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God of War:
God Mode Survival Guide
v1.4
Author: Andre de Leon
Email:
[email protected]
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Table of Contents
I. Introduction
A. Priorities
B. Game Mechanics
II. Enemy Classes and Weaknesses
III. Survival Guide
Act 1: Aegean Sea
Act 2: Athens
Act 3: Desert of Souls
Act 4: Pandora's Temple
Act 5: Underworld
Act 6: Return to Athens
Act 7: Battle with a God
IV. Legal
V. Version History
VI. Credits
Legend:
L = light attack (normally, square attack)
H = heavy attack (normally, triangle attack)
G = grab attack (normally, circle attack)
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I. Introduction
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Wow. I honestly never thought I'd see so many people not only play God of War,
but also play it in God Mode. Hats off to all you, brave souls. This guide is
most definitely made for the crazy lot.
This is my first guide, so do expect some irregularities, update and format
wise.
For the record, I've beaten the game in god mode at around 5:30 am, third of
April. The guide was originally meant to help people beat the 2nd sequence in
the last battle with Ares, considered by many to be the hardest and most
challenging battle in the entirety of the game. Ever since I've beaten it,
a multitude of submissions have been sent, detailing how they beat the
sequence themselves. Many of these strategies are more expedient and effective
than the one I used, so I'll try and list as many of these as possible.
I'm not about to tell you what you get exactly by beating the game, as much of
it is already outlined in the TREASURES menu, so don't worry about spoilers
related to that. I'm also assuming that you've finished the game at least once
so I won't be going over a lot of puzzle solutions, telling you where to go,
etc. This is merely a guide to ensure that you get to Ares with everything
you're going to need to survive the battle with him. Nothing more.
--A. Priorities--
If you plan on beating God Mode, you really should prioritize all of the
following.
1. Max out your weapons and magic in this order:
- Blades of Chaos
- Army of Hades
- Poseidon's Rage
You can level up everything else in whichever order you prefer after you
maxed out those 3 things. The Blade of Artemis is utterly useless, so
that should be the last thing you max out. Suffice it to say, it'd be
best if you know where all the red orb chests are.
2. Know where both Muse Keys are, and use them to enter the secret room at
the lower levels of Pandora's Temple. This is the only way you can max
out both your health and magic bar. You'll be needing all the health and
magic you can get. You won't necessarily need to find all Gorgon's Eyes
and Phoenix Feathers, but it helps if you possess as much health and
magic before you get to the secret room.
3. Save the Rage of the Gods as much as you can. Filling the meter for it is
plenty involved already. I only used it 3 times throughout the entire
game, and when I did, I REALLY had to. You can use it as much as you
want though, just be sure you have a full meter once you fight Ares.
4. Know your enemies. Know your game mechanics. I'll be outlining these,
just in case you didn't know about them. Familiarize yourself with what
you can exploit, because it will make things easier for you.
--B. Game Mechanics--
1. Damage Index --God Mode--
You only inflict half as much damage to your opponents. On the other
hand, you take 5 times as much damage from enemy attacks. DON'T get hit.
Opponents are suppose to be more aggressive, but, honestly, I couldn't
tell the difference. Either way, use this to your advantage; parry and
reverse a lot.
Besides these, everything else stays the same. Bosses will fight the same
way, puzzles will be solved the same way, etc.
2. Effective "Arena"
All your opponents are only suppose to attack you within a pre-determined
area. This is true for all difficulty levels. This means that an enemy
will not be able to follow nor attack you if you backtrack enough. If you
notice the opponent unable to follow you back to a doorway, then you'll
know you're beyond his "arena" of influence. Use your distance attacks to
painlessly dispose of hordes of enemies this way. If a room is sectioned
off by the red, monster gates, you really can't use this trick. You'll
have to kill all the monsters within that area before you can proceed.
3. Doublecast --Army of Hades, Poseidon's Rage--
As you know, you can cast as much magic as possible WITHOUT draining your
magic meter when you activate the Rage of the Gods after maxing out your
Blades of Chaos. The problem is you can only cast one magic at a time.
Not only that, your casting time is still the same for all magic attacks.
It doesn't help that the Rage of the Gods doesn't last very long, so
you'll have to cast as much magic as possible within a short amount of
time. The key is casting one magic, then switching and casting something
else while the first one is still in effect. The best one I've found
starts off with the Army of Hades, followed by Poseidon's Rage. You can
do this doublecast twice per use of the Rage of the Gods. You WILL need
to utilize this if you are to ever beat the 2nd sequence in the battle
with Ares.
Alternate Doublecast:
Contributor:
Ben Baxter
You can cast 5 spells during Rage of the Gods if you cast the spells in
this order: Army of Hades, Poseidon's Rage, Poseidon's Rage, Army of
Hades, Poseidon's Rage.
I haven't tried this myself, so confirm it for me if you guys have time.
4. Best Combo Strings --Blades of Chaos--
Set 1: use these to knockout entire groups of opponents
L, L(hold)
L, L, L(hold)
Set 2: use these to inflict massive damage to opponents; possible
juggle starter on second hit of both strings
L, H, H, H
H, H, H
Set 3: you're only meant to chip away at an enemy with these; meant
to be cancelled to parry/block
L, L ...
You really shouldn't be using any of the other attacks available to you
in the game besides these. Execute short, effective combos to decrease
likelihood of counterattack from opponents. The above combos will tide
you over most situations you'll be encountering throughout the game, so
use them accordingly.
5. Attack Analysis
L = light attack
You're not really meant to inflict damage with any of the L attacks.
What they lack in power, they more than make up for in speed, both
execution-wise and recovery-wise. Canceling to parry/block is meant
to be instantaneous during L attacks, so if you're expecting your
opponent to counter, be sure to be doing these. Many of the L attacks
end up knocking away, but not juggling, your opponents. Effective
radius of L attacks are much larger too, due to the wide, horizontal
arcs they make.
H = heavy attacks
These are your juggle starters and damage dealers. You inflict about
2 to 5 times more damage compared to L attacks, but canceling to
parry/block takes forever. Execution is normally slower as well,
giving your opponent an opportunity to interrupt you. High risk, high
reward. Effective radius is mostly limited, rectangular, and in a
straight line.
G = grab attack
These deal even more damage than H attacks surprisingly enough, and
is the only way to start off the various mini-games in the game. You
deal about 2 to 5 times more damage than your strongest H attacks
with these. G is your best option after a juggle starter because of
the shear amount of damage you inflict. You are normally invincible
from attacks during throw animations and mini-game sequences, so use
G often when surrounded. G won't always work, but when it does,
it's inescapable, and could mean instant death to one or more
opponents.
6. Herding
All of your opponents have a bad habit of trying to surround you, more
notably the faster ones.
7. Enemy Strings
Enemies also have a bad habit of attacking one after the other, so if
you fail to block one attack, subsequent attacks will hit you too, which
could mean instant death for you. Reversals can be interrupted too, so
expect to get hit a lot this way.
8. Alternate Costumes
If you were as stupid as I was, then you would have thought that you
could use the Dairy Bastard in God Mode. Boy, how wrong I was. Nothing
gets past David Jaffe and his team apparently--they made sure that you
can't pick any of the specialized costumes in God Mode. Fiddlesticks.
9. Friendly Fire
Certain enemy attacks will inflict damage to you and surrounding
enemies.
10. Avenues of Helplessness
You are most vulnerable, gameplay-wise, whenever you're scaling walls or
moving via horizontal rope. Not only can you not cast magic, you can't
block nor do most of your combos. You'll have to pass through these
obstacles as quickly as possible, most notably the rope ones.
You're assailed left and right during these obstacles, with very little
room to maneuver. Only 2 enemies can attack you at a time, but when they
do, they inflict a tremendous amount of damage to you.
Keep heading the way you want to go without stopping. Once within range
of the enemy in front of you, use only L attacks. It normally takes
8-9 L attacks for an opponent to fall off, so start hitting them early.
The range of L attacks is pretty good too while on the rope, so hitting
them early shouldn't be too hard. If done right, the opponent behind you
should keep missing, while you keep moving forward.
If the ones behind you ever catch up to you, you'll have to hit both
left and right opponents, one after the other, taking care to hit each
only once. This way, both opponents are always stunned and getting
damaged at the same time. Once both fall off, proceed onwards.
When scaling walls, try to use G as much as you can. You can't G the
ones that are far away or below your legs, so use L attacks instead.
11. Platforms
If you're opponent is on a higher platform, he can't hit you at all--not
unless he's an Archer. Use the Set 2 strings to inflict damage to
opponents on higher platforms.
12. Angled Walkways
If you end up having to fight in steep places, like stairs, your G
function becomes really glitchy. Most of the time, you end up missing
the G after a juggle. You get a regular G instead, which could mean
your opponent auto-escaping the attempt and getting up faster than
usual.
13. Swimming
No one else can swim. No opponent will attack you if you're in a deep,
body of water.
14. Precipice
Opponents can be thrown or sent spinning towards chasms. You can fall
victim to some of these chasms, but they're always deadly to enemies.
You have to remember that the game sets where you can and can not go,
and it so happens that many of the places you can't go to are chasms.
Opponents that die this way, don't give out red orbs, but you do end up
killing them instantly in the process. Heavier opponents are sometimes
susceptible to this too, so try to knock them off to chasms as much as
you can.
Opponents that fall off from ropes ALWAYS give you an orb of some form.
Opponents that fall off after scaling through walls won't give you orbs,
not unless you slam them to the wall first, or you're near where they
land when they do fall.
15. Skip Cinemas
You can only skip over a cinema/cut scene/cg sequence when you've
somehow watched it already within the same playthrough. It doesn't count
if it's a different save, or a different playthrough. This means that,
once you play through a new game, you'll HAVE to re-watch all the
cinemas, even though, technically, you've watched it already when you
played the game before. That's a different playthrough though, hence why
you're forced to watch it again. All the cinemas are very good, mind
you, but, more than likely, you're tired of seeing it by now.
Skip cinemas by pressing X.
16. Enemy Weight
Opponents have set weights that determines how easy it is to juggle
them. There are 3 main weight classes:
Small
These are the easiest to juggle. Juggle starters always work on them.
When they're airborne and you perform a G attack, you make them
bounce up again, which means you can perform another G attack. Keep
doing this until you've disposed of the opponent.
Medium
Juggle starters work on them still, but they don't bounce up after
you perform a G attack while they're airborne. Your opponent should
still be grounded after the G attack though, so use your Set 2
attacks as soon as you slam it to the ground.
Large
You simply can't juggle these opponents. Stick to short, quick combos
or perform the heaviest Set 2 attacks FROM A DISTANCE, whenever you
encounter these. Dodge as soon as you end your combos.
For details on the weight of each enemy in the game, go to Enemy Classes
and Weaknesses Section of this faq.
17. Enemy Invincibility
When an enemy performs an attack, you can no longer interrupt it with
a melee attack. Use a magic attack, like Poseidon's Rage, if you intend
to interrupt an enemy.
Be mindful of this, especially when performing juggle starters. If you
try to juggle an enemy that's attacking you, then you WILL get hit.
If you're hitting an enemy in mid-strike, your hits still count
damage-wise, but it doesn't mean you'll be interrupting his attacks.
18. Mini-Game Alternative
When an enemy becomes groggy, a mini-game becomes available, but it
doesn't really mean you should initiate it. Sometimes, it's more
advantageous for you to NOT go through the mini-game. A prime example
would be the Minotaurs. If you kill them by attacking them instead of
going through the throat-stab mini-game, you get red orbs instead of
the green orbs you'd normally get when you finish the mini-game.
To kill an enemy when a mini-game becomes available, perform H attacks,
Set 1 attacks, or magic attacks.
19. Juggle Starters
An opponent can only be juggled once you've inflicted a certain amount
of damage to it. Some opponents require only one hit for you to juggle
them. Others might require more. Good rule of thumb is, the bigger an
opponent is, the harder it is to juggle them.
20. Limits of the Rage of the Gods
Do realize that you're NOT offered invincibility when you cast Rage of
the Gods. It does increase your armor, but not by much.
Try not to initiate mini-games, throw, or GET thrown, when you cast it
because your meter is STILL depleting in mid-animation. You'll just end
up wasting it. Again, you're better off with a doublecast of some sort
while you're in this mode.
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II. Enemy Classes and Weaknesses
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There's 2 major classes of enemies--Airborne and Grounded. The Grounded ones
are definitely tougher and more prevalent. How you fight them determines how
much life you end up with till the next time you see a health chest. Just
remember that you want to kill your opponent as quickly and as painlessly as
possible. I wouldn't suggest performing long strings of combos at all. Don't
bother with air combos that don't involve the G attack. You still want to
juggle your opponents. Just don't do anything fancy afterwards. Grab them while
they're in the air, and keep at it if possible. You kill your opponents faster
this way. Try not to do any of L1+(any attack button), because they leave you
open to attack, and they tend to inflict minimal damage, despite the high
number of hits you inflict. Save your magic till you get surrounded. Save your
Rage of the Gods till you get to the harder portions of the game, which is
outlined in the Survival Guide Section of this faq.
Though your opponents vary aesthetically and skill-wise, their A.I. divides
them in distinct subclasses. Enemies within a subclass should be handled the
same way you would handle any one else within that subclass. That means, a
Cyclops Brute will always fall for the same tactics that you'd use against
Cyclops Enforcers or Desert Kings, because they all fall under the same
subclass--namely, the Cyclops subclass.
Here's a detailed breakdown on how your enemies are divided. Right next to the
subclass name is their weight.
--A. Airborne Class--
Harpies --Small--
Best attacks: G, Set 2
These are the only true, naturally, airborne opponents in the game.
They're always susceptible to G attacks, so as soon as you're near
them, grounded or in mid-air, perform a G attack and you instantly kill
one. Just remember that you don't earn any orbs this way.
Certain variations of these perform an unblockable ground strike. A
red circular target of sorts appears on the ground and tries to follow
you within a certain amount of time. When time runs out, the Harpy
performs the attack, inflicting damage to anything within the target.
Dodge as often as you can when you see the target. Don't try to
interrupt or parry this because you'll just get hit.
--B. Grounded Class--
Cyclops --Large--
Best attacks: Set 2
Weakness: Zeus' Thunderbolts
Stick to distance attacks, but make sure you're not so far away that
the Cyclops might perform a shoulder tackle. The best time to attack
is after they perform their attacks. When the opportunity arises,
perform Set 2 attacks.
Cyclopes are suppose to be weak against Zeus' Thunderbolts. Poseidon's
Rage works well enough though. If you're going to use the thunderbolts,
charge them before you throw them at a Cyclops.
I can't remember a time when I've successfully parried nor blocked any
of their attacks, so, more than likely, NONE of their attacks is
blockable to begin with. Again, dodge when they attack, and attack
accordingly.
When a mini-game becomes available, try to initiate it. You want to
dispose of them as fast as possible.
Satyr --Medium--
Best attack string: G(mini-game), Set 2(juggle), G, G(mini-game)...etc
Best attacks: Set 1, Set 2
Weakness: Army of Hades
These are definitely the most skilled opponent you'll face in the game.
They actually HAVE reversals. They can throw you, push you far back
if you block certain parts of their strings, and are quick and burly in
general.
The one thing you should watch out for is his reversal, which starts
off with him taunting you almost, by standing on his pole. NEVER
attack him while he's taunting you. You can parry the reversal itself
by making sure you cancel your initial attack into a parry. The Satyr's
reversal is rather quick though, so it's not always advisable to do
so. This is actually the best time to attack someone else seeing as
the taunt lasts for a short time, and seeing as the Satyr himself is
not attacking you anyway.
His throw attempt starts off with a quick staff spin, followed by a
staff thrust that is blockable. If you fail to block any part of the
2 hit string, you WILL be thrown.
I found the Satyr susceptible to a certain sequence of attacks that
starts off with a G attack. Most people don't know it, but Satyrs are
easy to throw. This starts a mini-game that doesn't do much damage
at all. All it does is knock him off of his feet, so it doesn't seem
like much, when in actuality, you set him up for an almost infinite set
of juggle starters.
Here's how it works. First off, do a G attack. This should initiate a
mini-game where you fight for the Satyr's staff. Just hit the circle
button as much as you can and you should win every time. The Satyr ends
up knocked down, facing upwards with his feet AWAY from you. Normally,
when you attack a knock downed Satyr, he'll perform a spring back
attack that hits you. But the spring back attack only works IF his feet
is facing TOWARDS you. In this string, however, his feet is AWAY from
you. If you try to attack him in this grounded state, he performs the
spring back attack but ends up MISSING you AND standing up but facing
AWAY from you. In this state, he CAN'T BLOCK ANYTHING. He's open to
just about ANYTHING you can throw at him.
At this point you could opt for another throw attempt OR perform a
juggle starter, using the various Set 2 attacks--the latter is your
best option. Do a G attack again to slam him down on the ground. Do
another G attack and you'll initiate the mini-game again.
Rinse and repeat. It's that simple. The most skilled opponent in the
game beaten using 3 sequences of attacks, done over and over again;
it's sad almost, if these guys weren't so annoying.
Minotaur --Medium--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, Set 2
Medusa's Gaze(L1+L), Set 2
Best Attacks: Set 1, Set 2
Weakness: Medusa's Gaze
Yeah I know. It doesn't look like it, but they're actually considered
Medium, weight-wise, because you can actually juggle these. They can
block, and if you hit them enough, they'll perform a push-back attack
that does a laughable amount of damage, even in God Mode.
If your Blades of Chaos is leveled up enough, you can parry anything
they can throw at you--even their powerful downward strikes.
Medusa's Gaze works surprisingly well enough against them. Just be
sure to use H attacks to shatter them as fast as possible.
When the mini-game becomes available, you have a choice of attacking
it or going through the mini-game. Try to kill them instead, just
because they give out a lot of red orbs. If you're low in health,
proceed with the mini-game.
Alternative Strategy:
Contributor:
[email protected]
It's common knowledge to most of us that by holding H at any point in
any combo, you end up performing a juggle starter that takes BOTH
Kratos and his opponent up to the air.
Minotaurs are still susceptible to this. Not only that, if you perform
a G while in the air, you start an infinity juggle because the
Minotaur will keep bouncing back up after every G attack.
Now, it's quite possible that this attack string might work on lighter
opponents BESIDES the Minotaurs. I haven't tried this combo myself, so
if you guys have time, confirm it for me.
Centaur --Medium--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, Set 2
Best Attacks: Set 2
Weakness: Blade of Artemis
Stick to distance attacks when you encounter these. As far as I can
remember, you don't encounter them a lot, but when you do, you can
always take advantage of the Effective Arena trick to dispose of them
easily.
You can't use G attacks on them, not unless the mini-game becomes
available. They actually auto-reverse when you attempt to throw them.
Watch out for the ground wave attack. It does about 40% of damage to
you and it's unblockable. Their arrow attacks are blockable, however.
They're supposedly weak against the Blade of Artemis, but you have to
remember how limited your defense and offense is when you do use it.
You have to be fairly near one just so you can hit them, which works
wonders for Centaurs because they need you to be that close so that
they can hit you with their melee attacks--in groups, that is. For the
most part, it's not worth using it, especially if it means you'd have
to give up your distance.
Juggle starters do work on them, it just takes a while. As usual,
perform a G attack on a successful hit.
Cerberus Breeder --Medium--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, Set 2
Medusa's Gaze(L1+L), Set 2
Best Attacks: Set 2
Weakness: Medusa's Gaze
These are the full-grown, 3-headed ones. This should be last thing you
should prioritize. Set your sights on the smaller, one-headed versions
first, seeing as you don't want too many of them running around and
growing up to the 3-headed version.
Their leaping melee attacks are their most dangerous attacks. All of
their other attacks are blockable, even the fireballs.
These are still susceptible to Medusa's Gaze, so if you're going to
kill these quickly, use that magic.
It takes a while before you can juggle these, so be careful.
Cerberus Offspring/Seed --Light--
Best Attacks: Set 1
Weakness: Medusa's Gaze
These are incredibly annoying, and you normally fight a slew of these
at a time. Watch out for their leap attacks, most notably, the
incendiary version. Parry/reverse as soon as you see these--you want to
knockdown groups of them as much as you can.
Use Medusa's Gaze if possible. When petrified, they crumble easily,
so this is the fastest way you can kill them.
Note that as soon as you kill one of these, another one replaces it, so
battles with these are quite involved. It doesn't help that they don't
give you much in terms of orbs.
You fight so many of these that it's hard to perform infinite G attacks
when your juggle starter does connect, due to all the interrupts you
are susceptible too. Set 1 attacks should knock away groups of these,
so use it often.
Gorgon --Light--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
Poseidon's Rage, Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
Best Attacks: Set 2
Weakness: Poseidon's Rage
By now, you should know that these are invincible to Medusa's Gaze, but
are really weak against Poseidon's Rage. After you cast this, they're
normally stunned enough that a Set 2(juggle) is guaranteed.
These tend to dodge a lot after the first or second hit, so be ready to
parry their attacks. Their dodge-to-claw-swipe inflicts an incredible
amount of damage, so parry/block this particular attack as soon as you
see the Gorgon dodge.
In their case, I'd rather go through the mini-game. More than likely,
I've cast Poseidon's Rage anyway, so I know I've lost a good deal of
magic by now. These are the only opponents that are guaranteed to give
you magic orbs once you finish the mini-game, so take advantage of the
mini-game as much as you can.
These opponents are light enough that you can infinitely bounce them up
after each G attack, so if you want red orbs instead, this is the
fastest way to kill them.
Alternative Strategy:
Contributors:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Much like the Minotaurs, Gorgons are also susceptible to infinite air
throw juggles.
Siren --Light--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
Weakness: Zeus' Thunderbolts
These things are really, really weak. None of their attacks are worth
noting, seeing as most of them are blockable. They are pretty fast,
but really light as well, to the point that you can infinitely bounce
them. If a mini-game becomes available, I'd just go through with it.
Wraith --Light--
Best Attack String: G, G...etc
Best Attacks: G
Weakness: Medusa's Gaze
These are way too easy to throw, so just block their attacks and throw
them as often as possible. All their attacks are blockable. Don't even
bother wasting your magic on these.
Archer --Light--
Best Attack String: G, L
These are also way too easy to throw. Not only that, if you press
L after G, you end up swinging the Archer around, and killing the
Archer and every one else you hit while swinging the Archer. If you
target heavier, more burlier, sets of opponents, you do an incredible
amount of damage to that opponent.
When you're near, they do perform a melee attack, but you should be
able to grab them faster than they can melee you.
Undead Legionnaire --Light--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
G, L
These are the undead soldiers that are not wearing much armor. You see
them for the first time in Act 1. Throw these around like the Archers
as much as possible.
If you attack these while they're grounded, they perform a helicopter
attack similar to the one that Kratos has, so be ready to parry as soon
as you attack.
If you perform H after you grab these, you don't get any red orbs at
all.
Fallen/Cursed Legionnaire --Light--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
(inflict damage)mini-game, G, L
These have more armor than their undead brethren. Their attacks are
much more powerful too. Most notable of which is their jumping attack
with the tell-tale blue-slash fx. Watch out for this, because you'll
be wanting to reverse as soon as you see it. The enemy itself is only
damaged by the reverse, but you do end up knocking away just about
everyone else around you.
These auto-escape your initial G attempts. You can only grab them as
soon as the mini-game becomes available. Once you do grab them, treat
them as if they're Archers and throw them towards everyone else.
If you perform H after you grab these, you don't get any red orbs at
all.
Magic Legionnaire --Light--
Best Attack String: L, L, H, Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
L, L, H, (inflict damage)mini-game, G, L
Once you destroy their shield, treat them as if they're Fallen/Cursed
Legionnaires.
Legionnaire Captains --Light--
Best Attack String: Set 2(juggle), G, G...etc
Best Attack: Set 1, Set 2
These are second only to Satyrs, skill-wise. They have a wide variety
of attacks, most notable of which are their stabbing attacks and their
3-hit string. You can not escape nor block their throw attempts either,
so keep your distance. These auto-escape your initial G attempts as
well, but because they always attempt a stabbing attack afterwards,
you're given a free parry/reverse opportunity every time too, so take
advantage of this as much as you can.
Your best recourse is to fight them defensively. Perform short Set 2
attacks, and quickly block if need be. If the juggle's successful,
finish them off with an infinite string of G attacks. If it's not
successful, get ready for retaliation.
They always perform a stab attack right after you attack them when
they're grounded, so be sure to parry/reverse every time they do.
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III. Survival Guide
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Mt. Olympus is considered the last act, and we all know we don't need to do
much there, so I won't be going over it. I'll be detailing what you need to
watch out for in the rest of the acts, particularly what you'll probably have
trouble in, enemy-wise.
--Act 1: Aegean Sea--
This is the perfect time for you to practice fighting Undead Legionnaires and
Archers. Just remember how useful those grab attacks are, and you'll be fine.
You'll be encountering Harpies for the first time as well, so grab them out
of the air as often as you can or perform short Set 2 attacks.
There's also a quick way to solve the box puzzle. Just kick the box to the
furthest side of the boat, either to the extreme left or extreme right. Once
the box is flush to the side of the boat, start kicking it forward.
Your opponents targeting system is a little off when you're on the side of the
ship. They get into the habit of targeting you, heading-wise--that is, they
try to predict where you are going, and hit you on the way to your destination.
Of course, this would work if you could go past the side of the ship, but you
won't. The Archers end up over-estimating and missing you completely. Just
time your dodges to ensure your safety.
Once you get the box near the high platforms, the Archer's aim degrades even
more, so you should be safe until you can position it near the netting.
Soon after this, you should be scaling walls. Note the amount of damage you
take the longer that you stay in one place. Move up as fast as you can. Attack
opponents only when necessary.
Soon after this, should be the boss fight with the Hydra.
Hydra Boss Strategy
The smaller hydra heads give out so much health and magic orbs once you hit
them that they don't really pose a threat. Do a lot of Set 3 attacks, parry
when they attack, and use as much magic as you want. Even if you get hit,
chances are, they'll heal you with all orbs that you'll be getting. Just
remember that you get more orbs just by casting Poseidon's Rage on the
head.
Once you battle the 3rd head, keep in mind the safe spot behind the wooden
pole. The monster doesn't have anything he can hit you with when you're
behind it, save his roar attack that just pushes you back, so it's more of
a taunt than an attack, really.
Try not to get hit by his bites as they do 95% of damage to you.
The hydra will keep using his roar attack on you, not unless you try and
hit him. Don't worry about missing him. You just want to coax him to bite
the platform, so that once he misses, he'll be within range of your
attacks.
Attack when he bites the N side of the circular platform. Start with
Poseidon's Rage, then end with a full, Set 3 combo. Every time you end with
this string, you end up gaining so much magic and health in the
process. If you're careful enough, I wouldn't worry about both magic and
health at this point--just end this battle as soon as possible.
--Act 2: Athens--
Don't forget to do the Sex mini-game after the cg sequence.
Once you do leave the boat, you end up facing the Fallen Legionnaires for
the first time. You will be facing them often throughout the game, so I'd
start getting used to parry/reversing their attacks and killing them as
quick as possible.
You should meet the Minotaurs and the Cyclopes soon after. Start getting
used to their attacks and the fastest way to kill them. Soon afterwards is
the battle with Medusa.
Medusa Boss Strategy
This fight will last too long if you don't cast Poseidon's Rage. I suggest
casting as much of it as soon as possible. Run up to the chest, get magic
orbs, then, again, cast Poseidon's Rage as much as possible. By then, you
should have inflicted an incredible amount of damage to her.
At this point, parry/block as much as you can, carefully performing short
Set 3 combos on Medusa. You can block all of her attacks, save the gaze,
so you should be fine if you just hold L1 a lot.
The problem really is the amount of damage she can inflict on you if you
mess up on your parry/block. If she succeeds with her dodge-to-claw-swipe
attack, she inflicts about 80% of damage to you, so be careful.
If you feel like risking it, do L, H. You might just get lucky and end up
juggling her.
Once you do beat her, you'll have to kill a bunch of Minotaurs, which is
made easy by your newly acquired skill AND by a temporarily infinite magic
bar. This sequence is pretty fun, so I'd enjoy it while it lasts.
Eventually, you'll meet regular Gorgons for the first time. They're not as
strong as Medusa, but they can REALLY inflict a lot of damage on you still,
so be mindful of how they attack and parry a lot. Cast Poseidon's Rage if
possible.
The first horizontal rope walkway appears here. This is going to be really
difficult the first run through, so remember your game mechanics.
You should reach a series of houses after a quick puzzle that involves
petrifying a Minotaur. There's tons of chests in the houses so I'd check
each and every single one of them.
Archers are all over the place, so throw them at other enemies as much as
possible.
Once you get to the Town Square, you should meet the Cyclopes Brutes.
There's a lot of bystanders when you fight them, so health shouldn't be
an issue, but do familiarize yourself with their attacks at this point, as
you'll be fighting a lot of these soon.
An old woman with a key that you need should die soon, so you'll end up
backtracking and meeting more Gorgons and Magic Legionnaires, which you
should see for the first time. Again, treat them as regular Fallen
Legionnaires as soon as you destroy their shields.
When you get to the rooftops, prepare yourself for your first encounter
with the Wraiths. You'll be fighting Wraiths, Fallen Legionnaires, and
some Archers downstairs. Once you go up, you'll be fighting Wraiths and
some Cyclopes. *POSSIBLE USE OF RAGE OF THE GODS* The battle upstairs
CAN be taxing, so you should probably use the Rage of the Gods, once
you start seeing the Cyclopes.
After climbing a series of pillars, you should reach the fork that leads to
Zeus' Thunderbolts. I'd take that first, then proceed upstairs. Once you do
get upstairs, don't forget all forks in the pathway and get all the chests.
Before you reach the Temple of the Oracle, you end up fighting a series of
Harpies and Gorgons. Dispose the Harpies as fast as you can before you
attack the Gorgons--it's easier this way.
After the long puzzle with the Oracle, you should reach 2 branching
pathways. I suggest going upstairs for an item, then proceed down the
sewers. If possible, remember the chests you pass by, and save them for
later use. You might need them.
You'll eventually fight a series of enemies that starts off with 2
Cyclopes and Fallen Legionnaires, then ends with Minotaurs, Archers, and
more Legionnaires. If possible, employ the Effective Arena trick,
especially if you're low in life/magic. You will be facing a lot of
enemies at a time, so more than likely, you'll sustain a lot of damage.
Backtrack to the chests you passed by, if need be.
--Act 3: Desert of Lost Souls--
The hunt for the Sirens is deceptive to begin with. Even though Athena tells
you there's 3 Sirens, there's only 1 Siren in the ENTIRE desert at a time.
There's also a precise order to where each subsequent Siren appears. A Siren
will appear in the NE, SE, and W side of the map, in that order. The Sirens DO
move a lot, so they won't always be in the same location, but they normally
move near or around their spawn points. Jumping enlarges your view of the
horizon, so jump a lot if need be.
Tons of chests hidden in this area, by the way. If you feel up to it, go look
for all of them.
Once you're in the middle of the conveyor belt puzzle, just remember to
prioritize knocking down opponents, and not so much trying to kill them.
Alternate Strategy:
Contributor:
[email protected]
He points out that you could actually destroy the spiked cylinder at the very
end of the conveyor belt. The puzzle itself isn't too hard or that taxing that
you'd employ this, but it's something neat, nonetheless.
The group of Sirens you'll meet soon after shouldn't be a problem. Just
remember to block often. If a mini-game becomes available, go for it.
--Act 4: Pandora's Temple--
Before you enter the temple, you'll meet the Cyclops Desert Kings for the first
time. Their mini-game makes them easy to dispose off, unlike the green Cyclops
Brutes, so they shouldn't be too hard. Keep your distance, and, from there,
perform Set 2 attacks early, until you hit them with the last, most powerful
part of the combo.
You'll fight a group of Archers and Wraiths afterwards, but they're all
susceptible to throws, so I really wouldn't worry about them too much.
At the beginning of the Challenge of Atlas, you'll be fighting Undead
Legionnaires followed by a large group of Gorgons. The Gorgons shouldn't give
you too much trouble once you perform Poseidon's Rage. Initiate the mini-game
often to regain some of that lost magic.
Upstairs is a bunch of Fallen Legionnaires and Archers. These shouldn't be a
problem for you now.
A new branch in the pathway opens up for you. I suggest going down first, just
because it's harder. Not only do you have to pass through the horizontal rope,
you have to deal with a tremendous amount of opponents, made up mostly of
Undead and Fallen Legionnaires, soon after you procure the puzzle item.
Once you do get the puzzle item, get ready. *POSSIBLE USE OF RAGE OF THE GODS*
Now when I played, my meter wasn't full at all so I couldn't use Rage of the
Gods, and I STILL beat this portion, so it's not entirely impossible to beat
it. Your priority should be to throw as many opponents at each other as much as
possible before the Fallen Legionnaires start spawning. It's a little hard
to target who you really want to throw, so you'll have to change tactics
mid-way through this onslaught. Once you start seeing the Fallen Legionnaires,
knock everyone out to ONE side of the walkway, as much as you can. This way,
your backside isn't too exposed, and at the same time, your Set 1 or Set 2
attacks will be hitting as many opponents as possible. I spent most of the time
hitting my opponents to the RIGHT side of the pathway, while the spikes are on
my LEFT side, so you should probably do the same. The spikes won't hurt you at
all--not until you get squashed in the middle of that AND the right wall, that
is. You are racing against time, so try and kill as much of them as quickly as
possible.
When you do survive this, head back, and go through the other door on the
higher level. Solve the puzzle to proceed to the room with the gigantic
circular saws.
I suggest solving the saw puzzle first, before proceeding anywhere else. Head
to the door on the N side, BUT back track as soon as you enter that door. This
effectively KEEPS the N door open for the duration of the game. Once the
puzzle is solved, head to the E door. You'll eventually scale up walls to a
room housing a puzzle item.
For you to gain access to the item, you need to defeat a bunch of Sirens and
Magic Legionnaires within a set amount of time. Fail, and you fall to your
doom. *POSSIBLE USE OF RAGE OF THE GODS* I'd cast the Rage of the Gods just to
ensure that you defeat all of your enemies as quickly as possible.
Go back to the saw blade room and solve the Atlas puzzle. There's plenty of
chests upstairs, so try to get all of them. Don't forget the first Muse Key
behind Atlas.
Soon after this and the rolling cylinder, is Poseidon's Challenge. You'll meet
the Cerberus Breeders and Seeds for the first time. Kill the Breeders first,
as quickly as you can. Medusa's Gaze should make this easy for you. After this
is a pair of Desert Kings. The actual block in the middle of the pathway slows
these down, so I wouldn't move it too much.
After the small rotating room puzzle, you'll meet the Legionnaire Captains for
the first time. I wouldn't underestimate these. They're quite skilled and tend
to inflict a boat-load of damage to you. Get used to their attack pattern
because you'll be fighting a lot more of these soon after.
When you climb up the walls, don't forget the other Muse Key which you can find
at the rightmost side of the highest, climbable part of the wall.
You'll meet Minotaurs soon after, and the walkway you'll be fighting them on is
a little narrow, so try and make sure that you juggle or knockdown all of them
as often as you can.
Whilst dragging the caged human legionnaire up the slope, be aware that you'll
be fighting what seems to be an endless amount of Legionnaire Captains. 4 of
these spawn at regular intervals after you kill preceding waves. I know it
sounds like a great way to wrack up on red orbs, but realize that these
opponents are pretty tough themselves, so it's quite a risk. After a few waves
of these, you STOP getting red orbs, or any orbs, for that matter. There's
plenty of better opportunities to gain experience too, so I'd just drag the
cage up the slope as quickly as possible if I were you. Less headaches that
way.
After you've procured Poseidon's Trident and headed to the pool on the right,
you'll emerge within a cave filled with Cerberus Seeds. This is going to be
pretty tough. *POSSIBLE USE OF RAGE OF THE GODS* There's a significant amount
of these Seeds popping out, and you will be overwhelmed eventually, so I'd
cast the Rage of the Gods. I didn't have this luxury when I played, so it
REALLY sucked for me, so I'd save up my Rage of the Gods for this if I were
you.
Alternate Strategy:
Contributor:
Brandon Miller of Crossville, AL
Lance of the Furies (while in the air, L1 + G) works really well against
the seeds apparently. If you double jump THEN do the move at the peak of your
jump, it's a lot harder for the seeds to hit you. I haven't done this myself,
but it is a very plausible strategy, given the evasion properties of your
jump.
Of course, you'd have to have maxed out your Blades of Chaos BEFORE this move
becomes available, but that shouldn't be a problem if you read Priority #1.
You'll be underwater most of the time after this, so there's nothing much to
worry about; until you have to start re-surfacing, that is. At one point,
you'll encounter some Legionnaire Captains protecting a large group of pots,
and at another juncture, you'll have to fight a bunch of Harpies and various
Fallen Legionnaires to get access to the puzzle lever. Don't forget to
search for and ogle the Nyads while you're around here. Note that if you fail
to complete your set of Muse Keys by now, you'll get one if you open the chest
behind the large group of pots.
Soon after this is Hades' Challenge. You'll be meeting the Centaurs for the
very first time as soon as you enter the grand hall. This sequence can be
difficult. Centaurs themselves are fairly burly as it is, and they're not
suppose to stop spawning until after you've "sacrificed" 4 of them in each of
the sacrificial areas. The hardest sacrificial area is the one furthest from
the long, ascending stairs. As far as I know, there's no Effective Arena around
the sacrificial area, so you'll just have to learn to herd and kill the
Centaurs. There's an Effective Arena near the long, ascending stairs, however.
All you need to do is ascend the stairs until the Centaurs stop following you.
When they do stop, they'll be near the sacrificial area, while you're safely
beyond their reach. I don't remember them even trying to use the arrow attack
on you while you're up in the stairs, so don't worry about getting hit. Just
pummel them from a distance and you'll be fine.
What follows is a simple maze filled with Gorgons, Archers, Centaurs, and
Fallen Legionnaires--none of which should pose any real threat to you. Just
watch out for the Gorgon's melee attacks. They're still as potent as ever.
After the room with the gigantic incendiary boulders (exit is 3rd left door
from the ravine) some Minotaurs and Archers assail you. These Minotaurs are a
little tougher than usual, so just be mindful of their attacks. You'll be
facing more of these, some Centaurs, and some Fallen Legionnaires in a smaller</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
circular arena. The arena is big enough that you should be able to maneuver
yourself to more advantageous positions. I had to perform some simple
hit-and-run tactics, just so it was harder for my opponents to surround me, so
consider how important your spacing and position is.
After a series of beam-balancing puzzles, you'll eventually have to fight
Pandora's Guardian.
Pandora's Guardian Strategy
Just remember to be always on the platform, near the lever for the log
cannon, which is on the left side. The Undead Guardian should then run
towards the platform. Every time he reaches it, he'll pummel it, inflicting
damage to anything that's on the platform. Time your jump to avoid this.
He has a different set of attacks, depending on your location in the
platform: one set when you're on the left; one set when you're on the
middle; one set when you're on the right; you should be on the leftside
by now if you followed my advice.
When you're on the left side, he has but one attack--a really slow and
linear ground punch. It's really up to you how you want to attack the
Guardian's hand. Any combo is fine really as long as you're fairly safe
right afterwards. Use Zeus' Thunderbolts if you can. The Guardian is
suppose to be weak against it.
This boss tends to give out a ton of health and magic orbs once you've
connected with the log cannon though, so he's not that hard really. There's
plenty of room for mistakes, so I'd just take my time with this one.
Eventually, you'd have procured all the puzzle items that you need and the
Army of Hades. Once you're back into the rotating room, go to the Muse Room and
claim your reward. Once you finish the final puzzle in the rotating room,
you'll meet the Satyrs for the very first time. Remember your mechanics and
this fight should be a breeze. From this point on, you'll be encountering a lot
of them, so get used to knocking these down as quickly as possible.
There's not much to watch out for in the Cliffs of Madness, except for the
horde waiting for you in the caves and the lack of save points. For some reason
there's not a whole of these. Even if you find one, they're inconveniently
placed. It's critical that you survive these hordes before you reach the next
save point, unless you enjoy backtracking and fighting the same horde over and
over again. The most difficult horde involves Satyrs, mostly because of the
other enemies BESIDES the Satyrs--mostly Fallen Legionnaires. It takes a while
before you can throw these, so expect long battles. Throwing them around will
make things easier, but don't expect to kill a lot of Satyrs this way.
Once you get to the crane at the top of the Architect's Tomb, you will be
assailed by Desert Kings and some Cerberus Seeds. Employ the Effective Arena
trick to make short work of them.
You'll be fighting a great horde of Harpies and Archers before you get your
hands on Pandora's Box. They can be quite a handful, so just remember that
throwing the Archers around works really well here. Throw them at the other
Archers. Once they're all dead, work on the Harpies. Just stay away from the
gears and the flamethrowers, as you grab each Harpy. Remember that the
flamethrowers only activate if you stay on a stationary platform for far too
long. Grab an enemy and move around as much as you can.
--Act 5: Underworld--
I really wouldn't suggest trying to get all of the chests in here. By now, you
should be strong enough that you don't need any of it anyways. Just breeze
through this act. I wouldn't try and take too many of the pathways either.
You can employ the Effective Arena trick in here a lot, thanks to the
differences in the height of platforms. None of the Satyrs nor Minotaurs should
pose a threat to you as much as the Harpies, that is. They actually inflict
more damage than usual here, so don't get caught in the splash damage. Grab
them as much as you can. If they're too far away, use Set 2 attacks. The H
portions of your attacks should hit them still.
--Act 6: Return to Athens--
You'll be encountering just about all monster types once you get to the temple.
They'll come in waves--one set of a monster class after the other. If you're
strong enough, and you should be by now, this shouldn't be too hard. The
Gorgons upstairs are easily disposed off through the Effective Arena trick.
What follows is a hall filled with a series of Fallen and Undead Legionnaires.
Proceed onwards to a save point and the Oracle herself.
--Act 7: Battle with a God--
Once you get here, fill up on both your magic and health through the chests
found beyond the dying Oracle. Go back and save up right afterwards because
this is going to be a long, grueling battle.
Ares, Form 1
If you die here and continue, you'll start back to the save point.
More than likely you'll die, which is good actually. Once you come
back to the save point, save up, so that you can skip the cinema
every time, and just go right ahead with this battle.
Here are all the attacks you need to watch out for, and your best
recourse when you do encounter them.
1. Double Hammer
He summons the hammer, slams it down hard on the ground, then
swings it horizontally right afterwards. Once he slams the hammer
down, it creates an unblockable stunning ripple. Once you're hit by
the ripple, the second hammer attack is guaranteed IF you're
within range, inflicting 90-100% worth of damage to you.
This attack means instant death to you pretty much, so this should
be the one thing you would watch out for. He only does this when
you're near, or when he catches up to you once he runs. This is the
FIRST attack he does when you try to hit him soon after the cinema
ends.
Parry the first hit, then QUICKLY dodge away from the second hit.
DO NOT try to reverse this. Be sure you're not dodging to a nearby
wall, because you WILL still get hit by the second attack. Use a
quick Set 3 combo right afterwards.
2. Claw/Tentacle Attack
He uses the claws on his back in this one, inflicting 60-80% worth
of damage to you. He does the attack in multiples of 2. If he
swings left, he'll then swing right, and vice versa. If he starts
blocking your combos, STOP attacking. He's about to parry and
reverse with the claws.
The claws are blockable. You can parry it, but if you try to
reverse, the rest of the claws will hit you out of it anyway, so
don't even try. Block the claws, then use L twice in between left
and right groups of claw strikes.
3. Hammer Spin, Flamethrower
He summons the hammer, spins it around, thrusts it once towards
you, then casts a flamethrower on you. The flamethrower itself
inflicts 100% of damage to you, depending on how early it hits you.
If the flamethrower hits you at any point in time while it's being
cast, the rest of the hits is guaranteed.
The hammer spins and thrust attack are predictable and slow, so I
wouldn't worry about this. The flamethrower is the real problem,
because you have to be FACING Ares when you start blocking the
flamethrower. Otherwise, the flamethrower will hit you, despite the
fact that you blocked. You can parry any of these hits, just don't
bother reversing. Attack right after you block the flamethrower.
4. Axe combos
As far as I can remember, he has 3 versions of this, but he only
performs 2 of them often enough. If one strike hits you, Ares will
finish off the combo, and inflict 50-100% of damage to you,
depending on which strike in the combo hits you.
One combo starts of with a quick horizontal strike, so get ready to
parry this. Don't bother reversing any of these. Once you block 2
strikes, he'll stop attacking. At which point, perform L1+L
(the helicopter spin). This is one of the few instances when this
attack is useful. You end up getting bonus health and magic orbs
this way.
Stop doing helicopter spins once Ares' life is less than 50%. Just
do Set 3 attacks instead. He'll start parrying and using his claws
at this point, hence the change in tactics.
5. Dash Grab
He dashes towards you, thrusts the claws at you, and combos you.
If you block the entire dash sequence, then the combo ends. If you
try to reverse after parrying the dash, the rest of the combo is
guaranteed.
This move would have been good if it was faster and unblockable,
and it's a good thing that it's not. He raises both arms when he
does this so do Set 3 combos, and parry the moment he dashes in.
Do more Set 3 combos while he recovers from the attack. I'm pretty
sure the helicopter spin won't work, but go try anyway. The
recovery on that attack is terrible, so I wouldn't even chance
using it, really.
6. Air Fireball
He'll stop, and his claws will start glowing and rise up. After a
certain point, he becomes invincible and teleports to the south
side of the arena. He'll then hover, and unleash a series of
unblockable fireballs at you. He only casts these when his life is
below 30%, but once he does, he casts it often.
You can get in a few hits with Set 3 combos as he casts this magic
and as he slowly hovers to cast the fireballs. You can dodge the
fireballs, but be sure to dodge away from the south side of the
arena. Ares catches you with the fireballs when you're near him,
so be sure to keep your distance, and move in different directions;
preferably, away from walls.
Alternative Strategy:
Contributors:
[email protected]
He points out that Zeus' Thunderbolts will knock Ares out of the
air, so if you have spare magic, just go ahead and use it.
General Strategy:
Try not to get cornered, because Ares' attacks are more lethal that
way. You don't double jump as high as you use to be, due to an
invisible ceiling the game set for you, so just use dodges.
Once you see Ares recoil from an attack string, keep attacking.
He'll end up dropping a few magic or health orbs this way.
Ares reacts based on the damage you inflict on him. Inflict enough
and he'll stagger backwards, providing you with a ton of magic and
health orbs. Once he does, he'll keep taunting you and stand in
place for a while. This is the best time to inflict an incredible
amount of damage on him using the Blades of Chaos, so take
advantage of this, because it doesn't happen very often.
Ares is supposedly weak against Army of Hades, so cast this WHEN
your magic meter is full. Why you ask? Well, do realize that you
can only cast the Army of Hades twice, despite how long your magic
meter is. The fact of the matter is, the magic itself costs a lot.
You WILL need a bar close to full when you get to the sequence
after this, so save up your magic, and cast the Army of Hades ONCE
every time your bar is full. More than likely, by that point, Ares
will be providing you with some magic orbs, thusly replenishing
some of the magic you lost beforehand.
Once Ares is whittled down to nothing, the mini-game for him
begins, while at the same time providing you with a lot of magic
and health orbs. His mini-game starts off with a lot of presses
with the circle. Once you see Kratos jump on Ares, stop pressing
circle, and follow the next 2 button presses. If you fail in the
mini-game you'll die instantly. If you succeed, you'll be rewarded
with 33 full bars of red orbs, and the right to go to the next
battle sequence.
2nd Sequence
The odds are stacked against you during this sequence. And when I
mean stacked, I mean STACKED. Here's a list of what you need to
somehow overcome.
1. BOTH Kratos and his family takes 5 times more damage than usual.
His family doesn't have much hit points to begin with, so expect
them to die more than Kratos.
2. Your family has a weird hit box. It's wide enough that if you're
close enough to them while getting hit, THEY get hit too! They
tend to be in the way of your attacks as well, sometimes
nullifying the hit box of YOUR attacks. You'll notice this a lot
when your family is between you and an enemy.
3. You get a special G attack in this sequence, that takes forever
to execute, even though it kills an opponent instantly. You
can't throw your opponents at each other either.
4. All your opponents are hard to stun. It takes time for a combo
to make your opponents to stagger or to juggle.
5. Once an opponent commits to an attack, you can't interrupt the
attack anymore.
6. Once the battleground shrinks, everyone will be spawning around
you. This means that they will always start off surrounding you
already.
7. Your opponents don't give you that much orbs--both magic and
health.
General Strategy:
There might be other ways of surviving this sequence, but I think
luck does factor in on this, in that, the conditions have to be
favorable to you if you are going to win. Luck, in itself, is an
uncontrollable variable, so here's a list of what you can do, so
you'd end up lasting longer than usual.
1. Again, be sure to have as much magic as possible. Make sure your
Rage of the Gods is full.
2. The only combo you'll be using are the Set 1 strings, preferably
the L, L(hold) one.
3. Ideally, you want to kill as much opponents as you can within a
small amount of time. You want as much of them spawning once
you activate your Rage of the Gods and doublecast.
4. Remember that a new opponent starts spawning after you kill one.
5. You want to get to the point where you only fight the ones
wielding the Blade of Artemis. They're slower, but their range
and damage dealt is higher than their other brethren. You'll
know you're close to ending the sequence once you only see these
guys popping out.
6. Don't worry about the guy throwing the thunderbolts. Concentrate
on everyone else in the stinking rock you're on.
7. Attack your opponents as soon as they spawn.
8. Parry and reverse as often as you can. Reverse using the L
attack.
9. Use your magic sparingly. Use the Army of Hades if you do. If
you think your family is in danger, cast it. In the beginning,
if your meter just became full, just cast it anyway. Start
saving up magic orbs for later use. Do NOT ever cast the magic
unless you really need to do.
The first thing you should do is run up to your family, face SW,
then perform L, L(hold) on the one just spawning. Then face NE to
hit the enemy there with the last part of your string to knock him
out.
From here on out, try and kill as many opponents as you can. The
key is performing L, L(hold) WHILE changing directions, depending
on where the opponent is. Don't move too far from you family. Keep
swinging your Blades of Chaos in a circular pattern.
You'll be overwhelmed soon after, so cast Army of Hades once. Keep
killing your opponents until you're overwhelmed again. Cast Rage of
the Gods, and doublecast Army of Hades and Poseidon's Rage. Do this
twice.
You're kind of screwed after this, so you have to rely on L,
L(hold) in circular patterns near your family in the mean time.
Cast Army of Hades sparingly, because it just costs way too much.
When I played, I couldn't fill my Rage of the Gods enough, even
though it was close to full, so I wouldn't rely on it soon after
you use it.
Again, this is all said easier than done. Too many things are
working against you, so do hope that you catch some breaks while
fighting, more notably reversal-wise and magic-wise.
Killing everyone as fast as possible or, at least, knocking them
away is your number one priority. Do this well enough and you might
just make it to the next sequence.
Alternative Strategy:
Contributors:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Apparently, your Rage of the Gods meter goes up substantially every
time you heal your family! That's great news, considering how much
easier this sequence can be, IF you can cast Rage of the Gods more
than once, that is.
This does mean that you'll have to let the doppelgangers hit your
family, because your meter won't go up, not unless you're healing
your family whilst you lose some of your health in the process.
This strategy poses some obvious risks, so hope to catch some
breaks along the way.
One also points out that L, L, H works better than the Set 1
attacks as well. If you find this better for you, go ahead and use
it. I didn't find this particularly useful myself, but it might
work for some, so just try either and see what works for you.
A combination of this and what's on the general strategy SHOULD
tremendously help everyone out there.
Ares, Form 2
This form is harder to beat, only because you lose your Blades of
Chaos and get a much crappier weapon.
The weapon doesn't allow you to grab, but you do get an extra
attack button instead. Here are your best combos:
square, circle, circle
square, square...
Do NOT attempt any of the other combos, mostly because they're
slow recovering. Here are the attacks you need to watch out for:
1. Guard Break, Claw Attack
Ares extends his hand, creates an unblockable small explosion that
stuns you, then hits you with his claws. The entire combo kills you
instantly.
You can't parry or interrupt him during this entire string, so just
be sure to run away whenever he tries to come close to you, because
that's the only time he'll be doing this.
2. Sword Plunge, Earth Attack
He teleports to the N side of the arena, slowly plunges his sword
on the ground, and 4 tall earthen structures come out and crush
anything in between all 4 of them. They come out at your current
location and kill you instantly, even though you're blocking.
Dodge is your only way out.
His execution is slow though, so quickly strike him with the
combos, when he plunges the sword and when you dodge away from the
earthen structures. This is one of the few and best times to attack
him.
3. Sword Combo, Taunt
He performs a series of sword attacks on you, then end with a
taunt. The sword strikes are not that quick so you should be able
to block this. Attack him during his taunt.
4. Guard Break, Army of Hades
Instead of the Claw Attack, he casts the Army of Hades. The magic
attack is blockable, but Ares sometimes rushes towards you to
to perform another guard break.
Either way, the first part shouldn't have hit you anyway. Dodge
when the opportunity arises.
General Strategy:
This form is easy. Just play defensively, and you should be fine.
Don't get careless with your attacks--attack when you know he can't
retaliate. Try not to attack while he's blocking.
When you get the parry "time stopping" animation and the long
blade-clash sound fx, then a mini-game starts. Just press circle a
lot and you'll win every time, whilst taking out a good chunk of
his life. If you DON'T hear the sound, you're in a world of hurt,
not unless you block in time.
Well I won't be boring you with what happens once you do beat Ares' final
form. Just be glad you did, and congrats for a job well done. Enjoy your reward
in the Treasures menu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Legal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This file may not be reproduced, quoted, or posted by any other website aside
from www.gamefaqs.com, and those that specifically asked and received my
permission. Proper notification via email and credit to me, Andre de Leon, is
necessary to attain said permission.
I, Andre de Leon, wrote this faq and, thusly, own the copyrights to it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. Version History
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 1.0 - 4/5/05
- added everything in the Introduction
- added guide to Act 7
Version 1.1 - 4/9/05
- added enemy classes and weaknesses
- added guides to Act 1-4
- corrected minor errors
Version 1.2 - 4/19/05
- added contributed material
- corrected minor errors
Version 1.3 - 5/19/05
- added LONG overdue guides for Act 5-6
- finished guide to Act 4, finally
- re-write on intro
- corrected minor errors
- added contributed material, updated credits
Version 1.4 - 6/23/06
- added extra strategy against the room full of Cerberus Seeds
- corrected minor errors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. Credits
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prima Strategy Guide for God of War
- for the Damage Index numbers
- for the act numbers
- for writing an all-too vague God Mode guide
David Jaffe and his staff
- for meeting all of our expectations
- for raising the bar
To these contributors
-
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
for alternative strategy for 2nd sequence in the Ares boss battle
-
[email protected]
for air juggle infinite with Minotaurs
-
[email protected],
[email protected]
for air juggle infinite with Gorgons
- Ben Baxter
for alternative Doublecast
-
[email protected]
for pointing out that you can destroy the spiked cylinder at the end
of the conveyor belt puzzle.
-
[email protected]
for pointing out that you CAN bolt Ares' butt out of the air
- Brandon Miller of Crossville, AL
for another way to clear the room full of Cerberus Seeds
To the readers
To an unbelievable time in my life and back to nothing again...
If you wish to contribute, ask questions, etc, feel free to email me. You'll be
credited accordingly if you do contribute.
