God of War: HELP! I'm stuck...

[Iron_Chef]

Nevermind. Finally read the FAQ, LOL. They did a horrible job of designing this game so you'd know what to do/where to go next. Darkwatch always showed you what to do/where to go, but didn't make it easy to succeed. But you never wasted hours on crap like god of war makes you. Darkwatch is a better game, IMO, for this reason, plus it has a better story and more fun characters. Shorter game, though.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The archer/box thing is to get you to use your "Zeus Lightning" power to knock off the archers - it's something you'll need later on. I can't rememer exactly where the broken lever bit is - but I do remember that those are the last two really frustrating moments I had in the game. After that, I felt like I had figured it out for the most part - control and power-wise.

I do agree with you about spending hours on wasted crap, though. The game could have been so much better.

 

[Welverin]

Nevermind. Finally read the FAQ, LOL. They did a horrible job of designing this game so you'd know what to do/where to go next.

I disagree entirely, in fact I think the game is a bit too straight forward at times. The only real problems I have with it are the jumpy bits later on that John mentioned and the fact that it's a bit too ambitious graphically for the PS2 and suffers for it at times.

The problems you described sound like they derive from you not properly utilizing all of your powers and abilities.

I'd be interested in hearing how you do with the Pandora's Temple when you get there.

 

[Iron_Chef]

I'm in Pandora's Temple... Still getting lost, confused and dying constantly.

I can't remember all the stupid buttons to push to do the combos, block, magic, fatalities, etc. I grew up on Atari 2600 in the 70s, man. One joystick, one button. Now that was gaming! These newfangled games drive me crazy. How do they expect anyone to master all these configurations, especially when they keep adding new ones throughout the game? I can't tell what is going on, where I'm supposed to go, when I'm supposed to do it... LOL. Plus, the game is too hard on normal. They throw too many enemies at me. I can barely handle one cerberus, minotaur or cyclops. More than that and I'm dead over and over again. And the traps and hazards are too tough! I'm always pushing the wrong buttons and doing rage of the gods when I didn't mean to, or can't do it when I want to. It's not intuitive changing magic modes (medusa to zeus to poseidon, frex).

It takes a miracle (actually, a FAQ cheat sheet) for me to get anywhere in God of War, let alone for me to beat this damn game. Sometimes I get lucky and the path opens up before I've killed all the bad guys and I can escape and move on. I stand by my statement that the designers did a horrible job telling players where to go. I get lost and confused constantly. I haven't played console games excedpt Soul Caliber 2 since Resident Evil 3, LOL. I'm more of a CRPG or RTS guy. I did manage to fumble my way through Darkwatch recently, but I died 183 times beating the game, LOL.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Okay, prime example of why I'm now convinced this game sucks: instant death traps. How is this fun? Is it fun for me to scream the "F" word at the top of my lungs and smash my fist into the table a hundred times in a row as the idiots who made this game expect me to be able to swim dash three times while giant underwater log traps slam into me? I can barely do this trick once, but three times? C'mon. Complete B.S. The trap doesn't even make sense, mechanically, as the log wall would hit a grate but magically keeps going through it so it can keep threatening me if I move from from my alcove.

Instant death traps are not fun and are a means for lazy designers to make the game "longer" by wasting player's time. Who has this kind of time to waste? I don't wanna spend hours on one stupid trap (at least if it's combat I can always fumble my way through eventually). Video games have no replay value in my book. There's always a new game coming out. Why waste time on the same one twice to unlock secrets? I always thought if I paid for a game I should get all the secrets unlocked if I wanted by accessing the menu, and cheat codes to bypass crap like this water trap or the pillars I mentioned earlier that are too hard for me. I paid for the game after all, I should get full access to its features if I want.

 

[Iron_Chef]

I finally made it past that stupid @!#$% water trap, and things seemed okay until I ran into a damn lava pit trap in the Challenge of Hades that I can't time my jumps to. I get past the first pit ok, but then there's that big lava-filled gap with a weird platform that comes out and goes back fast twice then sticks together longer the third time. I miss it every single time; I'm not even sure I'm jumping far enough regardless of the timing. This instant death "trap crap" is horrible. I don't play a game called God of War to time jumps and swim dashes, I play it to kill stuff. They might as well have titled this game "God of Traps" instead. Feels like I'm stuck in a bad D&D adventure populated mostly by Grimtooth's Traps instead of monsters at this point, LOL.

 

[Welverin]

After reading your last few post I have to say that I think God of War just isn't the right type of game for you.

I can't remember all the stupid buttons to push to do the combos, block, magic, fatalities, etc. I grew up on Atari 2600 in the 70s, man.
One joystick, one button. Now that was gaming!

Heh, funny.

These newfangled games drive me crazy. How do they expect anyone to master all these configurations,

They don't, you're just supposed to intuitively grasp it, you old fogie!

Plus, the game is too hard on normal. They throw too many enemies at me. I can barely handle one cerberus, minotaur or cyclops.

Then I seriously suggest starting over on easy, it won't help with the puzzles or jumping bits, but the enemies will be easier to beat (or so they say, never actually tried it out myself).

Okay, prime example of why I'm now convinced this game sucks: instant death traps.

God, I hope you never played the Tomb Raider games, they seem to have been designed under the assumption you'd die the first time you came across a trap and then would reload the game and figure out from there.

Why waste time on the same one twice to unlock secrets?

I'm with you on this one, I have trouble getting through the games I have once, I have no desire to play through them twice just to use the nifty stuff I unlocked the first time. It's for this very reason I'm sorely tempted to get a cheat device, solely so I can unlock things and use them the first time around.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Never liked Tomb Raider. Not enough stuff to kill. Just liked staring at Lara Croft's digital bits.

I'm too old to grasp anything intuitively anymore, LOL. Anything I could grasp intuitively got grasped years ago. There's no room for anything else, least of all button pushing! That's the reason I suck at fighting games. I can't remember how to do combo moves and just end up trying to push all the buttons at once and hope for the best... :\

 

[Iron_Chef]

Ok, I get past the stupid lava pit trap after like 30+ restarts, and get to the Maze Of Hades. Here, the game designers thought it would be "fun" to make the nearest checkpoint for restarts all the way at the beginning of the maze, so you have to refight your way through it and the traps again. For a guy like me who dies 30+ times every time he encounters a trap, that is such total B.S. I should be able to save the game wherever I want, not someplace the designers think is "best." AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

And if I quit, the nearest saved game is before the lava pit trap that killed me 30+ times. Nice. This game is going in the trash right about now...

 

[John Crichton]

Chef. Dude. Heheh

I honest-to-God admire your persistance. If a game was giving me as much grief as you are expressing here I certainly wouldn't have kept playing it. Jeeze, you're almost near the end at this point. Well done.

I have mixed emotions reading through your posts but for the most part, Welvy and I are on the same page as far as the game maybe not being for you (not surprising since his old thread about this was basically he and I waxing about how cool and fun it was - except for the platforming BS). For me, it is currently my Game of the Year. I had so much fun playing it. There were absolutely some cheap-death parts and some frustrating late-game elements but I've never been good at platformers so go figure. Overall, the visceral experience was totally worth any 4-letter, strung-together shouts of rage and controller spiking I had during certain play-sessions.

A few counter-points if I may:

The boss battles were excellent. The greatest compliment one could pay is that there simply weren't enough of them. I haven't had this much fun killin' bosses since Metal Gear Solid on the PS1.

For a PS2 game, the graphics were amazing. There was a little slowdown here and there but not enough to complain about. The game looked great.

And the bottom line, above all else - Kratos handled great and his signature weapons (Blades of Chaos) should go down in gaming history as one of the greatest attack designs ever. Right next to the Mario butt-stomp. Once I got his moves down (which was about 1/4 through the game) I was a killing machine and any non-platforming deaths (which weren't very numerous) I had were my fault and not because of some cheap enemy AI (like some other games). The fighting was fair, fast, furious and fun. The hits and kills felt solid and really got my heart pumping and my fist pumping the air after a well-fought mass-killin' (even more than in Halo, which is the closest recent game I can think of to the experience).

So, yeah - the Hades level was a bit of a downer, especially compared to the wonder and brilliance of Pandora's Temple. And the other jumping/platforming parts were not as fair as the fights. But everything else was near pitch-perfect. I bought the game to mow through throngs of impressive looking badies, kick ass and take names. The game delivered.

To not make a sequel would be a crime against gamers. Um, ok, gamers who don't mind games that utilize about 7-8 buttons at a time.