Chapter 1130: What Exactly Is This Brat For? (Second Update)
The father-son hunt ended rather awkwardly. After the troll fell, the son came up with his knife, hacked away wildly, and ended up coughing in anger. Clearly, this kid was just like Kratos—not only hot-tempered and impulsive, but also crazy enough to fight himself when provoked.
This kind of player really wasn’t suited for god-slaying missions...
On the way home, the father and son encountered more minor enemies. This time, the combat system introduced a "finisher bar" mechanic. Once the bar was full, they could instantly execute the minor enemies. This gave Lin Xue a bit of that God of War feeling back.
At least when executing minor enemies, the visual impact of tearing them apart with bare hands was still strong.
However, just as the father and son returned home, something unexpected happened. A heavily tattooed, bearded guy started pounding on the door frantically, taunting Kratos relentlessly.
He even slapped Kratos across the face.
Lin Xue was stunned. Who was the last person brave enough to hit Kratos like that?
Their grave must have grass three zhang high by now, right?
But just as Lin Xue expected Kratos to beat this short guy to a pulp, the guy threw a punch and sent Kratos flying?!
In the game mode, Lin Xue could clearly feel the force from the abdomen. Kratos’s body was launched into the air, flying over the roof of the cabin, and crashing heavily to the ground.
Lin Xue and Kratos were both dumbfounded. What was going on?
Kratos got beaten??
The first boss fight arrived unannounced. As soon as Lin Xue saw the health bar, she screamed, "This guy is no ordinary person! Definitely not!"
The ensuing battle could only be described as a true clash of gods. This fight reminded Lin Xue of God of War 3. Though it wasn’t exactly exhilarating, it was clear that this was the authentic God of War style.
Free-form combat combined with specific mechanics allowed the game’s combat system to maximize epic-scale scenes. At the very least, trees fell and mountains crumbled; at worst, flat ground turned into canyons. The two fighters used everything around them—including massive trees and boulder-sized rocks—all of which were shattered into pieces during the battle.
However, what really annoyed Lin Xue was, where was the satisfying hack-and-slash feeling? Why did it play like Dark Souls?
The first three God of War games had some tough boss fights that took a long time too. For example, when fighting Hades, Kratos had to peel off his rotten flesh, grab his claws, and then kill him. But no matter how complex the fight, Kratos was always full of energy, never showing any signs of fatigue.
But in God of War 4, it was obvious that Kratos was tired.
At the end of the battle, he even lay on the ground covered in blood, gasping for breath for over ten seconds before struggling to get up and stumbling toward the cabin.
At this point, God of War 4 finally got to the main theme.
"So... what Kratos has to do is take this brat to the highest mountain and scatter his damn ashes?" Lin Xue accurately summarized what she would be doing for the next few dozen hours.
The live chat comments flooded in: "Streamer, watch your language! Say another curse word and we’ll issue a warning!"
The father-son journey reminded Lin Xue of The Last of Us. Their relationship was a bit like Joel and Ellie’s, even the initial awkwardness felt similar—except one was taking a daughter, and the other a son.
"Anyway, since I’ve beaten The Last of Us, I’m basically an experienced parent, right? No need to fear the little brat. Kratos will show you what a true god of war is. You just stand by and shout '666,' give me good support, and let your dad show you what it means to carry the whole game!"
Lin Xue suddenly felt that the son’s role was pretty good. In the past, after killing so many gods, there wasn’t even a spectator. After all those flashy moves, no one shouted '666.' That feeling was just too lonely and isolated.
Xiang Yu once said, "Returning home in glory without showing off is like walking at night in fine clothes." In simple terms, if you don’t show off, you’re no different from a salted fish.
Kratos was so awesome, having killed so many gods, yet now he was completely unknown. That was really too tragic—at least emotionally, it was hard for players to accept.
Thinking about it this way, the son’s role became clear. After Kratos pulled off a god-level move and successfully killed a god, the son would definitely be shocked and shout '666.' Then, as the player controlling Kratos, you could calmly pat the son’s head and say, "Basic moves. Sit down, don’t make a fuss. If you keep shouting '6,' you’re no son of mine. Back in the day, your old man was on Olympus..."
Yeah, thinking about it that way, it made a lot more sense.
Lin Xue’s thoughts grew more pleasant. She mused that Chen Mo was indeed a master of showing off—he really understood the art of it. Naturally, the games he made were deeply stamped with this kind of showing-off mark.
This essentially encouraged players to show off from every angle, 360 degrees without blind spots. Thoughtful, very thoughtful!
Lin Xue was so pleased she almost laughed out loud.
Thinking about it this way, although God of War 4 had a significant drop in satisfying gameplay, having a salted fish shouting '666' behind you was an epic-level buff for Kratos.
Of course, the annoying part was that this brat was a real handful—a classic case of "inherited trouble." For example, he’d step on a bridge and it would collapse, or look at a monster and it would come to life. He was basically a mobile trap trigger.
Still, the son had some irreplaceable uses, like reading.
Kratos couldn’t understand Norse runes, so whenever he encountered various runes or mechanisms, he had to rely on his son to translate. Kratos was like an illiterate person, constantly asking, "Boy, what does this mean? Boy, what does that mean?"
"Alright, this little brat is at least somewhat useful." Lin Xue had to admit that.
...
As the game progressed, the story grew richer, and the battle scenes became more epic.
Sure enough, the initial goal of the game wasn’t so easy to achieve. The father and son’s path up the mountain was blocked by the Black Breath, and they had to go to the elven realm of Alfheim to find special light to break through. So Lin Xue watched helplessly as Kratos once again embarked on a journey across the Nine Realms.
Yeah, for the gods here, this was a dangerous signal.
Think about it—why did the Greek gods fall? It all seemed to start with Kratos setting off for Athens...
But as the story unfolded, the game indeed got better and better. Later, Kratos began encountering many large monsters, gaining new combat abilities and finisher moves. That initial shock of experiencing God of War was slowly reviving in Lin Xue’s heart.
However, what shocked Lin Xue the most was that this brat seemed to be getting more and more useful?