The gaming experience (GoW3): Finished and confused

And today I beat God of War 3. It was sort of mixed experience really.

I did enjoy the final twists of the last boss fight, even if it was basically the same as the one from the previous game, and the psyhcological stuff at the end of it all was pretty damn cool.

On the other hand. The retcon at the very end was eye-rolling and the ending itself seemed to lack some pizazz. Also I was sort of right to doubt the guide but it was a disappointingly simple revelation in the end.

Over all... I need to discuss the ending with other people before I make up my mind about it.

And Pandora is now definately the most awesome character in this entire franchise.

That's it folks.

The gaming experience (GoW3): The end is nigh... also, what's with the scorpions

So after easter it's just straight back into God of War 3. I'm nearing the end I feel. I can't help but a little disappointed that there haven't been any big monster boss fights. Even if that big guy was the biggest thing I've ever killed in a video game he doesn't count since he was a freaking titan. I do miss the giant monsters like the Hydra and the Kraken from the previous games.

Lucky for me then that I get to fight a giant scorpion... what? It's a fun boss fight and all but what's with people putting giant scorpions in modern pop culture version of greek mythology, there's several of them in the new Clash of the Titans movie (at least in the trailer). I might've missed something but I don't remember any giant scorpions in greek mythology. Oh well, as long as they're entertaining it's ok. Just curious.

But I still wanted to fight Stheno.

I like Pandora. Or at least this interpretation of her. She's a good example of a female character that's cool without having to this badass warrior princess, not that there's anything wrong with those. Her interaction with Kratos and the change he goes through from it is actually very gripping and almost makes him sympathetic. At the very least it makes the stakes that he puts into the quest more complex and interesting.

Now then, the warm-up round with Zeus is over. I can see him waiting for me. Tomorrow I'll kick his ass. Little sad that th final boss is the same as in the previous game but what the hell. I've always wanted to kick Zeus' ass. And hey, the really awe-inspiring background of the world falling into chaos and destruction is a pretty damn badass back-dropp to finish this saga with.

Once I do that I can start posting about something else. Pandora is sort of inspiring.

Until next time, peace out.

The gaming experience (GoW3): The disappointing and the awesome!

Stupid minotaurs. If you haven't played the game yet but will, when you get to the part where you're on a giant cube fighting minotaurs I recommend that you try to knock them off the cube rather than just killing in the normal fashion. It takes some getting learning but it can totally be done and is actually more satisfying and effecient.

Once I got past that annoyance I met another one. Hermes. It's kind of funny. He acts youthful and the way he taunts you makes him sound like a punk. But if you ask me he looks a bit too old to be doing that. It was rather annoying. So I was pleased that he was the easiest boss fight yet and I got to kill him on the first try. But even then his death was disappointing and less spectacular than his fellow gods. Though no less ominous when one considers what it was probably inspired by. Still, felt a little like a waste of a boss fight.

The next famous person from the myths however wasn't a disappointment at all. In fact, she's stolen the show as the most entertaining character in the game. God of War Hera is freaking awesome. She's like this old actress that used to be really famous but now she's a has-been who looks down on the world because it doesn't recognise her greatness anymore. And she's just a little drunk. And she hates her husband, with good reason. Yeah, she's freaking awesome.

Then there's the guy that she gets to fight you since she's too drunk, lazy or smart to do it herself. Hercules is a mixed bag. He's probably one of the characters I wished most for when it came to boss fights for this game. Don't know why the felt that he needed shoulder guards or a helmet when the rest of his body was pretty much unprotected, especially when said items made him look a bit lame. And dude, you're Hercules. Why do you need undead legionairs to fight Kratos? Also, he's a bit whiney.

But on the other hand, he's voice by Kevin Sorbo. For those that don't know, Kevin Sorbo played Hercules on the live action show that took place in the same universe as Xena: Warrior Princess. That's some great casting, especially since I didn't recognise it until I looked it up on wikipedia. Also, while the first part on the fight is annoying due to the troops he uses, though it would be way easier without them there, the final part is awesome. It's basically a boxing match of superhuman porportions that leaves both Hercules and Kratos bloodsoaked as all hell before it's all finished off very brutally. Loved that part.

And hey, the weapon you steal from him is probably the most fun the game so far.

Short comments now before I leave for easter holidays.

Kratos is still an ass and I don't really sympathise with him yet.

Aphrodite is a mean person. To Hepheastus that is. To the player she's just the game's sex-mini-game that can spark very lovely debate about how chauvinistic this series actually is.

I don't want to hurt Hepheastus. Stupid meany game.

And on we go into the pits of tartarus, the real hell of greek mythology.

The gaming experience (GoW3): I'm having a ball

Ok, so after turning the setting down to normal I can finally play the game the way I want to. There's still a challenge to be had here but generally I can kick much mythological ass. So today I figured that I would comment on a few parts of the game. Beware of spoilers in this post.

First of all, I really enjoyed how the gods leapt into battle against the titans in the opening cinema. It sort of felt like they were some sort of comic book superteam dashing off to kick some ass. Also, they generally looked very cool while doing so.

The titans on the other hand look sort of wimpy despite their skyscraper+ sized bodies towering over the gods. So far the gods have been smacking the titans down without much difficulty. No wonder these behemoths need help from a teeny tiny, from their perspectives at least, demi-god. Losers.

Seriously, without Kratos/my helping them out the titans would be totally screwed. While they were getting their asses kicked I managed to kill three gods in the gratuitously brutal fashion that is the hallmark of the God of War series. However, bad things seem to happen (in the game's world) whenever I commit deicide. And by bad I mean "seems-to-be-moving-towards-the-apocalypse-step-by-step-bad".

I read somewhere that they wanted to make Kratos a bit more sympathetic instead of just being a revenge-obssessed killer. Considering that he seems to be dooming the world just to get his revenge fix I don't think that they've done a very good job so far. But hey, there might be a twist later on.

What else? What else? Oh right, Hades!

I finally got to kill that ugly SOB. Now, while he doesn't look the way I imagine Hades to look he was actually rather entertaining as he taunted Kratos from the shadows before having a big show-down with him. You could really hear that he wanted Kratos to suffer painfully. As God of War players know Kratos has escaped from the underworld like 3-4 times in his existence. So you sort of assume that's why Hades hates him so. But a great scene right before their big fight reveals that Hades has a valid grudge against Kratos. So he had my sympathy but I still laughed while kicking his ass.

Nobody makes references to God of War games I haven't played and live to tell the tale while I'm still kicking.

A few more things.

Hephastus and his daughter are the most sympathetic characters in this game. Not hard to do really.

I totally don't trust Kratos' new guide. There's something suspicious about this person.

If the character I think is Hercules is Hercules I'm a bit disappointed in his appearance.

They still can't do a good Kerberos design for these games.

All in all. I'm having a freaking ball.

Until next time, peace out.

The gaming experience (GoW3): I'm either a pansy or honest with myself

Finally!

Last week I bought my most coveted game of the year, God of War 3, and I've been hyped to play it all week. Today I got behind my PS3 controller and started slaughtering my favorite characters from greek mythology.

The reason I haven't played it until now is simply because I felt that I needed to focus on an essay for my current course. Simple as that. I had enough fortitude to avoid the game and stay focused on the essay and today I got my reward of playing the game.

I made two misstakes that sort of lowered my enjoyment of it.

The game itself is absolutely fucking brilliant. Even the most grotesque and imaginative creatures have a strange realism to them. The scenes (both in gameplay and in-game cinemas) are nothing short of epic. The fighting system tight and responsive. Go to any professional game critic and they can tell you the same thing with better words, I'm personally looking forward to Yahtzee's review of the game.

The misstakes I made are completely my own.

Misstake #1: My tv is sort of small, a bit too small almost for a game this epic. It's nothing serious enough that the right distance between me and the tv can't fix. Unfortuantely I tried to take it easy and lounge in my bed while playing. It created certain perspective problem and probably led to me taking more hits than if I had been seated at a more strategic position. Easily fixed.

Misstake #2: Here's the real problem that might be a bit embarrassing in gaming circuits.

See, in the review on gametrailers.com they thought that normal was a little too easy and recommended that veterans of the franchise begin playing on hard. I felt cocky and took that advice. I should probably have known better considering that I've only played the previous game once and that was like 3-4 years ago.

Before I had gotten half-way through today's challenges I had died 47 times.

Yeah.

Tomorrow I'm lowering the difficulty to normal. Even if that means replaying the parts I had gotten through today.

It not because I can't ever get through the game on hard difficulty. I would probably be able to do it. Eventually. It's because it's really frustrating me and I don't want to be frustrated when playing this game. I mainly want to enjoy it and kick some ass while doing it.

If I was a gamer I might be inclinded to feel some shame about it. Luckily enough I'm sort of a crappy gamer and I'm not out for bragging rights. I'm mainly after the interactive story the game is telling.

So that's my confession about my gaming patience and skills. Expect more updates about my battle against GoW3 in the coming days. It'll be an interesting experiment for me.

Now, to prepare myself for the possible mockery from my country friends.

Until next time, peace out.

It's probably for the experience

I'm not sure why I do it.

It's always cold and hard and the reactions I, and everybody else get, vary from being looked down on to almost threatened.

Three times I've done and only twice was it worth it, mostly because the third time was just a favor but still.

It's at this time that I dramatically reveal what I'm talking about. The subject of this post is... queuing.

I'm talking about the kind of queuing where you stand/sleep on the street for days while waiting for the chance to get to buy something that you've been waiting for for a long time. I'd imagine that the phenomenon is mostly associated with forming long lines for concert tickets. But in all honesty that's been ruined by everybody buying them online the second they come out. But there's loads of other stuff that you can que for. The three times I've mentioned are as follows.

#1: Waiting in a line for days on end to buy tickets to Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
Conditions: Me and my friend Hassanbot had to be in that line for like 2 - 3 days. We where under a bridge where the sound of cars and motorbikes going under it echoed loudly every day. We where also very close to a nightclub whose regular visitors very often mocked us (we were even called whores by on of them). And top it all off some of the guys in the que had found sort of hidden stairwell and started using that as a place to pee. It did not smell nice to walk by it. At least I had a friend with me and the people I met where all very nice.
Results: Actually worth it since the expereince of buying the tickets while a dude dressed as Darth Vader directed a small orchestra was pretty awesome. And the experience of watching the thing on opening night with so many hardcore fans totally overshadowed the fact that the movie wasn't all that good.

#2: Sat down in line for when they would sell Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows.
Conditions: I came alone with a fold-out chair and sat there for about a day. I knew some of the other people in the line so it wasn't very lonely. There also weren't any loud or stinking annoyances and the people walking by where a lot more friendly towards us. It did get cold at some point abut luckily my sister came over with my jacket at that point. There was also a festive mood and it felt safe enough for me to leave my stuff a few times and go buy fastfood to eat.
Results: Totally worth it! This experinece was much more enjoyable and the book kicked so much ass. The only downside was that the shop didn't handle the release with the same amount of spectacle as in the previous example. But still, a fun experience.

#3: Held a place in line for Hassanbot so that he could get to Halo 3 quickly.
Conditions: Nothing special really. Me and Sharkazzz stood there along with lots of other guys just holding a place for Hassanbot who showed up eventually. It was sort of cold.
Results: Not worth it. In the end the que was relatively short and as far as I could tell it didn't matter when you came. Pretty much everybody got a copy of the game as long as they had their pre-order slip with them. And if there was any spectacle there I missed it.

Why do I bring this up you may ask. Well, I'm gonna go for my fourth que this Tuesday when God of War 3 gets released. I'm well aware that I can just come in one day later with my pre-order slip and buy the game then so I won't have to stand there and sort of freeze in these cold post-winter but pre-spring days. But I'm gonna do it anyway. It's an experience and I'll rest slightly easier knowing that I'll get my hands on the game fast enough.

Though I wonder if the most stupid thing that seems to befall all ques will show up this time as well. In all three example I mentioned above some random dude would at one point run past and shout how the main character Anakin Skywalker/Harry Potter/Master Chief would die. That's just so stupid and pointless that I'm not gonna talk about it anymore.

Wish me luck on Tuesday.