Quick Look: God of War (PC)

Great video, but the sound from Jan and Jeff is very muffled

Ama be honest... I really appreciate Rorie's PC port Quick Looks because he goes through the changes and PC-specific options (graphical or otherwise). Like, they mention in this quick look maybe there's an option to change button prompt to Playstation controller layout, but they just go "huh I wonder" and never open up the options.

Can't wait to finally play this. It will never stop being weird to me seeing Xbox button UI in a Sony first party game lol.

I recorded something for this but unfortunately it didn't turn out super great because of my recording settings and then I got COVID! It seems like a pretty great port, though! I think I might have an idea for how to do 21:9 recordings for stuff like this in the future, though; need to try it out sometime.

Get well soon RorDawg.

@rorie: Get well soon! No long-term ill effects I hope. (also you should take break from work)

@rorie: Get well soon good sir!

I was hoping jeff would be on it. He really bounced off of God of War for the weirdest reasons that felt like nitpicks that get fixed later in the game. He missed out on a banger and his dismissal of it always comes off weird to those who finished it, cause the story gets great, the boy isnt as annoying as he thought, the combat opens up, the settings get awe-inspiringly beautiful. My father who isn't a gamer saw me watching a lets play cinematics only video and got mad when i turned it off, he was so engaged and thought it was a real life movie. Games like this and Last of us 2, regardless of people's take on hating the changes or story, really push the medium and how far games can go story and visually. I will say last of us 2 focuses on story more so you have less gamey feel but that's not a negative or positive. Im happy more get to play this game. Playstation and xbox really put out some passion projects in AAA work, good on them, (passion as in the people working on it really like the end result cause they enjoy the game their making and not churning out Call of duty 403, even if call of duty imo is good, just using it as an example.)

Get well soon, Matt!

We appreciate you putting the graphics to the lowest setting. That always gets a good laugh out of me.

I actually did that on the thing we recorded! Like most console ports it's not a huge difference between Low and Ultra settings, at least to my eyes.

Release the Rorie Cut!

This was less a Quicklook than part of a let's play. Even a pretty hefty spoiler is in here for those, who waited to play the pc version for the first time.

@topcyclist: I bounced off God of War first time around as well, and whilst I did eventually go back and play it, and enjoyed it, I found I did agree with a lot of Jeff G's criticisms - not so much around Atreus, who I didn't mind from the beginning, but I never found the combat very enjoyable. The tight 3rd person camera just didn't work for me with the lack of peripheral vision, I found combat a bit of a pain in the arse all the way to the end.

That said I still did all the stuff in Muspelheim and got all the Valkyries, and still really liked the game despite all of that :')

This is the game that put me off AAA for good but man, the opening couple of hours and first dungeon are undeniably very strong.

If a pc port has ultrawide support, I would prefer to have Matt Rorie do the quicklook so he can show it off. His ultrawide quicklooks are the best.

Jan, fun quick look but next time please show off the pc settings.

Can I ask why?

@ethanielrain: I’ll caveat that I’m glad people like this stuff, but God of War was just the straw for me re these big budget titles.

My problem with most of these games is they barely evolve after their first couple of hours, with areas broken up by the same bland prestige tone and drama, the same airless direction and action, barely evolving and justifying their hour counts and the things you’re doing. Characters inflect as if what they’re saying has a lot of gravity but no one really says anything that interesting or insightful. It’s budget is only there as a smokescreen, a distraction and its gotten to the point with these games where swinging an axe or firing a gun has the same impact as pressing a button during a QTE. They’re just completely frictionless experiences to me at this point.

tldr is this game made it really clear to me how much these AAA games use their budgets as a veneer to hide bland writing, predictable character arcs and arbitrary progression systems.

@laughingorc: yeah, the combat is a bit to get use to and it will either hit or not when your used to say bayonetta. I thought dark souls for example was the usual hot take...clunky and unresponsive till i played it on its terms and found it really responsive and clunky for a good reason. The tight camera makes it so you cant get the bayonetta like fighting of a normal action game but i think it works for it. That said the old weapon you get might have changed his mind since it starts playing like old god of war thou i dont think jeff liked old god of war either so it could just not be his cup of tea. I still think he'd like the cinematic feel but he didnt like that either so who knows some games just rub people the wrong way lol.

You have to be a treat at parties.

@clapmaster: Ignoring that I was literally asked and answered, do you really want to be the millionth person today to make that exact comment on the internet? At this point at least put in a little effort if you’re going to be that kind of jerk.

Absolutely loved this game, like Jeff B this (literal) quick look makes me want to get into it again. Personally, I don‘t care for many ”Triple A” games either but this one was so fun to play. A very deep and rewarding combat system that really evolves all game, great acting, and the polish on this thing is insane. Every inch of this game you can just see the work and craft put into it, I can’t watch it without thinking about the people that made this happen. Quality product that pushes big budget games forward, like Last of Us 2. If you haven’t played it you should try it.

Ooof the audio quality of Jan and Bakalar is not great...That being said, playing this right now and it's great so far!

One of the best boss fights of all time.

It’s really cool how Kratos uses a wrestling move to kill the stranger since he is Greek.