• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

God of War Launches Early 2018 (PS4)

Excited avout the snippets of axe and shield combat. The Blades of Chaos, which were a pretty flimsy, weightless weapon to begin with, got really tiresome.

But I want to see more of this to get a better feel of the combat loop.
 
While conducive to verisimilitude, it's not a good thing if you want your combat system to be snappy and responsive. They might be able to make it work, but if they can't, I'd prefer them to forgo excessive animation in favor the combat system being fun. Otherwise, they might be changing their combat system to be based around commitment to animation, like the souls games, but that's gonna slow the game down a lot. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, it's just going to be way slower than the previous games if so.

On the other hand, if Kratos' other weapons don't have their own QTE animations, I'm gonna be pissed. The brutal kills are the main draw of the series' combat loop and it's somethign that they should have worked out back in GoW2. If not then, then surely GoW3. But Whenever the enemy got an O above their heads and you went for it, Kratos snapped to the Blades regardless of what you were wielding at the time. They need to change that.

Kojima wanted to do this since MGS2 and we saw tech demos of Snake carrying an entire arsenal on his back which made him heavier and look awkward. Then Kojima settled for the previous system of owning an entire arsenal that just shows the weapon when you select it.
In MGS5, he went completely different and revamped the entire gameplay: open world, driving etc...And he opted for the realistic limited weapon carrying where you only carry the weapons you need and they show up on the character like irl when you want to have another weapon, you need to sacrifice the other and throw it in favor of the new one. This didn't hamper the game at all. On the contrary, it made it more challenging you needed to think in strategic way which wepaon to have for different situations. Some of the tactical FPS do it.
I think this new GOW is following that path where you only carry the weapon you need/want in favor of others if there are any. This will require some strategy.
I like how this game is not just another bland hack'n slash game we see everyday. It adds realistic restrictions and even RPG elements now.
 

Sanctuary

Member
How is Shadow of Mordor even a point of comparision? It's a different genre, with different gameplay priorities

So visceral action/adventure games with a focus on third person melee combat are completely unrelated? Okay. Have you even played Shadow of Mordor?

uvvykg8r2b6dscphlwf9.gif

Clearly unrelated and in no way viable to compare. Anyway, my point was only that I hope the gameplay doesn't turn out anywhere near as bad as it did with Shadow of Mordor, not that it is.

Also, I have no idea what you mean by saying we've seen "three weapons". I'm talking about three primary weapons that Kratos would use. The shield doesn't look like some separate entity either, but something used within combos in conjunction with the axe (which is the primary). Similarly with his fists...
 
Kojima wanted to do this since MGS2 and we saw tech demos of Snake carrying an entire arsenal on his back which made him heavier and look awkward. Then Kojima settled for the previous system of owning an entire arsenal that just shows the weapon when you select it.
In MGS5, he went completely different and revamped the entire gameplay: open world, driving etc...And he opted for the realistic limited weapon carrying where you only carry the weapons you need and they show up on the character like irl when you want to have another weapon, you need to sacrifice the other and throw it in favor of the new one. This didn't hamper the game at all. On the contrary, it made it more challenging you needed to think in strategic way which wepaon to have for different situations. Some of the tactical FPS do it.
I think this new GOW is following that path where you only carry the weapon you need/want in favor of others if there are any. This will require some strategy.
I like how this game is not just another bland hack'n slash game we see everyday. It adds realistic restrictions and even RPG elements now.

It'd be pretty funny if Kratos made his son carry weapons that he doesn't have equipped lol. You just throw away your current weapon and summon another one off his back, and after a battle he goes around picking them up.

So visceral action/adventure games with a focus on third person melee combat are completely unrelated? Okay. Have you even played Shadow of Mordor?

Clearly unrelated and in no way viable to compare. Anyway, my point was only that I hope the gameplay doesn't turn out anywhere near as bad as it did with Shadow of Mordor, not that it is.

SSM is one of the best western developers when it comes to 3rd person melee combat, I think it'll be fine. The only other western dev I can thing of that might be better then them is Ninja Theory.
 

Sanctuary

Member
SSM is one of the best western developers when it comes to 3rd person melee combat, I think it'll be fine. The only other western dev I can thing of that might be better then them is Ninja Theory.

Honestly, I can't think of anyone better in terms of Western developers, and it is a Balrog game. Regardless, the only reason I bothered mentioning anything is because as far as I know this won't have aerial combos, and the current footage just makes it look trivial. The only game Ninja Theory did good combat on would have been DmC, and Capcom wasn't completely hands off.
 
It'd be pretty funny if Kratos made his son carry weapons that he doesn't have equipped lol. You just throw away your current weapon and summon another one off his back, and after a battle he goes around picking them up.

I don't think this is lured out. Remember the first trailer? His son was carrying the bow and arrows. When he didn't follow his father's orders and the deer escaped, Kratos took the bow from him and wore it then he gave it bac to him at the end to hunt the deer.
I think some weapons are interchangeable between the two.
 

black070

Member
Honestly, I can't think of anyone better in terms of Western developers, and it is a Balrog game. Regardless, the only reason I bothered mentioning anything is because as far as I know this won't have aerial combos, and the current footage just makes it look trivial. The only game Ninja Theory did good combat on would have been DmC, and Capcom wasn't completely hands off.

Didn't Kratos perform one in last years demo ?

EDIT
god-of-war-ps4-185930.jpg
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
I'm glad they didn't show that much and hope they go radio silent till the launch trailer and that's it. Keep it as minimal as possible so there won't be a need for media blackout lol. The impact of playing something like the Cronos battle for the first time yourself w/out seeing it in videos is immense.
 

Asriel

Member
Did you notice that this game is longing for so much realism. Sth such types of games don't invest so much efforts for. All Hack'n Salsh games make all weapons appear magically when selected and they don't show up previously on the main character until selected. Sth all previous GOW games did.
But now every item/weapon he uses, he is carrying it: the purse, the horn, the short knife, the bow, the axe in a snake-omega shaped hook and swings when Kratos runs (previously the blades of chaos are glued to Krato's bare back), the gauntlet that morphs into a shield, the one eyed head (previously Kratos shows up Medusa or Helios heads suddenly without knowing that you carry them). Without forgetting that you can throw your axe somewhere and keep playing the entire game without it with other weapons or with just punches. And whenever and wherever you want to call it back, you can see it coming from the place where you left it especially if you are in higher grounds and takes as much time as where you left it to come back to you (this what made the programmers go crazy when Cory asked them to do it).

I'm a huge hack-and-slash fan and I couldn't care less about that.
 
I'm glad they didn't show that much and hope they go radio silent till the launch trailer and that's it. Keep it as minimal as possible so there won't be a need for media blackout lol. The impact of playing something like the Cronos battle for the first time yourself w/out seeing it in videos is immense.

It's still an action game though. Don't you want to see more combat? Even if it's against the basic draugr, I want to see what Kratos can do.
 
I believe he means launching and juggling
In the E3 trailer, if you go slowly on the fighting segments, you can see Kratos Ax's launches smaller enemies in the air.

And of course we have from last year Kratos himself is jumping airborne for a ground pound effect.

I really think the slower combat is being overblown a bit and the combat won't be as different as expecting. Kratos still seems to have great area of effect, his swings hit multiple enemies, it's confirmed there is still a grab button, etc...I don't think we're doing a combo meter for 85 hits again like a DMC game here, but it isn't Dark Souls I don't think, particularly with the smaller enemies. For boss fights, I think a more slow methodical approach will actually be much better and more engaging.
 

Sanctuary

Member
In the E3 trailer, if you go slowly on the fighting segments, you can see Kratos Ax's launches smaller enemies in the air.

And of course we have from last year Kratos himself is jumping airborne for a ground pound effect.

I really think the slower combat is being overblown a bit and the combat won't be as different as expecting. Kratos still seems to have great area of effect, his swings hit multiple enemies, it's confirmed there is still a grab button, etc...I don't think we're doing a combo meter for 85 hits again like a DMC game here, but it isn't Dark Souls I don't think, particularly with the smaller enemies. For boss fights, I think a more slow methodical approach will actually be much better and more engaging.

Even though I mentioned aerial attacks, it's not so much about jumping in the air and doing huge multihitting combos as much as that the gameplay of the previous games somewhat revolved around it. Or at least it was balanced around juggling/jumping to avoid things if not trying to rack up huge combos through persistent dodging.

This is probably premature speculation of course, but if this turns out to be an almost exclusively ground based game (aside from whatever random Diablo 2 moves they decide to give him), based on the current footage, it just seems like it's going to be even more basic than it was in the previous games. Sure, it will be flashy up to a point, but there's only so many times throwing an axe in the same arc, or doing a spin that's a pseudo Cyclone of Chaos, except with an invisible chain will remain exciting, especially if the majority of the trash you fight goes down as easily as it does in the current footage. I've never been able to play these games on the Normal setting, so maybe my perspective is just off because of that and what I'm seeing is actually how Normal plays in the other games as well. It's been a while.
 
Even though I mentioned aerial attacks, it's not so much about jumping in the air and doing huge multihitting combos as much as that the gameplay of the previous games somewhat revolved around it. Or at least it was balanced around juggling/jumping to avoid things if not trying to rack up huge combos through persistent dodging.

This is probably premature speculation of course, but if this turns out to be an almost exclusively ground based game (aside from whatever random Diablo 2 moves they decide to give him), based on the current footage, it just seems like it's going to be even more basic than it was in the previous games. Sure, it will be flashy up to a point, but there's only so many times throwing an axe in the same arc, or doing a spin that's a pseudo Cyclone of Chaos, except with an invisible chain will remain exciting, especially if the majority of the trash you fight goes down as easily as it does in the current footage. I've never been able to play these games on the Normal setting, so maybe my perspective is just off because of that and what I'm seeing is actually how Normal plays in the other games as well. It's been a while.
Yup, know doubt, I usually go for the hardest difficulty from the beginning as well, these shows are always on easy/normal for previews though.

Same with Days Gone, I would turn off a lot of that detective mode crap and just use my binoculars. Looking forward to more combat, and I'm sure Cory is going to strike a nice balance with the engine between creativity and animations.
 
I've read an interview in which Corey says that QTE are off in the game, you can even stick to some giant's back and press whatever attack button you use to fight. There are still power struggle moments and things under wraps but QTE as we know are gone.

Cool. :)
 

strafer

member
I've read an interview in which Corey says that QTE are off in the game, you can even stick to some giant's back and press whatever attack button you use to fight. There are still power struggle moments and things under wraps but QTE as we know are gone.

Cool. :)

That sucks, only game series that I enjoy the QTE in.
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
I've read an interview in which Corey says that QTE are off in the game, you can even stick to some giant's back and press whatever attack button you use to fight. There are still power struggle moments and things under wraps but QTE as we know are gone.

Cool. :)

Can you link the interview?
 
Cant wait for this

Looks so bloody good.

I actually watched the trailer without sound - as I'm on a cruise and on satlliete data and it was slow and shit (not sure why that's gotta do with sound) but I had no context of what the game was like - watched it with sound once we landed and I absolutely loved the trailer and the dad of war and son dialogue

Early 2018 can't come soon enough.
 
That sucks, only game series that I enjoy the QTE in.

Well, is not that there is not going to have spectacular battles, I just understood that you won't have traditional QTE in them.

Can you link the interview?

I'll look, I don't know/remember where I read it. :/

Edit: The Verge Interview - No QTE on God of War (Says Cory Barlog)

Barlog gave an example of how the game has changed, pointing to last year's demo (above) in which Kratos leaps onto the back of a towering enemy and went through a set of pre-set attacks. Once attached to the enemy's shoulders, the player isn't obeying quick time prompts; instead, they're tapping the the same attack buttons used throughout the game to deliver attacks as they feel fit.

A variation of the quick time event will still appear in the game. For big, elaborate boss battles, Barlog said, players can expect the ”Track and Field" design, referring to the classic NES game in which players quickly spammed buttons to create a feeling of physical exertion. In dramatic sequences, God of War might ask the player to spam ”X" or twirl the control sticks to mimic the action happening on screen. But at no point will the game require the player to tape a button at a precise moment.

”[QTE's] are cool," said Barlog, ”but we're finding a better way."
 

Skeeter49

Member
Watching the interviews in GoW3 remastered, it sounded like it was a nightmare getting a playable build ready by E3. Maybe affecting dev time was the reason they opted out.
 
I hope they add some atmospheric occlusion or something to the world serpent scene. It has a fantastic sense of scale when the eye opens, but when it rears back it doesn't look quite as massive as it should. It looks much closer to the camera than it actually is.
 

Two Words

Member
I really think a great twist on this would be for the player to have to succeed in a QTE where Kratos is sort of fighting his own emotions to kill like he always has. Have the QTE failure be him submitting to his rage. Something that demonstrates the difficulty for him to restrain himself. I don't mean for it to be something done over and over throughout the game. I think it would make for a great moment though.
 
I hope they add some atmospheric occlusion or something to the world serpent scene. It has a fantastic sense of scale when the eye opens, but when it rears back it doesn't look quite as massive as it should. It looks much closer to the camera than it actually is.

Yeah I noticed that too. When it first rose up its one eye looked larger than Kratos, and then when its whole head was visible it seemed like the eyes were tiny but the serpent was fairly close to the camera.
 

firelogic

Member
I forgot about how this whole game is one continuous shot. At least I think so.

How is that even going to work for the entirety of the game? Like what does it even mean? I know how they work in movies but they're usually just short sequences. How are they going to design a game that has no cuts?
 
How is that even going to work for the entirety of the game? Like what does it even mean? I know how they work in movies but they're usually just short sequences. How are they going to design a game that has no cuts?

Basically, try picturing Uncharted 4 where everything is seamless with no cut to black screen. A lot of Sony exclusives this generation are embracing this.
 
I've read an interview in which Corey says that QTE are off in the game, you can even stick to some giant's back and press whatever attack button you use to fight. There are still power struggle moments and things under wraps but QTE as we know are gone.

Cool. :)

Well, is not that there is not going to have spectacular battles, I just understood that you won't have traditional QTE in them.



I'll look, I don't know/remember where I read it. :/

Edit: The Verge Interview - No QTE on God of War (Says Cory Barlog)

I knew it. No QTE, no camera cuts or ineterrupting obvious custscenes, minimal HUD. This is neither a movie-like experince nor a regular game experience.
You are delved into the action like you were there. Fascinating.
 
Top Bottom