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God of War is probably the boldest, most radical reimagining of an established series ever
- Thread starter Master Chuuster
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God of War is going to feel a lot more similar to the Playstation 2 games before you get done with it. At least finish half the game before you declare it the most radical change ever.
To me it just feels like they modernized the old games -- big world map full of quest markers, talent tree, XP/level up system, gear/equipment system, crafting system, etc, etc. It's hard to call it a huge change when so many of its additions have been very clearly pulled from other places. The structure reminds me a lot of the Tomb Raider reboot.
Most franchises that went from 2D to 3D had much bigger upheavals, IMO. Consider something like Metroid Prime.
To me it just feels like they modernized the old games -- big world map full of quest markers, talent tree, XP/level up system, gear/equipment system, crafting system, etc, etc. It's hard to call it a huge change when so many of its additions have been very clearly pulled from other places. The structure reminds me a lot of the Tomb Raider reboot.
Most franchises that went from 2D to 3D had much bigger upheavals, IMO. Consider something like Metroid Prime.
Yeah, I think so too. It really turned the whole genre on its head and introduced a style of playing that many games would use as inspiration going forward.
Close to 20 hours in and this is the perfect comparison.
This is a pretty standard AAA action/adventure game, structurally, though it's executed very, very well.
The similarities to Hellblade are imo only skin-deep. And regarding the Norse mythology setting: As weird as it sounds, God of War is also so much brighter, vibrant and fantastical in it's Norse mythology setting. Many don't know how fantastical Norse mythology actually is, it's where the fantasy genre stems from after all. When most think about it, they think of icy fjords, snowy woods and vikings. They'd be amazed what they actually find in Norse mythology and in this game.
I haven't played the most recent Tomb Raider games, so I can't say how close they feel to this God of War, but I am very surprised not more are picking up on how similar this game is to a 3D Zelda (excluding BotW obviously). The director even stated that in one of the early interviews about the game. As I mentioned earlier, the similarities are strong and imo stronger than all the other names thrown around, like TLoU, Uncharted, Bloodborne etc.
You'll explore a vast fantasy world, you meet different cultures/races, you fight and puzzle your way through big dungeons, you go against mini bosses and big bosses, you go treasure chest hunting, you upgrade your weapon and gear to be able to progress further and reach locations that were formally closed off to you, you travel a lot back and forth, instead of heart pieces you collect Iðunn apples. If you collect 3 of a set your health bar increases. It's literally a mature 3D Zelda with more focus on in-depth combat, better side quests and a better story.
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It is an amazing reimagining of the series. It feels like it in many ways, but under the hood it's completely different. I would say BOTW is probably an even more radical change, but we don't need to compare which reimagining is more radical, I think this game is absolutely incredible so far.
You might as well have posted the Sony design template.jpg. I hope they double down and give us more of this stuff. I can't get enough of it, and neither can most of fans/critics by the looks of things. They are filling a niche that very few other devs are bothered with these days.
TLOU/UC4/HZD/GOW4 all delivering the goods so far. Don't understand why this would make anyone so salty.
Hardly anyone else is offering this kind of single player focused experiences anymore. Most big third parties are looking for GaaS revenue streams; MS doesn't really have much at the moment that can compare; and Nintendo is not pursuing this kind of cinematic experience and ambition with graphics. So even if Sony first party titles are become variations around this, they are doing things that no one else would do And we should be thankful for that.
Yeah halfway-ish through the game and it's really feeling like God of War again, in a good way thanks to a certain something
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Also to say Horizon, TLoU, Uncharted, and God of War are similar experiences just because of a few visual and storytelling style similarities is utterly ridiculous.
Totally agree.
BotW was a departure to an extent. The game was made in the top-down OG version first game and then built into what it is now. it still follows the traditional Zelda formula with a new twist.
Resident Evil 4 was a MASSIVE departure, but still retained the feel, the characteristics, and the overall tone of the RE games.
God of War took literally everything about OG GoW and pushed it to a new dimension. Literally everything about it evolved in a huge way that was DRASTICALLY different than the entire franchise. It's definitely GoW, but the tone, the emotion, the feel, and literally everything about is a huge shift from the originals, bigger than anything that came before.
The last time we saw a change this big was the Tomb Raider reboot.
BotW was a departure to an extent. The game was made in the top-down OG version first game and then built into what it is now. it still follows the traditional Zelda formula with a new twist.
Resident Evil 4 was a MASSIVE departure, but still retained the feel, the characteristics, and the overall tone of the RE games.
God of War took literally everything about OG GoW and pushed it to a new dimension. Literally everything about it evolved in a huge way that was DRASTICALLY different than the entire franchise. It's definitely GoW, but the tone, the emotion, the feel, and literally everything about is a huge shift from the originals, bigger than anything that came before.
The last time we saw a change this big was the Tomb Raider reboot.
User Warned: Thread whining.
I cant believe I have to read through BOTW fanboy-tier stupidity again....sigh
What exact gameplay of GoW are you looking for? I think this games marries the 'soulsborne' and DMC combat perfectly . It's not as button mash-y as the older ones and actually a lot closer to DMC due to variety of moves you can pull and string together but you still have to look out for enemy attack attentively. Mastering the combat feels so good especially since the game id actually challenging.
I love Souls games and original God of War trilogy but man I couldn't play this like either of those, at least for me it genuinely felt different and refreshing. I did not think SSM would ever have been capable to deliver such a deep and vast game from the get-go. It's not just a step up like a traditional sequel would be they truly over delivered. I'm only 10 hours in and I'm genuinely curious what other surprises await.
It looks like some are missing the point here. What God of War doing isn't necessarily new or innovative. It's radical and bold in that it completely subverts the conventions of previous God of War that culminates in a game that's not even in the same genre as previous installments. I believe that's what OP is getting at. I can't think of the last time a major long running multi-million selling IP did that save for Resident Evil.
I spent yesterday seeing videos on youtube. It's a great reimagining, but not the most radical, and easily not the boldest.
I like what they did with Kratos particularly, he's not the wild animal he once was, the game has hardly any sexualization nd Atreus is an actually likable child character for once. The fighting looks grounded and deep enough, and the story can get touching
But it's hardly a radical reimagining. Pretty good, yeah, i'd buy a PS4 for it if i had the money.
Well, Zelda did exactly that.
I like what they did with Kratos particularly, he's not the wild animal he once was, the game has hardly any sexualization nd Atreus is an actually likable child character for once. The fighting looks grounded and deep enough, and the story can get touching
But it's hardly a radical reimagining. Pretty good, yeah, i'd buy a PS4 for it if i had the money.
Well, Zelda did exactly that.
Disagree. Resident evil 4 and metroid prime easily taking that crown, for me.
Stuff like mario 64 having to effectively navigate an entirely new dimension which at the time was largely misunderstood, that feels a lot more radical to me, too.
Stuff like mario 64 having to effectively navigate an entirely new dimension which at the time was largely misunderstood, that feels a lot more radical to me, too.
How is Super Mario 64 not a HUGE reimagining if the Mario series? In its gameplay, progression and structure there is nothing that resembles World or any of the Mario Bros games. It was a massive departure.
- The objective wasn't to get to the end of the level but to enter a 'world' again and again and complete small objectives.
- The structure of the game was collecting stars (that were previously just invincibility items.
- The progression was non-linear - you could move from stage to stage and back again as you completed objectives.
- Complete genre defining 3D movement with little emphasis on jumping on enemies heads and no mushrooms for Super upgrade or fire flowers.
- Gameplay objectives included things like 'chase this rabbit' or 'race down this slope' etc - things we'd never seen or done in the Mario universe before.
This one or Ghost of Sparta was the best in the OG series.Here:
sorry :P
I completely agree. Just 2 hours in and that 2nd boss fight's mechanic and cinematography put Batman Vs Superman (the movie) to shame and its a game.
Zelda shook up the franchise really nicely and for the better, though I don't think it was a departure so much as an evolution. You could see them gearing up to this point with A Link Between Worlds and to a lesser extent Skyward Sword with some of their gameplay systems. God of War feels like a hard reboot of the franchise, that's the difference in my opinion.
Edit: That said, I don't think it's the boldest re-imagining ever. Agree with people mentioning Super Mario 64 and Metroid Prime though.
It is very pointless to do this as some kind of contest, but Mario 64 is on another level in this regard.
Sans the story, which was never the point of the games, it is a complete, genre defining departure.
God of War follows trends.
Sans the story, which was never the point of the games, it is a complete, genre defining departure.
God of War follows trends.
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Yep, thank you. That is indeed my point, that what GoW does is a radical shift for the franchise, not that its revolutionary for the entire industry.
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It's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make, though.
GTA 3 was big. SM64 was big. FF7 was big... Not sure this is the case here. Great evolution for sure but imo many franchises have done more radical changes.
Can't wait to play and finish the game... will have to wait for moments without kids around but all the praise makes me impatient to finally play it.
Can't wait to play and finish the game... will have to wait for moments without kids around but all the praise makes me impatient to finally play it.
I do think it requires more boldness to change the industry instead of following it.
If God of War PS4 counts because of that, then Super Mario 64 also certainly counts. Not just making the jump from 2D to 3D, but also shifting from linear obstacle-course based levels in previous games like World, to an extremely open sandbox+type game focused much more in exploration and finding and collecting secrets like Power Stars instead.
Hell, even the Power Stars themselves demonstrate the huge changes 64 made. In previous games, they were just temporary invincibility powerups, but in 64, they're the main collectible and main way if making progress in the game (versus finishing linear obstacle-course levels and just reaching a pre-termined end point previously).
That's a huge jump in genre.
Save that, another easy example is Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Hell, it's such a huge departure from what Banjo Kazooie was that people have Rare tons of shit for it and it didn't get as much love as it deserves, as it's a legit good game and success very well at what it was trying to be.
Definitely one of the cool things about Rare, that they're not afraid to mess around with stuff like that. Like, they took the Donkey Kong/DK Jr games and turned them into Donkey Kong Country, turning DK from the villain/hostage to the protagonist in an entirely different kind of game, and are also responsible for stuff like Star Fox Adventures (even if that game didn't start as a Star Fox game, all the same).
It is not about if it's taking things from other games or not, every game is doing that, the problem is people dismissing the game completely and saying it's just like the other Sony games as if that makes sense.
This. Kid Icarus Uprising is of the most enjoyable and bold games I've had the pleasure to play.
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It does. But I never said it changed the industry. I said it's changed the series.
I died to the very first group of enemies! And the second. Multiple times. So good.
I am playing on hard and already it has me on my toes. Love it.
Is it that bold when that was just a natural progression of the tech though?
yeh that was literally the only change in the game. Well done.
Yes? They very easily could have made mario 64 a stage focused obstacle course like prior Mario games (see the 3d land/world titles). Instead they shifted the genre from a pure platformer to a collectathon where exploring larger worlds was the focus. They removed all the iconic Mario power ups and abilities and replaced then with a widly different moveset and power up system.
If Mario 64 is just progression of the tech then gow 2018 is playing catch up to it's contemporaries in the genre adding things other AAA modern action games are already doing.
Or New Super Mario Bros - that would have been a natural progression.
Mario 64 was insane.
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