# Chapter Select, [[S2E1 - God of War]] Transcript This transcription was completed on March 4, 2026 with the application MacWhisper on macOS. This was done automatically, without human input during the transcription process. The transcription used the Parakeet v3 model. My hope is that by offering this transcription – however accurate it may be done by a machine learning/AI – will help you, the listener. I’d love to offer full, proper transcription some day, but that is not feasible at this time. Thank you for listening and reading. I hope you enjoy the show and that this document was helpful. Enjoy. --- Hi everybody, welcome to Chapter Select, a seasonal podcast where we bounce back and forth between a series of games exploring their evolution, design, and legacy. *00:00* For season two, we are covering the God of War series. *00:08* I'm one of your hosts, Max Roberts, and I am joined, as always, by Logan Moore. *00:12* Logan, we're here. *00:18* Hello. *00:20* Hi. *00:21* We talked last time we did this show, we talked about how weird it was that we finally finished season one, and now it's almost just as weird to be starting season two, even though it's only been like *00:21* What a month since we did the last season, I guess. *00:31* Month and some change, yeah. *00:35* Um We're here. *00:37* Season two is rolling. *00:39* We are production. *00:42* Obviously, you know what the season's all about. *00:43* You've clicked on the episode, you're listening to it. *00:45* Season two is all about God of War. *00:47* Which feels weird to say out loud. *00:51* I actually haven't I don't tell anyone that's not. *00:52* We haven't announced that. *00:55* Yeah. *00:56* At this time of recording, no one knows. *00:57* So super excited to dive into this. *01:01* I think we chose this. *01:03* Early this summer? *01:06* Maybe May, June-ish? *01:08* Yeah. *01:11* Yeah, I mean we're always like kicking around ideas for franchises we want to dive into at some point on the future of this show. *01:11* Um *01:19* I mean, to give you a real peek behind the curtain, we've already got like seasons three and four kind of lined up as well. *01:20* So we we've I mean the fun part is deciding what we would want to spend time actually doing. *01:26* So when we were talking earlier this year when we realized we were actually gonna finish the Paper Mario season, we're like, what should we do after this? *01:31* And uh kinda landed on this for a number of different reasons. *01:37* I think first and foremost because *01:43* uh God War Ragnarok hype for next year. *01:45* Assuming that that game comes out next year. *01:49* Yeah, and that was before they dropped the trailer on us. *01:51* We were just excited that God of War it didn't even have the Ragnarok *01:54* name attached to it officially. *01:58* Yeah, they said that the they said that the the name of the game was not God of War Ragnarok and then it was God of War Ragnarok, so of course. *02:00* Thank you, PlayStation. *02:08* And the other reason was the pivot from *02:09* twenty, thirty, sometimes even forty hour RPGs to a five to seven hour action hack and slash adventure puzzle game. *02:13* Like that pivot just sounded super appealing to us. *02:24* And yeah, so we're we're doing God of War here and we're doing something a little like slightly different. *02:27* It took Logan took *02:34* He had to convince me to do this. *02:37* A little bit of convincing convincing, but it actually in hindsight makes total sense. *02:39* I credit Logan for thinking about this this way. *02:44* Instead of playing the games in this *02:46* The first game and then the most recent game, we're gonna do that mostly, except we're gonna save God of War 2018 for the very end. *02:49* So the order of the episodes uh will be God of War 1. *02:58* God of War Ascension, God of War II, Ghost of Sparta, Chains of Olympus, God of War III, and then we're gonna end on the reimagining, the relaunch of God of War 2018. *03:03* Logan, tell the people why we're doing this. *03:15* So I think there's like a couple reasons why I pitched this to you. *03:18* First off, I realized as soon as if we put God of War 2018 at the end, the way the rest of the season lined up, I really just kind of liked *03:21* Uh because we do Gotta War 1 first and then Ascension, which is a prequel, which is kind of cool, flet further fleshing out the first one, and then the second one, and then you do both of the handheld games back to back, and then three, and then three leads in the *03:29* uh 2018. *03:40* So I liked how the season kind of structured if we put 2018 near the end. *03:42* The other big thing though is that 2018's obviously the big standout one in the franchise. *03:47* And that's the one that I think uh I mean when you talk about God of War, that's the game that comes to a lot of people's minds now, and that's the game that we'll probably have one of our best conversations surrounding, I would imagine. *03:53* Uh so I just figured putting it at the end after we have played the other six and they're fresh in our mind, it would just enhance our conversation of the most recent installment. *04:06* Plus, I mean I I think I mentioned this to you, but when Ragnarok does come out, we can probably record a one-off and throw it at the end of this season for posterity's sake. *04:15* Uh, just for fun. *04:25* Yeah, that is absolutely the plan to to record an episode of Ragnarok, uh, when it comes out sometime hopefully next year in twenty twenty two. *04:26* And then that can just be attached here to season two in the podcast feed. *04:35* and all the games will just kind of live together. *04:40* That's really the goal with any series we take on that may have games continuing to come out. *04:42* Say even uh a future Paper Mario game comes out that's totally a possibility to just play *04:47* that game and then attach it to the end of season one in the feed. *04:53* So also we put the most anticipated one at the very end so that you have to listen to the whole season to get to the one you want to listen to us talk about. *04:57* So *05:04* Probably, yeah. *05:05* That's like we gotta keep people engaged a little bit, you know, gotta keep hook 'em in. *05:06* It's like fishing. *05:10* Exactly. *05:11* So, God of War, not God of War in 2018, but God of War *05:12* PS2 developed by Sony Santa Monica Studios or Studio, not Studios. *05:18* It came out for the PlayStation 2 *05:25* And then was later remastered for the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita. *05:28* It came out March 22nd, 2005. *05:34* And then uh later November 17th for in 2009 on PS3 and then May 6th, 2014 for the Vita. *05:38* Uh the game director and creator of God of War, David Jaffey. *05:46* It was produced by Shannon Studson. *05:51* Kratos' daddy. *05:52* Kratos' daddy. *05:53* So does that make him a trace his grandfather? *05:56* Uh I guess so. *05:59* Yeah. *06:00* Technically. *06:01* Even though he has no connection to the creation of that character, I guess so. *06:01* It was produced by Shannon Studstill, who was in charge of Sony Santa Monica for so long. *06:06* The combat *06:13* was designed by a total of like five different people, but I thought combat would be kind of cool to mention here for God of War. *06:15* It was Derek Daniels, who is still at Sony Santa Monica. *06:21* Richard Fogie, who is now working on State of Decay, those games. *06:25* And Eric Williams, who is now directing God of War Ragnarok. *06:29* I thought that was kind of cool. *06:34* And then combat scenarios were done by David Jaffe and Todd Pappy, who would later come on to direct God of War Ascension. *06:35* Uh so I just thought that was kind of cool to see that laid out. *06:42* The music was done by a lot of people, but when you look at the soundtrack, it was mostly done by Gerard Mariano, but then there was Mike Reagan, Braun Fish, one of *06:45* What? *06:55* I said Gerard. *06:56* Did I say it wrong? *06:58* You said like Gerard. *06:59* I'm sorry, Gerard. *07:01* Mariano. *07:02* Ron Frisch, Winifred Phillips, Winnie Waldron, uh Chris Velasco, and Marcelo De Francischi. *07:04* Uh apologies. *07:14* You would almost think this should be. *07:15* We gotta get used to announcing American names. *07:16* I was gonna say you would think this would have been easier than naming uh Japanese developers, but apparently not. *07:18* It has a ninety-four out of a hundred on Metacritic. *07:24* I'm I'll double check. *07:28* Is it? *07:31* I don't know. *07:32* Um *07:32* I mean it's a pr it's pro product of its it's the same sort of thing with Paper Mario when we'd play these games. *07:33* Yeah. *07:38* Ninety-five out of a hundred, that's crazy, but I mean it's an older game. *07:39* In its um that was for the PS2 version, I just double checked. *07:44* Game of Ford game it a hundred a ten out of ten. *07:47* Interesting *07:50* Anyway, that is God of War's like information and development stuff. *07:51* But now, Logan, what is your story with God of War? *07:57* How how did the world of Kratos come into your life? *08:01* I mean it was a series I had known about for a long time as a young lad, uh, but it's also a series I was not allowed to play as a young lad because, you know. *08:05* boobs and violence and things like that. *08:16* Uh so it was something I didn't play until the PS3 remasters came out. *08:19* And then *08:26* If I remember correctly, I think somebody in our neighborhood had it. *08:27* Like, I think they bought a PlayStation 3 and it like came bundled with that and they didn't want the game. *08:31* And so they sold it to my neighbor, and then my neighbor let me borrow it eventually or something weird like that. *08:36* Very good. *08:42* So eventually I ended up playing them. *08:42* Uh I I so I have played this one. *08:45* I have actually not played the full series. *08:47* Um Ascension *08:49* And then Ghost of Sparta, I believe, are the two I have never experienced at all. *08:50* Okay. *08:55* Um other than that, I think I've played everything. *08:56* But uh but yeah, I I've played the original God of War *08:59* Um last time I probably played it was uh I mean you could check my trophies, I I know they're dated, but uh probably about ten years ago I would imagine. *09:03* So yeah, it's been a hot minute. *09:13* Yeah. *09:16* But uh but I've played the game uh back in the day. *09:17* Uh I enjoyed it, I guess. *09:20* Yeah, I don't know. *09:24* And today I guess I have different feelings on what we'll talk about. *09:25* I *09:29* So in high school I had um a friend who owned it and he let me buy it off of him. *09:31* for a whopping eighteen dollars and I paid him in change because that's all I had. *09:41* So I came to school one day with with a bag of eighteen dollars in *09:49* quarters and nickels and dimes and uh and all that sort of stuff. *09:54* So I bought it from him, which is how you get around buying rated M video games at the time. *09:57* And I bought it, played it, and fell in love. *10:05* I just I really, really enjoyed the combat in the Greek mythology that was very appealing to me, and I just really had a great time with it. *10:08* I've play this is my fourth time playing the game. *10:18* The last time I played it was actually before God of War 2018 came out. *10:22* I replayed one, two, and three. *10:25* uh kind of in like preparation. *10:28* But I still only played it on the PS2. *10:30* So this is actually my first time playing it on the PS3 with the HD remaster that they put out. *10:32* Actually *10:39* Why am I now suddenly blanking on that studio's name? *10:41* Blue Point. *10:44* Blue Point did the God of War games. *10:44* Uh did a lot of those eras of transitions and stuff. *10:47* So that was *10:50* I mean, I actually had a lot of fun playing it on the PS3 this time around. *10:53* 720p is this one and *10:58* Uh sixty frames a second though, which was really nice to have it locked. *11:01* You didn't play it on a PS3 or a PS2 this time. *11:05* Yeah, you how tell the people how you played it. *11:10* I played it on a PS5 sort of uh kind of *11:12* Uh technically played it through the power of the cloud, um, which is how I'll be playing all of the games this season other than *11:18* uh God of War 3 remastered, I guess, and then 2018. *11:26* Um so I subscribe to PlayStation now. *11:30* It was probably just the easiest way for me to *11:34* Dive back in and play all these. *11:37* So uh this is actually my first experience with PS now and I did not have a terrible time uh with the service. *11:38* Um I know other people have had different *11:47* uh thoughts and opinions and experiences over the years with that uh service, but I it worked quite well for me to be totally honest. *11:51* Like I *11:59* Did not notice in the slightest that I was streaming a video game while I was playing it. *12:00* There was times where it would get a little slow or a little hitchy, but for the most part I *12:04* Totally seamless. *12:11* I was actually very surprised and I hope that that continues to ring true with the other uh four or five games I'm gonna play in this manner. *12:12* So yeah, PS now. *12:20* Actually not bad for me. *12:22* I was also surprised to hear that, which is good because these games are quite, you know, they're action-intensive, you know, input matters. *12:24* And so I was I was happy to hear you say that for *12:33* For the ser service, because you know everyone talks about XCloud and Game Pass Now and PS Now doesn't really get brought up in the conversation. *12:37* Even Stadia trumps PSNow as far as just what I see in online discussions. *12:43* So it's nice to hear that and cool. *12:48* Me on the other hand, I'm playing all of this on uh I'll be playing everything on my PS3 except uh God of War 3. *12:50* I'll be playing the remaster version on my PS5, and then same thing for God of War 2018, I'll play the PS5. *12:58* patched version. *13:04* 4K60 baby. *13:06* Let's go. *13:07* As far as yeah, that's gonna be really good. *13:09* So to to dive into our discussion here about God of War, I'm thinking that I want to start with the story because I feel like that's *13:13* Probably the simplest thing to wrap around and the real meat of this game, I think, is it's gameplay and and presentation and stuff. *13:22* So I wanted to start with the story. *13:28* It's *13:30* this Greek mythology bringing in, you know, this guy who made a pact with the God of War and he wants revenge. *13:31* Uh it's pretty straightforward. *13:40* It's pretty uh *13:42* Blunt? *13:45* It's there's not all too much there. *13:48* So what tell what did you think about it coming around at this time? *13:50* It's and I l I just looked at your trophies. *13:54* The last time you played this was in 2014 in June. *13:56* I looked that up too out of curiosity. *13:59* You were popping trophies at like two thirty in the morning. *14:01* Well, I looked at that too here and it says that I popped the most recent one in twenty twenty one at four AM as well. *14:04* So I don't know. *14:10* Th there's gotta be a *14:11* There's gotta be like a time code thing with I I don't know where this website is located out of is what I'm saying. *14:13* So there's gotta be time this it might be out of like Europe or something. *14:18* I don't know. *14:21* I was looking in the mm the PlayStation app. *14:22* I believe the 2014 ones *14:24* You were a wild child. *14:26* You were up late. *14:27* I mean, I would believe myself staying up that late during the or wait, I would not have been up that late actually. *14:28* Twenty fourteen? *14:34* That I would have been out of high school. *14:35* June twenty fourteen. *14:37* Yeah *14:38* I would have been out of high school, which means I would have had a job. *14:39* There's no way I was staying up that late. *14:41* Yeah, I think where when these are logged, I think the times are different. *14:44* Anyway, um story-wise, yeah, I don't know. *14:47* So I I guess the first thing *14:51* That I should say about God of War up front is that prior to 2018 I really didn't like this series that much, and I was always pretty vocal about that, and you can attest to this firsthand. *14:53* Absolutely. *15:04* Um *15:05* Which is funny 'cause God of War 2018, like, as we get further away from it, that's probably one of my that's probably one of my five favorite games of all time at this point. *15:06* Um it's really, really, really high up there for me. *15:16* Um *15:20* And it has only continued to climb over the years as I like think about it more. *15:20* Anyway, so I really like the reboot game a lot. *15:24* Um, but these previous ones I didn't care for, just because I thought Kratos was *15:27* a crappy character and annoying and I didn't like him. *15:32* I mean it was kinda all the stereotypes of or all the cliches you hear about people who are like, oh I hate Kratos. *15:35* He just yells and he's angry all the time and he's annoying. *15:40* And returning to this, I was like, okay, so I know where Kratos gets later as in his arc. *15:44* Let me see, let me see if I can *15:50* uh recontextualize the origin these original games. *15:52* And for the most part, this whole first game is just about establishing his character. *15:55* And I don't feel any different towards him. *16:00* now after replaying the game than I did when I played it for the first time seven years ago. *16:03* And I think part of that, I don't know, so like he's kind of *16:09* I mean there's a lot to kind of break down with him. *16:13* Um I think part of it is that he's somewhat of a complex character, but at the same time, the way they present the story, I don't think *16:16* Does him any favors. *16:24* It the game also almost makes you want to feel like you're sympathetic towards his plight and like why he wants revenge. *16:26* But when I replayed it this time, I was like, wait, this guy *16:33* Basically makes a deal with the devil. *16:36* It backfires on him. *16:39* And then he wants to get revenge on the devil he made a deal with, and you're supposed to like *16:40* th understand his plight and like b root for I don't know if you're even supposed to root for him necessarily, but like *16:47* I mean, clearly the antagonist of the game is Ares, but Kratos is out here making deals with a dude that's not a good guy, and then it blows back in his face and *16:55* His family dies and all that stuff and it's supposed to you're supposed to like feel bad for him, I guess? *17:07* I I don't know. *17:11* Um maybe you're not though *17:12* You saying that actually reminded me. *17:14* The other day I rewatched these this God of War Director live panel that they did actually right before God of War Ghost of Sparta came out. *17:17* So at the time that was five directors. *17:26* And they had this panel and they were talking about, you know, what did each game mean to you and the story of like Kratos and stuff. *17:29* So what did each of you learn from Kratos along as Dra *17:35* I can tell you exactly. *17:38* Um I mean God of W I mean God of War is about a guy who God of War One is about a guy who puts everything aside for his ambition for work and he loses his wife. *17:40* he loses his kid. *17:51* And you know, that's all I need to say about that. *17:53* So I don't even want to follow up with anything now. *17:57* I don't mean to be sad. *18:03* I mean that's that's what I I mean I I'm you know that's what it was about for me *18:09* And you saying that actually reminded me, David Chaffee's answer was like, What is God a war about to you? *18:13* And he was like, It's a guy who loves his job more than his family and loses them. *18:19* And that happened to David Jaffe in in real life, unfortunately. *18:23* And you kind of can see that because Kratos was this great Spartan warrior who wanted to *18:27* assert the dominance of Sparta across the world and this obsession with war and ruling led to his family *18:33* you know, being killed by him and stuff. *18:43* And so then that those decisions haunt him. *18:45* Which you can again, you and I have the context of where Kratos' character goes. *18:48* Of where they take that, yeah. *18:54* Yeah. *18:55* And it's *18:55* Even in the the Ragnarok trailer, he's you know, Kratos is clearly adverse to war, especially with the gods. *18:56* And you know, he doesn't want to go to war and it it's interesting to know where they can take it. *19:04* But in this first game, it's just that kind of stuff. *19:10* I *19:13* I was surprised this time to notice some of the environmental storytelling and the subtleties that they do plan around. *19:15* Not that *19:23* any teenager playing this game back in two thousand five or even later w really would have picked up on. *19:24* One of the early interactions is *19:30* You're in the Athens courtyard and you're like going up these stairs and there's a woman and she keeps running away from you. *19:34* And actually everyone that you encounter knows who you are. *19:41* And so like they keep dropping these crumbs of like who *19:45* People know what he's done solely based off the color of his skin because Ash is spooky. *19:48* He's the ghost of Sparta. *19:54* He's the ghost of Sparta. *19:56* I just kind of thought that stuff was interesting. *19:57* There's a diary in Kratos' boat *19:59* Where um you know, he talks about how he can't get the images of his wife and daughter out of his head. *20:02* Um, but that's also right after you do the sex minigame to get a bunch of red orbs. *20:08* So there's a little bit of like *20:12* Game I mean it it works and narratively I get that and it's interesting to see that now, but it's definitely things you would miss your first time through, for sure. *20:14* Yeah, and it's just *20:24* I guess it's weird to me that this first game for how Port's narrative is constructed in some ways, that it did turn into this huge *20:27* m massive franchise for PlayStation. *20:37* Not that the series has ever been built on the back of storytelling per se. *20:39* It it definitely is, I think, more so *20:44* now than it ever has been uh with the current reboot games they're doing in the Norse mythology. *20:47* But yeah, like nothing *20:53* Nothing really pulled me in for the s to the story or made me r change how I felt about it previously. *20:55* And the other thing too is it's just and this is where I chalk it up to just being an old game. *21:00* is the way the story is doled out is also very clunky. *21:05* Uh it reminded me of how games used to be gameplay this is a gameplay section and then all of a sudden it stops and it's oh now this is a cutscene *21:09* Uh I almost forgot that it used to be like that compared to like how modern games just kind of flow in and out seamlessly. *21:17* And even even then there was *21:26* This is a in-game cutscene and this is a CG pre-rendered cutscene that we've put on this DVD for you to watch. *21:28* Yeah, this is every stop everything. *21:33* The screen's gonna go black for a second, and then we'll play a video. *21:35* And we're gonna boot up a video. *21:37* Yeah. *21:39* That *21:39* Yeah. *21:41* It's cool that they kinda tell it in flashbacks, and they do I think they did try to do in-game asset cutscenes as much as possible, but it's just *21:42* The tech wasn't necessarily there for these smooth transitions and whatnot. *21:53* I did also kind of find it interesting *21:57* how much future story stuff they did lay down and kind of like the bonus content of this game. *22:01* Obviously the game ends, you're the god of war. *22:08* The narration says that Kratos reigned over and watched all war for all time. *22:11* Obviously that doesn't happen. *22:16* But then the end it goes, Kratos will return, so like God of War II was already green lit at the time. *22:18* But one thing which I know you didn't see, because I don't think you did you didn't do the um *22:25* Challenge of what was it called? *22:33* Challenge of Challenge of the Gods or Challenge of the Titans? *22:35* Yeah, it's not Titans. *22:37* Gods. *22:39* Challenge of the Gods. *22:39* There's a video you can unlock if you beat it. *22:40* And it's it's called Birth of a Beast. *22:43* And it tells Kratos' like origin story of, you know, he was this child in the Spartan army, and they they weeded kids out by like letting them live in the mountains for days, and those that came back *22:45* could go in the army and those that didn't. *22:57* Um and it straight up d establishes Kratos as brother and *22:59* Makes the sequel sound like it's gonna be about him and his return from Hades is like this vengeance plot for brother against brother. *23:05* That never got explored. *23:14* That's like the original Uncharted Four. *23:15* That never oh my gosh. *23:18* That never got explored until goes to Sparta. *23:20* Which I just *23:22* It was ki clearly had a bunch of ideas in that. *23:24* Yeah, and the super bonus of Sparta, so and and the super bonus secret thing implies Kratos' lineage to Zeus, actually. *23:27* So like *23:36* There was a ton of stuff that you really could dig into in this game that I was surprised like so early on that they wanted to explore all these things and eventually do um to different varying effects, but *23:37* I thought that was pretty neat. *23:51* It's definitely it's definitely told like a Greek story. *23:54* You know, it has that kind of *23:57* Gather around, hear this tale of an ancient warrior with gods and things like that. *23:59* Yeah, the like the voiceover and stuff. *24:05* reading an ancient Greek Greek myth or something like that and there's a narrator to it and um it's unique in that regard. *24:12* Yeah. *24:21* Um *24:22* But the story that is on display, I don't think, is it's not great. *24:23* It's a starting point. *24:28* Um but I think it's I think it's just especially *24:30* Yeah, the thing I remain like so puzzled about is how Kratos immediately became this like mascot for PlayStation when *24:34* He as a character in this game is just like totally flat for me and like almost comes he comes across as a hugely terrible a largely terrible person very quickly up front in this series *24:44* Like a lot of people, when they talk about how Kratos is a bad guy, I mean spoilers for the whole series here, I mean we'll we'll get into these discussions deeper as we play the future games, but *24:56* A lot of people talk about how he's such a bad guy because he ends up wiping out the entire Greek pantheon and the entire Greek world in the later games. *25:05* It's like, wow, what an awful person. *25:12* It's like, no, he's pretty terrible before any of that ever happened. *25:14* He it yeah, I gu like I as far as the masculine. *25:19* And vengeance countries and tribes. *25:29* Which is *25:31* Cliche to a point. *25:32* I think he became a mascot because iconic design, sales, and critical acclaim *25:33* Yeah. *25:40* And like he's just Kratos is a silhouette. *25:41* And they would even go on to use this in later advertising. *25:44* But if you just do Kratos with his tattoo, you immediately know who he is. *25:47* He just has that *25:51* brand, franchise, like iconic design. *25:53* It's really one of the great character designs visually *25:57* Um, I mean it still is a testament today. *26:01* It still works. *26:04* It's it's very cool. *26:05* And I do like n how they narratively explain why he is *26:07* white, like pale white, I mean. *26:12* Not Caucasian. *26:14* He's a a Greek person, but he's just why he is that skin color is it's the literal ashes of his wife and daughter. *26:15* I I do find that actually quite *26:23* powerful along with later the you know the scars from the chains and stuff. *26:25* Like there is a lot of visual storytelling on Kratos that I think works quite quite well. *26:31* But let's use design in that way and le talk about how the game looks. *26:38* You know, 2005, this is what is this, sixteen years later? *26:44* Like Kratos has been around for a while now. *26:48* What'd you think? *26:50* Yeah, not bad. *26:53* Um I again it's it's you're judging things for how they were for the time. *26:54* The game definitely has uh a big sense of scale in certain instances. *26:58* Especially like when in when you first get to *27:03* Uh Athena's town. *27:07* I was like, what's Athena's town called? *27:11* Duh. *27:13* Athens. *27:13* Especially like when you first get there and then you see Ares tearing the place up. *27:15* And that's something good they've always done, is like giving these games a sense of scale, especially when compared to Kratos himself, because he's so *27:18* tiny in the grand scheme of these things that are going on all around him and God of War 2 does a fantastic job of that as well with the game's opening boss fight. *27:27* Um *27:35* So that's something they do really well here. *27:36* As far as like other designs of some of the other different locales in the game, nothing really stood out to me. *27:39* Um *27:46* I I guess what's interesting is the designs that are interesting are to me are the designs like knowing where the series goes in the future, like seeing like how Hades looks in this first one and it's like totally doesn't resemble how he looks later on. *27:47* Uh like things like that I think are funny. *28:00* Um most of the character designs are uh again, Kratos is, yeah, I agree that he's gotta really *28:03* Clean basic look but it works and he's a really Yeah, like he's probably one of the most iconic video game characters *28:10* Especially for PlayStation. *28:18* Um, you can just show the red and white and people immediately know who it is that you're talking about, who it is that they're looking at. *28:19* Um *28:28* And then yeah, enemy designs are I don't know, they're okay. *28:29* They represent the the Greek creatures fairly well, I think. *28:32* I think they're *28:36* Yeah, they're really good Greek character designs. *28:37* They're the kind of enemies you would want, especially in a first game. *28:40* Like you wanna fight a Cyclops, you wanna fight a Gorgon. *28:43* That type of stuff. *28:47* Yeah. *28:48* That's the stuff you want to fight and how they evolve that later is cool and whatnot. *28:49* But it um the scale was one of the first thing I wanted to mention. *28:53* I think they *28:58* With the control camera, like the locked camera that they changed, they really get a play with scale super well. *29:00* Um I think one of the most iconic *29:08* Shots or moments is when you get to Um Pandora's Temple on Cronus' back the first time, and you're crossing that bridge, and the camera just pulls way out, and you see *29:11* Just how tiny you are compared to this thing that you're about to go conquer. *29:24* And you do conquer it. *29:29* And that makes you feel powerful and cool. *29:30* There's a there's a shot while you're outside of the temple. *29:32* Um, and you're crawling and you can see the big chain waving against the side of the temple, and you can see Kronos down below you crawling through the desert. *29:36* Um, you know, when you get to Athens you see Ares out there fighting. *29:45* Like they really do *29:49* Up the scale. *29:51* They really make it feel larger than life. *29:52* And the fact that you then get to go conquer and do all these things, I think *29:56* lends to feeling powerful, which is that's something the series has always been good. *29:59* Like coming back to it, um, like I mentioned before, like the other games do that as well, like God of War 2 the opening boss fight. *30:04* the entire opening to God of War 3 as well, even God of War, uh, the the newest one, like with the dragon fight or even the uh *30:11* Some of the world serpent serpent games do too. *30:20* Yeah, the World Serpent. *30:23* Like that stuff is always like it's always done a great job of making Kratos feel *30:24* Like this incredibly powerful character that can go toe-to-toe with anybody, but also extremely small within the grand scheme of these uh worlds that he's residing in. *30:29* Yeah. *30:39* They they've they've always done a really good job of that and it's cool to see it implemented so well in the beginning. *30:39* As far as uh just playing this version for the first time, since it was my first time playing the PS3 version, 60 frames per second is really nice. *30:47* It's nice and locked, the game's just crisp and clean. *30:55* Uh the only thing I think visually that hasn't quite aged super well is the the CG pre-rendered CG cutscenes. *30:58* Like those are like all right, that's *31:04* That's a bit older. *31:06* If this game was remade, obviously that stuff would get cleaned up, but those things haven't aged the best. *31:07* And there's really not a ton of them. *31:13* They're really the major Kratos flashbacks. *31:15* that explain like where he's come from and stuff. *31:19* That those are those cutscenes. *31:21* But the rest of it, I think, it looks like a PS2 game and I'm I'm fond of that look. *31:23* So it's it's good. *31:28* It's aged pretty well. *31:29* Um *31:31* But really I think just the visual design of Greece and scale and stuff, I think, is where they've been the strongest. *31:32* I mean tying into that a little bit *31:39* Do you you want to talk about the world, like just the Greek kind of like the level layout and the flow of things? *31:42* Like I Yeah. *31:48* I mean it's Greece. *31:49* We go to Athens, we go to Pandora's Temple. *31:50* I don't know, it feels like those places. *31:54* What do you think? *31:57* Yeah, I was surprised by how um *31:58* I guess reserved they were with this, because some of the places they take you to are lesser known areas, I guess, of of *32:03* um the Greek world. *32:13* Um and you can tell that they start taking you a little bit deeper into the games that come after this. *32:15* Um but the first couple that they take you to are definitely not ones that you would *32:22* initially think of, I don't think. *32:27* I mean obviously Athens is a huge city. *32:29* Um but it's more the backdrop. *32:31* It's not as like when you think of like iconic Greek locations though, the things you first think of, you know. *32:33* Mount Olympus and *32:39* Hades and places like that. *32:41* And you do technically go to Hades in this game, but not for very long, and it's kind of a bad platforming fest once you do get there. *32:42* Uh *32:51* But yeah, like the places they take you to in this game, you could tell they're kind of it seemed like they're kind of holding back to build towards the bigger locations maybe in the future and kind of just tease some things here and there. *32:52* As far as how it's all stitched together though, I do like that it is not one continuous like you just continuing to advance *33:05* throughout the world, which it kind of is, but I like that there are things off the beaten path that you realize like, oh, I can't go there right now, but maybe I'll be able to later, or something like that. *33:14* Like you can even go and find *33:24* uh like the cliff that he launches himself off of at the end or I guess beginning as well beginning of the of the game *33:27* Uh and you can find the doorway up there that l uh Athena ends up opening for you in into Mount Olympus where he sits on the throne at the end of the game. *33:35* Uh and they like tease those things here and there, and you can't do anything with them when you first pass by, but it's just kind of a nod that you will be going that direction eventually. *33:43* Um so those things are cool. *33:53* I like just kind of going off of that how connected the level layouts were. *33:55* You're you're doubling back, you're coming but not doubling back in the way of like now I gotta go back through this hallway, but you'll it's not like a Zelda game or a Metrovania or whatever *34:00* You'll pop out of a door and you'll be like, Oh, I'm here. *34:08* I'm over there? *34:12* Like how's this working? *34:13* Um it's Oh, this is that hole that man dug. *34:14* Yeah. *34:17* I know where I'm at. *34:18* I wrote down gravedigger reveal comes to mind as I write this. *34:19* Like *34:22* the world is very connected and it feels richer for it. *34:23* It's not a linear hallway. *34:27* Uh you really do get a sense of that in Pandora's Temple too, because you go through these sections and then somehow you end up back in the middle room. *34:29* And then you have this mental map of the environment and it works pretty well. *34:37* I just it just feels good, you know. *34:41* I did *34:45* I don't know why I well, I do know why I wrote this down. *34:46* There's a part in the desert where to summon cr uh Kronos you *34:48* What do you do? *34:56* You blow the horn. *34:57* Kill the sirens? *34:58* Well you kill the sirens, but you blow the horn and it reminded me of God. *34:59* Oh yeah. *35:02* 2018. *35:03* Oh yes. *35:04* Yeah, same. *35:05* It's like *35:06* But I think before we dive into gameplay, because I know that's the real meat of the game, just the last kind of other thing, the music, the sound, the sound design, and the music of this game. *35:09* What did you what did you think of God of War's first outing? *35:23* The music is quite pretty good. *35:26* Um It's definitely got I I will say I can't think of many *35:30* different tracks in the game, but the bombastic like main God of War theme itself is very good. *35:36* Uh-huh. *35:43* It's it sticks. *35:45* Yes, it does very much. *35:47* And they use a button. *35:48* Yeah. *35:52* Is good uh too. *35:57* Like it's not a soundtrack I would listen to like I don't know, other gaming soundtracks, but it really fits the tone of the game quite a bit. *35:58* Um *36:09* And I think more than a lot of other things in the game, it really makes it feel I think it adds that sort of s grand sense of *36:10* uh scale and storytelling with like the like with it being uh involved with like the myth um the mythological Greek world it really adds that sort of weight and sense of *36:18* grandiose uh it's just storytelling to it. *36:30* It feels like it belongs, you know? *36:33* And it it does make you feel powerful. *36:35* It's just this like *36:39* this choir is behind you, it's loud and drumming. *36:41* It's just dun dun dun dun dun dun dun ch and you're just swinging the blades around and all this stuff. *36:44* It's it's it's woven in really well, but it never *36:50* Like overstays its welcome. *36:55* It's a little loud. *36:57* I actually went into the settings and turned down the music slider. *36:58* I was like, all right, we can we can tone this back a little bit. *37:01* But um *37:04* It's good music, it's strong, and I think another testament to that is they still use pieces of it in God of War 2018. *37:06* Now, granted *37:14* We're in a Norse world now, so it chang you know, the type of music changes a bit, but there's still those pieces in there. *37:16* And I think that's a testament to that design early on. *37:21* All right, Logan. *37:25* It's time for the real meat and potatoes, and I think the thing you probably have the most to say about. *37:26* I think we both do. *37:32* This is gameplay. *37:33* Well, I was really disappointed you couldn't press triangle to recall your uh recall your axe in this game. *37:35* Sorry, there's no more no no well, no axe at all. *37:43* There's a weapon big like an axe, but there's no axe, yeah. *37:47* So gameplay wise. *37:51* Uh gameplay pretty good still. *37:55* Um I think it holds up pretty well. *37:59* It comes across it's weird because I know when this game came out *38:01* People raved a lot about how deep the combat system felt. *38:05* And I still think it does in some ways. *38:09* Um but compared to a lot of other action games that have come out over the years, it definitely feels more simplistic. *38:11* Um going back to it, I don't know if you still feel the same way, and that's not a bad thing by any means. *38:18* It still is a functional good combat system for the most part. *38:22* I think it has a few niggles here and there. *38:28* Namely, I don't like the QTEs, but that's kind of something that is throughout the entire series. *38:30* And I don't I I think the other thing that was annoying me too is I would get enemies down to certain like kill thresholds where the circle would appear over their heads and sometimes I would like mash it and he would go for the grab animation and trying to do the animation to kill them or whatever. *38:38* I don't know if that happened to you very much, but that happened to me a lot for some reason. *38:53* It's that PS Now service, clearly. *38:58* Yeah, yeah, clearly. *39:01* Um *39:02* For the most part though, yeah, all the I all the abilities, the chains themselves, even the sword feels pretty good as well in the game. *39:03* Swapping back and forth between the chains and the sword, sometimes you can get off some *39:12* uh cool combos. *39:15* Um yeah I I think that's my my main takeaway is that it this feels like uh *39:17* Again, it's weird because we know where these games go, not even in 2018, but just in the other ones after this. *39:23* This feels like they good uh basis for where I know they take things in the future. *39:29* Um *39:36* But it still holds up in a general sense. *39:37* For an action game *39:42* They nailed the weapon. *39:48* And by the weapon I mean the Blades of Chaos. *39:52* They made, just like Kratos is iconic for PlayStation and character design, they've made. *39:55* some of the most iconic weapons to ever be in a video game. *40:01* The blades of chaos are just so cool. *40:05* and powerful and diverse. *40:11* They can't be able to do that. *40:14* I mean there is mu there's much I like there is much iconic to God of War I think as Kratos is in a lot of ways. *40:15* They uh they have to be and it's which is why when twenty eighteen was coming out everybody's like, they they gotta be in the game. *40:21* They have to be in this game somewhere. *40:27* And it uh and and that lay leads to a powerful story moment as well. *40:29* It's just *40:34* The blades are are just as much of God of War as Kratos himself is. *40:36* And um they feel just I really love the feel of them. *40:41* They've *40:46* They've got a momentum and an energy to them and you know when you hit square square square triangle and you do the slam and it creates the ripple like there's *40:47* It those combos feel good to pull off. *40:57* And I still, you know, remember, you know, L one circle spinning around and all this stuff. *41:00* There's just really cool moves and energy. *41:07* to a lot of this movement. *41:09* And I think that also helps with the scale, because they can pull the camera out, but you can still see the blades and you know what you're doing. *41:11* Like you never *41:17* The gameplay was never compromised from a combat perspective from the camera or I didn't think like that kind of stuff pulling out. *41:19* So blades nailed, top, bam, boom, bada bang. *41:27* The sword is good. *41:32* It's got a different weight to it. *41:35* I think that's interesting. *41:36* But the rest of the powers, I think really the only other power that's *41:37* useful or like I enjoy using was the Poseidon rage. *41:43* But then you've got Zeus or Medusa, but those *41:48* Either Zeus doesn't do enough, Medusa takes too long, Hades is good. *41:51* Hades actually is kind of useful, but he's unlocked toward the end, so it's Yeah. *41:55* The Hades, yes, it's kind of broken. *41:59* Hades very Yeah, Hades is definitely broken, especially if you max it out. *42:01* I was using that uh quite a bit, but it *42:05* They I think they put a lot of their combat design into the blades as they should have, and it panned out, but some of the other systems felt a little weaker. *42:09* And so I'm kind of curious to see how those systems evolve. *42:18* over the course of these games, especially now knowing the context of where twenty eighteen goes with two really solid primary weapons and less so much other stuff. *42:22* So I'm excited to see how that goes. *42:33* W I forgot, I truly forgot how many puzzles there were in this game. *42:37* It's a puzzly game. *42:45* Yeah, there's quite a few. *42:47* Some of 'em are pretty uh obtuse as well *42:49* At least a couple of them. *42:53* Like what? *42:54* Which one? *42:54* The one where you gotta kick the pillar off the ledge on top of the other pillar. *42:55* That's kind of that's a funky one. *42:59* Yeah, and then I got it after a few minutes, but like with how many steps there are to do that, because you have to pull both of the pillars out from the far wall, kick them all the way down to the far side of the bridge. *43:02* I just naturally kicked both of them off the first time and then I didn't know what to do. *43:14* Like it there's like some steps involved with that one before it clicks in your head and you're like, oh, this is what I need to do, I guess. *43:18* But uh yeah, most of the most of them aren't too bad. *43:29* And yeah. *43:33* But it definitely they're d the toughest one I had. *43:36* was more a timing problem the an execution than like how do I do this? *43:39* It's in it's in those cliffs of madness or whatever it was called. *43:43* And you have to get one of the rubies. *43:46* And it's like as soon as you pull this lever, a gate opens and you can push a box, but then the spike floor timer starts. *43:49* And it's like *43:57* Kick faster, Kratos. *43:59* Like, come on, I know where I need to go here. *44:01* So that was a little frustrating and tough. *44:03* And anything to do with jumping or platforming, like timing-wise. *44:05* Kratos's jump is very vertical, very stiff, like a he has a double jump, thank God, but he's very vertical, very stiff. *44:10* uh it doesn't have a like good momentum or flow there. *44:18* And um I know you had trouble with it and I had trouble with it, but there's the part in the Hades challenge of the temple with the saw blades. *44:21* I hate that entire section so much, dude. *44:33* It's so there and that's something I haven't really *44:36* touched on yet um is that there are definitely moments in this game where I just was like, why? *44:40* Why is this here? *44:46* Um *44:48* The entire Hades section is kind of one of them. *44:49* I understand why they probably wanted to throw Hades in there briefly, but that entire section feels like such a Well *44:53* They didn't think the tempo was the three big guys, yeah. *45:00* Yeah. *45:06* Poseidon. *45:07* But the Poseidon stuff was all underwater, so like those puzzles were pretty *45:07* Straightforward. *45:11* I didn't have a huge problem with the Poseidon stuff honestly. *45:12* For a water section in a in a game from the early 2000s, I didn't think it was too bad. *45:16* No, it's pretty it's pretty good. *45:21* Hades though. *45:23* The Hades stuff is not great. *45:24* And then there's one other area of this game that I remember just thinking, like, why is this a thing? *45:26* Um, I don't know, mainly just like some of the combat encounters they throw you in. *45:32* Like I was talking to you while I was playing some of this, and there's a lot of inconsistency with some of the combat encounters, like I would die during one of them. *45:36* I remember one time I died during the combat encounter and then I respawned and the next time I started facing off in that encounter, uh like half the enemies that I faced the time before didn't show up, and then I was just able to advance. *45:43* Um a lot of the sequences where there's archers shooting you far away and you have to do something, uh that's the one area of Hades that really annoyed me when you're trying to jump off the *45:57* uh down towards where all those archers are and then you have to and they're all trying to shoot you so that annoyed me a lot. *46:09* Um yeah there's just certain *46:15* brief sections I feel like could have been cut out of the game and just would have made it a little more smooth and I don't know. *46:19* There's just things that aren't *46:26* fun and I don't understand why they're in the game. *46:28* Like if you're not having fun in a certain section then it probably needs to go or should be reconsidered. *46:30* It's interesting how they tried to balance the pacing because it can't all be combat and it can't all be puzzles. *46:37* Um, but there's just some *46:43* Some stuff just felt hard for hard sake or just weird. *46:46* I think particularly of the boulders in the Hades Challenge area. *46:52* Where the fire is rolling towards you and it's like you gotta mash R2 to like open this door. *46:56* That's another good one. *47:02* Uh mashing R2 on the Dual Shock 3 Logan. *47:04* I don't know if you've done that lately, but uh those triggering. *47:06* Not the best. *47:11* So that was a little frustrating. *47:12* And I think the other can inconsistent thing was boss fights. *47:14* There's only three of them. *47:20* The Hydras at the beginning, the mechanical minotaur, and then Aries. *47:24* And the mechanical minotaur to um *47:31* I found quite frustrating. *47:36* This this showed me like just old game design uh via lack of checkpoints because *47:39* You've got to hit him four times with the log, but to get him with a log, you've got to hit him with your blades or weapons or whatever to like weaken him. *47:46* Yes. *47:54* Hit him, but then he'll run to the back of the room and charge you and *47:54* I died missing the prompt because I was hitting circle and he was going for the grab instead of doing the prompt. *47:59* And I screwed up the prompt, I think, on one of them. *48:08* And so then the Minotaur kills me and I gotta do the whole fight over again. *48:10* And but it and it's one of these fights that I can't advance because I know what to do. *48:15* It's I have to wait for the timing to do what I've gotta do to get to the point. *48:20* But that fight just seems out of out of place to a degree. *48:25* I just I feel like the Minotaur *48:33* Almost could have been cut, but then you really have no boss fights. *48:36* It's just Ares and the Hydra, so what do you do? *48:39* I don't I think they realized I mean they clearly do this in *48:42* God of War II and obviously in three, but like people want to fight more iconic creatures or characters that they know. *48:48* Yeah. *48:57* I mean three is all up. *48:57* Because a lot of the rooms later on just end up being like variants of the creatures you've been fighting the entire game. *48:58* Just more armor now or more attack power. *49:05* Yes. *49:08* Which is one of the uninteresting things I found about combat is that they don't you're right, I think the creatures that they add are good, but there's not enough variety. *49:09* Yeah, they just make 'em they change the color. *49:21* Change the color, add some armor, add some different sort of weapons, stuff like that. *49:24* There's maybe like seven to eight main enemy types I can think of. *49:29* Um if that *49:33* So yeah, I the boss is I'm not a fan of the Ares boss fight as well. *49:35* I don't think that fight's very good. *49:41* The way it's structured too is so just wonky. *49:42* Like the first part of it's fine *49:46* And then the second part of it is just total overkill. *49:48* Like you have to kill so many Kratoses. *49:52* Oh, that that is a lot. *49:54* Um, it's too many to kill. *49:57* It d it goes on for too long. *50:01* It does go on for too long. *50:02* But the mechanic of hugging your wife and daughter and giving them your health to protect them *50:04* I actually think is quite powerful way to convey Kratos's, you know, love for these two people in his life. *50:10* And it's a gameplay mechanic in the moment. *50:17* of this big fight while you're fighting these evil. *50:20* Like it is a narratively, I think, quite strong moment, but it does go on for too long. *50:23* I mean, I'm I personally was using the *50:28* f Hades summon the army thing a lot and just like, alright guys, we can do this. *50:32* Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. *50:37* Hug. *50:39* Alright, do it again. *50:40* Yes. *50:42* Yeah, it gets very cyclical and very it like yeah, like we said, it just lasts a little too long. *50:43* Um and then the final part with the sword battle back and forth thing that gets really *50:49* I feel like there's not enough like consistency in that to know when Ares's holes are to like best attack and um *50:55* I'm sure there's a good way to know if you if you're very familiar with the fight, but like I found that I I died on that section a couple times and the time I won it was just like sheer *51:02* Dumb luck, it seemed like, because he wasn't doing certain attack patterns on me that he was doing the couple times before. *51:12* I don't know if that was the same experience for you. *51:18* No, but it just seemed like a it just seemed like a crapshoot of like sometimes he would do certain attack combos and they're really hard to block and there's no way to really block them and he'd just wreck you and you're dead in two seconds and then other times he's not doing *51:22* anything like that at all and is giving you all the time in the world to hit him. *51:35* Um so yeah, it w it was just kind of uh keep trying until you get lucky and the computer's dumb and is gonna kinda help you out. *51:38* Yeah, I yeah, back to the boss fights as a whole. *51:47* Yeah, they're they're fine. *51:50* They get way better later on and then they become like the highlight of the games later on for sure. *51:51* But here not so much. *51:55* Honestly, the boss fights were the pitch of God of War 3. *51:57* It was like, all right, here you go, buddy *51:59* Yeah, kill everybody. *52:01* And that's kind of what they spent a lot of time showing off before that game came out, too. *52:03* Yeah. *52:07* Because I remember that was the main thing they showed off. *52:08* I'm excited. *52:10* I'm actually really stoked to s *52:11* See how they've evolved, like refresh myself, because I have played all of the games. *52:14* But it's this is a solid foundation of combat and gameplay. *52:19* Um *52:25* Refinement obviously is needed, and I'm sure we get to it, obviously, but it's good. *52:26* It's solid, and it still holds up today as far as *52:34* I I played the game twice. *52:38* Um we didn't mention this at the top, but I beat this game like month and a half ago. *52:40* Uh so I ended up just getting the platinum, which involved playing the game a second time in under five hours, which is also kind of maybe a testament to its design if you know what you're doing and you skip any optional fight. *52:47* Um you can get I the three and a half hours of my time. *52:58* So this is a very doable and quick, short, consumable game, which is *53:02* rare these days, I think, uh, especially in a triple A space, to have something, you know, that can be beaten that quickly. *53:09* But it's it's *53:18* Solid, I think, is a really it's the cornerstone. *53:21* Uh we would this combat is still influential to this day, and not just in God of War, but in other series as well. *53:24* Yeah, um, and I feel like that's kind of what I said at the top as well. *53:32* Mirrored that. *53:36* Like this feels like a good basis for everything that came after. *53:37* If it was just this on its own. *53:41* Uh *53:43* I I I guess the thing I'm surprised about, even in retrospect, is seeing that this game has a 94 on Metacritic. *53:45* Um because I do think *53:52* I don't think the game I kept joking either like, oh this game's terrible, this game's terrible. *53:53* And I don't think it's aged very well in a general sense. *53:57* Um and I can't really say I was *54:00* uh thoroughly enjoying this playthrough. *54:03* It was kind of a grind to get through at times. *54:06* And I feel like part of that's for a lot of the things we've talked about. *54:08* It's just dated and it doesn't really grip you the same way. *54:12* um some of the later games do with its story. *54:15* But yeah, the n the Metacritic score in like the way people talk about this first game is very *54:19* Heb uh very surprising cause I think now especially throwing out the PSP games. *54:24* Um *54:31* People would say this is the weakest of the bunch outside of Ascension. *54:32* Ascension would be the weak considered the weakest, I think. *54:36* Asc I think Ascension gets the bottom run. *54:38* And then this, and then people talk more fondly about two and three, and then uh reboots kind of its own thing, but uh I feel like of the main core trilogy people could put kind of put this one on the bottom. *54:40* Um, which is funny because it has the highest like score for the time. *54:52* Um But I guess it's just n I I guess it's it was just a new thing and um *54:57* Yeah, I do think a lot of it does I do yeah, I think a lot of it does come down to the chain blades of chaos just being a really unique way of doing combat. *55:03* Because I agree with everything you said previously about there being *55:10* There's like a flow to them, but there's also a heft to them and they feel good to use as f as a weapon. *55:14* Um *55:21* There's a reason they're still around. *55:24* The *55:30* The one thing I wanted to one more thing I wanted to say specifically about playing God of War in twenty twenty-one. *55:31* That I found quite refreshing was how video gamey it was. *55:41* There's besides just the main story, when you beat the game *55:48* You unlock costumes like silly costumes. *55:53* Kratos can dress up in a cowsuit. *55:58* He can dress up as a business tycoon. *56:01* Um *56:05* A chef. *56:06* Like the game is a game. *56:08* There was there's a bonus challenge arena we've talked about, Challenge of the Gods, where it's ten or twelve different challenges. *56:11* that you have to do in play, which is just kind of like this None of that would happen today. *56:18* In especially in like God of War 2018 or Ragnarok. *56:25* Like there's not gonna be an optional challenge arena. *56:28* You're not gonna see *56:30* Kratos dress up in a cow suit with udders that give him unlimited magic. *56:32* I mean you can see him dress up in all kinds of different stuff, but not that, I guess. *56:37* Yeah. *56:41* More like it's *56:42* It's gamey. *56:43* There are cheat codes. *56:44* Um, there are Easter eggs. *56:45* It's just It was kind of nice to play a video game *56:47* video game in twenty twenty one when most things today are elaborate and serious and cinematic and just and those are games I love, but this just felt like *56:54* Wow, nice. *57:07* Like I guess what I'm trying to say is God of War is a retro or classic video game now. *57:09* Yeah *57:15* It it's cool. *57:16* And that I think is God of War. *57:18* Like that I that's the first game, season two, episode one in the book slogan. *57:20* I am actually really *57:25* stoked to play all of the games again because I haven't played Um Chains, Ghost, or Ascension since I played them the first time. *57:27* So I'm really eager to dig back into those and *57:37* I this is gonna be a lot of fun, I think. *57:41* I'm I'm really looking forward to this season. *57:42* Yeah, I'm uh Yeah, I I would say too, like I'm I'm really looking forward to every *57:46* Not to make this sound like a bad thing. *57:52* I think this was the one I was least excited about playing though, if I'm being honest. *57:54* Um we'll see if you that's how you feel after we play the multiplayer in Ascension. *57:59* Yeah, uh well Ascension I've never played though. *58:04* So Ascension and Ghost I've never played. *58:06* Chains I don't really remember in the slightest. *58:09* Um and then two and three I know and I like them more than one. *58:12* Um so I'd say this was the one I was probably least interested in returning to. *58:17* Not to say that yeah, I didn't like have a terrible time playing it. *58:23* It wasn't a slog or anything like that, and I I I've enjoyed that we've chosen this for sure. *58:27* But uh yeah, I'm *58:31* Bottom line, I'm very much looking forward to the other episodes as well. *58:33* I'm also looking forward to getting trophies on all these as well because I uh got them. *58:36* I don't know if I'm gonna *58:43* Don't try to plat them all. *58:44* I think I can get like we've been talking here. *58:47* I've been kind of rooting around and looking at the trophies on the other ones. *58:49* The second games list is very easy. *58:53* If there's a way that you can farm uh red orbs *58:55* pretty easy, actually. *58:59* I think I could just get the tr get the get that uh pretty easily. *59:00* So Yeah, I I haven't decided I haven't mentally decided if I want to uh plat all these. *59:06* The interesting thing is that I have *59:11* trophies in Ascension and in God of War 3 Remastered. *59:13* So it's like do I keep going? *59:17* Because I know for God of War Remastered I'd have to play on Titan mode. *59:20* I'm like, am I gonna want to do that? *59:24* Maybe. *59:27* Who knows? *59:27* We'll see. *59:28* Yeah. *59:29* But thank you all for listening to this first episode of season two of Chapter Select. *59:30* Uh if you would like to find *59:35* more about the show, you can go over to chapterselect. *59:38* com or go to chapterselect. *59:40* com slash season two and you'll be taken right uh to this uh season's list of episodes and check them all out. *59:42* Um the season one was all about Paper Mario and season zero was The Last of Us. *59:50* If you would like to check those out, you can do so as well. *59:53* Um *59:57* One more thing really quick about season two. *59:58* If you're listening to this, you can also watch it over on YouTube. *01:00:00* I've just decided to record the games while I play them, and then I'm gonna chop it up with the audio, and you can watch. *01:00:05* at least how I played God of War and whatnot going forward. *01:00:12* So that is an option for you as well. *01:00:16* You can find myself on Twitter at Max Roberts143. *01:00:19* You can find my writing over at maxfrequency. *01:00:23* net if you'd like to learn about the the history of Naughty Dog uh during the PS4 era, uh chasing the stick. *01:00:26* Check it out over there. *01:00:33* And then obviously this show chapter select. *01:00:34* Logan is on Twitter at Moreman12. *01:00:37* You can find his writing over at comic book. *01:00:39* dot com uh where I'm sure he will be uh pining to review God of War Ragnarok whenever that comes around. *01:00:42* in twenty twenty two someday, maybe. *01:00:51* Who su we'll see. *01:00:53* We'll see if this boy gets to review it. *01:00:54* I just hope it releases next year. *01:00:56* I just *01:00:58* I I I still I I don't trust any game releasing nowadays till it's in my hands. *01:01:00* So that just seems like the era we're in. *01:01:05* Yeah, I'm I I don't blame you. *01:01:08* Who knows? *01:01:11* We'll see how it all shakes out. *01:01:11* Uh but thank you all for listening, and uh we'll catch you next time. *01:01:13* Bye *01:01:17* Chapter Select is a max frequency production. *01:01:19* This episode was researched, produced, and edited by me, Max Roberts. *01:01:23* Season two is hosted by Logan Moore and myself. *01:01:27* And it's all about God of War. *01:01:31* For more on this season, go to chapterselect. *01:01:33* com forward slash season two. *01:01:36* To check out previous seasons, go to chapterselect. *01:01:38* com. *01:01:41* By the gods, you've done it. *01:02:02* Somehow you found your way here to me *01:02:04* I offer you my congratulations and my respect. *01:02:08* Together, we shall conquer the perils that lay before us. *01:02:13* And we shall owe it. *01:02:17* Dude, dude, they did it. *01:02:19* They found our Easter egg. *01:02:20* Who are you? *01:02:23* It's me, David Jaffey. *01:02:24* I directed the game. *01:02:26* What game? *01:02:28* Your game, God of War? *01:02:30* Go away or I dude dude don't don't you get it? *01:02:33* These guys they spent all that time breaking those statues. *01:02:36* I mean they must have taken like forever *01:02:39* And then they figured out the whole secret code thing. *01:02:40* I do not know what you are talking about. *01:02:43* We hid the secret pretty damn deep, huh, Kratos? *01:02:46* If I kill you *01:02:49* I will get help or so wait wait wait wait if you got the secret from the net or a magazine then actually you kinda suck. *01:02:50* I mean work for it a bit, right, Kratos? *01:02:58* Actually, can I call you crate? *01:03:00* No *01:03:02* Go away or don't you hate it when they get the codes off the net? *01:03:03* So lazy. *01:03:06* Hey see crepe, what what are you so pale for? *01:03:07* I am serious *01:03:10* You know, up close you actually look kinda pasty if you don't mind me saying it's it's kinda gross. *01:03:12* Craig, what are you doing? *01:03:19* Where are you going? *01:03:20* Craven, her! *01:03:22* We gotta make the sequel! *01:03:23* She was worse than a screeching hoppy! *01:03:27* As I was saying, you have found the secret. *01:03:32* You have done well. *01:03:36* Congratulations, Mortal. *01:03:38* We will meet again. *01:03:40*