God of War glitch FAQ
v. 3.7. completed 25. 09. 2010
Compiled by AKheon, found out by countless people.
See the end of file for more information.
0. Contents:
------------
0. Contents
1. Introduction & version history
2. Abbrevations & glossary
3. General gameplay glitches
- Weapon/attack/magic glitches
1. BoA glitches
1a. Homerun and its variations
1b. Strange death delay
1c. Special death effect after magic
1d. Glitched circle action
1e. Fusing BoA and BoC
1f. Artemis tricking
2. Infinite jump
3. Hermes Rush glitches
3a. HR strange collision property exploit
3b. Passing through large enemies
3c. Rope + L1 something move + HS = trouble
3d. Special property during Rage of the Gods
3e. Moving Pandora's Box with Hermes Stomp
4. Gorgon Rage glitch & related material
5. Other weapon/attack/magic glitches & tricks
- Enemy glitches
6. Enemy out of bounds
7. Infinite orb fountains
8. Throw/grab glitches
9. Shoddy A.I.
10. Enemy-specific glitches
11. Misc. enemy glitches
- Crooked surface glitches
12. Gliding
13. "Poseidon Jump"
14. Stance flicker
- Loading glitches
15. Music glitch
16. Loading trigger skipping
- Water glitches
17. THE swimming glitch
18. Reverse swimming glitch
19. Glitched jump out of water
20. Strange things of dying in water
21. Underwater rush glitches
22. Other water glitches/tricks
- Misc. glitches & exploits
23. Regen magic
24. High/long jump
25. Death glitch
26. Magic while grappling
27. Gravity "reversal"
28. Invisible rope momentum
29. Checkpoint glitches
30. Eye/Feather glitches
31. Graphical glitches in the menus
32. Game freezes
33. Disc tray glitch (NEW)
4. Glitch playthrough (level specific glitches)
5. Info and lists for experts
6. Credits, legal information, contact info, etc.
1. Introduction + version history
---------------------------------
Why a glitch FAQ:
Because this game has buttloads of glitches and other interesting stuff of
which to tell about. Many major ones, useful for skipping entire levels.
Countless minor ones, providing amusement or sometimes annoyance to
the gamer. Maybe by listing them and publishing the list people will gain
new interest in this game. Or appreciation for glitches? By getting to know
these strange quirks in the game mechanics, you can endure them with much
more lasting patience and grace. And do some heavy exploiting to blow off
steam when one feels like it.
About the content:
I'm purposefully loose in what is allowed in and what is not, simply because
the definition of a "glitch" is not a clear one. Rather than just glitches,
this guide pretty much lists and discusses anything interesting, random,
rare or "unintended by the game developers"-grade phenomena inside the game.
Also some small stuff that most people never notice during a normal playthrough.
Version history:
v. 3.7 (25. 9. 2010)
- added stuff (reader suggestions)
- fixed some layout and spelling errors
File size: 162kt.
v. 3.6 (28. 11. 2009)
- finished listing save points
- added upgrading glitches
- corrected text here and there
- hopefully this thing won't have to be updated for a while now.
File size: 161kt.
v. 3.5 (23. 11. 2009)
- re-arranged things
- added various new stuff
- began listing save points
File size: 154kt.
v. 3.3 (28. 7. 2009)
- corrected stuff, added some small notes
File size: 148kt.
v. 3.2 (10. 7. 2009)
- added GMG things
- added Tyrhhjy notes
- re-arranged enemy list
File size: 147kt.
v. 3.1 (30. 3. 2009)
- added a new trick that's long overdue, the disc tray glitch
- added GMG things
- added Tyrhhjy things
- added Satvara things
File size: 144kt.
v. 3.0 (1. 3. 2009)
- added a new trick, "enemy momentum jump"
- verified a couple of old tricks
File size: 139kt.
v. 2.95 (12. 1. 2009)
- added a mention of one new Gates of Athens glitch
- updated "gorgon rage" glitch
- corrected 1000000 small errors
- added Tyrhhjy mysteries, tricks and skips
File size: 135kt.
v. 2.9 (14. 12. 2008)
- added small things here and there
File size: 132kt.
v. 2.8 (27. 11. 2008)
- corrected and re-wrote stuff
- added small things here and there
- added Satvara's new skips
File size: 131kt.
v. 2.7 (1. 11. 2008)
- corrected stuff
- added small things here and there
File size: 127kt.
v. 2.6 (26. 10. 2008)
- corrected stuff
- added one new big~ish glith
- finished level-by-level listings
File size: 122kt.
v. 2.5 (19. 10. 2008)
- corrected a couple of errors.
- updated a couple of sequence breaks.
- added small glitches!
- Started to add sweet spots... slowly...
File size: 110kt. (yes, now it's kt again and not kb.)
v. 2.4 (13. 9. 2008)
- corrected a couple of errors.
- added some random discoveries.
- started a new section in detailed 'for experts' info.
File size: 96kb.
v. 2.2 (31. 8. 2008)
- took heed of GMG's long list of improvements...
- started a glossary.
- Categorized glitches better.
- Added some random discoveries.
File size: 89kb.
v. 2.1 (10. 8. 2008)
- added info on high/long jumps, infinite air grabs, infinite Orion's Harpoon.
- added bestiary info.
File size: 80kb.
v. 2.0 (20. 7. 2008)
- added couple of new glitches
- categorized level-by-level glitches better
File size: 72kt.
v. 1.9  (13. 7. 2008)
- added a new glitch section about underwater rush tricks + other smaller stuff
- added sequence breaks to level-by-level listings.
- added many video demonstrations.
File size: 68kt.
v. 1.8. (18. 5. 2008)
- Updated/added links
- continued the lists
- added enemy glitches
File size: 58kt.
v. 1.5. (20. 4. 2008)
- added several new glitches, e.g. water glitches
- continued the lists
File size: 52kt. (see a pattern forming here?)
v. 1.3. (13. 4. 2008)
- added 1 new small glitch
- continued the lists
File size: 42kt.
v. 1.1. (5. 4. 2008)
- added a couple of glitches
- started to list enemy-specific glitches
- started to list level-specific glitches
File size: 32kt.
v. 1.0. (23. 3. 2008)
- Listed the general gameplay glitches
File size: 29kb.
What to do for the next versions:
- Some videos could be upgraded
- Finish the listings
- Add very detailed info on game mechanics (again courtesy of GMG)
2. Abbreviations & glossary
---------------------------
Abbreviations: (the most common ones)
GoW = God of War
GoWII = God of War II
BoC = Blades of Chaos
BoA = Blade of Artemis
PR = Poseidon's Rage
MG = Medusa's Gaze
Zf = Zeus' Fury
OH = Orion's Harpoon
RotG = Rage of the Gods
HP = Hit point
GMG = GodModeGOD
AK = AKheon
§ = 'note to self', something to be tested or modified later.
Glossary:
Invulnerability frames (a.k.a. i-frames, invincibility frames, etc.) =
Some moves contain small periods of time during which all attacks pass through
Kratos and he receives no damage. Not as much in GoWI than in GoWII, though...
Launch =
An attack capable of (or intended for) launching enemies high up in air.
For example, BoC's Ascension.
Lift-up =
When Kratos himself can/will rise up in air during some attacks, like with BoC's
Apollo's Ascension.
Bounce =
An effect in which an enemy will bounce a bit after a succesful hit. It's not
nearly as high as a lift-up. For example, the last hit of Apollo's Offensive.
Knockback =
An effect in which the enemy is thrown back. Can be done in air too.
Downed =
An enemy which has fallen on its back/on the ground.
Tricking =
1. Manipulating enemy behaviour by using the scenery or certain moves (like
weapon switching).
2. Avoiding enemy attacks with invulnerability frames that some moves produce.
(most prominent usage in GoWII.)
Cancelling =
Canceling an attack or a combo to another move. Used to gain speed and combat
efficiency, not to mention it enables some cool strategies. (f.e. canceling
slow BoA finishers to blocking or rolling.) In an especially prominent usage
in GoWII with its Barbarian Hammer. An advanced strategy alongside tricking.
False grab =
Hitting an enemy with a grab in circumstances in which a grab would not be
succesful. Kratos will fumble backwards, oftentimes the enemy will react to the
failed grab attempt in some fixed manner, helping the player to manipulate enemy
behaviour.
Minigame-grabbable =
A situation in which the enemy has a 'circle' above their head. Differs from a
normal grab situation in subtle ways. The enemy may get stunned for a bit when
this happens.
Grab select =
Situation in which the player can decide how the grab resolves, e.g. most
legionnaire types.
GMG's list of enemies with basic grab select.
-Undead Archer
-Cursed Archer
-Hades Archer
-Undead Legionnaire
-Magic Legionnaire (no shield or glitched)
-Cursed Legionnaire ("O") *unless glitched*
-Fallen Legionnaire ("O") *unless glitched*
Sweet spot =
A place in the game area to which your enemies are blind or impaired to. These
change with your enemies and their A.I. limits. Some are listed in the level-
specifics further down.
Out of bounds =
Anywhere outside the intended game area.
Plume/Valor/Spirit/Might =
An abbreviation of some attack or combo. Read the full names of attacks (to know
which ones are referred to) from the game's menu.
Dissension =
GMG's dubbed name for an attack which brings the enemy down from a launch. (e.g.
air triangle for both BoC and BoA)
For more dubbed attack names, see the section "Info and lists for experts" near
the end of the FAQ.
3. General gameplay glitches
----------------------------
--- Weapon/attack/magic glitches:
---------------------------------
1. Blade of Artemis glitches
1a. Homerun and its variations
Using double lauches, your enemies can be launched extremely high up in the
air or bounced across the playfield in unusual ways. This exploit is possible
because of some loophole in this game's gravity mechanisms, not to mention
Blade of Artemis' strange attack properties. You can try to double launch with
BoC too, but it doesn't work nearly as well (if at all). In other GoW-games
there exists no comparable double launches (at least as of yet).
There are three main variations of it, Spike, Punt and Homerun, dubbed neatly
after sports terms by this trick's discoverer, GMG.
Keep in mind that if a foe can't be launched none of these work.
1. Homerun is a BoA launch followed by another BoA launch. First launch takes
enemy skyward. Second causes a knockback and a launch, causing the enemy to fly,
as has been suitably put, "up and away." Handy for getting enemies over
invisible boundaries and into chasms.
2. Spike, an "elevated knockback", is using BoA's air triangle attack on a
launched enemy. Will not clear invisible walls. Can cause a bounce + Knockback
effect if enemy hits solid ground. It works well for transporting single enemies
to fixed directions.
3. Punt is a launch after a bounce. This move strangely makes enemies ignore any
invisible walls around the arena, causing them to fly to their deaths with
surprising ease.
More exceptions/glitches:
- Gravity effects do not accrue very well after the first two hits. F.e. doing
three Homeruns in a row to the same enemy would not make it rise any higher
than normally.
- As mentioned, these attacks don't work well against Satyrs, other than Punt.
This is because they have a strange 'aerial recovery' which stops the launch
in its tracks. Spike doesn't always fail but isn't reliable either.
- A Cerberus Breeder, when launched with a Spike, will look like its merely
gliding in the air without worries. This is because it has no particular
response animation for the type of attack it is hit with.
Video demonstration:
1, GMG's and Shinobier's instructional video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sMTz7ff6O0Q
1b. Strange death delay
Instead of instantly falling apart, your enemies will in some circumstances
remain alive for up to several seconds before BoA's special death animation
kicks in. During this time, they will continue to attack Kratos like normal.
May happen if:
- Finishing move has a special property like 'launch' or 'knockback'
- If Kratos finishes using magic while BoA is equipped (see 1c.)
Does not happen if:
- Enemy is airborne or downed
1c. Special death animation after magic
For no logical reason from Kratos's point of view, all the enemies he
kills with magic during when BoA is explicitly equipped get slashed to
bits just as if he attacked them physically. EXP bonus from BoA's long
combos is also granted.
As with 1b, this will not happen if an enemy is airborne or downed.
1d. Glitched circle action
BoA has no throwing/grabbing option, only BoC has. The game gets confused on
this once in a while, and when around mini-game grabbable enemies (with the
circle hovering over their heads), a normal circle attack or a circle attack
from the middle of a combo will cause the glitch. Sometimes the attack will
deal its damage before the grab occurs.
A list of different outcomes:
1, The most likely one: enemy will be grabbed instead of/after a circle attack.
Kratos's weapon switches automatically back to BoA afterwards.
2, Kratos will fumble backwards as always when a grab attempt fails. Enemy
may or may not die afterwards. This is just a normal 'false grab', activating
in the conditions any false grab will. (read more in the Glossary)
3, The circle attack does enough damage for the enemy to die. Kratos will grab
at nothing afterwards.
4, Kratos will do the grab animation on nothingness, a failure. (needs other
external factors to work, e.g. large height differences on the ground.)
This is basically just a normal failed grab of this sort.
GMG insists on me noting the fact that Kratos may seem to slide towards the
enemy before/during this grab if the enemy has moved away from him after
the attack.
1e. Fusing BoA and BoC
You can "fuse" BoA and BoC temporarily, so that both of them are visible
at the same time. This is mostly just a graphical effect, with no influence on
the damage Kratos does for example. The easiest method to achieve this effect
is to do either Zeus's Fury or Medusa Flash in the air with BoA equipped.
Right during the magic animation, press down L1 and keep it down. That's it at
its simplest. Doing L1+something specials will yield interesting sights...
Another way to do this is through a glitch grabbing attempt with BoA, described
in 1d. You need to have a creature with 'grab select' (see glossary). After
having grabbed the enemy, let the grab time out while holding block. After
the enemy has freed himself, Kratos is in the fuse-mode, ready to kick ass
with two weapons at once. (if it only were as sweet in the actual game...)
This state will last only as long as you have L1 button down, don't cast
magics or get damaged. Other than the L1 + (something) moves, you can also
do weapon switching and Hermes Stomp without losing this effect. The last one
is actually something very useful, because Hermes Stomp adds much length to
your jumps, and it is normally unavailable during a BoA long jump. You can
really mix things up during high jumps as well.
An interesting thing to note is that during this kind of fuse long jump
you may have a momentum glitch with normal jumps: the jump is at full speed,
as if Kratos was running at full speed before jumping. This is useful too.
Video demonstration:
1, a BoA and BoC fuse long jump:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P1_lrGGK8lM
1f. Artemis tricking
Switching weapons quickly enough, you can make all local enemies (with some
exceptions) forget attacking you.
Doesn't work on:
- Boss enemies
- Archers of any type
- Minotaur Hammer Grunts and Minotaur Warriors will not stop functioning
completely. They will switch doing their shockwave-attacks and only them.
Same rules apply for hanging on ledges ("ledge tricking") too.
1g. Forward roll to circle failure
If you try to do the circle attack after a forward roll, you only hear the
sound but no attack happens. This doesn't happen with side or backwards
roll, oddly enough...
1h. Dissension problem
I hear that air 'dissension' (which means: air 'triangle' move) deals 0 damage
to enemies if it hits.
2. Infinite Jump
A.K.A. "nth jump"
This game has ways for you to jump infinitely high or infinitely towards any
horizontal direction. The drawside is that doing it takes a lot of magic
(requiring either Dairy Bastard or regen magic) and time. It can be done with
either Lv. 4 -> BoC or Lv. 1 BoA, though BoA is in any case the best choice
because it's so versatile.
This trick is based on the fact that PR in air resets your falling momentum.
You've noticed how long attack strings keep you in air worse and worse the
longer you do them? Do a PR between the chains and you'll do much better.
With BoA air attack strings or Falling Helios you do not only remain in air
but also get a bit higher/forward with each consecutive attack and magic.
Short variations of this trick are classified as high jumps. They're often
mixed up with other attacks (such as Lv. 2 MG air blast) to suit the purpose
they're used, and countless sequence breaks are possible because of them.
Read more in the section 23, which is a tutorial for high/long jumps.
3. Hermes Rush/Stomp glitches
3a. HR strange collision property exploit
During Hermes Rush Kratos's hit/collision box is less wide but longer
than during his other stances/animations. This means in effect that you are
able to squeeze into tight spots (e.g. behind some chests). Depending on what
kinds of walls surround you and how tight the spot is exactly, you may be able
to get through them from there. Turning towards a wall is sometimes necessary
for this to work (to fully take advantage of his strange collision property).
Video demonstration:
1, skipping Pandora's front yard with this (Satvara's vid):
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TahZ0khKQSo
3b. Passing through large enemies
Hermes Stomp goes right through some larger enemies such as cyclops.
3c. Rope + L1 something move + HS = trouble
If you pass a rope while doing a L1 + something move (e.g. Apollo's Offensive)
and at its end perform the Hermes Stomp, a glitch happens. The game thinks
Kratos is on the rope while Stomp's animation transports him away. This state
has no movement checks, so Kratos is eternally stuck in a silly position.
During this time, your enemies will register Kratos as both ground and rope
target. F.e. legionnaires will attempt to jump on a rope even if Kratos is on
the ground right next to them. However, at another location a gorgon actually
attacked Kratos who was stuck, inadvertently releasing him!
To be honest, this can happen without an L1-move too. For example, if you're
unlucky when an enemy attacks you - you fall down from the rope but get stuck.
Video demonstration:
1, see the end of this video for this glitch in practise:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BJh_UCwzV_g
Not too long ago I noticed that this trick works with balancing beams as well.
Kratos can turn after reaching the final pose (after HS), but nothing else. By
turning at correct times, you can hit nearby enemies! You are still, after all,
in the middle of Hermes Stomp's attack part. If you get stonefrozen like this,
you can't break out for some reason.
3d. Special property during Rage of the Gods
The wait period at the end disappears, meaning that you can go crazy with this
move. Keep R1 down and mash X and see what happens.
3e. Moving Pandora's Box with Hermes Stomp
You can move the Box around before the elevator has descended using well-placed
Hermes Stomps. Why? Hard to guess. This account becomes even more bewildering
once you discover that this is not possible at the bottom of the elevator any
more...
4. Gorgon Rage glitch & related material
It was first noticed that one could quite consistently move Kratos' family
to a few directions at the second-to-last fight of the game by doing a Gorgon
Rage, then grabbing the family instantly afterwards. It is possible to even drop
the whole family off the map using the glitch. (discovery: AKheon @ 2008 winter)
Other circle moves work after Gorgon's Rage too, to some extent, such as Lance
of the Furies. However, the conditions of this particular location of the game
were too unique to have effects which could be reproduceable elsewhere (at least
to this day such haven't been found).
Another fixed circle mini-game location was the infamous sex mini-game. It was
found that Gorgon's Rage has a small effect there too, albeit a different one:
after the Rage animation has passed, the minigame starts on its own according
without an explicit grab animation at all. This causes the camera angle to
change and the small urn to either wobble or stay put. Kratos stays unoccupied
the whole time. Nothing else happens, or so it seems.
While hopes were high in regard to glitching more circle minigames using this
property of the move, it was found out that f.e. Ares or Pandora's Guardian
mini-games couldn't be broken into using the glitch. It is still not conclusive
what this glitch can and what it can't do, and in what different ways it can be
used, but hopefully research will continue...
NEWS for the year 2009: Manu918 and co. found another way to move Kratos' family
which works for NUR conditions. It's by merely freezing a couple of batches of
the clones, then grabbing the family. So, it may be necessary that there have to
be enemies to freeze before this glitch (or at least a part of it) works.
Video demonstration:
1, AKheon's vid of Kratos' family dropping into outer space:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6KjVqoCcJZU
2, another vid, showing something on both examples:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AujcC1xHI6g
3, manu918's vid:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd4tfP70J70
5. Other misc. weapon/attack/magic glitches & tricks
Note: see 'misc enemy glitches'-section for more.
Note 2: a section for RotG-glitches may be opened some day.
Other: If you enter a moment where time is frozen (e.g. talk to someone or
during cutscenes) while in a Zeus's Fury or Medusa's Gaze stance, and then
upgrade the magic in question, the graphical effect disappears and Kratos
looks like he has nothing in his hands, though the stance remains.
Graphical: If you spam Gorgon Flash in air fast enough, every other blast
will not be visible. Zeus's Fury can do this too.
Combat: You can deal damage through invisible/red walls (you know, the ones
that enclose a fighting area) but stone freezing beams become powerless though
they're not visibly obstructed.
Combat: Using Army of Hades on stonefrozen enemies will reduce their actual HP,
not "during stonefrozen" HP. This means that you can get the minigame circle
appear on these creatures. You can't do the minigame while they're stoned
though...
Other: Using any magic or throws which enable you to target things, you can see
currently spawning enemies as targets way before they can actually be damaged
in any way. Especially if the spawning way is unique, e.g. in the first room
of the game.
Graphical: If you switch weapons quickly enough, the BoA flash effect is not
always seen.
Combat: You can shoot both Gorgon Torrent and Gorgon Flash at the same time.
Graphical: The BoA glow is not seen in some areas.
Combat: Orion's Harpoon, when done on enemies that are just low enough, will
only hit but not throw them.
Graphical: Plumes that get canceled before impact at a certain moment in time
create the explosion but do no damage. However, the BoA circle ender
"Retribution" will in fact hit even if it is canceled in a similar way.
Strategy: Blocking in air causes Kratos to fall down quicker. This trick can be
used for interesting juggling combos, such as BoC lv. 2+'s L1+X, (block in air
until ground), L1+X. (gratz GMG)
Combat: Poseidon's Rage normally always does a fixed amount of hits. For reasons
unknown it sometimes hits more than it should. (pressing other buttons than
circle during the casting is the catalyst?)
Strategy: The Might of Hercules ender hit can do up to 4 hits. This makes it
worthwhile to use, even though a single hit isn't very strong. Also notice that
it's possible to do the ender without a long combo beforehand by doing a simple
square, square, SQUARE (pressing down).
Combat: During air attacks the game slows acceleration down. If the attack
cancels out, touching ground or water, the acceleration slowdown carries on to
normal movement time, causing Kratos to move and jump as if slightly suspended.
This is especially noticeable after longer (L1+something) attacks. It can also
be noted than it also works in water and if you cancel the acceleration upwards,
e.g. to ropes.
Graphical: When loading the game, after passing the point where Kratos can be
controlled while the screen is still dark, switch weapons to BoA and start
running. When the graphics show up, Kratos will run as if holding Blades of
Chaos, but with BoA in his hands. (gratz GMG)
Combat: During Rage of the Gods, if you try to cancel into Ascension from roll
(keeping triangle down, that is), the move self-cancels strangely. (gratz GMG)
Other: An extremely rare glitch concerning retrying with petrified Kratos can
leave him in a slow-moving state (according to GMG about 30 times slower) after
having retried. Getting petrified and breaking out was the only way to fix it.
Combat: During RotG, Hades' Reverse can be used, but none of its follow-ups.
Strategy: Your enemies will forget to block your attacks if you're far enough
away. Good to know for using your longest range attack, Zeus' Fury. Enemies
that would normally block it fervently will suffer the most this way.
Strategy: You can make a Zeus' Fury charged bolt even if you didn't have the
needed magic for it. You only need enough for a normal bolt.
Strategy: The AoH effect carries on between level transitions. The best use for
it is assumedly just before the last fight in the game, in which you can't use
any magic...
Other: if you enter Medusa's Gaze before the screen loads, the stance you enter
is completely immobile (you can't turn in it.) This can also happen if anything
related to your weapons/magic is still loading when gameplay resumes (read more
about this in the section of 'upgrading glitches'.)
Random: Gorgon Rage can hit max. of 9 target with one blast, and doesn't hit
anything that is below Kratos. (where do I get this 9 targets thing, then?
There's a hallway in Challenge of Poseidon which is full of urns. Each gives 2
hits for some reason, but the maximum the game will ever give you is 18 hits. Is
it reasonable to assume that 9 targets is the maximum for GR?)
Other: you can abuse enemy attack momentum to gain long jumps if you have RotG
on. First, get hit by an attack that has lots of vertical strength (while in
air), then jump again before hitting ground. Thanks to Tyrhhjy for this.
Video demonstration:
1, my vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2NRQ3JQ66o
--- Enemy glitches:
-------------------
6. Enemy out of bounds
The game has set strict limits for your enemies to wander, for various level
design reasons. Some of these limits are extremely obvious and exploitable.
F.e. getting on a ladder can cause every enemy in the room forget your
presence. If entering a new area, the enemies often act as if there was an
invisible wall separating them from Kratos (which, code-wise, may very well
be close to truth), and they will not follow him to wherever the path next
leads.
Rarely the game allows you to send an enemy outside of his regular bounds,
causing the A.I. to go wild. They run against walls, hoping to get back to
the correct area, in vain. Depending on how some areas are loaded and drawn,
you may encounter a phenomena of invible enemies during this kind of out of
bounds moment. You can hear the enemies, but can only see or damage them from
certain parts of the room. This isn't useful, but it's funny to look and
listen at. Air throwing or just launching enemies to strange places can get
this to work - though be warned that it's very rare.
Credits go to the Max Upgrade Guide at GameFAQs, that's where I first heard
about this glitch. Check it out for more detailed info.
Infinite orb fountain v3 is possible utilizing out of bounds limits, albeit in
a more limited form than it was in GoW II. Read the below section for more info.
Video demonstrations:
1, invisible minotaur at Rooftops of Athens (part X of this video):
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YJP3uQsN-Mk
7. Infinite orb fountains
The death animation of your enemies can get stuck in a loop where the enemy
will give up his red orbs over and over again. It is caused by the animation
interrupting and resetting right after the orbs fly free but before the
animation naturally ends. This can happen f.e. if the enemy falls on some
strange piece of collision which can't accomodate his death throes, like a
crooked surface or a ladder.
The best enemy to do this with is the harpy: they're small and weak,
they fly, they have a quick, stable death animation. I've never seen a large
enemy get fountained. Once a minotaur bounced strangely from a wall and it
gave two times the orbs, but that was hardly a fountain of any kind.
The best known places where this works are the infamous Challenge of Atlas
ladder, and the statue room at Temple of the Oracle.
There exist other type of infinite orb glitches too. The one GMG refers to
as infinite orb v3 is basically causing an enemy repeatedly to un-exist (read
more from enemy out-of-bounds glitches) while he is dying. It doesn't seem
to work with all enemies. Maybe we will see a video of it eventually.
Video demonstration:
1, Challenge of Atlas ladder fountain:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hRxl9yffSdc
2, Temple of the Oracle fountain:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb6CrJYbV5A
8. Throw/grab glitches
Doing throws over uneven surface will usually cause both Kratos and his
enemy to rise up in air for the throw's duration. If the height difference
between Kratos and enemy is too big, the grab cancels out disappointingly.
Sometimes Kratos acts out the grab/finishing move without actually holding
the enemy, e.g. trying to rip head off nothingness while the gorgon is
frolicking somewhere nearby.
Your enemies can interrupt Kratos's grabs even while they technically
shouldn't be able to. It's all a bit unstable. Sometimes Kratos does not
suffer any harm from attacks during a grab, sometimes he will. Arrows are
something that very stably interrupt him.
At least in one spot during the game, grabbing a spawning legionnaire will
cause another legionnaire in the room slide long ways away (this is after
getting Poseidon's Rage and enemies appear). I think it can happen elsewhere
too.
During grappling or rope sections, your enemies can do a very glitched looking
grab on Kratos. Because of lack of space, their animation becomes juxtaposed
somewhere away from Kratos and they may seem as if they're climbing a ladder.
If the grab ends against Kratos's favor, the enemy might disappear for no
reason afterwards.
Many enemies can be air grabbed again and again until they die. A big weakness.
In a similar way, many enemies can be Orion's Harpooned to death by just
repeating the move indefinitely. The particular weaknesses of each enemy is
listed at the enemy-specifics.
No one knows why or how, but some legionnaires with a circle looming above their
heads will remain 'false grabbable' (read the glossary if you don't know what
that means) with the exception that Kratos will not get shunned back when he
attempts to grab them. This means the false grab can be spammed and it looks
strange, to say the least. (GMG's reminder)
While Kratos is climbing a wall, he can still grab enemies that are on the
ground-level and not climbing. You can easily insta-kill your enemies this way.
If ground enemies get hit by an enemy that Kratos is grabbing while on the wall,
they suffer quite an immense knockback, a sight to behold.
GMG says that while doing a 360 degree toss with an archer, a cursed legionnaire
grabbed Kratos. Strangely, Kratos dropped the archer and began grabbing the
healthy legionnaire instead (who was instantly brought down to 'O'.)
9. Shoddy A.I.
In some corridors, you may find one of your enemies walking plainly against
a wall, usually towards where Kratos is. I've seen this happen at at least 3
different locations, though always with those legionnaire-types.
At least in one spot during the game your enemies (Fallen Legionnaires) will
try to climb a normal ladder to get to you. Unfortunately their behaviour
has a loophole in it and they get stuck in the middle if you quickly change
elevation. If you try to climb the ladder again, they turn normal.
You can fool some of the enemy A.I. with jumps and air attacks (easiest with
Blade of Artemis) or rapid weapon switching. The rapid weapon switching is
actually something very useful. Doing it fast enough causes all of your enemies
to simply stop attacking. It doesn't work on archers or bosses, though.
10. Enemy-specific glitches (and additional info)
Thanks go to GMG for most of this stuff. Entries with no important info to
mention are omitted.
-- Undead Archer --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon.
Is not fooled by BoA or ledge tricking.
-- Cursed Archer --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon.
Is not fooled by BoA or ledge tricking.
No area effect from explosive arrows can be blocked.
Melee-counter version of their arrow will not explode, but if it misses, it
makes the sound of an explosive arrow.
They will never melee-counter as long as an unexploded explosive arrow is
sizzling in the vicinity.
Rarely, deflected explosive arrows do not explode.
If an explosive arrow hits and shatters something petrified, the arrow sticks in
mid-air until it explodes.
In unknown circumstances an arrow can get stuck in mid-air, still "mobile",
turning towards Kratos if he's moving around it.
Arrows have a tendency to break all sorts of grab moves which would otherwise
be unbreakable.
-- Hades Archer --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon.
Is not fooled by BoA or ledge tricking.
Basically just a Cursed Archer with a triple arrow shot.
-- Centaur --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
Glitch "O" when grabs are interrupted *it's fake/a trap*
Their shockwave's range is larger than the effect would show.
Their arrows make it very easy for them to drop Kratos out of air.
Sometimes, after they've loaded an arrow but hadn't used it for some reason,
the arrow stays in their hand for some time and looks uncouth. This extends
to even them physically attacking Kratos with an arrow loaded and flashing.
(This is what GMG had to say about this matter: "The 'arrow in hand' thing
may not be a glitch but rather an augment to their physical strikes. If it
is a glitch, it is a blessing because it makes it obvious they CANNOT use
their Stomp (Shockwave) while it is out like that.")
If their death grab gets interrupted, they'll instantly grow back a new pair
of legs and continue attacking you.
-- Cerberus Breeder --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
Occassional failure to fire during its 3x fireball attack.
-- Cerberus Offspring --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and OH.
They can do glitch growths even after their deaths.
OH will sometimes fail for no reason (maybe because of the small size?)
Grabs will also sometimes fail for no reason.
-- Cyclops Enforcer --
Just the furthest half of the spinning ball attack hits. You can stand in the
rope or back half without taking a hit.
Just walking *slowly* around it counter-clockwise is sufficient to avoid all
hits (perhaps not the rush though).
-- Cyclops Brute --
Grabs don't always connect when they should.
-- Cyclops Desert King --
Doesn't have a 'Brutal/Ruthless Kill bonus'.
-- Gorgon (and some petrifying glitches) --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon.
Chance for air grab high jump. (read more in the section of high jumps)
If Kratos is petrified while he does most attacks, he does not completely die
after shattering: enemies still target him, and you can hear him grunt when hit.
Arrows don't always crush petrified Kratos.
-- Medusa --
Has 10000 HP, which is a lot. The mini-game needed to dispose of her becomes
available a lot sooner, and most players deal with her this way.
- Harpy --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon, as are all other harpies.
Subject to orb fountain glitches, as are all other harpies.
-- Undead Legionnaire --
There are countless of glitches ready for these guys, mainly because they
appear at so many different circumstances (e.g. ropes and grapple sections too)
and places. Almost all have already been mentioned at the above sections.
-- Cursed Legionnaire --
Some of them can not be minigamed - the circle does not appear above their
heads.
At least one instance of this enemy is impervious to Orion's Harpoon.
Can climb ladders, though not very well.
If two of them are very close on a rope, a kick hits both.
Subject to air grab high jump when "O" is about to appear.
-- Magic Legionnaire --
While they are airborne, downed or spawning, their shields do not stop hits.
Physical hits at any such point make it possible to grab through their shields.
Throws towards Magic Legionnaires can either cause a knockback or be deflected.
GMG theorizes knockback occurs more often if the opponent is right in front of
the throw.
Some RotG BoC attacks act like their shield isn't there, as does AoH. However,
with BoA itself you have absolutely no way to pass through their shields.
Charged Zf bolts' area blast can hit them even with their shield intact, but it
does no damage.
"The glitch where a Magic Legionnaire uses shield attack AI without their shield
appears to only occur after they've lost it and been petrified (after breaking
free obviously)." - GMG
Some of them can be grabbed like normal despite they have their shields on in
some slightly special conditions, e.g. having taken a thrown legionnaire to
their face or possibly just having got damaged enough. This kind of grab is
glitched-up, causing Kratos to slide erratically across the playing field for
short ways. With this movement you can f.e. kill yourself to the spiked
crushers at Temple of the Eye, despite they're not functional and they have
a wall in front of them. Also, if you choose to throw your enemy somewhere,
its graphics will twitch a bit, and in some cases it will even die before it
is thrown.
"Just to say it again..the knockback in of itself will allow a glitch grab."
"Both Plume and Spirit (during Rage of the Gods) fail to break their shields."
- GMG
If one dies with its shield intact, the lone shield can stay a while after
the legionnaire's corpse has disappeared.
Just to note, any explosive move will destroy their shields, including Rising
Helios and Lance of the Furies. The sole exception to this rule is BoC's
plume attack during Rage of the Gods.
-- Legionnaire Captain --
Would otherwise be subject to Infinite Air Grab (and possibly Infinite OH), but
their minigame prompts mess the whole thing up.
They have a strange tendency to block Zf bolts while downed, as if their guard
was up.
"It REGENERATES 10HP everytimes you let it recover from "O"." - GMG
-- Minotaur Grunt --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
-- Minotaur Hammer Grunt --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
Uses the shockwave attack when you are abusing the ledge.
-- Minotaur Warrior --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
Uses the shockwave attack when you are abusing the ledge.
-- Minotaur Tormentor --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab.
BoA Homerun trick "Punt" typically (if done fast) will send them the opposite
direction that is desired.
Artemis often cannot block their shoulder rush unless your guard was up early.
-- Satyr --
I hear air grabs done to them actually deal no damage for some reason.
BoA Homerun trick "Spike" (read more in the section about BoA-glitches) causes
an unusual knockback/bounce effect. Very useful in Challenge of the Gods 10.
Their "aerial recovery" allows immunity from "Homerun" but not "Punt". (read
more in the section of BoA glitches)
The throw in which they move Kratos to their opposite side, can transport him
on nothingness. Kratos bounces once, then falls.
-- Temple Siren --
Subject to Infinite Air Grab and Orion's Harpoon.
"Petrification of a “Dizzy” creates a “Wander” and also prevents regeneration as
“O” doesn’t go naturally. Curiously, OH and air grabs would not connect so long
as the “O” was glitched as such though the mid-grab worked whenever I so wished
it to. If done at 19HP remaining, she would skip her final “O” and be left with
9HP. If done at 18HP-11HP she glitch dies. If done at 10HP or less she just goes
into her finisher rather than the mid-grab. Juggles appeared to cease working on
her." - GMG
Note: with "dizzy" and "wander" GMG was talking about its A.I. modes. Basically
one-word description of the enemy's primary movement in the mode.
-- Desert Siren --
They die when petrified 3 times in a quick succession.
They have 10000 HP, which is a lot. In fact, even their petrified state has
10000 HP! The mini-game needed to dispose of them becomes available a lot
sooner, and most players dispatch them this way.
-- Wraith of Athens --
Subject to Infinite Orion's Harpoon.
Kratos's grab can launch several Wraiths in the air when it resolves.
-- Desert Wraith --
Subject to Infinite Orion's Harpoon.
Their air grab sometimes breaks for no apparent reason.
"Some petrifications caused ‘unexisting’ of the Wraiths. I typically saw it only
after petrifying 3 Wraiths. My guess is that the lingering remains (via shatter
or breakout) plus 2 other petrified wraiths *or more* causes the next wraith
petrified as such to unexist. The ‘stacking’ issue only appears to work with
these Wraiths." - GMG
"~~an ‘uppercut’ (from a grab) hitting a nearby foe will deal that grab's damage
to them and, in the case I saw, send them sailing away like with Zf’s
Stun/Charged bolts (the effect is like that of Homerun/Punt but without the
extra height due to a previous launcher)." - GMG
-- Pandora's Guardian --
See the level-specific glitches further down for mentions of his two big
weaknesses.
-- Evil Kratos, Agony --
The one with Zeus' Fury.
"Agony only attacks Kratos but because of the line of fire, he may hit the
family. Though his bolts are relatively weak, they can devastate by breaking
your control of the fight"
"Agony kills don't count towards the kill count." - GMG
-- Evil Kratos, Remorse --
The ones with Blades of Chaos. They can also grab Kratos.
-- Evil Kratos, Regret --
The ones with Blade of Artemis. For some reason they can also do the special
attacks only Blade of the Gods has! (the sword Kratos gets in the last fight)
-- Ares --
See the level-by-level specifics for the final boss fight.
11. Misc. enemy glitches
Combat: Enemies' attacks stun other enemies but will not do any damage.
Combat: If too many enemies (>2?) are shattered simultaneously not all of them
give you orbs.
Combat: Flying enemies sometimes do not fall down when stonefrozen.
Combat: Some enemies can be attacked for extra hits even after they're dead
(before they disappear).
A.I.: While Kratos is petrified, any enemies that weren't outright posing for
their next attack or already attacking will not try to attack. This happens in
GoWII too.
Other: I've heard that if Kratos gets petrified on top of a ladder or some other
special surface he will become petrified in such a way he can never break out!
Would this work on your enemies as well?
Video demonstration:
1, brandedartist's vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tSFbZzisz8
--- Crooked surface glitches:
-----------------------------
By a crooked surface, I mean a special type of collision surface which will
try to drop Kratos down when he's on it, but which responds to Kratos's
different stances in various ways.
12. Gliding
When on a crooked surface, if you try to block, roll, enter a magic stance
or do a grab, Kratos will not fall down as helplessly as usual, but instead
will either remain where he is or move to some direction (depending on
momentum). Effects also vary depending on how angled the crooked surface is.
Crooked surface does not count as normal ground. Kratos's jump counter will
not reset when he lands, for example, limiting somewhat what you can do. You
also can't move in other ways than what I just described.
This glitch can be abused to move over areas with a lot of crooked surface.
If you got a lot of momentum, Kratos's speed is irrationally high and the
movement looks completely strange. Gain momentum by doing a well-timed Hermes
Stomp or a grab (or other attacks).
Video demonstrations:
1, an outdated strategy, but still, it's gliding at it's finest:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zad8ne9FyM
13. "Poseidon jump" (discoverer: AKheon)
When on a crooked surface, if you do PR, you may encounter this glitch.
Kratos will do the PR as he always does. Afterwards he enters a short
animation wherein he descends down but interestingly remains stable,
seemingly immune to the effects of the crooked surface. During this time
the jump counter resets (as the game thinks you're back on the ground again)
and you can jump two times more before again exhausting yourself. If you try
to move in any direction before jumping, you will cancel out of this state,
so be careful.
As foreshadowed, this event does not always follow PR. Sometimes PR just
cancels out and nothing interesting happens. Remain vigilant and cast PR
again before you are dropped off the crooked surface. Sometimes the PR will
not cancel out, but nothing interesting still happens. Be prepared with lots
of magic for this one.
Being able to jump in the middle of a crooked surface increases your
capabilities by a fair amount. If only there were more long stretches
of crooked surface in this game...
Video demonstration:
1, skipping a large part of Gates of Athens using this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rhOM5SYFyOk
14. Stance flicker
If you're right at the edge of a crooked surface and blocking, rolling, in
a magic stance or doing Hermes Stomp, Kratos will not fall down but will
stay on the surface edge and try to do whatever the button press denotes,
but failing each time because the game thinks he's constantly starting to
fall down. The action starts anew and it gets canceled again. Kratos flickers
strangely and makes noises.
Video demonstration:
1, see the middle part of this video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YJP3uQsN-Mk
--- Loading glitches:
---------------------
15. Music glitch
This glitch is not possible with every copy of GoW. I'm not sure if it depends
on different regions or versions or what. It might be even rarer than that.
Basically, the Rings of Pandora background music will stick whenever you visit
that place. It will not end when it should but instead plays alongside with
the other musics of the area where you move in. This causes your PS additional
strain and everything loads much slower.
The only useful thing this is for is doing a couple of skips: you are able to
get past some obstacles before they load and show up.
For more information, you can read a full-fledged Music glitch FAQ here:
http://akheon.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/gow-music-glitch-faq.doc
Video demonstration:
1, one of the skips possible with this trick:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PACPzKSQXm8
16. Skipping loading triggers
The game loads it's areas mostly in realtime. When Kratos steps to a certain
trigger in the level, the next area begins to load. By skipping one of these
triggers you will not be able to proceed (in most cases), but instead are
confronted with emptiness where the next section should begin. You can skip