Operation Backlog Completion 2026

God of War II: More Revenge, Less Tragedy

 Reviews, Video games  7 Responses »  Tagged with:
Nov 192018
 

After finishing the original God of War last month, my marathon through the God of War Saga continued with its sequel.

When we last saw Kratos, he’d reluctantly become the new god of war, still plagued by nightmares of his past. War must have given him some measure of solace, though, since God of War II begins with Kratos leading Sparta into battle… and apparently he’s done this sort of thing so much, the other gods have had enough.

Zeus tricks him into surrendering his power and then kills him, but the Titan Gaia saves Kratos and sends him on a quest to gain the power of the Fates so he can travel back and time to the moment before Zeus betrayed him.

Click for God of War II spoilers
Zeus makes some exceptionally poor decisions here. Since Kratos is his son, he’s afraid he’ll eventually kill him like Zeus killed his own father… so he betrays him, stabs him, and then wipes out Sparta.

Because it worked out so well for the last god who caused the deaths of people Kratos cared about. Self-fulfilling prophecy there, Zeus.

You know, maybe making the god-killer plagued by horrible nightmares a god himself was a bad idea…

Now, the narrative here isn’t as tight as in the original. I praised the original’s story for how much it felt like a Greek tragedy, but the story in God of War II doesn’t have that same focus.

God of War felt like it could fit right in with Greek mythology, while God of War II feels like a retread of the same basic premise (Kratos goes through trials and challenges to obtain a power that will let him kill a god) with a bunch of mythological figures thrown in. Figures from Greek mythology just kept showing up, and while there’s certainly an in-game reason, it felt a bit like they just wanted to make sure you knew this was Greek mythology.

(There’s also a kraken, for some reason.)

On the other hand, the ending was pretty epic and not what I was expecting at all.

Click for God of War II spoilers
I almost objected to Kratos not using his new time travel abilities to fix his own messed up past, but then I read a post discussing time paradoxes and how the flashback showing the defeat of the Titans shows the blue light seen in the ending, implying that Kratos always traveled back in time to retrieve the Titans.

That is a really cool touch and makes me appreciate the overall story more.

…Although it also contributes to my doubts about the gods’ intelligence if no one noticed or cared that some of the Titans just disappeared when defeated. Did Zeus think he vaporized them?

Also, I’m a bit suspicious of how Gaia said they were waiting for Kratos… makes me think that their entire “go back in time to stop Zeus” was just a ploy to get him to bring them to the present.

Now, in terms of gameplay, I enjoyed God of War II much more. Combat felt smoother and faster, the same basic system but more polished. And while it still had platforming, it didn’t get close to the nightmarish challenges from the first game.

(Oh, and best of all, no more mashing R2!)

There were also many, many more boss fights than in the original.

What surprised me this time was how much time I spent reflecting attacks back at enemies, especially later in the game, which some bosses that pretty much required it. Zelda games are fond of this, but I didn’t expect it in God of War.

Overall, I found God of War II to be stronger in terms of gameplay, but weaker in terms of story.

What do you think about God of War II?

Legrand Legacy Gets a Major Combat & Script Update

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Nov 162018
 

Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds has receive a major update to both its combat system and the script.

Combat changes include fancier effects, difficulty options, improved enemy AI, options to turn the ACT system off or make it easier, and other adjustments.

There are a few other gameplay changes, including a save point added to a part of the game where a save point is desperately needed, but also major changes to the script.

When I reviewed Legrand Legacy earlier this year, most of my criticism fell on the characters and their interactions. The character writing dragged down what could have been a good story, and it was the main reason I felt Legrand Legacy didn’t live up to its potential.

The developers didn’t go into specific detail about how the script has changed, but said the script has been rewritten. New cutscenes have also been added to the ending. Meanwhile, on Reddit, they suggested the character interactions will be much better now.

(While they haven’t said so, I assume all of these changes will be in the console versions when they launch early next year.)

Of course, with my backlog of games to play, I’m not sure I’ll replay a 40-hour game just to see the new script, but I have to admit I’m tempted. If feedback to the revised version is positive, I just might take a look to see how Legrand Legacy has changed.

Big Lineup of Announcements Teased for The Game Awards 2018

 Video games  7 Responses »
Nov 142018
 

The Game Awards 2018 takes place on December 6 at 8:30 PM, and the nominees have been revealed.

Not only that, but it will reportedly have their “biggest lineup yet in terms of new game announcements.”

I don’t watch The Game Awards as intently as I do something like E3, but I usually at least tune in to see what’s going on. When I first started watching, it… wasn’t great. But it’s gotten better over the years, even if a lot of the world premieres are new trailers for already-announced games.

(When I first started watching, I assumed a “world premiere” would be a new game announcement, so it disappointed me.)

Last year, I went to sleep right ahead of the Bayonetta 3 announcement and therefore missed what would have been the most exciting part of the show for me. Maybe this year I’ll stay for the whole thing… just in case.

With that said, while I’m always hoping for exciting new announcements, this would be a great time to finally show off a new Bayonetta 3 trailer.

I still haven’t played a lot of the games nominated for awards this year, and poor Xenoblade Chronicles 2 didn’t get a nomination despite coming out too late to qualify last year, but I can at least root for… uh… Is The Missing the only nominated game I’ve played??

All right, maybe I can play at least one more of the nominees I own before December hits…

Are you looking forward to the Game Awards this year? Will you vote for the nominees you think deserve the awards?

(So… I remember thinking yesterday that I had today’s blog post topic all ready to go, but I have no idea what it was. This rather short Game Awards article is its replacement.)

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