I love how they did Odin, he's like a sleazy politician that you want to trust but something in the back of your head tells you not to believe his charm
"I killed her son. There is no letting that go." I love how deeply Kratos understands Freya. He would never forgive anyone for killing Atreus, so he doesn't resent her, despite the fact that killing Baldur was necessary
The voice actor for Freya did an unreal performance when she screams “KRATOS” and everything comes crashing down behind them. Chills man literal chills
@@StormofSpanks Yeah, that's fair for some gods, but I'm referring to people like Thor who kept trying to push him to show him his "real power." Like bro you know he is the ghost of Sparta who killed the entire pantheon of Greek gods along with the titans and plenty of other abominations why are you trying to unlock his anger once more?
The part where Thor defribrilates Kratos back to consciousness during the death screen has to be one of the most ingenious uses of game/story synergy I've seen a AAA-game use in a long while.
This is so rare to see outside of Indie games now days, the devs really putting heart in this game. And.. wow it pays off, the series is on a high note, again and again. Love it.
The pacing in this game is phenomenal. I couldn’t tell you at any point wether or not it’s the climax or just another quest. The entire campaign is just one giant cinematic climax.
Except the ironwood section, right? Don’t wanna spoil it for u in case u haven’t reached it yet, but I can assure u that the game later feels like it was written by two writers with polar opposite visions, one of them being excellent and the other absolutely talentless and boring. I hope you don’t share my view when you reach the part I’m talking about though
@@saucyjack4936 Ironwood was magical. (Spoiler) It gave both Atreus and the players a painful I sight into their future and expanding the lore, while also showing ‘Loki’s’~~ slow and adorable connection with Angrboda. Yeah, the beginning chunk wasn’t as “death at every corner” as the rest, but GoW is a story as much as it is a fighting game. Ironwood is without Kratos, so its mostly also without chaos 😅
That frozen lightning strike Kratos and Thor made when they clashed is legitimately one of the coolest looking things I've ever seen. And it goes all the way up to the fucking sky.
I love that at the end of the 2018 game, everyone expects it to be a big fight when Thor finally appears, but adversing that the fact he brought Mead and for a chit-chat. I love it.
Kratos emphasizes on his diary that the thing that made him completely dismiss Odin's offer was his veiled threat to Freya. Even after she's been nothing but a huge danger to them for the last three years, even after her son came after them and almost killed both him and his son more than once, Kratos doesn't for one moment ever stop caring about Freya or holds her anger against her, not hesitating to refuse what really sounded like a great deal. I really love these two's relationship in this game more than any other.
@@MamadNobari the arkham games are a little different, you actually die when that happens. The one in this game is part of the game, it tricks you into thinking you didn't button mash well enough just to actually be part of the story
@@Kurzxclan or just play NieR:Automata lol. although that is technically an older game anyways since its...an older game than ragnarok. oh well. overall it's the most mechanically Innovative and has the most advanced gameplay diversity of any game.
Sitting your magical god-weapon on the table slow and begrudgingly to indicate that you're "just here to talk" is awesome af but Best Boy putting the cups on the table too is what made me burst out laughing. Made the scene epic
16:15 Charlie asks why Kratos says no and to me it seems pretty clear. Odin is to Thor what Zeus was to Kratos. Kratos knows better than to trust deals from gods even if it means causing war.
This fight absolutely slaps. The dialogue, the set pieces, and the acting is top tier! Hats off to everyone at Sony Santa Monica, they did an excellent job!
@@g80gzt "Fenrir gets a very happy ending, i won't say any more." Could you make it any more obvious he gets resurrected? You're giving it away while pretending to avoid spoilers.
As soon as I saw the Frozen lighting after the Leviathan axe and Mjölnir collided I knew we were in for a masterpiece. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a game had my hyped.
It's a great touch along with Charlie pointing out the last punch would break his jaw. You literally see Thor pull out a broken teeth and just throw it on the ice. Bad ass
MINOR POST-GAME LORE SPOILERS: Dude, I just got the "This feels familiar." line. There's one of those same frozen lightning bolts in The Crater in Vanaheim. I just put so many pieces together. I learned that Faye fought Thor with that same axe, and created the same frozen bolt of lightning when they clashed weapons. The Crater itself was created by their fight, and that frozen lightning bolt is present in the middle
@@strengar7145 Yeah...I already knew that. That's why I posted it? I just can't remember if they said anything about shaking the 9 realms, but if they did, I'm sure Kratos and Thor did too
At the beginning I was curious about why she didn’t just go for the dogs, but then I remembered her compassion love for animals. But then she almost crushes them with trees so who knows.
She's mostly mad at Kratos. She could've used Atreus as a distraction or kidnapped him but like you said, she's compassionate but also grieving which led to her mindless quest to try and kill the person who killed her son
I agree one of the best intro in gaming for sure and I'm loved how they made Thor and Odin in this game I mean they look great and the actors are perfect for them, I also love how Odin is kinda like a mob boss in this game but honestly I'm excited to see them more in my playthrough.
In the 2018 game they established that Freya cares deeply for nature and animals, so I imagine thats why she didnt just take out the dogs that were pulling the sled
I noticed how much of an Actual God Charlie is in games after watching Jacksepticeye die a bunch of times to the bear on mid difficulty and Charlie wrecked him in one try on nightmare
What really? haven't watched his playthrough yet. I always start games on normal difficulty but the fights aren't that harf in the game which make me switch to no mercy(hard) at least. He really died to the bear fight? the combos become readable like a boook after like, 30 secs
yea I dropped it to give me no mercy after the hell the last game put me through "for no trophy" so seeing charlie destroy the bear when I died to it once on a lower setting yea actual god is a good description, maybe he's a god of games?
Tbh I was thinking the same thing. I'd like to think I'm decent at GoW combat after 100%ing 2018 GoW on gmgow difficulty, but died like maybe ten times trying to fight Thor anyways.
"You know my past? Then you know what I'm capable of" is one of the hardest pieces of dialogue ever. The way Christopher Judge delivers the line, the truth behind that statement...just so good.
@@noobatron2663 It's the opposite of GOW2018, it starts off easier and gets harder instead of stupid hard and then getting easier. I'm geared up as I should be a few dozen hours in with a lot of defense and bosses 2-3 shot me, big moves 1 shotting.
The emotional impact of kratos finally getting angry enough to unleash his true self through Thor's provoking is just amazing writing, that gutteral yell he makes only adds to it, couldn't be happier with the direction this game is going so far
Rarely do I see motion capture accurately capture facial expressions as intricate as Kratos' in that exact scene... You can see everything come out, the rage, then the memories, then the realization that he's losing control, then the breathing and discipline to reign it all back in. In just a few seconds, you get told an entire story about Kratos and now you understand him on a far deeper level, even if you've never played the other games. Masterful.
@Conquest On the first one i completed the storyline and went back to the house so i knew thor was going to be in it but i didn't think the fight would be that good
Oh yeah man. I don’t game with stuff like this. I stick to old school second gen games like crash bandicoot. But man I loved every minute watching my brother play this game. It’s like all my cinematic movie dreams come to like. Badass Nordic lore. So sweet.
Lol 8 months ago i was watching this masterpiece and then remembered in 2018 i had played the older one on my lil cousins PlayStation so then I waited til my birthday to get a Playstation and I've been enjoying it ever since 😅
i like the idea that its canon kratos sees a screen telling him tips on how to be better when he dies prematurely. or it wouldve been if the text appeared in that instance
@@countedcat477 Its because odin mentioned the part about Freya, the lore entry for it talks about how he strongly considered it but allying with her ex-husband against an old friend was off the table for him
@@TheFirstCurse1 also kratos really doesnt harbor any ill will towards freya, he is 100% understanding of why she's doing what she's doing, she also saved his son and was a friend so he's in her debt
This game felt more like a cinematic masterpiece with the way it introduced Thor and Odin coupled with how the combat is complimented by the soundtrack. Just outstanding.
The Baldur fight was more hype for sure, but the dialogue in this and the scene with Mjolnir carrying Kratos through the sky made it phenomenal in different ways.
The dialogue is f*cking terrible. They literally talk like modern people. Odin says 'my ex...." it is like bad high school film. The VA's also don't match who they are playing
@@nicbellnicastro3119 They talk like modern people. Odin literally said "my ex..." Gaming used to have good dialogue, but this feels like a parody and everyone is just going along with it
16:15 The reason Kratos says no, you can read the journals right after Is the moment he threatened Freya. While Kratos hates that she hunts them, he wishes no harm to her, and is understanding of where she is right now.
Another thing to think about is that Kratos (idk if I understood this wrong or what) but apparently Kratos speaks Greek in 2018 but everyone could understand him...either that or I'm just an idiot and they actually all speak English and their native languages or wtv lmao
@@kayballer_ He spoke Norse in 2018, he just couldn't read Norse. It's like going to a foreign country learning to speak the native tongue but you never learned to read or write in it. He only started to read Norse in this game, clearly the result of him learning during fimbulwinter.
Odin’s intro was great, power doesn’t need to be said outright or flaunted, but the fact that he can sit down and casually drink the God of War’s mead along with Thor’s just tells you all you need to know.
Which is why I'm more terrified of Odin than Zeus. Sure, you can say Zeus is more powerful, and I'd agree with that. But what's terrifying about Odin is that this guy knows he can still fuck you up no matter if you're more powerful than him or not, simply because of how cunning and sly he is. Its like a twisted form of wisdom used for selfishness that is... oddly worse than Myth Zeus.
@@Odinsday Imagine Odin with Zeus' power level (if its confirmed that Zeus is more powerful, either in GOW or mythological power scaling)... Zeus just got paranoid because of Pandora's box, Odin was just a natural asshole, and goddamn...
@@borponoida9161 I'm at a point where I believe that odd "Two Grave Digger" theory in the GoW series, where one of the Grave Diggers was actually Odin (due to facial scar placements), just so he can fuck over the Greek Pantheon for whatever reason. Who knows, maybe the Norns told him a prophecy and he wanted to avoid it, or Zeus pissed him off. In a way, if that theory holds truth, that means Odin pushed enough of Kratos' buttons to set him on a path to destroy the Greek Pantheon.
Little detail for those who've finished the game/know the story: you can actually see one of Fenrir's 4 soul "parts" hang back and go into Atreus' knife while the other 3 fly away. Of course no one would notice, but since we know now that Atreus later finds out and uses it to revive Fenrir in Garm's body, we notice it's been in front of us all along.
18:06 when Thor snaps his finger to make his hammer block an attack was great, idk why it hyped me so much but I guess that kind of cheeky detail of a fight scene is awesome. The intro is a 10/10 beautifully done. Edit: wrong time stamp…
The portrayal of Odin is surprisingly 'realistic' in this game. By that I mean that you hear all these stories of his monstrosities in the first game and than you see and hear him and think "that's supposed to be the awful guy everyone was talking about"? Had situations like that several time in real life.
I love when the lighting freezes and thor says it feels familiar, you actually learn about it later that thor fought faye in vanaheim when she had her axe
@@mihaimercenarul7467 you mean it was hyped and it was actually deserved because it's a masterpiece? Thank you for caring, now go to bed. Your mom will surely care about your 16 year old trash opinion.
@@mihaimercenarul7467 underhyped* there were people saying elden ring was gonna be game of the year, if thats not underhype then i dont know what is calling god of war ragnarok overhyped is honestly just hating
@@Vaultboythefightingmachine I own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
What does that even mean? What "shovelware" are you referring to? This year's been good and it's only gonna get better after Darktide and Callisto Protocol.
That scene with Fenrir brought me to tears. Had that same interaction with my service dog a couple months ago, she beat the cancer thankfully but it really brought me back. Very well done scene
When thor said "This feels familiar" its so interesting how much detail they put in the game. He is just randomly refering to a sidequest that you can do far later in the game. Really great that you can notice such little details when you replay gowr
@@ascended313 I didn’t take into consideration the giant took much strength, magical ability yes but we actually get to see her physically fight and hold her own against kratos in the mid game when she attacks him in disguise.
Atreus's voice is so weird. It makes sense because I think this takes place a few years after the events God of War 4. (Well, it does obviously take place after GoW4, I just don't know the timeline.) but it's crazy to see how far these two have come. I like the attention to detail with Fenrir's death, though. Atreus stated he was doing a little better yesterday, but died anyway. Of course, this phenomenon is called "The Surge before Death" and basically occurs when someone is about to die. They gain a significant boost of energy which makes others believe they'll get better, when in reality, they're basically in a state of overdrive where their body is putting in so much effort, that they start to feel fine. This surge can vary from hours to years. Do you all care about this? Probably not, but it's cool either way.
to be fair you watch steamers for the streamers so if he just sits in the corner watching whats the point. If you want to watch gameplay go watch the youtuber that does solely gameplay.
@@rainfall2880 yea but 90% that's exactly what he does he just chooses to talk at the worst times, I have to assume that it is some way for him to break up the emotional tension of a scene or something because he never gives a genuine emotional reaction to any game he's ever played besides just laughing
That part with Fenrir and boy hit close to home for me when I played it. My dog is 13 and struggles sometimes. There have been nights where I think shes on her way out and Ive done exactly that. Just hold her give her pets and say "youre a good girl, go if you gotta kiddo."
@@goobadoob i just cant get over the camera angles, regardless of story it makes the game unplayable for me. What happened to God of War on PS2? Thats the last time i remember playing any of these GoW games and it was great, now the camera is zoomed up right behind Kratos like its GTA, and its not even centered properly.. makes me feel like everything is so cramped together. The other thing that really gets me is the graphics, its so realistic its almost too boring/normal to look at. Unlike games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, they don't have the best AAA graphics but they have really good art design and environments.
I love Kratos' attitude during Odin's deal. Odin out here trying to talk to Kratos and come to an understanding only for him to give a long pause, stand up, walk up to Odin slowly, stare him directly in his eyes, adding all this pent up, butt-clenching tension to an already tense scene... "No" Like it wasn't even a deep voice " *NoOo* " where you can literally hear his throat rumbling. It was just a small and simple yet sassy response.
Thor in mythology is actually never described as fat. His body is never really described at all, but according to most norse mythological art, he was in good shape. The misconseption that he is fat likely comes form the fact that he is described to drink heavily, but he was likely aktive enought to not put on the dad belly
True, true. But as someone once said, "Bodies that epitomized strenght for the Norse are now considered fat". In the end, it's about our contemporary values.
They did the same with baldur in this game, in myths he wasnt insane but here they turned his circumstance as a natural thing. If you had no feelings you would go insane, and thor being a drunk feasting his way through everything while being capable of drinking almost entire worlds seas, does make sense that he looks that way. Im really happy they went with ginger thor as og writings describe.
Dad of Boy Ragnarok is exceeding all expectations so far, the intro blew my mind and all the reveals so far are crazy, can't wait to see how this journey ends!
