_____ _ __ __ __ / ____| | | / _| \ \ / / | | __ ___ __| | ___ | |_ \ \ /\ / /_ _ _ __ .---. | | |_ |/ _ \ / _` | / _ \| _| \ \/ \/ / _` | '__| / . \ | |__| | (_) | (_| | | (_) | | \ /\ / (_| | | |\_/| | \_____|\___/ \__,_| \___/|_| \/ \/ \__,_|_| | | /| .-------------------------------------------------------------------------' | / .-. | | / \ Title : GOD OF WAR - Common Questions and Problems | | |\_. | Purpose : Answer the most common questions that players ask. | |\| | /| Platform : PlayStation 2 | | `---' | Author : Chris A. (keltin_2002) | | | Email : keltin_2002@yahoo.com | | | | | | Version : 1.5 | | | Updated : 9/9/06 / | |-------------------------------------------------------------------' \ | \ / `---' o // | }---------------------------------------------------\ 0#############| > SPOILER ALERT : There Are Spoilers In This Guide ) | }---------------------------------------------------/ \\ o .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | TABLE OF CONTENTS | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | Note: Use CTRL+F to search on each section's Search Key | / \ / Each Search Key is located in brackets to the right of \ / `---' each section heading `---' I ----- HISTORY ......................................................[SCT001] II ---- INTRODUCTION .................................................[SCT002] III --- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ...................................[SCT003] 1. Are there glitches in this game? 2. My game just glitched so how do I recover? 3. My game just switched to EASY Mode, why? 4. Is there nudity in this game? 5. Is there "cussing" in this game? 6. Is there violence and gore in this game? 7. How long is this game? 8. How hard is God Mode? 9. Do I have to beat God Mode to unlock everything? 10. Once I beat the game, can I carry over my upgraded items to a new game? 11. What is a "mini-game"? 12. This jump is impossible, what special thing do I need before I can make this jump? 13. What is a "Super Jump" that the manual talks about? 14. I see some chests, but I can't reach them, how do I get them? 15. How do I beat this monster? 16. How do I get past this part? 17. How many Boss Fights are there in this game? 18. How do I beat the Hydra Boss? 19. How do I beat Medusa? 20. How do I beat the main Minotaur Boss? 21. How do I beat Challenge number x in the Challenge of the Gods? 22. What do I get if I beat the Challenge of the Gods? 23. How do I unlock the new costumes? 24. Can I use the new costumes on God Mode? 25. What are the Nyads and what do they do? 26. What are the Muse keys and what do they do? 27. I missed my chance to use the Muse Keys, can I go back and use them later? 28. How many upgrades are there for the Blades of Chaos? 29. How many upgrades are there for the Blade of Artemis? 30. How many upgrades are there for each magic spell? 31. Which is better, the Blades of Chaos or the Blade of Artemis? 32. What's the deal with the Blades of Athena? 33. Can I use the Blades of Athena in a new game? 34. How do I get past the bladed log poles or the bladed columns in the Path of Hades chapter? 35. How can I beat Ares? 36. The Kratos Clones during the Final Battle are insane, how can I beat them? 37. What are the other videos and how do I unlock them? 38. What is Secret Message 1 and how do I unlock it? 39. What is Secret Message 2 and how do I unlock it? 40. Who or what is the Grave Digger? 41. Should I buy this game? 42. How many difficulty levels are there? 43. In the menus there is a "soften" option. What does it do? 44. I beat the game and have the new Blades of Athena, what do I do next? 45. What is Hades Revenge and how do I use it? 46. How do I break the golden shields that those soldiers are carrying? 47. Does the game strictly follow Greek Mythology? 48. I’m in the Conveyor Belt room just before Pandora’s Box, and I don’t have any magic or Rage of the Gods. How can I beat this part? Pro Tip: You can skip this fight! 49. I’m stuck in the Maze in the Challenge of Hades. Is there an easy way out of this? 50. The Minotaur Boss in the Challenge of Hades is a pain. Is there an easy way to beat him? 51. I’ve heard there is another Easter Egg hidden in God of War, what is it? IV ---- INFINITE RED ORBS ............................................[SCT004] Yep, there is a way to glitch a Harpy during the Challenge of Atlas that will give you an infinite amount of orbs. The max you can carry is 199 full bars which is 59,700 orbs. Enough to upgrade everything and still have orbs left over. V ----- KNOWN GLITCHES ................................................[SCT005] 1. Locks up trying to save the game 2. Locks up at the 2nd Mini-Hydra fight 3. The switch in the Challenge of Atlas gets stuck 4. Locks up during the Cerberus & Harpy fight in the Trident room 5. Locks up while loading a new section 6. Kratos knocked into a dark pool of water during last battle with Ares 7. Locks up during the sword clash during the final battle with Ares 8. Locks up at the end of the game after beating Ares 9. Unlocked the movies but they won't play 10. PS2 will not read or recognize the God of War disc (DRE) 11. The Main Hydra Boss Glitch. You can’t break the mast. 12. Saves do not work. Nothing happens. VI ---- CHAPTER QUESTIONS ............................................[SCT006] 1. Beating the Main Hydra Boss 2. The Minotaur Trap room in the Road to Athens 3. Impossible Jumps 4. The door in the Saw Room Floor during the Challenge of Atlas 5. The splitting floor in the Challenge of Atlas 6. Sacrificing the caged man during the Challenge of Poseidon 7. The moving wall trap found underwater in the Challenge of Poseidon 8. Escaping the Maze in the Challenge of Hades 9. The Grave Digger 10. The Conveyor Belt Trap after the Desert of Lost Souls VII --- CHALLENGE OF THE GODS ........................................[SCT007] An in depth walkthrough of all 10 Challenges including strategies VIII -- THE NEW COSTUMES .............................................[SCT008] A close look at all five of the unlockable costumes IX ---- THE MATURE RATING ............................................[SCT009] Why this game got the M rating : Nudity, Sex, Violence, etc. X ----- IN DEPTH GAME MECHANICS ......................................[SCT010] 1. Controller Buttons and Onscreen Icons 2. Using the L1 Button 3. Using the L2 Button 4. Using the R1 Button 5. Using the R2 Button 6. Using the O Button 7. Using the Square Button 8. Using the Triangle Button 9. Using the X Button 10. Using the left analog stick 11. Using the right analog stick 12. Using Rage of the Gods 13. Magic 14. Blades of Chaos 15. The Blade of Artemis 16. Mini-Games 17. Crossing Ropes 18. Swinging on Ropes 19. Climbing Walls 20. Climbing Nets on Ships 21. Balancing across beams and poles 22. Beating the Game 23. The Gorgon Eyes 24. The Phoenix Feathers 25. Green Orbs 26. Blue Orbs 27. Red Orbs 28. The Nyads 29. The Muse Keys XI ---- ODDS AND ENDS ................................................[SCT011] Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else XII --- CREDITS ......................................................[SCT012] XIII -- MAJOR SPOILERS ...............................................[SCT013] 1. Secret Message 1 2. Secret Message 2 3. A Secret Revealed 4. Fate of the Titan 5. Grave Digger [SCT001] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | HISTORY | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Version 1.5 – 9/9/06 :Update the Credits section to give much deserving credit to ladyhawke2 :(msladyhawke2@yahoo.com) for her outstanding help in getting to the :bottom of the supposed Main Hydra Glitch. There is not glitch. :Added the “Surrender Kratos” Easter egg (New Question #51). :Added the new tip on how to skip the Conveyor Fight before getting Pandora’s :Box (Updated Pro Tip: Question #48). Version 1.4 – 3/24/05 :Added Questions 49 & 50 concerning the Maze and the Minotaur boss in the :Challenge of Hades. Version 1.3 – 2/6/06 :Added the text for Secret Message 1 & Secret Message 2 in the Major :Spoilers Section. :Added a strategy to get past the Conveyor Room before getting Pandora’s :Box. A big thanks to Mongoose525 (markahn@bellsouth.net) for :contributing this strategy. See Question # 48 for more details. :Added to the Glitch Section concerning the rumored Hydra Boss glitch. :There is no glitch with the Hydra, it’s a false rumor based on not :pushing the O button fast enough. See the Glitch Section for more info. :Also, added a glitch fix for a save problem that some users have had. Version 1.2 - 10/03/05 :Added the Infinite Red orbs Section. :Added a new strategy for Challenge of the Gods # 10. Thanks to :Myself13 (O. Hertz = boazherz@netvision.net.il) for that information. :Added PAL version info for the Secret Messages in the Major Spoilers :section. Thanks to zemickeey (zemickey@yahoo.com) for that information. Version 1.1 - 7/11/05 :Added question 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, & 47. :Added item 10 to the Glitches section to briefly explain a DRE. :Added alternate strategies to Challenge #10 for Challenge of the Gods. Version 1.0 - 7/7/05 :Initial writing of this FAQ. :Began writing this FAQ on 7/5/05 and finished it on 7/7/05. [SCT002] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | INTRODUCTION | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' First, there are lots of Spoilers in this FAQ, so you have been warned. Well, this is my third Guide/FAQ on God of war. I first did a God Mode Strategy Guide to help players make it through God Mode. I then did a Chest Guide to show reveal how to get all of the chests that are in the game, even the hidden ones. I had thought that was it, but after having received so many email questions and reading the Message Boards and seeing the same questions come up again and again, I decided there needed to be yet another Guide/FAQ that addressed all of the player specific questions, in one place, that either got missed in other guides or are spread out over several guides. I doubt I get everything, but I believe I got the vast majority of the most commonly asked questions. I was torn on how much info to put in here. I couldn't decide if I should go with long winded detailed answers or if I should be short and concise. In the end, I opted for both. The first section in the this guide is a typical Q & A FAQ type section where the most common questions about this game are presented in question form and then answered. After that, there are several in depth sections covering small little details such as controller configuration, how to double jump successfully, why the game got an M rating, what are the glitches and how can they be fixed or avoided, etc. Everything but the kitchen sink is in here. This FAQ is NOT a walkthrough but it is instead an attempt to answer the most common player specific questions about this game in one place. Something of an encyclopedia of common questions if you will. With that said, let's get down to business. [SCT003] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Frequently Asked Questions | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' 1. Are there glitches in this game? <> Unfortunately, yes there are. The exact cause of each is unknown, but some of them are due to dirty or damaged discs, older PS2 systems, and copied discs. See the Section titled "Known Glitches" below for more info and possible avoidance and recovery methods. 2. My game just glitched so how do I recover? <> Some glitches can be recovered from in the game. If you still have control of the game Menu system, pull up the menu and select restart from last checkpoint. If the game is locked up, try ejecting the disk while the PS2 is running, clean the disc, then re-insert the disc. See the section titled "Known Glitches" below for more info and possible avoidance and recovery methods. 3. My game just switched to EASY Mode, why? <> If you die more than 5 times in a row on a particular part in the game it will ask you if you want to switch to easy mode. The screen used to ask this question looks just like the continue game screen, so if you're frustrated as you play and are hastily hitting buttons to get back to the game, then you have inadvertently selected YES and instructed the game to switch you to easy mode. The game will NOT change to Easy Mode automatically. It will always ask you if you wish to do so. If you ever do switch to Easy Mode, there is NO WAY to switch back to a harder mode. You will have to reload an earlier saved game or restart completely. 4. Is there nudity in this game? <> Yes there is. Only bare breast are shown, and even that is quick. Nothing below the waist is shown. See the section titled "The Mature Rating" below for more information. 5. Is there cussing in this game? <> Not in the game itself. This game takes place in ancient Greece and they didn't have the "cuss words" back then that we have today. However, some of the narrations in the unlockable movies have minor cussing in them. See the section titled "The Mature Rating" below for more information. 6. Is there violence and gore in this game? <> Yes. And lots of it. Still, it's nothing worse than many of the other games on the Market such as Mortal Kombat. See the section titled "The Mature Rating" below for more information. 7. How long is this game? <> On your first play through on Normal Mode, it's about 8 - 10 hours of game-play. You can beat it in a weekend. Spartan and God mode may take a little longer as you adjust your strategies for the more difficult enemies, but basically it's an 8 - 10 hour game. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 8. How hard is God Mode? <> That depends. If you play Easy or Normal and then switch to God Mode then you will find it rather difficult. If you play Spartan before going to God Mode then it won't seem as bad. You must be more defensive in God Mode. The enemies deal 5 times more damage to you, and you deal only half as much as you usually do. So they hit really hard, and you don't - so block a lot! See the God Mode Guide on www.gamefaqs.com for detailed looks at what God Mode has to offer. 9. Do I have to beat God Mode to unlock everything? <> NO. You're only required to beat God Mode in order to unlock Secret Message 1. The game says that you have to beat God mode, but the manual does not. The truth is, you can unlock everything in Spartan mode except for Secret Message 1. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 10. Once I beat the game, can I carry over my upgraded items to a new game? <> Unfortunately, NO you can not. In God of War, a new game is just that, brand new. You start from scratch and even have to watch all of the cutscenes and FMVs again (you can't skip them). See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 11. What is a "mini-game"? <> Basically, its a part in the game where icons representing controller buttons or analog stick movements are briefly displayed on the screen. In order to succeed, you must press the button that matches the icon that is displayed. Kind of like Simon Says. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Mini-Games" for more information. 12. This jump is impossible, what special thing do I need before I can make this jump? <> There are no impossible jumps in the game. There ARE jumps that require a well timed Double Jump. For the Double Jump to work, do NOT quickly tap the X Button. Tapping it twice in rapid succession will only result in a very short jump. The longer you hold down X, the farther the Jump. So, the key is to press and HOLD X for a second, then release and quickly press and HOLD X again for the double jump. See the section titled "Chapter Questions" and its sub-section titled "Impossible Jumps" for more information. Also, see the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Using the X Button" for more information on jumping. 13.What is a "Super Jump" that the manual talks about? <> Basically, it's just a jump where Kratos jumps into the air to clash with an enemy that he has just launched into the air. It has no use in regular jumping and is only accomplished during a fight when an enemy has been launched into the air. See the section titled "Chapter Questions" and its sub-section titled "Impossible Jumps" for more information. 14. I see some chests, but I can't reach them, how do I get them? <> There are over 300 chest in the game. Some of them hidden. I wrote a Chest Guide that shows where every chest in the game is found. The Chest Guide is at www.gamefaqs.com. Check it for all you ever wanted to know about the chests that are in the game. 15. How do I beat this monster? <> I wrote a God Mode strategy Guide that is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com which lists in detail every enemy and the best strategy for fighting them. Check out that guide and see the section on Enemies. 16. How do I get past this part? <> See the section titled "Chapter Questions" for answers about a few tough jumps and some timed traps. Included are: - Beating the Main Hydra Boss - The Minotaur Trap room in the Road to Athens - Impossible Jumps - Jumping the vined walls in the Road to Athens - Jumping across the pillars in the Road to Athens - Jumping across the lava pit trap floor in Challenge of Hades - The door in the Saw Room Floor during the challenge of Atlas - The splitting floor in the Challenge of Atlas - Sacrificing the caged man during the Challenge of Poseidon - The moving wall trap found underwater in the Challenge of Poseidon - Escaping the Maze in the Challenge of Hades - Beating the Satyrs in the Path to Hades to make the platforms rise - The Conveyor Belt Trap after the Desert of Lost Souls If these topics do not address your question, check my God Mode guide for more info, plus check the many complete FAQs/Walkthroughs. All of these can be found at www.gamfaqs.com 17. How many Boss Fights are there in this game? <> Technically, only three. The Main Hydra, the Main Minotaur (also known as Pandora's Guardian), and the Final Battle with Ares which is divided into 3 parts - Part 1 is Ares, Part 2 is the Kratos Clones, and Part 3 is Ares again. There are 2 "mini-boss fights". One is with Medusa the Main Gorgon, and the other is in the Desert of Lost Souls where you fight the three Main Sirens and the Minotaurs that guard them. 18. How do I beat the Hydra Boss? <> See the section titled "Chapter Questions" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Main Hydra Boss". Also refer to my God Mode guide for more strategies for this Boss. 19. How do I beat Medusa? <> Basically, just fight her! Block when she attacks, use Poseidon's Rage until its gone, and then hit her with your best combos: Square, Square, Triangle works rather well. The key to Medusa is, she can only be killed in ONE WAY and that's her mini-game finishing move. Once you have damaged her enough, the O Button icon appears over her head and you must get close to her and hit the O Button to grab her. Once done, the game instructs you on how to do the mini-game. In the mini-game, you will have to match two or three left analog stick movements to win. 20. How do I beat the main Minotaur Boss? <> There is an EASY way and a Straight up Fight way. The easy way is to get the shelf at the back of the room where the witch is. Once on the shelf all the way to your right till you hit the wall and then push up a bit and you'll be standing in an area where the Minotaur can NOT reach you, but you can hit him. This is SLOW but it works. For a straight up fight, Have your Blades of Chaos up to Level 5 and then on the same shelf mentioned above except this time you will stand dead center in front of him on the small grate area where the logs are shot from. With Level 5 blades, you can block all of his attacks except for the left hand sweep - double jump to your left to avoid that. Also, by standing dead center and NOT drifting near one of his hands you will not trigger the special attack that each hand does. So, stand dead center, block all attacks except for the left hand sweep which must be avoided. When you aren't blocking, wail on him with your best combos. I wrote a God Mode strategy Guide that is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com which listed more details on this fight. Check it out for more info. 21. How do I unlock the new costumes? <> Beat Challenge of the Gods. In order to access Challenge of the Gods you have to beat the game at least once on any mode of difficulty. See the section below titled "The New Costumes" for detailed information on each new costume 22. How do I beat Challenge number X in the Challenge of the Gods? <> See the section below titled "Challenge of the Gods" for a complete mini-walkthrough with strategies. 23. What do I get if I beat the Challenge of the Gods? <> You will unlock five new playable costumes for Kratos. Each costume changes the way Kratos looks and also a certain aspect of his fighting ability and defense. That's it. This challenge ONLY unlocks the five new costumes and nothing else. 24. Can I use the new costumes on God Mode? <> NO. The costumes can only be used on Easy, Normal, and Hard modes. You are NOT allowed to use the costumes on God Mode. There simply is no break in getting past God mode. NOTE - in order to use a Costume, you have to start a NEW GAME. You can not transfer a costume to a saved game, and you can not carry over items from a previous saved game to a new game. A new game is a new game and it begins from scratch. 25. What are the Nyads and what do they do? <> They are Poseidon's Daughters and they are located in the underwater portion of The Challenge of Poseidon. There are FOUR Nyads in all. Three of them are hidden. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "The Nyads". Also, my Chest Guide which is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com has detailed info on the Nyads as well. 26. What are the Muse keys and what do they do? <> There are two Muse keys in the game. With both Muse keys, you can open a door in the rings of Pandora. When you grab the handle that rotates the rings to the various doors (such as when you did so to get to the Challenge of Atlas and got the Blade of Artemis), one of the openings leads to a black and gold door that is adorned with carvings of the Muses. Use the keys there to open the door. Once inside you will be granted a Health and Magic Bar upgrade as well as a bunch of red orbs. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "The Muse Keys". Also, my Chest Guide which is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com has detailed on the Muse Keys as well. 27. I missed my chance to use the Muse Keys, can I go back and use them later? <> NO. The Muse Keys MUST be used BEFORE you ascend the tower and reach the Cliffs of Madness. Once you leave Pandora's Temple and reach the Cliffs of Madness, you can NEVER go back to the Temple of Pandora. That is why you hear a voice warning you about this as you attempt to ascend the tower to the Cliffs of Madness. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "The Muse Keys". 28. How many upgrades are there for the Blades of Chaos? <> There are five levels for the Blades of Chaos. Level 5 is the highest meaning you can upgrade the Blades of Chaos four times. Each upgrade increases the attack power of the Blades and also Grants you new attack moves. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "The Blades of Chaos" 29. How many upgrades are there for the Blade of Artemis? <> There are three levels for the Blade of Artemis. Level 3 is the highest meaning you can upgrade the Blade of Artemis twice. Each upgrade increases the attack power of the Blade and that's it. No new moves are gained from an upgrade. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "The Blade of Artemis" 30. How many upgrades are there for each magic spell? <> There are three levels for each spell. Each upgrade increase the attack power of the spell and often grants you a new magical ability. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Magic" 31. Which is better, the Blades of Chaos or the Blade of Artemis? <> It's kind of personal choice, but the Blade of Artemis, while strong, is very slow and has a tendency of getting in the way of your O Button mini-games. Plus, it's hard to get any decent combos in with the Blade of Artemis. The Blades of Chaos on the other hand are very fast, and at level 5 are just as strong as the Blade of Artemis. Technically, due to the speed, flexibility, multiple combo attacks, and power of the Blades of Chaos, one would have to say the Blades of Chaos is the superior weapon. 32. What's the deal with the Blades of Athena? <> Just before the final fight with Ares he takes away your Blades of Chaos. But, since Kratos becomes the new God of War, he needed a new God type blade, thus Athena gave him the Blades of Athena. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 33. Can I use the Blades of Athena in a new game? <> No. You can use the Blades of Athena to break the statues in the throne room and you can use them for the Challenge of the Gods, but that is it. You can not carry anything over to a new game. A new game is just that, it is new and starts from scratch. 34. How do I get past the bladed log poles or the bladed columns in the Path of Hades chapter? <> I wrote a God Mode strategy Guide that is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com which lists more details on this section. Check it out for more info. 35. How can I beat Ares? <> I wrote a God Mode strategy Guide that is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com which lists more details on this fight. Check it out for more info. 36. The Kratos Clones during the Final Battle are insane, how can I beat them? <> A quick note about this before I refer you to the God Mode Guide. NOTE : A quick tip on hugging your family during the Kratos Clone Battle. To hug them successfully, approach them and then press and HOLD DOWN the O button. If you let go of the O Button, Kratos will let go of his family. I wrote a God Mode strategy Guide that is hosted at www.gamefaqs.com which lists more details on this fight. Check it out for more info. 37. What are the other videos and how do I unlock them? <> When you beat the game on Easy or Normal, you unlock about half of the treasures found in the "Treasures" menu. To unlock the remaining videos you have to beat the Game on Spartan or God Mode. If you choose Spartan, you might want to beat the Challenge of the Gods first so that you can go through Spartan with one of the new costumes. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 38. What is Secret Message 1 and how do I unlock it? <> You HAVE to beat God Mode to unlock this. This is the ONLY treasure item that requires God Mode. All other items can be unlocked on Spartan Mode. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. If you want to know what the message is, then see the section titled "Major Spoilers". 39. What is Secret Message 2 and how do I unlock it? <> At the end of the game you will be in the Throne Room of the God of War. There are two Statues which you must break to unlock Secret Message 2. Use the L1+O attack to do this since this attack will display the hit counter for you. It takes around 200 hits each. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. If you want to know what the message is, then see the section titled "Major Spoilers". 40. Who or what is the Grave Digger? <> Most people believe he is Zeus, and there are strong arguments for this opinion. Go to the section titled "Chapter Questions" and its sub-section titled "The Grave Digger". 41. Should I buy this game? <> If you like action and adventure games, you won't be disappointed in this one. The voice acting is some of the best ever put into a video game, the graphics are simply stunning and have taken the PS2 to new heights, the fighting is fast and furious, but not ridiculously hard. The puzzles are very unique and if you start playing this game, you're liable to find (like so many others have) that this game is VERY addictive. The game offers about 10 hours of game play which is typical of an Action/Adventure game. This game also has quite a bit of replay value, so you can easily get more than 10 hours of enjoyment out of it. Read some of the reviews at www.gamefaqs.com for more info. 42. How many difficulty levels are there? <> There are four difficulty levels. Three of them are immediately available: Mortal = Easy Hero = Normal Spartan = Hard Beat them game on any of these settings and you unlock the special difficulty level: God Mode = Very Hard. 43. In the menus there is a "soften" option. What does it do? <> It's a video option that basically "blurs" the edge of everything in the game making things look "softer". Nearly every one agrees that you should turn this option OFF as the game looks better with crisp, clear edges. 44. I beat the game and have the new Blades of Athena, what do I do next? <> Once you beat it the first time through, you've unlocked a few new movies, the God Mode Difficulty, and the Challenge of the Gods. If you destroyed the Statues in the throne room then you also unlocked Secret Message 2. So, go to the Treasures Menu to see your newly unlocked treasures. The Blades of Athena are a story element but they can be used for the Challenge of the Gods and they can be used to break the Statues in the throne room. Now that you've finished the game, you can beat the Challenge of the Gods to unlock the 5 new costumes or restart a new game on a different difficulty level. If you play again on either easy, normal, or hard, you can use the new costumes (IF you have already beat the Challenge of the Gods). If you play through on Spartan you will unlock the rest of the unlockables except for secret message 1. If you play through on God Mode, you will unlock the rest of the unlockables including secret message 1. You can NOT use the costumes on God Mode, and you can NOT carry over any thing to a new game. A new game begins from scratch. See the section titled "In Depth Game Mechanics" and its sub-section titled "Beating the Game" for more information. 45. What is Hades Revenge and how do I use it? <> Hades Revenge is gained at Level 3 for the Blades of Chaos. Once you level up the Blades of Chaos to level three you will be able to use this technique which is also known as "parrying" an enemy attack. Basically, this allows you to counter attack an enemy if you successfully block his attack. As an enemy is attacking you, hit and Hold L1 just before the enemy attack strikes you. If done correctly, you will see a slight pause in the animation meaning you can now parry with a special counter attack of your own. To parry, immediately LET GO of the L1 button and then hit one of the following buttons: Square - Kratos does a double chain sweep that hits every enemy in front of him which sends them flying and knocks them to the ground (or off a ledge if you are near a ledge) Triangle - Kratos does a double chain ground slam which will actually hit and damage every enemy around him, even those that are behind him. This causes the enemy to be knocked off their feet and stuns them for a second, but it won't push them back or knock them off of ledges. R1 - Kratos does a rapid stabbing attack against the one enemy that he is facing. This is the weakest of the counter attacks, but its fun to watch at least once. 46. How do I break the golden shields that those soldiers are carrying? <> You have to use an attack that ends with a double chain ground slam. The ground slam will break the chains. The very first attack available to you that has this chain slam is Square, Square, Triangle. NOTE: to get Square, Square, Triangle to work, you must TAP Triangle at the end of this button sequence. If you HOLD Triangle at the end of this button sequence, even for a second, Kratos will NOT do the chain slam but will instead do an uppercut attack in an attempt to launch the enemy into the air. Later, you will gain other moves as you level up the Blades of Chaos that will also break the soldiers shields such as Triangle, Triangle, Triangle. As well as L1 + O Button (hold the O Button during this attack to fully charge the attack - this can also be done in mid air after a jump). 47. Does the game strictly follow Greek Mythology? <> No. Elements from Greek Mythology are used in the game, but the game is not bound by the Mythology and instead takes certain liberties. For example, in Greek Mythology there was only 1 Minotaur but in the game you fight a LOT of them. In Greek Mythology there were only three sirens that lived on a rocky island in the ocean, but in the game there are more than three sirens located throughout the game (none of them on a rock island). Also in Greek Mythology, there is rather obscure reference to a Cratus, and Cratus is often transliterated to Kratos. The Myth of Cratus/Kratos is that he was the son of Styx and Pallas. As such, he was the personification of strength, and was an attendant to Zeus - not exactly the Kratos of the game! There are more examples of this, but the point is that the game borrows aspects from Greek Mythology, but it in no way attempts to remain true to the myths. The game is for fun and never intended to teach anyone Greek Mythology. 48. I’m in the Conveyor Belt room just before Pandora’s Box, and I don’t have any magic or Rage of the Gods. How can I beat this part? <> This seems to happen to many gamers out there. but have no fear, it is possible to beat this part without magic or Rage of the Gods. it will take some time, patience, and practice, but you can do it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated Pro Tip: You can skip this fight all together. This is actually something of a glitch that works to your Advantage. Once you get to this part, you’ll notice there is a small landing (like a door mat) at the base of the entrance to the conveyor belt. You can stand on this without triggering the fight. Now, carefully hug the wall behind Kratos and make your way to the right (or left, it is up to you) and make sure you don’t stray to far forward away from the wall. If you get too far away from the wall, you will hit the trigger point and the fight starts. If that happens, simply Retry From Last Checkpoint. Continue to hug the wall and make your way to the spiked wheels at the end of the conveyor. This is the tricky part, stay as close as possible to the spiked wheel without getting hit and make your way forward. If you stray too far away from the spiked wheel, you will trigger the fight. Once past the spiked wheel, hug the wall and make your way around to the first ledge (these are the ledges/platforms that have the fire jet traps on them). Once you get on the paltform, you are home free and can continue forward without ever having triggered this rather difficult fight. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you choose to fight, then Here is a strategy written up by Mongoose525 (markahn@bellsouth.net) that shows you how this can be done. The Conveyor Room Run/jump to the back door of the room and kill the archers. The other archers on the rest of the platforms cannot shoot you back there. I used Lance of the Furies to take out the first two archers, rolled back and did a square, square, (hold) square on the harpy's coming in then jumped back and did a LoF on the archers again repeating this till the archers quit re-spawning. Then I started roll left and square, square, hold square combos on the last conveyor till I took out all the harpies. When one dive-bombs, be ready to roll out of its way. Once the harpies quit following you to the back conveyor kill the other archers on the next platform jumping back and to between the platforms and killing the archers as they re-spawn. Kill the last two archers on the first platforms in the room and your home free. Anyway, all I can tell you is I did it but it wasn't a cakewalk. I died a lot trying to do it without using Rage or magic. A note on square, hold square, and square, square hold square (you get this at Level 5 on your Blades of Chaos). You can hit towards one or two harpies and then at the last second as you hold re-direct your hit in a different direction. You can take out 4 to 6 at a time. After a while you will have them bottled up at the last platform and as long as you don't go past it, the archers there can't shoot you. The harpy's will also stop dive-bombing you if you are killing them fast enough. If you haven't rolled far enough left when you do a roll and square, square, hold square, jump back to the left hand far corner and then come back towards the platforms with square, square hold square. It takes a while, but eventually the harpy’s stop coming. You can do a square, square, hold square right in between the platforms too but you need to be mindful of the archers, and if you go to kill an archer to early a harpy will dive bomb you. If you don't have Lance of the Furies use square, square, hold square on the archers at the exit or grab and throw them, then roll backwards out of the way of the flame and come up with a square, square, hold square on the harpies and square, square, hold square again on the archers till they stop re-spawning. (It was a technique that was working for me but not as effective as LoF). It takes a lot of luck as well as skill. Work at it and see what works best for you. When you find some technique that makes you live a little longer stick with it and eventually you'll get through. Otherwise, the only other alternative is to start over if you don't have a backup save somewhere. Did you use all the magic chests on the cliffs of madness? You can backtrack all the way back to the entrance to grab a chest before you enter the conveyors. 49. I’m stuck in the Maze in the Challenge of Hades. Is there an easy way out of this? <>There is a glitch that will allow you to leave the maze even though you haven’t killed everyone. In fact, you don’t have to kill anyone at all, but can instead simply run for the maze exit. Once you get to the exit door, stand before it and press forward so that Kratos is walking into the door. Press R2 to read what it says. Now, hold L1 and then hit X. This will perform Apollo’s Ascension in which Kratos leaps in to the air with an uppercut strike. Now, as you rise into the air, continue to hold down L1 and keep pressing X like mad. As you continually hold L1 and press X, ALSO begin tapping R2 again. As you’re doing this, Kratos will slowly rise in the air with each press of the X button. Just above the door in the center is an indention that almost looks like a vent of some kind. “Aim” for that as you hold L1 and continually press X. Kratos will slowly rise toward that spot above the the door and eventually he will actually warp THROUGH the door. You will now be on the other side of the door and can continue own with your journey. If you do this and decide you want to get back into the Maze, simply do this process again from the other side and you can warp back through the door and get back into the maze. 50. The Minotaur Boss in the Challenge of Hades is a pain. Is there an easy way to beat him? <>In Question 20, the fight with the Minotaur Boss was covered, and you were referred to the God Mode Guide. However, there is a trick I recently discovered that makes this fight much easier. During the fight, you will break his armor and will have to pull the switch in order to fire a log arrow at him. Now, here is the trick. Stay as close as possible to that switch, and keep tapping the button in order to pull the switch again! The cut-scene will play out as usual, but the game will see that you are trying to pull the switch again, and it will actually register. Once the cut-scene with the Minotaur ends, the camera will turn back to Kratos and show that he is actually HALFWAY through pulling the switch again! The Minotaur will still charge the platform, he will still strike it, and fire will still erupt and damage Kratos, BUT a second log will be launched at the Minotaur and this shot will completely break his armor allowing you to skip the third armor stage of this fight. So, if you’re fed up with this beast, use this trick to shave of at least 1/4 of the normal battle time. 51. I’ve heard there is another Easter Egg hidden in God of War, what is it? <>When you arrive at the Temple of the Oracle for the first time, you have a chance to see a deeply hidden Easter Egg. To trigger it, go to the far left hand side of the temple. Jump up on the ledge where a chest is waiting. To the right of the chest you will see a small glowing light or firefly. Walk into the firefly and press R2 (if you wish, press R2 a few times to make sure). Now, quickly make your way back to where the Grave Digger is digging the grave. Behind him are three piles of dirt. Stand on the tallest one and press R2 once. Now quickly make your way back across the bridge at the beginning of the area to where the chests are located. Stand between the two columns at the beginning of the bridge and hit R2 again. If you’ve done it correctly, you will see a message written in cursive script in the sky over Kratos’ shoulder. It says: “Surrender Kratos”. Note: Make sure you are pressing R2 and not R1 which is the ram attack. [SCT004] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Infinite Red Orbs | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Here is a trick that you can pull off during the Challenge of Atlas to get infinite Red Orbs. Note: This trick HAS been confirmed to also work on the PAL version. In the Challenge of Atlas, once you cross the bridge after the saw floor room, there will be a harpy at the base of the tower. Your progress is to go around the tower to the ladder and start the wall climbing. Instead of just killing the harpy here, walk over to the ladder on the wall. Get the harpy to be between you and the ladder and then start beating on the harpy. Use Plume of Prometheus (Square, Square, Triangle) to kill it. The Triangle hit knocks it up in the air, and usually kills it. The trick is to kill the harpy above the top of the ladder. When it dies, it screams and falls down and hits the top of the ladder and then bounces back up and gets stuck in this bounce. The whole while it is bouncing, it showers you in red orbs. Alternatively, if the Square, Square, Triangle combo isn’t working for you, Then use a light square hit to knock the Harpy to the ground so that it falls To the foot of the ladder. Now rush the Harpy and basically push it into the Ladder. As you do this, Kratos will start trying to climb the ladder. Once You start climbing the ladder, sit still and wait for the Harpy to revive and Try to fly away. As soon as it revives, press up on the left control stick And hit X so that Kratos swings upward and hits the Harpy. Do this till the Harpy dies and the glitch should start. When the glitch starts, back down Off the ladder and simply stand there. Once the glitch is running, just let Kratos stand there, put your controller down, and walk away. Come back in a few minutes to see your massive amount of orbs. Max amount of orbs is 199 full red bars which is 59,700 orbs. It takes about 10 minutes to get the max 199 full bars. ----------------------IMPORTANT----------------------- ONCE YOU GET THIS TO WORK, BACKTRACK AND FIND A SAVE ----------------------IMPORTANT----------------------- If you die during the next part, you will lose your orbs since that glitch Harpy Is the checkpoint. So SAVE your game before continuing. If you kill the Harpy accidentally, since that harpy that you are trying to glitch is your checkpoint, then go back to the bridge and find the break and jump off and die. You'll restart and be facing that Harpy again. To sum up: Get close to the ladder to lure it over, double jump over the harpy to get it between you and the ladder, use PoP ([], [], /\). Stay on the ground as you do this (don't jump up), PoP will still hit the Harpy. PoP doesn't kill it (only three hits in that combo), but it stuns the crap out of it and it falls to the ground. Run toward it and push it hard against the wall and then hit square once or twice and it will die and pop up to the top of the ladder. Backup one step and then let the red orb shower begin. So, if/when you try it, if at first you don't succeed, jump off the bridge and try again! It should be noted that the higher the level of your blades, or if you're playing with a costume that increases power, or you are playing on easy, you can easily kill the Harpy with only a few hits, so you should use a light square attack to knock the Harpy to the ground and then rush the Harpy and push it into the ladder. As it tries to get up and fly, hit it again to kill it and have it bounce on top of the ladder. Many other users here at GameFaqs have gotten this glitch to work, and have posted their own strategies and tips. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: MysticTortoise Just wanted to add that when you push it to the wall, you should grab the ladder (thus you start climbing) and then hit up and square to kill it. At least that's how it worked for me, when you jump on the ladder it basically sets it down on top of the ladder, so all you have to do is kill it... ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: agothoth From my experience you should do it gently. The harpy should be at its max life. That means you never hit it before. When the harpy is between you and the ladder hit it with Plume of Prometheus " [],[],/\ " then the harpy is stunned. When you walk toward it during the harpy in its stunned duration you might overstepped the harpy. So you have to watch carefully. When you see the harpy is slightly airborne move toward it. It is the best time to get the harpy impaled between you and the ladder. If you little too late the harpy fly of. If the timing is right you will impale the harpy between you and the ladder, by this time just just press [] while simultaneously moving your left analog stick steadily so Kratos could move up the ladder. After that the harpy should be killed by now and giving out red orbs but its corpse could not reach the ground because it is bounced between Kratos at the ladder and the cliffs wall. So the dead harpy will keep on bouncing for eternity while giving out red orbs. If the first Plume of Prometheus " [],[],/\ " that is used to stunned gives minimal damage then you have to hit [],[]. to make sure the harpy is killed. The minimal position to stay is just above the second step of the ladder/the wood. Any lower than that the bouncing harpy will knock Kratos down and the harpy corpse will disappear definitely. Too high the bouncing harpy will jump over Kratos thus disappear. There is only one harpy prone to be between Kratos and the ladder. There is other but forcing the other will be quite time consuming or a little bit of skill. My advice, when you reach the bridge just go all the way to the ladder Without killing any harpies and stand in front of it in while holding block button. At this position Kratos back is facing the ladder. There are two harpies positioned at this area. The nearest to the ladder will attack. The harpy will attack in two ways. The fire bomb dive which rarely or maybe never place the attacking harpy behind Kratos that is between Kratos and the ladder. The other is the claw lunge or in other word the harpy just attack using its claw and gives Kratos no harm at all if he is in block mode. If the harpy attack using this way it usually positioned the harpy behind Kratos after its claw lunge. If this happen turn Kratos around and do the above guide. If you accidentally killed the harpy and feel lazy to force another harpy To be in the aforementioned position. Just jump of the bridge and it will restart at the point where Kratos is just in front of the ladder and this only works if you don't do any backtracking from this area or first time reaching this area. Hope this piece of advice worked and one thing, i played the NTSC version. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kizty Back to topic, I followed gothoth's way. I found it easier. Basically have Your back facing the ladder and block. Wait for the harpy to swoop down on you and since you're blocking it will go through you and now you have it between you and the ladder. Now instead of using PoP just jump and press /\ /\ (triangle twice) and that will knock the harpy to the ground (this works well on normal difficulty and I had BoC lvl 4). And the rest is history (i.e. push it into the ladder, climb the first 2 steps and hopefully the harpy is now stuck on the top of the ladder, kill it by pressing up and []). Note that when the harpy goes through you you'll automatically face the harpy, which is at this phase should be between you and the ladder, so you can do the jump combo right away. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ishtar Dark FINALLY, I pulled it off... and under 15 minutes. Woot! I just turned round, which made the harpy turn, too. When she was between me and the stairs, I went towards her, and when I pushed her against the ladder, I bammed her with light [] attacks and she died. I was still holding the Left Analog Stick up, so I immediately climbed the stairs and caused the glitch... and I got 45 secs of it on digital camera... now I want to upload it somewhere for all you non-believers... meh... ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: simboo Ok, I thought I would share this information with those who haven't been Able to "knock" the harpy but who killed it instead. 1- Get the Harpy between you and the ladder. It doesn't matter how far from the ladder you and harpy are, as long as the Harpy is between the ladder and you. 2- Knock the Harpy with R1. It should fall on the ground closer to the Ladder because of the impact. 3- Push the knocked Harpy towards the ladder and a bit more so it "climbs" Up the ladder. Stop pushing until you just started to climb the ladder. 4- Kill the Harpy by pushing up with the left analog stick and "[]" (Square). If done correctly, you should start getting your orbs. Note: All these steps will happen fast but be patient. It took me 10-15 times to figure it out. My blade was at level 4 and was too strong for the PoP trick ([] [] ^). R1 worked like a charm for me. ------------------ End Contributed material ------------------ Ok, besides this particular glitch, there is a way to get enough orbs to max out everything you have much earlier in the game during the Temple of the Oracle. During that chapter, you have to do the “Harpy Puzzle” by blocking the infinitely re-spawning Harpies with the statues. Here, block Both holes, and then pick one side and pull the statue back a bit so that The Harpies can get out. They will come out 2 at a time. Stand there and Use Medusa’s gaze to stone them. They will fall and be crushed for a +30 Red orb bonus per stoned Harpy. When using Medusa’s gaze, the higher you have this magic leveled up, the faster it stones the harpies and the less magic it uses. Thus, the higher The level of your Medusa’s Gaze the longer a full magic bar will last you. A level 3 quick blast uses very little magic and can stone both Harpies at once as they crawl out of the hole. There are Blue Orb chests in this room that will allow you to replenish your magic. Once those chests are empty, you can backtrack all the way back to where you obtained the magic of Zeus’ Fury. The chest next to where you get Zeus’s Fury will re-fill itself infinitely. So, backtrack all the way back, open that chest 3 times for a full magic bar, and then return to stone some more Harpies. Keep repeating until you’ve gotten all the orbs you want. This way is much slower that the Harpy Glitch, but it is a much earlier opportunity. Finally, it should be noted that once you have maxed out everything you have (Blades of Chaos, Blade of Artemis, All Magic), then the game will stop giving you Red Orb Chests and will replace all Red GLOWING chests with Blue Chests which means a LOT more magic for you during the game. The UNLIT chests will still give you Red Orbs IF you have found all Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers. [SCT005] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Known Glitches | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' This game does have glitches. Several have been reported, and a couple seem rather common depending on how old your PS2 is. This game uses a dual layered disc which means the laser has to adjust focus to read data that is on the top layer and then re-adjust to read data which is BENEATH that clear top layer. Basically, by adjusting the focus of the laser, the laser will either read data from the top layer (the shiny layer you see when you flip the disc over) or it will focus "further in" past that clear top layer to read date that is lying underneath the first layer. Because of this, a scratch, a smudge, a fingerprint, etc can cause far more grief on this game than on regular single layer game discs. Also, since this game demand more form the laser, the older PS2 (which had laser problems to begin with) may have problems with this game. To have the least amount of trouble from this game, never touch the shiny side of the disc. If it has fingerprints on it, clean it with a soft non-abrasive clothe. Use back and forth strokes and NEVER go in a circular motion. The reason you never go in a circular motion is that the "data" is located in the circular rungs around the disc. If you wipe back an forth across the rings, you are less likely to damage the data. If you wipe in a circle, you'll be dragging the clothe and debris along the tracks that the data is stored in. If the scratches are deep, get the disc re-surfaced. Also, to help in recovering from any glitch you might encounter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! USE MULTIPLE SAVES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That can NOT be stressed enough. God of War sets aside a chunk of memory that allows for FOUR different saves. I suggest using a different save slot each time you save your game. That way, if you encounter a problem, go back to the last previous save which won't be that much farther back than where you encountered the glitch. If restoring a previous save doesn't fix it, then eject the disc and turn off the PS2. Clean the disc and inspect for scratches. Then restart the PS2 and try again from the previous save point. Some glitches can be recovered from while in game, but most require a reset of the PS2 and/or a restore from a previous save. So have multiple saves! Here are some of the more common glitches. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up trying to save the game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ One thing to note about this "glitch" is that the VERY first time you try to save a game, God of War must format a chunk of memory on your memory card for the save slots it will use. This very first save does TAKE A WHILE to complete. About a minute or so. It looks like the game has locked up because it just sits there and says saving without displaying a progress indicator. HOWEVER, be patient, get up and get something to drink, take a break, whatever. this first save take a while, but it WILL eventually come back. After that first save, all other saves are quick and finish in 10 seconds or less. If any save after the first stalls for longer than 20 or so seconds, then you may have locked up. Still, give it a full minute before you panic. If you do have a true save glitch, power down the PS2. Try a different memory card if you have one. If not, take the current memory card out and blow into it to remove any built up dust. Also, blow into the memory slot to remove any dust there. Re-insert the memory card and try again. If it still doesn't work, you may have a bad memory card and should try to get another one in order to verify. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up at the 2nd Mini-Hydra fight ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This happened to me on a replay. I was using the Dairy Bastard costume. Also, I was moving quickly through the game and actually skipped a few fights by running from a few enemies. By the time I got to the 2nd min-hydra, I had to slow down and defeat the enemies. As I was killing about the third harpy, the game locked up and the screen froze. I wasn't far into the game, so I reset the PS2 and tried again with no problems - however this 2nd time through I made sure to kill everyone before proceeding forward. It is possible that something in the game code could cause a lock up if you run from an enemy and leave them alive. Who knows? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The switch in the Challenge of Atlas gets stuck ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've heard several reports of this one. It happens when someone gets to the switch in the room with the Statue of Atlas. It's the switch on the ledge that you have to pull to make Atlas throw the globe. If you get to the switch early (before having found the handle for the lower switch and before having raised the globe up) and pull the upper switch three or more times in a row, it has been reported that the switch will get stuck in the "pulled" position so that when you come back later, you can't pull it anymore and thus you are stuck since you can't get the globe to fall and break the door which leads to your way out. I haven't heard of any sure fire in-game way to fix this one. You can try back-tracking in the game to a previous "checkpoint" and then die in that area. When the game restarts after your death, you will be back at the previous checkpoint which might help the switch problem. Other than that, you'll need to restart from a previous saved game, so again, USE MULTIPLE SAVES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up during the Cerberus & Harpy fight in the Trident room ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I had this one happen to me. Plus, I've heard of it happen to others. This happens right after you get the Trident that allows you to swim underwater in the Challenge of Poseidon. Once you get the Trident, you swim down and fight a bunch of Cerberus Pups. Once done there, you backtrack to the room where you found the Trident and there are harpies and Adult Cerberus waiting on you. It IS possible to run from this fight. If you do run, you will find a save point not too far down the path. If you save your game and then go back to fight the Harpies and Cerberus Adults you just ran from, then the game is likely to lock up on you. The only way to fix it is reset the game, but it's no big deal since you just did a save. So, just try to avoid this one. It's not game shattering, but it is annoying. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up while loading a new section ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've seen several people say their game locked up while the game was loading the next section. This happens when you progress far enough and the game needs to load the data for the next section. Occasionally you will see the word "Loading" in the lower right hand corner of the screen. This load should only take about 1-3 seconds. If it glitches, it just hangs there. This is caused by a dirty or damaged disc. You can try an in-game fix by ejecting the disc with the game still running. Just hit eject and take the disc out of the tray. Examine the disc and try to clean it as best as you can. Reload the disc and see if the PS2 will resume game play. If not, you'll have to reset the PS2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kratos gets knocked into a dark pool of water during the last battle with Ares. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This happened to me. During the final battle where you fight Ares the 2nd time (after the Clone Battle), Ares uses a magic attack hat calls up four columns that surround you and try to smash together to hit you. If you don't avoid them, you get hit. Once, I was standing on the right side of the lake at about the 3 O'clock position. I was unable to avoid the column smash and when they exploded, Kratos was shot straight up into the air and off the screen. Then the screen went dark. A second later I heard a splash, and then the camera came back, but it was pulled way back from where Kratos was -and Kratos was actually underwater! He was trapped in a small and dark body of water no bigger than the TV screen. You can't get out of this and are just stuck. The game keeps running, but you can't go anywhere. This is EASY to fix. Just pull up your menu screen and select restart from the last checkpoint. This will put you back at the beginning of the battle that you just got kicked out of. That's far better than having to reset and go through the Ares part 1 and those Clones again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up during the sword clash during the final battle with Ares ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've heard of this happening to several people. I've also heard of one person that did an in game fix that worked! If you can't fix this, then this is one of the worst glitches the game has since you have to restart the entire Final Battle with Ares - including the clones. From the report I've heard, it sounds like a dirty, damaged, or scratched disc. The in game fix that I heard was to leave the game running, eject the disc, clean it as best as you can, then put the disc back in and wait. It was said that, after about a minute the game came back to regular play. Again, try to have a super clean and scratch free disc and this one might be avoided. It never happened to me, but I bought the disc new and I NEVER touch the shiny side or let it get scratched. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locks up at the end of the game after beating Ares ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This one did happen to me, and it blows! For this one, you beat the Final Battle. Ares is finally dead, and you are at the end of the game talking to Athena. you finally get control of Kratos again. Once I regained control, I hit the Start button to bring up the upgrade menu. I had 48 full bars of red orbs from the final battles, and I wanted to use them. The very second I hit the start button, the screen went blank and the game locked up. I tried ejecting the disc, but it didn't work. I had to reset and fight Ares all over again. To avoid this, IMMEDIATELY SAVE YOUR GAME after you beat Ares. There's nothing left to do anyway except break the statues in the throne room. So, once you beat Ares, do NOT HIT START. Go to the throne room and save ASAP! If this does happen to you, try ejecting the disc for a few seconds and then re-insert it. Maybe the PS2 will come back online once the disc is reinserted. It didn't work for me, but feel free to try it before you actually reset the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I Unlocked the movies but they won't play ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this glitch, you beat the game and have finally unlocked everything. You go to your treasure menu and try to play the newly unlocked videos but all you get is the same scene repeating over and over and it's the opening of the game where the undead soldiers burst out from the trap door of the ship you are on. This is not a glitch but is instead a COPIED DISC. If you see this problem, then the disc you have is a copy and is not an original. All copies I've heard of have this problem. The only thing to do is get your hands on the original disc and try again. Your memory card has all the saved data it needs, so you may be able to play the movies via your saved data if you get the real disc. Go try renting it and see if that helps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PS2 will not read or recognize the God of War disc (DRE) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This isn't a glitch with the game, but a problem with the older PS2 hardware. If the disc is new or if cleaning/resurfacing the disc does not help, then it may be a DRE (Disc Read Error) that some of the older PS2s have. If you get an error on screen that says "Disc Read Error" when you try to power up God of War, then you've got the DRE problem. The problem is with the PS2 laser itself. It has either slipped out of proper height alignment thus throwing off laser focus, or the laser has diminished in overall amplitude thus diminishing its ability to focus. This is a slow process of PS2 hardware degradation in which the PS2 may still read some discs, but will have a problem reading others. Since God of War is a dual layered disc, an older PS2 with a DRE problem will likely have a problem reading the disc. The only way to fix this problem is to adjust/repair the hardware (the PS2). More often than not, all that is required is a simple adjustment (turn a screw a few notches) in order to get the laser back into position for proper focusing. In some cases, however, the laser itself needs to be replaced. Sony fixes DRE problems on the older PS2 models for free, but you have to pay shipping and handling. There are SEVERAL web sites on the net dedicated to DREs and how to fix them yourself if you're technically inclined and feeling adventurous. Basically, if you get a DRE, then you'll have to put the PS2 in the shop or buy a new one. The newer PS2 models have added protection and more robust laser systems that help avoid this problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Main Hydra Boss Glitch. You can’t break the mast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Not long after this game came out, there were several rumors floating around that stated some release versions of God of War had a Hydra Glitch. It was held that, during the main Hydra Boss fight, some copies of the game were glitched, and you could not break the mast and win this fight. This is completely FALSE. There is no Hydra glitch. The problem is the O Button mini-game. You must mash the O button continually, and very fast in order to succeed. During the fight, once you have dealt enough damage to the Main Hydra, an O Button Icon appears. You hit O, and Kratos will spear the Hydra with the Blades of Chaos. Then the O Button icon begins to pulsate which indicates that you are supposed to repeatedly and quickly tap the O button. Tap it as fast as possible. If you succeed, then Kratos will pull the Hydra down into the mast of the ship. The Hydra will hit the mast, the mast will crack, and the Blades of Chaos will be pulled free. Kratos will remain on his feet the entire time. You must do this three times. On the 3rd time, the mast breaks, and then you do it a 4th time to beat the Hydra by spearing the Hydra on the now broken mast. The idea of a glitch came in because a LOT of people were simply not tapping the O button fast enough. If you FAIL this O Button game, the scenario looks identical to the winning situation except for one thing, Kratos gets knocked down. That is, once you get to the O Button game, you must mash it very fast. If you FAIL, then the Hydra will hit the mast hard enough to rock the ship, and this knocks Kratos off his feet, and he falls to the ground. The Hydra also shakes off the Blades of Chaos, and you must try again. During this, the mast does NOT take damage since you failed the O Button game. Since these two scenarios look identical with the exception of the damage to the mast and Kratos falling to the ground, many gamers have thought that there was glitch since the mast will not take damage. However, what they failed to notice was that Kratos got knocked to the ground for failing the O Button mini-game. The easiest way to win this challenge is to lay the controller on your leg and hold it with your left hand. Now use your free right hand and index or middle finger to mash the O Button as fast as humanly possible. This allows for a much faster button press than using only your thumb. Also, it has been reported that a Turbo Controller does work for this part. So, in short, there is no glitch at this part in the game. If you can’t make the mast take damage, then you are not pushing the O button fast enough. This is verified by the fact that Kratos gets knocked down when the Hydra hits the mast and shakes free (the mast does not take damage and Kratos gets knocked down). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saves do not work. Nothing happens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Three have been a few problems reported that the game sill not save. You can enter a save point, and you get the question as to whether or not you want to save, but the games does nothing when you select yes. It simply won’t save. This has happened often upon first reaching the Temple of Pandora. To fix this problem, try this, BEFORE getting to the save, pull the memory card. THEN try to save, it should give an error saying there is no card. Back away from the save, and re-insert the memory card. Now try again. This should reset the save sequence and have it recognize the card again. Also, if you have a different memory card, try that as well, but the above sequence usually fixes this problem. [SCT006] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Chapter Questions | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beating the Main Hydra Boss ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First, you must beat both of the smaller Hydras on either side of the main mast pole. If you try to climb the net to reach the Main Hydra while the two smaller ones are alive, they will knock you down. A great way to beat the two smaller ones is top stand to the right of the one on the left and begin your attack (block when necessary), eventually the one on the right will do an inhale attack to draw you toward it. Don't fight it, but instead allow yourself to be drawn tot he one on the right. As you are approaching begin your attack combo. Continue this allowing them to pull you back and forth as you keep pounding on them. When you knock one out, quickly climb the boxes up tot he platform and jump on the platform to trigger the anchor spear to finish that one off. Repeat for the other one. When fighting the main Hydra, dodge its bite attacks, and block it's roar attack so you don't get knocked over the edge, and wail on it till you get the O Button icon. When you see this, approach the fallen Hydra and hit the O button. As soon as that happens, begin rapidly tapping the O Button repeatedly which will cause Kratos to pull the Hydra down into the mast. You MUST tap the O Button repeatedly for this to work. If you only hit the O Button once, nothing will happen! Repeat this three times and the mast breaks and becomes a jagged spear. Wail on the Hydra again till you get the O Button. Hit the O button to cause Kratos to jump on the Hydras head. Watch for the next button icon and hit that to cause Kratos to rip one of the Hydra's eyes out. Finally, Kratos jumps from the Hydra and spears the Hydra with his blades at chains length. At this time you will see the O Button again and you MUST tap it rapidly to cause Kratos to pull the Hydra down on the jagged mast. If you only hit the O button once, nothing will happen. Please note that it is apparent that the O Button must be tapped rapidly by the fact that the O Button icon is moving up and down. the same is true for all Button Icon mini-games. If the button icon is moving, then you must repeatedly tap it but of the button icon is stationary, then you need only hit it once. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Minotaur Trap room in the Road to Athens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Road to Athens you must stone a Minotaur so that he is stone and stuck on a switch that opens a door at the far end of the room. There is a magic chest in this room that will re-spawn until you have solved this puzzle, so don't worry about magic. As long as you are in this room, that chest will replenish itself. The best thing to do here is to kill ONE of the Minotaurs right away. This will leave you with only one to deal with. If you kill them both, then BOTH of them will re-spawn - but only killing one will simply leave you with one to deal with. Next, stand on the far side of the room on the opposite side of the switch. Hit the D-Pad to the left to select Medusa's Gaze. Hold down L1 to aim at the Minotaur. When he is just about on the switch, fir. It takes a second or two to stone the Minotaur, and he keeps walking as you try so if you wait too long, he'll walk off the switch and turn to stone on plain ground. As soon as he is stoned, run to the open gate. When you get fairly close to the gate hit the right analog stick forward to cause Kratos to do a quick roll through the gate. If you are having a hard time with the timing, you can try this little speed trick. To do this, push the right analog stick forward and keep it HELD forward the entire time. With the right analog stick pressed forward, begin to repeatedly mash R1. This will cause Kratos to do a roll, the a Hermes dash, then a roll, then a dash, etc. This is a bit faster than a regular one. If you want to use this technique, I suggest practicing it before you get to this puzzle trap. Also note that you don't get Hermes Rush until level 2 for the Blades of Chaos, so make sure you've upgraded them by this time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Impossible Jumps ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are NO impossible jumps in this game. Every jump in the game that is required for the continuation of your progress is absolutely possible with a well timed double jump. The most common problem with a few of the tougher jumps is not executing the double jump properly. To do a double jump, press X button twice. HOWEVER, to get the best double jump, first press and HOLD the X button once to get the maximum height/distance out of the first jump. Once Kratos has reached his peak of the first jump and is starting to descend, QUICKLY let go of the X button and immediately hit and HOLD it again for the second portion of this jump. If you simply press X button twice rapidly, Kratos will not jump very high at all. PLUS, always remember to push the left analog stick in the desired direction of your jump. <> Jumping the vined walls in the Road to Athens This is the first "hard" jump of the game. Here, climb to the top of the first vined wall. Once there, pull back and away from the wall toward the wall that is behind you. Then use the Double Jump techniques as described above and you will hit and grab the other wall. <> Jumping across the pillars in the Road to Athens After the above jump, you come to a spot where a bridge has been destroyed and you must jump to some pillars that have vines on them. Again, this is all about a good double jump. Once you reach the last pillar, move to the top of the vines and have Kratos' back toward the road (to your right) and push and hold the left analog stick in that direction. Now, execute a good double jump and Kratos will succeed. For this jump, since you are so high up for the starting point, you can actually delay the second push of the X button a bit longer than usual since Kratos has a ways to fall. This will allow you to get a little further in distance on you first jump before you have to hit X again for the double jump. <> Jumping across the lava pit trap floor in Challenge of Hades During the Challenge of Hades you will come to a spot where the floor is open and lave is present. If you hit the lava you die. On the far side of this pit is a moving section of floor. It opens and closes repeatedly. Notice the pattern of this is 1 short close, a 2nd short close, then a 3rd close that is a bit longer than the first two, then it opens an remains open for a second. For this jump, get next to the edge of the pit and push forward - you can not WALK off the edge and into the lave, so push as far forward and close to the edge as possible. Keep holding the left analog stick forward and toward the moving floor. Watch the pattern of the moving floor and when it close for the SECOND time hit and hold X for your jump. Let Kratos reach his max distance and right as he is descending from this jump hit and hold X again for the double jump and make sure you are constantly pushing forward on the left analog stick. With good timing, Kratos will hit the floor just as it has closed for the 3rd time. Once there, do NOT HESITATE! Either hit X again for another jump forward and off this trap floor, or hit your right analog stick forward for a quick roll off the trap floor. I like to hit X again for the 2nd jump, but either way works. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The door in the Saw Room Floor during the Challenge of Atlas ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the Challenge of Atlas you will come to a room filled with large circular saws that constantly criss-cross the floor. There is a sealed door on the far side of the room. There are two switches in this room. You must pull both switches to get this door completely open. Each switch controls half of the door, and the switches are timed to reset themselves. So, pull the one furthest from the door first, then quickly get to the next switch that is near the door and pull it. Be quick, and you'll get through this door. When you finally get through it once, it remains open forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The splitting floor in the Challenge of Atlas ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ During this part of the Challenge of Atlas you have a certain amount of time in which you must defeat al the soldiers and Sirens in the room. First thing is to break the Soldiers Shields with either Square, Square, Triangle or with the L1 + O attack if you have it (you get that attack at level 5 Blades of Chaos). When the shields are down, grab the soldier and then hit square to throw him. This kills that particular soldier and damages whatever it hits. Repeat as quickly as possible for all soldiers and then concentrate on the Sirens. Poseidon's Rage is great against them, so use it if you've got it. Be aware that occasionally a Siren will re-spawn at the back of the room (side opposite where the handle is) and will just sit there, so make sure o work your way down there so that you know you've killed all the enemies. Once they are all dead, the field around the switch drops and you can get to it. Do so immediately because, even thought the enemies are dead, the floor is STILL on the timer. The timer does not stop until you grab the switch! So, if you just stand around after all the enemies are dead, the floor will still open up and kill you. Basically, you kill the enemies to drop the force filed, then you grab the handle which stops the floor timer - not to mention you need the handle later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sacrificing the caged man during the Challenge of Poseidon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the Challenge of Poseidon you have to push a caged man up a slope toward the sacrifice room. You'll notice there are rock outcroppings along the path up. Push the cage up to a rock outcropping and then deal with the enemies that are attacking you. These enemies will re-spawn forever, so kill a few and then move forward. Kill some more, and then move forward. Don't bother with a charge kick since it won't work going up hill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The moving wall trap found underwater in the Challenge of Poseidon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the Challenge of Poseidon you come to a part where you must swim down into a channel that has a large moving wall attached to a chain. If that wall hits you then you get smashed to death - no ifs, ands, or buts. The key to this trap is to swim into the opening and wait till you see it go by. Then swim down and immediately HOLD DOWN R1 for a second to FULLY charge the underwater dash. If you let go too soon, you won't get a full dash. If you hold it too long the wall will get you. AS you progress down the channel you will see ditches/dips in the floor there are two of these on the way to the exit. Once you come to one of these, hit square to dive down and hide in the ditch. Sit there and let the wall go by. When you're ready, as soon as the wall goes by, swim up and immediately hit and hold R1 for a full dash. When that dash where off, do it again! It takes two full dashes to reach the 2nd hiding spot. From the 2nd hiding spot, you can reach the exit in one full dash. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Escaping the Maze in the Challenge of Hades ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To get out of the Maze in the Challenge of Hades you must kill ever enemy in the maze. You'll notice the exit door actually fills up with red light as you kill more and more enemies. Once you have killed them all the door automatically opens. Most enemies are obvious, but there is one section that is kind of hidden. At the end of the maze where the exit door and the moving log is, there is a second doorway to a small alcove just below the exit door. Stand on the moving log and look to your right to see it. The log moves in a pattern, and it only exposes this last room every third slam. So wait for the right time and then jump down into this last alcove. Once done, time it right again to get out and reach the exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beating the Satyrs in the Path to Hades to make the platforms rise ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to Clumsy_Mohel for typing this one up! Use the square, hold square combo on them to knock them down. Start doing it on them as they're down, just make sure that you're not standing at their feet so that they don't kick you when they get up. Try to separate them, so you can combo one of the Satyrs, turn around and combo the other one. If you get stuck or cornered, just dodge / roll and hit X to do the lift attack (I forgot it's name, the one while you're dodging) to knock one up in the air. Follow it up with an air grab. This will break up the fight, as you can't be hit during the air grab animation. The other bonus is that you slam the Satyr down with their head facing you, so that when they get up they'll kick in the complete opposite direction. Summary: 1. Square, hold square 2. Roll out of being cornered 3. Use lift attacks followed by an air grab when you need to shift the momentum of the fight. Repeat until victory. You get health orbs as you continue the fight and kill the Satyrs, so just stick it out (I also got stuck at this part). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Grave Digger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Who is he? Most people believe that the Gravedigger is actually Zeus. That's a rather plausible answer since it is well known that Zeus and many of the God of Olympus took human form quite often. There is a bit more to this theory in the Major Spoilers section. So, if you have unlocked everything and already know what the unlockable movies are, or if you just want to know and don't care about spoilers, go to the Major Spoilers section for more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Conveyor Belt Trap after the Desert of Lost Souls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To make your life a LOT easier on this puzzle/trap, BEFORE pulling the block from the alcove and triggering the soldiers to appear, go to the right and face the large spinning spiked wheel. It can be destroyed! Hit it with Square, Square, Triangle three or four times (making sure to flip back away from the wheel before you bump into it) and it will break! This stops the conveyor belt and makes this section much easier. [SCT007] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Challenge of the Gods | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Here is a mini-guide that I wrote for DragonicFlare's walkthrough. She has this in her guide, but I'm putting it here as well since so many people keep asking how to get past certain challenges. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------ CHALLENGE OF THE GODS ----------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ After you've beaten God of War for the first time, you unlock, among other things, the Challenge of the Gods. This is a mini-game in which you are presented with 10 challenges. Defeat all 10 Challenges and you are rewarded with 5 new costumes that you can use when you start a new game. You can NOT use the new costumes on an existing saved game - you must start a brand new game in order to use a new costume. IMPORTANT : Save Rage of Gods for the Final Challenge (Challenge 10). You might be able to defeat Challenge 10 without Rage of the Gods, but the odds are seriously stacked against you. Besides, every other Challenge is easily conquered without having to use Rage of the Gods, so SAVE IT! Also, you can not save your progress in the Challenge of the Gods, so once you start, you have to do it all in one sitting without a save. If you quit, you have to start all over again at Challenge 1. NOTE : It is possible for Kratos to jump off, fall off, or be knocked off of every single platform in these challenges. If you go over the edge, then it is instant death, and you must restart the challenge! ----------------------------- Challenge 1 --------------------------------- >>> Knock the soldiers off the platform before time runs out. >>> If you kill an enemy, you will fail the challenge. >>> If the timer runs out, you obviously fail the mission. Ok, for a first challenge this isn't too bad. You basically have to knock all 8 of the Shield Carrying soldiers off the platform in any manner you can before the timer runs out and without killing any of them. Since they are carrying shields, you won't damage them with regular attacks unless you actually destroy their shields. A good combo to use is the Square, (hold) Square combo that ends in a chain swipe. However, that rarely knocks them off, but it will often push them to the edge. A great strategy is to try and grab them. Since they are carrying shields, you can't actually grab them, but the attempt will push them (and you) backwards which is usually enough to knock them off the platform if they are close to the edge. Also, move around a little bit to get the soldiers to chase you. If you stay close to the inside hole in the platform, the soldiers will often just walk off the edge as they try to maneuver around to get you. Nice! Once you've gotten a few of them down, use the L1 + O Button combo. Double jump into the air and charge the attack by holding the O button down until Kratos performs the move. This WILL break all the shields of the soldiers that are near you, but it will also knock a few of them over the edge! Now that you've got a few of them running around without shields, move to the opposite side of the platform and get them to follow you. If you manage to get one far enough away from the others that don't have shields, then grab him, face toward the outer edge, and hit the square button to throw him off the platform. Be careful with this since the chain swipe could hit and kill nearby soldiers that are not carrying shields. If they still have their shields, then the chain swipe will not hurt them. ----------------------------- Challenge 2 --------------------------------- >>> Kill all Archers and Soldiers before time runs out. >>> You do NOT have to kill the Harpies. >>> If the timer runs out, you obviously fail the mission. This isn't too bad with the proper strategy. Here, using L1 + O Button is invaluable. On the large platforms there are shield carrying soldiers and armored soldiers with the heavy swords (leaves a trail of blue light). As soon as you start, make a bee-line for the shield carrying soldier and perform the L1 + O Button (remember to charge it at the peak of your double jump). This attack will break the shield of the soldier which makes him grab-able. As soon as the shield is gone, grab him and do a throw by hitting the X button. The L1 + O button combo will often knock a couple of the soldiers off the edge for you, and the grab and throw of the now-shieldless-soldier can knock others off as well. Not to mention the throw will kill that particular soldier and damage whatever it hits. The throw also takes out some of the Harpies which is a nice perk. Once you've got a big platform clear, jump to the smaller platforms where there are archers waiting for you. As soon as you are on the platform with them, grab and throw them (hit O button to grab and then hit Square button to throw them). The throw will kill them, and they often hit and kill the next archer in line. Jump to the next big platform and repeat the above listed strategy. There are four big platforms in all. They are spaced apart in a square formation. The big platforms are in the "corners" of the square, and the smaller platforms that hold the archers join the corners together. Your path of travel should be forward to second big platform, then left to third big platform, then down to last big platform. Once you reach the last big platform, do NOT forget to check the two smaller platforms off to the right for the last 2 archers. Usually, depending on how you handled the big platform, the archers are already dead from having been hit by thrown enemies from the big platform. Still, unless you see the message that you have succeeded, check those smaller platforms since they are off the screen and you can't see them to know if the archers are dead or not. If time is running out, use Army of Hades on the LAST platform. Using Army of Hades on the last big platform will make it light work and often take out those last two archers on the smaller platforms that are off screen. ----------------------------- Challenge 3 --------------------------------- >>> Break all vases before the time runs out. >>> No enemies here, just mass destruction of all those vases. >>> Very little time given, so speed is critical. The best way to do this is to use only the L1 + O Button combo, BUT perform it from the ground. Do NOT double jump before executing (wastes valuable time). So, as soon as you've got control of Kratos, hold L1 and also hold the O Button to charge the attack. The shockwave will break all the vases around you. IMMEDIATELY hit the right analog stick up and slightly left so that Kratos will quickly roll to the next group of vases and then repeat the L1 + O Button attack. Do this again and again till all the vases are gone. Takes a couple of tries, but it's not too terrible. Just try to be quick and fluid with your blending of right analog rolls with immediate L1 + O Button smashes. ----------------------------- Challenge 4 --------------------------------- >>> Kill 4 Minotaurs but do NOT kill any of the Soldiers. >>> The soldiers here are the ones wearing golden armor and carrying the heavy swords (the swords that leave a trail of blue light). >>> There is NOT a time limit, so take your time if need be! The absolute BEST thing to do here is to run up to the Minotaurs and immediately get them airborne with a L1 + X attack. Kratos usually follows them into the air, but if he doesn't, simply hit X and he'll super jump up into the air with them. Once in the air with the Minotaur, hit O button to do a grab. This will cause Kratos to grab the Minotaur by a leg and slam it into the ground. HOWEVER, the Minotaur will bounce back up! So, IMMEDIATELY hit O Button again to repeat the ground slam. You'll get four back-to-back slams that kill the Minotaur instantly! Repeat this for each Minotaur and you're home free. Note: Army of Hades works well here since it only targets the Minotaurs and does not hit the soldiers. HOWEVER, don't waste it since the above strategy makes this challenge a cake walk. ----------------------------- Challenge 5 --------------------------------- >>> Shoot all of the Undead Soldiers with the Bow and Arrow machine. >>> Do not shoot the Human Soldiers, if you kill a Human Soldier, then you fail the challenge >>> There is NOT a time limit, so take your time if need be! Super simple challenge. Watch the soldiers as they are walking around the platform. The "bad guys" are taller and wearing gold armor and are walking the outside perimeter of the platform in a clock-wise direction. The "good guys" are in silver armor and are walking in a clock-wise circle inside the path of the bad guys. Now, grab the bow and arrow with R2, but do NOT pull back on the stick yet. Instead, watch the bad guys on the outside perimeter. When you see them at the 2 O'clock position (there's a red spot on the floor there), THEN begin pulling back on the bow and arrow. By the time it's pulled back and Kratos finally kicks it, the bad guy will be right in front of you and will get nailed with the arrow. Simply repeat until all the bad guys are gone. ----------------------------- Challenge 6 --------------------------------- >>> Get to the center of the last platform before time runs out. >>> VERY LITTLE TIME GIVEN. There is a long line of smaller platforms moving back in forth from left to right. The line of platforms leads to a large platform. Your goal is to get to the center of the big platform. THE CENTER! If you just jump to the platform you still have NOT succeeded. You must run all the way to the center of the final platform. There are archers on some of the smaller platforms that are shooting exploding arrows at you. And worse than that, there is a line of several more archers on the final platform that are also shooting at you. The key to this is a bit of LUCK and good timing. You really do not have time to kill the archers, so the best thing to do is just flat out run for it. Time it right, and you'll pass the archers before they can shoot you. Once you are past an archer, he no longer shoots at you since he is still facing the opposite direction! Start this off with a single jump to the first platform. Then double jump to the 2nd platform as there is an archer on that one. The double jump usually gets you out of the way of his first shot. Once on that platform, do not pause but immediately go for the jump to the 3rd platform. It will be off to your right, and it will look out of reach but YOU CAN MAKE THE JUMP. Go for it, and Kratos will end up grabbing the edge of the 3rd platform. Pull yourself up, and immediately go for the next two platforms which are usually lined up with one another just ahead of you and slightly off to your left. They are usually reachable by the time you pull up from the 3rd platform. When you get to the last three platforms, it's a bit different. The 3rd from last platform has an archer that you'll probably need to kill. The last two platforms move a LOT faster than the others, so it's going to throw off your timing, and often you have to wait for the next platform to come back into range (these last three platforms have pause periods at the end of their sweeps). So, kill the last archer and get into a block (hold L1) position since you're probably going to be standing still for a few seconds waiting on the next platform to come into range - which means arrows from the archers are coming at you! Block the arrows, and double jump upwards if one sticks into the platform and is about to explode. These last three platforms are the worst, and it will take several attempts to get the timing right, but once you have made it to the last small platform, immediately jump to the big platform. You want to try and land to the right of the line of archers, and then simply run or double jump past/over them and make a dash for the center of the platform. It takes a bit of practice, but it can be done! Just don't bother killing any of the archers until you get to the last one on the small platforms. And you only kill him because you usually have to stand around on his platform waiting for the next platform to come into range. ----------------------------- Challenge 7 --------------------------------- >>> Kill all of the enemies WITHOUT ever getting hit by the enemy >>> You can BLOCK all you want, but do not take a damage hit. >>> There is a time limit, but it's a rather long time limit, and the following strategy will get you through WAY before time ever comes close to running out This is actually pretty simple. As soon as the challenge starts, run to the center of the platform, double jump straight up into the air and charge up the L1 + O Button attack. The shockwave from this attack will knock most of the enemies off the platform! Repeat until they are all dead! It's really that simple. Occasionally, a soldier may make his way to you, and if so, you MIGHT have to block a sword strike, but usually all you have to do is repeatedly perform the double jump and fully charge the L1 + O button attack. Simple! ----------------------------- Challenge 8 --------------------------------- >>> Kill every single enemy. >>> There is NOT a time limit, so don't worry about that. >>> You ARE allowed to take a hit. >>> You are NOT allowed ANY Magic. This challenge is simply mind blowing. They throw HUNDREDS of enemies at you. Wave after wave after wave of soldiers with heavy swords and Gorgons! The gorgons re-spawn in groups of four, and the soldiers, well there're A LOT of them on screen at any one time. For this, you need to rely heavily on the Double Jump and then Fully Charge the L1 + O button attack. This is especially useful near the edges where you can knock the enemies over the railing. During the fight, the Gorgons will display the O Button mini-game death sequence as usual, but don't bother with them. Their O Button sequence is slow, and the blue orbs they give up are a total waste since you aren't allowed any magic in this challenge. Now, when a Soldier displays the O Button death sequence icon, go ahead and do a grab and throw on him (hit the O button followed by hitting the Square button). The throw will kill him, and the chain swipe will hit everyone else around you. This is a LONG fight, and you will begin to think that something is wrong with the your PS2 and that it has somehow gotten stuck in an infinite loop since the enemies just keep coming, and coming, and coming! However, rest assured, you will eventually get through it. Eventually, you will kill all of the soldiers and they will stop re-spawning. From there, it's just you and the Gorgons. Once you get down to just the Gorgons, you know you're getting close. Also, there are only four Gorgons at a time, so it does get a little bit easier by the time you get that far. During this challenge, the Gorgons will, as usual, try to turn you to stone, so you will have to evade like a mad man! If you get stoned, a lot of times a soldier will end up immediately hitting you which means instant death. So, evade like crazy! The BEST way to evade is to do your right analog stick rolls on outer perimeter of this platform. Just roll around and around in a circle. The reason : the Gorgons will track you with their stone beam as you are rolling around which means a lot of the soldiers will get stoned as well! Once the soldiers are stoned, don't bother trying to hit them until AFTER the Gorgons have stopped trying to stone you. As soon as they stop, immediately do a double jump and fully charge the L1 + O Button attack. With a little luck, not only will you break a bunch of the stoned soldiers, but you'll also knock a few gorgons and non-stoned soldiers over the edge. So, for this challenge: 1. Rely heavily on the double jump to fully charged L1 + O Button attack! 2. Evade like crazy once the Gorgons start trying to turn you to stone. 3. Do your evasion on the outer perimeter so that soldiers are more likely to get hit by the Gorgons' stone beam thereby turning them to stone. 4. Patience! There are A LOT of enemies to dispose of, more than you have ever seen in this game. More than can be easily counted. It's a truly ridiculous number of enemies that you have to defeat, so be prepared for the long haul. ----------------------------- Challenge 9 --------------------------------- >>> Kill Four Cyclops before the timer runs out >>> The timer is close to the amount needed, so you'll likely be finishing this challenge with just a few seconds to spare. >>> You ARE allowed magic. You will probably be tempted to use Rage of the God for this challenge. But do NOT use it. It DOES make this challenge super easy, but you REALLY need rage of the gods for the last challenge, so save it! Ok, there are going to be four Cyclops that you have to kill. They only appear one at a time, and they always re-spawn in the same location which is roughly the 12 O'clock position on the platform. A really big snag to this challenge is that there are also two Satyrs in the mix. You do NOT have to kill them (and you really don't have time to anyway), but they DO get on your nerves and in your way quite a bit. You're allowed magic in this challenge, and Poseidon's rage is the order of the day. The downside is, it's a Level 1 Poseidon's rage, so you can NOT increase its attack by mashing the O Button - bummer. Save your magic for the later fights when you're running low on time. If possible, save all of your magic for the fourth (last) Cyclops which makes him a cake walk. When fighting these guys, you will get the O Button death sequence icon after you have damaged them enough. However, it is a LONG 3-4 button sequence, so it is often better to just try and kill them flat out with heavy Triangle attacks once you see the O Button icon (3 triangles in a row is good). If you have trouble killing them flat out, then go ahead and do the O Button sequence. Try both ways, and keep an eye on your time! Dodge their attacks by quickly pulling to the right or left of them, and you should be fine. The Satyrs are annoying, but aren't too terrible. Just don't bother fighting them. Instead, concentrate only on the Cyclops. If you evade the Cyclops' attacks by rolling to the right or left, you'll usually end up losing the Satyrs anyway. ----------------------------- Challenge 10 -------------------------------- >>> Kill enough enemies to make the platform rise to the top platform. >>> There is no time limit. >>> I sincerely hope you saved Rage of the Gods for this! >>> NO MAGIC allowed (except for Rage of the Gods) This is one rough fight! As expected, it is the hardest of the 10 challenges! The object here is to kill enough of the enemy (and they re-spawn forever) to make the platform rise high enough for you to jump over to the top platform. That is, the fight will start with you on your own platform facing a second platform on which the enemy is located. Jump to the enemy platform and start the massacre. With each enemy you kill, the platform rises a little bit. There is a third platform located much higher above you, so you must make the enemy platform rise high enough for you to jump over to the third and final platform. If you fall off the edge, you die and have to restart. If you jump back to your own platform, the enemy platform will RESET ITSELF to the bottom position meaning you have to restart. Your enemies are TWO Satyrs, and THREE Cerberus Pups (the fireball kind!) It is VERY EASY to get knocked off of this platform. The Pups do NOT grow up into adult Cerberus. The Satyrs seem MUCH meaner than they have ever been before. It's VERY hard to knock one off the platform, and they block A LOT - not to mention they pile on their own combo attacks as well. Their grab and slam move where they hook you with their lance and throw you can send you right off the edge to instant death, so beware! Also beware the fact that, even though you can block the veritable FLOOD of attacks they will throw at you, each hit that you block actually pushes you backwards a bit. Enough hits in a row, and you're over the edge to instant death. During this fight, never bother trying to grab a Satyr as you WILL get hit by the other one or by a Cerberus Pup. Grabbing a Cerberus Pup is ok, but not recommended. Try to stay IN THE CENTER as much as possible. Once you are close to the edge, a hit from a Cerberus Pup or a Satyr throw or lunge attack can knock you right off the platform. Occasionally, Kratos will grab the edge and be able to pull himself back up, but more often than not, he gets knocked too far out to grab the edge and will fall to his doom. In this challenge, you are going to die quite a bit. A LOT in fact. So, be prepared for that. It is so easy to fall off the platform, or be knocked off, or be THROWN off by the Satyrs, that death is quite frequent. So, use each retry as experience and a chance to learn your enemy. The L1 + O Button attack is OK here, but the pause at the end of it is likely to get you hit. The attack does knock the pups off the ledge rather nicely, but it does little more than anger the Satyrs! The combo of the day for this fight is Square, (hold) Square. Also, a Square, Square, (hold)Square combo works nicely. The key to these combos is the chain swipe at the end that can knock the enemy, even the Satyrs if they aren't blocking, over the edge. You can try starting this fight by double jumping from your platform and doing the charged L1 + O Button attack as you are leaping to the other platform. This will clear the Cerberus Pups and let you concentrate on the Satyrs. However, the pause at the end of the attack will usually get you hit repeatedly! Often you're hit hard enough (or so frequently) that you get pushed over the edge. Still, if this opening move works, it's a good start. The core of the fight will be your Square, (hold) Square combo. As you execute this combo, make sure you are constantly changing directions so that you hit every enemy on screen. This slows down and even stops the Cerberus pups from attacking you. Once the chain swipe at the end of this combo comes up, turn quickly to make sure you are facing a Satyr since the chain swipe will likely knock him over the edge. If you're lucky, you'll get both of them with the chain swipe - nice! A good rhythm, good timing, and some luck are required for this fight. The Key is to rely on the Square, (hold) Square combo and change directions frequently. If you're lucky, you'll get into a rhythm where the chain swipe is coming right as the Satyrs are re-spawning and the swipe will (hopefully) knock them over the edge along with the Cerberus pups as well. It IS possible to knock all five enemies over the edge with this chain swipe! It doesn't happen often since the Satyrs block so much, but it IS possible! One thing to really look out for is that the Satyrs and Pups attack frequently which means they will INTERRUPT YOUR COMBO if/when they hit you which is quite annoying. Now, you'll want to try this several times to find your rhythm with the Square, (hold)Square combo. Once you've got it down and are 30 seconds or so into a good fight (good meaning you're doing well and knocking Several Satyrs over the edge), THEN trigger Rage of the Gods. Rage of the Gods does major damage to everyone in your path, but it doesn't last very long! So, save it until you've gotten a good rhythm going and are 20 - 30 seconds into a fight that you are doing well in. Once the platform is high enough, make a break for it and jump to the final platform. The game will NOT stop re-spawning enemies, and it will not tell you when you are high enough. You are left on your own to figure this out. You CAN make the jump before your platform is completely level with the final one. BE CAREFUL, but it can be done. Once your platform is high enough so that the final platform is about waist high on Kratos, go for the jump - and a double jump at that! Unlike the previous challenges, Health can become a serious issue in this challenge. The Cerberus Pups attack frequently, as do the Satyrs, and toward the end of this challenge, your health bar is likely to be in the red. So, keep an eye on your health and that final platform, and make the jump into safety ASAP. In a nutshell, for this challenge: 1. Rely heavily on the Square, (hold)Square combo 2. Change directions often when executing the combo 3. Save Rage of the Gods until you've made it to about 20 or so seconds into the fight 4. Stay as close to the center of the platform as possible 5. Keep an eye on your health bar 6. Make your jump to the final platform ASAP. When the final platform is about waist high to Kratos, go for it. +++++++++++++++ Alternate Strategies +++++++++++++++ If you are having trouble with the above listed strategy, you can try using Parry Attacks on the enemy. Simply stand in the center of the platform and wait for an enemy to attack. As soon as you see the attack coming Hit L1 to block. If done correctly, you will see the blocked attack animation meaning you can parry the attack. If so, then immediately parry with Square. This double chain sweep will usually knock the enemies over the edge! This takes perfect timing, but it can be very effective. In addition to that, you can try using L1 + X. This attack launches the enemy into the air and Kratos will follow them up. Once in the air, keep holding L1 and hit X repeatedly. Kratos will slowly descend from this jump while attacking the enemy at the same time. While Kratos is in the air for this attack, the enemies usually can't hit him. Finally, try switching to the ARTEMIS BLADE and using the L1+X attack. Once in the air, press and hold X again to come slamming down for a ground slam that will knock most of the enemies off the platform. This technique can make very light work of this challenge. -- Thanks to Myself13 (O. Hertz = boazherz@netvision.net.il) for this one -- Try mixing all four techniques together to see what works for you. [SCT008] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | The New Costumes | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Here is a costume description that I wrote for DragonicFlare's walkthrough. She has this in her guide, but I'm putting it here as well since so many people keep asking about the costumes. Beat Challenge of the Gods to unlock 5 new Costumes. Once you've finally conquered every challenge, the game will congratulate you and offer you a chance to save your game/progress - do so! Once done, five new costumes for Kratos are available. NOTE: All in game views of Kratos will be of the costume you select, but for all of the FMV Movies and cut-scenes, the original view of Kratos is still used. That is, the movies still have the same old Kratos and only the in game views are altered. The new costumes are available for Easy, Normal, and Hard modes, but they are NOT available for God Mode. They just aren't going to give you a break on getting through God Mode! When you select "New Game" from the Main Menu, a picture of the playable costumes appears. They are as follows: -------------------------------------------- 1. KRATOS : ORIGINAL COSTUME. -------------------------------------------- This is the standard look of Kratos; the one you've been playing all this time. -------------------------------------------- 2. CHEF OF WAR : PREFERRED SKILL - MAGIC -------------------------------------------- >> Appearance - Kratos is dressed in a long sleeved, full length, white Chef's coat complete with a tall white Chef's hat. The coat is splattered with blood. His pants and shoes are black. >> Blades of Chaos - The Blades have been replaced with large frying pans with wooden handles. >> Attributes - With this costume, blue orbs fill up much more of your magic bar. Just one Gorgon mini-game can completely fill your standard magic bar. Blue orbs are dropped more often by other enemies as well. Kratos' Health/Defense (amount of damage received from an enemy hit) is about the same as the original costume. The attack power of the Blades, uh, Frying Pans, is about the same as well. >> Notes - Interesting costume. The preferred skill of magic is hardly noticeable. While it is nice to get a full magic bar from only an orb or two, it doesn't change the game play much. Well, other than Kratos is now a blood splattered Chef with flaming frying pans! -------------------------------------------- 3. BUBBLES : PREFERRED SKILL - HEALTH -------------------------------------------- >> Appearance - Kratos is shirtless and is very TAN! He's wearing long (past the knees) purple shorts trimmed in white and blue. He's also wearing a Scuba mask and snorkel along with open top sandals on his feet. He's got cream colored wrappings on his forearms (where the chains used to be) and a black tattoo circling his right bicep. >> Blades of Chaos - At Level 1, the Blades have been replaced with large scuba fins (the fins that scuba divers wear on their feet). The flames on the scuba fins are now yellow which is odd. At Level 2, the fins get replaced with two large fish. Here, the flames go back to being red. Seeing Kratos shove a fish into a Minotaur's mouth during the Minotaur mini-game is actually kind of cool. >> Attributes - With this costume, green orbs fill up much more of your health bar. Just one kill of an "innocent" town's person or by-stander can completely fill your Health bar. Green orbs are dropped more often as well. Health/Defense is much better, and Kratos receives less damage from enemy attacks. HOWEVER, the downside is that Kratos deals less damage, so his attack power has been reduced. >> Notes - Neat costume. It strongly contradicts the "Ghost of Sparta" theme since Kratos is no longer ash white but is instead very tan. The stronger Health/Defense aspect makes life a bit easier, but the fact that he deals less damage can really prolong even the simplest of fights. -------------------------------------------- 4. TYCOONIUS : PREFERRED SKILL - EXPERIENCE -------------------------------------------- >> Appearance - Kratos is wearing a blue business suit complete with a long sleeved blue coat, blue trousers, black shoes, a white shirt, and a red/pink tie. >> Blades of Chaos - The Blades have been replaced with two very large silver briefcases. He holds them by the handles and when he puts them on his back, they look like large wings. Strange. >> Attributes - With this costume, you get a LOT more red orbs for everything that you do. Tons of red orbs! For example, the "interaction" with the women on the ship in the Aegean Sea now yields 1,400 orbs instead of the usual 400 orbs. Breaking a potted plant gives you 4 orbs instead of the usual 1, etc. With so many orbs available, you can power up your Blades, uh, Briefcases, incredibly fast: - Level 2 Blades available shortly after FIRST mini-Hydra fight - Level 3 Blades available after killing 1 of the baby Hydras during the Hydra Boss Fight. - Level 4 Blades available after killing Medusa but before the Minotaurs. - Level 5 Blades available on Road to Athens just before fighting Cyclops in Athens Courtyard (can get the final few orbs needed on the stairs leading up to the courtyard). A BIG downside to this is that Kratos' Health/Defense is horrible! He takes way more damage than usual. So much so that it almost feels like you're playing on God Mode. The Hydra Boss can kill you in two hits! >> Notes - Odd little costume. The Briefcases are HUGE and just look odd. When Kratos puts them on his back, he looks like some kind of winged banker They should have just given him a couple of day planners instead of these large briefcases. Being able to power up your Blades (Briefcases) so quickly is a very nice bonus. Having upgraded Blades so early in the game allows you to kill a lot of the weaker enemies in one hit, and big ones like the Cyclops go down in only 3-4 hits. However, having such poor Health/Defense is horrible. -------------------------------------------- 5. DAIRY BASTARD : PREFERRED SKILL - MAGIC -------------------------------------------- >> Appearance - Kratos is wearing a Holstein Cow Costume (black and white milk cow) complete with four udders, a tail, and a big cow head (you can see Kratos' face in the neck of the Cow Suit). >> Blades of Chaos - The Blades of Chaos have been replaced with white and red one Gallon milk jugs (white jug with red top and red label - classic milk jug). >> Attributes - INFINITE MAGIC. That's right, your magic bar NEVER drops, never depletes, but is always completely full. All magic spells are now free. Cast as much as you want! As for his Health/Defense attributes, you won't even notice! With unlimited magic available, you should NEVER take a hit. Just cast spell after spell until everything on screen is dead. Also, you get TWICE the Red Orbs with this costume. >> Notes - This is a bizarre costume! It's strange seeing big bad Kratos in a Cow Suit. He looks like some kind of mascot for the dairy foundation. However, the unlimited magic is awesome. It makes the game ridiculously easy since you can cast spell after spell until everything is dead. Your magic interrupts enemy attacks (except for some of the Boss Enemies), so there's no reason to even take a hit. If you need some stress relief and want to go back through and give those enemies the spanking of the century, the unlimited magic that comes with this costume is for you - if you can handle seeing Kratos dressed in a cow suit that is. -This would be the costume of choice for anyone that wanted to go back through the game to check on things they missed. -------------------------------------------- 6. ARES ARMOR : PREFERRED SKILL - ARMOR -------------------------------------------- >> Appearance - Kratos is dressed in the Armor that Ares wears in the game. >> Blades of Chaos - The Blades look pretty much the same. >> Attributes - With this costume, you get super high defense properties and the strength of your Blades of Chaos have been increased. With such high defense (Armor), even the strongest hits you take from an enemy barely cause your health bar to drop. The defense is so strong, you're nearly invincible. You can still be turned to stone by the gorgons, but regular physical attacks barely even scratch you. The Blades of Chaos are much stronger now, and at Level 5, they can kill most enemies in only a few hits. Also, you get TWICE the Red Orbs with this costume. >> Notes - This is actually a pretty cool costume. It looks pretty good, and the Blades of Chaos remain the same, so this costume still feels like the original game. It's actually a fitting costume when you think about it. After you've beat the game, you learn that Kratos becomes the new God of War, so this costumes gives him the Armor to go with the Title. -This is another good costume for those that wish to go back through the game to check on things they may have missed. You have to fight hand to hand more than you do with the Dairy Bastard, but the high health and super strong Blades of Chaos make you nearly unstoppable. In crowded hallways, Kratos is a virtual lawnmower, so level up those Blades ASAP since they are far stronger than any of your magic. [SCT009] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | The Mature Rating | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' --------------------------------------- Nudity --------------------------------------- There has been MUCH talk on the Net about this. Well, its true, there IS nudity in this game. The biggest portion occurs early in the game in a cutscene that shows two topless women lying/sleeping on a bed. It's full exposure of their anatomically correct breasts. They show it all. This means that the nipples are shown as well. This shot is a computer rendered FMV cutscene and not an actual video shot of real women. They have a blanket covering them from the waist down. After the cutscene, you can actually talk to them and see them topless once again, but the graphics are only in game quality and look rather cheesy compared to the FMV quality of the cutscene. As you are talking to them, you can jump up on the bed and the O Button icon will appear for a mini-game. This is the "sex" game that people have been talking about. However, you can't see anything. The camera turns away to the side of the bed and focuses on a vase. The button and left analog stick icons appear. Get them all in the right order, and the bed vibrates enough to knock the case off the pedestal it is sitting on. As you are doing this, with each correct button push, the women moan and groan a bit louder. If you succeed, the vase falls off the pedestal and breaks on the floor which release 400 red orbs that you can use to upgrade your weapons. Later, you meet the oracle which is wearing a thin see through top and skirt. You can see her anatomically correct breasts through the top, and the top moves on occasion to give a quick full view of her bare breast. At one point, she turns an you can see that she is wearing a thong under her skirt. The female monsters all have nipples - the same as any other wild animal. Not sexy at all, just a fact of life. And that's it. Nothing major, and if you're wanting more, you ought to check out the Guy Game, Leisure Suit Larry, Singles: Flirt up your Life, or Playboy: The Mansion. All of which have far more gratuitous nudity. If you get the right version, Leisure Suit Larry has FULL frontal nudity (top and bottom). God of War does display bare breasts, but it is done rather artistically so that it fits the character, the story, and the historical time line of that era. This game comes with a M rating, so there shouldn't be any surprises. The back of the box clearly says there is nudity in the game. Although, personally I didn't read that part and just played the game. It was a surprise to see the cutscene the first time, but it is a quick cutscene, and you can see as much if not more in a free Victoria's Secret Catalog. --------------------------------------- Sexual Themes / Situations --------------------------------------- As mentioned above, there is a "sex" mini-game that you can do with the two women on the ship. You don't get to "see" anything, but you do hear moaning and groaning so the general idea is there. The game gives you 400 red orbs which you can use for weapons upgrades. That's it for the sexual themes. Actually, this is no different than GTA: Vice City where you pick up a prostitute and park in a dark spot. It's really the same thing. --------------------------------------- Violence --------------------------------------- Tons of it! It's a hack and slash adventure. But name one action game where you DON'T perform acts of violence? Think of GTA: Vice City where you can kill Cops and prostitutes. That's' way more over the top than a Spartan battling enemies in the name of war. --------------------------------------- Gore --------------------------------------- Lots of blood. It spurts all over the place. Then again, this isn't the first game to have blood in it. Mortal Kombat has blood geysers that top the best of the God of War blood spurts. --------------------------------------- Strong Language --------------------------------------- Not in the game. This game is set back in Ancient Greece. They didn't have the "cuss words" we have today. However, in some of the unlockable movies the director, designer, or narrator will cuss a little bit. To tell you the truth, its barely even noticeable. [SCT010] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | In Depth Game Mechanics | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Controller Buttons and On-screen Icons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you are playing the game, occasionally and icon representing one of the controller's buttons will appear in the lower right or left hand corner of the screen. This means you must press that button in order to continue or complete the current task. HOWEVER, look closely at these icons. If the icon is steady and not moving then you simply need to push the button ONCE. If, the icon is moving up and down or left to right, the you must push that button repeatedly or wiggle that control stick repeatedly. Keep pressing the button or moving the stick until the icon goes away in order to succeed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the L1 Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Blocking If you press and HOLD the L1 button Kratos will put the Blades of Chaos in front of himself and block nearly all enemy attacks, even attacks from behind. Ground wave strikes and some Boss attacks can not be blocked. <> Parrying an attack Once you upgrade the Blades of Chaos to Level 3 you gain the ability to Parry an enemy attack. <> Block and Parry with Square If you are NOT in a block position (not holding L1) and an enemy is in the process of attacking you, immediately hit and HOLD L1 to get Kratos to block. Doing it this way sets Kratos for a Parry. you will now it works when you see a slight pause or slow motion in the animation. Once you see that, immediately RELEASE the L1 button and then Hit the Square button. This causes Kratos to do a double chain sweep that hits all enemies in front of him and sends them flying. <> Block and Parry with Triangle As described above, you can also parry by using the Triangle button. Use the same technique as described in the above section except hit Triangle instead of square. This causes Kratos to do a double chain ground slam that hits all the enemies around him (even behind him) which causes them damage and knocks them off their feet. <> Block and Parry with R1 As described above, you can also parry by using the R1 button. Use the same technique as described in the above section except hit R1 instead of square. This causes Kratos to do multiple quick double sword stabs to the enemy in front of him. This is the weakest of the parry maneuvers and not really worth the effort (except to at least see it once). <> Attack Combos Once you upgrade your Blades of Chaos past Level 1 you begin gaining new attack combos that are accessed by holding down the L1 button. Simply hold the L1 button as you would for a normal block and then hit the appropriate attack button to initiate the desired attack. For a full list of what attacks are available, hit the start menu to bring up the Upgrade menu and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the L2 Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> See the Using Magic Section Below ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the R1 Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Attack Combos R1 is also used in many of the Upgraded attack combos. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the R2 Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Opening a chest In order to open a treasure chest, stand in front of it and hold down R2 until the chest pops open. If you let go of R2 before it is open, the chest will remain closed. <> Pulling a switch During certain parts of the game you encounter switches in the floor that you must pull to make something happen. To activate these switches, simply stand before them and press and hold hit R2 for a brief second and then you can release R2. There is no need to hold R2 down to pull the switch. When pulling these switches, you must be on the "right side" of the switch in order to pull it. So if it doesn't work the first time, walk around to the other side of the switch and try again. <> Opening a door During certain parts of the game you will come to doors or gate that you must open in order to proceed. This is usually indicated by the R2 icon on the screen. In order to open the door or gate, stand before it an press and HOLD R2 to make Kratos grab the door. Once Kratos has grabbed the door, begin to repeatedly press the R2 button and Kratos will slowly raise the door. Keep pressing R2 button until the door is open and Kratos lets go of it. <> Pushing or pulling an object Certain objects in the game can be pushed or pulled. This is usually indicated by the R2 icon. To accomplish this, stand before the object and press and HOLD R2. Once Kratos has grabbed the object CONTINUE to hold down R2 and then move the left analog stick in the appropriate direction to move the object. If you let go of R2, Kratos will let go of the object. <> Charge kicking an object Some objects that Kratos grabs and moves can be "charged kicked". This is where Kratos summons up his strength, and then at peak power performs a strong kick to move the object across the room faster than if he had simply pushed it by hand. To do this, grab the object as describe above. Once Kratos has a grip on the object, press and HOLD X to charge up the kick. Do NOT let go of the button too soon. Listen to Kratos' "roar" as he is charging up the kick to know when it is fully charged. Letting go of the X button too soon results in a very short kick and a wasted effort. <> Pulling back a crossbow During certain parts of the game you will encounter crossbow machines (Ballista) that you must use in order to continue. To use these, stand before the rear of the machine (the end where the feather of the arrow are) and you will typically see the R2 icon. Press and Hold R2 to grab the Ballista. Once Kratos has a grip on it, pull back on the left analog stick and HOLD the left analog stick in this position until Kratos fires the Ballista. Unlike the charge kick, this is automatic, so simply pull back on the left analog stick and hold it until Kratos fires the Ballista. NOTE : R2 must be held down the entire time as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the O Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Grabbing an enemy When Kratos is near a weak or damaged enemy (damaged meaning the O button icon has appeared over their head) he can grab them. Simply hit the O button once to cause Kratos to lay his hands on the enemy. <> Throwing and Abusing an enemy Once Kratos has grabbed an enemy that does not require a mini-game, hit either the Triangle button, or the Square button, or the O button to cause Kratos to deal out some punishment. Square is the best option since it is a sweeping throw that damages other enemies around you. <> Grabbing an enemy while climbing the "nets" on a ship There are certain parts in the game where Kratos must climb up rope netting and fight enemies. The enemies spawn as you move forward. As you are climbing you can hit them with either Triangle or Square. Simply push the left analog stick in the direction of the enemy and hit the desired button. The square button is the best choice since it is faster. ALSO - Kratos can GRAB and enemy while he is on the nets. Simply get close to the enemy, push the left analog stick in their direction and then hit the O Button and Kratos will do the rest. Since the enemies spawn as you move forward, you can move forward slowly so that you only have to deal with two or three at a time. That is, if you're low on health or getting overwhelmed, move up the net a little at a time so that next enemy will spawn. And don't be afraid to backtrack and move back down in order to buy yourself some space if needed. You can not use magic while Climbing You CAN jump UP, Left, or Right but not DOWN. You can only move down but jumping down is not possible. <> Grabbing an enemy while climbing a wall There are certain parts in the game where Kratos must climb up a wall in order to proceed. These areas are identical to hat was described in the "nets" area above. The same technique and strategy applies. <> Grabbing an enemy while crossing a rope There are certain parts in the game where Kratos must cross a rope. He does this by moving forward in a hand-over-hand fashion. As with climbing, magic can not be used. Further, if you Press X you will let go of the rope and fall. If you are above a chasm, this means instant death. As you are crossing the rope, if you get close enough to an enemy, hit the O Button and Kratos will do the rest. HOWEVER, this grab CAN be interrupted if a nearby enemy hits you, so be careful. <> Grabbing an enemy while in the air If Kratos and enemy are both in the air (Kratos did an attack to launch the enemy up and followed it into the air) you can perform a grab by hitting the O Button. For most enemies, this grab is repeatable, so hit the O Button again and again to keep doing an airborne grab and slam if it is available. <> Grabbing an enemy that is in the air and Kratos is on the ground If Kratos knocks the enemy into the air but remains on the ground, Kratos can still do a grab if he is relatively close to the enemy. Hit the O Button and Kratos will throw out a Blade of Chaos at chains length to spear/hook the enemy and then he will pull down on the chain slamming the enemy to the ground. For most enemies, this grab is repeatable, so hit the O Button again and again to keep doing an airborne grab and slam if it is available. <> Attack Combos The O button is also used in many of the Upgraded attack combos. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the Square Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Light Attack This is your basic "light" attack. It's weaker than the Triangle attack, but it is much faster. <> Attack Combos Press the square button repeatedly and Kratos will string several unique strikes together for a combo attack. <> With L1 The Square button is also used in many of the Upgraded attack combos. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the Triangle Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Heavy Attack This is your basic "heavy" attack. It is more powerful than the Square button attack, but it is much slower. <> Attack Combos Once you've upgraded you blades, you can press the Triangle button repeatedly to cause Kratos to string several unique strikes together for a combo attack. <> With L1 The Triangle button is also used in many of the Upgraded attack combos. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the X Button ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Regular Jump Press the X button to cause Kratos to Jump. NOTE: The longer you HOLD down the X button, the higher Kratos will jump. <> Double Jump To do a double jump, press X button twice. HOWEVER, to get the best double jump, first press and HOLD the X button once to get the maximum height/distance out of the first jump. Once Kratos has reached his peak of the first jump and is starting to descend, QUICKLY let go of the X button and immediately hit and HOLD it again for the second portion of this jump. If you simply press X button twice rapidly, Kratos will not jump very high at all. <> Super Jump There are certain attacks that Kratos can do which causes the enemy to be launched into the air while Kratos remains on the ground. If Kratos has launched an enemy into the air but has remained on the ground, QUICKLY hit X to cause Kratos to jump straight up to meet the enemy. This jump is higher than any other jump, but it only works for enemy battles. <> Jumping on the climbable nets When you are climbing up climbable net areas, you can hit X Button to jump. This can make for rapid progress. You can jump UP, Left, or Right. You can not jump down (you can move down, but not jump). As you are climbing, simply press and hold the left analog stick in the desired direction and then hit X. <> Jumping on climbable walls When you are climbing up climbable net areas, you can hit X Button to jump. This can make for rapid progress. You can jump UP, Left, or Right. You can not jump down (you can move down, but not jump). As you are climbing, simply press and hold the left analog stick in the desired direction and then hit X. NOTE : During certain parts of a wall climb you must jump over a chasm or break in the wall. This is a SPECIAL jump and you must "ready" Kratos for it. To get Kratos ready for this jump, move as far to the edge of the break in the wall as possible. CONTINUE to press toward the break in the wall and Kratos will get into the ready position by letting go of the wall with one hand. Once he is in the ready position, hit X to make the jump. <> Jumping on the climbable vines There are certain areas where you will climb on vines. This happens on walls and in one case some columns. You can jump as usual while on theses vine, even when you're on the columns. Jumping right or left on the column gets you around to the other side quickly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the left analog stick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Basic character movement Use this stick to move Kratos all through the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using the right analog stick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Evasion This stick is used to cause Kratos to perform acrobatic rolls which are commonly called evasions. Use these to evade an enemy attack and keep Kratos out of harms way. To perform, simply jog the right analog stick in the desired direction and Kratos will do the rest. No need to hit X or any other button; simply pressing the right analog stick in that direction is all that is required. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using Rage of the Gods ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Acquired Rage of the Gods is akin to a fury meter in other games. Build up enough energy and you can release it al at once for a devastating attack. You get this ability the first time you upgrade your Blades of Chaos (Level 2 Blades). <> Activation The left and right analog sticks can be pressed DOWN to act as buttons as well as joysticks". Press straight down on the left analog stick and you will hear a click - this is called the L3 button. Press straight down on the right analog stick and you will hear a click - this is called the R3 button. To activate Rage of the Gods, press the left and right analog sticks down at the same time. <> Infinite Magic When you get the Blades of Chaos up to Level 5, you are granted infinite magic for the duration of the Rage of the Gods. That is, once you activate the Rage of the Gods, all magic is free, so you can cast as much as you want without causing your magic meter to drop. When you acquire Army of Hades you will find that spell runs for a few seconds, HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you can't cast a DIFFERENT spell! That is, while Army of Hades is running, you can switch to another spell (Poseidon's Rage is best) and cast it as well. Simply cast magic again and again until Rage of the Gods wears off and its free - EVEN if the spell is still running after the Rage of the Gods has worn off. As long as you cast it while in the Rage of the Gods, it is free magic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magic ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Order received As the game progresses, you will gain FOUR magic abilities in the following order: Poseidon's Rage - Acquired during the Aegean Sea Chapter Medusa's Gaze - Acquired during the Gates of Athens Chapter Zeus' Fury - Acquired during the Rooftops of Athens Chapter Army of Hades - Acquired during the Challenge of Hades Chapter Each of these spells is upgradeable to Level 3. Each level makes the magic stronger and often grants you new abilities for that magic. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. <> Using Magic The L2 button is how you use you magic. However, L2 will activate only two of the spells and will simply aim the other two. Poseidon's Rage - L2 Activates this spell Medusa's Gaze - L2 Aims this spell and you must press square to activate it NOTE : Press and HOLD down square to fire the gaze and CONTNUE to hold down square until the creature has turned to stone. If you let go too soon, the enemy will NOT turn to stone. At Level 2 for this spell you gain the ability of "Quick Freeze". To use that, aim with L2 and TAP the Triangle button for a short but powerful blast. You can use double shots of the quick freeze to stone the larger enemies. Also, when you aim this magic, the enemy will "light up" when it has been targeted. If the target light is red, the enemy is either out of range or immune to Medusa's Gaze. When the light is blue, you're ready to fire. Zeus' Fury - L2 Aims this spell and you must press square to activate it Army of Hades - L2 Activates this spell <> Selecting a Spell Use the Directional Pad (the crossed shaped control pad located above the left analog stick). Press the directional pad in the desired direction to select the desired spell. Poseidon's Rage - Press RIGHT on the D-Pad Medusa's Gaze - Press LEFT on the D-Pad Zeus' Fury - Press DOWN on the D-Pad Army of Hades - Press UP on the D-Pad Once the desired magic is selected, use L2 or L2 + Square to activate it. <> Accidentally hitting L2 As you progress through the game, you may accidentally hit L2 and cast a spell when you didn't mean to which is a waste of magic. This applies to both Poseidon's Rage and Army of Hades. To avoid having this happen, its a good idea to keep either Medusa's Gaze or Zeus's Fury selected until you are ready to actually use a spell. Medusa's Gaze and Zeus' Fury are only AIMED with L2 and must be activated with the Square button. BUT, both Poseidon's Rage and Army of Hades are ACTIVATED with L2 so hitting L2 even once will activate these two spells. So, keep Medusa's Gaze or Zeus's Fury selected to avoid an accidental waste of magic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blades of Chaos ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Number of Upgrade levels There are five level for the Blades of Chaos. Each level makes the blades stronger and also grants you new attacks. For a full list of what attacks are available, bring up the Upgrade menu by hitting the Start button and then hit L1 or R1 to cycle through the menu pages and view the combo attack list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Blade of Artemis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Time received Acquired during the Challenge of Atlas Chapter <> Number of Upgrade Levels There are 3 levels available for this blade. Each level makes the blade stronger, but you do NOT gain new moves for the blade. Only strength of attack is increased. <> L1+R1 to switch Hit L1 & R1 simultaneously to switch back and forth between The Blades of Chaos and the Blade of Artemis. <> L1 Attacks When holding L1 down, all four buttons have an attack, even X which is normally the jump button. You ALSO get a special stabbing attack for the R1 button. And there is a special Jumping O Button attack as well. Simply jump into the air and hit O button to perform this attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mini-Games ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> What are mini-games During game play, there are certain times where you will have to mash a given sequence of buttons in order to progress with the game. The sequence appears on the screen and you must quickly press the button or move the left analog stick in the direction that is displayed. <> Finishing moves For some of the larger enemies such as the Cyclops, the O Button appears over their head indicating they have been damaged enough to initiate the mini-game which will finish them off. However, this mini-game is not always required to kill your enemy. The finishing move mini-game is only required for the bosses which are: - 1st Mini-Hydra - 2nd Mini-Hydra - Main Hydra - Medusa - Main Minotaur Boss (Pandora's Guardian) - Ares Form 1 - Ares Form 2 Technically, it is also required for the 3 Sirens in the Desert of Lost souls. However, you CAN use Dairy Bastard (infinite magic) and Medusa's Gaze to repeatedly stone and smash them to death thus avoiding the mini-game. However, it takes about 6 stonings and smashes to kill one of them, so it's not possible to do this in regular game-play. For those enemies that the mini-game is not required, if you kill them flat out, you'll get a few extra orbs. Also note that there are two special cases where the mini-game is beneficial: Regular Minotaur - this mini-game always gives you Health Orbs Regular Gorgons - this mini-game always gives you Magic Orbs <> Escaping an enemy grab (left analog stick) If an enemy grabs you, you must "wiggle" the left analog stick back and forth in order to escape. This includes soldiers, large Cerberus, some Harpies, etc. <> Breaking free form being turned to stone If a Gorgon stones you then you must wiggle the left analog stick back and forth to break free from the stone. Otherwise you will be crushed. If you are stoned while you are in the air during a jump, you will fall to the ground and break apart for instant death. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crossing Ropes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <>Attacks Triangle - Heavy attack. Slow, but cause more damage than square. Square - Light attack. FAST, but doesn't hit as hard as Triangle. O Button - Grab. Get near an enemy and Kratos will do a leg grab and sling the enemy off the rope to his doom. X Button - DO NOT HIT THIS BUTTON. Kratos will let go of the rope which means instant death if you are above a chasm. The only exception is the very first rope crossing in the game which is during the Gates of Athens chapter. There is ground below this rope, so X won't kill you there. If you get surrounded on the ropes, the best thing to do is to quickly use the X button attack to hit the solider in front of you then immediately face the opposite direction to hit that soldier. Repeat this back and forth X button attack to keep the enemy stunned thus avoiding their attack. Keep this up till they're dead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Swinging on Ropes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In certain parts of the game you will have to swing on ropes in order to progress. Simply jump toward the rope an Kratos will grab it. Once on the rope, use the left analog stick to move up or down the rope. You can NOT fall off the rope at the bottom, so don't worry about moving all the way down. To swing, press and HOLD the O Button down. When Kratos is at the height of his swing, press the X button to jump and make sure to have the left analog stick pushed in the direction you wish to go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Climbing Walls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In certain parts of the game you will have to climb walls. To do so, simply walk up and bump into the wall. Kratos will grab hold of the wall and then use the left analog stick to maneuver Kratos. While on the wall, you can jump Up, Right, and Left, but you can not jump downward (you can only move down but not jump). Certain walls have a break or chasm you must jump over. This is a special jump that you must prepare Kratos for. To do so, simply maneuver Kratos all the way over to the break in the wall and keep pushing toward the break until Kratos gets into position by letting go with one hand. Once in position, simply hit X to do the jump. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Climbing Nets on Ships ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In certain parts of the game you will have to climb net ladder. To do so, simply walk up and bump into the net. Kratos will grab hold of the net and then use the left analog stick to maneuver Kratos. While on the net, you can jump Up, Right, and Left, but you can not jump downward (you can only move down but not jump). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balancing across beams and poles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In certain parts of the game you will have to walk/balance across a narrow beam or pole. This can be tricky due to the camera angle. As the camera angle changes so does the direction you are require to push the left analog stick. One thing to notice is that when Kratos is centered on the beam and has good balance, his arms will be low to his sides. As he starts to lose his balance, he will raise his arms higher and higher. If you see his arms start to rise, re-center yourself to regain you balance. If he falls off, he will often grab the beam so immediately hit the X button once and Kratos will slowly pull himself back up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beating the Game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <> Total game-play time On your first time through the game, the total game time is 8 - 10 hours. After beating the game on either Mortal (Easy), Hero (Normal), or Spartan (Hard), you will unlock God Mode which is the "Very Hard" mode of game-play. In this mode, the enemies deal 5 times more damage to you and you only inflict 1/2 as much damage to them. <> Carry over Once you beat the game you can NOT carry over any items, upgrades, orbs, or anything else. If you start a new game, it is just that, brand new from scratch. This also means that you must watch all of the FMVs again in their entirety (no way to skip a cut scene in this game). This applies to all modes, even God Mode. Simply put, a new game is a new game. There is no way whatsoever to carry over anything to a new game. <> Athena's Blades At the end of the game you will be given Athena's Blades. This happens as a critical part of the story it self and so that you can do the Challenge of the Gods. During the game, after you beat the Kratos Clones, Ares takes the Blades of Chaos and all magic away from you. This leaves Kratos with nothing, yet he finds a sword and manages to Kill Ares. Athena then promotes Kratos to the position of the new God of War where he reigns from Ares old throne room. Since Kratos has become the new God of War, he must have the weapon of a God to go with the title, thus Athena gives him the Blades of Athena. This is suiting since Athena is the Goddess of War, Wisdom, and Order. Ares was the God of War and stood for Chaos so Athena, being for Wisdom and Order, is the opposite of all that Ares stood for which is befitting for what Kratos trying to do which is destroy Ares and be free of him. Unfortunately, as said before, you can not carry these Blades over to a new game. All new games restart from scratch. Hover, you can use the Blades of Athena in the Challenge of the Gods and to break the two statues in Kratos' throne room. It should also be noted that the Blades of Athena and the Blade of Chaos are identical in function, but the Blades of Athena are golden in color. But, outside of the color, there is no difference between the the 2 sets of blades. <> Unlockables You can unlock half of the Treasure items (the items under the Treasure Menu Option) by beating the game on Easy or Normal Mode. You can unlock everything else EXCEPT for secret message 1 by beating Spartan mode. The game itself will say you need to beat God Mode some of the items, but the Manual says otherwise - and game play proves as much. The only thing that you have to play God Mode to unlock is secret message 1. So, if you're up for a challenge, simply play through the game the first time on Spartan mode and you'll have it all except for Secret Message 1 in just a single play through. Plus, playing on Spartan prepares you for God mode making God Mode not nearly as daunting as if you had just come from Normal mode. If you have played through once already on Easy or Normal mode, the you might consider beating the Challenge of the Gods in order to unlock the new costumes. You can use the new costumes o Easy, Normal, and Hard (Spartan) modes - but you can NOT use them on God Mode. So, an easy way to unlock everything except for secret message 1 is to use the Dairy Bastard costume on Spartan mode. If you want to know what the videos are about, go to the section titled "Major Spoilers" to read about them. <> Secret Message 1 You must beat God Mode to unlock this. This is the only unlockable that requires you to beat God Mode. All other unlockables can be unlocked on Spartan Mode. Since this message can actually be found all over the net these days, I've added a Major Spoilers section at the end of this FAQ which lists what this message is. Go to the Major Spoilers section to see what it is if you like. <> Secret Message 2 You can unlock this on ANY mode. To unlock this, break the Statues of the Minotaur and Ares that are in the throne room at the end of the game. It takes a LOT of hits to break this statues (around 200 each)! Regular do cause damage to the statutes, but a regular hit will not display the hit Counter which makes it hard to tell if you're actually doing any damage. However, if you use the L1+O ground slam attack, the Hit counter WILL be displayed. Simply stand in front of a statue, hold down L1 and then repeatedly tap O button (there is no need to charge the attack for this). Just tap O button repeatedly and watch the hit counter rack up the hits. The statues will break around 160 - 200 (sometimes more) hits. Since this message can actually be found all over the net these days, I've added a Major Spoilers section at the end of this FAQ which lists what this message is. Go to the Major Spoilers section to see what it is if you like. <> New Costumes There a five new costumes that you unlock by beating the Challenge of the Gods. Since these can actually be found all over the net these days, I've added a section following the Challenge of the Gods section which lists what these costumes are and what they do. Go to the section titles "The New Costumes" for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Gorgon Eyes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is a total of 18 Gorgon Eyes to be found. Every time you collect 6 of them, you get an upgrade to your Health Bar. With a total of 18 available, you can get a total of 3 Health upgrades via the Gorgon Eyes. There are MORE than 18 chances to get the Gorgon Eyes. If you miss one, a later chest will hold a Gorgon Eye. This guide lists the earliest possible locations of all the Gorgon Eyes. By getting them early, the later chests will hold Red Orbs instead of a missed Gorgon Eye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Phoenix Feathers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is a total of 18 Phoenix Feathers to be found. Every time you collect 6 of them, you get an upgrade to your Magic Bar. With a total of 18 available, you can get a total of 3 Magic upgrades via the Phoenix Feathers. There are MORE than 18 chances to get the Phoenix Feathers. If you miss one, a later chest will hold a Phoenix Feather. This guide lists the earliest possible locations of all the Phoenix Feathers. By getting them early, the later chests will hold Red Orbs instead of a missed Phoenix Feather. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Green Orbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Green orbs replenish your Health bar and keep you alive! There are many places/chances throughout the game to get them. Killing certain enemies, damaging Bosses, etc, can all give you green orbs. here are a few special cases - Town's People : Kill an innocent town's person for Health orbs. A regular kill from a blade attack yields one orb, but if you perform a GRAB o them you will get three orbs. - Minotaurs : Do the Minotaur mini-game to get Health orbs every time. The mini-game becomes available after you have damaged them enough so that the O button icon is displayed over their head. When you see the O Button icon, get close and press the O Button to grab them and initiate the mini-game. - Chests : Green Chests contain orbs. And then there are chest that flash between green and blue. Grab and open the chest when it is on green to get health orbs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blue Orbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blue orbs replenish your Magic bar so that you can keep using you magic! There are many places/chances throughout the game to get them. Killing certain enemies, damaging Bosses, etc, can all give you green orbs. Here are a few special cases - Gorgons : Do the Gorgon mini-game to get Health orbs every time. The mini-game becomes available after you have damaged them enough so that the O button icon is displayed over their head. When you see the O Button icon, get close and press the O Button to grab them and initiate the mini-game. - Chests : Blue Chests contain orbs. And then there are chest that flash between green and blue. Grab and open the chest when it is on blue to get magic orbs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Orbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Orbs are basically "experience" points. You use them to upgrade your weapons and magic via the Upgrade Menu Screen (hit Start to access this screen). There are many opportunities to get red orbs in the game such as: Smash the scenery - Break statues, boxes, crates, etc to get red orbs. - Treasure Chests - Red Chest and Certain "unlit" chests contain orbs. - Killing an enemy - Killing enemies gives you red orbs. - Unique Kill bonus - Kill and enemy an a brutal fashion for the first time and you'll get a red orb bonus. Unique kills aren't repeatable. Once you've done it once and the screen says "Brutal +20" the next time it won't be "unique" so no more bonus for that. Incidentally, the +20 means you earned 20 orbs. Combo Bonus - String together combos to get your hit counter climbing. At certain numbers on the hit counter you'll see a name for your brutality and a +xx where xx is the number or red orbs you get for having such a large combo. The highest named combo that gives you red orbs is 1,000 hits. After 1,000 the counter will still increment, but the combo doesn't' get any new names and you don't get any extra orbs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nyads ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the Challenge of Poseidon, you will encounter the Nyads which are Poseidon's daughters. When you meet one, you interact with her by hitting the O Button (the grab button) to kiss her. There are FOUR Nyads to be found. If you encounter the Nyads and do not have all 18 Gorgon Eyes or all 18 Phoenix Feathers, then the Nyads, depending on which one you kiss, will give you one of these missing items. Each Nyad has a set and specific gift that she will give you (assuming you haven't already found all of the items that she is assigned to) if you kiss her, and the gifts are as follows: Nyad #1 - Gorgon Eye Nyad #2 - Phoenix Feather Nyad #3 - Gorgon Eye Nyad #4 - Phoenix Feather Their locations are as follows: Nyad #1 - Plain view when you start the Challenge of Poseidon. Nyad #2 - Behind the cracked carving of the Nyads. Nyad #3 - Behind a cracked wall to the left of the save point. Nyad #4 - Same area as Nyad #3 but can be found behind a cracked wall to the right of the Statue of Poseidon. See my Chest Guide for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Muse Keys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are only two Muse Keys to be found in the game. However, there are MORE than two chances to find them. If you find them both early, then the later chests will hold red orbs instead of a missed Muse Key. Once you have both keys, use them to open the special room in the Rings of Pandora. The earliest places to find them is: #1 - Behind the Statue of Atlas in the Challenge of Atlas. #2 - In the Challenge of Poseidon, after the circular room with the 4 chests, start climbing the cliffs and go all the way to the right before you go left (going left is the way out). If you missed #1, there is a 2nd chance to get it during the Challenge of Poseidon during the underwater part. Take a right at the 2nd Nyad to find it. See my Chest Guide for more information. !!!---- WARNING ----!!! IMPORTANT: The Muse Keys MUST be used BEFORE you ascend the tower and reach the Cliffs of Madness. Once you leave Pandora's Temple and reach the Cliffs of Madness, you can NEVER go back to the Temple of Pandora. That is why you hear a voice warning you about this as you attempt to ascend the tower to the Cliffs of Madness. [SCT011] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | Odds and Ends | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' 1. If you take out the game cover insert from the game case and turn it over there is a different picture of Kratos that you can use as the game's cover. 2. At the beginning of the game, when Kratos is in the room with the two women on the ship, look closely around the room and you will see a few trophies that Kratos has collected. He’s got a minotaur head on the wall, a Cyclops head and skin for a rug, and a few others. Also, you’ll notice the sword he uses in the cutscenes as a Spartan warrior is propped against the desk where his journal is located. 3. When you finally reach Pandora's Temple, but before you actually cross the bridge, you will see a cutscene that show a vulture plucking a soldier's eye out. Kratos gives the soldier a strange look, possibly because, as the making of video explains, Kratos had originally been designed to look like that soldier (helmet, armor, etc,). Also, after the cutscene, the vulture is sitting on a ledge to the left of the save point. You can kill the vulture and get a green health orb. [SCT012] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | CREDITS & COPYRIGHTS | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Well, this is the end of the guide (well, except for the Major Spoilers section listed down below this section). I want to send out a huge thank you to All those that have used my guide, to all those that have emailed me, and to All you wonderful users at GameFaqs on the message Boards. It’s all of you that make writing a guide so worthwhile. Thank you for all of your support and many contributions. THANKS! /- 0####|=================> Credits \- Well, obviously myself for putting this Guide together. Also, a big thanks to Toni M. (DragonicFlare) here at GameFaqs for writing her full walkthrough. Without it, I'd have missed the chests near the top of the Statues in the Challenge of Hades. If you're looking to beat the game on God Mode, then go check out my God Mode Guide. If you want to know where all the chests are, even the hidden one, then check out my Chest Guide. Thanks to http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ for having an Ascii Generator that came in handy for the opening and closing text banners. For contributed material, a big thanks goes out to: -- ladyhawke2 (msladyhawke2@yahoo.com) -- Clumsy_Mohel -- zemickeey (zemickey@yahoo.com) -- Myself13 (O. Hertz = boazherz@netvision.net.il) -- MysticTortoise (GameFaqs Account Name) -- agothoth (GameFaqs Account Name) -- Kizty (GameFaqs Account Name) -- Ishtar Dark (GameFaqs Account Name) -- simboo (GameFaqs Account Name) /- 0####|=================> Copyrights \- As for the Copyright stuff, I wrote it, so I have the copyright. Standard stuff there. If you want to use part of this Guide for some reason, just drop me a line and give me credit where credit is due. I'm not a big stickler for this copyright stuff, so if you can use something you see here, just let me know and at least give me credit! :) Concerning the sites that have my permission to post this Guide, they are: ----------------------------- www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com www.1up.com www.supercheats.com www.stuckgamer.com ----------------------------- There may be other sites that have asked permission, or that link to GameFaqs' database, where you'll see this guide. That's cool. I doubt I'll update the guide and thus it's version number every time a site asks for, and is granted, permission to post this guide. If there is something I missed that you think needs more clarification, or if you simply have comments, feel free to email me: keltin_2002@yahoo.com [SCT013] .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ | | |\_. | MAJOR SPOILERS | /| | |\| | /| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Here are the biggest spoilers this FAQ can offer. The contents of the unlockables. However, you can find these elsewhere on the net, so it's no big deal to list them here for the sake of being complete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Secret Message 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you beat God Mode you will unlock this. It is a toll free number. The number is : 1-800-613-8840 Call it and you will hear Kratos talk to you. He will mention a secret room in the throne room, but that is just part of the story and a bit of foreshadowing for a possible sequel. There is NOT a secret room in the throne. Again, it's just a part of the story that explains what happened to Ares' soul and a bit of foreshadowing for a possible sequel. Note, this is for the NTSC version (American). If you are playing the PAL version then the TEXT of the message is displayed over a picture of Kratos facing Ares. -- Thanks to zemickeey (zemickey@yahoo.com) for the PAL information -- When you call the number in Secret Message 1, you hear Kratos himself talking to you. This is what Kratos says: ****************************************** At last you are here. I have killed the Hydra myself. Ripped the head off Medusa’s shoulders. Even killed a God of Olympus, but I have never seen such skill and strength as yours. You have conquered God Mode. The time and dedication you put into reaching this point is worthy of celebration and reward. Sadly, what can I offer one such as you. The keys to Olympus itself? *Kratos laughs* Hardly a gift I’m willing to part with. Perhaps instead a private tour. Here, come with me *many echoing footsteps are heard* When I first made my way to the throne of Olympus I noticed this chamber. Impenetrable to all except me. Even Lord Zeus is unaware of its existence. But you.....you will know its secret. Many have asked how I killed an immortal. How can a god itself be destroyed? For your reward I invite you to gaze upon this. The true fate of Ares. *a heavy door is heard opening followed by the screams of Ares* The soul of Ares itself. The soul of War. The soul of Hate. See how it writhes in pain? See how it struggles to be free? And yet, here it stays, unable to breach the walls of this room. What does it want? What is it for? And more importantly, how can I use it when I finally decide to take revenge....on.....HIM. Answers for another time. Consider yourself privileged mortal. You have seen the true fate of my enemy. Now go. Our time together is at an end. We will meet again mortal. I will see you again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Secret Message 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you break the two statues in the throne room at the end of the game then you will unlock this one. However, it is jumbled when you see it. The key is to read it from left to right and top to bottom in order to put it together. It is also a toll free number. The number is : 1-888-447-5594 Call it to hear Kratos AND David Jaffe talk to you. David says you're lame for getting this number off the net though. This message is more comical than the first. So it's fun to hear. David Jaffe starts to get on Kratos' nerves and Kratos points out to David Jaffe that if he kills him then he will get Health Orbs (since David Jaffe is just an "innocent town's person" and not a monster, killing him in the game WOULD give Kratos green orbs!). I found that humorous. Note, this is for the NTSC version (American). If you are playing the PAL version then a picture of Kratos tearing out the eye of a Cyclops is displayed and the actual voice message from the original phone number is played (so PAL players do get to hear this one). -- Thanks to zemickeey (zemickey@yahoo.com) for the PAL information -- Here is the transcription of Secret Message 2. This is the message you unlock by breaking the Minotaur and Ares statue in the end-game Throne Room. In the following, "K" will denote the lines that Kratos says, and "DJ" will denote the lines that David Jaffe, the game's director, says. ****************************************** K: By the gods, you've done it! Some how you've found your way here, to me. I offer you my congratulations, and my respect. Together, we shall conquer the perils that lay before us, and we shall always.... DJ: Kratos dude, dude they did it, they found our Easter Egg. K: Who are you? DJ: It's me, David Jaffe, I directed the game. K: What game? DJ: Your game, God of War. K: Go away our I'll... DJ: Dude, dude don't...don't you get it these guys they spent all that time breaking those statues. I mean, they must have taken like, forever. And then they figured out the whole secret code thing. K: I do not know what you are talking about. DJ: We hid the secret pretty damn deep, huh Kratos?! K: If I kill you, I will get health orbs. DJ: But wait, wait, wait if you got the secret from the net or a magazine then actually you kind of suck. I mean, work for it a bit, right Kratos? Actually, can I call you Krate? K: No.....go away or I'll ki..... DJ: Don't you hate it when they get the codes off the net? It's so lazy. Hey, say Krate, what are you so pale for? K: I am serious. DJ: You know up close you actually look kind of pasty, if you don't mind me saying it. It's kind of gross. K: ALL RIGHT, THAT'S IT! *you hear the Blades of Chaos hacking and slashing* DJ: Ahhhh...ahhhhhh....ahhhhhh....it hurts......ahhhhh....we gotta...make the seeeqqquuuueeellllll! *David Jaffe dies* K: He was worse than a screeching harpy! K: *clears this throat* As I was saying.....you have found the secret. You have done well. Congratulations mortal. K: We WILL meet again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Secret Revealed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a "movie" narrated by the narrator from the game. However, instead of using full motion sequences, it's just a bunch of pictures, a slideshow if you will, that the narrator explains as they go buy. In this you see that Kratos is bothered by the fact that his Mother never told him who his father was, so Kratos finally pays her a visit. She tries to tell him, but gets cursed and turned into a monster that Kratos kills. As she is dying, she whispers to Kratos who his father is. the one word she whispers is "ZEUS". So, Kratos now knows hat Zeus is his father AND Kratos is mad about it since dear old dad never stepped into help him during his ordeal. So, Kratos decides it's time to kill another God. Part 2 anyone? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fate of the Titan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a "movie" narrated by the narrator from the game. Plus, this one actually has a few full motion scenes in it. In this one you learn that Kronos crawled around the Desert with Pandora's Temple chained to his back for another thousand or so years before he finally died. A thousand or so years after that, someone finds the bones of Kronos and Pandora's Temple. The scene shows a bunch of military helicopters flying toward the temple and the bones of Kronos, and the narrator remarks that a new Hero will be born. Part 3 anyone? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ More about the Grave Digger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As said earlier, it is theorized that the Grave Digger is Zeus. The case becomes even stronger for this when you pay close attention to what the Grave Digger says. When Kratos asks who will occupy the grave the Grave Digger says "You will my son." Then, when Kratos tries to talk to him again, the Grave Digger says "Don't disturb me now, son! I've got my work to do, and you have yours! And precious little time left to do either." Now, in A Secret Revealed, we learn the Zeus is Kratos' FATHER. Here the Grave Digger calls Kratos "son". Granted, one could argue that it was just a figure of speech. But, it can also be argued that it was NOT a figure a speech but was foreshadowing and blatant truth. Since we don't know either way, you're free to decide for yourself! _________ _______ _______ _ ______ \__ __/|\ /|( ____ \ ( ____ \( ( /|( __ \ ) ( | ) ( || ( \/ | ( \/| \ ( || ( \ ) | | | (___) || (__ | (__ | \ | || | ) | | | | ___ || __) | __) | (\ \) || | | | | | | ( ) || ( | ( | | \ || | ) | | | | ) ( || (____/\ | (____/\| ) \ || (__/ ) )_( |/ \|(_______/ (_______/|/ )_)(______/