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Nippleheim!

Just putting that out there...

Sarge wrote:I was expecting the same thing from God of War myself. Decent, but not worthy of all that praise. Boy, I've been totally wrong. I'm working my way through it now, and getting ready to finally start what I believe is the end game run. I just want to try to finish off Muspelheim if I can first. Niflheim has been pretty grindy, but at least both it and Muspelheim are optional.

Combat feels fantastic, the story beats have been compelling, and structurally, it really is akin to Zelda or Majin or Darksiders. Really, really good stuff.

I wanna say Nifelheim took me like 4 or 5 hours to do completely. It was something I was kinda just going through to do, but at the same time the encounters are just SO tense that they were always fun when I got through them. It was a side-area I ended up enjoying way more than I thought I would, even though it's basically the 2nd hardest thing in the game other than the Valkyrie fights. Muspelheim I disliked a lot more just because of how you get around and how the rewards for it work. The challenges themselves could be good fun, but the "don't get hit" one was just so anxiety inducing I nearly just didn't do that one . The combat was definitely something that added a LOT to how this was a game I was sad to see end just because of how FUN it is.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary (NDS)
2. Reigns (iOS)
3. Castlevania: The Adventure (GB)
4. Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (GB)
5. Castlevania Legends (GB)
6. Yankai’s Triangle (iOS)
7. Mega Man III (GB)

This was a pleasant surprise! The first two Mega Man games on the Gameboy are a bit middling, and they never really capture the magic of their console counterparts. The Gameboy series turns a corner with its third entry, however, and Mega Man III (GB) is at least as good as most of the NES games. More importantly, it is very challenging, and beating Dr. Wily (again) provided a real sense of accomplishment, I have always enjoyed the Mega Man series, and I have played through some of the games in this series nearly a dozen times. (I just can’t get enough Mega Man 2.) The fact that there are still good entries in the classic series that are new to me fills me with excitement, and I am looking forward to diving into Mega Man IV and Mega Man V.

I dug Mega Man III. Found it years ago at a yard sale, complete. Sadly, I traded that copy later. I do have it again, but it's cart only.

I finished God of War. I've been debating whether I want to give it a 9.5 or a 10, and I think I'm holding my opinion of the rest of the series against it... so I'll give it a 10. Understanding, of course, that a 10 doesn't mean it's perfect, but it was absolutely a phenomenal game.

1. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal World Duel Championship 3DS
2. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City DS

EO3 is so good. I only got one ending so far and I'm leaving the postgame for later.

Partridge Senpai's 2019 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018
* indicates a repeat

1. Night Slashers (Switch)
2. Bye-Bye BOXBOY! (3DS)
3. GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Xbox 360)
4. Katamari Forever (PS3)
5. Detention (PS4)
6. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) *
7. OctoDad: Dadliest Catch (PS4) *
8. FlintHook (Switch)
9. God of War (PS4)

10. God of War HD (PS3)

From Dad of War to God of War, I thought I'd give the original God of War a go given that I was able to find the HD Remaster of 1 & 2 for PS3 at the resale shop the other day. I've played the first stage up to a little after the Kraken fight on the proper PS2 version, but I don't have that version anymore, so I went with the PS3 HD Remaster. It took me about 9 hours and I played through on normal mode.

God of War plays a little like a cross between a Mario and a Zelda game. I just don't really know what else to compare it to. It's a character-action game with both a heavy emphasis on combat and puzzle solving but also on platforming (you even have a double jump). It's kind of a lot going on, and it does it all well enough, but a bit frustrating. The combat isn't QUITE tight enough to feel like you can easily make sense of what you're doing wrong when things start going badly. The platforming isn't QUITE tight enough (mostly due to the fixed camera) for the jumping and such to feel too good. It's decent fun to wail on enemies with your sword and glaives, and it's certainly beatable, but it just doesn't play QUITE right and will likely frustrate people used to more modern 3D action games that control better. This goes especially for the SUPER aggravating timed jumping and block-pushing puzzles. Those things more than once made me question whether this was a game I really wanted to care to finish XD

The story is neat and flashy, but largely throwaway. The game actually has like 40+ minutes of making-of featurettes on the disc just like a film would, and they basically admit that this was supposed to be a big angery power fantasy in a Classical Greek setting, and that's exactly how it comes off. The plot itself is interesting, and this is a very pretty PS2 game as far as enemy and environment designs are concerned so the setting is used well, but the actual presentation of the narrative is about as bog-standard talking directly to the player about the story as you can get. The PS3 port is great, especially on the visuals. The game looks really nice upscaled to HD resolutions, and the framerate just about always stays at a nice high point. The only real fault with the PS3 port is how many doors and environmental QTE's require mashing the R2 button, and that's a LOT harder on the PS3's analog triggers than it was on the PS2's digital buttons.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There is a good time to be had with the original God of War, even if it's just to see where the series started. It's JUST rough enough around the edges that I wouldn't really outright recommend it, but it's far from a bad game. It's a good first try for an action/adventure title, and the combat especially was fun and smashy enough that I'm looking forward to giving the 2nd game on the HD Remaster pack a try soon~

PartridgeSenpai wrote:Partridge Senpai's 2019 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018
* indicates a repeat

1. Night Slashers (Switch)
2. Bye-Bye BOXBOY! (3DS)
3. GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Xbox 360)
4. Katamari Forever (PS3)
5. Detention (PS4)
6. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) *
7. OctoDad: Dadliest Catch (PS4) *
8. FlintHook (Switch)
9. God of War (PS4)

10. God of War HD (PS3)

From Dad of War to God of War, I thought I'd give the original God of War a go given that I was able to find the HD Remaster of 1 & 2 for PS3 at the resale shop the other day. I've played the first stage up to a little after the Kraken fight on the proper PS2 version, but I don't have that version anymore, so I went with the PS3 HD Remaster. It took me about 9 hours and I played through on normal mode.

God of War plays a little like a cross between a Mario and a Zelda game. I just don't really know what else to compare it to. It's a character-action game with both a heavy emphasis on combat and puzzle solving but also on platforming (you even have a double jump). It's kind of a lot going on, and it does it all well enough, but a bit frustrating. The combat isn't QUITE tight enough to feel like you can easily make sense of what you're doing wrong when things start going badly. The platforming isn't QUITE tight enough (mostly due to the fixed camera) for the jumping and such to feel too good. It's decent fun to wail on enemies with your sword and glaives, and it's certainly beatable, but it just doesn't play QUITE right and will likely frustrate people used to more modern 3D action games that control better. This goes especially for the SUPER aggravating timed jumping and block-pushing puzzles. Those things more than once made me question whether this was a game I really wanted to care to finish XD

The story is neat and flashy, but largely throwaway. The game actually has like 40+ minutes of making-of featurettes on the disc just like a film would, and they basically admit that this was supposed to be a big angery power fantasy in a Classical Greek setting, and that's exactly how it comes off. The plot itself is interesting, and this is a very pretty PS2 game as far as enemy and environment designs are concerned so the setting is used well, but the actual presentation of the narrative is about as bog-standard talking directly to the player about the story as you can get. The PS3 port is great, especially on the visuals. The game looks really nice upscaled to HD resolutions, and the framerate just about always stays at a nice high point. The only real fault with the PS3 port is how many doors and environmental QTE's require mashing the R2 button, and that's a LOT harder on the PS3's analog triggers than it was on the PS2's digital buttons.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There is a good time to be had with the original God of War, even if it's just to see where the series started. It's JUST rough enough around the edges that I wouldn't really outright recommend it, but it's far from a bad game. It's a good first try for an action/adventure title, and the combat especially was fun and smashy enough that I'm looking forward to giving the 2nd game on the HD Remaster pack a try soon~

If you’ve never played God of War 2, you are in for a treat. There’s not a bad entry in the series (even the PSP games are amongst the best games available for that console), but I really feel that God of War 2 was the long-running previous high point of the franchise until the 2018 game came along. GoW 2018 is so different, though, that a staight comparison is tough to make. I’d rate God of War 2 as standing almost shoulder to shoulder with Devil May Cry 3 as the best hack-n-slash style game of its generation.

+1

I find the Kratos character aggressively annoying, but even I have to admit that GoW II is a really, really well-designed game and one of the best on the PS2.

I write my longest review yet, and it gets totally ignored for Partridge's God of War post....

ElkinFencer10 wrote:I write my longest review yet, and it gets totally ignored for Partridge's God of War post....

I mean, it was for Fallout 76, which I'm avoiding like the plague. Sorry, man.