Some skips and tricks (+other) for a New Game speedrun.
The NG skips plus other, info:
1. At the Hades vent puzzle - I was scouting for a way to skip the entire puzzle. I found a way to get behind the treasure room-door early, but it's pointless since you just get stuck in there.
There is still the potential for a Sky Jump in this room, there is a “suspect corner” just next to the treasure room-door. But haven't committed to more Sky Jump spots properly yet, since they can be arduous to test.
2. The “Icarus long jump” - I don't know if this is known (at least it's new to me), but you can make Kratos glide further than is intended. This is done by firstly jumping on the spot BUT keep the jump button pressed after you've landed. If you then simply walk off a ledge (while the jump button is still pressed), Kratos will glide... but during your glide you can do a complete double jump and another glide. The game's jump counter stays intact during your first glide.
(Wonder if this works in any of the other GoW games? Particularly GoWII).
This may come in handy in unique situations, however, you can only do the technique off ledges that don't have that little “lip” that stops you from simply falling off them.
This glitch is also good for testing where there is solid collision when you are scouting for skips oob. By keeping the jump button pressed, you can glide and double jump back to solid ground if you happen to fall off.
Maybe this technique can also squeeze more distance out of a Jet Dash, if done beforehand?
3. At Olympia Harpy crossing - An obvious shortcut utilising the “discarded” platforming section.
4. At Olympia, skipping the Centaur battle + Chimera battle - Just a tweak to AKheon's original skip. It requires a Sorrow Jump at the end of harpy ride to cross to the balcony.
So in a NG speedrun you'd have to weigh up if it's faster to get the required orbs to upgrade. Or faster to do the battles. I imagine upgrading to do be able to do Sorrow Jump would be overall useful in a speedrun. So this is another option to weigh up.
Note: The reason that I did a launch/ascension to the harpy (before grabbing it) at the start of this skip, is because the higher up that you grab a harpy, the more height you can squeeze out of it. Making the first jump in the cave much easier.
5. At Peirithous - You can get to behind the bramble wall that leads to the next area, but I either skipped a trigger or the game won't load the next area if you don't have the bow. I say this, because if you Jet Dash from the bridge to behind the brambles (on NG+) the next area is loaded. But this would be pointless anyway since you - at least - need the bow at the first visit to the Caverns.
But I would like to know for sure what would happen if you didn't get the bow. Does this affect Kratos' mechanics when he gets other weapons etc?
Note: Before doing the skip, I walked up to the front of the brambles to try to pick up any triggers. And then after I did the skip, I backtracked all the way to the back of the brambles but still nothing loaded.
Note 2: The ledges to the sides of the bridge that leads to Peirithous, seem like possible candidates for Sky Jumps (and there are also "suspect corners" next to the smaller bridge section opposite). Haven't tested these properly yet.
6. At the Harpy Crossing at the end of the Olympus Garden puzzle - As I did at the start of the Olympia chasm skips, I did a launch/ascension to the first harpy (before grabbing it) to start off with more height than is intended (not in vid). Then when you grab the final Harpy, you need to drag out the stabbing by tapping the left controller forwards (and then releasing) every 1.5 seconds. This gets you more distance and height during your ride. This enables you to grab the ledge at the top of the door and Jet Dash to the cog/elevator thingy. (Not sure if this skip was known or uploaded previously).
7. Skipping the water/gorgon section at the cavern thanks to a Sky Jump. I didn't even bother searching for Sky Jump collision directly below the Skorpion box, because from tests I did there a long time ago with “Blow Job Jump”...around the entire upper-box (and most of the other surrounding areas) have a lot of death collision.
Also, if you make a bee-line from the top of the Sky Jump to the Skorpion box, the camera tends to spin around crazily.
Note: For anyone who doesn't know, it's possible to get up to the final Boreas switch and activate it, but you get stuck unless you kill Skorpion first.