Anyone else feeling a bit let down by the game? Especially after exceptional reviews.

While I am not complete, I do feel like I am in far enough to give comment on the experience. A few complaints in comparison to the first:

1. Standard difficulty mode is a lot harder than before - making you feel very underpowered especially as Kratos. Personally I feel at the start of the game enemies should have had less health. I understand that enemies are weak to certain weapons and strategies but it shouldn't be that fixed.

2. Constant chatting between characters - not a fan. I prefer some more impactful cutscenes and then a bit of a break from the story and chit chat. Sometimes it does work - but other times its too much.

3. PS5 controls woefully underused. Certain scenes when you push R2 to swing the axe down, could have made a huge difference if they synced the pressure of the button with the swing down of the axe.

4. In hindsight i know this is basically a continuation of the story but almost 5 years have passed since the original game. For me GOW 2018 was a fresh, visceral and exciting experience that truly ushered in the PS4. Ragnarok feels solidly like a PS4 game, 2 years after the PS5 has released. I get that some new mechanics are introduced with the weapons but i feel like something a bit more drastic needed to be done. Those that played the game will know that there are other additions to Ragnarok ( I will not spoil here) but even that felt underwhelming and personally I think they picked the wrong direction in regards to that. Santa Monica studio is probably holding back all the crazy ideas for there first true PS5 game...which at this rate will release when the PS6 comes out.

1 - That is the new standard for GoW. In Give me God of War you seem like a mortal fighting gods, you die taking 3 hits (sometimes a single one) and need at least 12 to kill enemies. Some arrangements are quite hard with enemies that fight close, others with projectibles and some that close the gap instantly and laser aimed. Since the number of enemies wouldn't change on easier difficult if the enemies died to fast you wouldn't have much combat at all.

2 - I love the talking, a lot of people talk when they are walking and traveling, they don't chit chat during combat.

3 - I don't see that as a problem even more as the game is a PS4 one and the added aspects for PS5 can't break the gameplay between versions.

4 -There was basically no need to have major changes as the game was basically on very high level on almost all aspects so improvements and increments were the way to go, even more considering this is on the same storyline and pantheon so changing to much would make less sense. If they do a new storyline then bigger changes could be expected.

In the higher difficulty you really have to use your elemental effects as those will either stun or improve a lot on damage in GOW fights.  Building up frost and then switching to blades and adding fire add that extra damage.  You can also upgrade the moves you use the most to deal better damage, elemental or stun by going to niflheim and practicing those moves.  It really makes a big difference in delivering damage since the harder difficulty you can basically get one shot and the enemies are basic sponges for damage.

I usually finish the game on balance first before trying the harder modes because you cannot really perform those nice combos because the enemies just power through most attacks and do not stagger or stun as much. 

Either way im not impressed after 4-5 years. Ragnarok will sell well...but if Sony thinks another GOW with the same mechanics will do well they are wrong.

The same issue with Horizon Forbidden West - barely any changes to the core mechanics so many years later and on new hardware. I guess all the points of continuity apply here as well, but I have a sneaky feeling that if Sony releases a 3rd entry in the Horizon series with relatively unchanged mechanics the game will fall way off in terms of popularity. I actually think the second entry has already fallen off in popularity despite being better in all areas than the original.

I hope we don't see the same trend with Spiderman 2. 

I'm already over mid game, 35h in, and almost no combos given. When dealing against boss I try to build up the energy on the weapon and inflict status, but the status go over very fast =p

And even basic enemies don't stutter much unless you are focusing all attacks together with ally on it, so combo is very hard to pull

We will see that =] humans are funny creatures that ask for change at the same time they hate and fear it, so we never know if they are going to change, how they will do it and if they do how people will feel and react.

I find, parry then shield bash will stun bosses and allow you to add your combos and use all of your Runic attacks in one big chain.  Its best to do it then as any other time your Runic attacks can get powered through sometimes and you take unnecessary damage.  The side bosses in this game are way more of a pain then story wise so I had to be patience and go for the stun you get when that white bar underneath the boss heath reach the max.

Later in the game you get skills that allow you to enter either frost, fire or stun very quickly which you should use often as it adds to the boss stun meter faster and shorten the fight.

You only have to look at the most popular series and see how much change they do to understand its not change that gamers what.  I remember when GOD 2018 was announced and shown and how much flack it got for changing from the previous games.  People who did not even play the game was all up in arms complaining why they would change up the formula.  I believe if SSM wanted to they could milk the same mechanics for a while only throwing in a new weapon and some added abilities if they wanted.  The thing about GOWR unlike the first game is that now your Amour and other items actually mean something as you can pretty much customize exactly how you like to play the game unlike the first.

Anyone else feeling a bit let down by the game? Especially after exceptional reviews.

While I am not complete, I do feel like I am in far enough to give comment on the experience. A few complaints in comparison to the first:

1. Standard difficulty mode is a lot harder than before - making you feel very underpowered especially as Kratos. Personally I feel at the start of the game enemies should have had less health. I understand that enemies are weak to certain weapons and strategies but it shouldn't be that fixed.

2. Constant chatting between characters - not a fan. I prefer some more impactful cutscenes and then a bit of a break from the story and chit chat. Sometimes it does work - but other times its too much.

3. PS5 controls woefully underused. Certain scenes when you push R2 to swing the axe down, could have made a huge difference if they synced the pressure of the button with the swing down of the axe.

4. In hindsight i know this is basically a continuation of the story but almost 5 years have passed since the original game. For me GOW 2018 was a fresh, visceral and exciting experience that truly ushered in the PS4. Ragnarok feels solidly like a PS4 game, 2 years after the PS5 has released. I get that some new mechanics are introduced with the weapons but i feel like something a bit more drastic needed to be done. Those that played the game will know that there are other additions to Ragnarok ( I will not spoil here) but even that felt underwhelming and personally I think they picked the wrong direction in regards to that. Santa Monica studio is probably holding back all the crazy ideas for there first true PS5 game...which at this rate will release when the PS6 comes out.

My problem with parrying is that some bosses will run through your parry like they will do three attacks doesn't matter how many perfect parries you do, so there isn't much difference between evade and parry except perhaps that you can add status to the boss (like poison) with the parries and slowdown with roll. My strategy to stun is throwing stuff at the boss in the head all along =p perhaps I'm playing the wrong way but I plat 2018 like this on GmGoW. It takes a lot of effort and time.

Totally agree with you. One thing I don't like about direct sequels that it seems like the char forget everything from one game to the other (at least in the original GoW trilogy they made it the right way as you have an excuse for being drained for power). And you are also absolutely right when you say gamers want small tweaks and improvement to the formula, without messing what was working fine, they complain if to much is changed (even if great) and just later will come to accept.

I would have to say all your negatives I did not see them that way.

I had absolutely no problem with the difficulty in the balance portion of the game.  Late game or side quest sub bosses I expect to be a challenge as they are optional.  Just going through the story is pretty much a breeze.

I do not like a bunch of cut scenes breaking up the flow of the game, I prefer the characters talking and giving substance to what you are doing during the game instead of a bunch of cut scenes taking me out of the game.

I prefer no extra BS with the PS5 controller.  This really isn't the game I want anything distracting me from pulling off the moves I am trying to do.  Its neat for about a few minuets than it becomes a chore and a bother.

I have no problem with the game, its a sequel and I did not expect it to stray from an already tight formula.  Now if they have another GOD in another setting, I would expect some changes but I am not sure what exactly you expected in 5 years.  The game is mostly bug free, all the controls elements are as tight as expected and the game as a whole has over 90+ hours of content to get through.  I pretty much almost 100% the whole game and it took me about 90+ hours to complete with all side quest and end game content.  

No, I am not disappointed with GODR at all, I read no reviews and care little about score as I was going to purchase the game anyway because of the first.  I came in the game with no grand expectations as I find that always kills a game for me, instead I want to play the game and enjoy what it offers.  I have my quibbles with the game and there are definitely situations I believe could have been improved on but the total package was a great experience for me.  One thing I wish they had was New Game +.  I would love to go back through the game with all my upgrades and amour.  There are amour and upgrades you cannot get until late game and it would be great to go through the harder difficulty with them.

I do not know if this game beats Elden Ring for GOTY but its definitely can be in the running.  Its an exceptional game which does side quest better in my opinion then Elden ring but the reply value is much lower.  The 2 games are really nothing alike but there are few games I would say is worth my 70 bones.