God of War Collection

[Darwock]

Now past the minotaur boss and moved up to the top of Pandora's temple.

It's not been anything like as tough as I though it would be. As long as you make liberal use of the backflip to stay out of big crowds of enemies, you're never in too much danger. The rope crossings that I was dreading so much turned out to be nothing (the later enemies favoured trying to drag me down rather than slashing at me so all it took was a lot of stick waggling).

The worst parts so far: that first rope crossing, the part where you have to beat the crowd of enemies before the wall closes in, and the first cerberus fight. All sections that I had no trouble with at all on normal mode, but have taken lots of attempts this time.

There's nothing left that I expect to give me a hard time other than the spiked poles in Hades and all stages of the final battle, but we shall see.

[Darwock]

Had to open my big mouth didn't I.

Got stuck on two separate sections tonight that I would never even have considered to be problem areas. The first was when going after the red necklace - you have to go through a big cavern that has to be cleared. There is a Satyr and a bunch of armoured skeletons. The Satyr respawns three times. I had the tactic down early - pick off the first two Satyrs by flashing them with the gorgon, then crush them.. then when the last Satyr spawns use the remaining magic to do the gorgon rage so I get a clear shot at crushing it. Then just survive the endless skeletons (and if possible open a nearby health chest for a top-up). Much easier said than done. I had to use the aoe knockback move to clear space to get the gorgon head out, and often one or two skellies would block it and interrupt me when trying to crush the Satyr. Took about an hour to get past.

The other horrible bit was the big battle before the spiked poles in Hades, where the archers each fire 5 simultaneous exploding arrows. I had to do this on 10% health and build it up with minotaur kills so I could use the only chest to replenish my magic. I'd say that took about 30 minutes, but as there is no save point after it I then had to get to the top of those damn poles just so I could save.

The part that I *was* expecting to be hard - the conveyor belt room outside the location of Pandora's box - was practically over before it started. I just hit rage of the gods and did a couple of army of hades summons... that was it! lol

Now saved before the final battle, I'm sure that's going to suck up an entire evening in the attempt.

I'm off to watch 'Jingle All The Way' to calm myself down.

[Darwock]

God mode finished. The final form of Ares was easier than before, thanks to finally figuring out how to initiate the O mashing sequence. I only got that randomly the last couple of times. When you know how to get it to come up that removes all the frustration.

The section before that though... lol!! Had to use rage of god in a manafont stylee to just bust out as much magic as I could, then try to get my rage meter full and do it again. Died a million times and then won it through luck I think, I always had health and magic when I needed them - must have got good orb drops, tbh I couldn't tell you as the fight is just chaos.

So yeah I definitely have a lot more appreciation for the game now. Although having done it on all difficulties and unlocked all the bonus content (helicopters? didn't expect that) I don't see a reason to play it again. DMC3 - I keep it on my shelf as there is always more to be learned, more techniques to master, more SS ranks to get. God of War gives the impression that I've already done all there is to do, plus certain sections are annoying and they would always be in my mind when thinking of playing it.

I'll start on GoW2 next week, but I'm thinking of playing something lighter in the mean time.

[Team Andromeda]

Got this for Christmas and just been loving playing through the 1st game again . Its truly amazing. I think it's one of the best game ever made , ever .

[Synthesthesia]

Just finished this, plus the majority of the trophies. Just need to do the less than 5 hours speed run. Shouldn't be too hard

[Darwock]

I started on GoW2 at the weekend and so far, I'm finding it a lot better than the original. The pacing is much better, it just flows and flows and I have never found myself thinking "not another 3 minotaurs" as I often did in the first game.

The visuals seem considerably better too, it looks beautiful. I've only been playing retro games for a little while now though, so I might have forgotten what current gen stuff is meant to look like

[For Sheezy My Neezy]

I'm still on GOW1, about halfway through. must say i'm finding it a bit of a slog. These sort of ancient greek demons type of thing isn't normally what i buy, but i know GOW3 is going to be an incredible action game so i figured i best get through the first 2 before that comes out.

[Welrain]

I've just rather rudely torn the head of the architects son in pandora's temple. It's as fun as I remember but I'm itching to get on with GoW2.

[Welrain]

Now finished GoW. The puzzles / combat started getting a wee bit dull near the close but was enjoyable all the same. Managed to get up the spikey pillers in hades with very little effort..2 tries on the first and first time on the second.

I will never understand the huge difficulty spike at the end boss. It was annoying years ago and its still as irritating now. Madness.

[Darwock]

Couldn't agree more, I finished GoW2 and found it to be a vast improvement in nearly every area. There were no frustrating choke points, no repetitive fights, and the story didn't have any glaring errors.

The way it tied in to the first game was extremely well done as well, a bit like Back to the Future 2 lol.

I did grow to love the first game but my initial impressions were that it was pretty much standard fare.. number 2 makes me see why the series gets so much love.

[Golgo]

Hmmm...I found the complete opposite. Loved the first, felt tight and compelling. 2 felt like a bloated re-retread, with lots of vast environments left practically empty of monsters...so you could soak up the view? Lost interest after the dreadful barbarian boss fight and never picked it up again. Maybe I abandoned it too early? Anyway just played GoW3 demo on PSN and all is forgiven, big time...

[Number45]

I've always admitted that the second is the better game, but it doesn't stop me from preferring the first. I like that it feels much more personal to Kratos, who is awesome.

I do however almost always gravitate to a game/film/CD that introduces me to something, so I might well not be making that decision for any logical reason.

[Number45]

If at all possible, I'm enjoying this even more this time through than before. I know people berate the combat system in this in comparison to DMC for example, but I love that this game really rewards you for taking risks and adopting a strategy while still being accessible enough for almost anyone to get by with.

First time through I think I must have taken a very button-mashy approach to the game, because I remember struggling at certain points (When you're first introduced to the three headed fire-breathing dogs from hell sticks in my mind) - yet this time I'm taking more risks, getting more red orbs into the bargain, yet finding it a lot easier.

Love it even more now than before and am incredibly excited to play II again. I can't describe how much I'm looking forward to III either, it's unhealthy! Might be my first/only day one purchase of the year!

(Disclaimer: I expect I'll still rage at some of the coming platform segments)

[Darwock]

A word of warning to anyone hoping to beat the challenge of the titans in GoW2.

Your stats and weapons appear to be locked at the level they were at when you finished the game the first time. I have made it up to challenge 4, but realising my weapons are too weak for it I went back through the game in bonus play to max them out. Completed it again, saved the clear game, went back to the challenge and my weapons were still as they were before bonus play.

I assumed that was cos it was bonus play, so I went and completed it again from scratch this time without using any of the extras. Saved all my orbs at the end so I could max out the blade of olympus - Cleared, saved, no difference.

That is really irritating. It seems the only way around it is to delete my save file completely and play it as if it was the first time.

[Number45]

Finished the first game last night, and my love affair with God of War is fully alight again (No rage, I didn't struggle at all with any of the segments towards the end). I love the game to bits, from the story to the way it's presented (I really do hope they have the narrator back for 3) to the way the game plays.

I can't believe I managed to get the trophy for climbing the columns in Hades without taking damage (), and that I finished the game needing only 1100 red orbs to max out the last weapon ().