Author:
Simulacrum
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Date:
3/29/2025 12:31:13 PM
Subject:
RE: God of War Ragnarök
Here are the problems with the combat:
1. As I've said, it's more complicated than it was in 2018. I'm sure this appeals to a lot of people, especially really good players. As an example: to do more damage with fire, you should try to freeze enemies, and vice-versa. This requires instant weapon switching during very chaotic fights, when enemy attacks can be so fast you barely have time to bring up your shield, let alone perform magic tricks with complementary elements.
2. Early in the game, you lose your Guardian shield because the developers want you to try out other shields with trick features. I think there are about five of these. The Stonewall won't let you parry, but it blocks pretty much anything except red ring (unblockable) attacks. However, after so many blocks it builds up a charge and so you can use it to strike the ground for an AOE knockback effect. If you don't discharge it at the right moment, enemy attacks can leave you open. Another shield has slightly faster parry mechanics with counter-attacks that punish enemies. But the parry window is so tight you have to play perfectly or risk getting hit. It's not that much different from GoW 2018, but it's just an unnecessary layer of fussiness.
3. Even trash mobs are super damage sponges. The weakest enemy takes about ten whacks to kill, but you can't spend too much time on one target because you can get surrounded quickly. Not only that -- when you reduce an enemy count from five to two, four more guys will spawn out of the ground, so you're always being flanked. Later in the game, groups of enemies are joined by an elite -- sometimes two or more elites. You have to triage instantly or die. I am not a good player, so my death count is pretty high.
4. Everything you do is preceded by a big fight. You go to an area to retrieve a doodad or open some puzzle chest. As you approach the McGuffin, you get attacked and have to survive a long fight. Quite often, once you've retrieved the thingy, you get attacked again, and your health is usually pretty low, so dying and reloading becomes inevitable.
The fact that once you get into the last third of the game and you want so badly to see how the story turns out in spite of the trollish combat -- this fact, to me, suggests that the story and the cinematic way it's told far outweigh the drawbacks of combat. So the writing gets pretty darned good.
