Cory Barlog addresses the lack of boss fights in GOW

Dringus · May 31, 2018

jarnet87 said:
They should of cut the 15 troll re-skin minibossss and added in 1 or 2 more real bosses.

The first GoW on PS2 was light on bosses, they increased it a significant amount in the 2nd and 3rd game. I imagine we will see more in the sequel.

My brother had no intention of playing the game and watched an "all boss fights" video while I was playing the game and keep asking me how many trolls I have fought frequently. After the first few I began to realize why and figured I was in for a lot more, lol.

Yearsoflurking · May 31, 2018

What really pissed me off is they thought adding a new magic mechanic to trolls would make it fun

Saint-14 · May 31, 2018

Blade Wolf said:
So the story technically only has 3 bosses? I mean the final boss is really just Baldur, again.

That means the main story fights is basically just: Baldur ----> Dragon ----> Magni & Modi ----> Baldur

I see nothing wrong with that, he says it's intentional and explains perfectly why.

Jacob4815 · May 31, 2018

I think that the one shot camera integration dried out a lot of time and resources.

It's cool, but if they need to sacrifice epic bosses in the GOW saga, maybe they should rethink the priorities in the sequel.

Dizastah · May 31, 2018

I agree we could have used a few more boss fights. I have high hopes for the sequel though. Especially now that the groundwork has been laid. It has the potential to be amazing.

Blade Wolf · May 31, 2018

The Bridgekeeper of Helheim, gate keeper of the dead, its heart is the only ingredient in all of the nine realms that can help Kratos' son.

Except it's a troll, a troll that can only be killed with a fire weapon.

Why not just kill any other troll with the axe and then take their heart instead? Are their heart really any different? If so it was not explained during the story or by Mimir at all.

I'm sure the brilliant writers of the this game are aware of this, they just choose to not say anything cause it's been literally five years and the game still isn't out.

''Yeah, fuck it, it's a troll then.''

HiLife · May 31, 2018

Probably the worst part of the game.

Bran Van · May 31, 2018

I mean they could have looped the phenomenal side bosses into the story and I doubt people would have issue

Kemono · May 31, 2018

I think he isn't as honest here as he would like to be.

I would bet that God of War 2 will have a lot more bosses and more enemy variety. And we won't have to wait 20 years for the next one. I think Sony just didn't want to invest as much money as they would've needed because nobody could know how the fans/customers would react to the game. Now that they know it's a big success the money will be there.

It's the same thing with Breath of the Wild imo. They couldn't have known how big their success would be. The next one'll be much bigger/better, etc.

They now know what their fans want and they'll deliver big time.

Bran Van · May 31, 2018

Blade Wolf said:
So how the hell was GOWIII made?

Love the game but I do feel like there should be at least one or two more story bosses (aka bosses that's not a troll), It doesn't need to have any unique cutscenes, it just need to be a creature we haven't seen so far.

GOW3 was a third game in a formula, so didn't require years of tinkering just to get a new gameplay loop right. It was also way smaller in scope considering the linear path

Yearsoflurking · May 31, 2018

Blade Wolf said:
The Bridgekeeper of Helheim, gate keeper of the dead, its heart is the only ingredient in all of the nine realms that can help Kratos' son.

Except it's a troll, that can only be killed with a fire weapon.

Why not just kill any troll and take their heart instead? Are their heart really any different?

I'm literally at this fight right now and had to take a break. I'm sick of this troll shit smh. I expected an actual gatekeeper not another troll

Richter1887 · May 31, 2018

The trolls to me were similiar to the Cyclops in the original games which had you fight them as random enemies.

Over all I got what I expected. First God of War had 3 bosses only but this game had even more (hidden Valkyrie bosses) so I am more than happy with what I got.

I think they will pull a God of War 2 for GoW5 and add much more bosses.

Tyaren · May 31, 2018

There is just a handful of actual bosses in the game. These bosses were done really well however (I can see why they took SMS so long and so much effort) and they perfectly suited the story that this game is telling. Throwing more random Norse Gods or monsters in there, as many demand, would just not suit this game. This game is not about picking up where the older GoW games left off. It is not about now murdering the complete Norse pantheon.
The only thing that began to bother me were all the trolls, just in different colors. They became boring and repetitive by the end of the game. The Helheim guard troll was just lazy, a proper, unique boss was needed in his case.

InquisitorAles · May 31, 2018

I'm sorry, but calling people greedy for expecting more bosses in the game from series that know for its boss battles is just plain dumb, I'm not sure what he was thinking when he said that.

SgtCobra · May 31, 2018

My biggest complaint with the game, the Stranger fight is definitely in my top 5 of all time but the rest pf the fights were kinda forgettable

except for Magni and Modi

Icarus · May 31, 2018

The way I see it is this game is a brand new chapter in the God of War series and as such characters need to be introduced slowly but surely.

Think of the books you read, I'll use a popular example; The Lord of the Rings, in the Fellowship of the Ring how many major characters did they face? Not many and certainly not the major ones.

I see the same setup here. The core of the game is the whole Father and Son adventure with other characters factoring in to this at this stage. You get the impression that the next game will have you pitted against some of the bigger ones.

As for my point of view I think the game was amazing and whilst the inner child of me wanted to face off against some more bosses I can completely get why there wasn't any extra too at this stage. Lets not forget the very last cutscene for this game. ;)

Yautja_Warrior · May 31, 2018

As long as they fit a few more unique boss fights in the sequels, I'm fine with this. What we got was already great and the thought of facing off against Thor and Odin in the sequels, already has me hyped.

Blade Wolf · May 31, 2018

Richter1887 said:
The trolls to me were similiar to the Cyclops in the original games which had you fight them as random enemies.

Except the Cyclops of this game are the Orges? Troll in this game are more like filler mini bosses.

Decarb · May 31, 2018

Bran Van said:
I mean they could have looped the phenomenal side bosses into the story and I doubt people would have issue

Yeah true. The Valkyrie of Helheim could've been the gatekeeper and another one for Tyr's temple.

Killer751 · May 31, 2018

Dark_Castle said:
Are you insinuating that the current Sony Santa Monica team has no actual talent? That'd be quite an obscure opinion you have I must say.

Not just them, but every major Playstation first party.

I think Playstation fans have reached the point where they'll treat those studios as something special even if they aren't. They're reaching Nintendo EAD status, basically. But I would suggest that Playstation is even worse about this, because you get situations where you have people pretending that GOW 2018 has the best combat out of any game ever.

Plenty of people blindly defended The Last Guardian in spite of all of its problems because the same people made SOTC, which was a masterpiece. I think the blind devotion to studios is a major problem among game critics.

Weltall Zero · May 31, 2018

There's no way 20-40 person-years for a single boss is not hyperbole.

Salty Rice said:
No offense but thats some shit principals to have.

I would even go as far as saying those are shit principles too.

Lukemia SL · May 31, 2018

Wtf is a Dad Simulator? Not once did I leave the boy or pay child support.

disillusion386 · May 31, 2018

Honestly, I didn't even notice because of the valkyries and how fun the combat is. But now that I think about it, a few more story bosses would have been nice.

Visanideth · May 31, 2018

Conor419 said:
Wait a fucking second

https://www.resetera.com/threads/which-series-has-the-better-boss-fights-zelda-vs-god-of-war.35835/

????????

I knew that poll was riding the waves of hype.

Mods: Please go to the thread linked and reverse the poll scores, thank you.

Lol.

There's really, really, really no comparison between the two series.

And if you look at last installments specifically, GoW has few but great bosses. BotW has eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

Richter1887 · May 31, 2018

Blade Wolf said:
Except the Cyclops of this game are the Orges? Troll in this game are more like filler mini bosses.

So?

They were very similiar to that enemy type. God of War has always had these types of enemies like the minotaurs or the giant holding the globe thing.

Deleted member 249 · May 31, 2018

Yup, the lack of bosses was a bit of a bummer (though I did enjoy what was there, much like the original God of War). Much like with other popular series reboots recently, I hope boss fights are something the follow ups will address.

Jacob4815 said:
I think that the one shot camera integration dried out a lot of time and resources.

It's cool, but if they need to sacrifice epic bosses in the GOW saga, maybe they should rethink the priorities in the sequel.

Yeah, I agree, the one shot was a gimmick that really did not add much to the game, and seems to have constrained gameplay and storytelling more than anything else.

get2sammyb · May 31, 2018

Killer751 said:
Probably by having actual talent.

I refuse to play the new GOW out of principal. I'm getting massive TLOU flashbacks at how people hype this game up just for being a dad simulator.

I'll stick with Yakuza, thanks.

Unbelievable post. Just unbelievable.

Saint-14 · May 31, 2018

Killer751 said:
Not just them, but every major Playstation first party.

I think Playstation fans have reached the point where they'll treat those studios as something special even if they aren't. They're reaching Nintendo EAD status, basically. But I would suggest that Playstation is even worse about this, because you get situations where you have people pretending that GOW 2018 has the best combat out of any game ever.

Plenty of people blindly defended The Last Guardian in spite of all of its problems because the same people made SOTC, which was a masterpiece. I think the blind devotion to studios is a major problem among game critics.

Lol.

BioDigital Jazzman · May 31, 2018

Bran Van said:
I mean they could have looped the phenomenal side bosses into the story and I doubt people would have issue

Yeah I'm like you have these cool valkyries that are optional but instead I get to fight troll after troll

tzare · May 31, 2018

Jacob4815 said:
I think that the one shot camera integration dried out a lot of time and resources.

It's cool, but if they need to sacrifice epic bosses in the GOW saga, maybe they should rethink the priorities in the sequel.

Based on sales and reception they nailed their priorities. There's room for improvement as in every other game, and probably also means that the sequels will have more bosses.

The-JUV · May 31, 2018

overall I enjoyed every boss fight in this game and didn't mind the troll re-usage. the only thing I wished for that a few others mentioned was the giant bird thing in Helheim. I wanted to fight that thing so bad. I wonder if maybe they were planning to have you fight it but just couldn't get it to work in this game due to time, or if they've already had in the back of their mind that this is a major boss for the sequel and just wanted to give the players a real tease by showing it.

Mimir does mention to Kratos when he asks what happens if he ventures further not to, so I'm pretty certain the sequel is gonna have him return to Helheim.

Visanideth · May 31, 2018

Anung said:
"What about optional bosses?"

"Just copy and paste the same Valkyrie 8 times"

"Genius!"

The valkyries all look and fight differently, to the point that what makes a certain one so difficult is that fact that since she pretty much has all the other ones' moves, you can't stick to canned reactions to what she does because the same move can lead to different outcomes. Jeez.

snausages · May 31, 2018

I like his points about the game being leaner. The smaller scale story set against an epic backdrop worked really well. However I wished he showed similar restraint with some of the other stuff in the game cause it does feel like there's a lot of feature creep. The mist echoes stuff and the amount of crafting and upgrading things and the way it artificially lengthens the game was maybe my one major complaint. It would be nice if the whole thing was about 3 or 4 hours shorter.

Phendrift · May 31, 2018

Killer751 said:
Not just them, but every major Playstation first party.

I think Playstation fans have reached the point where they'll treat those studios as something special even if they aren't. They're reaching Nintendo EAD status, basically. But I would suggest that Playstation is even worse about this, because you get situations where you have people pretending that GOW 2018 has the best combat out of any game ever.

Plenty of people blindly defended The Last Guardian in spite of all of its problems because the same people made SOTC, which was a masterpiece. I think the blind devotion to studios is a major problem among game critics.

Uh, the Last Guardian was DEFINITELY criticized for it's flaws. It's meta is way lower than SOTC.

Alienous · May 31, 2018

Encounters with the Iron Knuckles felt about as engaging as I'd expect a boss fight to. The Soul Eaters too.

As far as bosses go maybe the second confrontation with B____ should've been an actual boss fight. But I don't really have any complaints.

SliChillax · May 31, 2018

I really wanted to fight that

enormous looking bird in the background of Helheim.

Bran Van · May 31, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
There's no way 20-40 person-years for a single boss is not hyperbole.

I would even go as far as saying those are shit principles too.

The scale they do them at? Why is that hyperbole. The Stranger, the Dragon and he end fight were nuts in terms of spectacle

That said there's definitely a halfway point between trolls and the Stranger they could have achieved - which is basically what the Vakyries were. More unique battles like that in the sequel please

TransEuropaExpress · May 31, 2018

I need to know how long a Bloodborne boss took in comparison.

Mars People · May 31, 2018

Half the boss fights in GOW were the same troll in a different hat.

ShinobiBk · May 31, 2018

Wtf?
The title is a spoiler
I didn't want to know about a lack of boss fights. I haven't even played the game yet

alr1ght · May 31, 2018

Jacob4815 said:
I think that the one shot camera integration dried out a lot of time and resources.

It's cool, but if they need to sacrifice epic bosses in the GOW saga, maybe they should rethink the priorities in the sequel.

Yep, they've mentioned how difficult it was to work around it. It's something I never would have noticed had I not known about it beforehand.

OléGunner · May 31, 2018

The sequel needs more boss fights and kill finishing animations (though these were also one animation in previous games for none grunt enemy types)
I only really noticed the lack of big boss fights near the end of my playthrough.
The fucking

dragon and Baldur

boss fights were legit insane, but now I wish we had a few more epic encounters like that.

It is understandable bosses were less overall considering the mountain of work SSSM had to do with the new direction of the game.

SliChillax said:
I really wanted to fight that

enormous looking bird in the background of Helheim.

Heh I was also expecting that!
Really creepy looking thing when you first see it.

Pilgrimzero · May 31, 2018

I didn't even realize the final boss fight was in fact the final boss fight.

InquisitorAles · May 31, 2018

Killer751 said:
Not just them, but every major Playstation first party.

I think Playstation fans have reached the point where they'll treat those studios as something special even if they aren't. They're reaching Nintendo EAD status, basically. But I would suggest that Playstation is even worse about this, because you get situations where you have people pretending that GOW 2018 has the best combat out of any game ever.

Plenty of people blindly defended The Last Guardian in spite of all of its problems because the same people made SOTC, which was a masterpiece. I think the blind devotion to studios is a major problem among game critics.

*Grabs popcorn*

Phendrift · May 31, 2018

ShinobiBk said:
Wtf?
The title is a spoiler
I didn't want to know about a lack of boss fights. I haven't even played the game yet

Shit like this confuses me. So you want to be disappointed when you PLAY the game as you hope for more bosses that don't come instead of setting your expectations lower so you can enjoy it for what it is?

Lynchian Anomaly · May 31, 2018

NediarPT88 said:
That's kinda unfair tbh.

They all have their unique moves (3-4 different moves each) so you won't get overwhelmed and can learn them to fight Sigrun after.

Combat wise they were easily the best part in the game.

Yeah I was kinda joking. If anything they should have moved 1 or 2 of the Valkyries into the main game to break up the troll monotony. A unique looking Valkyrie in Helheim with that phase shifting mechanic would have been more climatic than another troll.

Lukemia SL · May 31, 2018

Killer751 said:
Probably by having actual talent.

I refuse to play the new GOW out of principal. I'm getting massive TLOU flashbacks at how people hype this game up just for being a dad simulator.

I'll stick with Yakuza, thanks.

Getting a multitude of 10/10's with no talent is pretty darn impressive.

Deleted member 249 · May 31, 2018

OléGunner said:
The sequel needs more boss fights and kill finishing animations (though these were also one animation in previous games for none grunt enemy types)
I only really noticed the lack of big boss fights near the end of my playthrough.
The fucking

dragon and Baldur

boss fights were legit insane, but now I wish we had a few more epic encounters like that.

It is understandable bosses were less overall considering the mountain of work SSSM had to do with the new direction of the game.

I just wish these reboots weren't skimping out on bosses is the thing. While i greatly have appreciated them, and enjoyed the new games a lot, it's a bummer that bosses were skimped out on in both cases.

Alienous · May 31, 2018

Pilgrimzero said:
I didn't even realize the final boss fight was in fact the final boss fight.

How does that happen. It didn't feel like a climax to you?

snausages · May 31, 2018

ShinobiBk said:
Wtf?
The title is a spoiler
I didn't want to know about a lack of boss fights. I haven't even played the game yet

Kind of on you tbh. Need to allow people to talk about stuff like this and knowing that there aren't many boss fights isn't n the really one of those fundamental things which will ruin the game.

Cory Barlog addresses the lack of boss fights in GOW

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