gamingeek said:

Gee Gods some of the end bosses in Octopath are tough. Redeye dazed the whole team for 3 turns then just team wipes you. I have level 60 characters for a 45 scenario. Darius was easy though.

Yeah the later bosses can be quite challenging.

Cyberpunk Horror Game “Observer” Heads to Switch Just Like Informer by Snow, but better

I highly doubt that. Nothing is better than Informer by Snow.

So after beating God of War here are my thoughts:

First off, the presentation and experience is almost second to none. It really is as "impressive" as say God of War was back in 2005 in terms of setting up a new standard in games in terms of presentation and a cinematic experience. The title has certainly been hyped with this and it absolutely delivers. The nearly Resident Evil 4 style over-the-shoulder camera works very well, and the camera feeling on a leash with that perspective, even during the cutscenes, really do add to the immersion. It nearly rivals that of FPSes in the vain of Half-Life.

Second off, are the graphics. Just wow, holy fucking shit, how did Santa Monica Studio do this? The only game I have played that rivals the graphics in God of War is The Witcher 3 on PC with downsampling. The graphics are literally movie quality, as in you could use the models and environments in the game and use them for a CGI Hollywood animated film and it wouldn't look out of place. I realize that people say this about a game every generation about how we reached "Pixar quality graphics" but I feel that this game really sets that mark. It just looks that good, to the point that I wonder if my PS4 is secretly hooked up to a cutting edge gaming PC.

With all that said, how about the actual game? Well it's very good, but that's just it..."very good". Personally I don't feel that the game should be getting so many perfect scores. There are a few reasons why, but the biggest is combat. Now I want to start off by saying that I respect Santa Monica for trying to do with over the shoulder melee combat to what Resident Evil 4 did to over the shoulder shooting. But at the end of the day, while the combat isn't bad, it isn't that particularly good, nor as enjoyable as it should be. I realize that transitioning to a new style of combat, especially in nearly uncharted territory rarely gets the best results, and I commend them on that. But at the end of the day compared to other action games it just lacks a certain oomph.

There's also a matter of the boss battles. Now I've always respected Santa Monica Studio with this. Because, especially at the time of the original God of War's release, Western developers, especially those who focused on AAA productions, were known for making far less quality boss battles than their Japanese counter parts. The original God of War was such a breath of fresh air as while it was short, two of its three boss battles were some of the best and most epic in all of gaming for its time. The sequels supposedly continued to tow this line. Unfortunately, God of War 2018...doesn't live up to this. As during the main game you will be pretty much fighting the same boss over and over again...which wasn't really that good to begin with. There are technically only three bosses in the main game, and only one of them I could describe as being "good"...which is the only one you don't get to fight more than once.

What's odd about this is that there is a sidequest involving fighting valkyrie's which is highly enjoyable and challenging. Why couldn't the valkyrie be the reused template instead of the troll? And speaking of repeating fights, the enemy variety with the game in general is poor. It feels like you are fighting the same 3 types of enemy templates throughout the game. Which couples with only above average combat at best...

In terms of level design. The game is pretty good. The overworld has tons of sidequests and places to explore, much more than you would assume for what seems to be such a linear game. On top of that the main journey will have you going through dungeons and temples, like other God of War games, which are always a treat to go through. Unfortunately, the puzzles and progression in these areas aren't always of top quality. A lot of the times I was wonder what exactly I am doing and where I was suppose to go.

The story of the game supposedly steps things up, and it really does. For being the "God of War" Kratos comes across as really human and the father/son dynamic works very well. You can see him struggle as he tries to open up with his son, and vice versa. The main cast is few but they are very strong as they are all well acted and well written. The biggest stand out to me was actually Baldur, who comes across is as an initially mortal and "weak" looking character at first glance, but quickly becomes intimidating and unhinged. I constantly see forms of media trying to pull this off and failing, so its a pleasant surprise to see God of War succeeding with such a character.

My only gripe in the story is with certain moments with the son. Particularly how his "change personality" is done. He comes across as disrespectful way to early, and I can't believe that Kratos (being a tough dad and all) would let his son's attitude fly for as long as he did. Kratos comes across as a no nonsense, disciplinary focused parent. No way he would let his kid be that disrespectful for so long.

Overall, I found God of War to be a very good game. The experience alone justifies the games value. It's just that while I think the accolades of the game's experience is justified, I can't really agree when it comes to the actual gameplay. I mean it's very good, possible even "great". But "GOTY contender" is a bit of a stretch to me but I can see where people are coming from, however the "GOTG" titles I can't relate to. But regardless, the game is definitely worth playing for any PS4 owner.

gamingeek said:

Godamn Ophelia's boss in Octopath Traveler.

I swear to God, it doesn't matter if I'm a level 60 in a level 45 scenario, I think this is almost completely disregarded when it comes to major boss fights as this beast can just devastate you from nowhere.

Problem is that he dazes the entire team for 3 turns, you cannot do anything and then he just wipes you out. Two hits from him can kill your entire team. He calls up denizens to hide behind and you cannot even break him when those denizens are alive. So he can keep launching massively powerful attacks and you can't do shit about it. By the time you heal or resurrect someone, the next hit just kills them.

Then he releases this red mist which prevents you from using magic. REAL FUCKING HELPFUL when you have a scholar you can't use and a Cleric that cannot heal.

Total bullshit.

Equip items that prevent Silence.

Crossplay is nothing but beneficial to both gamers and developers. Not every game always has a huge pool of players to match up for online play regardless of the size of the platform’s install base. Also it greatly extends the life of a game’s online by having the largest possible pool of players to match up with. As for some advantages or disadvantages that some may have that is up to the developer’s discretion to deal with. No one is saying that every game should have crossplay but if it’s something that can be done then it should be something that the developer is able to put in their game. Even if actual crossplay isn’t implemented you should at least be able to carry over your stuff and stats from one platform version of a multi platform game to another which is what Sony is preventing Fortnite players from doing currently. There’s really no reason for Sony to block this and I think that they are just delaying the inevitable.

SupremeAC said:

Beautiful Woman licks a lolly pop for over 3 minutes Video - click if bored

For anyone that may have watched this: did she get to the center of it?

Watch to find out. It's safe for work BTW

robio said:

I'm trying to hold off until the weekend to play Dragon Quest 11 so I can play a big chunck at once, but couldn't resist sneaking in a quick 30 minute session. God it's pretty. Bright crisp color everywhere. Little bummed with the midi score though. Big step backwards from DQ8 in that regard.

Oh man, I so want to play this right now.

SteelAttack said:

Sometimes it feels like every decision regarding japanese games is being made by the same old man.

Rest In peace, Yamauchi-san.

SteelAttack said:

Apparently the asshole, decrepit composer stopped every possible effort for having a proper soundtrack because he wants people to...go buy his orchestra stuff? Sometimes it feels like every decision regarding japanese games is being made by the same old man.