Nasar7

@seikenfreak: If you're interested in more Norse mythology I would check out Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology since its not too long and has a cool collection of stories and characters (including a lot of the ones referenced by those lore panels in the game). If you want more after that, its time to jump into the primary sources, the Poetic and Prose Eddas.

@humanity: when you fast travel through realms try staying in place. The gate will usually pop up right in front of Kratos whenever its done loading.

I finished the game a couple days ago, loved it. Like others I was expecting Thor to show up at some point but I'm also ok with them saving some of these bigger fights for the sequel so that it didn't bog down the real story here which was the Kratos-Atreus relationship. As is usually the case with these types of games the more sidequests and exploration you do in between the main story beats the more fleshed out the world and lore becomes. There's a lot of conversations and lore panels and boat stories and stuff you can miss if you're simply mainlining the main quest. I found these enjoyable to do and they really give you more of the best parts of the game, namely the Kratos-Mimir-Atreus interactions.

I'm a big fan of both Greek/Roman and Norse mythology so that undoubtedly raises my appreciation and enjoyment of this series. As such none of the reveals were super shocking but it was cool to see how God of War plays with the myths and interprets them. The fact that the Aesir are the bad guys in this game is particularly intriguing since in the source material they are always the good guys, ie Baldr is the god of light and beauty, Odin is the Allfather and lover of knowledge (not in a psychotic paranoid way, he's like Gandalf), Thor is mighty and a slayer of giants, yet just, not simply a bloodthirsty killer. The Jotun are usually tricksters or devious or even just powerful enemies that the Aesir gods, being a reflection of the warrior culture that created them, can't help but want to test their strength against in a uber-masculine, meathead way. However the game poses an interesting question in way it the reframes these characters and tales and has altered my reception of them significantly. This is really cool coming from a video game and reminds me of a friend's thesis back in undergrad on the subject.

The last thing on my to do list is the fight with Sigrun the Valkyrie queen. I'm playing on normal and its not too bad (she has all the moves of every other Valkyrie it seems) its just a matter of getting in a groove and not getting greedy or impatient because she has a shit ton of health. I did do most of the Muspelheim/Niflheim/Lake stuff and upgraded all moves/weapons/armor/ to max. To anyone having a hard time, upgraded gear definitely makes a difference.

The combat is limited in the beginning which goes well with the "Kratos is old and out of practice" narrative the the bosses taunt him with. After you start investing in the skill tree and learn to use Atreus it really opens up and combined with the different armor sets allows for different playstyles. I also went down from hard to normal after the first encounter because it was a slog but maybe later in the game you could switch back if you want. Idk, the difficulty on normal seems perfect to me.

Same. I'd also be interested to know how many people who are loving the current generation are primarily PC gamers vs console peeps.

Just found out from the Feb 24 Beastcast. Drew you were such an integral part of the site from the very beginning. Honestly, with this latest departure my reasons for continuing to come to GB are declining. Guess I'll be sticking to the podcasts from now on. Drew you will be sorely missed.

@sravankb: I can accept that. The Superman religious imagery was a bit much, though.

As someone who prefers DC to Marvel, DC's current film output is pure trash. They need to get actual comic book people to write their movie scripts, not some Hollywood hacks. And for the love of God get Zack Snyder away from anything remotely creative.

I don't care about 60 fps, would much rather have the increased resolution. If you mostly play competitive online and/or e-sports games, sure, I can see why it matters to you but people who say 30fps is unplayable garbage deserve to be shipped into the sun.

I was gonna link some of these but I figured not many people really cared. Good looking out.

Are you honestly gonna tell me you didn't enjoy the Tifa bitch slapping Elena on top of a giant cannon mini game?