FFXVI without a doubt has EPIC boss fights! The large scale along with how the boss fights are done is simply great. Add in the great musical score, it’s pretty awesome!! I love that line of dialogue right before one boss fight starts and you hear “Shiiiit, he’s invited a friend!” LOL. It’s really fantastic, what the game offers you in boss fights.
Ragnarok was NOT in anyway trying to mirror the “Grand scale” of the previous God of War games from past generations, there was no reason to do that. Santa Monica Studios was offering us players God of War, that felt familiar (in a sense) but fresh and new. We got a different approach in story, gameplay design and this older, wiser, Kratos, who was trying to move on from his past life of killing God’s with nothing but HATRED & VENGEANCE in his sight and heart. And as most of us know, the growth, depth and maturity Kratos displayed from 2018’s game to Ragnarok really was something to witness. I remember being a teenager and playing the old God of War games and loving them. Yet, and I might not be alone in this, as I’ve gotten grown up, now in my 30’s, with a wife, and our son who’s going to be going to college, I appreciate the change/risk people like Cory Barlog and the team at the studio took with God of War and Kratos as a character. Being able to relate to him as a father, and us having sons, and how certain things just really impact you, move you. Spoiler – Seeing Kratos and Atreus as a father and son in the game fight, connect, try to understand each other and interact together in boss fights had me thinking about how this could not only bring the end for Kratos???? and to just value and take in every moment (not knowing the end of the game yet) but also had me think on my son and I, how we are really close, how we connect over football, video games etc and how he’d be going off to college, starting his own path/life and the times we’ve had of gaming as a family, him, my wife and I, how that will change in some ways. Talking about the boss fights with him in Ragnarok was really great tho.
I know this is about Boss fights, but knowing Uncharted as a series is more known for its Epic set pieces these types of articles remind me of some complaints I saw after Uncharted 4’s release and how people were upset that Naughty Dog didn’t go to the scale of set piece moments from Uncharted 2/Uncharted 3. And again, it reminds me of what I believe Bruce said when him and Neil were being interviewed on what working on UNC4 meant for them, Bruce said something like “We don’t wanna make Uncharted 2 again. If we did, we’d just go back and play it” He said all of them as a studio have grown and people have grown and don’t want to just mimic THIS from Uncharted 2 and I couldn’t agree more. It’s about taking those set piece moments and still keeping them Epic, but grounding them in reality more and doing something different, still keeping the player in control of the action as much as absolutely possible. And ND, as we know, are masters at this.
So yeah, Ragnarok should not have been what FFXVI is, because what Ragnarok offers works, and incredibly well, polished to perfection as much as possible, complimenting the characters, the dialogue between them in gameplay and story cutscenes, and combat that did not need to reinvent anything again, as some think, but just fine tuned, improved and polished the combat to again, perfection.
Ragnarok is still the best game I’ve played since it’s release.
