Atreus' coming of age tale, finding out his place in the world, trying to figure out what the kind of man he wants to be and what he wants out of life. I think the quest structure largely mirrors Atreus, as he isn't sure of anything, is naturally curious and eager to explore almost to a fault, which puts you all in situations and on a journey you probably don't need to be on at times. Much like other teenage tales, the relationship between Father and Son becomes fractured again at one point when Atreus starts to rebel against his Father's wishes and takes umbrage with some of his decisions. 

 

The game does meander much more than the first game, there's so much stuffed into it that by about the midway point it makes 2018 feel like a prologue. The scope of the game, how many places and realms you go to, how many side stories there are, how much backstory and lore they throw at you and the grander, loftier goals of its overarching narrative completely dwarf 2018, which feels like a much more linear, more focused game that has a more grounded, less grandiose plot and overarching narrative.

 

Some moments felt a bit indulgent, I think the pinnacle of this was the cow ride through Ironwood which I still enjoyed very much and the exposition dealt out here by Angrboda was fascinating but the pace was glacial and brought the narrative wheels to a grinding holt so to speak. A few of the latter open world mini-hubs like the Crater located in Vanaheim feel much the same, there is so much to do in them - but entirely optional unlike the Ironwood cow ride - that they feel a bit indulgent and done for the sake of what the Devs can do rather than what they should do necessarily. 

 

What I like most about the game overall is how it subverts expectations, I think going into the game we all had an expectation (well I certainly did) that this was going to be a Norse version of GoW3 with Kratos going back to his murderous ways and slaughtering all the Aesir Gods, with Ragnarok itself feeling much like the opening moments of GoW3 where you're ascending the Olympus steps with all the Titans in tow, having to face God after God in spectacular fashion to finally get your revenge. But, that doesn't happen here, Heimdall, Thor and Odin all die but the context behind their deaths is entirely different, they weren't killed through pure malice and bloodlust but begrudgingly for the former, Thor by his Father's hand after finally seeing him for who he is and Odin was out of vengeance, but Sindri's and not Kratos'. 

 

Brok's death itself was a bit of a bum note for me, I think the wanted me to get emotional when the sword goes into him and be like 'Oh my god not Brok!' but I was like *shrug*, I never really cared much for him, he's a cool character but a lesser one I never really felt for so to speak, so when he died I felt more for Sindri than anything. I do think the twist that Tyr was Odin the entire time was very cool though and one I didn't see coming whatsoever, I did have my suspicions that Angrboda and Sindr (fire giant) were Odin throughout the coarse of the game but I never suspected Tyr at all. 

 

Another part that felt a bit off for me was the Heimdall boss fight. Up until that point you'd talked about Heindall and possibly killing him with Atreus and Freya, obviously Kratos is reluctant but the prophecy that says Atreus will get killed played into his paranoia and meant that in his mind Heimdall had to die. Now this was all fine, but suddenly you finish a mission in Vanaheim with Freya and Heimdall's just there at the end and you're like WTF? How did he get here, why is he here etc. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. I think part of the game here got cut possibly, that's the only way that I could explain his sudden appearance really, it just seemed a bit odd and out of place for where the narrative was going at the time.

 

So yeah, ultimately I still absolutely loved the game and think it's overall better than the first game, but being bigger and better comes with some caveats, and those caveats are that it ultimately just went on a bit longer than I wanted it to, partly due to my own fault in possibly indulging a little too much in the fantastic side quests on offer, but yeah, there's a little too much of it than there needed to be which is where it dropped a point in my scoring.

 

I will say as well that the post-game so far has been excellent, I usually don't bother mopping up bits and pieces once a game is over and doing optional challenges etc. but here there is all that on offer plus more secrets that I really didn't expect, more context and exposition for certain events during the story which is really cool and surprising. 

 

After discovering the accessibility option which saves mid-mini-boss fight and having now got up to Level 8 I've found all the Valkyrie equivalent encounters simple enough. I still have the one I mentioned previously to do and the Trials but I'm not quite as nervous about doing those and them potentially being a Plat-breaker as I was previously. I've got about 4 realms to 100% so far as I did most of my collectible hunting during the coarse of the game, so I don't think I have too much stuff left to get here either.

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The deed is done. Turns out I shouldn’t have worried as everything was really easy, on Story difficulty and using the mid-mini-boss checkpoint option in the accessibility settings at least. 
 

The Trials were nowhere near as laborious as I thought they’d be either, there was one part of them that was more annoying than it needed to be but it probably only took me about an hour to do them all.

 

Lots of little cool Easter Eggs like (Story spoilers)

Spoiler

seeing Thrud picking up her Dad’s Hammer, finding Tyr in the Niflheim prison, Brok’s funeral and the moment between Freya and Gna after you defeat her.


Plat Video

Spoiler

 


 

43638AC9-B2BB-4912-A820-A02FEEACB99F.jpeg

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I'm on clean up myself now after finishing up with the story... Svartalfheim is doing my head in though, its stuck on 99% complete with nothing left to do and I can't work out what I'm missing at all.😪

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1 hour ago, Nag said:

I'm on clean up myself now after finishing up with the story... Svartalfheim is doing my head in though, its stuck on 99% complete with nothing left to do and I can't work out what I'm missing at all.😪


I had this too, I was missing a Buried Treasure at one of the mining rigs.

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