360°

God Of War Ragnarök: The Kotaku Review

From Kotaku: "Yes, the axe is cool. Sure, the fights are tons of fun. And I definitely enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny of the large worlds you get to visit. But what kept me glued to my PS5 for nearly 40 hours was the story of a son becoming a man and a father trying to figure out how he feels about that. I probably could have enjoyed this story a tad more with about half as many puzzles and skill menus, but even so, I found myself smiling, feeling satisfied, as the credits rolled. As I said at the start, God of War Ragnarök is very good."

z2g575d ago

I’m pre-ordered up on my ps5 and ready to go!

neutralgamer1992575d ago

This is the game that will win GOTY

Lore575d ago (Edited 575d ago )

Of course Kotaku wants less rpg mechanics in games. More time and effort on their end to master the game

SullysCigar575d ago

They're probably too preoccupied with their concern that Brok and Sindri making everyone's armour is dwarfist.

The_Hooligan575d ago (Edited 575d ago )

Exactly! I mean half the time the reviewer seems to be complaining about things that you can just not do if you don't want to. It's not a bad thing to have the option for RPG elements. He could have just said "there are plenty of RPG mechanics that some players will find delightful, but if you rather not focus on them like me, you can pick just a few things to upgrade and you'll still be a badass."

But instead this is what the guy said "I can’t stress enough how irritating I find all of Ragnarök’s various armor, weapon, and ability menus. Every few hours during my 35-hour playthrough the game added more stuff to manage and tinker with. You can upgrade every piece of armor and equipment. Some weapons and armor have to be crafted with a combination of two or three of the game’s dozens of crafting materials and currencies. You can also equip abilities and runes, and guess what, you can upgrade those, too. You also have to manage multiple skill trees, each of which contains skills that you can (yep!) tweak and upgrade.

Eventually, I acquired an amulet that had a dozen slots I could fill with various combinations of gems, and I sighed. I can’t imagine Kratos would actually want or care about all this stuff. I know I don’t. While I assume some players will get a kick out of min-maxing all the stats and skills; creating specific builds and whatnot, I just got tired of it all. I’m here to rip enemies in half and toss around a big ol’ axe, not to balance my taxes via seven different menus. Thankfully, if you just pick two stats and upgrade everything around those, you can mostly ignore all the fluff and still end up a powerful god-killer."

Well I'm going to be a part of "some players" who will definitely enjoy all the tinkering because it feels so rewarding when you have just the right equipment on. Can't wait to play this game.

Edit: below is from mp1st review

"Elsewhere, the gear system has been expanded with more variety in types of armor, mods, and runes that you can collect. There are tons of them, and the game wants you to play around with the toys it gives you. But if you aren’t that big of a fan, there are options to automatically equip pieces of gear suited to a specific build, such as those wanting a health or damage build."

I guess the Kotaku reviewer just wanted to complain about something that you can have the game do for you if you don't want to lol.

MrBaskerville575d ago

It's an opinion, one some happen to agree with. Personally the rpg elements made the first game worse, so removing them would be an improvement in my eyes.

We could turn the table and say that any reviewer who doesn't complain about it must be afraid of backlash. It's nonsense and a very weird and gamer like way to look at a review.

SullysCigar574d ago

^ Did you miss the part where you can skip rpg elements and just play it as a hack and slash if that's your preference?

That's literally the reason the reviewer's point is moot; it's there if you want it, ignore it if you don't. It's a great thing, because you can please everyone...except those contrary few that wish to create downplay because they work for Kotaku.

SMS even included a transmog system this time, so those that want to pair aesthetics with attributes can do so if they like. You wouldn't even know it was there if it doesn't interest you.

"It's an opinion" is often a handy excuse, but not when it doesn't affect you either way. That's called 'nitpicking'.

CanadianTurtle574d ago

Dude, I know it's cool to hate on Kotaku. I also can't stand them either. But having an abundance of RPG elements CAN definitely break the experience and feel too overwhelming. This is absolutely valid criticism because if you want to play the game efficiently/effectively without dying too much, you are forced to learn the inventory/menu/upgrade system which can suck the fun out of the experience. God of War series has always been known for having light RPG mechanics. It has always been an action game first and foremost.

So having too many RPG elements in a game that was known for a different genre can be a negative for some. It's absolutely valid criticism

Father__Merrin574d ago

The graphics are insane I've not seen this detail in a game before

290°

Single-Player Titles God Of War Ragnarok & Until Dawn Will Require PSN Account On PC

Sony Interactive Entertainment's upcoming single-player PC games like God of War Ragnarok and Until Dawn will require a PSN account.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
PrinceOfAnger21h ago

Sony will lose support and money from 177 countries that support Steam but do not support PSN!
Tell me about stupidity, I'll tell you Sony.
Its concern is to increase the number of PSN subscribers, at the expense of profit and
More sales for their games from 177 countries.

purple10114h ago(Edited 14h ago)

Thing is it’s free to create an account (for pc players)

So they don’t need essential / extra / premium tiers, there is literally no good reason. Stupid but I don’t know the ins-and-outs but I can imagine it’s just a dumb reason

Ohh actually maybe it’s to combat piracy, so the game will not launch unless you have psn, then Sonys server end would validate if it’s a real copy or a cracked one

That could be it

ApocalypseShadow14h ago

Ding ding ding. Your edit brought the answer. Lol

Sony wants to validate their games on PC so that they know who's legit and who stole them. I understand Prince in that we have too many accounts we have to make. And it's a slippery slope. Like ported Xbox games to PlayStation will require a Microsoft account. Besides the already Ubisoft accounts and Epic accounts. Hard to keep up with all these names and passwords.

But you figured it out.

blacktiger14h ago

so you are saying it's another DRM? And is it always online? even though it's single player offline game?

darthv7213h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Its free... sure. The main issue are the countries that are not on the list to select when creating the account. And I don't think Sony allows nearest neighbor, where you pick the one closest to you that is supported. People can obviously pick any country they want from the list, but that then becomes saddled to them going forward. Personally my country is supported, and I have not felt the need to change it so I dont even know if you can after the fact. If I were to move to an unsupported country... would the games even work if it detects me playing it from one when I am registered in the other?

This all stems from the whole Helldivers fiasco. Countries that support steam, and let them buy it and play only to have them cut off because their country was not officially part of the PSN account creation which was later enforced after the fact.

Andrew33613h ago

I believe every Sony single player game has leaked online the same day it releases. Needing a psn account to play the game legally isn't gonna change the fact it'll be pirated same day.

Jingsing12h ago

They'll find out sadly that most of their games are pirated, Ghosts of Tsushima over 500k people downloading it not on Steam, It sold below 70k on Steam.

ApocalypseShadow10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Black tiger, we all know games are stolen all the time on PC. Stolen to play. Stolen and emulated to play older system's games. The only way to stop it or slow it down is to have some type of security measure.

They're businesses. They have every right to protect what they make. PC gamers don't have ANY right to steal it.

There's a grey area when it comes to games purchased and the companies make your purchase unplayable through updates it closing servers. And we decide to take measures in our own hands to continue playing what was rightfully purchased by downloading it modding the code. But it's still theft.

Some gamers don't like the measures because they want the option to steal. Not everyone does. But many on PC do. That's just the reality. You can hide from the truth. But the truth is still there.

--Onilink--10h ago

What good does it do to create an account (with fake information from another country) if the game isnt released in Steam in that country anyway?

Or are you expecting people to also have to create another steam account in another country in order to link it to the PSN account they now have to make, just to be able to play Sony games?

Its a dumb and unnecessary situation, simple as that

shinoff21839h ago

You make a good point about piracy. Still weird Sony is the only one under fire about this even though they aren't alone, ea, ubisoft, Microsoft, etc. I don't know why Sony doesn't sell in those countries, but it's their prerogative.

Dygovil16m ago(Edited 13m ago)

Apocalypse and purple just doing their usual Sony cope.

Steam already has DRM, better DRM than Sony. And a PSN account requirement isn’t going to stop this game showing up on torrents day 1.

The real problem with PSN accounts are the unsupported countries and the need for photo government ID and facial scans in some countries.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 16m ago
ApocalypseShadow14h ago

I understand the account thing but you're way off on the subscriber thing.

just_looken10h ago

@prince

I agree and i see the defenders are here

Once again everyone you need real information to make a psn account so you can only have one account you loose that then you loose all your playstation digital games and have bricked consoles.

The use of programs like vpns are a banable offense to sony and like so many other companies are monitoring your chat/activity via ai bots.

You should not half to buy a game then fill out a form like your buying a gun just to play a single player game.

Every other launcher like ea/ubi/rstar/acti/blizzard/bet h You just need a email address/password acti has on some game the bs phone # crap or unless your going to buy something then yeah real info. But sony like i said you need to give everything but a nude selfie/dna sample but that will be for psvr 4 and or ps6.

Magatsuhi9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

You're full of bs. I literally just made a fake psn account in el salvador and i had no issues. All i did was google map an address and a zip code and voila, psn account. Did not need to add any personal information.

Where does it state you need ps+ to play online on steam? You're being purposefully hyperbolic and dishonest or just stupid in order to spin outrage because you hate sony for very dumb reasons.

just_looken7h ago

choo choo here comes the sony blind boys

I never said you need psplus for steam never

I also said sense 2023 again 2023

But i get it its sony they do 0 wrong

P_Bomb6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

“…you need to give everything but a nude selfie/dna sample”

Nobody wants your dna. I promise you.

badz1495h ago

"...you need real information to make a psn account so you can only have one account you loose that then you loose all your playstation digital games and have bricked consoles."

It's one thing to be a hater but it's another to be full of crap.

1. I have multiple accounts in 4 countries for several reasons. And making the PSN accounts is free.

2. Lose your account, you lose everything associated with that account? Wow...like every other accounts too? WTH are you on about?

Amplitude9m ago(Edited 2m ago)

Though I agree with you it sucks to have to create an account - literally not a single thing that you said was true.

-You don't need real information.
-You can have any number of accounts.
-Its rare to lose a PSN account, but the game is still tied to Steam no matter how you slice it. Once you have it, your game can't be taken away by anybody but Valve.
-You won't be banned for playing a single player game with a VPN on.
--There is no form or ID required.
-The Sony "form" requires the exact same details as Steam. It also doesn't need a phone number.

There are very real reasons why the account requirement is bs but every other comment covers that.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 9m ago
StormSnooper7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Who gives a shit, they don’t want to sign up, they can always play other games and sign up to their requirements instead. You want PSN games, you sign up to PSN. Same applies to every other platform.

PhillyDonJawn7h ago

Kinda wild how Sony and MS care more about accounts/users than actual sales

TheEroica6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

Sony fans don't care... They don't get the concept of why this screws gamrers over. Sony fans only know how to shill for the Corp.

fr0sty1h ago

We're too busy playing these games on our playstations to care.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 9m ago
CrimsonWing6914h ago

Are we always going to get news articles on this? Yes, any Sony game on PC now requires a PSN and won’t be accessible to regions that don’t have the PSN infrastructure.

neutralgamer199214h ago

Exactly ots not like.on PC we already have so many different launchers.

Rockstar
Ubi
Epic
Battlenet
Steam.
GOG

What's one more and I already have a PSN account

Number1TailzFan12h ago

Meh, I mean in the 90's and early 2000's some games had built in server browsers or built in lobby/chat systems like Worms 2 and it's sequels, if not we had GameSpy or Wireplay to find online players.

Multiple launchers is kind of annoying though, TBH I would prefer just one..

just_looken10h ago

If you read the 2023 psn terms of service but this is sony so i know 90% here did not this is a pc killer.

Not only do you need real information so one account no way to make a dummy account and they need your address/real name some countries a drivers license but they also use ai to monitor you.

In there terms they are checking your ip address as the use of VPN's is against the terms and programs that cheat are also bannable but in the list they think 3rd party antivitus is cheating.

So yeah paying for god of war then filing out a form like your going to buy a gun just to play the thing to me sound's stupid but i am not a sony blindboy.

neutralgamer19921h ago

Looken

I didn't know that. It sucks and I for one will be very watchful of what I buy in the future from Playstation on PC. It's like Sony can't stay out of its own way when it comes to success of their games

hiroyukisanada14h ago

Why is this a problem? Just curious. Don't you need accounts for Steam, Xbox, Gog, Epic Games,EA, Blizzard,etc..? Why is it a problem if you need PSN?

darthv7213h ago

There are close to 200 countries around the world. MS is supported in 98%, Steam 90%. Sony... less than 50%.

Grilla13h ago

You guys keep crying about these 177 3rd world countries.

CrimsonWing6913h ago

How much of a % do these 177 countries equate to Sony’s overall sales by region?

InUrFoxHole11h ago

@Crimson
Would you say this is more pro or anti consumer?

romulus2311h ago

LOL, I saw the list of countries that aren't supported by PSN, I don't think Sony has anything to worry about with any of them. These aren't the kinds of places where game consoles and games are selling significantly enough to matter anyway. Just certain people are trying to blow this out of proportion.

Hofstaderman1h ago

Trust me in those countries its cheaper to buy a console than build or buy a pc that can run ps5 games. Taxes and import duties are a real killer for graphics cards etc.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1h ago
buffig13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

@ Darthv72 Ahhh yes. All the people complaining on forums are people from Cameroon. It's definitely not people who it won't affect making a massive deal out of nothing

darthv7213h ago

...doesn't affect me one bit. All I did was provide a logical answer to the question hiro asked. People disagreeing does not refute the facts presented.

just_looken10h ago

@buff

Its funny you can tell the Americans so much now

Japan is part of the list sony has banned ghost of tsumia pc version people in japan wtf? every American meh im fine with this as they give sony all ther information.

Not to mention in alot of countries that this game is supported you still have issues with getting a valid working address then the whole information that they need. I would never give sony my govt id fuck that.

staticall12h ago

IMO, because it's a dumb requirement. Steam already has DRM built-in and it's working fine. And affected games are offline singleplayer games. This requirement doesn't help the players, only Sony stats.

Does this make tbe game better? No. Does this help the player or does it improve their experience? Also no. So why is this required? Just cause. So why anyone defends this again?!

just_looken10h ago

All those compaines need a email/password that is it oh your ea account got banned well unlink that one from steam make another relink sesne the game is on steam.

Sony need You email address password first/last name home phone home address/postal proof of age location country and ip address then will monitor you 24/7. You will also need payment information on console for ps +

You can only have one psn account sense it need's your real info in some countries it needs a attached govt id.

Your psn account gets banned then all these games are dead to you and your playstaion consoles are bricked sense you need a psn account/ps + to go online/get updates etc

You can not make a new account sense it will say hey you already have that info on this account that is banned sorry gtfo.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1h ago
truthBombs13h ago

MAUs is clearly just as important to Sony.

I say make signing into PSN optional. Give players a reason to use it.. like the recently announced layer that lets you earn trophies.

I'm not bothered but there are countries who won't have access to the game because of this.

DustMan12h ago

Oh noooooo! A common business practice! Still buying day one lol.

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250°

God of War Ragnarök is coming to PC

Release date and PC features for God of War Ragnarök announced.

Read Full Story >>
blog.playstation.com
Christopher1d 8h ago

Two-yearw later on PC seems like their go-to goal with exclusives.

darthv721d 8h ago

Less than two years now. Guess that window is slowly shrinking.

Christopher1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 7h ago )

LOL. I'll give you that one whole month sooner than exactly 2 years.

Edit: Not even that. Half a month. Day 1 releases are a comin' soon!

romulus231d 7h ago

Still closer to a two year wait than not. Guess any hope of everything from Sony going to PC day one is shrinking though.

1d 7h ago
Christopher1d 7h ago

***Hopefully we will get PS exclusive multi-platform sooner rather than later as i want Sony to lose their monopoly of the gaming industry and to stop destroying MS. ***

Monopoly. of. the. gaming. industry. ???

Mobile market $91B
PC market $36.5B
Console market $52.2B
Sony market $30B

Did we change the definition of monopoly at some point?

I'm all on board games going more places, but these ridiculous statements and drive to act like Sony SP exclusives are shooting to be Day 1 releases anytime soon aren't doing that. It's just bad arguments.

1d 6h ago
itsmebryan1d 3h ago

True. Concord launches on PS5 and PC on same day.

raWfodog8h ago

Yep, you're right.
22 months is less than two years.

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HankHill1d 6h ago Show
Inverno1d 5h ago

Next up, Last of Us Part 2, then Spiderman 2, and most likely Demon Souls in between. I know the argument is that they take 2 years and "who is gonna wait 2 years?" Blah blah blah, but most of their recent and all of their PS5 games, with the exception being Demon Souls, have made their way to PC. Never thought I'd see the day where I wasn't going crazy over not owning a PS, but now I don't want a PS5 at all.

Goodguy011d 5h ago

Odd demons souls hasn't yet. I mean it definitely would've done numbers.

Inverno1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

Demon Souls being the only Souls game out of the entire series that has remained exclusive to SONY would definitely sell like crazy on PC. Oh and GT7, always forget GT cause I don't play racing SIMS.

Tapani22h ago

There's FFXVI and Rebirth as well. GT7 would be awesome.

RaidenBlack17h ago(Edited 17h ago)

Find it a bit strange that Nixxes isn't porting this one. Maybe they were contracted for both GoW ports?
Although their GoW PC port job was pretty good, it wasnt flawless at launch, but was still miles better than Horizon 1 or TLOU ports.
Hope they do a better/near flawless job with GoW sequel.

Master of Unlocking12h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Thankfully the different SIE regions operate largely in an independent manner, so SIEA's decision to release some US-made games like Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima or God of War on PC still hasn't made a dent in SIEJ's decision to keep their japanese games like Bloodborne, the Last Guardian, or Gran Turismo 7 on Playstation, or SIEE's decision to keep EU-made games like Killzone Shadow Fall, Dreams, or Sackboy A Big Adventure on PS.

But that was on the PS4. Now for upcoming PS5 games, who knows.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 12h ago
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220°

Looking Back, God of War Ragnarok Should Have Been Better

As more and more PlayStation exclusives make their way to PC and other consoles, God of War Ragnarok remains one of the last bastions of first-party greatness from Sony this generation. The long-awaited sequel delivered the thrills, violence, and intense storytelling fans have come to expect from this new chapter in the God of War saga. Or did it?

Read Full Story >>
fortressofsolitude.co.za
Terry_B10d ago

..just like the most of your articles.

Babadook710d ago

They’re cover image cutout should have been better.

Abnor_Mal10d ago

Looking back, any game could have been better than how it released.

Skuletor10d ago

Except Pong, that sh¡ts perfect.

anast10d ago

They could have used different colors.

Abnor_Mal10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Brick Breaker?

RNTody10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Metal Gear Solid 3 could not have been better. Gauntlet, down!

Yet my own argument is defeated by the release of Subsistence, so you win! xD

Abnor_Mal10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Uh, what just happened?

If I knew how, I would add that John Travolta meme of him looking around kind of lost.

Good-Smurf10d ago

Then they couldn't release any game thinking like you.
They can keep improving the game for 15 years but at what cost?
Not be able to do anything else and not be able to move on.

Profchaos10d ago

Bingo Duke Nukem forever would of likely achieved great results if it came out when originally planned but over a decade later it came out to bad results.

Same tbh g here they could of worked on the game for years but risked the industry passing it by

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