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[Bartski]

Yesterday GDC published this great talk from 2019 by Jason McDonald (now Design Director at Sony Santa Monica, was the Lead Gameplay Designer on God of War 2018) about the development of core gameplay systems in the last God of War.

Focused on combat mechanics and re-discovering some key concepts of the franchise, delivered in a very casual-friendly language.

I just watched it and I think even after all those God of War documentaries out there it's still worth recommending.

Features footage of many early prototypes including the (never before seen?) very first one and the bumpy road through some failed iterations towards what eventually shaped into such an incredible success of a game.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Great game. Plan to replay it some day. I actually like the axe way more than the Blades Of Chaos. Wouldn't mind owning a sharpened replica.

 

[Captain Toad]

God of War is one of those rare games that excells at everything - combat, graphics, plot, atmosphere. One of the best games of the decade, for sure.

 

[VFXVeteran]

Great game. Plan to replay it some day. I actually like the axe way more than the Blades Of Chaos. Wouldn't mind owning a sharpened replica.

Me too but I'd really like him wielding the sword instead.

 

[EverydayBeast]

God of War’s combat is a beautiful thing.

 

[Bartski]

interesting to see how the axe attacks looked so much more violent (Axe Sticks 9:16) but they moved away from that to make it more responsive and "playful" enabling juggles etc, clearly for the better!

 

[mansoor1980]

interesting to see how the axe attacks looked so much more violent (Axe Sticks 9:16) but they moved away from that to make it more responsive and "playful" enabling juggles etc, clearly for the better!

would not be a bad idea to have an alternate combat stance where the attacks are slower and more impacrful like that .

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Fuck I miss my PS4.

 

[blackjon24]

Playing it on ps5 for the first time since beating it 3 years ago. Man playing this at 60 fps feels good

 

[Yoboman]

Hopefully the next God of War has a new weapon in addition to axe and Blades that feels just as fresh

 

[bitbydeath]

Hopefully the next God of War has a new weapon in addition to axe and Blades that feels just as fresh

Agreed, hopefully we get more boss fights and steal their weapons/abilities after defeating them.

 

[nowhat]

Me too but I'd really like him wielding the sword instead.

The what? When has Kratos has had a sword instead of the Blades of Chaos which are plural and on chains? And... play the game.

 

[VFXVeteran]

The what? When has Kratos has had a sword instead of the Blades of Chaos which are plural and on chains? And... play the game.

Blade of Olympus

The Blade of Olympus was a powerful weapon that was seen in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, God of War II, God of War III and God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla. It was created by Zeus (who forged it from the Heavens and the Earth) during the end of the Great War in order to banish the Titans to...

godofwar.fandom.com

 

[Three]

Me too but I'd really like him wielding the sword instead.

They elude to a flaming sword in Muselphiem.

 

[nowhat]

Blade of Olympus

The Blade of Olympus was a powerful weapon that was seen in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, God of War II, God of War III and God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla. It was created by Zeus (who forged it from the Heavens and the Earth) during the end of the Great War in order to banish the Titans to...

godofwar.fandom.com

Point taken. Truth be told, GOW 3 was the only game before this I tried to play (didn't play much on PS2 and never had a PS3, so sue me), and gave up pretty early because of the button-mashing QTEs. If I want to break my controller, I can find so many more creative ways to do so. But if visuals are really your thing, this has about one the best HDR implementations out there. Flawless 60fps on PS5 with checkerboarded 4K (while the artifacts are visible on certain occasions, on the whole one it's pretty great).

 

[VFXVeteran]

Point taken. Truth be told, GOW 3 was the only game before this I tried to play (didn't play much on PS2 and never had a PS3, so sue me), and gave up pretty early because of the button-mashing QTEs. If I want to break my controller, I can find so many more creative ways to do so. But if visuals are really your thing, this has about the best HDR implementations out there. Flawless 60fps on PS5 with checkerboarded 4K (while the artifacts are visible on certain occasions, on the whole one of the best implementations out there).

Yea, I had the game on PS4 Pro before I sold it. I got out of the first cave on that island and just didn't feel it anymore. Traded it away.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

interesting to see how the axe attacks looked so much more violent (Axe Sticks 9:16) but they moved away from that to make it more responsive and "playful" enabling juggles etc, clearly for the better!

They could have kept the axe sticks but that would probably require them to retool the enemy behaviour to be more considerate, like in those martial arts movies where everyone politely refuses to gank the MC, or they'd have to lower the enemy count OR they could let Kratos have super armour whenever the axe sticks (fight through the pain or some such stuff).

And unlike using the heavy axe throw to freeze an enemy in place, the player isn't as in control of the axe sticks, making it difficult to utilize for crowd control. The good thing is they sort of still kept axe sticks in via judicious hitstop, which went a long way in making the hits feel good.

Edit: into -> in.

 

[SSfox]

One of the best franchise ever. And GOW PS4 succeed where Resident Evil 4 didn't, GOW not only innovated gameplay wise but also had an amazing arc and story, RE4 was super innovative gameplay wise when it was release but story was shit. (still love RE4 a lot but lore wise it was super disappointing)

That's why God OF War is so amazing and one of the best game of the last decades, maybe even the best.

 

[ABnormal]

Hopefully the next God of War has a new weapon in addition to axe and Blades that feels just as fresh

I have a hunch that a flying and thundering hammer will join the weapon roster...

 

[TheGodfather07]

when the combat switched from the axe to the blades, was one of the best moments in gaming. ragnarok is probably my most anticipated game ever. i cannot wait to get my hands on it. ps5 exclusive please sony! just scrap the ps4 version!

 

[G-Bus]

I have a hunch that a flying and thundering hammer will join the weapon roster...

Too similar to the axe I feel. Maybe the kid will learn to use it.

 

[ABnormal]

Too similar to the axe I feel. Maybe the kid will learn to use it.

For the hammer, I imagined a blunt-like use, pushing and shattering. The lightning effect is also different in use than ice. It would be easy to make it distinct. And the throwing and recalling mechanic is too fun to be wasted. I hope it will be there.