A Chaotic Look at God of War's Prequel Games
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2024
- GoW WOW
full series spoilers in video
The last time I covered God of War, the video took off past what I was expecting, and since I promised to take a look at the rest, here's the "prequel games" - Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, and Ascension. They were more fun than expected to actually record, even if my methods were suspect, and y'know, at least God of War games have the decency to end in like 4-6 hours.
The prequel titles do a good job of filling out Kratos' character, at least past what's presented in the main trilogy. It's easy to come away with the impression that he's an irredeemable villain, but he's shown moments of heroism, even altruism, though it usually arises incidentally from a pretext of revenge.
The prequel titles also experiment with gameplay... a little. Chains doesn't do much, but Ghost of Sparta brings some intelligent design alterations, and Ascension goes big with the full combat overhaul that has a tendency to bother some fans. Turns out I'm an original formula enjoyer.
If you'd like to support the show, here's my page: / kbash
0:00 hingeless youtuber time
2:06 Chains of Olympus
11:15 Ghost of Sparta
22:59 Ascension
#kbash #godofwar #gow #retrospective - เกม
![บุษบา - วงชานเมือง [LiveCoverVertion] Original : เมนทอล](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Dm81sKcd9rs/mqdefault.jpg)
found out there's a parry in ascension and bruther just throw me in the blender already, my time has come
when i inevtiably supercut this i'll make an addendum or swap the segment
I thought that all of the God of War games especially the ones that have the sex mini-games took place after Kratos' wife and daughter had died making him a widower. 1:10
@@VladTepesVladTepes yeah I just enjoy jolking about the fact that they're still on his skin
My brother in gaming that'll be the first and last time you'll ever use such janky parry mechanic in the franchise.
It is still quite lacking in comparison with the rest, so no harm no fowl.
It's nice that god of war 3 actually references Chains of Olimpus and Ghost of sparta in some dialogues that few actually notice. Hades says that Kratos killed "his beautiful wife", as she is the final boss in Chains of Olympus. And the greatest mention, is actually Zeus in the end of the game when confronted by Gaia, he says "your pawn has failed you gaia, you should have chosen the other one" is referencing Deimos, as Zeus thought that his birthmarks meant that he was the child of the prophecy that would kill him, but actually was Kratos with his tatoos honoring his brother.
That does raise the question why Gaia didn't save Deimos. She was probably waiting for him to get older, but started putting her attention toward Kratos when she saw him becoming a legendary tattooed warrior.
While kratos is swimming in the blood river you can hear all the stuff that prety much fed kratos' anger and 2 characters stand out to me. One is daimos and other being the final spartan.
Contrary how people wanna paint kratos, it shows his regret of teaching his about never backing down and how much the death of sparda affected him
Lol However Chains of Olympus kind of puts a pretty big question mark for The original god of War where Hades helps Kratos out with the Souls of Hades weapon even though Kratos Just murdered his Wife.
@@brentgarlick9605 yeah, that's kind of a plot hole, they could have said that hades discovered who murdered persephone in the second game or something like that.
@@giorno4859 Hades was oblivious to Persephone's plan and Morpheus taking over in COO and even other big figures in the underworld like Charon might have been in on it judging by how Charon sought to imprison/kill Kratos. There's also the fact that Pandora's Box amplified the flaws the gods already had. It would've made Hades even more angry and petty about her death than previously.
PSP has everything
Tons of unique games
Mountain of rpgs you won't find anywhere
A lot of fighting games
Surprisingly a lot of good ports or sometimes the definitive version of a lot of games or remakes of old games
God of war, Dante's inferno, Birth by sleep, YS 7, the PSP is the GOAT
and yet people did repeat that joke from PS3 - "PSP haz no gaemz"
which looks funny in retrospective for both PS3 and PSP when compared to PS5 and PS4 library
And Still unfortunaly overlooked for the shovewere riddled Nintendo DS (i have and love both)
PC did it better
Can't argue with that 👍
10:02 Tbf, that moment is really powerful because you know the QTE’s in the GOW series are signs of feats of strength.
Yet here Kratos performing a feat of strength: pushing his daughter away. The hardest thing he had to do on an emotional level
so powerful
press f to respect the powerful moment
iirc im pretty sure that QTE was literally coded to be harder than all the rest in the game, too
What about the ones for his sexual encounters😐
@@mangaprofilepicture5820 noooo, noooo, really? can't believe they pulled that off
what will they come up with next? kratos fighting his debt as a final boss? kratos dealing with being a shitty father by having to surpass "good father" on the leatherboards on the multiplayer mode?
you never know with these wacky guys
@@juegobuenoyomalo9501 they'll come up with something definitely better than anything you said lol
The consistent use of the Age of Mythology soundtrack is why you truly are one of the smartest on the platform
God it's just PEAK
A new God of War video!? GOW-WOW GOW-WOW
Ascension does have a parry
It's just tighter. It shows up in your footage but you never mention it
"Blast rope" is a euphemism I'd never thought I hear but was forced to anyway, thanks KB.
YEAAAAAAAAAAA BOI NEW KBASH UPLOAD LETS GOOOO
It's interesting hearing your opinion on these often overlooked parts of the god of war franchise.
One thing I don't understand though is that Ascension does have a parry. They just gave it an input (I think it was guard plus circle but I could be wrong on the input, haven't played it in years) which required timing instead of getting lucky counters every few seconds, to fit the whole "more skillful" playstyle they were going for.
It is a very weird direction to take the gameplay, but as a one off it was interesting at least.
The whole Ghost of Sparta segment is pure catharsis. Thank you for explaining why that is my absolute favorite God of War game in the series, even over GoW2.
Funny thing, that God of War Saga collection you showed a picture of only had Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta as downloadable games, it included a code all of which have expired by now. So that collection no longer contains everything the box says it does. Thankfully they did release the God of War Origins collection which was on a disc so the PS3 versions did get a physical release.
Still remember the "Path of Solitude" in Ghost of Sparta. Longest walk ever.
It was so brilliant
Yooo im here for the ghost of sparta apprectiation the most underrates title in the whole series
19:54 this dude has officially lost his rocker. “One of the weaker aspects of the God of War games is the boss battles” literally one of the driving forces and arguably more celebrated aspects of the series 🤦🏻♂️
to each their own i guess, i happened to find them frustrating in a lot of cases, the best ones are really good, but the rest are alright or just tedious, none of them are bad though, most people like them which is fine but you'd be surprised by how many people are not all that impressed by them, besides, he did say "IF you ask ME" he's not speaking for everyone, just his personal opinion
The tax evasion bit was gold 4:12
IRS Kratos: gooooopppppppppooold did you pay your taxes
God, seeing KBash praise the God of War trilogy really makes me want to see him check out Darksiders: Genesis after his...
Mixed to word it kindly review of the main trilogy.
It's also a prequel & it gives a lot of character definition to not only one, but two of the Horsemen in War & Strife with their back to back bantering throughout the game & it has a completely different game play style than the whole series.
I feel like it would turn his frown towards the series upside down a bit. I don't know.
Hope he at least considers it after reading this comment if he does, it might be too late since that trilogy review was years ago at this point.
Darksiders might be derivative, sure. But it has plenty unique to offer. Maybe a new approach to the play loop would make it click for him.
I don't think most Darksiders fans will take him very seriously on a Darksiders Genesis review, even if he likes it. But i would definitely love to see the game (and the franchise as a whole) get more coverage, as well as more chances and resources for good future games.
Personally, i had a very good time with Darksiders Genesis when i first played it. I also love that most of the bosses are demonized pre-Abrahamic deities (like Dagon and Astarte) or Abrahamic terms for sinful things (like Mammon and Moloch).
Reviewing PSP games in 2023 is sexy ❤️
Loved this. That Chuckster bit GOT me. Gow-wow.
Ghost of Sparta has been on my backlog for so long, after watching this I'm gonna move it up a few places because I didn't expect it to be THIS good! Though Chains of Olympus was all right at best, it does have my favourite weapon: the Gauntlets of Zeus. Smacking enemies around with that weapon was always so satisfying
God of War III does it as well, and better.
Omg yes! GoS was developed alongside GoW3 and it shows! I was hyped and glued to my console as soon as I started playing it!
I've never seen your channel before and I just got this in my recommendations, but hearing "mash circle to blast rope in random women" within the first minute of the video tells me this video and channel are going to be great content
Y'know, as someone who's only real knowledge of the series was playing 1-2-3, it's kinda wild to see the directions they went with the spin-offs/prequels. Gonna have to smoke those someday. :0
They're worth it, trust me.
Looking forward to a video of yours on them someday!
They are cool try them
Love your vibe. Eloquent and no bullcrep. Straignt to the point. Nice balance of comedy and analysis and stuff.. Subscribed!!
The psp titles were my childhood so i have a soft spot for them, replayed both of them recently and they still hold up for the most part great video!
That chuckster edit was too good!
It is disappointing how many players of the new games dismiss the old games because they play differently or don't look as shiny 😐
This is my first time on your channel and your energy in the intro alone has won me over. I'm in
I think you got something wrong about Chains of Olympus. Kratos decides to leave Calliope because if he doesn't, the world will end, aling with Elysium, which means that Kratos doesn't really have a choice, unless you consider letting his daughter die again is a choice. So for me personally, that takes a bit of the gravitas of the moment away, but it's still a very powerful moment, I just wish it would have been contextualised better.
And I absolutely agree on Ghost of Sparta, it doesn't feel like a Psp title at all and fires on all cylinders. I was surprised at how well it holds up when replaying the series recently, it has aged almost not at all.
And as always, great video. See your literary english degree was of use for something, making TH-cam videogame analysis which isn't what anyone expected, but here we are.
The "I'm a chuckster" edit is some of your best work
10:28 the cliff scene from GoW1 happened after Chains of Olympus, not before
I always loved Ascension. The combat is the main reason I love it so much. I love the elemental blades and the rage meter. I get the hate towards it but Ascension is my 2nd favorite after God of war 2.
If i may ask, what are some of the parts of Ascension's combat you like most, least, and/or find most interesting?
Same question for the bosses. I've seen people call the Hecatoncheir parasite quite good, despite camera issues, but Aegaeon proper as more annoying.
@@jurtheorc8117 Besides loving the looks of the elemental blades, I love how each one has a different set of moves that were there throughout the series so it's kinda like you have every Kratos move he ever did in ascension. The rage meter is also very fun to me cause it challenges the player to play more smart and not get hit and if you do that you are rewarded with doing more damage and getting better moves. I love the boss fights especially Castor and Pollux. The soundtrack is also amazing just like any other god of war game. I also love how the puzzles are a bit more difficult than they were in the past games. I love how Kratos is portrayed in this game. He's not just a angry brute like he is in God of war 2 and 3. The game looks beautiful too. The only thing I hate is how the games story is told. The whole thing where it jumps from 4 weeks ago to present day is stupid but I get what they were trying to do.
@@Kanskai Oh man, i didn't even know that all elemental blade variants had different animations for their attack strings. I know there were unique attacks if you fill up the special meter, that could be utilized in different ways (like stunning enemies with balls of lightning, while performing another attack).
Seems like something cool that longtime players would get the most out of.
I've heard about the difficulty in Ascension as well, with how it's more challenging! Sometimes not for the right reasons, but the idea of Bayonetta by way of Kratos (very evasive, and that evasion is part of building up the offense) so to speak, with the extra moves being a reward for skillful play, is definitely interesting.
But if a number of those moves are ones that were already present in the past games, then i can see how that frustrates long-time players.
(In regards to that Evasion is Offense thing: A few months ago, a game by name of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos came out that's like a 3D brawler, where you can perform attacks from a dodge move, with the attack differing depending on the direction. There's different fighting stances to try out, and it's very colourful with awesome creature designs.
I'm a stranger on the internet, so i don't know your specific tastes, but i recommend to check it out)
Castor and Pollux definitely have a memorable design, and reminds me a slight bit of Geryon from Greek mythology (albeit 1 and a half instead of 3 upper bodies). The game Mortal Shell has a boss, Crucix the Twiceborn, has a similar design. Though none of the time powers.
I remember watching footage of their boss fight some time ago, and it seemed like it can go on for quite a bit. Requires good attention from the player, both for direct interaction with him, as well as his usage of the environment with that time power. Pretty awesome when an arena gets utilized well in a boss fight.
Also, Orkos is a sweetheart and doesn't deserve to be forgotten.
Wasn't expecting Larry Butz lol
“GOW-NOW!!” has been upgraded to “GOW-WOW!!”
You're a brave dude for throwing those bouncy balls in an enclosed space just for a quick visual gag.
14:35 I got confused for a few seconds here cuz I've set the Nier Village Theme as my wake up alarm for months now so hearing it had me reflexibly scrambling to slap the snooze button on my phone screen.
Never been this early for an upload, love the content
The Mario sunshine bit was 10/10
God of War games are way deeper think you think mate but what makes it so special is that it’s not just slash and slash and… more slash like other action games it’s slower more calculated gameplay you have to care about your positioning how make proper use of your magic bar and ACTUALLY how to make the best use of aerial combat and grabs because GoW is different it does not have a combo meter it has a hit counter system which is way different
In retrospect the psp games are a downgrade. But relative to when it released it was ourstanding. Portable gaming was not what it is today.
I remember being blown away able to play a fully fleshed out GOW 2 type games on a handheld. They were only as compromised as the hardware limitation but it was hard to tell in context.
Esp COO, since it was released before GOW 3 so unless you went back to back with GOW 2 (which wasn't in HD) the differences were minimal when you were experiencing it on something you could carry in your pocket.
Yah, it's a hard recommend now to someone when there are portable gaming pcs that can emulate the main games but back then they were amazing for what they achieved.
Chains of Olympus: a decent and competent handheld GoW
Ghost of Sparda: it doesnt have the right to look or play as good as it does
Ascension: it killed the franchise
No franchise needs to run forever. I liked the 2018 reboot but Ragnarok made me wish they didnt make any games after Ascension. Sony is the one pushing the GOW brand after all not to mention they killed of Infamous because Second son and Last light didnt make the expected amount of profit.
My thoughts exactly!! Chains of Olympus is fairly mediocre & Ascension is just ew. So unnecessary. LOVE 2018 & Ghost of Sparta tho
KBash treats us right with the intermittent Battle Network references :3
Ghost of Sparta is still my 2nd fav GOW behind GOW2
27:25 Another Neopets reference? When are we getting a review?
Ascension is that one weird game where i want to play it so bad, yet i realized all the horror it got.
From a weird elementals instead of permanent secondary weapon (even then it's mostly either the swords, the spear or the club, the rest are not existent), weird pacing involving back-and-forth between past and present (why?), Rage Meter that just goes stupid most of the time, an enemy with literal Invincible Mode (yes, all your attack bounces whenever they were on this mode), awful finisher mini-game (it's awful, don't try to say it's otherwise ok?), many weird unutilized promotional material that are genuinely looks good, constant glitches and bugs (that somehow extends to subtitle bug? Wtf), over-emphasis on Multiplayer so much to the point that 90% of NG+ costumes are just Multiplayer armors, weird enemies placement (sometimes there are too many, others too little), Multiplayer that seemingly locked all the good stuffs behind paywalls (cmiiw but i think all Gauntlest/ Cestuses are DLC only), and many more
What killed ascension for me is how much the camera zooms away sometimes, the setpieces can be as cool as you want but I should be able to understand where Kratos and enemies are, and I just couldn't.
The camera is the worst in Ascension, by far.
…at least until the 2018 game.
At the time, I actually preferred Ghost of Sparta to III. The console game was incredible in a technical sense, but Ghost really nailed everything else.
For people don't know the order, of greek god of war games, its acension, followed by chains of olympus, god of war 1, ghost of sparta, god of war 2, then finally god of war 3.
I recomend play god of war 1, and 2 first before play prequels and side game, cause give alot away.
Did this guy say he needed TH-cam to solve GoW Ascensions puzzles…. 🤦♂️ No wonder games are so hand holding these days.
who tf plays gow for puzzles? They pad out the game. aren't as good as zelda
Shout out to that doralieus and associates reference 😂😂
34:12 Well, there's some foreshadowing for the Norse God of War games!
The only game that stood out with me today is ghost of sparta...
Why? Just compare his arms of sparta to ragnarok's draupnir. This also the only game where your two weapons have different functions, compared to previous titles. Also ghost of sparta's very hard is really hard and encourage you to use all of your abilities as well as knowledge around enemies.
"He's the Angry Videogame Nerd, he's the Angry Nintendo nerd..."
I wonder if that patron will ever learn if they can cuss on here
10/10 content as always
11:12 holy fuck now I can't unsee Kbash as Rory
Bruh I just read the time this video was created and I read it “6 years” instead of “6 days” lol
Thank you for the AVGN nostalgia
Babe wake up, KBash dropped another banger
There's an action game that's coming out in August called "Atlas Fallen" and it seems to be going for something similar to what you suggested @ 6:55 - 7:15.
I think i've seen people describe that game as being akin to the Darksiders games in some way as well.
A new KBash video? So soon!? I'm gonna SMASH SQUARE TO CU-
11:22 and that's why i was insisting so much on the second gow vid
Oldest brother had ghost of sparda on his first PSP along with rock band tekken 6 and force unleashed
11:35 Outside of Nintendo and/or series that started their lives on handhelds, the only fanbase I've seen people argue in favor of handheld entries eclipsing home console ones is Sonic the Hedgehog, and even then that point begins and ends with the GBA and DS ones; you don't see people making that argument for, like, Sonic Chaos.
Ghost of Sparta is my favorite outta the 3.
thx for this Kbash
Interesting thing is Kratos actually planned to have daughter with Artemis goddess of hunting with kratos having some bonding first with Artemis then their daughter grown up decided to do "children vs father" family tradition because she thought Kratos leave her.
Meaning kratos actually had two daughters and one son from three wives, one is mortal, one is goddess, and one is giant.
God of war? More like God of Rizz
Time for another round of “Drink Every Time KBash Says Ludonarrative”
_Mashing circle intensifies_
More chaos! More Kratos! More God of War karting! More KBash Tenor!
Wake up on a Friday to some Kbash, Hallelujah!
“The Good Lord Has Blessed Me, Hallelujah!”
I would love if God of war would go back to basics like these games
I am now complete thank you you beautiful beautiful man
Kay bishel here wit da vid. It's gonna be a great day!
Ironic, the spinoff games hold the most important plot points.
No. lol
GoW-wow!
GOW-WOW
GOW-WOW
GOW-WOW
How did you actually not realise theres a parry? The game gives you a tutorial on it no?
7:17 "(Irresponsible) Design Fan-Fiction" - I'm gonna etch that cute descriptor into my brain. Learn new words or quips everyday here lol
IT'S FRIDAY PEOPLE, LET'S GOOOOOOO
"It reaches a surprising payoff for a small package."
Phrasing?
Id play any of these again over the reboot
WE OUT HERE RAAAAAAAAH
Megaman Battle Network series review coming?
i hear age of mythology music brain gets happy from nostalgia induced thoughts brain realizes it will never come bakc to those times brain now sad thanks for this
0:56 you sound like Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day's echo fighter when singing
That AVGN callback sent me
Gow wow
GOW-WOW
Bruh ascension is easy besides the elevator at the end 😅 skill issue. Great video though. Love God of War and the side games don't get enough love.
11:05 S-tier bit
Your gags were hot in this one
gow-wow, another god of war video?
yeah sure okay why not :)
I was surprised this came out he didn't still sound like he liked the games at all
It’s because when a DMC and a Bayonetta fan plays GoW he expects it to be this slashy mix to destroy enemies with open encounters type of Game (even though GoW is just that just to a lesser extent than the others) when it is not he sees it as less interesting and that is wrong just because halo is slower and has reloading unlike Doom that does not make it less interesting simply because they both shooting Games they both have their pros and cons and just because GoW is an action game does not mean it must be like the others to be Interesting GoW is different it is more about calculated and making the best out of your resources it’s cool when you know it’s not JUST being fast and stylish
@@lightmohamed5700 I like both types of action games but I feel like people hold themselves back thinking a game has to fit a mold instead of letting the game speak for itself
@@raj1n501 yeah it’s honestly sad
9:45 This man predicted Fortnite Peter Griffin
Please play the Trail series.
Completely unrelated, but if you want to see the creativity of the human kind at its zenith and be moved by how far we can push our brains to be innovative and clever, read some Patreon names.
GOW-WOW! ! !
3:50 Kbash you can't just drop the AoM soundtrack and pretend I wouldn't notice ❤
GOW WOW
GOW WOW
Chains of Olympus is best of them🐐🗿