I think you guys are trying to put me as not liking indies when that has nothing to do with anything. Then go on and say x indie game did this right. I believe you and thats fine. But im the one here separating my preference here and just because a game did something exceptionally well like story, gameplay, art style, but everything else is subpar, is you ignoring the overall game and focusing on its one good aspect.

And no I never claimed graphics is that important. Otherwise a nintendo game would never even be motioned. Graphics is part of the overall package and I would never dismiss it cuz the studio is small. As soon as you say that your putting excuses.

And lets be honest, the majority of mediocre AAA games that come out every year like your COD, fifa, madden Assasins creed and all that other BS never gets mentioned because Budget is not something that matters to make a good game. But a good game will improve by a big budget. Its something that as much as we would hate we cannot ignore its part of the industry.

I think you guys are trying to put me as not liking indies when that has nothing to do with anything. Then go on and say x indie game did this right. I believe you and thats fine. But im the one here separating my preference here and just because a game did something exceptionally well like story, gameplay, art style, but everything else is subpar, is you ignoring the overall game and focusing on its one good aspect.

And no I never claimed graphics is that important. Otherwise a nintendo game would never even be motioned. Graphics is part of the overall package and I would never dismiss it cuz the studio is small. As soon as you say that your putting excuses.

And lets be honest, the majority of mediocre AAA games that come out every year like your COD, fifa, madden Assasins creed and all that other BS never gets mentioned because Budget is not something that matters to make a good game. But a good game will improve by a big budget. Its something that as much as we would hate we cannot ignore its part of the industry.

I'm just starting the game now, jeez what a lot of settings, yet no way to skip cinematics! The beginning is the typical don't care, let me play first before you talk my ears off. I was not in the mood for a movie but guess I'll just have to wait until their done 'setting the mood'. Naughty Dog handles the start of their games a lot better.

Oh, I think I'm allowed to press a button now.

Hmm, can't find an FoV slider or how to move the camera back. I loved that from Tlou pt1, this low FoV and Kratos filling up a big part of the screen is not a nice way to play. Damn this game is hard to get into.

These settings... Any clue how to detach movement from camera direction, like any normal 3rd person game? How do you look behind you while running in the other direction?

I'm just starting the game now, jeez what a lot of settings, yet no way to skip cinematics! The beginning is the typical don't care, let me play first before you talk my ears off. I was not in the mood for a movie but guess I'll just have to wait until their done 'setting the mood'. Naughty Dog handles the start of their games a lot better.

Oh, I think I'm allowed to press a button now.

Hmm, can't find an FoV slider or how to move the camera back. I loved that from Tlou pt1, this low FoV and Kratos filling up a big part of the screen is not a nice way to play. Damn this game is hard to get into.

These settings... Any clue how to detach movement from camera direction, like any normal 3rd person game? How do you look behind you while running in the other direction?

The game is a story based light adventure and pretty much the same as the first game.  There really is not a lot of cinematics in the game but there is a lot of story based side missions that flesh out the characters.  

You cannot look behind you, you can only quick turn.  Reading the red indicator that lets you know an enemy behind you is going to hit you is how the game let you know not to mention your side characters.  Its the same formula as the first game and it does take time to get use to.  Most times its just wise to position yourself to see as many enemies as possible.  I like to run to certain spots in order to see my surroundings better before attacking that way I can see when attacks are coming and parry.

The game is a story based light adventure and pretty much the same as the first game.  There really is not a lot of cinematics in the game but there is a lot of story based side missions that flesh out the characters.  

You cannot look behind you, you can only quick turn.  Reading the red indicator that lets you know an enemy behind you is going to hit you is how the game let you know not to mention your side characters.  Its the same formula as the first game and it does take time to get use to.  Most times its just wise to position yourself to see as many enemies as possible.  I like to run to certain spots in order to see my surroundings better before attacking that way I can see when attacks are coming and parry.

I haven't looked for a setting for that and I think the camera is so close by design. Once you get into the flow of combat, you learn to pay close attention to the yellow and red arrows indicating someone is about to hit you from behind.

That being said, I had to customize the controls a bit because I could not get used to using X to dodge which lead to a few deaths in the first challenging battle. I also switch Block and Throw buttons since my finger would automatically go to L2 to block.

So basically if a game is great, no matter the budget then its worth game of the year.  Execution of the experience means way more than the budget of the game.

What aspect of hades, ori, celeste and hollow Knight are subpar? You should really watch the video I put in my last comment, it really explains how wrong you are very well.

Somehow I had far less issues with the first game and I do like story based games as I just completed Tlou pt1 before starting this one. I guess Naughty Dog is simply better at game openings. Horizon is another one that's hard to get into / get going.

Anyway I disabled anything that messes with the camera or picture, no motion blur, no camera shake, no camera motion, smoothed cinematic camera, avoid sprinting, increased the turning sensitivities for faster turning and turned on all the camera assists for combat. It's do-able now, as in not feeling sick after 20 minutes. Still the camera being so close remains a challenge.

For combat I'll stick to an edge so everything is in front of me which reduces the camera motion as well. Now the only problem left is Atreus constantly spoiling all the puzzles. Maybe I should just set the voice dialog volume to zero while exploring. No option to turn of spoilers.

It is a lot of fun though when it gets going. Not as detailed as Tlou pt1 but beautiful nonetheless. The HDR implementation had my jaw drop a couple times, very nicely done.

I customized them as well, I assigned light attack to [], X to interact, O to dodge. R1 for Atreus to shoot. Works much better than the default.