The "I don't remember" style of collecting...

[greg]

I've been rearranging boxes in my storage unit and realizing that at some point in the past 20 years, I have purposefully adopted a "I don't remember" style of collecting. What I mean is that I was always fascinated by stories of kids who find their grandfather's comics or baseball cards in the attic, and they literally have no idea what is in the collection or what it might currently be worth.

Somewhere along the way, I started buying a few things that I purposefully tried to forget immediately... so that someday, I'll be able to open a box and have only a vague recollection of purchasing the items. It has already happened a couple of times, where I opened a box and was happy to find that I had no idea what book might be next as I flipped through.

While I like to joke that I'm "in my late 40" (since I'll be 41 in April), I don't think it is early onset dementia... but evidence that I've actually succeeded in surprising myself with stuff I don't remember buying.

That said, there's a chance I've already told this story on the board. In that case, it may be early onset dementia.

[TheeBaldMoose]

I have those moments as well (now in the "mid" 40's at 44), when I look back at the baseball cards I used to collect. It does make it fun and a little exciting when you realize you must have been doing something right

[QUARTZ]

Yeah I hate it when you go to the comic store for a sale or something and think you have a gap in your collection but end up buying doubles of everything. That's a true senior moment at 40.

[greg]

It's a weird situation when someone threw in extra "free" books on an order, so you really have no memory of buying them, to find them in a box where you do vaguely remember the other books.

You're looking through... Solar 18, Solar 19, Solar 20, Solar 21, SuperPatriot 3...

"What the-?!?"

[greg]

I'm also worried that someday I will forget why I have 12 copies of Shade, The Changing Man #43.

It's because Mile High sent me those instead of Shadowman #43, and it wasn't worth it to send them back.

[nycjadie]

When I started buying collections and moving my family cross country over and over, I would have all sorts of happy accidents when I unpacked. Oh wow! A half box of Pre-Unity Magnus? I didn't know I had that. That's when I started comparing the coupons and realized that there are red and black variants on the coupons.

6+ years and hundreds of boxes later, and I'm still finding happy accidents, and I know there are gems in there still. Batman Adventures 12 and first appearance Elektra are somewhere to be found, pressed and graded, when I get to it....

[depluto]

Nothing beats the feeling of pulling a winter coat (OK, a hoody) out of the closet and finding a $20 in the pocket.

[Beware Cyclops]

Nothing beats the feeling of pulling a winter coat (OK, a hoody) out of the closet and finding a $20 in the pocket.

Did it finally get below 70 degrees?

[jmatt]

When I started buying collections and moving my family cross country over and over...

Wow, you are a dedicated collector. Not sure my wife would put up with me moving about to hoover up CL collections.

[nycjadie]

When I started buying collections and moving my family cross country over and over...

Wow, you are a dedicated collector. Not sure my wife would put up with me moving about to hoover up CL collections.

I'm afraid the benefits of moving and collecting are a byproduct of job changes. All positive, but as I told my boss before I started my current job - I think I have one more move left in my marriage;)

[Phantom]

I am sorting my collection at the moment.
I just hope I didn't pay cover price for the multiple of multiples of single issues I have ~ I am hoping I picked them up for £1 a piece.
Why else would I have 8 copies of the standard cover Archer Armstrong new series number 1?. not including other covers, pulling out the doubles are halving my collection

[Shadowman99]

My memory must be really *SQUEE* poor - I've only started buying comics since Valiant started up a few years ago and I look through my 3 shortboxes these days and when I come across things I'm like: "Wow, Armour Hunters, I'd forgotten that even happened..."

[ShadowTuga]

I am in a very fragile state when it comes to remembering things, due to medicine, so these days when I am putting the new books in the boxes, I come across 2 or 3 comics I have 0 idea where I got them. *SQUEE* like Avengers (I haven't bought an Avengers team book since maybe 1989- I did bought the AvX crossover, but only the X-books and the main series), Usagi Yojimbo (I collect the trades), God of War comics or some old EU Star Wars stuff. Apparently, I was buying SW comics (Dark Horse) for a while in 2005.
Maybe some of these were sent to me free, when buying other books. Or my LCS put that in there as a gift. I know I never payed for an Avengers book there.

[Shadowman99]

I am in a very fragile state when it comes to remembering things, due to medicine, so these days when I am putting the new books in the boxes, I come across 2 or 3 comics I have 0 idea where I got them. *SQUEE* like Avengers (I haven't bought an Avengers team book since maybe 1989- I did bought the AvX crossover, but only the X-books and the main series), Usagi Yojimbo (I collect the trades), God of War comics or some old EU Star Wars stuff. Apparently, I was buying SW comics (Dark Horse) for a while in 2005.
Maybe some of these were sent to me free, when buying other books. Or my LCS put that in there as a gift. I know I never payed for an Avengers book there.

I had no idea there were God of War comics...!

I'm a massive fan of GoW, I am gonna *have* to track those down if I can

[ShadowTuga]

I am in a very fragile state when it comes to remembering things, due to medicine, so these days when I am putting the new books in the boxes, I come across 2 or 3 comics I have 0 idea where I got them. *SQUEE* like Avengers (I haven't bought an Avengers team book since maybe 1989- I did bought the AvX crossover, but only the X-books and the main series), Usagi Yojimbo (I collect the trades), God of War comics or some old EU Star Wars stuff. Apparently, I was buying SW comics (Dark Horse) for a while in 2005.
Maybe some of these were sent to me free, when buying other books. Or my LCS put that in there as a gift. I know I never payed for an Avengers book there.

I had no idea there were God of War comics...!

I'm a massive fan of GoW, I am gonna *have* to track those down if I can

Mini by Wildstorm, who folded. Don't know if there's any more outside that series.

EDIT - On GoW: I played 1 and 2 on my brand new att PS2. As soon as I found out that 3 would be a PS3 exclusive, and given the fact that there was this Batman game that everybody was going crazy (Asylum) exclusively for next gen consoles, I bought the system. I also bought a PSP just to play the Chains of Colossus game. After I finished it, I sold the console.
I have super awesome memories of GoW- But one that will forever be my fav, is the meeting with the minotaur in the first game. *SQUEE*, I was really scared for my character. And of course, that *SQUEE* duel with Ares and the level before. I got sore fingers playing that.
Other great stuff is the fights with the Titans and Poseidon's. Impressive what the designers did. Maybe only Shadow of the Colossus came first as the definitive BIG MONSTERS game.
I haven't played any game besides the first 3 and Chains. Do the rest hold up, in your opinion?

[Shadowman99]

I am in a very fragile state when it comes to remembering things, due to medicine, so these days when I am putting the new books in the boxes, I come across 2 or 3 comics I have 0 idea where I got them. *SQUEE* like Avengers (I haven't bought an Avengers team book since maybe 1989- I did bought the AvX crossover, but only the X-books and the main series), Usagi Yojimbo (I collect the trades), God of War comics or some old EU Star Wars stuff. Apparently, I was buying SW comics (Dark Horse) for a while in 2005.
Maybe some of these were sent to me free, when buying other books. Or my LCS put that in there as a gift. I know I never payed for an Avengers book there.

I had no idea there were God of War comics...!

I'm a massive fan of GoW, I am gonna *have* to track those down if I can

Mini by Wildstorm, who folded. Don't know if there's any more outside that series.

EDIT - On GoW: I played 1 and 2 on my brand new att PS2. As soon as I found out that 3 would be a PS3 exclusive, and given the fact that there was this Batman game that everybody was going crazy (Asylum) exclusively for next gen consoles, I bought the system. I also bought a PSP just to play the Chains of Colossus game. After I finished it, I sold the console.
I have super awesome memories of GoW- But one that will forever be my fav, is the meeting with the minotaur in the first game. *SQUEE*, I was really scared for my character. And of course, that *SQUEE* duel with Ares and the level before. I got sore fingers playing that.
Other great stuff is the fights with the Titans and Poseidon's. Impressive what the designers did. Maybe only Shadow of the Colossus came first as the definitive BIG MONSTERS game.
I haven't played any game besides the first 3 and Chains. Do the rest hold up, in your opinion?

Oh yeah, everyone remembers the first time that the pair of minotaur appear in the first game And the large-scale boss fights are definitely a great part of the series.

The original game in the series is by far my favourite, great game. I actually return to the series and play the whole lot through in order of the plot at least once every few years

The dual with Ares is definitely difficult, but the bit immediately following that where you have to battle the 'zombie Kratos clones' on the floating rock that crumbles away whilst defending your wife and child... My god, there is no more frustrating boss fight in gaming. At one point I literally didn't think it was possible to beat it (I've beaten it a few times since now however!). I did hear that in re-releases of the original game that particular battle was reduced in difficulty a little bit, but I don't know if that's actually true. Still, it's the only part of the original game that I actually don't like - mind-numbingly difficult on the original PS2 version of the game!

The games I've played are the original three, both the PSP games and the prequel game 'Ascension'. So it sounds as though there are only two games you've not played - I'd recommend them both, I enjoyed them It's very much a case of 'if you enjoyed all the other games, you'll like these two as well'. I think Ascension wasn't quite as popular as the other games with the critics but I think it was very much a case of 'this game doesn't bring anything much new to the game'. But what that really means is that it's doing what God of War does, even if it doesn't have any particularly exciting new gameplay mechanics - so if you like 'what God of War does', then what's the problem eh? (Now I think about it, I'm fairly sure I uploaded a decent game review to Amazon.co.uk on the game once I'd finished it - look for it if you want, it goes into much more depth [reviewer name: Shad99])

So overall I'd recommend any game in the series so far. I am however going to give the new PS4 game a miss for two reasons:
1) I don't own a PS4 and don't intend on buying one any time soon
2) The gameplay clearly isn't the style that I love from the original 6 games, so I'm a bit wary of that. I don't think it looks as exciting.
Might pick it up one day if I ever buy a PS4

[Shadowman99]

Actually, here it is in full to save you the bother of looking. There are hundreds of reviews for the game on Amazon, so check a few others out too

Looks like I gave the game 3/5 rating and titled this review 'Nothing new, but enjoyable nonetheless: In depth, honest review'.

First things first: I enjoyed the game, and am certainly glad that I own a copy.

In short, the game was exactly what I expected it to be: full of good battles and interesting boss fights, with an excellent music score and scriptwriting.

However, the game, all in all... just... didn't bowl me over like every other game in the series has. I'm not a cynic, but I am a huge God of War fan: It's my favourite game series out of anything I've ever played, and this is going to be an honest review, and these are some of my opinions:

-The scriptwriting was excellent, and the characters show some genuine depth. The character Orkos really impressed me, both with his animation and voice acting. The storyline is basic which isn't a bad thing at all as the player immediately knows what Kratos is fighting for in this game. That all comes about naturally, in the first cutscene of the game: three and a half hours into the gameplay. I felt this was a bit of a problem, because until I'd reached this point I enjoyed running around and fighting enemies, but the game really felt a bit empty because there was no *incentive* to run around bashing things. Once the storyline had been layed out, I felt that the game really got a lot more fun to play. Same criticism that plagued the original game in all the magazines, no?

-The music score, once again, is amazing. I really recommend turning the sound effects down to about 80% and leaving the music on 100%, because it's such a treat to listen to and really adds to the mood.

-The combat felt solid as per expectation, although I really found it all a bit too easy. I played the game through the first time on the 'Hard' mode ('Hardest' mode being locked until you've played it through on 'Hard') and really didn't die all that much. I'll admit I am very good at GoW without being bigheaded, but despite this even, in all the previous games I've played I found that there were numerous times that I'd struggle to beat a certain battle, until I'd figured out the right tactic to beating it, with a little helping of luck on the side. And even then I'd die 500+ times per game, and still enjoy playing it, because discovering the correct tactical play was highly rewarding. However, with this game there really was only one battle that I had to do that with, which I find a little disappointing.

There are also some strange difficulty spikes in the game: Early in the game, particularly during the battles when you pick up new elemental enhancements for the blades, the battles are very challenging and require a lot of hit+run tactics, or enemy isolation tactics. However, I found that once these particular battles had been beaten, all the other battles in the game just seem a bit too easy, especially when you pick up the Amulet and the 'Shadow' abilities later on which really tip the advantage in the player's favour.

The parry move seems a bit hit-and-miss too. I can happily 'parry' attacks all day in all the other games, but in this game I found that the parrying function just didn't work 80% of the time, and in the end I just stopped trying to use it and either just blocked or dodged attacks as applicable.

Having said that, the combat *is* enjoyable nonetheless, but I'm looking forward to playing through on 'Hardest' mode and seeing if I find it more rewarding than the 'Hard' mode.

-The boss fights were okay. I didn't find any of them particularly exciting or original, apart from the battle inside the Oracle's chamber, which really was interesting and different. There really are only two of the 'huge boss fights' in this game which the series is so famous for, and all the others are against human-sized opponents, which is a little bit of a disappointment I feel.

-The characters in the game are okay too. Kratos is of course interesting, and I *really* liked Orkos, I found it very interesting trying to guess if he really was on Kratos' side or not, and like I mentioned previously, the character's acting is very good too. However, I didn't find the furies all that interesting or exciting. They were more 'functional' as plot devices as opposed to being developed characters, but they certainly didn't drag the game down in any way, so they're acceptable at worst. There's also a good scene where Kratos converses with the Oracle.

-The environments are as interesting and varied as expected, which is good.

-The puzzles: I'm not sure about the puzzles. There are a few throughout the game and they usually revolve around the usage of two particular game mechanics, and I found some of them to be 'very God of War', similar in style to previous games, whereas some of them really did take some figuring out. I literally got to the point on one of the puzzles where after about an hour of running around the same room trying to figure it out, I just gave up and found the solution online, which is disappointing, because if a player needs to do that to beat the game, then the puzzle hasn't been designed well enough. Really, a couple of them were just so obscure in the clues that they provided that it really felt like poor design. One of the puzzles I didn't even solve intentionally, I literally just lucked upon the solution after running around pushing blocks and pulling levers and things for ages.

-The 'Sex' minigame: was completely absent! Honestly, I don't say this because I get some sort of perverse enjoyment out of it, but these particular minigames always were very funny and entertaining to play in the other games, and were always good for a laugh. There was a point that Kratos enters a harem and I thought "Hooray, sex minigame time, lol!" and the game went unexpectedly straight into a boss fight. I know that there's been a certain amount of ridicule regarding these minigames in the press and so on which is why they probably left it out this time, but I always thought they were a really good bit of light, James Bond-esque tongue-in-cheek entertainment.

-The online mode is a LOT of fun. The developers have clearly put a lot of effort into it, and they've done a great job. The basic moveset works really well in combat, the match types are interesting and fun to play, the character design and customisation options are decent enough, there's longevity built in through the unlockables/upgrades and the point reward system is entertaining, fun and rewarding. Matches always feel balanced too, which is great because you always stand a *chance* of winning: I've played other games online before where the ranking system is so mismatched that it's caused me to just completely give up playing the game online AT ALL. However, with GoW, all the matches I've played have felt even, and most of all, FUN! The levels are really well designed and there are lots of interesting things to do in them aside from maim your nearest opponent, which is great for replay value. The lobby is easy to use, and creating and joining matches is completely automated and super easy to use. The very first time you play the online mode, there's a cutscene that establishes your character that also explains a certain oddity that occurs in the single player game too, which made go "Wow, so that's what happened! I thought that was a bit odd when I saw that in the single player game!" which I thought was really cool.

My biggest criticism of the game is this: It's by far the glitchiest game I've played in a LONG, LONG time. Some of the glitches are forgiveable if a bit strange, like how one of Kratos' blades just hangs nearby in the air *every* time you perform a certain move before reappearing on his back a few moments later for instance, but some of the glitches really are major. When certain glitches occurr, they can drastically turn the tide of battle: There were a few particular times that I used Kratos' 'Shadow clone' power, and found that after the clone had hit a couple of opponents, all his animations stopped and he slowly glided across the battle arena and remained unuseable for the remainder of the battle.

Another one that repeatedly occurred was when you picked up new elemental abilites or the Amulet or Shadow power: during the battle that happens immediately after you pick them up, you couldn't use the new move AT ALL. This was really confusing, because you follow the instructions onscreen to perform these new abilities, and *nothing* happens. However, every time, once that battle had been finished (whether you died during that battle or not made no difference) you could then perform the move correctly from there on out.

Another couple of glitches that completely short circuited the game were when a WHOLE AREA in a level *completely* failed to appear, and when, following a cutscene, Kratos completely failed to appear in the level. Fortunately both times the game sort of figured out something was wrong, displayed the 'you are dead' screen and then upon retry everything was fixed, and as per normal.

I just find it a bit strange that despite the budget that's surely been spent on this game these bizarre glitches are frequently occurring. I really just have to wonder at the quality of Quality Assurance testing that happened during the game development period :s Even though some of the glitches were quite large, I feel that it only let the game down a little bit, as for the most part, realistically you can either just laugh at them or ignore them.

Despite my criticisms, I did really enjoy this game. Like I said, I'm a huge fan of the series, and I felt that once that first cutscene had been watched a few hours into the game, the game really got a lot more fun to play and it ended up being really enjoyable despite its flaws, and the online mode is hugely fun as well. Oh, and like all the other games there's a 'making of' set of movies which are interesting to watch as well if you're so inclined.

I can't say it's my favourite game in the series, or the best game to start with for new players, but it's certainly worth investing in now that the price has gone down if you're already a God of War Fan. For new players, I'd recommend they buy a PS2 copy of God of War or God of War Collection Vol.1 (which features a PS3 port of God of War, the original game) and start with that, as that game really is the core, the the centre point in which ALL the other games revolve. Out of all of the series, the original God of War is also my favourite.

As a side point, if anyone wants to know the console games in their canonical order for the order in which to buy or play them, they go:

God of War: Chains of Olympus
God of War: Ascension
God of War
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
God of War 2
God of War 3

[ShadowTuga]

Great read, 99. Thanks!
I think this game is sort of like Arkham Origins- nothing new on the gameplay, but if you like the stuff that the game is known for, go for it. It's great in that aspect.
I might really buy this very soon. Haven't played GoW in a solid 5 years, at least.

[Shadowman99]

No worries

I read over the review again myself and I'd forgotten quite how glitchy the game can be. I wouldn't worry about that too much though - definitely still worth playing. But yeah, you're right when you say that if you basically like the games generally then you'll like this one too.

I've never played any of the Arkham games. I consistently hear that they're good though.

[ShadowTuga]

I've never played any of the Arkham games. I consistently hear that they're good though.

Ok. First take this into account- Batman is my favourite fictional character. And I have been playing Batman video games since the 80s- and for the most part, they sucked real bad.
When I first played Arkham Asylum (the first game) I spent the first whole night playing it. This was a "out-of-work, go home and play for 10 hours, then get back to work" case. Still is one of my fav gaming experiences. I WAS Batman. God bless the peeps who came up with the gameplay and with a story by Paul Dini... it was simply fantastic. Can't believe this game is already almost 9 yo. Still holds up- I replayed it about 3 or 4 months ago.

Arkham City is the greatest game ever, after Skyrim, imho. It's just a love fest for any Batman fan. Best story, unbelievable cool moments and the gameplay is freaking amazing. Gliding over Gotham? Priceless. And. So. Many. Cameos.

Arkham Origins was a filler game that WB put together between the 2nd and the final game (Arkham Knight) to make some easy cash- Rocksteady had nothing to do with it. Nothing new or original, but it's entertaing A F if you like these games. And it's rookie Bats, which is a great idea, if this was the first game. After all the improvements that City brought to the series, this felt "inferior". But I like the story and there are some surprising character appearances.

I played Arkham Origins:Blackgate but it's a portable light game. Cool stuff but nothing to be crazy.

I have yet to play Knight because I haven't splashed the cash for a PS4. And the internetz spoiled most of the game for me- I will of course play it, but it's not on my to do list, right now. It does look AMAZING and the Batmobile is used, finally.

If I could only pick one as "the best I've played", it would be Arkham City. It's freaking incredible in all aspects.

[greg]

I'm very happy that this thread became an "I don't know what we're talking about" discussion. Seems appropriate.

[ShadowTuga]

I'm very happy that this thread became an "I don't know what we're talking about" discussion. Seems appropriate.

[jmatt]

I have a few long boxes labeled Marvel Soup and DC Soup. Most of it's from the early 90s but I have no idea what's in them at this point. I was buying Batman Adventures when it first came out, I wonder if I have #12.

[Draco]

Ihave a room in storage at the store for my personal comics that get stacked randomly and looked at when i require some space, basically meaning I have to open the lids out of curiosity and i never recognise what the contents are being pleasantly surprised

[possumgrease]

Since this thread is going everywhere, do you ever feel burdened by your collection? I have so much stuff that I know is dreck, but there's this nagging thought that it might be worth something one day that keeps me lugging those boxes around.


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