GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK VS FINAL FANTASY ORIGINS STRANGER OF PARADISE

STORY

GOW 0-1 SOP


CHARACTERS

GOW 0-2 SOP


GAMEPLAY

GOW 0-3



CHARACTERS

GOW 0-4 JACK



MUSIC

GOW 0-5 SOP


GRAPHICS

GOW 0-6 SOP


CULTURAL IMPACT

GOW 0-7 SOP


WINNER….

STRANGER OF PARADISE SWEEP!

When a game like this comes out I always get nervous to put my thoughts into words. Games like this are the reason I play video games. It was able to reignite my passion for gaming.

The presentation on Ragnarok is immediately gripping. With the controller in my hand I was ready to get answers to the questions that God of War 2018 left me with. I can't remember the last time I looked at the clock and new I needed to go to bed, but all I wanted to do was keep playing.

The combat picks up right where it left off in 2018. It doesn't do that bullshit to take your weapons away or make you relearn skills from the last game. It built on top of what they had. That goes for every aspect of this game. The narrative is stepped up. The gameplay is stepped up. The characters were stepped up.

To call God of War Ragnarok a flawless masterpiece is overselling things a touch. Hell, I'd even say it falls short of it's predecessor. It does little to shake up the formula established by God of War 2018, at times feeling like Santa Monica is too afraid of failure to mess with their award-winning success. The story is also far more grand and expansive than the previous game's, but at the same time loses that simple character-driven excellence and perfectly paced storyline that made 2018's the best in gaming.

However, if you can look past these flaws (and make it through a horrifically slow first third), you'll find that Ragnarok is a truly excellent game, one well worth your time. The excellent combat from the first game returns, this time with a much richer enemy variety for you to sink your blades into. Plus, although there are plenty of issues with the story, the epic finale to the Norse tale that began four years ago is ultimately very satisfying, bolstered by an incredibly stellar voice cast and giving many moments that will give fans plenty to laugh and cry over. In the end, I think this is a game that will only improve when revisited, as the things that shine brightest will continue to be loved, while the game's problems may fade into the background.

God of War Ragnarok excede em tantas áreas que é difícil de por em uma review, mas vou tentar.

O aspecto mais impressionante desse jogo é a história e em como eles conseguiram encerrar a saga nórdica tão bem, há muito mais personagens, sub-tramas e conflitos do que no God of War 2018, e isso necessita de mais cutscenes, exposições e distrações para que o jogador consiga absorver tudo sem se perder, há muitas e muitas cutscenes no jogo, até para side quests, e todas elas vem no momento certo, após trechos longos de gameplay, você nunca se sente preso ou querendo pular pois todas são essenciais para a história, e imagino o trabalho que isso deve ter levado para os roteiristas, mas com certeza valeu a pena, pois você nunca quer parar ou quer que acabe.

A gameplay evoluíu de várias formas também, aqui temos novos companions, personagens já conhecidos agora tem sua própia gameplay, e há também uma nova arma, está tudo mais justo porém mais difícil, a falta de variedade de inimigos, que era uma crítica de GoW 2018, não existe no Ragnarok, a variedade é tanta que você não irá ver o mesmo boss repetido até a metade do jogo, além disso, o jogo possui o dobro de chefes se comparado ao 2018, vai haver algo novo em cada área nova até os créditos rolarem.

A exploração está muito mais recompensadora que o jogo antecessor, todas as missões secundárias valem a pena serem feitas, dando uma boa pausa da campanha e aumentando os laços dos personagens, há incentivo para ir atrás até dos colecionáveis, também temos chefes opcionais, novas mecânicas de travessia e muito mais reinos para explorar, chega a ser espantoso quanto conteúdo a Santa Monica conseguiu por em tão pouco tempo.

Em conclusão, God of War Ragnarok vai surpreender qualquer um que jogar, por vários motivos, é sem dúvidas um dos maiores jogos do ano que vai bater de frente com Elden Ring.

Hoje após acabar Ragnarok, me peguei pensando que respeito bem mais o 2018. Pois se levarmos em conta o que Kratos significou para uma geração de jogadores até seu final em GOW3, exigiu muita coragem da Santa Monica em mudar, e mudar ao me entender, tem sido não apenas o Kratos mais também de como ele se insere em um jogo moderno.
Jogos Cinematográficos já existiam aos montes desde isso, mas em 2013 essa vertente tomou forma dentro do imaginário dos jogadores, o que me fez pensar em como os temas dessa duologia de GOW servem como um meta comentário sobre Game Design.
Era difícil de se imaginar um GOW cinematográfico, mas a Santa Monica o fez e apesar dos tropeços, é um titulo que merece seu devido respeito. Anos se passam e chegamos em 2022 com o lançamento de Ragnarok, com uma ideia já estabelecida, e o que mais me interessava nesse titulo era sua narrativa.
E devo dizer, GOW ragnarok tem uma boa narrativa, o problema é que ela está atrás dos erros que esse jogo tem. Se o 2018 já era um jogo questionável com os seus sistemas oriundos de RPG, em ragnarok isso é expandido, e torna o jornada por vezes maçante. Na real, boa partes das coisas feitas em GOW2018 foram expandidas aqui, combate, conteúdo secundário, sistema de RPG, equipamentos etc, e a primeira vista isso é algo bom não? Mas a longo prazo torna o jogo inchado, e por vezes me peguei ardendo em raiva tendo que fazer uma "build" que nada mudava no fim das contas já que eu usei todos os itens iniciais até o fim do jogo praticamente.
Eu posso passar um bom tempo falando de problemas específicos que esse jogo possui, mas o que me pegou é o fato do jogo não se assumir como um jogo cinematográfico, de vez. Ragnarok tem uma narrativa madura e consciente, e como jogo ele tenta ser mais maduro e falha miseravelmente ao meu ver, por mais que o combate seja polido, para avançar você precisa passar por muitos inimigos esponja de dano (se você não estiver no nível de acordo, o que a gente entraria em outro problema que é o balanceamento desse jogo) te prendendo a longas tentativas contra inimigos mais fortes.
De verdade, tem um jogo bom por trás desse game design sequelado, tem uma ótima narrativa por trás desse roteiro confuso. O 6 que eu dou hoje, é para o jogo como uma obra completa, mas sua narrativa não merece esse game design porco. Erros foram cometidos, Santa Monica não aprendeu com eles e eles não foram melhores no final (gostou da referencia gamer?).
Apesar das muitas ressalvas, é uma experiência crucial para aqueles que querem ver Kratos lidando com seus demônios

I remember when i played the first one, I thought it could be a great game. There were faults, sure, but it could be better. Unfortunately, most of them are not entirely fixed. For starters, enemy variety got a little better, but just a little. The combat is the same, with just a few gimmicks (most of them very small and sometimes annoying) so you'll basically play the same game as before. That may be good, right? Yeah, if you enjoyed the first game and thought it was flawless, which I did not.
Now this game, while being much the same as 2018, comes with its own sets of problems. Who doesn't enjoy being taught how to play by your party all the time? That happens a lot. Who doesn't love a story without focus with a lot of chapters looking like glorified side quests? Well, that happened.
In the end, while 2018 was far from a perfect game, it still is better than this one, more enjoyable, the story had focus and was less annoying to play. At least, I didn't feel like I wanted it to end as soon as possible 10 hours in.

2018's God of War was a surprise and a breath of fresh air for a series, and more importantly a character, who's story I thought really didn't need to be continued. Santa Monica proved me wrong, and they created a fascinating adventure exploring the bond between an old warrior and his adolescent son. Ragnarok picks up a few years afterwards and I would say does an alright job following it up.

Ultimately, the game feels like more of 2018. Larger realms to explore, a larger scale plot with more significant characters in norse mythology, and more development. This ends up being both a good and bad thing. You get to explore some of the other realms that were untouched in the first game or get more depth to others, but it also feels like the pacing of the game is significantly slower. Certain segments feel like they drag on forever, and while some fun new characters get introduced, a not-insignificant portion feel half-baked, under-utilized, bizarrely written, or just plain overstay their welcome (both allies and enemies alike). It was a stark contrast to the exceptional cast of the first game which was small and focused. Overall the story still concludes in a fairly satisfying way, and I have some interest to see if they continue from here.

The gameplay is also quite similar to 2018. Without getting into spoilers you do end up having some new tools and abilities to your disposal, but it doesn't feel that much of an evolution. I played on the second hardest difficulty and it provided a fun experience slicing through enemies and a reasonable challenge. However, it was disappointing that my gripes about the camera being far too close to you during combat from the first game is still true here. On paper it's great to have the indicator arrows and ally call-outs (when they aren't too frequent or repetitive, Mimir), but NOT when they exist as a solution to a problem the developers intentionally created in the first place. It's frustrating, and those same call-outs which annoyingly apply during puzzles and even the occasional exploration feel patronizing. It's genuinely bizarre that a game that provided such a challenging experience also doesn't seem to think very highly of the player's skill or intuition. Many of the so-called puzzles too feel more like 'I Spy' where you are looking for the interactable more than trying to figure out the solution, making those time-sensitive call-outs all the more annoying. Still, it is a fun set of worlds to explore and your companions narrating it with stories as you run around does break up the silence between combat rather nicely. They really do pay respect to the mythos and a lot of the sidequests are fantastic.

As I said previously, Ragnarok serves as a solid wrap-up for the 2018 game and Kratos steals the show of every scene he speaks in. Fans of the previous game would be foolish not to play this, but I hope they take some of the popular criticisms to heart if they plan to continue this series.

It should not be possible for a platform-defining AAA game in 2022 to have writing this good. Everything I know about the material realities of game production make me believe that anything this nuanced, this heartfelt, this willing to sacrifice "gaminess" in exchange for a truer and deeper story, should crumple like cardboard under the sheer size of teams needed to coordinate a game of this size and expense. And yet: here it is. A top notch example of writing not just for games but for storytelling as a whole, not just sitting in an 80 hour video game but earning the time it asks you to spend on it.

The writing is easily enough to make this game worth playing, but the rest of it is certainly solid enough not to turn a player away. The core combat systems are very strong, but they're hampered by the fact that the encounter design doesn't seem to know quite what to do with it. The player's moveset is built around a Dark Souls-style framework of asking the player to understand and commit to the wind-ups of their attacks in order to land powerful hits, but the battles don't seem to understand this. Enemies will teleport around the arena and only stagger unpredictably as though they're meant for a style of game much more like the original God of War series, effectively punishing the player at random for trying to reason through combat like the system seems to demand.

The encounters also lean heavily on fights with multiple enemies to dial up the difficulty. Although there are a fair number of (delightful!) fights with particularly tricky single enemies, the more challenging fights involving groups almost uniformly suck. Again, the combat system doesn't seem to be designed for this: enemies can freely attack even when they're offscreen, meaning that any commitment the player makes to attack the enemy they're focused on can just get broken by a projectile or mob slamming in from nowhere.

The right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing, which is honestly what I expect everywhere in a game this size. The fact that the combat works as well as it does given that is still impressive, and the fact that the writing is straight up excellent is nothing short of a miracle.

God Of War Ragnarok was by far my most anticipated game from last year. Having finally played it I'm happy to say that it fully delivered in pretty much every regard. This game is tremendous. I absolutely loved God Of War 2018 and this game further builds upon its remarkable strengths while simultaneously fixing some of its notable weaknesses. It isn’t a drastic shift in the gameplay formula but it does manage to adequately tweak/refine the general mechanics of 2018’s game, trimming the fat so to speak, and making the moment to moment gameplay experience even more smooth and fun than it already was. The boss fights are a vast improvement over the predecessor and they are very enjoyable to play through, the combat is a pitch perfect mix of visceral challenge and grueling intensity, and the exploration remains just as rewarding and satisfying as the prior game, with just the right balance of puzzles, enemy counters, collectibles, and basic platforming to keep you engaged. Ragnarok is by all means bigger and bolder than 2018’s game (both narratively and thematically) but with that also comes problems. The story feels very disjointed at points which manifests itself into some noticeably inconsistent pacing throughout this already unwieldily structured campaign. There are also some drawn out gameplay segments where so little happens in the way of plot progression, boss fights, set pieces, or character development that this game did test my patience on occasion. It's certainly clear that this game was intended to be a second installment in a trilogy as the story (especially towards the end) does feel somewhat padded. Certain character motivations also come off as contrived and certain plot developments are either seemingly rushed over or not properly fleshed out. In spite of all these flaws though? I would still feel comfortable declaring that i loved this game and that it’s the best game i’ve played all year. God Of War Ragnarok may not be perfect (no game truly is) but I can’t deny how strongly it affected me as someone who has loved this franchise since its inception. It’s an incredibly ambitious and immensely emotional experience, with top notch production values and gorgeously stunning visuals, polished gameplay, a beautifully told and utterly gripping story, anchored by a rich and spectacularly developed cast of both main characters and supporting characters. I haven’t even mentioned the incredibly moving score by Bear McCreary that adds so much emotional resonance to the proceedings of the game. I seriously doubt this game is going to have the same indelible impact that God Of War 2018 had (and it certainly isn’t as narratively singular of an experience) but as a game on its own it is every bit as stirring, meaningful, powerful, and compelling. I ultimately walked away from this game feeling incredibly satisfied and completely enthralled by what I was experiencing even through its rare missteps. I truly can’t wait to see what santa monica have in store for this franchise next.

God of War: Ragnarok is a fantastic game that improves upon God of War (2018) in many ways, yet it still ultimately fails to live up to the gold standard set by its polished predecessor.

If someone tried to tell you that Movie X was better than Movie Y because “Movie X is longer and therefore better”, you’d probably laugh. I think most folks can agree that length is not a metric for quality, and yet game devs continue to operate under the assumption that “more = better”. God of War Ragnarok is no exception to that flawed logic. When faced with the question of “How do we improve upon God of War (2018)?” it seems the devs just said “I don’t know. More” More story, more characters, more collectibles, more equipment, more abilities. It’s literally just more. While God of War felt like a tight clean game from beginning to end, Ragnarok struggles with pacing issues and desperately needs an editor to trim the bloat.

None of that is to say I do not like this game. I really enjoyed my time with it and there is a lot it does better than the first game. While God of War has a pretty small cast of characters (and only one woman), Ragnarok blows the doors open and introduces a much larger crew that I enjoyed getting to know and spend more time with. The story of GoW2018 was small and personal, while Ragnarok’s story is grand. Yet despite the scale of Ragnarok’s story, it still manages to keep a lot of intimate elements. In fact, I’d argue that the small moments carry more weight than the large bombastic ones. The moment-to-moment writing and dialogue carries the weight of the story here while a lot of the gigantic cinematic story beats often didn’t feel earned and mostly just felt like they existed for either shock value or excitement.

The gameplay is as good as ever. I was worried at first because it basically felt like I was playing the same game I played in 2018. But once I had spent more time with it and unlocked more combat options, the game had more than a few surprises that kept the gameplay feeling fresh. My biggest complaint with the combat is the massive swings in difficulty. You’ll have some insane cinematic god versus god boss battle where you end it feeling like a king. And then the next scene you’ll get stun-locked by a giant chicken that kills you in a few hits. Whenever I start to feel like The God of War, the game firmly reminds me that I am playing a Video Game and kills the mood. Eventually I bumped the difficulty down one tick which helped with side content, but then it made the story battles too easy. I get it, it’s a video game, but a god should not be easier to kill than some random side enemies.

When not in combat or enjoying story beats, your time is mainly spent solving puzzles (while Mimir and Atreus talk your head off about how to solve the puzzles you’re already solving) or collecting a mind-numbing amount of collectibles. Every time a new collectible was introduced over the course of the game (and it happens a lot), I audibly groaned. This game has 418 collectibles scattered across the realms. While some of those collectibles are fun to do or add to your character (upgrades, gear, etc.), a majority of the collectibles just exist to give you things to collect. There are ravens, poems, artifacts, lore, and many other collectibles that serve no purpose beyond checking a box. You just stare at some text on a wall, pick up some crystals, grab a scroll, and then listen to Mimir yell some piece of stock dialogue at you “Nice work, brother! I’m sure this crystal will come in handy” or “Good thing you learned the runes, brother!” Annoyingly, you can’t even get most of the collectibles out of the gate; it slowly introduces you to them as you play the story, unlocking the very last one after you roll credits. I generally like to complete areas in games as I go through them to avoid back-tracking but the game is quite literally built around the need to backtrack. That said, because it was designed with that in mind, the backtracking (mostly) feels deliberate which is quite nice. As you revisit areas after the story, you’ll get little bits of epilogue story, dialogue, etc. from the characters that makes the backtracking feel worthwhile (even if the fast-travel is still absolute trash).

While playing God of War: Ragnarok, I genuinely had a fun time - I loved the combat and I was interested to see where the story went. But as soon as I turned the game off, it left my brain. The pacing issues and the constant reminders that you’re playing a capital V “Video Game” get in the way of the game being truly special. Despite some of the issues I had getting through it, I had a really good time with the post-game and I ultimately finished the game with positive feelings and good memories of my time with it.


+ Added variety to God of War’s already fantastic combat
+ Great intimate moments between characters
+ Fantastic cast of characters (both new and old)
+ Solid post-game with new quests and backtracking with new dialogue
+ Excellent soundtrack

- Pacing issues and often feels bloated. Desperately needs an editor
- Balance issues with wild difficulty swings
- Way too many collectibles
- Fast travel still sucks
- NPC chatter while solving puzzles or finding collectibles is obnoxious
- Bad/dated menus and UI

Ragnarok essentially combines the best of both GoW 2018 and the older God of War games into one massive yet tightly packaged game. The journey that this game will take you can feel as grandiose as the God of Wars of old, and yet it retains the emotional resonance that GoW 2018 brings. Every couple hours or so, the game introduces new things, whether it be a important story moment, or new gameplay ideas, that result in a snowball-esque progression. The game just keeps getting bigger and better, surprising you at every turn. This, combined with the game's immaculate sense of pace, results in an experience that manages to stay fresh and exciting the whole way through, even as the story meanders in the first half, in which our main characters are just as confused as to how to progress as we are. It successfully wrangles so many story arcs and tangles, presenting it as a cohesive whole without overwhelming you. I don't want to spoil it at all, it is an amazing rollercoaster ride that everyone should see for themselves.

Ragnarok also successfully fleshes out the combat system from GoW 2018, with massively increased enemy variety, a larger move set from the get go, and various optional equipments that encourages a wide variety of play styles. It truly feels like everyone will find something that will fit their sensibilities here, and the game is made even more fun because of it. Backed up by a well paced progression system, incredibly satisfying animations and impactful effects, the beat-em-up combat is a joy to play and a sight to behold.

While the old cast of characters are as great as ever, the new people you'll meet are just as interesting. Thor is a deadly force to be reckoned with, and yet his painful ignorance of the truth leads into a lot of drama with his family that fists can't fully solve. Odin's out-of-left-field portrayal steals the show everytime he's on screen, as his unassuming appearance and witty dialogue breaks the expectations of what somebody who's called the All-Father would be.

It would be negligent if I don't talk about the boss fights in a GoW game: they are real good. They're not the most difficult fights, but the spectacle on display are very impressive, and the variety of mechanics being tested makes it very engaging. I have to say some of my favorite ones are the big wolf boss, and the last two bosses.

It's not to say that I don't have some complaints. I'm a bit sad that the game still very much feels like a PS4 title, especially with the way the levels are designed making it feel a bit too corridor-like most of the time. The soundtrack also didn't leave too much of a mark on me for the most part, as it chooses to fulfill its duty as the emotional catalyst of the moments on screen, and not much else.

At the end, Ragnarok stands tall as one of the finest example of a "bigger and better" sequel. It might not be the most groundbreaking or innovative, but is that always the right thing to aim for? Let's fully realize our ideas before moving on into something else.

Certainly a good game, but also certainly a disappointment given the hype and acclaim going into it. It has so much going for it and also so much that falls flat. While the 2018 game had a clear goal, and you were always working towards that goal, so much of the time spent in this game just feels aimless. Characters make stupid decisions and many character's motivations seem to change out of nowhere for no real reason. Plot points that are made to feel very important are then abandoned out of nowhere.

On the other end of things, some of the story details and way they tie things together are absolutely genius and/or beautiful. While the gameplay has been perfected from the last game, the highlight remains its characters and the dialogue between them. So many great little and big moments between the cast. The side content is also some of the best content in the game.

Please never make me play as Atreus again.

Reasonably enjoyable, but disappointing.
- Excessive quippy dialogue that becomes annoying fast.
- Unnecessary padding that goes nowhere.
- Serviceable, but flawed, combat.
- Some nice visuals and cool moments.
- A story that tries to cram in too much.
- A decent game, but a soft 7 to its predecessor's hard 9.

"To grieve deeply is to have loved fully."


I loved God of War (2018), and I grieve now for Ragnarök - I'm feeling dramatic today. Put simply: the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, it's lesser.
Don't get me wrong. There are a number of moments in this that are some of the best I've experienced in all my time with video games. On top of that, the combat remains excellent - though it is both better and worse. The same goes for the side content and exploration. I enjoyed all of my 38 hours, thoroughly.

And so I hate that I feel a nagging disappointment that tells me how messy and unfocused Ragnarök is. To me, it does not feel anywhere near as special as its prequel.
This story just did not come together as cleanly as the last one did; it drags yet rushes and does not earn all of its great moments with enough build-up. Wanting to tell a grand story is not the issue: it's losing focus while doing so.

It Is The Nature Of A Thing That Matters, Not Its Form.

Death Can Have Me When It Earns Me.

Open Your Heart To Their Suffering.

This Is Your Choice Son, I Trust You

“Fate only binds you if you let it. Do what is necessary, not because it is written”

God of War Ragnarok was a game I’ve been waiting for since the post credit scene to the 2018 game, and safe to say that it did not disappoint.

The game is pretty big improvement over 2018, gameplay feels a lot snappier and more responsive, and having both the Levaithan Axe and Blades of Chaos pretty much from the start makes this more apparent.

The story in this game is absolutely amazing, pretty much a blast from start to finish, and in my eyes the standout character in this game is the leading man him self, the God of War. Kratos in the game is an absolute standout, as the game highlights his relationship with his son, his morals, and his ideals. This game has put him up there among some of my favorite main characters of all time.

The only issues I have with this game are probably some of the puzzles being needless annoying and the rushed endgame.

In short, easily my GOTY for 2022.