"Declarations" are statements of fact by definition.

And no, recommending that he start with DMC1 isn't really on-topic either, because he's asking about God of War.

Regardless, I would say Naz's question has been answered in full. Wouldn't you?

I certainly would, and he got a good spectrum of opinion. I mean to say God of War 1, lol, sorry about that. I'm going to edit my previous post to make that clear, but I really just got confused...

Anyway, off to bed. Naz, tell us what you decide to do, lol. :)

PS: By definition declarations might be a statement of fact, but if we took that literally, we would have to ask Soriku to source every time he says "the Tales series is full of win," and then we'd be doing nothing but wikipedia'n tales all day to rebuke his claims, lol. On forums, we're not writing term papers, stuff we say about each other or games isn't necessarily fact, often it's opinion, even if we state it as such gramatically. Even you are guilty of this sometimes. Let's not play "gotcha" and we can keep our convos moving forward, instead of dwelling.

I've played God of War 1, half of God of War 2, half of DMC 1, the DMC4 demo, Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 demo, bits of Ninja Gaiden 2, and the Bayonetta demo.  I thought God of War got a bit boring, and I love Ninja Gaiden.  I don't "get" DMC or Bayonetta.

I think it's complete bullshit that DMC/Bayonetta/NG are any more complex or deeper than God of War.  They do provide more combos, but that has nothing to do with how deep or complex a game is.  For example, Street Fighter doesn't have combos.  Tekken has a million combos.  That doesn't mean that Street Fighter is a more shallow experience than Tekken.

As for boss fights, I can't think of a single example of a boss battle in any of those games that required "complex techniques" to vanquish.  It's always just about learning the bosses attacks/movements/timing.  In fact, I'd love to hear an example of a boss battle that requires a complex technique, and how/why that complex technique is any different than what's required from any other boss battle.

EDIT:  As for the OP, I agree with everyone who said that if you've played the first hour and didn't like it, nothing else in the game is going to do it for you.  It's not like the game drastically changes in any way halfway through.

My suggestion: See if you can find someone who has played through the entirety of GoW I and still has the save game on their memory card. That way you can watch all the cutscenes / story stuff without having to play through the game (obviously the gameply itself doesn't grab you or the first hour would have had you hooked). Your only chance at actually getting in to the game is to get hooked on the story, and get through the gameplay in order to get on to the next cutscene / story plot point. If you get interested in the story elements in GoW I then you might be willing to play through GoW II and be prepared for III.

Otherwise give the whole thing a miss.

My experience intially was meh, onlyu having played 20 minutes I packed it in. I had no interest in a button masher. But then a couple of years later I played and got into the story of the game (with some walkthrough help from my brother who had played I & II so sat through it while I played), and I also found the gameplay had more subtlety to it that I first thought after giving it some time.

This is a little off topic. It is my opinion that Ninja Gaiden's boss battles require quite a lot of technique and strategy, and on higher difficulty levels, particularly DMD mode in the original games, the bosses are impossible without complex strategy and knowledge/timing, imho.

If you think that no boss in an action game requires complex technique or strategy, the you just haven't been playing the right action games bro, lol. Boot yourself up some DMC 1 or 3 no special edition and tell me that again, lol.(My opinion)

Anyway, yeah man, I think that the bosses take relatively little strategy in God of War, compared to other games in the genre, but the game isn't about the boss battles like I said. It's about story and cinematic overall experience, and that's why I think Naz should start at the beginning, for the story.

@binary solo

Very interesting post. Perhaps there is some complex depth in God of War that I have missed.

I never said that they don't require any strategy.  I just don't think that there's any complex technique that's require to beat them.  From my experience, it's always just learning when to attack, when to block and when to dodge the bosses attacks.  I mean, what constitutes a complex technique in your eyes?  Can you give me a good example?  I don't know if that's even possible, it could just be something that I need to play and experience for myself, but if you can think of anything, please let me know.

Obviously you did, if you really went through the entire game only using "square, square, triangle".

The combat is fun. The scale is unbelievable. The setting is awesome. The graphics are gorgeous. The music is epic. The gore is glorious. The story is entertaining. The puzzles are some of the best in any series. Same with the boss battles.

These are the reasons people love God of War! And they're good reasons!

Homer's Odyssey it ain't that's for sure. But for a video game the story is pretty good and it draws you in so you want to know what's next in Kratos' tale of woe. I ended up finding enough variability in the gameplay that I didn't find it monotonous. And there are certainly ideal combat techniques for one type of enemy, which are less effective, or ineffective, on another enemy. I would certainly rate the Legacy of Kain story as superior and far more intricate, complex and immersive, though gameplay in the LoK series isn't more varied, in fact it's probably less varied.

However if Hack'n'Slash really isn't your thing then just leave GoW to those who do like this sort of thing and move on to the genre's your really do like. There are plenty of games in each genre that you don't need to scratch around in an unfavoured genre to feed your gaming habit. Well not if you keep your gaming time within reasonable limits anyway.

Get the Collection. Don't bother with Chains of Olympus, it revolts non-God of War fans, and even the biggest God of War fans think it's something of a bore compared to the PS2 games.

What's important is how you play it. Don't play it like DMC or Ninja Gaiden, because you'll do horribly, and hate it. Learn the combos, ALL of them, and when to use them, and you should enjoy it more.

i'd start with GOW1,i love the classical gods kind of storyline so even though i don't generally play button mashers,i enjoyed it,i'd call it action/platform puzzle its pretty toughgoing in certain places too so i'd say you'd need to be commited,

i found GOW2 to be less button mashing but maybe it was becasue i was used to it,but i think they did work on that,

there are combo's to deal with all monsters i think,i don't know what zen is on about,and it has good upgrades to decide on,

it is a blockbuster game and you just have to ride with it,personally i thought they were great storys/cutscenes and gameplay sequences