00:00The gods of Olympus have abandoned me.
00:042018's God of War and its 2022 sequel are clearly incredible games, featuring achievements in multiple corners from their gameplay,
00:12to their performances, to their storytelling and worldbuilding.
00:15That being said, there are still a few things that the franchise's classic style does a little better.
00:21Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're looking back at elements from Kratos' earlier days that we miss.
00:27Zeus! Your son has returned! I bring the destruction of Olympus!
00:35But before we dive in, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the
00:41bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:47The Brutality
00:49Once a captain in the Spartan army, Kratos had begun his command with only 50 soldiers.
00:55But soon his numbers grew to the thousands.
00:58Let's start with an obvious difference, one that most players will recognize.
01:03God of War debuted in 2005, during an era where gritty violence was a key facet in most of the
01:09biggest releases.
01:10And Kratos, one of the most bloodthirsty protagonists out there, became well known for how viciously he could dismantle his
01:17foes.
01:18It may sound simple, but there was still a definite fun factor that came from this level of violence, especially
01:24when ripping through particularly annoying groups of monsters.
01:28Kratos' Norse story, while still violent, is obviously much more mellow, and therefore soaked in less blood.
01:36We wouldn't say he should return to the type of behavior of ripping a god's head off with his bare
01:41hands, as that would, in many ways, be taking his development backwards.
01:45Still, if the next game has us defeating beasts a bit more brutally, we won't complain.
01:51Large Scale Bosses
01:58Kratos has fought some tremendous bosses over the years, many of which have dwarfed his size.
02:04However, beyond the dragons in the 2018 game, and Nidhogg in Ragnarok, most bosses in the newer games have been
02:11relatively manageable, at least when it comes to their size.
02:15Don't get us wrong, many of these bosses are still fun, and a few are genuine challenges.
02:20But part of us misses the days when, in addition to the relatively normal-sized bosses, Kratos would go up
02:27against a Kraken, or the Titan Kronos, or even the multi-headed Hydra back in the 2005 original.
02:35This difference in scope allowed these specific types of boss fights to stand out amongst the others, due to them
02:42also being impressive set pieces.
02:45I have to break his hold on me, and you are in the way!
02:49The Goofy Extras
02:52Oh, beast! I will send you back to the depths of Hades!
02:58It's small, and it doesn't necessarily affect the overall quality of the game, but something the older entries had that
03:05the newer ones don't is a sense of humor when it comes to unlockables.
03:09Costumes that not only made certain things easier or harder for another playthrough, but dressed Kratos like a chef, or
03:17a cow, or a potato, or a mime, or a big blue fish, or...well, you get the idea.
03:24Some games even had costumes that made Kratos resemble other deities, like Athena or Apollo, or even had extra menu
03:32unlockables like different challenge modes or behind the scenes videos and artwork.
03:36We missed those types of extras that took effort to unlock, but also had a sillier layer for our additional
03:42time with the game.
03:50The Scope
03:51Out of my way
03:53There's no denying that games in general, at least those from AAA studios, have gotten bigger over the years.
04:00God of War specifically grew much grander when it moved to Midgard, beefing up its playtime through a heavier focus
04:07on narrative, the inclusion of RPG elements, and much more optional content for earning loot.
04:13While the older games were about as big as they could be at the time, their size is clearly more
04:19easily digestible in comparison.
04:21Plus, the series also got handheld spinoffs to give fans a smaller, but still worthwhile experience.
04:28Then you have Ragnarok, which has enough content that could have encompassed two games if it was released back in
04:35the day.
04:35As of writing, Sony just released Sons of Sparta, a smaller 2D spinoff, and here's hoping there's room for smaller
04:423D adventures in the franchise's future too.
04:51Grand Locales
04:52Despite the smaller scope from a playtime perspective, the older games still often featured grander, more impressive locales and monuments.
05:02Massive temples, sprawling cities, desolate keeps and dungeons.
05:08Nearly every time Kratos reached a new place, or had to scale a structure to find a new area,
05:13the camera would pull back to display the setting in all its glory, instilling in you a sense of awe.
05:20Because the Norse games focus more on an adventure across the wilderness, and the camera stays personal and close to
05:26the action,
05:27you never get that same sense of scope in its locations.
05:30Ragnarok was a little better, with places like Nidavellir and Asgard bringing different levels of wonder,
05:37but it still wasn't as concerned with grandiosity as the older games were.
05:42The Weaponry
05:52There's no denying that the Leviathan Axe and the Dropnir Spear are wonderful new additions to Kratos' arsenal.
05:59They, along with the classic Blades of Chaos, came with a variety of upgrades, special attacks, and combos to learn.
06:06Still, there's something to be said for the much wider variety of weapons Kratos used on previous adventures.
06:13Many of his weapons and items offered vastly different uses for different situations.
06:18Not only that, but they were also tied to stories of various deities and other mythological figures.
06:24A golden fleece to deflect attacks, Apollo's bow to shoot fire arrows from afar,
06:30Hermes' boots to make quick dashes, or Icarus' wings to soar across gaps.
06:35It gave players a sense of accomplishment to unlock something unique, while bringing a new mechanic at the same time.
06:41Better UI
06:42Sometimes, simpler really is better, and the classic God of War games proved this with their user interface.
06:50As far as in-game action is concerned, it isn't that much more complicated to understand health, rage, and ability
06:57meters in newer games versus older ones.
07:00But the big difference comes in their menus.
07:03This is particularly due to the more complex nature of its gameplay systems, but the Norse menus are far more
07:09cluttered than the Greek ones.
07:11Armor, weapons, skill trees, your journal, and a needlessly convoluted map are all separate tabs that have more tabs and
07:20categories within them.
07:21Cluttered menus are obviously not exclusive to God of War, as there are plenty of other action-adventure RPGs that
07:28do the same thing.
07:29Regardless, we'd like to see something a bit more streamlined in the future, or simply scaled back to something like
07:35previous games.
07:37Fluid Movement
07:46Due to Kratos' older age, and perhaps a product of the grounded, no-cut documentary style of its camera, the
07:54Norse version of the character isn't quite as nimble as he once was.
07:58When the 2018 game was released, it became clear that the days of Kratos leaping across an arena during a
08:05fight, or performing daredevil feats of bravery, were gone.
08:09Hell, they even took away our jump button.
08:11Now, this is definitely a smaller request compared to the rest of our list, but we'd like to see Kratos,
08:17or whichever character we end up controlling in the next mainline game, get a bit more agility.
08:22All this to say, we'd just like to be able to jump again.
08:27Puzzle solving
08:40Both styles of God of War while heavier on combat still feature puzzles.
08:46However, because older environments were more structured as levels, built as interactable obstacle courses rather than vast, explorable sandboxes, the
08:55puzzles themselves were more clearly defined.
08:58Still, we feel safe in saying that, when it comes to puzzles in newer games, the problem most people have
09:04is not with the puzzles themselves, but with your quote-unquote helpful companions.
09:10Particularly in Ragnarok, many players felt your allies offered hints far too quickly.
09:16In fact, they'd sometimes point out things as soon as you arrived at a puzzle, giving you little time to
09:22think it through yourself.
09:23There was no such hand-holding during the Greek era, and the puzzles were more enjoyable because of it.
09:29Oh, water's overflowing where you froze that trough. That's helpful.
09:34Varied enemy types
09:42One of the more frequent complaints about 2018's God of War was its lack of enemy variety.
09:49Some grew tired of fighting different types of Draugr and trolls and such, which is understandable.
09:54And even the optional Valkyries, while definitely a challenge, were all variations on the same type of fight.
10:01As it was bigger and featured new areas, Ragnarok was better about including more varied enemy types when it came
10:07to basic fights.
10:09But it seems like the older games still have the edge here.
10:12Maybe it's because they were shorter and therefore had fewer areas to pad out with the same enemy types.
10:18Maybe it's because, to many of us, Greek mythology has more unique monsters and creatures than Norse does.
10:25Either way, it's something we hope to see rectified in future games.
10:36What is something you miss most about the older God of War games?
10:40Share your thoughts in the comments and we will see you next time.
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