3361 Likes
So I Just Finished The Last of Us Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGk6W2HXxi0&t= GoW Retrospective …
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3361 Likes
So I Just Finished The Last of Us Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGk6W2HXxi0&t= GoW Retrospective …
Source Link
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The Freya thing is meant to show that women always forgive Chad no matter what.
Great graphics and good combat with emotionally injected scenes and dialogue will be enough to trick most people into thinking a sloppy and shallow story is profound and masterful. Most people don't have high standards for stories and are easy to impress and convince with pretty graphics.
I personally think some of the side missions could have been in the main story. They could have made the whale blocking the way to the dwarf. Or making peace with the elves with the other 2 side quests. On muspelheim they could have made the challenges part of surturs training to gain our trust.
Having replayed it twice I can definitely the drag. First time through you're just happy to see how it concludes but the second time those Atreus moments hit way harder in a bad way.
If they ever remastered God of War 2018 with some gameplay polish of Ragnarok it'd easily become the better of the two titles.
I like your take. It's balanced. There are obvious drawbacks and now that I've had time to get over the initial hype, there are a lot of legitimate criticisms. I never played it, but I watched a full play through, and being able to just sit back and take the story in was kind of awesome, and a very satisfying end to Norse saga, though a bit rushed. This should have been a trilogy, but the way they ended 2018, I think it was impossible because Baldur's death thrust everyone into finbulwinter… At which point, the only event to follow is Ragnarok.
i think the reason that they drop the whole "champion" thing is like you said by the end the characters realize that it doesnt matter who that is (atreus even says it it one point inside one of the murals tht shows tyr "champion!? ok, whoever that is doesnt matter" and jus like tyr never lead any armies, nobody ever got named champion… tho some things in the game point to atreus being champion like his different armour sets one says "jotnar champion garb" or somethin… but personally if i was viewing from outaide i agree with freya and mimir… because its known also that kratos ariving in midgard changed everything, fimblewinter came 100 years early. kratos also births atreus which doesnt happen if he never comes so… id say it, doesnt matter at the end of the day if we look at what the story tries to make important
The gameplay complaint is mainly from the devs answering the questions of people who were disappointed that in 2018 there wasn’t much variety to the kills that u did. The whole point of both games is that there are consequences to killing a god. Kratos killing Heimdall is essentially what cause’s Ragnarok also after Heimdalls death if u read Kratos’s journal he speaks on how he essentially enjoyed killing Heimdall showing that he was starting to slip back into his old ways so many people misunderstand that
I wish Odin’s soul would have drifted or been taken or put in the realm tear and Atreus have kept the mask and the mask calls to Atreus over time.
This is a perfect explanation of the pacing. Man im so glad i found your page. If ur ever in atlanta let me kno i will buy u a pair of jordans bro.
Your complaints about the pacing of this game are valid. It was originally supposed to be two more games and I’m disappointed we didn’t get that. But then you claim that Kratos told Freya his life story unprompted and I wonder if you actually paid attention at all. That was Kratos being the bigger man and apologizing to Freya by saying “I do know what it’s like to lose a child so I can sympathize with your struggle.” He was extending an olive branch and trying to protect a friendship that clearly meant a lot to him despite their tainted history. He was more concerned about gaining an ally in the fight against Odin than he was about continuing to fight her. So yeah. I think you kinda missed the point of some of the story complaints that you have.
That music kinda worked for the red wedding. Stabbing on beat.
Efap
I keep coming back to this video as it is very well made, be proud. I don’t want to feel this way about Ragnarök as I had years of anticipation for it. But ever since finishing it I can’t help but feel such an array of emotions… Happy, sad, conflicted, confused and I can’t narrow down what I’m supposed to be feeling.
The game ends but it really doesn’t feel like it should, SM say this is the last Norse saga game and yet I feel they left more questions than answers and never explained a lot of things mentioned in the game prior! All the fantastic world building and character hype they had built (not so much for every character) but a fair few that appear in this game feel lacklustre to what they had primed since the last game.
The scenes with Kratos and Atreus ‘whilst still of course are beautifully acted and well written’ they never (to me) feel deserved or earned like the did in the last game. I watched another review on the game and he came up with the perfect phrase for these moments “undeserved catharsis”.
Anyway, sorry for the mini rant… thanks for the meticulous review and I can’t wait for your GOW: Ragnarök critique when it is ready
Tbh I wish I hadn’t seen or played anything from this game, I was much happier with 2018 and this instalment just puts a lacklustre taste in my mouth that sours 2018 from the polar contrast in writing quality.
I don't know if I would say unprompted when it comes to kratos telling Freya about his daughter. In most other case when one character who is angry tells another what do you know about losing a child, or do you know what it is like? Most characters not matter how they are usually do have a response whether it an angry or sad or some combination when they can relate. Kratos knows what it is like to lose a child, you see it at the end of 2018 god of war he knew what Freya was feeling at that moment. Remember at first he doesn't say, I think Freya stops him, but a little later he does decide to tell her cause like he said I know your story, you might as well know mine.
I’m sure someone has said this already, but I’ll throw my two cents in the mix. When Kratos said he was “slipping back into his old ways” I didn’t take that to mean with violence necessarily, I think it meant more that he’s slipping back into his mindset of doing whatever it takes to achieve his goal (in this case protecting Atreus), e.g. by brutally murdering Nidhogg and Heimdall. He’d become so focused on doing everything and anything to protect Atreus that he was pushing Atreus away again, like he’d used to, and was losing that trust in each other they’d slowly built up throughout the first game. That’s what I think he meant about falling into his old ways.
7:02
I think my main problem was playing the game and didn't feel like exploring because I know in order to get to everywhere and do all side content is to beat the game story first then explore which is a little irritating especially waiting on new game plus to arrive to at least have something to do besides back tracking to everywhere.
I believe Ragnorak was suppose to be chaotic and all over the place. Whenever you know destruction is going to happen, the outcomes and storylines can be messy and disorganized. Hence why the game may have felt rushed. You definitely made some great points as well!
What I feel like you did mention was stakes. It feels like for me the stake make me not want a slower paced game like 2018. But I do agree the side stuff messed up the pacing because the stake felt to highlight to star to go off somewhere else.
kratos was confirmed to be the champion of the jotnar by him receiving the draupnir spear because the champion was always shown with a spear
They dropped the ball with Tyr and The World Serpent.
Cory Balrog should have stayed on as the head in charge because he set up everything in 2018 only for Ragnarok to disregard everything.
I liked playing with Freya more than Atreus.
God Of War 2018 story and concept was better than Ragnarok.
Just finished Ragnarök two days ago, and man you really sum up my feelings of the game quite perfectly. I kept thinking why I just wasn't getting the same experince out of this one compared to 2018, and came to the conclusion that the heartfelt "simplicity" of 2018 just couldn't be replicated. Which is understandable because a sequel always must expand on its predecessor somewhat. With the world itself it reaaally worked – the new locations were gorgeous, the worlds felt unique and alive, but storywise? When the main story ended I was kinda confused because I was expecting to feel a real sense of closure and of ending, but instead I felt a little out on breath and simply a sense of continuation? Okay, all of that happened, but yeah let's just move on now. Nothing like the sense of peace that followed the 2018 game – even though we literally just saw the end of the world happen, it felt less significant than the act of spreading Faye's ashes in Jötunheim.
I myself would have preferred maybe a concrete ending for Kratos' journey, with him dying and then, a raw, new beginning for Atreus' life. But I was also glad that they both survived. Though, a little timejump would not have been bad, cause it felt a little rushed for Atreus to leave immediately after he wakes up, but then again, these rushed moments were many in the game.
Okay yeah didn't mean to ramble like this but I just wanted to say that I appreciate this video a lot, thanks James!
I felt like the boss fights were not as epic as past games.
Can't wait for your deep dive vid on this game.
I didn't think the game was rushed or that it wasn't paced well. I enjoyed every minute of it.
The core theme of the game is that you control your own destiny your own fate,your choices wil decide how your life plays out.
I think you dropped the ball on this one my guy. So many things that is mentioned is so out of context just to prove a point and has so many arguments counteract it. Disagree with alot.
I respect your opinion here, but I have to disagree with the the core of your video that there is a fundamental contradiction between gameplay and story, I do not believe that the gameplay is condemning Kratos' violence, for example the issue with Kratos' killing Heimdall is not that he killed Heimdall but the potential ramifications of said act.
Also I do not believe that a game having a singular core theme makes a game better, I think Ragnarok deals with many and successfully conveys many unlike 2018 which is definitely more focussed and narrow, but I do not believe that is necessarily better
36:13 THANK YOU very much for perfectly enunciating why that theory is so stupid 😭
I know I’m a bit late to this but i just finished the game and i want to touch on something you said about Kratos’s dreams of Faye. When he says they are more than just memory I think what’s happening is that they are just memories but after he stepped into the light of Alfheim in 2018s game Faye’s soul affected his mind ever so slightly and she is triggering these memories when his mind is at it’s weakest state, asleep, to help remind Kratos of who he wants to be. He says they are more than memories because he knows they are incredibly specific memories. Not just random flashbacks
My general consensus is gameplay/combat was greatly improved and I liked it very much except for adding enemy attack delay (more so a personal issue that really started to bug me) and the story in my eyes was still okay but a big step down… if the last game was a masterpiece then this one pales in comparison
I just finished Ragnarok, and I felt this video put into words the feelings I had as the game concluded. A+ commentary. What I would like to see explored is the weird feeling of sadness I have in the post game content where I go to places I went in the main story remembering “oh yeah, here’s where Atreus and Kratos had this conversation” and, “oh yeah, this is what Brok said the last time I was here.” Obviously these deaths and partings are not real, but there is a profound feeling I still get from the game, which if anyone besides me feels this way, I think is an amazing achievement. Also, Mimir solving Broks riddle made me incredibly depressed, lol.
I definitely think think that the champion of the jotnar thing will be further explored in an Atreus centred story but I’m not sure the horn in GOW 4 will be addressed in the games and will be relegated to a tweet from Cory barlog
So I don't care about spoilers and I just started playing. I just finished Ironwood and just left with Freya to Vanaheim.
I didn't think Ironwood was too long. I thought it was awesome and the Yak was the cutest goodest girl I've seen in a game in a long time. I kept EXPECTING Ironwood to end, and I kept being surprised it didn't end. But I never minded that it took so long except for when I was fighting things because the fighting just didn't seem like it added much, while the character stuff in between the fighting added a lot.
As to the themes. I think the theme is about choice like you said, but it's about what choice means. Choice is complicated, and often we do what we do because we think we have no choice. I'm reminded of the end of the Matrix trilogy where Neo and Smith are fighting and Smith asks Neo why he fights. Why does Neo go through with being a mere tool for the other machines to manipulate mankind? Neo responds with a simple answer: "Because I choose to." This simple question and answer contextualizes the ENTIRE trilogy.
From what I've played so far, this is what Angrboda is trying to tell Atreus and herself when she shows him his prophecy wall. It's what Kratos is getting at when he gives his one off line on the boat about time travel not being worth all that much. It's what Kratos is trying to tell Mimir when Mimir is trying to right wrongs of the past but can't. It's the thing Tyr is obviously struggling with when he is rescued. The idea put simply is "What you choose to do matters, but only as much as it matters to you."
Fate or not, we do not control our lives. No matter how much anyone thinks they do, they don't. The world is vast and complicated and even if there is no fate, there is no way to predict or control what can happen to you. All we can do is make the best decisions we can, given what we know and what we believe ourselves to be capable of. In this context, a prophecy on a wall doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. What matters is what we choose to do. Prophecy (fate) will attend to itself. As Kratos says at the end of GoW 2018, "We are the gods we choose to be."
In this world of gods and titans (and in our world really, but that's a different topic…), there is no such thing as right or wrong. The implications of the choices are too vast, and it is not possible to know enough to make the "right" one. And, even if it was possible, it wouldn't be ethical (ethical is not inherently right or wrong, it is a different concept. We tend to think of it as "right, but it can be wrong) because you would be making choices FOR people based on what you know, rather than allowing them to make choices for themselves, and that denial of authenticity would cause more damage to you and to them than any objectively "wrong" choice they can make. So the rub is, there are only actions and consequences. So it is important to know who you are, who Atreus is, who Kratos is because having a strong sense of self, means having a strong sense of purpose, and that guides the moral compass of the individual. A strong sense of self helps you stay afloat in the sea of consequences flowing from the actions of yourself and others.
I'm still playing, so I might change my mind. But this is where I'm at at the moment. I do agree the pacing feels off, and I don't like how many enemies are copied from the previous game. But it's been a good story so far, and the character development seems right on track so far. I'll keep an eye out for people suddenly acting out of character, but I haven't seen anything thus far. Although my assessment may differ from yours. In your recent retrospective you talked about Atreus acting oddly out of character at one point and I think he's acting exactly how I expected him to act in that context. But maybe it's just because I have a kid who is only a year or so younger than he would be in GoW2018 and I know how she would respond to that kind of information in that context. GoW 2018 hit the nail on the head, especially the part where he "forgets" that he did the bad thing. It's not "forgetting" it's flat denial, and that's emphasized at the end when he tells Kratos the same thing that Kratos said to him before he killed Magni.
Dang, you're absolutely right about ragnarok being like an mcu film and 2018 being more cohesive. Ragnarok had moments of greatness and nuance but they were mostly relegated to side content. Still a fun game and the characters are really cool ( Thrud, Thor, and Odin in particular) but I overall like the direction of 2018 more even if the cbat was a tad more subdued.
I just don't want to see franchises take their cues from MCU writing going forward
Edit: damn yoy also nailed that it feels like it doesn't respect it's audience's intellect as much. There was a moment when they were imply Odin's Sneakiness through his actions and side dialogue and it was cool to kind of arrive at the conclusion that it's all for alterior motives and they completely undermine it when Odin says "See, you can trust me" or something to that effect. I was just like damn.. I wish they showed a little more restraint in some areas because it does feel dumbed down
I think it's great to make a short video with an initial critical take. I hope you come up with a 2.5 hour long one like the one you did for 2018… soon. 😄
Cheers mate
I actually paused mid to write that last long one and just realized you answered your own question 😄