I grew up exclusively on Nintendo systems so the God of War series eluded me until playing 2018 on the PS5. Will mentioned on a recent Bombcast that he's replaying the original series and he inspired me to finally dive in to where the franchise began. As a lover of retro games, I put my early-2000's glasses on and tried to give this game a fair shake but generally did not enjoy myself along the way.
I can appreciate what the game did ahead of its time in terms of the progression system. The level design is top notch. Combat is mostly decent - though not anywhere near the precision and flow of a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.
Where this game ventures into the territory of not respecting my time is the "puzzle" design. Somewhere along the line it seems the developers decided most of the puzzles were far too boring or easy and rather than design better puzzles, they figured adding enemy swarms to attack you while trying to complete a task was the best solution. Speaking of enemy swarms, wave battle segments felt like taking a dump and no matter how many times you wipe, there's still shit on the toilet paper and you just want to get off the toilet already.
By the time I reached Ares, who is wildly frustrating final fight with moves in his arsenal which cannot be dodged or parried (seriously?), I couldn't wait to be done with this game. It's certainly not a bad game but it's safe to say the proceeding sequels did some heavy lifting to bring the God of War series to where it is today.