How would you rank the gow trilogy from best to worst?

I would say 1,3 and then 2. 1 for me felt like the best package overall, and 3 brought a lot of cool moves to the series which is why I am putting it above 2. What about you guys?

The general consensus is that GoW II is the best. Between I and III, it may come down to what you consider to be more important. The original had superior level design, better tech, and a better story (if you care about that). III definitely has better combat, but they took some steps back with the collision and magic system.

God of War III also had the advantage of being the third game in main saga and having the largest budget by far. Thus, it will be under more scrutiny than GoW I. As of now, I have not fully formed my opinion on which entry takes second place. I will have to go through GoW I again (a few more times) in order to decide. It just comes to show how consistent in quality the GoW franchise was.

General concensus is indeed that GoW II is the best as a total package and also in terms of combat. Personally though I just prefer the original title the most for being such a well rounded stand-alone action title.

For me, 2>1>3

2’s combat and enemies are just so fucking wonderful, with great pacing and encounters. Even the platforming is fun, with the climbing combat. I love 1, great adventure all around, but 2 just surpassed it in a lot of ways when it comes to combat. 3 is great, but I dislike the nuked collision damage, and the other weapons always came across as meh to me. Not a huge fan of most of the bosses either, despite how epic the game is.

my ranking is same as infinity_divide.

2>3~1.
1 is more simple in many ways (e.g less moves and lesser variety of grabs), has less bosses, is significantly shorter than its mainline sequels, has arguably worse weapons in many ways (though BoA is still great overall), RotG is good but it takes too long to recharge it and you can't deactivate it at will. But it also has OH redirection (a fantastic technique that adds a lot of depth to the combat), home runs, and I love the platforming/trap parts.

2 has the most bosses, is the hardest overall, has slightly more enemy variety, has the best Rage mode in the series, and it features stuff like alternate OH (which is amazing), more types of OH in general with different effects and uses, the best art direction, a lot more grabs than in 1, etc. A pity they didn't allow us to redirect OH here as well. It also has seemingly less ring out spots.

3 improved a lot of things imo, but also made some steps back, with OH not working consistently (and often not causing collision damage at all), petrification being too expensive while being unable to target enemies with it, no tricking, and collisions not scaling with difficulty, though I think BR and CG make up for that flaw. Also, a few bosses are not exactly great, though I wouldn't call any of them bad. It's also a bit disappointing that we didn't get to fight gods such as Artemis and Apollo.

But overall I slightly prefer 3 to 1. All in all, for me GoW 2 is a 9.5 out of 10, and GoW 1/3 are a 9 out of 10. As a bonus, I'll rank the PSP titles as well: GoS is a 8 out of 10, and CoO is a 7 out of 10.

Still didn't play Ascension, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it.

I'd say Ascension is worth it for its highlights. I'm not as in-depth in the game as most here are, but felt it had some interesting mechanics and the Statue of Apollo is a fantastic level in terms of structure and general design. It's quite an experience to play through, at least once.

It seems all vets (except for Zesty, if you consider him a vet) hate Ascension, though.

And even without playing it, just via observation I can already say that some mechanics are crap, or at least questionable.

I mean, Rage mode restricting what was part of our basic moveset in previous games? WTF were they thinking?

Also, the magic system seems to have been dumbed down a lot due to having far less attacks, and no single target magic, not to mention the slowdown everytime you start using it. Sure, it was dumbed down in the PSP titles as well compared to the trilogy, but at least there it was understandable due to console limitations, Ascension however was released for the PS3.

Then they replaced subweapons with elements for the BoC, which seems to entail less weapon variety.

Grabs also seem much weaker, with even the Battering Ram dealing low damage.

These don't look like good premises for a good GoW game, but who knows, maybe I'll still love Ascension.

I think in cases like this, there's a difference between hate and bad. Ascension is unfinished and lacks love, but it's still a solid action game in a vacume. I wouldn't go in expecting a 10/10 GoW game, but it was a solid 7/10 romp for me that was enjoyable from beginning to end. Just not a title I'd ever go for mastery in.

I kind of prefer GoW1, but only because that's the title I've put the most hours on. Perhaps that will change when I give GoWII another go.

Haven't played the rest.

Royta/Raeng wrote:I think in cases like this, there's a difference between hate and bad. Ascension is unfinished and lacks love, but it's still a solid action game in a vacume. I wouldn't go in expecting a 10/10 GoW game, but it was a solid 7/10 romp for me that was enjoyable from beginning to end. Just not a title I'd ever go for mastery in.

Well, a 7 or 7,5 game is exactly what I would expect from Ascension, and if it's better than CoO, that's great.

Also, Zesty made a video about magic in the trilogy and in Ascension, and I can see my ovservation was right. Especially Poseidon's magic petrifying enemies, that seems to be even worse than in GoS since statues have too much HP.

Not to mention hiding magic behind upgrades, which is an idiotic design choice.

For me, it's God of War 3, then God of War, and then God of War 2.

God of War 1 and 2 are close to eachother but at the end of the day, i'll choose 1. 3? Now that's a big leap.

With 3, i just LOVE the things more than any other game. Simple as that. The weapons and their moves, the encounters, the movement and agility of Kratos both on the ground and in the air, and the wonderful complexity he has in that game.

Not here to say my main character HAS to be complex to enjoy a game, it's just that with 3 i have a lot of amazing options.

The Bow of Apollo is one of my favorite things in life, Something as simple as using Hermes' Boots in the most situational... situation is just something.

Then we have DA REEL weapons and i like all of them. The Blades are at their best, for me. Amazing normals, specials, COMBAT GRAPPLE, and for GoW3's case we have Nu-Bravery which works for the game it's in.
It absolutely makes no sense to have Nu-Bravery in GoW GoS and Ascension (finished PAIN yesterday, btw). It is DESIGNED for 3's enemies and stuff. It can still work amazingly for the other two titles i mentioned, but OG Bravery would've been better (and canon).

The Claws are love. I can never get enough of their fast launcher, Curse (Plume), its wide attacks, and the fantastic Soul Summon system (although i **and many** wish we had the guy himself, Hades to summon in the battlefield as the last soul. Still, the SS system is the best).

The Nemean Cestus. Fuckage.
A shit ton of useful moves right from the start, very neat and useful damaging tool, and generally keeps the fast pace and agility (being able to dodge).

Nemesis Whip, my beloved.
Fantastic setup tool. Love how they gave it the same CG the Blades has. Light special is lovely.
The gimmick with the weapon (holding buttons) is good but not something i ever use. Brings a tactical feel that GoW2 had with its weapons (Hammer giving rage orbs, Spear giving MP orbs). Too bad GoW3's rage doesn't deal that insane of a damage to ever consider it. It's only good to pop every now and then to whale on a single grunt or something.

Lovely equipment.

I feel like i don't need to touch on the encounters. Classic GoW encounters with multiple problems and options for creativity. So many amazing RO spots.
GoW3's wall combat is also the best (for how little they use it).
Love the encounters (as a whole, broadly) the most in this entry. So many amazing encounters, with one of them (Box 6) being tied with the Loom Chamber from GoW2 for the number 1 best encounter.

God of War 1 is the second favorite for some weird reasons that i'm sure you guys can understand.
MG being used for SO many spots is amazing, OH redirection, MANY ring out spots, huge open encounters, and simply the game allowing for the most creativity with its verticality and arena structure. So many setups and creative plays.

The arsenal, other than Arty, is perfect. The magic attacks are all useful (maybe not ZF to THAT extent, but it's still useful for ring outs).

The Blades have the best normals in franchise. No arguing with that. It does have two of the best specials (jump and grab) tho. That does balance it out. The amount of fast braveries you can do are the love of the universe.

Arty is one of my favorite weapons of all time. It is also one of the worst weapons of all time.
It has a lot of flaws, as you all know. But when mastered, it becomes one of the favs babes.


That's GoW1.

Then we have God of War 2 which is the most tactical and straight to the point one.
For me, this one has nearly the best of everything. Best Magic? Euryale's Head. Best soundtracks? GoW2. Best boss in the series? Sisters of Fate. Best encounter? Loom Chamber (recently, Box 6 from GoW3 has been tied with it). Best art style? GoW2. Best resource management? GoW2 with its secondaries giving different orbs, chest spots and grabbing enemies that give certain orbs (like other games).
Best Rage? GoW2. Best secondary weapon? Spear of DENSITY.

It just isn't my favorite becuz read above (GoW3 stuff i prefer), and is slightly behind 1 becuz of personal reasons (again, read above).

The game does SO many things right, but the other two do things the extra mile. Still, it is VERY close to 1. Can't go wrong with the trilogy.

I look forward watching Mustafa EVOLVE his FEELINGS (rankings/takes) on GoW:A as he has to do more and higher runwork with it. *dohohohohohoho*

NOTE: GoWII? Tops. GoW1? Close second. GoWIII? Admirable for a non-PS2 THAD. Quite unlike the only entry to fail at being a swan song for its console (GoWII and GoS were both this, but not so much Ascension *poor PSTRipple got done dirty*).

>Ascension
>EVOLVE MAH THINKIN'
It's a lovely game. Maybe its PAIN and higher runs are ridiculous, but still a really good game. It's God of War. A God of War that absolutely BOTCHED magic, missed the opportunity to have elemental advantage (not color coding), messed up with its encounter structure (hazards not damaging foes, balancing shit around item usage and such), and missed the balancing of nearly everything (grabs damage, weapon attacks scaling and such) thanks to you, Mr. BigMastahBlastah who ASKED for multiplayer.

"Imma get medieval on yo ass"

Recently, i've been showing a whole lot of love for GoS. Perhapse even more than GoWA (your favorite game). I still don't know where it stands now.

>ascension surpass GoS
Have to play more of the latter, but I think it is above it or atleast for me for the interesting stuff it brings to the table like tether.

The lack of betreyal talk is irritating.

On a serious note, with some expert modding, it COULD become quite the experience, its the only 2D gow experience we have acces to.

Just stop. You're hurting my feelings with all these typos, Dante!

>asking to see us kek'd like PoP was in 2D
Monkey Paw, when?

>lovely game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5g_gs6nnyo

>love for GoS
Gay Ron and the lovely ladies will help you check those feelings just a bit. Won't be as severe as GoW:A, mind you. Well, unless you're fool enough to try PAIN+ cyclops/wraiths without boundary abuse.

>For you to poop on
How the hell do you find these videos?

>Gay Rons
They be ballin'

>Ladies
I've gotten good (and patient) enough to the point where they aren't that bad to fight in PAIN+.

>Wryclops encounter
>Without boundary
Naaaaaaaaaah.
That boundary's not going to use itself. It almost feels intentionally put there.

>find them
I search for terms relevant to things that my memory instantly gravitates to. I'm not randomly encountering them, Mustafa. This is how I think (often in references).

>big ballin'
Out of control. But you know what they say. If balls touch...And it ain't June, lad. Don't let True Gamer and the Sussy Squad fool you with their cries for goodnight kisses.

>nah
All shaft? Word.