God of War--Initial Impressions *No Spoilers* (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Saturday, April 21, 2018, 11:40 (2409 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
edited by Korny, Saturday, April 21, 2018, 11:53

Combat in this new game just doesn't flow that way. It can't. The move set is just built differently. And even if the move set were closer to the original, the change in camera angles means the player can't have as much situational awareness as they could in the previous games (which feels very intentional, to me). It's much more start-stop-wait-repeat in its rhythm, now. Closer to Dark Souls or something in that vein. And that's great too. Again, not a criticism at all. Just a very key difference between this game and the rest of the franchise, and one that I think is worth considering or at least being aware of for longtime fans.

The funny thing is that the combat is what put me off from the God of War franchise in the first place. It really was just generic button spamming, without any real skill required, and the quicktime button-mashing boss sequences felt super shallow.

It's been pretty well known that the huge shift in combat could lead to tons of "this isn't God of War!" complaints, and that lens definitely skews how longtime fans see the game (I'm pretty sure Stabbim is the most likely person to dislike this game).

Personally, I reeeeeally love the way the game's combat and encounter loops work.

-You fight a new enemy, and learn what they're all about.

-You fight a larger number of the enemy, with previous enemies thrown in.

-Your knowledge of all of the enemies so far is tested, and the room itself may provide an additional challenge.

-You fight a new enemy, and learn what they're about.

This stream of learning, improving, and adapting is great, and causes enemy groups to play more like a puzzle that can be solved a number of different ways.
Combine that with your steadily-growing list of abilities, unlocks, and knowledge of how you can synergize them all, and the tools at your disposal open up so many avenues to approach an encounter.

I recorded a clip of how I handled the early room where the spiked ceiling descends on you whenever you call for your axe. I loved that encounter, and how I adapted to it and got my way through. But when I watched the video later, I realized that I did everything "wrong" in that room, and I could have approached every single part of it way better.
Then I watched Sammy go through that room, and do everything completely different from the way I did it, and the way I "should" have done it. And she still seemed to have less trouble than I did.

It's pretty great.

PS, the control scheme definitely takes some getting used to, but it might help to change the controls up a bit (Sammy had to swap the bumpers and triggers, which I thought were fine).