God of War III Glitch & Things of Interest FAQ
v. 0.8
Written by AKheon, findlestick, satvara & n3obuddha,
additional info provided by GMG and Riningan.
See the end of the file for more info.
0. Table of contents
--------------------
0. Table of contents
1. Introduction & abbreviations + glossary
2. General glitches & tricks
3. Level-by-level glitch walkthrough
4. Legal information, contact info, credits, etc.
Abbreviations:
GoW = God of War
GoW II = God of War II
GoW III = God of War III (simple enough)
BoA = Blades of Athena
BoE = Blades of Exile
CoH = Claws of Hades
NC = Nemean Cestus
NW = Nemesis Whip
RoS = Rage of Sparta
HoH = Head of Helios
CG = Combat Grapple
RoS = Rage of Sparta
NG+ = new game+ glitch
JJ = Jest Jump
c: = credits to
� = note to self / does anyone else know better?
* = general note
Version history:
v. 0.8 (17. 5. 2010)
- everything we could think of, put in one file.
1. Introduction & abbreviations + glossary
------------------------------------------
Another God of War, another glitch FAQ. Well, to cut small talk short, we got
the ball rolling quickly this time with multiple interested persons exploring
the limits of this game (a nice euphemism for "glitching"). And for the first
time, this FAQ was written co-op thanks to the wonders of modern technology and
real-time collaborative editing services. Eased the work load quite a lot. How
can you tell who wrote which parts? If you're attentive, you'll notice
differences in the styles here and there... Enjoy it as an easter egg of sort.
As always, the interest of this FAQ is not only in glitches but also in obscure
facts and trivia related to the levels and gameplay. The basic idea is to help
squeeze everything out of the experience of playing God of War III, including
but not limited to going beyond the impossible, swimming in air, skipping large
sections of the game... in the end, it is ensured that "only Chaos remains."
Note: this FAQ has been written for the unpatched version of God of War III,
and it might remain so.
Note 2: loading errors and game freezes, as common as they are, have not been
actively included in this file. They can occur theoretically anywhere in the
game, so you can imagine that there's not much point in starting a list of them
in the level-by-levels. Exception is made if some freeze or particular load
error always happens as a direct result of your actions - it is listed as a
warning for the reader.
Glossary:
---------
Launch = An attack capable of launching enemies high up in air. Example:
Olympic Ascension.
Lift-up = The effect of Kratos himself rising up during a launch.
Bounce = An effect in which an enemy will bounce a bit after a succesful hit.
It's not as high as a launch.
Knockback = An effect in which the enemy is knocked away.
Downed = An enemy which has fallen on its back/on the ground.
Collision damage = Damage from f.e. thrown enemies. Enemies that get hit by
other enemies, basically.
Out of bounds = Anywhere outside the intended game area.
False grab = Kratos' reaction for trying to grab an enemy that does not respond
to a grab at the moment. He fumbles backwards, wasting time.
Infinite air grab/Orion's Harpoon = some enemies can be air grabbed or Orion's
Harpooned indefinitely, without them having a chance to escape. The enemy
section far below lists which foes are subjectible to this kind of cheap but
fun strategy.
2. General glitches & tricks
----------------------------
"New Game +"
It's a popular and powerful glitch which allows all weapons (except Blades of
Exile) at MAX level right from the start of the game, in addition to giving
Kratos infinite health (if you choose to) and potentially infinite magic and
item bars. It requires game to be finished once on any difficulty (to unlock
Combat Arena).
1. Load the Combat Arena and set difficulty to Titan or God. If you want
infinite health, put Kratos' health on infinite. You can put magic and item
gauges on infinite as well, but those values are not guaranteed to stay with
you when you begin the new game. It does occasionally happen, though.
2. Die enough times to be offered "switch to easy" option. If you have
infinite health, you can only die by becoming stonefrozen in air.
3. Select either "Yes" or "No" (preferably "No"). It will take you back to Main
Menu. You will get Maxed Out Trophy at this point if you didn't have it already.
4. Start "New Game". You can select any difficulty to play your New Game+ on,
even Chaos, even if you have only beaten Normal yet.
5. You will have all the weapons when you start on Gaia and will be all Maxed
Out.
Key features of the glitch:
1. Blades of Exile will be reset to Level 1, all others will stay maxed out for
the rest of the game.
2. Some people have complained about losing infinite health at some point during
the game, but it's never happened to us during playing and testing.
3. Infinite health allows immunity from bottomless pits and other insta-death
things, with only a few exceptions (like some insta-death platform around The
Caverns). Hera's Chalice still drains your health, and some enemy attacks (like
Hades' barbed wire deluge) still hurt you.
4. As of now there is no way to start NG+ with all weapons at level 1.
Video demonstration:
1, n3obuddha's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwJhKZs9h4
"Swimming glitch"
A fan favorite. It is almost exactly the same as in the previous titles -
swimming like normal, except outside walls.
Swimming glitch ends, if...
- you hit water surface.
- you hit a climbing wall.
- you retry from some checkpoints. (or so it seems)
You can...
- see the game levels from a whole new perspective!
- get past most obstacles without troubles.
You can't...
- open chests or operate many other R1-prompts.
- do almost any damage to your opposition.
- start proper swimming glitch before acquiring "Hades' Soul", or else Kratos
just rockets skyward uncontrollably. Yes, it's true.
So when doing this glitch, why does Kratos sometimes have arms to his side with
his weapon stuck at his feet, as if he was riding an air sled made out of the
weapon? That is because the game doesn't have Kratos' swimming animation loaded
at the moment (the likeliest explanation). It just happens in some areas where
you were never supposed to swim around. It can also indicate that the next area
is currently loading in some places.
It works the other way around too, with Kratos being able to walk where there's
supposed to be water. In this game you have a semi-controlled method of doing it
anywhere you want: casting Army of Sparta, Divine Reckoning or Nemean Rage very
close to the water surface. Jump and spam magic over water to eventually have
Kratos breach the surface and end up at the very bottom, still walking like
normal.
Video demonstration:
1, an example of this glitch from Realm of Hades and Olympia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYVVxe0KSZY
High jumps:
The very first jump used for reaching higher-than-usual places was the "Severe
Judgment" jump, which takes advantage of the normal momentum of a jump combined
with Whip's Severe Judgment (air) to reach a decent height. To do it, do a
double jump and finish it up with Severe Judgment almost instantly after doing
your second jump. You can cancel out of Severe Judgment at the top height by
flicking Bow or Head on very quickly, and are then free to follow up with any
other normal air move. Especially combined with Hermes Dash, which gives you
even more height and also allows Kratos to grab ledges higher than he
logically should, you are able to traverse many places normally inaccessible
to Kratos.
Another way to gain a small bit of height is by flicking Rage of Sparta on and
off very quickly during any air move, especially Cestus' Crushing Strike (air).
This combination does not obsolete Severe Judgment jump because it is more
arduous to perform and also because you don't have RoS at all parts of the game
with you.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXbl9lu8F6I
High jumps (cont.):
Later it was found that there still are some air attacks after which you can do
a jump, in the vein of the traditional high jump from the first GoW. These
attacks are Claws' Combat Grapple (but it must hit something), Augean Stampede
(air) and CG against burrowed Wraiths ("wraith jump", c: Satvara). Note that for
this to work, you must not have exhausted your both jumps, so get Kratos in air
with a lift-up or just jump only once. At least two of those moves have an use
somewhere in this game's hierarchy of skips, so we can still be grateful for
this small edge. But chronologically speaking, the best was yet to be found at
this stage...
"Combat grapple high jump" (c: AKheon)
A few weeks later, this trick was found. The combat grapple of this game is an
unique attack in the sense that unlike air grabs and such, it does not bring
enemies to Kratos... it takes Kratos to enemies. And if the enemies happen to be
flying very high in the air, Kratos becomes elevated in a moment's time. So, in
a way, it became a question of finding great enemy launching techniques with the
tools the game offers at any given time.
Nemesis Whip's Righteous Ascension, an unique multi-hitting ascension that
launches enemies as Kratos ascends upwards, plays an important role in the
highest versions of this jump. A basic variation using this ascension is just to
do 'triangle' once, launching the enemy in air. Then, cancel or wait out the
move so that you can start anew with the next 'triangle' press. Then do the full
ascension - with correct timing, each hit connects the enemy, all during the
time Kratos is rising upwards, leading to an extra-high launch. If the Combat
Grapple connects too, which isn't a given because of the auto-targeting in this
game, Kratos is sent very high up in the air.
Of course, your enemy has to survive the launch in order for Kratos to CG him at
the very end. Righteous Ascension (and Nemesis Whip in general) deals its damage
in a bit strange way, with less damage dealt if your foes are not completely
adjacent to Kratos. This is another thing which is solved with just timing the
launch decently, so that the enemy just barely touches the edge of the weapon at
any moment. It's possible for you to do proper CG high jump on normal
legionnaires with MAX Nemesis Whip, even on easier modes of the game if you're
just careful...
Notes on other weapons and CG high jump:
Blades of Exile's launcher is slow, and on MAX level it does high damage too. It
can't be exploited very well. At its best in conjunction with the Bow, which you
get early on in the game, and with which you can not only juggle enemies but
make your CG jumps higher. Read more on "Bow height gaining."
Then, Claws of Hades' launcher is fast and can be spammed for double launches
pretty easily. The weapon also has launch options such as Olympus Fiend summon.
Olympus Archers can be used to juggle enemies further. Too bad the weapon's CG
is useless for this sorta high jump, since it won't take Kratos or the enemy
anywhere.
Nemean Cestus has many moves that launch the enemy, but all are slow. The most
interesting opportunity I see for CG high jump is a glitch I see happen
occasionally, in which an enemy (in my example Labrys Minotaur) is hit by the
Cestus CG, and then he shortly flies up in air as if he was triple/quadruple
launched.
General notes about CG high jump usage:
Bigger targets are easier to hit. Minotaurs and gorgons make the best jump
candidates. Archers are not good, not only because of their freakishly low HP,
but also because they are not suspended in air during CG. This makes it
impossible for you to gain decent height if you try to CG jump using them.
In at least one location (Gaia's Heart first time) Kratos refuses to target
anything that is much higher than himself. Could it be the result of a certain
type of ambient movement in the level itself?
CG and Bow height gaining:
When both Kratos and a foe are in air, spam bow shots as fast as humanly
possible, and then do another CG to lift Kratos up to the foe's level. Takes
some practise to know how much is good... after all, too many bow shots may
lead to CG missing or the foe passing away in the middle of the jump. On
harder levels, this is the closest we've come to a true "Infinite Jump" - you
gain height as long as the foe lives. You can also gain height by double
launching an enemy with the whip, and by then shooting the enemy with Nemesis
rage to hold it in air at its peak. From there you simply CG the enemy
quickly and repeatedly, Kratos and the enemy will then rise up quite high.
This doesn't work with all enemies. These technique are rather picky about it,
actually. Human-sized foes (except archers, lost souls and civilians) are your
best bet. I don't think this works with minotaurs or gorgons.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid (Showing Bow height gaining)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWIyhUboUws
2, findlestick's vid (Showing CG height gaining)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc3_kdymnIQ
"Jest Jump" or "Jest CG" (c: GeMStuff)
Deceptively simple, but powerful. Latest jump technique to come into light. It
is a glitch which affects combat grapple math because of a certain combination
of moves. Instructions: do a fully charged Hermes Jest, press X at the end of it
to launch Kratos in air, and then successfully hit an airborne enemy with a
combat grapple. The enemy will begin rising up in air very rapidly after CG
makes a contact, with Kratos becoming dragged upwards simultaneously. This trick
allows the best height from all the currently known high jump techniques (if you
don't count potential "Jet Ascension" height gain... more on it below.)
JJ doesn't work with all enemies. Human-sized foes (except archers, lost souls
and civilians) are your best bet, as well as hounds, Skorpius spawn, Sirens,
etc. But minotaurs and gorgons are seemingly immune to it, and since your foe
has to be airborne for the glitch to happen, enemies like Taloses are also out
of question. You must use other CG than Claws' because otherwise Kratos himself
won't gain height. �
Other tidbits:
- If you CG an enemy that's too close to another launched enemy, the enemy you
are targeting might get "stuck" and not rise up fast enough to avoid getting
tackled by Kratos, and so the trick fails. So, avoid launching groups of enemies
in air when doing Hermes Jest to avoid clutter.
- For this trick to work, it's enough that the targeted enemy is of a correct
type and that the enemy is airborne when hit with CG. Even Zeus (during flying
attacks) can be used to Jest Jump!
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid of both this and Bow height gaining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWIyhUboUws
"Jet Dash" (c: Findlestick)
The most important air movement technique we got thus far. To do it, you must
have Hermes Boots. Here's a video tutorial, for beginners.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT6wpckrTBI
The basic mechanism behind it is this: Hermes Dash allows for almost completely
horizontal air movement for a brief time. The problem is that it has a rather
big cooldown (to prevent abuse just like this technique is). Hermes Dash can be
cancelled by flicking Bow or Head momentarily, taking the cooldown away. This
makes things smoother, but not completely smooth, because the Bow/Head has its
own cooldown. However, it too can be cancelled: by doing a normal air attack.
The Nemesis Whip's air attack is recommended because it allows Kratos to stay
in air the longest.
Other Jet Dash advantages:
1. It is one of the fastest movement techniques of the entire game. It is so
fast that the game isn't prepared for it, and some areas can be got through
before everything in them has loaded, occasionally even allowing the skipping
of events or getting behind walls before they load.
2. Not only can you fly in straight lines, but you can manouvre around corners
and change directions mid flight, almost like a fly that buzzes around.
3. You can use it as a battle exploit in areas of the game where the battle is
in a confined space, and you need to retreat very rapidly.
4. Kratos gains more height by each Dash if he does this technique against some
walls. It might be that the walls have to be angled. This phenomena is called
"Jet Ascension."
Jet Dash disadvantages:
1. The developers took small steps to prevent abuse by creating some invisible
walls specifically blocking air attack movement. It's a hindrance more than a
true disadvantage, since you can first do a normal jump through the invisible
wall and then begin Jet Dash.
2. Unless on NG+, you have to wait 'til getting Boots of Hermes to do this.
3. Sometimes you will pass through a checkpoint so fast that - should you die
at that moment - the game will place Kratos at the moment that he died on
restart. Resulting in having to quit the game.
Tidbits about some other mechanisms:
Auto-saves:
- They are not the same as checkpoints or normal saves, though sometimes they
overlap.
- If you sequence break too heavily, the auto-save labels become confused. For
example, early chain break causes the Zeus auto-saves be labeled "Hermes".
Cutscenes (using game engine):
- Cutscene triggers make Kratos break out of seemingly every attack, even grabs
and combat grapples.
- If an enemy, petrified or not, gets stuck on Kratos' path during a cutscene,
Kratos ignores it but can't push the enemy away either. Instead, Kratos twists
about until he has passed the obstacle or the obstacle has left on its own
volition. Cutscene proceeds like normal.
- During pre-scripted scenes, if Kratos is hit by an enemy, his coordinates and
angle may change as he breaks out of the scene. Quite rare, and needs more
testing.
Cutscenes (pre-rendered):
- In at least one spot in the game (chain breaking), it's possible to enter
save menu right as a cinematic begins. The cinematic plays in the background of
the save menu without audio. Saving and reloading, retrying from checkpoint or
just exiting the save menu causes some complications in the frame rate and audio
of the FMV, and there's a chance that the game crashes after the FMV. If you
wait out in the menu until the FMV ends, the game won't crash, but the audio of
the FMV plays out by itself as normal gameplay continues. If you now exit to
main menu, the FMV audio continues to play in the background! Forcing save menu
on top of the FMV can't be used as a speed strategy because time runs while the
cinematic is in the background, unlike normally... not good.
Insta-death platforms and triggers:
- There are at least three different types of insta-death platforms. The one
which does not stop Kratos' movement upon contact means game over even with
infinite health (NG+) - it can mostly be found from The Caverns.
- If Kratos hits an insta-death platform which is rendered safe to him thanks
to infinite health, he just starts bouncing repeatedly, as if dying each
frame/once per few seconds but with game over screen never showing up. At this
point, if RoS is turned on, depending on the platform type Kratos may actually
start running on top of the deadly surface, reaching areas never before
accessible!
Grapple points:
- if you cast magic after letting go of a grapple point with another weapon
active than the Blades, instead of doing the sub-weapon's own magic Kratos does
a graphic-less Army of Sparta/Divine Reckoning (depending on which Blades are
you using).
- after letting go of a grapple point, there's quite a bit of cooldown before
you can activate Rage of Sparta.
Stonefreeze:
- Stonefreezing works a bit differently from the previous games. For instance,
your foes can be frozen in any position, instead of them being replaced by a
generic 'statue' when they are stonefrozen.
- Stonefrozen targets can't be combat grappled, grabbed or hit with Fiery
Inferno.
- Kratos can't be stonefrozen when he is riding a foe.
- If Kratos has infinite health (combat arena, NG+), enemies can't break his
stonefrozen form with their attacks.
- If Kratos becomes stonefrozen while gliding with Wings, he will continue
gliding safely all the way to the ground level despite becoming a statue.
- Rage of Sparta breaks you out of being stonefrozen instantly.
Portals:
- If you cast magic when entering a portal, you can expect some graphical
glitches (like screen changing color but nothing else happening).
- At some portals, if you attack instantly after coming out, Kratos will climb
on an invisible rope for an instant, then stops.
- At some portals, if you glide in them with Wings, Kratos will glide out too,
except in a strange position and Wing-less.
- With the exception of the dogs at the dog kicking puzzle at Poseidon's
chamber, enemies are not programmed to enter through portals. Should Kratos
interact with an enemy in various ways as he and an enemy pass through a portal
together, the game reacts strangely to this mainly due to the fact it causes a
contradiction. Kratos can pass but enemy cannot, resulting in interesting
breakouts. Including an invisible force that thrashes Kratos around the room
violently, and Kratos performing a killing animation while being transported
back and forth from Portals.
Video demonstration (see part VIII of this vid):
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o0CedIfpuA
Weapons and magic:
A. General Moves
Many attacks, including grabs and combat grapples, are subject to the strange
auto-targeting system this game has. It overrides player's commands and at
times makes Kratos attack enemies he wasn't even facing. The game seems to favor
bigger and "more important" enemies over smaller. This is very bad in fights
such as the one against Hades Cerberus Breeder, causing the strategy of grabbing
puppies and throwing them back at HCB to become suicidal if the Satyrs or HCB
are too close to Kratos. It also messes up CG high jump attempts pretty often.
With at least two techniques, it's possible to create air grabs that Kratos
breaks out of almost instantly as they start. These techniques are...
1, Claws' air 'triangle' (bouncable foes only). Hit your enemy so that he will
bounce in air, and do a grab right before Kratos hits the ground.
2, use Whip's ascension. Tap triangle twice to launch the foe and get Kratos
slightly up in air. Cancel the move by flicking Bow/Head, then do a quick air
grab.
In both cases the enemy will fly through the air by himself, with Kratos free to
do as he pleases during the time. If this trick is done to Harpy Queens, they
become able to 'duplicate'. As you jump from one harpy to another, hitting the
second harpy causes the first harpy to re-appear in Kratos' hands (despite
having been torn apart a second ago). This does not count as a kill, and might
be useful during harpy crossings in a pacifist run!
If you do combat grapple but switch weapons to another almost instantly after
starting, the grapple's damage properties may change. Other small glitches might
happen as well, like enemies getting launched strangely.
Claws of Hades, Nemean Cestus and Nemesis Whip have combat grapples you can
'combo' by keeping L1+O held down.
Despite the game's move list including Rapid Switch at general moves, I'll
mention the oddities of specific Rapid Switches at their respective weapons
down below.
B. Blades of Athena
You have these at the beginning of the game, or if you've turned the Godly
Possession Aphrodite's Garter on. They work pretty much identically to the
Blades you have in God of War II.
Divine Reckoning:
- This magic only has a ground version. If you try to cast it in air, Kratos is
brought down to the ground level extremely quickly before the magic is cast.
- Like all ground-only magics, you can breach water surface by spamming this on
top of water for long enough.
- Kratos is invincible while casting it.
- If you switch Aphrodite's Garter on/off as this magic is being cast, it loses
its graphical effect. It doesn't get interrupted and still does damage, though.
C. Blades of Exile
At BoE levels one to four, Rage of Sparta cuts off suddenly if you upgrade
weapons or switch Aphrodite's Garter on/off. On the surface it seems like just
another way of turning RoS off, but it has a hidden property of cancelling the
cooldown RoS has, meaning that you can activate another RoS pretty much
instantly afterwards. On level five RoS will for some reason not become
cancelled any longer by doing this.
Note: RoS also won't get cancelled if you're using the NG+ glitch, regardless
of BoE level (read more at the start of level-by-levels). There is some other
condition to this too, one which might be related to Godly Possession usage,
which prevents this "glitch" from occurring.
I've tried making high jumps somehow even higher using this mechanism, but if
you cancel RoS this way your air momentum becomes very bad and you fall down
to ground almost instantly. It has a very small use in the CS high jump,
which you can now extend with another CS and RoS cancel for more height, but
it's not much and the conditions are quite specialized, so...
Army of Sparta:
- As with Divine Reckoning, this magic is ground-only.
- Kratos is invincible while casting it.
- If you switch Aphrodite's Garter on/off as this magic is being cast, it loses
its graphical effect. It doesn't get interrupted and still does normal damage,
though.
D. Claws of Hades
The last hit of the square combo induces a Orion's Harpoon-like effect to the
foe that was hit. It doesn't work on all foes, even those that can be Orion's
Harpooned normally.
The 'triangle' ground hits form violet clouds that always appear at a fixed
distance away from Kratos. They are not constrained by collision, and so you
can use them to deal heavy damage from behind obstacles and walls. I think
they also have a decent radius of effect to them.
Using the 'triangle' air hit, you can create air grabs which Kratos breaks out
of with bounceable foes. I think this is because the moment when the enemy
becomes bounced is so late during the move. Read more about broken air grabs
from the General Moves-section above.
If you do this weapon's Rapid Switch, but use directional keys to switch weapon
to anything else but Nemean Cestus instantly after the move begins, and hold
block after the move ends, Kratos enters a glitchy blocking state which holds
on its own even after you let go of L1. If enemies attack him, he just sorta
slides away from the attack instead of doing any sort of reacting movement.
Unblockable attacks still hit you like normal. You can do nothing in this mode
except use magic, items or do another Rapid Switch (which always switches weapon
to Nemesis Whip/Blades, as if your weapon was NC all the time) after which the
glitch ends.
This weapon's air Combat Grapple (contacting a foe) is one of the very few
attacks that allow Kratos to jump in air after usage. If you switch weapons
while doing the CG, it will have no effect on contact. Another thing: only one
batch of skulls can be out at any time - additional combat grapples have no
effect until the previous skulls disappear.
Soul Summon:
There's a hefty cooldown on many summons. You can bypass this cooldown once by
entering Start-menu and re-selecting your current summon. Since in this game
using the menu doesn't count against your time, this is a viable speed strategy
for dealing more damage in less time. Warning: messing around with this too much
has a tendency to crash your game.
- None of the souls have any weight. You can't press buttons on the ground by
placing them, for example.
- Souls fall through water surface unaffected.
- Switching to another soul while another is still on the field makes the first
soul(s) disappear.
- Some Souls give hits from unique targets that don't give hits otherwise.
Tidbits on particular Souls:
"Cerberus Mongrel" can run over water when cast. If cast towards walls in air,
it sort of stick to the walls and descends very slowly, unlike other summons.
"Olympus Archer" can be used to juggle enemies. The effect is stunning with four
archers and Kratos himself shooting arrows at some flying foe.
"Gorgon Serpent" is one of the rare ways to stonefreeze your enemies in this
game.
"Olympus Fiend" is a quick, spammable launcher-in-a-pocket. They can explode in
air if you had enough height when casting them.
"Chimera" shoots fire balls, but they don't actually light things on fire.
Chimera's attack works as a "dissension", bringing any airborne enemies down as
they are hit.
"Centaur General" can push Kratos a noticeable length if you cast it next to a
wall. It is the summon that has the most collision in its body. If Kratos casts
it to a correct direction before grabbing something like a rotating crank, the
summon will push Kratos away from the crank. Too bad it doesn't seem you can
interrupt Kratos' movements in cutscenes using it.
"Siren Seductress'" shockwave effect is not visible at every location. The
attack itself may or may not do damage if this happens.
E. Nemean Cestus
If you do ground Rapid Switch of Nemean Cestus, but switch weapons back to
Cestus before the move ends, and do L1+O as quickly as possible afterwards, the
move that begins is Blade of Exile's Hyperion Ram! And this is regardless of
your current Blades at the moment - it works even at the beginning, where you
don't have BoE yet (NG+).
Augean Stampede (air) is one of the very few air attacks in this game after
which Kratos can do a jump. In the past, attacks like these were the ingredients
of high jumps... But this one is just too slow to be of any use in something
like that.
Crushing Strike (air) is an useful move for high jumping. It is also the only
known air attack in the game which will continue indefinitely until Kratos hits
solid ground (or some types of insta-death collision.)
The CG of this weapon is different from the others in that it pulls the enemy to
Kratos (instead of Kratos pulling himself towards the enemy). It does not always
work because many enemies are immune to it, and even normal enemies have phases
during which they can't be hit with it. Due to a glitch, it occasionally
launches some enemies (minotaurs at least) very high into air after hitting.
After starting a roll and buffering Savage Charge, if you switch weapons, Kratos
gets completely stuck with his weapons out. You got to retry or get hit by an
enemy for the state to end.
Nemean Roar:
- Kratos is invincible while casting it. While casting, Kratos moves through
enemies/targets as if they weren't there.
- This is an useful move for pushing non-enemy characters around the game world
(like Poseidon Princess).
- Like Divine Reckoning or Army of Sparta, this magic is ground-only.
- It damages some onyx targets, some it leaves unscathed.
- This magic might not do full damage to targets which become bounced.
- You can cancel out of this magic after its mid-way by doing a jump.
F. Nemesis Whip
This weapon has many attacks you can extend indefinitely by keeping the attack
button pressed. This also works with several of its air moves. If you accumulate
a long enough combo, unusual orbs will start pouring out of enemies - magic,
rage and possibly even health orbs are possible.
Using the unique multi-hitting ascension move ('triangle'), you can create
glitched air grabs during which Kratos is free to move around the place. Read
more about this in the General Moves-section above.
Severe Judgment (Air) is a move which is useful in high jumping. If you do it at
a correct time almost before hitting ground, so that only the first hit contacts
the enemy before the move becomes iterrupted, a launch-like effect is achieved
on bounceable enemies.
Deadly Reprisal (Air) looks very cool if extended by holding 'triangle' down.
Nemesis Rage:
- Kratos is invincible while casting it.
- It gives you hits even when it strikes special targets that won't give hits
otherwise.
- If the bolt hits an obstacle instead of an enemy, it dissipates a lot faster
than it should. But sometimes the attack just cuts off too soon for no reason
even when hitting an enemy properly.
G. Items
Bow of Apollo:
- Fiery Inferno arrows pass through targets, and can as such hit and light
multiple targets on fire.
- Foes light on fire in different ways. Some can only be lit once at a time,
but some (like cyclops) can be repeatedly lit on fire. Fire can spread from
one target to another if they're close enough, but this doesn't happen with
all enemies. Some foes don't light on fire at all.
- If you upgrade this item while you are charging Fiery Inferno, the graphical
effect of gathering fire disappears.
Head of Helios:
- Solar Flare can stun enemies for decent periods of time. Weak foes stun longer
while some stronger ones only stun momentarily or not at all.
- During Solar Flare, the sounds of the game fade momentarily. Very noticeable
if you visit the menu as the screen flashes.
- If you upgrade this weapon while it is active, all graphical effects disappear
momentarily.
- If you evade at a correct time after flicking on Head (or after doing either
of its attacks), you will evade as if you had the BoA or BoE equipped regardless
of what weapon you were currently using. After only one roll, Kratos switches
back to using your current weapon's evade move.
- If you cast Hermes Flash in air so that the flash begins right before hitting
ground, and then refrain from pressing any buttons, Kratos' stance remains that
of the HoH but with a weapon out instead of the head. It seems this is only a
cosmetic thing, and it ends as soon as you move Kratos.
Boots of Hermes:
- Hermes Dash is the key ingredient for the all-purpose horizontal movement tool
"Jet Dash".
- Hermes Rush/Jest allows Kratos to pass through some projectile attacks without
damage.
- Hermes Jest allows glitched, extremely high launches in certain conditions.
Read more in the section about "Jest Jump" far above. Also, if you try to cast
Cestus' magic after using the Jest lift-up, the magic which starts is a
graphic-less version of the Blades magic.
H. Relics
Icarus Wings:
- Probably for reasons of Rapid Switch convenience, you lose the ability to do
Icarus Ascension and Icarus Strike right after that fateful cutscene at River
Styx, though the rest of your Wings abilities remain. You can get this move back
by using the Godly Possession Aphrodite's Garter, which turns your BoE back to
the Rapid Switch-less BoA.
- As in GoW II, Icarus Ascension is "immune to gravity", you can do it into
chasms without Kratos falling down.
Blade of Olympus:
If you have infinite health, you can run on top of a certain type of insta-death
platform using Rage of Sparta. RoS also allows you to descend through another
type of insta-death platform... useful in rare circumstances.
Rage of Sparta can be activated during climbing or rope sections as well, but it
only stays on during the time you are attacking. It helps Kratos to not get
interrupted if enemies attack him, but it's currently unknown if it actually
increases the damage he does.
Does Rage of Sparta increase the damage of your climbing wall or rope attacks?
I. Enemies
Note: for bosses, you'll just going to have to browse the level-by-level
listings to see what's written of them. Only normal enemies are included here.
Olympus Archer:
- Can be infinite air grabbed?
- Can be infinite Orion's Harpooned?
- Can be stunned with HoH.
- When combat grappled in air, they keep falling during the entire attack,
unlike the majority of foes in the game.
Olympus Fiend:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be infinite Orion's Harpooned.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
- During their death attack they can't be targeted or hit.
- Their death attack does not begin in some conditions.
Bronze Talos:
- Cestus' combat grapple only works at point blank range.
- Can't be launched.
- Can't be stonefrozen.
Stone Talos:
- Cestus' combat grapple only works at point blank range.
- Can't be launched.
- Can't be stonefrozen.
- Can't be lit on fire.
Centaur General:
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
Cerberus Mongrel:
- Rideable foe.
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
- Can be stonefrozen, but only by reflecting a gorgon's beam. Gorgon Serpent
summon or normal freeze beam will only slow it down, in addition to making its
textures go dull gray.
Hades Cerberus Breeder:
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
- Can't be stonefrozen.
- In Combat Arena, due to a counterattacking glitch or something similar, he
might start fighting you relentlessly even though his attack is 'off'.
- In same conditions, he might get stuck in a strange 'taunt' animation until
you try to approach him.
Chimera:
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
- Can't be stonefrozen.
Woman of Olympia:
- Very talkative.
- They are able to bump into Kratos. If that happens, their behaviour changes
for a moment.
- Extremely low HP.
Olympia Citizen:
- Very talkative.
- They are able to bump into Kratos. If that happens, their behaviour changes
for a moment.
- Extremely low HP.
Cyclops Enforcer:
- Cestus' combat grapple only works at point blank range.
- Can't be launched.
Cyclops Berserker:
- Rideable foe.
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
Cyclops Remains:
- Cestus' combat grapple is repelled.
- Can't be launched.
Olympus Sentry:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be infinite Orion's Harpooned.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
- On rare occasions, these enemies can be seen 'crawling' down on the ground
despite having their legs intact.
Olympus Legionnaire:
- Can be stunned with HoH.
Cursed Remains:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
Harpy:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be infinite Orion's Harpooned.
Harpy Queen:
- Rideable foe. Any weapon's combat grapple starts the ride, as do air grabs
and Orion's Harpoon.
- Subject to being 'duplicated' upon being ridden in certain conditions (read
more from general weapon/move section).
Gorgon:
- Can be manipulated into shooting freeze beams with 'false grabs.'
Gorgon Serpent:
- Cestus' combat grapple only works at point blank range.
- If she becomes stonefrozen when she shoots those freezing beams at you, the
beam itself becomes frozen in the process too! Kratos is stonefrozen repeatedly
if he happens to be in the line of fire.
Skorpius Spawn:
- Can be stunned with HoH.
Minotaur Elite:
- Cestus' combat grapple yields strange results pretty often. Sometimes the
enemy gets knocked off into a strange direction, sometimes the grapple becomes
blocked right before Kratos would throw his punch, sometimes the enemy starts
sliding momentarily after the grapple...
Minotaur Brute:
- Cestus' combat grapple yields similar results as with Minotaur Elite.
Labrys Minotaur:
- Cestus' combat grapple yields similar results as with Minotaur Elite.
- Claws' combat grapple is repelled.
Feral Hound:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
Hades Cerberus Whelp:
- Can be infinite air grabbed.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
Satyr:
- Can be briefly stunned with HoH.
- Cestus' combat grapple yields similar results as as with Minotaur Elite.
- In a rare glitch witnessed by shinobier, this foe "played dead" by not rising
up after being knocked on its back during the HCB fight.
Olympus Guardian:
- A regular Olympus Sentry behind a shield.
- Their shield blocks all non-Cestus attacks with only a few exceptions (like
Cyclops Berserker riding attacks). They are immune to being lit on fire, stunned
by HoH, grabs, launches... However, they are not immune to being stonefrozen,
and this weakness should be taken advantage of.
- If you die in the Combat Arena, after retry these foes have a glitched shield.
It doesn't get broken with Cestus hits. You can also grab the enemy despite the
shield being there. Spawns after the first one will have unglitched shields.
Olympus Sentinel:
- A regular Olympus Legionnaire behind a shield.
- Read section on Olympus Guardian for more info on the shield.
Siren Seductress:
- Can be briefly stunned with HoH.
- Can be infinite air grabbed although their mini-game phases will interrupt
the technique.
- When in their ghastly form, they can be glitch hit with combat grapples if
they happen to get in the way. They become visible for a moment, and a hit is
registered, though the attack itself doesn't seem to even begin (except with
Claws' air CG, which can even send skulls at them on contact!)
Lost Soul:
- Very talkative.
- Can be stunned with HoH.
- They are able to bump into Kratos. If that happens, their behaviour changes
for a moment.
Wraith of Olympus:
- Can be infinite Orion's Harpooned.
- Can be briefly stunned with HoH.
Hades Hand:
- Only met in a few places throughout the game. Not in Combat Arena.
- Cestus' combat grapple only works at point blank range.
- Claws' combat grapple is repelled.
3. Level-by-level glitch walkthrough
------------------------------------
Different markings are used for different entries:
- Sequence break (you are able to skip portions of the game)
- Collision flaw (wall, floor, etc. has a noteworthy flaw in it)
- Trigger skip (you are able to skip a loading or another type of trigger)
- Other (a glitch that doesn't fit into any of the other groups)
- Wasted potential (something that doesn't appear to work, unfortunately)
- Strategy (listing some useful tip or strategy)
- Sweet spot (a location which allows strategic advantages)
- Untested (something that no one has tried? wrote it down here)
- Random (some tidbit)
<Gaia>
Other (NG+): if you change weapons right after the first cinematic ends, the
Blade of Olympus that Kratos brandishes is invisible in the following cutscene.
Wasted potential: first room skip failure
The first room can be easily left with Jet Dash. Crooked parts of the walls
around the backside of the room can give you the necessary height boost ("Jet
Ascension"). The pathway on which the first boss fight begins will be almost
completely horizontal, but once you climb it up, the boss fight cutscene
activates and everything continues like it normally would.
Unfortunately the game seems to crash not too long afterwards, because the last
phase of the boss fight is cut off with the cinematic which would normally begin
after first fight. The misplaced cutscene plays for a few second, then freezes.
You can also leave the first room by doing an Icarus Ascension on the left of
the burning log, at a specific time, so this can be done on normal New Game as
well, if it should matter.
Untested: what would happen if you jumped over the log, killed the last enemy in
the first room, then activated Leviathan's entrance scene right before the
cinematic begins? You'd need to delay the last sentry's death somehow, by
shooting it with a burning arrow maybe.
<Leviathan>
Wasted glitch potential (NG+): You can skip the Leviathan battle trigger by
doing a high jump into Jet Dash against the invisible wall of collision that
traps you once you cross it. This lifts you up high, and by going left or right
you can get out of bounds and walk around on lots of walkable collision.
You can then walk up to Gaia's hand without Leviathan there (from slightly
out-of-bounds), from there you can Jet Dash to an area that looks like the
grapple wall you come to later, but it has no collision. (Untested: Getting to
this grapple wall at other phases of Leviathan).
Other: If you trigger the Leviathan battle while out of bounds, and then return
to Gaia's arm (outside the battle arena tho). You can damage Leviathan until it
makes Gaia's arm turn over to the climbing phase. If you do this, you can
actually grapple climb all the way back to the very start of Gaia. All the while
you see Leviathan unload (except for its breath). When you get to the start of
Gaia, Kratos keeps switching from being invisible to visible very suddenly, and
the whole first Gaia room looks (graphically) like a completely different area
(differently designed).
Video Demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyDAH90Qi0
<Mount Olympus>
Sequence break (NG+): using high jump and Dash, you can get inside the ceiling
and walls. From there on you can skip the ledge which you would normally have to
slowly cross. A cutscene and some enemies become skipped in the process. Later
on, Gaia's graphics are somewhat glitched. Hope you don't mind.
Wasted glitch potential (NG+): it's possible to reach the chain with Jet Dash,
etc. but it's but a cardboard cut-out and nothing's actually there.
Video demonstration:
1, Findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuy0c9Tfk6s
Skip (NG+): you can skip the grapple point intro by doing Jet Dash from the
ground level to the next ledge.
Speed strategy (NG+): after the grapple point section, you can Jest Jump for a
very quick climb up the mountain ridge.
Video demonstration:
1, Findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAz0pAbVSZ8
Skip (NG+): you can skip the cutscene of the pathway being crushed by doing a
high jump and then Dashing at top height over the area. This is pretty hard to
do in my opinion with a Severe Judgment jump alone.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EttrNWttyk
<Tomb of Ares>
Other (NG+): you can do a high jump and grab a ledge at the top of the large
door that leads you to Tomb of Ares, and from there jump outside bounds. If you
enter the Tomb with the door closed, during the Centaur cutscene you can hear
hooves clopping behind the closed door, but no one will enter...
Those who have mastered the Jet Dash are able to jump from on top of the door
straight to the platform with save point. At first it doesn't look like anything
is loaded behind the door (and it is true sometimes) but if you retry from
checkpoint everything should work out as normal.
Untested (NG+): if you got to the area beyond the gate before it loads and then
have it load, assuming that it is possible based on the few times I've tried,
could you skip a part or parts of the next fight?
Skip (NG+): an easier way to skip the whole switch-pulling ordeal is to high
jump and Jet Dash towards the other end of the area. You can easily grab a ledge
there and then merrily continue on your way.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJbybqsMSg
<Leviathan part deux>
Random (NG+): projectile attacks have immense troubles hitting this boss.
<Heart of Gaia>
Wasted skip potential (NG+): it's possible to Jet Dash to the climbing wall on
the right, and from there Jet Dash to the climbing walls that lead you to the
walkway above heart, but the next area won't be loaded this way.
Skip (NG+): you can skip the block pushing puzzle by climbing to the platform
that has Zeus' Eagle and Jet Dashing over the chasm.
Wasted skip potential (NG+): the "inpenetrable substance" around Gaia's heart
cannot be attacked at this time, even if you had Gauntlets with you.
Speed strategy: Don't push the block into the hole all the way or else you'll
activate a cutscene which shows you where to go next.
Wasted potential (NG+): I'd like to try to access the next grapple point out of
bounds, bypassing the climbing bit and possibly some triggers. But the walls are
extremely high on the walkway with soldiers.
Speed strategy? (NG+): you can skip a part of the climbing wall by doing a high
jump and Jet Dashing into the wall. Might save a negligible amount of time.
<Poseidon>
Random (NG+): Camera during Poseidon fight can be messed up by some unknown
factor, making it hard to read his attacks.
Speed strategy (NG+): At the start of the Poseidon fight, by doing a combination
of Jet Ascension and Jet Dash you can easily leave the arena. If you then Jet
Dash to around Poseidon's back, you can R1 the grapple point that is hidden
there, and that will throw you directly to Phase 2 of Poseidon. Basically
skipping Phase 1 of the Poseidon battle. It's hard to say how much time it
saves, because the Phase 1 doesn't take long by itself, especially on NG+.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByCMC10CIc
Wasted potential/Cutscene skip (NG+): early final Poseidon scene
You can Jet Dash directly from the 1st Poseidon battle to the Entrance to Ares
Tomb (with the help of infinite health glitch and RoS to help you float a little
along the way as well). Even tho you didn't kill the first Poseidon phases, the
final Poseidon is there. You can brutally finish him off, but nothing happens
afterwards, except if you go to the hole that Gaia's finger should be in (it is
not there at this point). The game will load the complete cutscene with Gaia and
Zeus. But after that, the Hades section does not load. You just get a blank
screen and you can hear Kratos moving around in nothingness.
If you save using the save point nearby and then restart, you will end up back
at the Poseidon 1 fight. Should you now deal with all the phases of the fight
like normal, after the cinematic in which Poseidon is thrown against the cliff,
strange things happen. For one, Poseidon is absent from the whole area. The
scene of Kratos interrogating him takes place from the 3rd person view instead
of the 1st person like normally, and the ensuing finisher QTE never takes place
because Kratos cannot mini-game something that isn't there...
However, if you now go over to where Gaia's finger should be (it is still not
there), the Gaia cutscene starts, but with Gaia totally invisible/absent from
it. After some strange graphical glitches, the next cutscene returns to normal
(Gaia visible again). And then the rest of the game loads normally.
So, to sum up this strange series of events, the cinematic in which Poseidon
dissolves and the lands flood becomes skipped. If you could reach the final
Poseidon scene under 45 secs (approx. length of the skipped cutscene) time
would be won. But it's not an easy task, since it's difficult to control Jet
Dash during this bit.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid of early Poseidon scene & wasted potential
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz-pkdwYfbU
2, findlestick's vid of successfully finishing the skip (see part VI)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSf_3Wk6G4
Other (NG+): Nemesis Rage bolts have immense difficulties to physically hit this
boss. This holds true for Poseidon himself when you are in the second part of
the fight.
It seems this low accuracy thing is true for all projectile weapons - after all,
it's the sort you are not supposed to have at this point.
Other (NG+): During the "O" bashing minigame on Poseidon's giant form, you can
switch weapons between each hit.
Random (NG+): At the grapple show-down, I tried to Jet Dash to the fist which
Kratos ends up at using the grapple points, but the fist itself is collision-
less and there's insta-death platform placed nearby in festive amounts.
Other: At the final R1 of grapple points, even if you press R1 after the prompt
is gone and Kratos has visibly missed it, game registers it as success and
Kratos is suddenly teleported to top of the claw.
Other (NG+): If you have infinite health, even if you miss the final prompt of
Grapple sequence [mostly a SQUARE], next cutscene of Gaia punching Poseidon will
still be triggered as if you never missed it. The scenes with Poseidon after
that don't start properly, though, since the game won't transport Kratos out of
the bottomless pit he has well sunken into by then.
<Entrance to Ares Tomb>
Other: sparing Poseidon... almost
When you finally find yourself in front of Poseidon, you can't move an inch. The
only thing you can do is 'grab', and we all know what happens after that.
However, if you retry from checkpoint and manage to jump away from Poseidon the
instant gameplay continues, you can reach the nearby save point and create a new
checkpoint. After another retry, Kratos can move completely freely around the
place for a change. But none of this will change Poseidon's fate, since Gaia
intentionally keeps from showing up until the resounding snap of the unlucky
Olympian's neck is heard.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMpc6xaCX_8
Other (NG+): glitching Poseidon's death QTE
Do a high jump towards the wall behind him, and you can grab a secret ledge and
end up behind collision. You can do various kinds of displaced QTEs from there.
Video Demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVo0zervwYM
Other (NG+): Poseidon is a special target who only gets hits from some attacks.
Interestingly, unlike many other subdued Olympians, he can be targeted with
combat grapples. Haven't found a way to move his sorry ass around the room,
though.
Other (NG+): When you press L3+R3 to gouge Poseidon's eyes out, Rage will be
activated. You can turn it off and on again.
<River Styx>
Other: you can break out of Kratos' weakened state at River Styx. Retry from
checkpoint, and do a jump the first moment you can. It doesn't always succeed as
the timing is pretty strict. Once you've hopped just once, Kratos has left the
weakened state and can swim at a normal pace in addition to being able to jump,
etc. This allows you to not only complete this part faster, but you get some
graphical glitches at the power drainage events if you are traveling airborne!
When you reach walkable ground, Kratos has a tendency to revert back to the
weakened state, but you can prevent it by either blocking or keeping a combo or
some sort up. Another way is to quickly let go of block when near the book and
then R1 it - this allows Kratos to revert to normal permanently for this short
stretch of time before Athena cutscene.
The walls of this area are too high to get over with Severe Judgment jump/Jet
Dash. The cutscene with Athena seems this way too, but I've got no 100%
certainty.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCHtSeaUr9I
Wasted glitch potential: coming back from the direction of the grapple point,
you can get past boundaries and acquire swimming glitch right here and now. Too
bad that you can't control your swimming yet, and you just rocket skywards like
in the past titles. This is just a "what if", but what if you touched the
grapple point or read the book before rocketing too high up? Would the game give
you control of the swimming...?
<Realm of Hades>
Sequence break (NG+): skipping much of the Realm of Hades
Hades' Palace is unloaded and the brambles in front of the door untargetable
until you've activated a trigger at the corridor leading back to Realm of Hades
from the rotating room. Fortunately, this is an easy thing to do - all you have
to do is use one of the grapple points to gain height and then Jet Dash to the
balcony where there's the Pandora statue, then visit the elevator room and come
back. Voila. This skips everything up to the point you have to fight those two
cerberi in front of Hades' palace, including the Rage of Sparta cutscene.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF8wSUE51S8
Fight skip (NG+ only?): you can skip the short scene of Hades talking and the
Army of Sparta fight by Jet Dashing from the side. I'm not sure if you could use
your normal tools at this point to do the same thing, but I suspect not since
the trigger reaches some way to the rope.
Fight skip (NG+ only?): You can pre-emptively skip the first Gorgon fight by
doing Jet Dash from the rope to the behind of the arena. It might be possible on
normal New Game, only much more difficult, because you'd have to shimmy outside
bounds for a while and then do some accurate gliding. It's also possible to
leave the fight after it starts by using CG high jump or JJ, but it's slower.
After doing the pre-emptive skip, there's a stretch of time that has to pass
before the next area loads. During this time you can Jet Dash into the
nothingness to cut some corners as the next area materializes around you.
However... the loading trigger for the pre-Judges area is easy to miss, so this
might not be worth it.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid of pre-emptive fight skip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqcKXk3EPUI
<Peirithous>
Sequence break (NG+ only?): you can Jet Dash from the broken bridge straight to
the next place very easily. I'm not sure if you can do this skip on a new game.
I do know it's possible to get very close, at least. It's possible to use some
out-of-bounds collision on the bridge's right side to do the jump from closer
than normal. But the bramble wall has a pretty wide collision, complicating
things further... To think of it, you might not be able to complete the game
if you skipped the bow.
Wasted potential (NG+): the bramble prison can't be targeted or lit on fire with
the bow.
Speed strategy (NG+): you can do a Severe Judgment jump from on top of the chest
to the balcony which contains the bramble pot. This skips jumping on the
chandelier once.
Collision flaw: the left side of the broken bridge has some uneven collision to
it. You can take the bramble pot and actually push it down into the river! I
also tried to enter the river riding Cerberus, but seems Cerberus was too big
to enter.
Random: The cerberus riding bit lasts until you've lit Peirithous on fire.
<The Depths of Hades>
Skip (NG+): on Chaos-mode, where you can do a variation of CG high jump to Lost
Souls, it's possible for you to skip the harpy cutscene and some navigation.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwoGvFzTvZw
Speed strategy (NG+): You can skip parts of the climbing wall by utilizing Jet
Dash.
Cutscene skip (NG+): you can skip the Judges overlook scene by Jet Dashing from
the climbing ceiling to the first grapple point.
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by AKheon
Cutscene skip: From the overlook, you can either glide or Jet Dash over the
closed gate and gain early access to the first portal.
Video demonstration:
1, Satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKpq6qB_AGk
<The Three Judges>
Sequence break (NG+): Early chain break
After a long time of uncertainty, it was finally verified by Findlestick that it
is not only possible to break the chain the first time you reach The Three
Judges, but that there is a powerful sequence break as a reward.
This trick does not work in the most obvious way. After breaking all three neck
stones and the exposed chain pieces, you may or may not see the cinematic in
which the Judges get smashed. After that, gameplay continues like normal. So,
where's the sequence break? A few levels ahead, at the Chamber of the Flame,
where turning the crank throws you straight to end game and you skip a whole
bunch of fetch quests and other distractions in the process!
The glitch does not seem to happen with 100% certainty, but here's 7 steps
which most likely lead to success:
1. From the second grapple point after Three Judges overlook, Jet Dash to the
pedestal on the upper level that can be R1'ed or just behind the first gate
("early access to the first portal", listed above).
2. Break the onyx stones of the first two Judges.
3. If you want to open up a decent way to exit the yard later on, enter the
second portal and pull the switch to open the gate. This part is optional, you
can also leave after breaking the chains later using another route ("cutscene
skip", listed below.)
4. Go down to the Judge on the lower platform and break his stone. Then high
jump over his head, down to the base of the chain. This is an important factor
in this skip, because using the portal to go down to the base of the chain will
result in a game crash.
5. Break the chain as soon as you can after getting to the base of the chain.
If you don't see the chain breaking cinematic a few seconds after breaking the
chains, you'll see it later when moving onto the next area... however, the skip
might not actually start if you do it this way.
6. If the game crashes at any point, especially after the chain breaking
cinematic, don't fret. Just load the auto-save and it's likely you can continue
like normal afterwards.
7. It's almost certain that Erebus trials are a required task in order for the
next area to load, so do those, then continue along the game as normal.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBalvwfI7Cc
Wasted glitch potential (NG+): it's possible to enter the save menu right before
the chain breaking cutscene begins during early chain break. However, time keeps
running during this time, so the hope of saving time this was was crushed
promptly. Also, saving game during the cutscene just sends you back to the start
of the cutscene when you retry (in addition to making the game crash almost
certainly after the FMV ends).
There's some more info on this in the section of second Three Judges visit.
Speed strategy (NG+): when doing Augean Stampede to one of the chains, sometimes
the other chain gets damage for no reason as well. When you get to it, it's
already 'yellow' and needs but a few hits to break after that. It has to be
done as quickly as possible after retrying from the checkpoint.
About Trial 1: just spamming magic won't work here. The game expects a certain
amount of people to be converted into wandering souls - until that the enemies
just keep spawning endlessly.
Cutscene skip (NG+): after fighting through the Erebus trials, do a high
jump/Jet Dash from the lower right half of the arena straight to the passage
that leads you to the next place. It skips the Pandora cutscene and some
navigation. The easiest way to do this is to do Severe Judgment jump from on
top of the Erebus Trials pedestal towards lower-right of the screen and then
Jet Dash (until camera changes).
<next place>
Cutscene skip (NG+): do a Jest Jump or CG high jump to a nearby Fiend, and Jet
Dash to the vent puzzle room outside bounds. You skip the cutscene at the
entrance (in addition to cutting a few corners in getting there).
Speed strategies: quicker vent puzzle completion
First of all, on NG+ you never have to light the vent on fire for the first
time. You can just Jet Dash against the right wall for Jet Ascension-effect and
reach the higher level in no time. Then, on NG+ you can Jest Jump using one of
the Fiends for a quick foray onto the highest floor (use the back corner for Jet
Ascension effect).
At the top floor, grab the pot and shove it between the railing and the elevator
machinery, then try to turn it counter-clockwise. The pot will rise up on the
railing, and from there you can just kick it to the vent.
Note that the small mise scuttling around can actually break Kratos' hold of the
pot. You probably need luck to prevent this from happening.
Other: at the area overlooking a strange golden dome, there's an unique Lost
Soul who does not attempt to attack you (unless you provoke it). The souls from
Claws CG do not try to target him at all!
Wasted potential (NG+): it's possible to JJ outside bounds by using one of the
sentries that spawn after you defeat the two Stone Taloses. You can take a
stroll on top of the golden dome! From there it's possible to reach the area
that's past The Forge's closed exit gate, but nothing beyond is loaded (it is
speculated that the loading trigger is in the middle of the path in The Forge).
Cutscene skip (NG+): from the golden dome, you can also Jet Dash straight to the
save point of The Forge. Hephaestus never loads if you do this, and so the
cutscene of the place, if triggered, will contain Kratos speaking with a voice
in his head with no one else around (or so it looks like). But this is not the
reason you flew all the way to this place - instead, it was to skip the cutscene
by going to the Aphrodite portal using the wall with Boots of Hermes and then
Jet Dashing over the cutscene trigger to freedom!
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9TlfmxL17I
<The Forge>
Speed strategy (NG+ only?): Jet Dash over the intro cutscene to The Forge.
Camera angles turn quite bad as a result, but they're manageable once you retry
from checkpoint. As another speed bonus, you don't have to pull the switch that
opens the gate out of The Forge if you do this - the gate appears to have
unexisted while you weren't watching (at least if you retry from checkpoint).
Wasted skip potential (NG+): at this point, the portal to Aphrodite's Chamber is
inactive, and it's fairly certain that Pit of Tartarus is unloaded as well. It's
also possible to reach the underwater areas where you will end up after
defeating Hades, but you can't go into the Throne area itself because it's
unloaded (and as far as I can tell, it can't be made to load from here.)
Sequence break (NG+): you can skip Rage of Sparta (along with the cutscene
before it, and the tutorial fight) by doing a high jump towards the background
wall at a correct spot before the trigger. Jet Dashing, you can reach the
entrance to the Palace this way quite easily.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF8wSUE51S8
<Palace of Hades>
Sequence break (NG+): you can skip the fight with Cerberi at the Palace's gate
by Jet Dashing around the gate.
Video demonstration:
1, satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXYVBfYdb6E
Battle exploit (NG+): You can high jump/Jet Dash to the platforms the Hell
Breeders are waiting on and light the brambles on fire from there, starting the
fight from complete safety. But this is of temporary use only since eventually
you will have to drop down to ground level to be able to minigame the Breeders.
Wasted potential (NG+): there's a ledge to the right of the door with Hades'
image emblazoned on it. Otherwise fine and dandy, but the ceiling seems to be
blocked in this room.
Sequence break (NG+): you can skip the puzzle here (thanks to Satvara). You got
to climb the big tree first. From the upper platform you have to jump to a
secret ledge which is situated inside graphics at the area below Hades' statue.
It's easy to reach with f.e. Severe Judgment jump + Jet Dash. Don't start the
jump too near the chests, or else you get blocked by additional collision. Now,
when on the secret ledge, the tricky part begins. You have to do another high
jump (Severe Judgment is again enough) towards foreground. You may see a sort of
huge lantern-like object blocking most of the screen (Persephone's coffin?),
when I did this skip I always aimed towards it. At times Kratos just ends up on
top of something. I think it's because of a Jet Ascension effect - some of the
surface is angled enough for Kratos to gain height bonus when Dashing against
it. When the graphics get all messed up, it's a good sign. Start Jet Dashing to
the background until the Hades intro cutscene appears, and if you're not safely
inside the room yet, keep Jet Dashing until you are (hopefully the camera is on
your side...)
It's possible for you to end up swimming under the arena when doing this. But
this is only good! It allows you to skip the soul drain Hades attempts to
perform on Kratos, saving maybe 5-6 seconds. You can also swim a bit outside the
arena itself, but it seems there's collision preventing you from leaving the
fight completely just yet.
Video demonstration:
1, Satvara's vid of the skip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSbIOMMFKnI
2, AKheon's vid of swimming below the arena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD8l59elPi8
<Hades>
Speed strategy: retry from checkpoint when the 'tug-of-war' phase of the fight
begins. Tap X so that Kratos may jump as soon as gameplay continues. It doesn't
always succeed because of the strict timing, but if it does, Kratos can move
freely during this phase and deal the required damage to Hades in record time
(with Bow, for example).
Wasted potential: during the Claws tutorial, the walls around you are too high
for you to escape by any known means.
<Hades' Throne Room>
Swimming glitch (and regen magic) on New Game:
Haven't done this myself, though the collision flaw that is abused is not hard
to find. It's just a very tricky procedure to go all the way through.
Since this happens before the Soul Summon tutorial fight, you can proceed to
activate the fight and then escape it by swimming. This allows you regen magic.
However, it comes with a price: you cannot switch weapons once the tutorial
fight begins. The game defaults to the Claws of Hades, but you can switch to the
Blades of Exile by selecting them immediately after closing the Soul Summon
prompt that appears just as you enter the tutorial area.
If you skip all the other regen magic tutorials in this game as well, you get to
keep regen magic all the way to the end of the game.
Video demonstration:
1, Satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_oLAxUqotc
Swimming glitch (NG+): by doing Severe Judgment jump and Jet Dash, you can
breach the wall in at least one known place here, towards the left-hand side of
the cavern's roof in the short stretch of cavern after regen magic fight.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYVVxe0KSZY
<backtrack to Olympia portal>
Cutscene skip (swimming): you can easily skip the Hephaestus cutscene.
Speed strategy (swimming): you have to turn the rotating room for some way
before the Realm of Hades loads again, but you don't have to turn it all way.
Turn it to the first stop and then just swim your way out.
Cutscene skip (swimming): you can easily skip the cutscene which shows you the
Hades-Olympia portal as your next destination. This also makes the game
automatically skip the first City of Olympia cutscene later.
Other (swimming): at this point, if you're swimming, I suggest you end
swimmingness at the climbing wall nearby. Otherwise you'll likely get stuck at
City of Olympia's gate.
Random (NG+): All other Hades locations except Realm of Hades, The Forge and
rotating room are unloaded at this point. Hm, wonder what would happen if you
returned to The Forge and Jet Dashed back into the underwater areas? Maybe
nothing interesting, but still...
Skip (NG+): you can skip the short scene before entering Hades-Olympia portal by
Jet Dashing over it. If you had skipped the portal showing cutscene earlier,
this procedure becomes more difficult. I suggest you Jet Dash over from the save
point platform towards the backside of the portal.
<City of Olympia>
Random (NG+): The portal back to Hades does not work. In fact, there's
absolutely no collision around it.
Wasted glitch potential (NG+): you can Severe Judgment/Jet Dash to grab a ledge
on top of Gaia's hand and proceed from there. However, until the whole ordeal
with Gaia is dealt with, the next place will not load. (yes, including throwing
her hand off the ledge.)
You can't break Gaia's arm without having first seen the cutscene of Gaia asking
your help.
If you go and activate the door, and then retry, Gaia's hand will be invisible
and invincible (unless you already cut it down, in which case it's the severed
hand like usual, except invisible until you touch it.) You can backtrack to the
area where you came from to have Gaia climb up the cliff... again... but the arm
remains indestructible because the game thinks you never saw the intro cutscene
with her.
Interestingly, when examining the door with Gaia still there breathing down your
neck, I sometimes "won" the Door to Olympia fight with the dogs still spawning.
Too bad this knowledge probably can't be put to use.
Speed strategy (NG+?): You can completely skip the battle at the large doors
simply by using CG high jump or Jest Jump in tandem with Jet Dash, to get into
the cave. (You can probably get to the centaur battle arena directly from the
doors as well.)
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0MNV-gVH5k
Othe (NG+?): By doing things in a strange order you can get the first Harpy to
do all its "cutscene motions", but with Kratos free to move around. If you then
grab the harpy during its "cutscene flying motions" Kratos will passively grab
it with both hands while flying and will not stab it. Eventually the Harpy will
vanish into thin air, and Kratos will fall.
Speed strategy (NG+): You can Jet Dash through all the sections that normally
demand you use a harpy to get across.
Random (NG+): At the second Harpy crossing inside the cave, you can do a Jet
Dash style of Jet Ascension "high jump". If you Jet Dash (at just above ground
level) against the base of the large wooden structure on the right of screen.
Kratos is able to vertically ascend until he can hang on to the ledge that's
quite high. A superior "Collision high jump" to the one seen in the GoWIII Demo.
Sequence Break (and random bits): You can skip the Perses cutscene by doing a
high jump into a Jet Dash from on top of one of those golden chests and then
onto the roof above the Harpy crossing. There is a wall of collision that you
need to glide around while inside the roof to be able to access the Centaur
battle arena.
If you drop down to the arena, you'll see the main harpy from the cutscene stand
there passively, you can't damage or grab it. There is another harpy on the left
hand side rail that is grabbable, but if you grab it from the balcony area near
Chimera, you'll only get a displaced grab and then Kratos will let go, due to
invisible collision. The only way to grab this Harpy is to do a balance beam tip
toe to it. If you hit it and then grab it and go slighty left and forwards, you
can grab it without displacement. In terms of a skip it is too slow and
difficult to bother with, though.
You can leap directly to the Chimera battle from the Harpy crossing rooftop, but
nothing interesting happens. You get missing scenery, and annoying skewed camera
angles as well as become stuck - until restart.
Sequence break: You can cross the big chasm with Jet Dash quite easily here,
skipping any events related to Chimera, crossbow and harpies. For another small
skip, stay outside bounds after reaching the other side, by for example landing
on top of one of the pedestals which line the outside of the wall. From there,
Jet to the bridge on the right of screen, and bingo!
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up1jO8uKeg8
Wasted Glitch Potential: After a high jump (or: from Harpy crossing rooftop) you
can Jet Dash across the big chasm and get directly to the ledge where the
civilian is or onto the lowermost ledge of the climbing bit which takes you to
the Helios arena. Novel as this is, it's useless. When you get proceed to battle
arena, Helios is totally absent from the complete cutscene, as are the soldiers
that fall from the sky. The Cyclops never appears and the battle never takes
place. You then get stuck because the next area is not yet loaded.
If you now jump back outside bounds and activate the trigger which loads Helios'
appearance (it is on the walkway that has the ladder at the end of it), you do
actually get Helios to appear. Unfortunately he is just a prostrate character
model whom with you can't interact in any way.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid of some of the above things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kApRgKbOV8
Battle exploit: You can make the Centaur fall out of bounds by firing bow shots
at him from on top of the block that the harpy from the earlier cutscene stands
on. If you then successfully win the mini-game, the centaur will plummet down
and die in the harpy chasm.
Battle exploit: You can leave the Chimera Battle by high jumping up on walkable
collision that is above the Ballista. From there you can high jump into a Jet
Dash and go over the Collision that is at the entrance to the battle arena. (But
this is pointless since you can skip this whole fight anyway.)
Other (NG+): After the Harpy crossing - to the right side of the screen - there
are some 'secret' ledges that Kratos can climb that lead directly to the bridge
on the right of screen. Its almost as if this had been an alternate route to get
through this area that was abandoned by developers.
Video demonstration (See part I of this vid):
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bKom8aq7Aw
Speed strategy: after killing the civilian who blocks your path on the ledge,
drop down with R1 as soon as possible. This is because Kratos moves faster when
hanging from a ledge.
Other (NG+): If you do things in completely wrong order, the civilian might
re-appear after you've already killed him once. The civilian stands in the usual
'idle' pose for character models that have no animation going on. He does not
block Kratos' path, and if Kratos tries to grab him, Kratos gets teleported back
a few hundred meters, to the gate which he has to open after crossing the chasm.
Incidentally, that was the same spot my last checkpoint had brought me...
<Helios>
Wasted potential: You can't destroy the onyx shielders guarding Helios with your
cestus. You can - however - do a simple roll against their shields, and Kratos
will penetrate them and end up inside the soldiers' guard formation. While in
there, you cannot interact with Helios or harm him in any way, or the soldiers.
Also, the secret door on the side of the cliff can't be unveiled before Helios
has lost his head. In fact, you don't even want to mess up with the secret door
before finishing Helios because the door can glitch up and become inoperable
afterwards.
It's possible to get past the door by doing high jump to the upper ledges and
jumping from there, but the areas beyond aren't even loaded at this point! D'oh.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-zxTXgCqeA
Other: If Kratos is not inside the actual arena when the Cyclops drops from the
sky, Kratos will do his animation where he drops to his knees, but the Cyclops
will never actually appear. And you can't progress if you hadn't already used a
cyclops to break all the shields of the soldiers.
Other: If you break the onyx shields of the soldiers, then leave the battle
arena and then return back from the normal entrance. When you return, all the
soldiers that had shields will begin to "surf" around on their shields along the
arena floor. They can only be killed by grab and kill attacks under these
conditions.
Video demonstration (See final part of this vid):
1, findlestick's vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QsRyY-b1Aw
Speed strategy: at the section where Helios tries to blind Kratos, by
positioning your arm correctly you can get to Helios without Kratos stopping
once during the whole trip.
Speed strategy (NG+): Due to a collision flaw, at the ledges above the door to
The Path of Eos, you can double jump on the collision flaw (after high jumping
up on the ledge), Kratos will then start to fly up really high all by himself
almost as if by magic. From there you can Jet Dash directly to the first wraiths
just before the Icarus vent. Thus skipping nearly all of the Path of Eos.
Video demonstration:
1, satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_omjm1l4ro
Speed Strategy (NG+): An alternative way to do this skip is by doing a Jet Dash
directly from a few ledges above the large door after Helios (once it has been
revealed, it has a ledge above it). From the top of the door area, you can Jet
Dash directly to the area where the Wraiths are, before the Icarus vent.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb4C6SxfF4M
<The Path of Eos>
Skip: you can skip the short intro cutscene if you move through the area fast
enough. (gratz Satvara)
Video demonstration:
1, Satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhWFRByy57Y
Speed strategy (NG+): By doing a CG high jump into a Jet Dash towards the stone
bridge on the right (by using the soldiers near the savepoint), you can skip
everything from the the savepoint all the way to the Wraiths.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPbtnM5FWAs
Speed strategy: the harpy fight is not necessary to fight, though targeting the
door with HoH might be difficult with all the harpies around.
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by satvara
Speed strategy (NG+): instead of using the head to reveal the door area, just
high jump and grab a ledge above it. From there, simply Jet dash to the area
past the horizontal climbing rope. (Thus also skipping the rope climb section).
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM2YhP4X1Hk
Speed strategy (NG+): you can skip the Pandora cutscene by grabbing a horizontal
wooden plank in the roof of the cave, from there you can Jet Dash directly to
the area where the Harpy normally sits.
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by findlestick
Speed strategy (NG+): instead of riding a harpy, Dash through the air to the
next platform.
Fight skip: you can glide past the trigger which begins the first fight with
Wraiths from the side. (gratz Satvara)
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by satvara
Sequence break: using the technique of "Wraith jump" (read more from high
jumps), Kratos can climb on top of a nearby shelf and gain enough height as to
make it through the ceiling and glide to the big heat vent. This is only
possible if you didn't skip the first wraith battle a moment ago. (c: Satvara)
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by satvara
Alternatively, you can (on NG+) do a Severe Judgment jump on the same shelf or
grab a secret ledge that is behind the shelf at roof level. This skip as a whole
allows you to evade one mandatory battle and some navigation. You can also leave
during the final Eos battle by doing some form of CG high jump towards the
chain. However this method is redundant due to the quicker skips available.
Video demonstration:
1, see the above vid by findlestick
<The Chain of Balance>
Speed strategy (NG+): it's possible to Jet Dash at the lowermost level to cut a
few corners when going for the first climbing wall. On the higher level, you can
Jet Dash straight to the grapple point. As a bonus, one of the falling rocks is
noticeably stuck in air later on, looking silly.
Other: at the end of the second flight part, nothing happened when I reached the
white light. I was steering heavily to the right at the time. It sounded like
Kratos was stuck in air somewhere. Then "you are dead." If this happens while
having infinite health, Kratos breaks out from the next cutscene and starts to
fall back down the chain while out of sight. The camera then also starts to go
in reverse (back down the chain), RoS speeds this process up. Eventually he
will stop at a certain point down the chain, and all you'll hear is Kratos
grunting and 'hurring' until restart.
<The Caverns>
Sweet spot: on the corners of the box.
Untested (NG+): I would imagine it's possible to somehow Jet Dash and skip a box
ride or two here. If only the camera angles weren't atrocious...
Other (NG+): If you shoot the brambles at the first box, and then do a high jump
onto the area above the burning brambles, Kratos will grab a ledge and stand up
on it. The box that you are supposed to ride on then goes away like normal but
without Kratos on it. When the box arrives at its destination, the camera stays
fixed on it while Kratos is stuck miles away. You can only hear him moving
around while he's stranded even on restart.
Other (NG+): you can shoot a pre-emptive Nemesis Rage at the chain the two
minotaurs are about to chop off. During the cutscene, the minotaurs keep getting
hit and the chain is worn out for no reason.
Collision flaw: on one occasion, I had one of the minotaurs stuck inside the
large chain in the middle. It flickered while trying to reach me, turning around
on the spot. After about 30 seconds it was free again.
Wasted potential (NG+): you can Jet Dash to the entrance you'll come to later,
but nothing is loaded there.
<Chamber of the Flame>
Other (NG+): if you jump back on the chain and visit the mountain screen, then
come back, the game will freeze in one of the Hermes cutcenes.
Random (NG+): This is the point from where you will skip straight to the end of
the game if you had performed the "Early chain break" earlier on. After climbing
up the chain, you'll notice that you can instantly access the upstairs area and
turn the crank all the way. Since the game thinks you are turning the crank for
the second time, the game will then load the cutscene of Kratos pulling up the
Labryinth. And after that, you get to fight Zeus...
Cutscene skips (NG+): You can skip having to reveal the images on the wall with
Head of Helios to make Hermes appear. And you can also skip the entire Hermes
conversation by high jumping onto the broken pillar that Hermes is supposed to
break, and from there you can jump to the balcony area before the climbing
grapple wall, everything after that loads normally.
At this date, findle (and co.) agree that this skip must only be done after
seeing the cutscene at the blue flame. If not, the game crashes either at the
swinging grapple, or if you skip it, at the ledge that leads around the corner
of the building. To remedy this, its important see the cutscene at the flame
first for everything to load normally.
Something untested: these days it's possible to skip the ledge as well. Would
the game not crash afterwards if you did this, perhaps even allowing a skip of
the blue flame cinematic?
Video demonstraion:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rksFXLo5iRE
Speedrun Strategy:
Method 1: At the grapple wall (just before the swinging grapple, you can roll at
the top of the grapple wall and fall down its side, from there you can glide
over the swinging grapple and make it to the bridge rather swiftly. If done
correctly, you also skip the small cutscene of the rock breaking a part of the
bridge.
Method 2 (NG+): This is a much faster way, just Jet Dash from the top of the
building where the rail is broken and directly to the bridge.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid (method 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJxC3SMekIo
2, findlestick's vid (method 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Bz-a9reA0
Wasted Glitch Potential (NG+): If you do the above mentioned skip (with the
Jet dash) but go too far past the point where the first rock hits the bridge,
you'll skip a loading trigger. This results in you being able to move quickly
across the entire length of the bridge without it falling, you can hear
civilians screaming, but cannot see them. You can still climb the ledges (with
strange camera angles), but the floor of the next area never loads.
Speed strategy (NG+): at the end of the bridge area, there's a sort of wooden
post. You can climb on top of it, and from there jump and Jet Dash to the next
section.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid (in one of the last parts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrsUCW9R9E8
Speedrun Strategy (NG+): At the grapple that Hermes hangs from you can skip a
cutscene and some lever pulling simply by Jet Dashing from the platform where
the lever is, and directly to the next bridge you jump to.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
(See part 2 of "method 2" video above)
Other (NG+): At the collapsing bridge with the grapple points, you can actually
beat Hermes to the door that he enters. You can do this by Jet Dashing from near
the end of the bridge and making a "Bee line" to the door. However, the door has
an invisible wall of collision that Kratos cannot go past. At that stage, Hermes
runs past Kratos.
Wasted Glitch Potential (NG+): At the catapult that Kratos uses to get to
Hermes. You can get inside the catapult area early (before its rotated in
Hermes' direction) simply by pulling the crank almost to the end. And then
quickly Jet Dashing to the opening. Unfortunately, you can't shoot the catapult
in some strange direction because the R1 function is not active at that time.
<Grand Vestibule>
Wasted skip potential (NG+): you can't skip Hermes, because a few rooms away
there exists naught but unloaded nothingness.
Speed strat/exploit (NG+): If you go to the Grand Vestibule save point during
the fight with Hermes (possible with Boots) and make a checkpoint, after retry
Hermes stands completely still, takes less damage to defeat, and you skip his
death speech as an added bonus.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0v0POXk0jQ
You might be able to stop Hermes in strange positions or locations for even more
glitch potential.
Wasted potential: During the Boots of Hermes tutorial fight, the wooden wall
can't be traversed using the Boots.
Sequence break: you can skip the tutorial fight anyway (and a small scene after
it), using a wall breach and a secret ledge at the top of the statue's head.
This can also be done by high jumping and grabbing the ledge of the wooden
structure at the savepoint, or by simply doing a Jest Jump up to any of the
higher platforms.
Video demonstration:
1, Satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWCBAnEBdGY
Wasted potential: you can jump over the outdoors fight trigger in front of the
Upper Chamber of the Flame, but at the price of the Chamber itself not loading.
<Upper Chamber of the Flame>
Speedrun Strategy: You can skip the entire music puzzle by jumping out-of-bounds
from the top of the cylindrical stairs and by falling under the floor near the
gate of the puzzle. This lands you at the savepoint that's before Hercules. The
Hercules' area is not yet loaded, to remedy this, just climb the stairs and go
to the end of the hall and then return. After an extremely long pause, the
Hercules area will load normally.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o11G2hMeOc
There is a disturbingly long pause again later when you climb to the Upper
Chamber via the big chain as well. You can turn the crank at the blue flame
later in the game, even tho you skip the music puzzle.
Speed Strategy (NG+): At the music puzzle you can get up to the top area that
has the turning mechanisms without having to use the air vents on the sides,
instead you can just do a Jet Dash ("Jet Ascension") against the front of the
music puzzle and Kratos will quickly rise up.
Wasted potential: after completing music puzzle, you can visit the chain from
which you climbed earlier (in pursuit of Hermes), and after returning, the
stairway and the pillars have no collision. Well, for a while anyway. If you
run around the place wantonly a bit, the collision should return. Try to visit
the center of the blue circle. Then...
If you turn the large crank at the Flame without having turned it before, you
will see the Pandora's Box intro cutscene instead of the Three Judges cutscene,
after which the game crashes. If you already turned the crank once, then you
won't see the cutscene, but when trying to get to The Forum, game crashes.
Other (NG+): If you skipped the Hermes appearance trigger earlier in the game,
you can actually trigger it at this stage. You'll get a glitched cutscene and
Hermes is absent from the scene.
<The Forum & Hercules>
Speedrun Strategy: You can skip having to walk down the spiralling stairs simply
by jumping out-of-bounds along side the stairs. This will land you right next to
the savepoint.
Wasted glitch potential: The Hera cutscene can be skipped by high jumping up on
a hidden ledge above Kratos just before he enters the arena. (At the top of the
exit that's at end of the tunnel). Once up there you can do a very wide Jet Dash
around the trigger, but testing at this stage suggests that most of the arena
has no floor collision.
Other: you can use CG high jump or JJ to get over bounds here. There's no
collision over where Hera and Hercules are staying, so if you try to go there
you just fall through the floor. You can go back to the previous area and save,
but nothing interesting seems to happen. It's hard to tell since you can't get
back to the arena because of the gate that's in your way.
Random: tidbits from around the fight
After the second time Hercules becomes impaled into spikes, he loses his helmet
and then does an attack which destroys all sentries of the area. But I've heard
reports of some sentries suriving all the way into the final phase of this
fight.
At the end of second phase, Hercules stuns Kratos momentarily and turns away to
brag at Hera. If there's something that deals damage for a long time on the
battlefield (like Nemesis Rage bolt) Kratos might wake up from the stun only to
notice Hercules is about to plant a fist in his face.
As Kratos steals Hercules' weapons from him, if you keep L1 pressed down after
QTE ends, Kratos gets to keep his old weapon of choice at least a while longer
during the fight.
Random: For those squeamish of violence, you can opt to not punch Hercules in
the face at all. Eventually, at least if you got Hephaestus' Ring turned on, the
game automatically makes Kratos punch Hercules so that they both fall through
the floor. Hercules' face will be completely smashed regardless at the very end.
<sewers>
Wasted potential: It's possible to go around the exit gate by activating an easy
swimming glitch here, but the next area only loads if you actually pull the
switch which rises the gate.
Regen magic (and fight skip): When approaching the Nemean Roar tutorial battle
room, you can stay to the left-hand side of the corridor and at the very end do
a high jump towards the switch. Keep Jet Dashing 'til you breach the wall. From
there you can operate the exit switch early, prompting a horde of onyx shielders
to appear like usual. Smash the onyx shielders' shields, so that they turn
normal, then "Jest Jump" or CG high jump using one of them, all the while
avoiding activating the regen magic battle trigger. Jet Dash to the exit
afterwards.
This allows you to not only keep regenerating magic (until Nemesis Whip tutorial
at least, but that too can be skipped), but you are able to switch weapons at
will (because you skipped the part which locks Kratos' weapon to Cestus).
Video demonstration:
1, satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8u7K5lBV_k
Random: If you activate the regen magic battle while having the horde of onyx
shielders around, the actual regen magic fight will have maybe 3 or 4 enemies,
then their spawning stops. This causes you to get stuck, because the blue walls
never dissipate around the room after having won.
Speedrun Strategy: After the Cestus tutorial, you can easily jump over the
shielded soldiers by doing an ascension followed by a simple dash.
<Poseidon's Chamber>
Wasted swimming glitch potential: if you approach this area out of bounds,
you become automatically positioned inside the small water ring when this place
loads.
Collision flaw: you can get outside bounds right at the start by finding two
chests in the foreground and doing a high jump from on top of them towards the
camera. Kratos is able to climb a ledge there.
Skip: by using the aforementioned ledge, you can jump and Jet Dash over the
intro cutscene & fight. You can also skip the Princess Poseidon cutscene, but
when returning you will probably run into it anyway. At least the cutscene is
glitched up for maximum turmoil.
Wasted glitch potential: you can try to Jet Dash through the temporarily open
doorway (after pulling the crank) but there's collision in front of it anyway.
Wasted glitch potential (with hope): you can reach the last area of this place
(with the Pandora statue) early, NG+ or not, but nothing happens and the next
place won't be loaded. Satvara is correct in suggesting that the trigger for
Pandora cutscene is in the girl getting crushed, but the trigger for the next
area to load is somewhere on the path to the cutscene (after girl has
crushed?). By doing a careless jump, I've encountered a situation in which I
saw the cutscene but the next place didn't load. So the triggers are separate...
Wasted glitch potential: getting swimming in the small circular opening seems
impossible because the collision always pushes Kratos inside the hole if you
try to access it from outside.
Speed strategy: you can get to the first switch in the water spike room by doing
Jet Dash from the stairs.
Wasted Glitch Potential: At the dog kicking tutorial it seems that you can't Jet
Dash to the portal under the lowering floor on first arrival, due to collision
in front of it.
Other: the lowering platform can be fooled into rising all the way up even with
4 dogs on it by touching it very quickly and then jumping away.
Untested: just for the sheer glitching potential, I'd like to see what happens
if you got 4 dogs on the platform, then went back to the Poseidon Princess
entrance, clipped inside the room, and used the portal there without first
having even watched the cutscene in which Kratos frees her. I guess, if this
could be done fast enough, and the freeing cutscene didn't activate, and
everything worked normal afterwards, it would be a viable cutscene skip... But
it's unlikely because the wall which rises after pulling the switch is very
high.
Speedrun Strategy: Towards the end of the Dog Kicking puzzle (just after the
girl runs through the portal for the last time). You can completely skip the
battle with the 2 Bronze Taloses, simply by doing an ascension from the top of
the floor that moves up/down, and then Jet Dashing directly to the exit.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZx6E1bNds
Speed strategy: you can skip the last fight before setting the girl into her
demise by having Hephaestus' Ring turned on. Kratos turns the wheel so fast, he
manages to get everything done before enemies even notice him. By the way,
during the actual cutscene Kratos is invincible to damage, so you don't have to
worry about enemies interrupting Kratos.
<Upper Gardens>
Sequence Break: When you reach the Upper Gardens you can skip the entire bridge
puzzle and in the process you skip the entire Cronos section (Massive skip), you
also skip getting the Nemesis Whip. But with NG+ thats no concern. (c: satvara).
In NG+, you can also skip the entire Cronos section simply by activating the
bridge with whip, since you already have it.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgU0biGsLro
<Cronos>
Wasted glitch potential: At the first phase of Cronos' arm (below his wrist),
you can do a Jet Dash towards the Camera just as his arm becomes vertical. You
actually leave his wrist completely but at this date it does seem that you
can't skip to a next section, or to return to a previous section (Before
Cronos).
Speed strategy: You can "Jet/collision ascension" up between Cronos' fingers as
he brings them down to "squash you like a pest" so that you are at the top of
his fingers as soon as his hand has come down.
Wasted glitch potential: At the first swinging grapple, you can swing and Jet
Dash and go behind that belt (with the onyx section). There is walkable
collision there, and you can use it as a battle exploit by killing the enemies
that are on the other side of it, while being totally safe. Unfortunately, after
you kill them it seems - at this date - impossible to return to the other side
due to invisible walls of collision.
Other: If you Jet Dash away from Cronos' palm before Cronos splats them
together. Kratos will appear from in between Cronos' palms, no matter how far
away Kratos was at the time of Cronos smacking his palms together.
Wasted glitch potential: There is walkable collision above Cronos' shoulder
that you can CG high jump to. From there you can walk around behind the metal
areas on Cronos' shoulder. Then you can Jet Dash to Cronos' face where Kratos
can walk around and inside of Cronos' face.
Wasted glitch potential: You can get past the blue onyx on Cronos' chin, you can
walk on Cronos' face early (you then get a funny view of Cronos' mouth and
nose). But there is no chance of sparing Cronos at this date by doing this.
<The Forge re-visit>
Other: if you fail the QTE and Kratos gets electrified, you can keep delaying
the inevitable by turning Hades' Helm on again and again. The Whip will move on
its own over Kratos' fried corpse if you continue this long enough.
Infinite red orbs (note: semi-untested): there's a stream of orbs flying at you
each time you retry from checkpoint in here, probably left over from Cronos. You
can touch the save point between retries to keep the orbs every single time too.
Wasted glitch potential: You can get regenerating magic at the Nemesis Rage
tutorial by CG high jumping out of the tutorial. Unfortunately, you get stuck
with the whip for the rest of the game, meaning that you won't be able to break
any onyx at areas that it is required in order to progress.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn2MmRVUPSs
Speedrun strategy: Instead of opening the door that leads to the Portal Puzzle.
Jet Dash left through the wall, this will leave you inside the end of the
hallway.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztfW8fzmsj8
<Daedalus' Study>
Other: you can reach the yellow portal which you'd normally reach by pulling a
switch and using the Boots towards the wall by jumping under the portal, then
jumping and doing Severe Judgment.
Collision flaw: at the upper balcony with a switch, there's some strange
collision to the sides of the portal.
Wasted potential: you can skip this whole area doing a stylish sequence break,
grabbing a secret ledge on top of the gate with the Zeus seal, and getting out
of bounds that way, but the next area is not loaded if you do it this way. And
I don't think it would've saved much time because shooting the crossbow is quite
simple.
Untested: by going out of bounds, could you activate swimming glitch using those
water puddles on the floor?
<Olympus Gardens>
Wasted potential?: after having dropped down from the pole and advanced further
into the corridor, the previous area unloads. At this point you can go and get
back on the pole using high jump... unfortunately the pole ends prematurely, and
the surrounding wall seemingly can't be surmounted using high jumps (though
there doesn't seem to be a ceiling there). If you could get high enough, you
might be able to get OOB and reach Gardens early, skipping first Hera cutscene
of the place.
Cutscene skip: you can skip the cutscene which shows you a general view of the
place by jumping over it.
Cutscene skip: you can skip the cutscene of Kratos picking up Hera's Chalice by
doing a CG high jump or JJ using one of the enemies that spawn nearby. If you
extend the jump using bow height gain, you can get to the yard with the ladder
using this trick.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlOaNgjb0gQ
Sequence break: strange way to skip Olympus Gardens
Due to a very odd glitch which occurs if Kratos is hit by an enemy during the
pre-scripted Hera's Chalice cutscene, you can completely skip this area without
problems. In order to set up the glitch, you got to first skip Hera's Chalice
cutscene, then approach its trigger from the "wrong side". The enemies that
spawn will follow you all the way to the cutscene area, and allow the beginning
of this glitch. Ok, so once Kratos is hit, he will re-appear at a completely
different area (long before the camera even shows his new location). His angle
has changed, and all attacks you do for a while occur with him horizontally. The
best use that has been thought for this strange state is doing Crushing Strike
(air) using the Cestus - Kratos begins flying horizontally, and very
conveniently almost towards The Caverns entrance. This flight lasts endlessly,
so you got to cut it off using Rage of Sparta. From there Jet Dashing to The
Caverns entrance is not a big deal.
Video demonstration
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq_A7kYejNk
Speed strategy: you can get on the bridge early by doing a Severe Judgment jump
(and Dashing). From on top of the bridge, you can avoid opening the gate and
climbing the ladder there by jumping over an invisible wall towards the
background. You can end up all the way to the area where the first bowl is.
Speedrun Strategy: You can completely skip the Satyr battle simply by high
jumping/dashing over the loading trigger. And the Satyrs never load.
A quicker way is to get youself stuck behind the green chest before the Satyr
section. This will cause you to be pushed through the wall and directly to the
pushable button that's on the ground.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid of the second way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7WdsDQKMco
Trigger skip: after passing satyrs, the cutscene in which the gate closes behind
you can be jumped over.
Sequence break: skipping the rest of Olympus Gardens
Push the moving pedestal towards a wall so that the high end is against the
wall. The game may allow Kratos to get through the wall this way. Doing this
near the exit allows you to just jump to the pathway that leads you to the next
area. Note: it's recommended to retry from checkpoint once you reach the
pedestal, or else Hera's death scene may suddenly start playing when you are
trying to exit. It isn't dangerous, and it doesn't always happen, but it wastes
time if it does.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PS_DMN_eJY
Other: If you skipped triggering the cutscene on the pushable button earlier,
you can trigger it by putting Hera on it at this stage. This causes a
contradiction in the game, resulting in a 'Dali-inspired' bizzare cutscene. You
see Kratos drop Hera, but he retains his arm up as if he was still carrying her
with Hera's massive minigame circle rotating before Kratos' face. Kratos has a
bizzare/unnatural look on his face, almost as if hypnotised. At that stage you
see Hera's cup float about all on its own, as well as the green stone. The
cutscene that reveals the puzzle layout has all its green effect missing, and if
you make Kratos walk around, he does so, but with his arm up as if he was
holding Hera. If you then pick Hera up, Kratos carries her for a while but then
he freezes and drops her, at that stage Hera's body drags itself along the floor
- seemingly - all on its own.
Video Demonstration (See end part of this vid):
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okvJP22QCSc
Other: early Hera's corpse
The trigger for the idly sitting Hera model to appear to the main yard is in the
next doorway from the pedestal. Somehow activate a checkpoint and after retry,
Hera will have died for no reason. You will have her corpse in the main
courtyard long before even seeing her death cinematic. Note that once you finish
filling up the first bowl, the corpse disappears again (only to re-appear after
viewing Hera's death cinematic).
Speed strategy: you can use the pedestal to push Hera's corpse around at a
higher-than-normal speed.
Wasted potential: you can get Hera's corpse on top of the small square stand
right next to the last bowl you are supposed to fill (this is before the bowl
has moved its location). Unfortunately, getting her into the bowl may be
impossible... so close, but so far. Also, you can't get Hera's corpse on top
of the moveable pedestal using the green view - when the green view ends, the
corpse just falls down to the ground, as if it had been laying on nothing.
Other: after doing things out of order for a long time, messing around with the
set, the gate at the end of the first bridge completely disappeared. (but not
its collision)
Other: after putting Hera into the bowl, she can't be grabbed and carried around
again. ...unless you go to the last save and make a checkpoint and return. You
can drop her out of the bowl, but aside that she won't move an inch. The game
must've thought her still in the bowl.
Untested: Could it be possible to retain the green effect to The Caverns by
skipping the cutscene of Kratos breaking the gem at the very end of this area?
Speedrun Strategy: You can Jet Dash over the large Harpy Crossing chasm. This
is faster than using the Harpies.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMlQHNweoY
<The Caverns part 2>
Wasted glitch potential: You can get out-of-bounds and under the platform at the
rotating wooden cog. This can be done by doing a normal jump onto the wooden
cog, then another jump in the same direction. From there you can jump to the
wooden platforms that are above and to the sides of the cog, and from there
glide to left of screen. Once there you can jump/glide to under the platform,
but nothing is loaded yet below it.
Sequence break: you can skip the intro cutscene and the ensuing fight with
cyclops by Jet Dashing straight to the corridor with the save point.
Video demonstration:
1, satvara's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqzL3V3jZx0
Skip: you can Jet Dash over the large hall without having to fill it with water.
This will, however, make getting swimming glitch harder, if not impossible (at
least I've never managed to do it.)
Skips: you can high jump over the trigger which shows you around the darkened
room. It's possible for you to continue Jet Dashing from the heights to skip the
dark walkway. Not sure how close to the exit you can get to by Jet Dashing from
here.
<Skorpius>
Speed strategy: before breaking the first 3 of his legs, weaken the other 3
considerably as well because in the second part of the fight he flees often and
you fare better if the remaining legs don't have full HP.
Other: GMG recalls having seen one of the legs which had its onyx already broken
appear graphically as if the onyx was still intact. It was just a random
graphical glitch, apparently.
<The caverns backtrack>
Sequence break: you can skip the box rides after defeating Skorpius by doing an
intricate jump. First, use the vent to get to the higher platform. From there,
jump towards the lower left side of the big box that is blocking your view.
Note: if you skipped The Caverns intro earlier, you'll have to re-skip it now!
Cutscene skip (swimming): you can swim below/above the trigger of the Daedalus
cutscene. Perfect! As an added bonus, you can activate the cutscene after the
Labyrinth is complete for some graphical oddities.
Wasted glitch potential (swimming): the area of Labyrinth is a whole new level
altogether, and you can't access the outside of it with swimming glitch from The
Caverns.
<Labyrinth>
Wasted glitch potential (swimming): turning of the room shuts off swimming
glitch.
Battle exploit: you can jump over the barrier and defeat your enemies from
complete safely. That is, if you can reach them from there.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_QinKgZiac
Wasted glitch potential: it's possible to high jump on top of the doors which
open and close at the end of the long corridor after 2nd room, but the next room
of the Labyrinth is a new level altogether and there's not much you can do. In
this corridor you can see Pandora's room high above, but it's just too high to
reach at all.
Sequence break: from the third room, it's possible to get out of bounds and Jet
Dash straight to the corridor past the 4th room (where "Heart of Labyrinth" save
point is). First use Hermes' Boots to climb the wall, then do a high jump
towards the wall on your left. There is a secret ledge there, using which you
can jump through the ceiling.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0FLh1lzmeM
<Heart of the Labyrinth>
Wasted speed strategy: it's possible to open up the small hatch during the fight
with gorgons and soldiers, but Pandora is not going to enter before the fight is
over.
Other: if you're too late in letting Pandora out of the cage that is being
penetrated by large blades, you get game over (unsurprisingly). The game counts
the cutscene in which Pandora is exiting the cage as time she is in danger, so
you might fail even though she gets scot-free!
Collision flaw: at the lower edge of the water trap, there's a small hole Kratos
can enter! You can both get trapped. While inside the trap, you can't pick up
Pandora. If you do get inside when the water is flowing, you have less room to
move, with an invisible ceiling right over you. Maybe it is the platform the
swimming pandora "stands"?
Speed strategy: using the same collision flaw, it's possible for you to finish
this puzzle room using an alternative route. The correct position is pretty hard
to hit, but you can potentially save maybe up to 20 secs of time and cause a few
glitches in the process.
First, you skip pulling the platform away from the wall, and the cutscene in
which water flows into the trap. Yes, the timed section of the puzzle never
begins this way. Later on this causes some graphical glitches of Pandora inside
the box, and at the very end she strangely ends up on top of the box...
Secondly, because of Pandora's strange location, you break out of the scene in
which Kratos talks to her afterwards. You can use this time to navigate to the
exit, saving... a few seconds? I haven't tried this glitch multiple times all
the way to the end, so it remains to be seen if Pandora always ends up on top of
the box.
Like in the Oracle skip of GoW 1, you can still hear the sound loop of the
victim's shouts of help after all's been said and done, making light of the
whole situation really.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymk-UluM-RM
Wasted glitch potential: You can skip the battle trigger for the final fight by
high jumping onto the rails in front of you at the lowering platform. But since
the hole for Pandora to crawl through is not revealed at this stage (coupled
with the fact that pandora is left behind when doing this) you can not proceed
and get stuck.
Other: By high jumping up onto the rails before the final fight (at the
lowering platform) you can jump up on the roof and do roof grapple climbing.
Battle exploit: At the final fight, you can jump up to the ledge and be out of
harms way by doing a CG high jump or JJ. It's best to then drop down behind the
bars so you can more easily deal damage to enemies while being out of harms way.
<Three Judges backtrack>
Fight skip: well, skipping most of the fight at least. You can use CG high jump
on Satyrs to exit the Hades Cerberus Breeder fight early. The rest of the Judges
area suffers from graphical glitches after this, though everything works
normally.
Video demonstration
1, AKheon's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hr538pWBE
Speedrun strategy: You can get down to the 3rd Judge's onyx stone by using CG
high jump or JJ to get over a wall of collision and then Jet Dashing to the
lower platform, skipping the climbing wall. And you can get down to the chain by
high jumping over that same judges head directly down to the chain base. Now,
the second time here at The Judges, after breaking the chain there will be a
short glitched scene of Kratos floating next to the pandora statue wearing his
Cestus while in a static flying position (loading time?). Then Kratos will
suddenly be flying up the Icarus vent after a short while.
Wasted glitch potential: After doing the shortcut above, when you then break
the chain, there is a short period of time where Kratos is free to move around
as the next cutscene loads. If you then R1 the savepoint, you will see the
chains breaking cutscene while in the save menu. After the cutscene has
completed, Kratos is still near the chain, but the chain is "floating" there
without the blue sections there.
There's some more info on this in the first Three Judges section as well.
Video demonstration:
1, findlestick's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gV99kRson8
Random: The flight up takes a lot less time than the flight down...
<Zeus 2D-match>
Random: Zeus stops using air attacks after you drop his health down to the
level where mini-game prompt activates. Guess the developers thought it would
be too annoying for you to chase him down if he continued flying around the
place.
Random: I've seen a video of someone getting stuck in this fight with Zeus
invisible. Wonder what's up with that?
<Zeus>
Other: You can Jet Dash over the trigger which begins the fight. Nothing
interesting happens - Zeus is just a passive model you can push around the room
with your attacks. If you push him too south, the next cutscene begins with him
absent, and the entire first fight is spent with him stuck outside the arena.
There's also a section of walkable collision on the left hand side just before
you get to Zeus, you can reach it by Dashing off the ledge out-of-bounds and
then left and back.
Random: The first fight is a timed section, and it doesn't matter whether you
attempt to attack Zeus or not.
<Fear Kratos>
Speed strategy: You can move for a few seconds in complete darkness before the
intro cutscene kicks in.
Random: If you load the auto-save that begins from this area, you can access
Start-menu (which you couldn't otherwise). Visiting that menu reveals that at
this point Kratos has lost everything of his gear except the Nemean Cestus,
Icarus Wings and Boots of Hermes.
Event glitch: If you retry, at the very start of the intro cutscene you have a
small period of time during which you can do moves, influencing the next section
slightly. Changing weapons to Nemean Cestus and then trying to attack causes the
Cestus to appear and get stuck on Kratos' hands, and the lighting around Kratos
diminishes greatly. It's also possible to get Boots of Hermes on Fear Kratos,
but trying to use them may crash the game.
<End game>
Speed strategy: Stop bashing Zeus' head in after the screen turns red, or else
the section will continue indefinitely.
Random: Speedrunners might wonder at this point how are they gonna measure their
game time in the end. There are no save possibilities and you can't access
Start-menu to view your time either. Well, here's a solution: load the auto-save
that begins from the cutscene of fires of hope gleaming in Kratos' eyes. Now you
can for some reason access Start-menu, and the final time can be seen. (note:
only tested under early chain breaking conditions, in which the auto-save for
Zeus reads "Hermes".)
4. Legal information, contact info, credits, etc.
-------------------------------------------------
====================================
Copyright � 2008 Hannu Ratilainen
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License.
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