What is the appeal of OG God of War?

[Viviana Santos]

I’ll be honest and say right now that I don’t like the original hack and slash God of War games; I find them incredibly shallow and bland compared to other hack and slash franchises (such as DMC, Ninja Gaiden, and Bayonetta), and I’ve always been baffled as to why so many people love and cherish God of War so much.
Like, what does God of War have that the other series don't? Games like DMC 3 and Ninja Gaiden II have much deeper and more dynamic combat and gameplay than God of War II, and those games are also way more fun and have more personality.

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I also think Kratos is incredibly insufferable as a character, and the series itself has a level of machismo that doesn't appeal to me; I much prefer the tone of DMC and Bayonetta, for example.

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So I want to ask everyone who loves OG God of War: what is the appeal of these games, and why do you like them so much?

 

[zerodayhx]

ive always seen them as very cathartic glorified beat em ups with some small puzzle elements

as for why so many people love them i think its partly the unique twist on the mythology where the gods are more accurate than we usually got in media at the time the other part being alot of people grew up with them across.....what almost 20 years?

Combine that with how vastly different in gameplay and tone the 2 norse games are and a divide in the fanbase was innevetable

 

[Elwiwi]

Did the mods nuke your post ?

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

I really like the mythological setting. Especially the Greek. I also appreciate the tragedy of Kratos unwillingly trading the lives of his family for glory in battle. It feels like a story in-keeping with Greek myth.

I dig the voice acting, how OTT the performances are, and how "epic" each boss fight is.
I actually want to hear a tortured man rage against his fate. Give me as much fury as possible please. If it was up to me, Kratos would be almost incapable of not seething with anger, like it was part of his punishment.

I find the moment to moment gameplay is fine. There's a good number of moves and combos that can be strung together, and the hidden items and upgrade systems both add an extra level of depth to the experience.

Cool monsters, fun quick time events (imo) and a difficulty that leans towards the sadistic brings it all together for me.

I still prefer DMC by miles though. :P

@Elwiwi - Mods didn't delete the post, I believe Vivi chose to herself. Nothing to worry about. :]

 

[PrismRed]

I'm a simple guy, if I see spinning flaming steel, screaming bald guy, giants, monsters, tits, giant tits, giants with tits, monsters with tits, giant monster with tits, I'm down.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

People grew up playing the series and its just a simple action game with lots of gore and fun gameplay. I wouldnt compare it to DMC or Bayonetta since the skill ceiling isnt like those games

 

[Sorion]

I'm not a fan of the series either, I never managed to complete DMC3 but I had a way better experience with that game compared with god of war 2, I barely managed to finish god of war 1 on the ps vita but I had to force myself to play. But, to be fair, in god of war 1 at least kratos was a bit more compeling as a character compared with God of war 2 and 3, if you start the series blind, the first thing you know about this guy is that he'll try to kill himself later and you still don't know the horrible shit he did so naturally, you empathize with him more.

 

[beefbowl]

Everything's cool about it.
Flaming swords
Giant monsters
Gods
Gore
Epic set pieces
Blood
Fatalities
Exceptional power fantasy
Revenge plot

Did i mention giant bosses?

 

[Viviana Santos]

Everything's cool about it.
Flaming swords
Giant monsters
Gods
Gore
Epic set pieces
Blood
Fatalities
Exceptional power fantasy
Revenge plot

Did i mention giant bosses?

God of War doesn't have this cutscene though

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

God of War doesn't have this cutscene though

Devil May Cry doesn't have this tho

 

[Pearly]

It has it's fans but being in it's actual aimed demographic at the time it came out, it struck me as Devil may cry/Legend of zelda ocarina of time for edgy young teens, and as an edgy young teen at the time, I thought it was kind of cringe, just look up the teams effort to promote the game at the time the first came out, I saw footage of it and I was turning inside out from second hand embarrassment. Naturally it was Astro turfed by critics, but many fans just grew out of it by the time ascension came out (easily one of the most impressive ps3 games, bar none), hence the "dad game" we got in 2018 as a one last chance game for Santa Monica and it did well enough that it's still around.

I found Kratos absolutely insufferable, and I honestly much preferred spartan total war, the top down action game from the total war people on the ps2 instead. I still hate Kratos design to this day.

Not bad games by any stretch, just very much of their time, like nu-metal and the saw movies. They aged like milk.

It's not cool and never was. Sue me

 

[ConanTheDestroyer]

As someone who played them years after the release I personally liked them for the setting, it's take on the Greek mythology, being able to wreck everything in your path(albeit still providing challenge) and Kratos being the way he is honestly is part of the appeal for me and makes him standout in comparison to some of the other characters . I guess the cinematic presentation especially with the QTEs also compliments the story of this scale. Plus the music in this series is also great. So I guess its a case of the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts. I would agree that the games you listed have better combat but as others have stated if it's a great power fantasy I want GOW is where I would turn to.

 

[Heidegger of Shinra]

Why would you wanna play as a woman or a twink when you could be a real BALD man?!

 

[BrawlMan]

They are not bad games, but got repetitive from the story and character point. Though GoW III realistically falls apart in the last two thirds of the game, and it's one, i'm not going back to again.

 

[Viviana Santos]

Why would you wanna play as a woman or a twink when you could be a real BALD man?!

I like woman and twinks so........

 

[goldman2786]

It's a male power fantasy. the guy bangs half naked ps2 women, kills gods in gory fatalities, and the sense of scale is really good. It's not a great beat em up imo. Honestly, the first game has a lot of problems. The climb out of hades is the worst imo. 2 and the psp games are better, but nothing super memorable. I hear 3 is great, but I've never played it.

 

[Appiplyer]

You can't really compare God of War with DMC 3.

But now i think about it i think i mostly played it because people around me keeps playing it soo i followed them. But i think people just like it because all of those QTE execution (i do find that mechanic fun)

But compared to DMC 3 yeah it's far in comparison, you have far deep battle mechanic, a literal electric guitar, agni and rudra, and the best part you can kick Vergil ass three times in this game '>'

 

[Moreno909]

I never played them

 

[JellyjamLu]

The Mythology
Cool camera work and overall perspectives
Soundtrack is far superior
Is not a victim to Last Of Us copy and paste
Is not a cut-scene heavy experience
Is not victim to Marvel-esque writing, cheesy humor or side characters that try too hard to be comic relief
No slow, forced walk sections everywhere
QTE's are better, love it or hate it, I'd rather take these than what was implemented with the new age GOW titles
More emphasis on pure action
Subsequent playthroughs are more tolerable, as you can skip most if not all scenes.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

Yeah, I’ve never been a big fan of them either. I think the Greek Mythology setting is cool, but outside of that; I’ve never really had much of an interest in them tbh. Just always felt like watered down action games to me. At least with the original trilogy I can kind of see the appeal, the 2018 one onwards just looks like nothing to me lol. Just totally unappealing to me at all.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Everyone I know says those games are extremely satisfying to play, which is admittedly a great hook for new players.

 

[Tbest25 Tbest25]

I'm a simple guy, if I see spinning flaming steel, screaming bald guy, giants, monsters, tits, giant tits, giants with tits, monsters with tits, giant monster with tits, I'm down.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

While i like the oldschool GOWs because of its brutal , viscious and unhinged action with its huge monsters and bombastic setting , its still not on the top of my favourite games but i still prefer the oldschool GOWs way much more than the norse games .

It is because the greek GOWs were focused to be those rage-fueled games that goes with its greek setting into a bloodbath-rabbithole , how far Kratos would go to reach his goal . He's hardly relatable because he is this cursed and made unstoppable killing machine by the gods and his tragic past which drives him mad with his rage towards the betrayels of the gods . He became relatable because he gets his stuff done and marches forth and doesnt flinch a bit towards everything he's heading to .

Kratos is like Guts from Beserk . To enraged to die , too deep into it to go back , too focused to ease one moment .

This mindset is to this day still inspirational and people looking forward to it till the end of times .

Kratos is a dick with deep regrets but doesnt give up and slow down what he's set up in his mind .

 

[Tbest25 Tbest25]

It's pretty easy to label those games and Kratos as just edgy with no substance. This game is about a man that drowned in his own ambition, a general who wanted power above all and ended up paying the price: killing his own family and becoming a puppet to the greek gods. He had his redemption arc going since the og games until his newer games, the nordic mythology ones.
This game also has some amazing use of perspective in puzzles, satisfying combat and also great graphics and set pieces for the time. Sure, the games have their flaws, but i think the positives outweighs the negatives.

 

[Eduardo2010]

I don't care about story etc., and did not play these games until mid 2010s, so have no nostalgia for them. But I can see why they are so popular immediately:

- graphics are solid
- gameplay is simple, but still allows players to improve
- gameplay, in terms of environmental puzzles and set-pieces are varied throughout
- boss battles are spectacular (remember when these games originally launched)
- nudity
- pure male power fantasy

I think Sony have lost the plot with the game they revealed this week.