@frosty988: you're playing a drug (GOW) and you don't even realize it. Speaks to how perceptive you are. Soft focus causes brain disorientation ie numbing of the brain because the human eye naturally sees stuff in sharp (hard) focus. Thus impairing ones judgment. Being a "God of War fan since the first" means you love mindless button mashing combat which is fine - I do not, I love the mechanical mind prowess required for Ninja Gaiden Black. GOW developer recently stated he wanted the new GOW combat to make you think unlike the series' traditional combat. He succeeded, but the camera though an improvement over the fixed camera, is an ancient camera compared to the truly free camera of Ninja Gaiden Black (2005). They already made up Kratos why not make up another God or two that imprisons the Norse Gods thus a truly unique villain. Its a game they are creating not a history lesson. Otherwise you have paint by numbers villains or bosses which I find predictable and boring as it takes away from the storytelling. I'll admit I'm not a fan of fairies and dwarves gibberish but the story got more and more silly as it spewed along. I did enjoy the Castlevania/Ninja Gaiden/Resident Evil 4 elements in GOW. GOW had potential, but marred by soft focus, lack of fine graphic detail, stiff combat and traversal, poor storytelling and soulless characters - learn from Naughty Dog and Uncharted + Last of Us.

@maccmosley: I agree with your Batman assessment as that too was in soft focus plus that combat also had training wheels.

@sandinista1: I'm still playing Uncharted 4 and Uncharted Lost Legacy over and over. Combat (1st person style camera tethered to Kratos sucked), storytelling (can't Santa Monica create it's own Gods ever - lazy unoriginal characters), and soft focus was a turn off for me in GOW. I made it past the dragon and lost complete interest.

@Legend_of_Link: Hey man, I dabbled with the video settings as I have a PS4 PRO thus the only way to play it on a PS4 PRO is favor resolution motion blur 10 full grain 10. I was playing it on favor performance with various settings on motion blur and full grain. Performance has soft focus whereas resolution is rock solid focus and detail.

With that said I've resumed playing and stomached the action rpg stuff. I would prefer more combat and action, but it is what it is. Graphics are still barren and lack color. Combat camera still is a bit awkward, but it's good. Still using simple combat techniques. I'm enjoying the game a lot more with proper focus and detail. I wish the developer and Sony would do a better job educating the general public on video settings, but hey.

Edit: After further gameplay testing it doesn't matter whether it's performance or resolution the whole game is done with soft focus even when you zero out the full grain and lower the motion blur to 2. Especially evident during heavy motion i.e. combat - takes away from combat. The on screen text is always blurry which is also a giveaway of soft focus. I'm past the dragon and cut off a guy's head - I lost complete interest. Even if it was in (hard) focus with fine detail the story and combat isn't compelling enough for me to continue on. Too much Dungeons and Dragons role playing elements.

@vortec40: It's just sad a AAA Sony game 5 years in development would lack the fine details in the graphics dept. Soft focus is used a lot in film documentaries not AAA game titles. The soft focus and lack of depth of field leads to fine details such as the small frogs or clothing textures to appear blurry or non descript even up close. Plus a not so "free" camera doesn't require as much heavy lifting in the graphics dept. as Uncharted's free camera does. Add in the mostly barren, dull colors, empty level design with stiff character gameplay movement in comparison to Uncharted and you have several missing pieces to the puzzle of greatest graphics of all time.

And I know Digital Foundry states GOW is a graphical and technical marvel, but DF doesn't address the issues I mentioned above when discussing the graphics.

Seriously, the frogs looked like small globs of goo even up close and the same can be said for the birds.

@adamus: Ride it the way you want to ride it!! Escapism is king. GOW isn't my ride, but roll on, man and enjoy it.

I'm back to Uncharted.

@Legend_of_Link: Sorry man, I don't roll with Game of Thrones & Jon Snow...

GOW graphics cheat by being unpolished (soft film image), lack artistic beauty and detail (see Uncharted Lost Legacy, Ninja Gaiden) and lack of a true free camera (See Ninja Gaiden & Uncharted) which takesaway from their graphics being labeled as best ever. Imagine if Naughty Dog made the game under the same rules - graphics would be a lot better. Also why Naughty Dog kept Uncharted in 720p for PS3 to achieve their amazing set pieces. Graphics become just stupid eye candy when they sacrifice fluid gameplay control.

Same "sacrifice" that gives the game the illusion of being difficult in later stages. Plus when a developer can't program synergy between the hero and the bad guys on early levels chances are it's a true cluster bleep on the later levels as more enemies are thrown in with more complex enemies with players saying its soo hard at the end - should be honest and say frustrating due to poor programming.

Again 8 hours in and nothing except The Stranger Boss fight to WOW and entice me, why slog thru boring empty levels with sparse combat and discovery - it was as if they forgot to finish the game. I want to play the game not navigate my character thru empty exposition that wouldn't deserve even a cinematic. I drained the lake, the son who became annoying sidekick (though useful in battle) heard voices, etc, etc.

I do know science has proved action RPG'S dumb down the brain (i.e. sedate a person) coupled with a soft film image and you have the secret sauce for hooking (stoning) unsuspecting players just like a drug.

@Legend_of_Link: YES, you did which is the beauty of America, man.

You enjoyed the game, then I say great enjoy the hell out of it!!

@Legend_of_Link: kind of sad and disappointing in a game 5 to 7 years in the making that there were no WOW moments in the first 6 to 8 hours that would make me want to continue playing. The Stranger boss was a great fight with no context, but nothing remotely close followed. Everything else came off as contrived or a parody.

The story unraveled with fairies/pixie dust gibberish that got sillier as the story progressed. You can't have that many lulls in the action and story and be considered an Epic game.

@Legend_of_Link: obviously you never excelled at Ninja Gaiden, Uncharted, etc. As GOW combat is out of sync (no synergy) with enemy AI thus you don't need to learn the fight tree as enemies just stand there and don't force you to evolve your skills. I did use the same simple technique over and over. The combat is several notches below Ninja Gaiden Black (2005). And the "free" camera is not free it is tethered to Kratos annoyingly so causing undue damage from enemies plus it's a 1st person camera style with Kratos replacing the weapon which makes it awkward in 3rd person combat. Not fluid.

And I would say the graphics with its soft film image and lack of final layer of polish are a few notches below Naughty Dog. Reminds me of the lack of polish on Halo 3.