God of War III

[Vector]

Well, I beat it. Took me 11 and 1/2 hours on Titan mode.

Spoiler:

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...about an hour of which was spent figuring out how to beat Zeus and his bullshit inside of Gaia. I was really getting fucking pissed with how he kept spawning clones of himself...I really hate when games do that. In Titan mode, there's no room for error. Those clones fuck you up pretty fast if you're not extremely careful.

The entire ending was pretty epic. Walking through the darkness, re-living his past and all the wrong he did, and in the end finally forgiving himself. Pandora's quote is one to live by: "Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost."

I knew Kratos would have to die at the end of the series, but I'm really happy with how it happened. Stabbing himself with the Blade of Olympus, releasing all of Athena's power and the hope inside of him to all of humanity, whatever was left of it...pretty amazing.

And then, the after-credits scene. Took me a few seconds to put two and two together, but the blood trail led off of the cliff. The first game began with Kratos saying "The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope" right before jumping off of the cliff and trying to kill himself. The hope was inside of him all along, blocked by his guilt and his nightmares. After killing Zeus, he was free of it, and he was finally able to somehow pull himself to the end of the cliff. The devs took the way the series began, and found an incredible way to apply it to its ending. Got a little choked up, not gonna lie.

Someone on another messageboard wrapped it up nicely:
Kratos, who's spent the last two games acting selfishly for his own revenge, not caring about whoever gets in his way (killing the majority), takes his life in the ultimate act of selflessness. Krato's death gives way to the rise of man as the strongest force on Earth. He gives man their own hope so they don't have to rely on a greater force.

Pretty beautiful if you ask me.

There are rumors of an 'epilogue' DLC, and the back of the game case does indeed say 'Additional content.' So, we'll see. If so, I WANT IT NOW.

[Rombie]

Pictures...



Trilogy box I picked up this morning.



Sorry it's a little out of focus, I forgot to turn off the flash. I've sharpened up the image a little.


From left to right. There is 3 postcards, an artbook, the DLC code for all of the DLC content (in a book as big as the art book - which is just the information in a billion different languages), GOW III, Collection, and 3 CD's of soundtracks.

That bit was the oddest thing, I thought the soundtrack would be maybe a CD or 2 in a case of various selected tracks based on the display ad and what was on the box, but there is 3 separate CD's with music from each game on a single CD each.



The detailed box. The lid slides off and the extra content was sitting inside. At first I was a little bemused because there was no games inside, before I realized there was a false bottom on it. There is a black felt covered separator into the bottom of the box where the 2 games were placed underneath.

[Vector]

Yeah, you guys got a much better Ultimate Edition than we did here in the states. That box looks incredible.

I'm gonna start a second playthrough today. I'm disappointed that stuff like weapons and magic don't carry over, but what can ya do? The game has enough replay value in wanting to play through all of the game's completely epic moments over and over again. Plus, I wanna collect all of the Godly Possessions(only got two on my first playthrough), plus all Phoenix Feathers and Minotaur Horns, since I already got all the Gorgon Eyes on my first playthrough. I may just try and Platinum this one.

[Gradon]

I knew I was right about GoW1 & 2 ports/remakes being in the GoW3 collectors box.

[nemesiswontdie]

Yeah, you guys got a much better Ultimate Edition than we did here in the states. That box looks incredible.

I'm gonna start a second playthrough today. I'm disappointed that stuff like weapons and magic don't carry over, but what can ya do? The game has enough replay value in wanting to play through all of the game's completely epic moments over and over again. Plus, I wanna collect all of the Godly Possessions(only got two on my first playthrough), plus all Phoenix Feathers and Minotaur Horns, since I already got all the Gorgon Eyes on my first playthrough. I may just try and Platinum this one.

Are my eyes deceiving me? I thought you werent into trophies? I'm gonna try and platinum it after I platinum DAO.

[Vector]

I don't care about trophies or achievements. I only have one Platinum, for RE5, and I don't have any perfect GamerScores on 360...although I'm missing only one achievement in Left 4 Dead. I only really try for them in games I've been looking forward to for a while to get the most replayability I can get...that's about it. I don't brag about trophies and I don't think they're important by any stretch, but they're just another small reason to play through the game again.

Like, this kid on my friend's list is in a group/club/whatever called 'Team Trophy Whores' and he plays games JUST for trophies. He has like 2,000 of them, over 20 platinums and he claims to be 9th in the world in trophies. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.

As for this game, some of them are pretty tough...like the 1000-hit combo, that's a bitch.

[nemesiswontdie]

Yeah that makes sense. Trophies do make a game have some replay value. I will admit there are a few games on my list that are there just because of the trophies (Wolfenstien 3D and TMNT are the ones that spring to mind) but alot of the games on there are ones as you said looked forward too. If they're on my list I at least try to platinum it (cant platinum KZ2). ANYWAYS, I wanted to play yesterday but a few people came over and I couldnt so hopefully I'll be able to play when I get back home.

[Vector]

Ahh, what have we here? Looks like a teaser site of some kind. DLC?

http://www.godofwar.com/spartansstandtall/

[Rombie]

Chris - I wouldn't say better. The box is the same as the US I'd suspect. We got the trilogy together, but thats only because the collection hadn't been released. The main differences are the CD's are in there (the soundtrack in the US box is a MP3 DLC only), and as far as I figure the US box has a documentary DLC with Peter Weller as presenter, which I didn't see on the list for the PAL version. But I wont know until I use the DLC code.

I knew I was right about GoW1 & 2 ports/remakes being in the GoW3 collectors box.

Yeah, in PAL areas only. I was informed however the Collection is getting an official release in PAL regions soon at a price around Platinum level. A memo was attached to shipments of GOW III.

[Member_of_STARS]

LOL, Spoiler:

show spoiler

Kratos kills innocents and destroys the helpless, has no mercy and is pretty much the greatest asshole among the videogame characters, then in 30 minutes he turns around and commits harakiri while feeling for the world for being in ruins.

[Vector]

LOL

Uhh, spoilers much?

Spoiler:

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That's not the impression I got straight away because it's completely and utterly uncharacteristic of him. That is what he did, basically, by stabbing himself with the Blade of Olympus and releasing Athena's powers and 'hope' to all of the world, liberating them from the cruel and selfish Gods, but that's not why he did it. He showed numerous times that he didn't care about anything or anyone but himself and his vengeance, so I don't think he suddenly had a change of heart for humanity. It was more of a 'fuck you' to Athena than anything. She was the one who was crying about him taking her powers. "They won't know what to do with it! That was meant for me!" or something is what she said after he stabbed himself.

She, much like everyone else in the series(the Gods, the Titans, etc.), tried using Kratos as a means to an end...she wanted him to give her her powers back after Olympus was destroyed, after all the Gods were dead, so she could be the one and only ruler of the world. It was her master plan that once humanity was 'cleansed in ruin,' that she would be the last remaining deity. But, once Kratos forgave himself for his sins and got his revenge on Zeus, he had nothing left to do except stick it to Athena by killing himself and releasing her powers to the world so everyone BUT her could have them.

The only real 'change' in character he had in this game(aside from the ending where he finally forgave himself) was his reaction to having Pandora around. It seems children were his one and only weakness, and why not? The memories of slaughtering his wife and daughter have haunted him since the get-go in this series, so it makes sense that if he were to have one 'soft-spot', if you could call it that, it would be a little girl like Pandora.

[Member_of_STARS]

Spoiler:

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The only real 'change' in character he had in this game(aside from the ending where he finally forgave himself) was his reaction to having Pandora around. It seems children were his one and only weakness, and why not? The memories of slaughtering his wife and daughter have haunted him since the get-go in this series, so it makes sense that if he were to have one 'soft-spot', if you could call it that, it would be a little girl like Pandora.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

That was still very bizarre, considering that he had absolutely no intention of really helping her in the first place, despite her begging him. And yet he has no troubles with putting old and broken people into harm, or literally ripping through them. Or showing no compassion to that princess you use to keep one of the doors from shutting (she couldnt have been much older than Pandora). His sudden compassion towards Pandora was uncharacteristic and felt frankly stupid after he destroyed the world singlehandedly, killing millions of children like her in the process.

For me, the ending felt disjointed and I see nothing positive in the character. He died an asshole. Not portrayed even as a badass.

[aris13]

Lol anyone noticed that Kevin Sorbo voiced Hercules.

[Vector]

^ Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. I watched most of the making-of videos that you get after beating the game...lots of incredible stuff. SSM worked long and hard on this game. It was extremely interesting to see how shit went down with Cory Barlog leaving a few weeks before the game started development, and then how Stig was chosen to be the new director. I suggest giving those vids a watch...definitely not a waste of time.

Got the Platinum trophy last night. I really played the shit out of this game the last few days. Definitely tough to put down...

[nemesiswontdie]

I just beat the game on Titan mode, which wasnt has hard as I thought it would be. All I need now is to upgrade all weapons (I was only 300 points away from getting this trophy), collect all godly possessions and aMAZed.

CR29 do you have to get all Godly Possessions in one playthrough or do they carry over?